Saturday, September 07, 2002

Jeb!

(via Daily Kos)

Make sure you Demo the new touch screen voting system.
Zizka's definitive take on Iraq.
Lindsey Graham brings hypocrisy to new heights, in so many ways.
2002, George Bush and Iraq:


Yet it is precisely the absence of specific evidence that seems to have President Bush so worried about Iraq's capabilities.



General John DeWitt, 1942, on the evacuation and internment of Japanese-Americans:


The Japanese race is an enemy race and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become Americanized, the racial strains are undiluted. To conclude otherwise is to expect that children born of white parents on Japanese soil sever all racial affinity and become loyal Japanese subjects, ready to fight, and if necessary, to die for Japan in a war against the nation of their parents... It therefore follows that along the vital Pacific Coast over 112,000 potential enemies, of Japanese extraction, are at large today. There are indications that these are organized and ready for concerted action at a favorable opportunity. The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.



The administration is adapating their objections to the ICC and I'm sure the Borg will follow.



In World Court, U.S. Focus Shifts to Shielding Officials

By ELIZABETH BECKER

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 — The Bush administration is shifting its emphasis in seeking exemptions for Americans from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, telling European allies that a central reason is to protect the country's top leaders from being indicted, arrested or hauled before the court on war crimes charges, administration officials say.

In most of their public utterances, administration officials have argued that they feared American soldiers might be subject to politically motivated charges. But in private discussions with allies, officials say, they are now stressing deep concerns about the vulnerability of top civilian leaders to international legal action.

As an example of the fear, one senior official pointed to the legal actions brought against former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger in Chilean and American courts. The actions were brought by people who accused Mr. Kissinger of aiding in the 1973 coup in Chile and in the ensuing 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

"The soldiers are like the capillaries; the top public officials — President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell — they are at the heart of our concern," the senior official said. "Henry Kissinger, that's what they really care about."


Did anyone actually believe the objection was ever due to a concern for Private Pyle?
Ted Barlow gives Andy a hearty Fisking. (via Jeanne D'Arc)
Taking Chutzpah to New Previously Unattained Heights


Wow, I'm really really impressed by this one. There's a standard historical narrative in this country and it is quite acceptable to pretend the "forgotten bits" didn't happen, but in this Op-Ed George Schultz tries to pretend the Stuff We All Accept Happened didn't happen.


The world now has entered the third decade of crises and dangers to international peace and security created by Saddam Hussein. In 1980 he launched an eight-year war against Iran. Chemical weapons were used, and at least 1.5 million people were killed or severely wounded. In 1990 he invaded Kuwait in a war aimed at eradicating another state's legitimate sovereign existence. As he was forced out, he deliberately created environmental degradation of gigantic proportions. He has used chemical weapons against the Kurdish people in an attack on a genocidal scale, and he has sent his forces into Kurdistan to conduct widespread slaughter. He has relentlessly amassed weapons of mass destruction and continues their development. He has turned Iraq into a state that foments, supports and conducts terrorism. No other dictator today matches his record of war, oppression, use of weapons of mass destruction and continuing contemptuous violation of international law, as set out by unanimous actions of the U.N. Security Council.



Reader M.R. writes in:


In case there were any confusion, this is the very same George P. Schultz, who, in the capacity of U.S. Secretary of State, aided and abetted Saddam Hussein in this very same war, against our then arch-nemesis Iran.

For half the Saddam "crises and dangers" era, Saddam was our S.O.B., and for nearly all that time, Schultz was the point man on U.S. foreign policy, including during the USS Stark incident in which he shrugged off the death of 37 U.S. servicemen as a "shit happens" accident between friends (note that the Canadians have demanded greater accountability for the accidental bombing of their four servicemen than was afforded the crew of the Stark).

The canonical example of chutzpah is "a person who kills his parents and then begs the court for mercy because he's an orphan". This op-ed by Schultz is as good an example of chutzpah as any one is ever likely to find in real life.


His opening line, "Are we to be the Hamlet of nations[?]" is rather unfortunate as well, given a certain sense that this all about avenging his father.



PLA on more time travelling Republicans.

Friday, September 06, 2002

Haha. O. Dub has a great parody of a particular Warblogger who shall remain nameless...
Jeff Cooper notices that the Bull Moose has bolted the Republican party. I'm not exactly sure why he thinks the Democratic Party has embraced "radical multiculturalism," but in any case kudos for pointing out what's wrong with the Other Party.
Charles Pierce letter to Alterman: (hey, when's this guy gonna write an amusing letter to me, anyway...):

Name: Charles Pierce
Hometown: Newton, MA.
Eric —
Last week, in a teaser regarding a story about the Florida governor’s race, the CNN graphic under Janet Reno’s picture read, “Reno’s shaky lead.” Now, I’d like to believe this was just stupidity, given the former AG’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease, and not the kind of cruel incivility that so offends my gal Annie and the Mickster, but one does wonder. The same impulse leads me to want to believe that the Umbro folks accidentally called their new athletic shoe “Zyklon,” without knowing that Zyklon-B was the gas-of-choice in the death camps but, to do that, I’d have to know the exact number of idiots who passed the name up the Umbro chain of command. Silly me. I still like to believe in unfortunate accidents.
How about Andy who, now that he’s stopped campaigning for mayor of Omaha, will explain the psychology of the American South to us. (The Mickster chimes in with his own take on Guilty Southern White Boys-whom he identifies as anyone from that region who points out that ghettos are not necessarily formalized gatherings of like-minded lazy people.) Now, I wouldn’t know Howell Raines if he sat in my lap-although “Whiskey Man,” his novel, is a fine read and should have occasioned more, alas-but I suspect that guilt is the least of his problems. It’s about renegade culture close to the surface, and about all those gigs Otis Redding played at segregated Southern frat houses in the 1960’s, and about the racial lineup of Booker T. and the MG’s (“Play it, Steve!” and he did.), and about how much Ray Charles loved Hank Williams. Whatever else it’s about, it’s not about guilt. Twenty-five years after Elvis kicked, and Blogistan is still filled with uptight Northern honkies who just don’t get it. Pity.

AP tells us what we've lost:



Overview of Changes to Legal Rights

By The Associated Press

September 5, 2002, 11:44 AM EDT

Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks:

* FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation.

* FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests.

* FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.

* RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.

* FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.

* RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.

* RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.



Ummm... did the terrorists win?
Morford.


We are very unfortunately saddled with one of the least charismatic least interesting most intellectually acrimonious and most desperately hawkish, violence-hungry, soulfully inscrutable vice president in decades, and he wants this country at war, now and always. Oh yes he does.

Here is Dick Cheney, speaking to veterans of foreign wars, hyping up the need for a dramatic, wildly expensive pre-emptive strike against evil Saddam and evil Iraq because Saddam is without a doubt right this minute developing super-evil weapons of mass destruction and probably plans to rain them down on cute American babies and squads of helpless virgin cheerleaders at patriotic college football games any minute now, swear.

Here is Cheney, pounding his tight little fist on the podium and scowling hard and looking like a sad cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and a mortician, trying not to get too agitated lest the defibrillator kick in, urging war war war now now now and never you mind how Iraq hasn't had weapons-grade plutonium to make nukes in well over a decade, thanks to ongoing UN intervention. This does not matter.


Make sure you sign up for his Morning Fix newsletter.
Uggabugga notes Kaus's Times obsession really has become self-parody.
Nice job, Ashcroft. Can we fire him yet?

NOT because he's a theocratic lunatic.

NOT because he's trashing the Bill of Rights.

Simply because he's an incompetent bungler.


WASHINGTON -- Three months after Attorney General John Ashcroft said he would enforce an obscure law that requires non-citizens to notify the government when they move, immigration offices have been overwhelmed by 700,000 change-of-address cards. The cards now are in storage here, unread by government workers.

Ashcroft's plan was part of an ongoing effort to improve the monitoring of foreigners in this country, and to help U.S. agents track potential terrorist threats. It has run aground because the troubled Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was unprepared for the avalanche of paperwork created by the plan.

AP runs correction!

Still misses the point, but it's something.

Christ, it's only the 6th and already the 9/11 coverage on CNN makes me want to puke.
Josh Marshall is right on the Times/Kissinger apology flap of course.

Eric Alterman, who may or may not be linking to me anymore, has an article about She-Who-Lies-On-Her-Driver's-License-Application.


And, while we're at The Nation , Katha Pollit has a call to arms about Emergency Contraception, opposition to which has nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with controlling sex.


To the Senators and Congressmen, Republicans and Democrats, currently meeting in New York, I offer you this advice:


shutupShutupShutupSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP
What is the penalty for putting false information on a driver's license application? My own brief look at Scottish Common Law tells me it amounts to Treason, but I'm no lawyer.



Our own investigation revealed that:

•Coulter's Connecticut driver's license lists her birth as December 1961.

•Her D.C. driver's license, acquired many years later, says she was born in December 1963.

• The birth date on file at the New Canaan, Conn., voter registration office is Dec. 8, 1961


UPDATE: A.S. writes in with this. D.C. doesn't consider it treason, but that's just because they're not ready for self-government:


D.C. Code

§ 22-2405. False statements.


(a) A person commits the offense of making false statements if that person wilfully makes a false statement that is in fact material, in writing, directly or indirectly, to any instrumentality of the District of Columbia government, under circumstances in which the statement could reasonably be expected to be relied upon as true; provided, that the writing indicates that the making of a false statement is punishable by criminal penalties. (b) Any person convicted of making false statements shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than 180 days, or both.


Time to put Ann in the Pokey!


Someone writes to Instapundit asking for "materials that dissect the movie," Roger and Me, because it is going to be shown in his Corporations class as a starting point for Corporate Responsibility.

From the sound of it, the writer hasn't seen the movie, but he/she is quite sure it is bad and wants to come armed with all of the reasons why it is bad. Because, Michael Moore is bad and therefore Roger and Me must be bad and it is a sign of the liberal takeover of academia that a prof would show that movie even though it is just for discussion purposes but it's bad bad bad and I must have someone else tell me why it is bad!
Republicans are such liars. Do we need any more proof than this?

Apparently the Chambliss campaign is now claiming Max Cleland made Senate votes before he was sworn in. (via Matthew Ygleias).

Thursday, September 05, 2002

Adam Felber still has a blog.
The OC Weekly has the Dana Rohrabacher story. But shhh, don't read it too loudly or the rest of the media might hear it!



In fact, Rohrabacher’s post-Sept. 11 finger-pointing was a fraud designed to distract attention from his own ongoing meddling in the foreign-policy nightmare. Federal documents reviewed by the Weekly show that Rohrabacher maintained a cordial, behind-the-scenes relationship with Osama bin Laden’s associates in the Middle East—even while he mouthed his most severe anti-Taliban comments at public forums across the U.S. There’s worse: despite the federal Logan Act ban on unauthorized individual attempts to conduct American foreign policy, the congressman dangerously acted as a self-appointed secretary of state, constructing what foreign-affairs experts call a "dual tract" policy with the Taliban.

[..]


A veteran U.S. foreign-policy expert told the Weekly, "If Dana’s right-wing fans knew the truth about his actual, working relationship with the Taliban and its representatives in the Middle East and in the United States, they wouldn’t be so happy."

Nowadays, Rohrabacher and his numerous aides are quick to provide copies of the congressman’s pre-Sept. 11 rants against the Taliban. They will tell you that he labeled them "a pack of dogs killing anyone" and "the most anti-Western, anti-female, anti-human rights regime in the world." They will also show you records of the congressman berating Clinton administration
oreign-policy advisors for misreading Taliban intentions and for trying to negotiate peace in Afghanistan with the militant Islamic group’s Mullah Mohammed Omar, a bin Laden associate.

What they won’t mention is that Rohrabacher also once lobbied shamelessly for the Taliban. A November/December 1996 article in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs reported, "The potential rise of power of the Taliban does not alarm Rohrabacher" because the congressman believes the "Taliban could provide stability in an area where chaos was creating a real threat to the U.S." Later in the article, Rohrabacher claimed that:

•Taliban leaders are "not terrorists or revolutionaries."

•Media reports documenting the Taliban’s harsh, radical beliefs were "nonsense."

•The Taliban would develop a "disciplined, moral society" that did not harbor terrorists.

•The Taliban posed no threat to the U.S.

Although he continues to describe himself as an expert on Afghan history and politics, Rohrabacher was obviously dead wrong on all counts.

Evidence of Rohrabacher’s attempts to conduct his own foreign policy became public on April 10, 2001, not in the U.S., but in the Middle East. On that day, ignoring his own lack of official authority, Rohrabacher opened negotiations with the Taliban at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar, ostensibly for a "Free Markets and Democracy" conference. There, Rohrabacher secretly met with Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, an advisor to Mullah Omar. Diplomatic sources claim Muttawakil sought the congressman’s assistance in increasing U.S. aid—already more than $100 million annually—to Afghanistan and indicated that the Taliban would not hand over bin Laden, wanted by the Clinton administration for the fatal bombings of two American embassies in Africa and the USS Cole. For his part, Rohrabacher handed Muttawakil his unsolicited plans for war-torn Afghanistan. "We examined a peace plan," he laconically told reporters in Qatar.

To this day, the congressman has refused to divulge the contents of his plan. However, several diplomatic sources say it’s likely he asked the extremists to let former Afghan King Zahir Shah return as the figurehead of a new coalition government. In numerous speeches before and after Sept. 11, Rohrabacher has claimed the move would help stabilize Afghanistan for an important purpose: the construction of an oil pipeline there. In return, the plan would reportedly have allowed the Taliban to maintain power until "free" elections could be called.


Just go read the whole thing.

Public Nuisance has more on Nora.
How could anyone resist a blog named 'Free Pie'?



mmm...pie...
Damn, the CBS story sure made a big bang didn't it.
American Family Association Alert!



Mr. O'Reilly makes a living using a hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners approach in his interviews, and that's why people love his show. But he crossed the line on his show Tuesday night," said AFA Chairman Donald E. Wildmon. "There's no need to be insulting to the millions of Americans who believe the Bible and have an honest and sincere love for Jesus Christ. Why such an intelligent man would stoop to such personal attacks is beyond us."

Next on Hardball, Howard Fineman and Frank Luntz discuss whether Muslim leaders have done enough to stop extremism and terrorism in their communities.

I wish that was a joke.

UPDATE: correction. I just misheard Matthews - they're doing a different segment.


Rep. Carrie Meek stopped from voting in Florida.



Rep. Meek's problems at the polls reminiscent of election 2000 woes

BY ANDREA ROBINSON
arobinson@herald.com

U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek stopped by a Miami library branch Tuesday to cast her absentee ballot for next week's primary -- only to get turned away because a county computer couldn't verify the 10-year congresswoman was an eligible voter.

Then poll workers failed to follow procedures spelled out in a new Miami-Dade training manual, which instructs them to contact the main elections office in the case of a computer glitch, such as the one that occurred at the Model City Branch Library, 2211 NW 54th St.

''I thought the problems of the 2000 election were behind us. Apparently, they're not,'' Meek, D-Miami, said Tuesday. ``They did not have a [working] computer and the staff was not properly trained.''


What kind of system of justice puts 13 and 14 year olds on trial for murder as adults while they're simultaneously presenting a completely different theory of the murder by trying a 40 year old man for the same crime.

Just One Minute was on this a couple of days ago.
Jeanne D'Arc has the best Norah takedown.


You've got to hand it to Norah Vincent. She managed to say two utterly contradictory and irreconcilable things and both of them were stupid.


(there's more)

God this is fun!
Avedon Carol has a nice response to the Right's sudden embrace of feminism in Afganistan.
Ted Barlow on a a sudden storm of baby maids.
Hronkomatic has some good stuff up.
Reader D.W. notes that Silly Sully, who began his career as a national security analyst by being Gap model, says on his blog:

"Schroder is playing the war for his own electoral benefit in a very tight race."

To this I say:



Some petty things can be insinuated without proof, but major charges need a little more, shall we say, evidence? Among the latest of Sullivan's assertions is a particularly arresting one. It is that the Schröder administration has dreamed up opposition to a war on Iraq to solve its domestic political problems.

Think about that for a minute. A major columnist at the Times of London is accusing the Chancellor of risking what he believes could be thousands or millions of lives lost to Saddam's Weapon's of Mass Destruction --- all merely in order to buttress his domestic P.R. The evidence for Schröder's treasonous cynicism? Sullivan has none.**




** Note to Norah -- parody is definitely protected under Fair Use.

(update: corrected major typos)





Eric Alterman says he can't read my Blog and he might take my link away!
Oh no!

Actually, if anyone else is having problems reading my site let me know. The only thing I can imagine it might be is the javascript the comments uses. Everything else is pretty normal in the .html as far as I can figure tell. He's probably one of those Mac people...

Why does Bill O'Reilly hate America so much?

From yesterday's show:



OReilly: We all know the dangers of radical Islam, and, throughout history, millions of people have been killed in so-called holy wars. Last night, we had an interesting discussion with a man that takes the Bible literally and wants to impose selected condemnations on our secular society.

While we respect all peaceful religious beliefs, we understand that certain Americans cannot be denied rights because they are gay oratheist or whatever. Some people do not understand that.

Joining us now from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is Charles Kimball, the author of a new book called "When Religion Becomes Evil." Professor Kimball is the chairman of the religion department at Wake Forest University and is a Baptist minister.

[...]
And this is what breaks my heart -- and it literally does -- I gave an example last night, Professor, of a troubled kid, 10 years old, who was abused by heterosexual parents who were drug addicts, and the kid was really worked over, burns, every -- the kid is a mess, couldn't place him. Nobody would adopt the child. Nobody, OK? Kid bounced from one foster parent to another to another to another. I mean, the kid's goin -- his
whole life's going down the chute.

Two gay guys stepped up. You wouldn't know they were gay. They make a lot of money. They have a nice house, and they said, "We'll take the kid." The kid's no day at the beach. I met the kid. The kid is no day at the beach. These guys are trying their hardest to give this guy a life.

I asked that guy last night -- I said, "Look, would you deny this child a chance that these guys would give him?" "Yes. Yes. I would deny that child a chance because these guys are gay." I just don't think God's looking at it that way.





Bye Bye Priscilla.
More fun with Norah, "She who earlier this week brought Jackson Browne's "The Pretender" into the Canon of Western Literature." haha.
Uggabugga notes scary throwaway quote in NY Times Article.



The second is to persuade Congress to vote for a resolution that gives the president as free a hand as possible — and not necessarily just with Iraq.
Andrew Sullivan, Salon, Today


Some petty things can be insinuated without proof, but major charges need a little more, shall we say, evidence? Among the latest Rich assertions is a particularly arresting one. It is that the Bush administration has dreamed up a war on Iraq to solve its domestic political problems.




Andrew Sullivan, Times of London, 8/23/98


Commentators last week spoke about America's actions in Sudan and Afghanistan with a wry smile on their faces. They drew parallels with Wag the Dog, the film in which a war is invented by spinmeisters to counter a presidential sex scandal. That any such parallel could credibly be made shows how far America has sunk in the leadership of the free world, and how vulnerable Bill Clinton has rendered his country and its citizens.



Did you know Dan Quayle was on the Defense Policy Board advisory committee?

I feel a lot better now.

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Salon sure does make me feel bad about that 30 bucks sometimes.
Norah sure knows how to win friends:


But, I must say that the so-called blogosphere, liberating as it can be, is—as I have had the misfortune of discovering in recent days—also full of nasty riffraff and wannabe pundits who because they haven’t an earnest, original idea in their heads, fill their empty existences sniping impotently at legitimate targets. By legitimate targets I mean people who have actually had some measure of success in their professional lives, people who get published regularly in the mainstream press because, yes, they have a certain degree of talent, but moreso because they have something more to say on a weekly basis than “boo hoo” or “look ma, no hands.”




We're all losers but you Norah.

Anyway, as a big chunk of Norah's hits over the last few days have come from me you'd think I woulda gotten a thank you note or something.*


* This is just a joke. I don't really think that people need to thank me if I link them.



MWO has the siren going, and they should.



(CBS) CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq — even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.

That's according to notes taken by aides who were with Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center on Sept. 11 – notes that show exactly where the road toward war with Iraq began, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.
[...]

With the intelligence all pointing toward bin Laden, Rumsfeld ordered the military to begin working on strike plans. And at 2:40 p.m., the notesquote Rumsfeld as saying he wanted "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H." – meaning Saddam Hussein – "at same time. Not only UBL" – the initials used to identify Osama bin Laden.

Now, nearly one year later, there is still very little evidence Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. But if these notes are accurate, that didn't matter to Rumsfeld.

"Go massive," the notes quote him as saying. "Sweep it all up. Things related and not."


update: Just wanted to add, this is big not just for what it says but because of the questions of who leaked it and why.



John Aravosis tells us that O'Reilly isn't backing down from the CWFA nutballs.
Pigs and Fishes has fun with Tony Woodlief who believes that you can word searches to demonstrate organizataion's true priorities. In particular, he finds that that the Planned Parenthood site has 654 mentionsof abortion and 68 on childbirth. I thought I'd have a little more fun.

If you search planned parenthood's site for "birth" as opposed "childbirth" it pops up 843 times. Wow! I'm not sure what that proves, but it sure was fun.

Of course, Tony's own site has 2 mentions of childbirth and 16 of abortion, so what can we conclude from that?


Mostly that Tony's an idiot.






PLA asks, "is it really wise to have added 170,000 political patronage positions to the power of the President?" The answer is pretty clear IMHO, but he explains more fully.
Chris Nelson has a great quote by Mark C. Miller, in which he describes the Bush clan as Italian-style fascists.


Boondocks from November.
Brad DeLong's kid is much smarter and obviously much better at Civilization III than yours truly, whose progress in the game has been quite abysmal...

Tuesday, September 03, 2002

It's so fun when conservative republicans try to find that "middle ground" between executing all homosexuals and executing just some of them.

Poor Billy Simon was dropped from a fundraiser with Mary Cheney.


LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Republican group said Tuesday that GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon would be dropped from a fund-raiser with Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter because he reneged on a promise to declare a Gay Pride Day if elected.

The Republican Unity Coalition, which was formed to promote ties between gays and non-homosexuals, said Simon would not be welcome at Thursday's fund-raiser in Los Angeles. He had been scheduled to speak along with Mary Cheney.


I'd like to give the RUC and the LCRs some credit, but they're not stupid enough to support a loser.

Signorile has something to say about these issues in his latest column.
It's about goddamn time somebody said it.



AUSTIN, Texas -- Excuse me: I don't want to be tacky or anything, but hasn't it occurred to anyone in Washington that sending Vice President Dick Cheney out to champion an invasion of Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein is a "murderous dictator" is somewhere between bad taste and flaming hypocrisy?

When Dick Cheney was CEO of the oilfield supply firm Halliburton, the company did $23.8 million in business with Saddam Hussein, the evildoer "prepared to share his weapons of mass destruction with terrorists."

So if Saddam is "the world's worst leader," how come Cheney sold him the equipment to get his dilapidated oil fields up and running so he to could afford to build weapons of mass destruction?


Go Molly Go.


Neal Pollack understands why they hate us.

Sullivan the Magnificent.


Andrew Sullivan, usually a brakeless train of wrong ideas, nails it on the head in today's "www.andrewsullivan.com" blog, in which he tells the Iraqis to go fuck themselves. But when Andrew writes, "the global hostility to dealing with Saddam cannot be avoided. It comes from America-envy and the usual appeaseniks and terrorist-lovers," I think he's slightly off-base. America is hated, world-wide, because we have superior bloggers, and they know it. They can't stand the fact that our opinions are sharper and better-informed. After all, our ability to express opinions without the intrusive filter of editors and fact-checkers is what made this country great.



Something tells me his blog has probably already rocketed up to the top of the charts.
John Caroll sez:


SO THIS IS interesting, living in a nation governed by an oligarchy of men whose supreme self-confidence seems to be based entirely on self-delusion and, perhaps, morally questionable behavior in their previous jobs.

They will do "the right thing," and they have an absolute monopoly on being able to discern and define "the right thing." Unlike the rest of us poor mortals, they know no doubt. Compared with the star chamber that runs our country now, the Inquisition was positively wishy-washy.

One thing they will not be is "swayed." God forbid they should be "swayed." They have swayed themselves so many times in the past 12 months it makes an observer dizzy, but we're not supposed to notice that.

Was it only 11 months ago that we were going to free Afghanistan from the grip of the Taliban and restore that nation to peace and prosperity? Taliban out of power, check; peace and prosperity, not really. Uneasy truce and grinding poverty would be closer to the mark. Here's a fact: Not a kilometer of new road has been built by anyone in Afghanistan since Sept. 12, 2001.


Day I slack off lots of emails come in. Behind. Here's Hesiod on McBride being ahead of Reno. Momentum is with him - let's hope it keeps up through November.


Antidotal notes that Dick Armey can't tell the difference between Woodrow Wilson and Henry Kissinger.

And Norah Vincent, hilariously, has absolutely no idea what Fair Use under copyright law means.
Rummy did the Moon Talk again today.
Daily Kos on the stupidity of term limits.
Light blogging until this evening most likely.

Monday, September 02, 2002

CoE takes on Berkie-Poot.
Would someone please just take away Crazy Davey's bottle of gin? Now white supremacists are leftists too. Does this mean that Horowitz is a leftist? damn..


Happy Labor Day from Consolidated Freightways!



VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Consolidated Freightways Corp., a 73-year-old trucking company, said Monday it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and laying off as many as 15,500 people around the country.

The company's stock had tumbled since it requested an extension in filing its second-quarter earnings two weeks ago and announced that it might be de-listed from the Nasdaq stock market.

[..]

Hundreds of employees had shown up for work at Consolidated Freightways offices Monday, only to find the offices locked. In a recorded telephone message, Chief Executive John Brincko told them not to show up Tuesday.
Mark Crispin Miller has some interesting comments in Salon's Table Talk.

Missed a couple good ones. Howie Kurtz on Bush and Gore:



By contrast, viewing the classically outfitted Mr. Bush enables one to behold moral enlightenment and physical perfection. I defy any normal person to look at this man without adoring him. Combine that with the knowledge that my employers at the Washington Post make huge profits from the sweetheart federal contract that the president gave to our Kaplan education materials subsidiary, and I am anxious to proclaim that he is the finest human being to ever draw a breath.

Anyone who says otherwise is an extremist who hates our land, and must be shunted to the margins of society. George W. Bush is America, and vice versa, and criticism of either is criticism of both. Any attempt to distinguish between the two is hateful and divisive. The principle of free speech does not imply that there is license to speak against this great country by criticizing the one man who protects us from terrorist annihilation, for to do so is treason.




and some warm fuzzies from Ann Coulter.





Given that you liberals are probably too busy robbing convenience stores to verify my claim of preeminence, you can have your parole officers look it up for you. I am number one. That would be numero uno for the vast majority of you earth toned Gore voters who are here illegally after wading across the Rio Grande.

Socialist web weasels, this is the ideal time to take inventory:

ME: Number one author in America. Renowned columnist and lecturer. Revered laissez faire deep thinker. Influencing policy at the highest levels of government. Living in luxury. Hobnobbing with all the best people. Irresistibly charismatic. Flawless Aryan genes. Blond, lustrous hair. Incomparably exquisite facial features. Six feet tall. Forty six pounds. Sweet, cheerful disposition.



YOU: Not the number one author in America. Malicious semiliterate slob. Convoluted unthinking conformist. Haplessly caterwauling to the sleazy nether regions of society. Groveling in the abject poverty that accompanies being addicted to black tar heroin. Associating only with your fellow inbred perverts. Lacking refinement and charm. Most likely an offensive interracial mulatto color. Ratty, lice ridden Don King hair. Marty Feldman eyes. Karl Malden nose. Mini-Me body. Corrosively embittered by your sorry lot in life.







and that asshole from Slate says us liberals aren't any fun.

Seeing the Forest, who has been on roll lately, reminds us that adulterer George Will should have probably served some jail time.
Sullywatch inspires me to run out and buy my first ever copy of Harper's.
Yet another 3rd rate burglary.
If, as Richard "Newspeak" Berke claims, Losing is Actually Winning and Bush wants to lose the House in November, why did he spend his entire vacation fundraising for people (flash req.)?

Sunday, September 01, 2002

Anyone want to guess what's missing from Bush's Labor Day Weekend radio address?
Back from vacation, Josh Marshall asks regarding the Republican claim that social security privatization isn't really privatization.


What reporter would be foolish enough or sorry enough to fall for this?


My prediction - and this is an easy one:

ALL OF THEM


Jeebus.

Lacking his father's deep reservoir of experience to draw upon, how does Bush resolve his advisers' titanic disagreements? He goes with his gut. He relies on an instinctive sense of who is good and who is bad overseas—and then he sticks at all costs with the call he has made. His confidence in this process has grown with his success in Afghanistan He took to heart the lesson that he should trust his moral sense and have faith in what a former Clinton aide, not without admiration, calls "rising dominoes"—the sense that if Bush unfurls a big bright flag and marches toward the mountains, the world will follow.


Update: Link Fixed. Quote is from the Time story, and here's the Finejob.

I predict McBride beats Reno. He's narrowed the gap and my guess is that a lot of the Jones voters are anti-Reno voters who will jump on the bandwagon now that there is one.
The Newshour has had Michelle Malkin subbing for David Brooks? Oh Lordy..
It just wasn't Wolf's Day. He ran a whole segment around this comment:





BLITZER: Congressman Armey, if you take a look at this other poll question that we asked in our CNN-Time Magazine poll, we asked about economic conditions in the United States. Do people believe they will get better, get worse, stay the same? Look at how the situation has deteriorated. Get better -- well, actually, in March, 33 percent thought the situation would get better. Now it's 52 percent, they will get better. Get worse, 14 percent as opposed to 20 percent in March.

So I guess the American public is getting a little bit more optimistic right now that the economic situation is improving even as we speak.


[Armey and Sweeney..blahblahblah..then ]

BLITZER: I also want to just correct one of the graphics, one of the poll numbers that we put up earlier. We had those numbers backwards. The American public is becoming increasingly more pessimistic as opposed to optimistic. We had the wrong numbers earlier. Look at this, "Will economic conditions get better?" Only 33 percent of the American public now believes that is the case; 52 percent, more than half, in March.

Just wanted to correct those numbers, apologize for screwing up the numbers earlier. Probably wasn't the first time, won't be the last time we made a mistake on LATE EDITION.


Daily Kos notices that on one hand the Bush administration ordered the VA to cease all efforts to inform Vets of eligibility, and on the other they've established seminars all around the country to help churches get federal bucks.


LIBERAL MEDIA CENSORS ANN COULTER


Well, not really, but one paper canned her:


Dear Ann Coulter:
You're fired.
It's not that extreme viewpoints are unwelcome on the opinion pages of the Centre Daily Times. All political viewpoints, from Cal Thomas on the right to Molly Ivins on the left, are welcome here.

But, we don't welcome haters, Ann, and that's what you are.

Well, you are either a hater or a hypocrite who calls names and spews enmity because you believe it will get your pretty face on television more or sell more copies of your best-selling books.

In either case, we won't be publishing your Friday column anymore. We decided not to publish a piece of yours a few weeks back because it was nothing more than a sexual history of some of your enemies -- i.e., private citizens who dared to give money to the Democrats.
Seeing the Forest is angry at the lying creep Mona Charen.

Mona is an evil, bigot supporting shrew. Her behavior during the 'Evan Gahr/Paul Weyrich' flap, and that of many others of her ilk, was truly the low point of a lowly existence.

This Stanley Crouch column (only online version I could find) tells the story fairly well. Basically, uber-asshole and Republican favorite sick puppy Paul Weyrich was spouting the old "Jews Killed Jesus" line. Gahr, a one time VRWC junior foot soldier, had the nerve to take offense and write a column about it. Weyrich's status as a top player ensured the conservative movement would close ranks around him and exile Gahr out to the wilderness (where is he now?).

As Crouch explains:


Shortly thereafter, Gahr told me, he received an e-mail from the institute's Mona Charen, a conservative columnist (and also a Jew), alerting him to expect a call from the head of the Washington office informing him he had been dismissed. Charen added: "I sincerely hope that you will take this opportunity to seek psychological or psychiatric help.


Lying feels good, doesn't it Mona? Supporting (certain) anti-semites feels good, doesn't it Mona? Throwing your pals to the wolves and attempting to use the tried and true fascist tactic of questioning the mental health of your opponents feels good, doesn't it Mona?

Well, don't feel too bad for Gahr. He obviously hasn't learned his lesson. Or, maybe he has. I guess it depends on how you look at it.



(for update, see this post here)
Word is Blitzer was a laugh riot today. Can't wait for the transcript...

Property tax assessment has always been a complete sham for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it screws the poor.

According to the study done by the Inquirer, which despite its rightward creep in recent years still does some occasional real journalism, the average assessment to sales ratio declines substantially with the sale price of the home.




While city tax assessors dispute that they are overtaxing low-end homes, they acknowledge that many expensive homes are substantially underassessed.

"I think you're right, and I surrender," said David Glancey, chairman of the tax board. "What this shows is we have a long way to go."


Richard Berke dutifully pushes the latest Talking Point which has been focus group tested on hate radio for the last couple of weeks. A loss in November is actually a win!
Dan Kohn on a strict constructionist's view of "enemy combatants".


Why did the framers so carefully spell out what was required for a treason conviction and that it couldn't be lasting on the family (corruption of blood)? Because they were responding to the numerous abuses that had occurred in England of unfairly accusing and prosecuting political enemies, under the rubric of treason, while denying the accused the rights of due process.



(via Brad DeLong).
Seeing the Forst on the education "crisis."
Many obits (All I've read/seen) refer to Lionel Hampton as a "Lifelong Republican." He may have been, but he supported Clinton in '96 and Gore in '00.
More Republican corruption.


WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Anne Northup asked for help from the Federal Communications Commission this summer to resolve a licensing problem for radios sold by her husband's multimilliondollar Jefferson County company.

Northup, R-3rd District, did not reveal her personal connection to the firm, Radio Sound, in her June 21 letter to the FCC. Her financial disclosure statement filed in May lists the company as an asset, with shares of stock owned by her husband worth at least $5 million and producing income of at least $1 million annually.
.
I'm always a bit surprised by those who think that a little procreative racial deconstruction is like entropy to racial divisions. Is race an issue in Brazil? Venezuela? Cuba? Dominican Republic?

si (or sim).