Saturday, August 20, 2005

Open Thread

How much thread would a threadbot bot if a threadbot could bot thread.

No Disagreement - Ever

Sorry sad conservative blogosphere.

Such thin skins.

Open Thread

No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with a single thread. --Robert Burton

Open Thread

I am the very model of a modern major threadbot.

Open Thread

Hopefully we are not threading over a cliff.

Question and Answer

Yglesias asks:

How is it, exactly, that we're supposed to prevail over a five year timeline if the Reserve and Guard components of the Army "melt-down" over the next 36 months?


Operation yellow elephant. It's our only hope.

Wahhh Index on High

Pod admits error, but also whines about all the people who tried to get him to make a correction.


I get called a traitor several times a day. The goddamn whiny sensitive victim politics of conservatives is really pathetic.

Powerful, Sober, Factual Case

I think Ambien came around at just the right time. It's the only explanation for how these people sleep it night. Or, maybe associative breeding among Republicans and the pundit class has given rise to a subspecies of human which lacks empathy.


I think this was best represented by Margaret Carlson:

ROSE: Where were you on the war?
CARLSON: I was, give diplomacy a chance. I was with Colin Powell the whole way along! Whatever Colin Powell—

ROSE: Oh, so whatever Colin— You know. OK.

CARLSON: Yeah. Whatever Colin does, I’ll go with.

Figueroa's Body Found

Sad, though not unexpected. At least it seems that the perp has been caught.

Shorter Ann Althouse

When people are mean to me, I am no longer obligated to be concerned with trivial things like facts.

Able Danger

This story, and the Congressman who pushed it, is getting sillier by the day.

They had some agenda for reviving this, and they figured they could do so by screaming ATTA! ATTA! despite the fact that they'd never bothered to tell anyone they'd identified him before. Now, it looks like they didn't.

Oh well. Next story?

Open Thread

Too many threads spoil the soup.

Open Thread

How much thread would a threadbot bot if a threadbot could bot thread.

Open Thread

Rarely is the question asked: is our children threading?

Friday, August 19, 2005

Open Thread

To infinity thread and beyond!

Open Thread

Quick! To the threadmobile!

Ah, the Pundits

The best and the brightest are not so bright.

light posting. on the road...

Lowest Point in his Life

Boo fucking hoo.

Profiles in cowardice.

Pod People

What a wanker.

Open Thread

Four score and seven threads ago.

Open Thread

I am the very model of a modern major threadbot.

Getting Out

As Yglesias points out, conventional wisdom of "liberal hawks" and "liberal not hawks" regarding Iraq is basically about the same. We need to get out. The latter emphasize the importance of "getting out now" while the former epmhasize "getting out as soon as we can subject to things being better in some undefined way," but the positions aren't really so different. The "hawks" are just more wedded to the idea that we have to be able to "declare victory" while the "not hawks" think that little chest beating is not actually all that important.

But, none of these people are George W. Bush. As we know, but no one talks about, we have no intention of getting out now or ever. If the "liberal hawks" or the "maverick conservatives" or whoever actually wanted to have a bigger impact on actual Iraq policies, they'd spend more time focusing on pressure points that could actually achieve some change - you know, the Republicans and George Bush - rather than certain overweight filmmakers and cootie-infested liberal groups and the horrible evil party "base" and "grass roots" who should just STFU.

It's time for the Biden Democrats, in one of the infinite Sunday show appearances, to raise the issue of the administration's long term intentions in Iraq. If the stubborn George W. Bush intends to leave troops in that country forever, then no talk of getting out, either on a rigid or flexible timetable, is any relevant.

Sadly, it's only the ones who advocated this clusterfuck who are given any credibility by our media. It'd be nice if they used that credibility and the platform it offers to actually try to achieve something instead of just using it to position themselves as the guys with the biggest balls on the block.

Serving Your Country

Operation Yellow Elephant reaches out to Michelle Malkin.

Real Time

Beacuse of her mother's illness, Cindy Sheehan won't be on Bill Maher's show tonight. Paul Hackett will be on instead.

Goodbye Baltimore

Jules Witcover concludes his final column with:

I have continued the column's focus on this unnecessary and calamitous war and will be doing so as the column appears elsewhere. My principal regret in leaving this space in The Sun is that my readers in Baltimore will no longer read my views on what I consider the most critical crisis facing this country for the foreseeable future.


This is certainly true. We're all guilty of seeing this too much through the lense of politics. Certainly politics matters, it's how things actually get done. But sometimes it means losing sight of the reality - that Iraq is indeed "the most critical crisis facing this country for the forseeable future." We need competent people to figure out how to extract ourselves from that mess. If we don't have them, we're fucked.


(via E&P)

Wankers of the Day

The right wing moronosphere.

Are they ever right about anything?

Open Thread

Too many threads spoil the soup.

Open Thread

Too many threads spoil the soup.

Open Thread

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument. -- Billy Shakes

Words Mean Things

Praise Jeebus for the Editors who can explain what they all mean.

Path of Least Resistance

It's easy and fun!

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Open Thread

Rarely is the question asked: is our children threading?

Open Thread

Too many threads spoil the soup.

Dovish Left

Welcomes veteran Chuck Hagel.
Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, acknowledged the U.S. military presence was becoming harder and harder to justify. He believes Iraq faces a serious danger of civil war that would threaten Middle East stability, and said there is little Washington can do to avert this.

"We are seen as occupiers, we are targets. We have got to get out. I don't think we can sustain our current policy, nor do I think we should," he said at one stop.



Though, as is general the case when the moderates and mavericks stick their heads up for a bit he'll probably not take any constructive steps.

Open Thread

Because threads have feelings too.

Open Thread

Rarely is the question asked: is our children threading?

Bulky Coats

I do wish someone would give me the list of approved behaviors so I too can avoid summary execution.

The Anti-Military Right

Begala:

Such is the hatred of the far right at the dawn of the 21st Century. And my how the optical worm has turned. Today it is the left invoking faith, flag and family, while the right destroys crosses. Today it is the left that honors the war dead, raises up a Gold Star Mother and publicly prays for our troops, while the right viciously attacks a woman who gave her country everything. Today it is the left that patiently and peacefully respects the Office of the Presidency, while the right diminishes the office by claiming it's more important for the President to go bike-riding with a sports hero than comfort the mother of a war hero.

For the last two presidential elections it has been the Democratic Party whose nominee was a Vietnam War veteran, while the Republicans have sputtered out spurious defenses of their candidate's deceitful draft-dodging.

On Thursday, Dick Cheney, who said he had "other priorities" in the Vietnam era, and so helped himself to five draft deferments, will address the 73rd Convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. I do not think he will express remorse for the callousness with which he explained his cowardice. Nor do I expect him to apologize for the shocking, mocking Republicans who, at their New York Convention a year ago, sported Band-Aids with tiny purple hearts to mock the blood shed by John Kerry and so many other heroes in that misbegotten war.

No, Mr. Cheney, surrounded by body guards who would gladly give their life for him, will no doubt wrap himself in the flag. A flag Larry Chad Northern wrapped around his axle on Prairie Chapel Road.

BoBo's World

Supporting the troops, Texas style:

Former Marine Carl Basham remembers his two tours in Iraq like yesterday.

"Three mortars every single night that were landing within a couple feet of your living area. Pretty scary," he said.

Basham, now home with his parents, wants to start a new life with a quality education.

When he enrolled at Austin's Community College to become a paramedic, they told him he'd have to pay out-of-state tuition, because of his time in the military.

Headlines That Write Themselves

Punch and Judy.


oops, make that PINCH and Judy. Punch was daddy.

Journamalism

Chris Matthews, on how he knowingly lets his guests lie on the air:

MATTHEWS: Let me go, Paul, before you start. What I keep doing here is asking people on and off camera who come on this program, high-ranking officers, enlisted, former officers. I get sometimes, not all the time, two different versions, the version they give me on the air and the version they give me the minute when we‘re off the air.

The version they give me when we‘re on the air is gung-ho, we‘re doing the right thing, everything is moving along. The version they give me off the air is, Rumsfeld is crazy. There aren‘t enough troops over there. We‘re not taking this seriously enough, or, we shouldn‘t be there, sometimes.

Clearly, we need a conference on blogger ethics to sort this out.

Only On Fox

This is hilarious.

The Virgin Chickenhawk

Another failure of Operation Yellow Elephant.

Fighting Faith

I suppose I should congratulate Beinart for writing a pro-Sheehan editorial. But, there are two issues. First:

Partly because she captures something profound about the war in Iraq. Vietnam was a mass-participation war: Nearly 3 million Americans fought; more than 58,000 died. And it provoked a mass antiwar movement: Year after year in the late 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Americans traveled to Washington to protest. The assumption was that everyone would serve. It was that assumption, and the fear it created, that drew so many demonstrators into the streets. And it was the betrayal of that assumption -- as children of the elite evaded service -- that ripped America apart.


We showed up. We protested. We tried to stop this thing before it started. We were ignored.


Secondly:

Another politician -- think Bill Clinton or John McCain -- probably would have met with Sheehan long ago. After all, her request isn't that hard to grant. But for this president, it clearly is. Which is partly how we got into this mess in the first place.


Partly how we got into this mess? How do you spell the other part?

P-E-T-E-R B-E-I-N-A-R-T

Wankers of the Day

William Douglas and Richard Chin.

Open Thread

How much thread would a threadbot bot if a threadbot could bot thread.

Open Thread

Better thread than dead.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The Dumbest Troll on the Planet

And, given the M.O., its undoubtedly our own America's Memory.

Sorry hat and Cog, you lose.

Keyboard Kommandos

Episode 6.

Open Thread

Four score and seven threads ago.

Fresh Thread

Travel day, which is why the quick posting...

Iraq'd

Well, it's all old news.

Wankers

Let them know.

Grand Old Police Blotter

Get all your Taft-related info here as it breaks.

Open Thread

To infinity thread and beyond!

Doing Nothing

I believe at the time they called it "wagging the dog."

Open Thread

Hopefully we are not threading over a cliff.

Pundit's War

Meyerson:

The point here is not just that the pundits’ predictions were wrong -- or, in the case, of Friedman, right, but he chose to ignore them -- or their post-facto justi?cations pathetic. The point is that in the sway of ideology, or historical imperative, or loyalty to the administration’s hawks, they misrepresented supposition as fact, excused the misconduct of administration officials, and neglected to consider the predictable consequences of the war they promoted. If we truly lived in the culture of consequences that conservatives profess to support, the role of these pundits in our national conversation would be greatly, and justly, diminished.

Grand Old Police Blotter?

Taft might be charged...

(via pandagon)

Privilege

Father and son.

How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq?

Wasn't he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm's way?
"I'm determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly.

That wasn't the son, believe it or not. It was the father - 15 years ago. I was in Kennebunkport then to cover the first President Bush's frenetic attempts to relax while reporters were pressing him about how he could be taking a month to play around when he had started sending American troops to the Persian Gulf only three days before.

...


"I just don't like taking questions on serious matters on my vacation," the usually good-natured Bush senior barked at reporters on the golf course. "So I hope you'll understand if I, when I'm recreating, will recreate." His hot-tempered oldest son, who was golfing with his father that day, was even more irritated. "Hey! Hey!" W. snapped at reporters asking questions on the first tee. "Can't you wait until we finish hitting, at least?"

Junior always had his priorities straight.

"Cowardly Racist Sociopath"

Sounds about right.

Noggin

Well, I'm sure glad John Gibson wants to live in a world where if he walks into a subway station, slides his fare card, goes through the turnstile, picks up a newspaper, and then sits down in a subway car he can expect to get a few slugs in his melon.

Open Thread

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument. -- Billy Shakes

Open Thread

I am the very model of a modern major threadbot.

Open Thread

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it. --Horace Mann

Late Night

Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Cheney's Razor

Hey Tom, we already coined a term for this phenomenon...

"Grief Pimps"

More fun with Malkin.

Assrocket

Consistency is the devil's volleyball.

Oh, wait, that was ambiguity...

Open Thread

Four score and seven threads ago.

Wormed

This is going to be funny. CNN's computers are all wormed.

Tonight's programming may be comedy gold.

Crappy Little Columnist

Richard Cohen.

Maybe Madagascar Would Be Nice

Limbaugh's plan for us.

Don't Do The Crime Because You're Going to Do the Time

Heh Indeedy.

On Malkin

Silber:

That book, of course, was In Defense of Internment: The Case for ‘Racial Profiling’ in World War II and the War on Terror. Think about the title alone for a minute or two. Turn it over in your mind. Then focus on this: what Malkin defended for the length of an entire book was internment based on one characteristic alone: a person’s ancestry. This is the most blatant and repellent form of racism. Due to Malkin’s efforts, the “acceptability” and “defensibility” of racism achieved great prominence in our society. It was, and still is, a “respectable” topic of conversation. Racism as the basis of government policy was an “acceptable” subject on which to offer an opinion—and a range of opinions was encouraged. Perhaps it was bad policy, perhaps it wasn’t. Who can know for sure? The historical record is complex. Certainty on this question is impossible of achievement.

Add these further facts to your consideration of this matter. As Eric Muller and Greg Robinson examined and proved in great detail, Malkin plays fast and loose with the actual historical record. Her research methods were contemptibly shoddy. The arguments she offers cannot withstand even casual scrutiny. Her book and her subsequent arguments defending it are filled with dishonesties. In short: there are no facts or arguments to sustain Malkin’s position. The policy of internment was irrational at its foundation, and it destroyed many lives. It stigmatized a large group of people for no legitimate reason, and changed many lives forever. For nothing.

So Many Wankers

Your liberal media:


The Washington Post Editorial Page.

Armando writes:

That's the problem with being a shill -- you'll twist yourself into such a posture of ridiculousness you can't even tell when your head has been firmly tucked into your nether regions.


Shorter Armando: That's what happens when you have Charles Krauthammer on your editorial board. Oops, Krauthammer is not actually on the board.

The New York Times editorial page, which is apparently unaware of its own ethics policies.

Open Thread

Hopefully we are not threading over a cliff.

Wankers of the Day

The New York Times.

The problem isn't that they defend Miller on their pages. The problem is that they defend her dishonestly. It's rather sickening.

Mountains of Straw

E&P discusses Judith Miller's lawyer's appearance on Loud Dobbs's Xenophobia Hour last night. There's a lot of interest, but I was struck by the strawman claim that people are saying Miller thinks she's "above the law" which can't be true because she's in jail.

It's the New York Times and others who believe that Miller should be above the law when they argue she shouldn't have to testify, and that she shouldn't have to serve time if she refuses to do so.

Stories No Longer Operative

Not that the jingosphere cares. The Right is always willing to sacrifice innocent others in their holy war against scary brown people.

He wasn't wearing a heavy jacket. He used his card to get into the station. He didn't vault the barrier. And now police say there are no CCTV pictures to reveal the truth. So why did plainclothes officers shoot young Jean Charles de Menezes seven times in the head, thinking he posed a terror threat? Special report by Tony Thompson, and Tom Phillips in Brazil.


Never occurs to them that it could be their melon with 7 slugs in it. Almost makes me miss the party of Randy Weaver.

On Iraq

A couple of people pointed this out last night but I didn't have a chance to write it up. There's nothing "illegal" about putting off the constitution as long as 3/4 of the body voted to amend the laws, which they apparently did.

Rudness Goes Mainstream

Judith Miller's newspaper on the Rude Pundit.

The Anti-Military Right

Continues to grow. Running down a memorial for troops who were killed in action.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - A pickup truck tore through rows of white crosses last night near President Bush's ranch, where a woman has been protesting the Iraq war.

The crosses stretched along the road at the Crawford, Texas, camp, bore the names of fallen U-S soldiers. No one was hurt.



...pictures here.

Open Thread

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument. -- Billy Shakes

Open Thread

I am the very model of a modern major threadbot.

Monday, August 15, 2005

No Longer Operative

Pentagon revising Clint Black concert website.

Traffic

There was a time when I think I had the liberal blog with the most traffic (though certainly never the most trafficked liberal website in the broader genre.) That's before Kos sold his soul to Satan and became top dog.

One thing I find interesting is how people regularly claim it's difficult to draw traffic to a new blog. There's some truth to that, I suppose, but only in relative terms. Two years ago ago this "top liberal blog" had...how much traffic? On September 11, 2001 (a record traffic day) Instapundit had... how much traffic? Feel free to guess.

My point is just that even many "minor blogs" have fairly sizeable traffic compared to what most had just a couple of years ago.

I remember being thrilled when 1000 per day read the site. When 20000 did I assumed I'd peaked, and was thrilled that I had the wee chance to influence that many people.

On Kittens

Jim Henley.

LINDSEY LOHAN AND YELLOBRIBBONS

Bob supports the troops. So must we all.

The Great Debate

Malkin debates Malkin.


America loses.

Racial Profiling

Time to start doing random searches of the kittens.

Bell Curve

Christ, has that racist claptrap reared its ugly head again?


Racists, idiots, or both. You decide...


Bell Curve is a groundhog day causing event. Mention it, and the trolls appear saying the book "hasn't been debunked." Point to numerous debunkings and they erect a few mountains of straw. Burn down the straw, and they slink away for a little while, only to return the next time it comes up and they'll start in again, saying the book "hasn't been debunked."

The brief debunking at the link is really all there needs to be, and Jim Heckman was far too kind.

Open Thread

How much thread would a threadbot bot if a threadbot could bot thread.

Charts

Curt Weldon is such a wanker. It'd be funnier if this wasn't serious grownup level stuff.

Delay

I suppose it's probably better in some sense to delay 7 days than to reboot the whole elections process, but as Juan Cole explains this delay is actually illegal accordinging to the Transitional Administrative Law.


They could've legally asked for an extension before August 1, but the Bushies pressured them not to. So, for the sake of domestic politics the Iraqi government is now apparently having to break the law.

Only One State

William Weld for NY governor? Shouldn't there be a rule that says you only get to be governor of one state...

Sully's World

This column was much more entertaining the first time I read it, when it was written by David Brooks.

But, I thought this paragraph by Sully was interesting:

The real shift can only come from below — from a million small decisions to scrub a wall of graffiti, to rear a child, marry a loved one, teach an immigrant, turn off a mobile phone, look out for an elderly neighbour, decline that last beer. These things change not when politicians or bishops demand that they do. They change when people have finally had enough of the boorishness that selfishness sustains.

Of "a million small decisions to scrub a wall of graffiti, to rear a child, marry a loved one, teach an immigrant, turn off a mobile phone, look out for an elderly neighbour, decline that last beer" how many do you think Sully has actually made?


(thanks to david e.)

Eschacon

If you're planning to come, for the sake of the hosts' sanity please register ASAP.

If you're planning to come, for the sake of your own sanity please reserve a hotel room ASAP.

Open Thread

Because threads have feelings too.

The Problem With Joe

Sam Rosenfeld sums up quite nicely the problem with Joe Biden. He writes:

About four days out of the week I feel like a fan of the Delaware senator, who’s not exactly well-loved in the liberal blogosphere. I like his intelligence and I like his cheerful blowhardiness.


Indeed. I imagine most of us at times have been seduced by one of his surprisingly good rants and while I'm not sure he's all that intelligent he certainly usually comes across as brighter than your average pol.

The problem with Joe Biden is that he is currently taken very seriously on the issue Iraq, despite the fact that the only strategy he has to offer is just another version of the Tinkerbell Gambit - instead of "clap louder" it's "pray louder!" We hear quite often that genuine critics of the war in Iraq don't have a plan, but people like Biden, who are critics of the details but still defend the overall rightness of the endeavor, aren't held to this standard. Biden has no plan other than "put your faith in George Bush," the guy who messed it up in the first place. As he said on Meet the Press:

What I am hoping for, along with Republicans members of the Senate, as well, Hagel and Lugar and others, has been that there be a secure nation within its borders that's basically a representative government where everybody thinks they've got a piece of the action that is federated in part where there is more autonomy given to the regions than ordinarily would be assumed in a united democracy, and the institutions in place where there is enough ability for that government, whatever is elected, to secure the physical safety of its people and not be a threat to its neighbors. That is as good as it is going to get and pray God that that's what happens.


Or, shorter Joe Biden:

Hope IS a plan!

Is This Possible?

Andrew Raisiej, who's running for New York City Public Advocate, writes about a response he recieved when he gave a technology presentation to the Senate Democratic Caucus:

First Senator Dianne Feinstein raised her hand and said, "Senator Daschle, the Internet is full of pornography and pedophilia, and until that's clean up, I don't think the Senate should be on the Internet." (And she represents Silicon Valley!)


Jeebus.

Stay Away

Jessica Pressler apparently found some time between tracking the sweaty public sightings of your host to talk about the joys of Philadelphia in the pages of the NYT.

Yes, it's becoming a great place to live, but shhh... don't ruin it.

Pinhead

On Curt Weldon, and the Times' continued willingness to be played for suckers.

Waaaaahhh

The Times is really getting ridiculous. Today's dispatch from Waaah:

As of today, Judith Miller has spent more time behind bars to protect privileged information than any other New York Times journalist. Reporters from other news organizations have endured longer jail time in the same important cause over the years, but for us and we hope for others, it should be clear after 41 days in a Virginia jail that Ms. Miller is not going to change her mind. She appears unwavering in her mission to safeguard the freedom of the press to do its job effectively.


If she is not willing to testify after 41 days, then she is not willing to testify. It's time for the judge and the prosecutor to let Ms. Miller go.


Number of days Susan McDougal spent in prison for contempt? About 540.

Number of New York times editorial board pieces suggesting she be let go? According to a variety of Nexis searches I've done, approximately 0.

More Plame

From Waas:

What has not been previously reported until now (a blog breaks news!?), is that not only could Rove not remember the name of the journalist who purportedly might have told him of Plame's CIA employment, but he also claimed to remember virtually nothing about the circumstances of the purported conversation. He could not even recall whether the conversation took place on the phone or in person.


Interesting. Thus far I hadn't noticed that the Sgt. Schultz defense, the favorite of Republicans everywhere, was in operation. Apparently I was wrong. That probably makes it a bit harder to get Rove on simple perjury.

Why Are We In Iraq?

Another one fails an attempt to answer the question.

Wankers of the Day

The Volokh gang.

Sources

Talk Left discusses the latest Plame information which is interesting. I want to focus in on this part:

Finally, the new information once again highlights the importance of the testimony of journalists in uncovering whether anyone might have broken the law by disclosing classified information regarding Plame. That is because both Rove and I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney—who are at the center of the Plame investigation—have said that they did not learn of Plame's employment with the CIA from classified government information, but rather journalists; without the testimony of journalists, prosecutors have been unable to get to the bottom of the matter.


Certainly part of this investigation is what did Rove/Libby tell journalists. That is, were they the leakers? This is where the "journalist protecting source" stuff comes in.

The other part of this now is, obviously, "what did journalists tell Rove/Libby?" I know I'm just a blogger with limited ethics, but I have no idea how this falls under any kind of source protection concept. It'd be one thing if it were some double super secret that Rove and Libby ever talked to the press. That is, if they were genuine whistleblowers such that the very fact that they talked to the press at all was secret. But apparently part of their testimony involves admitting they talked to journalists and claiming those journalists told them that Plame was a CIA op.

This falls under source confidentiality protection how? I can't think of any reason that Judith Miller shouldn't answer the following question:

Did you inform Karl Rove or Scooter Libby that Joe Wilson's wife was a CIA operative?


There's no source confidentialy issue there at all, not even in the fevered imagination of Bill Keller.

Freedom Isn't Free

Heh. Indeed.


puke.

Open Thread

Quick! To the threadmobile!

Open Thread

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument. -- Billy Shakes

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Open Thread

Words from the thread on which we string our experiences. --Aldous Huxley

Open Thread

I am the very model of a modern major threadbot.

Open Thread

Because threads have feelings too.

Bush To Go On With His Life

Oh, fucknuts.

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush, noting that lots of people want to talk to the president and "it's also important for me to go on with my life," on Saturday defended his decision not to meet with the grieving mom of a soldier killed in Iraq.

Bush said he is aware of the anti-war sentiments of Cindy Sheehan and others who have joined her protest near the Bush ranch.

"But whether it be here or in Washington or anywhere else, there's somebody who has got something to say to the president, that's part of the job," Bush said on the ranch. "And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say."

"But," he added, "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life."


The comments came prior to a bike ride on the ranch with journalists and aides. It also came as the crowd of protesters grew in support of Sheehan, the California mother who came here Aug. 6 demanding to talk to Bush about the death of her son Casey. Sheehan arrived earlier in the week with about a half dozen supporters. As of yesterday (Saturday) there were about 300 anti-war protesters and approximately 100 people supporting the Bush Administration. In addition to the two-hour bike ride, Bush's Saturday schedule included an evening Little League Baseball playoff game, a lunch meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a nap, some fishing and some reading. "I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy," he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving mom wanted to speak with him. "And part of my being is to be outside exercising."

On Friday, Bush's motorcade drove by the protest site en route to a Republican fund-raising event at a nearby ranch.

As Bush rolled by, Sheehan held a sign that said, "Why do you make time for donors and not for me?"

Able Danger

Really, what kind of pond scum of a Congressman just makes shit up like this.

And what kind of newspaper falls for it hook, link, and sinker?


Oh, right, the New York Fucking Times.

I RAQ AND ROLL

I don't know. I guess I'm finding it hard to get too upset about this. The Washington Post is just revealing itself to be the official print organ of the Washington Republican establishment, even edging out the Moonie Times for that honor. Now that they've unequivocally revealedd their true face, we can just treat them as they are.


And, yes, there are good reporters at the Post. But, the Post as a Washington Institution is just a bootlick to Republican authority.


Gotta hand it to the Bushies though. They fully understand that this isn't just about using 9/11 to prop up dear leader, it's also about using it to divide this country as much as possible by giving their mouth breathers what they want most - a big middle finger to anyone who questions dear leader.

Dean on Getting Out

Today on Face the Nation:

The question is, what is a reasonable way to get out? And that's - we have no answers from the President on that at all. He keeps - his Administration appears divided. Some of the generals have said we can withdraw some of the troops, perhaps as many as 30,000 after the elections. We have others saying, we're not going to leave. These people do not know what they are doing. They didn't know what they were doing when we got in, they had no plan then, they have no plan now. ... The President and people like Secretary Rumsfeld are ignoring the career experts like the general who told them before we went in that we needed adequate equipment and troops. ... The President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief. It is up to him to come up with a plan. ... The President got us into Iraq because people were willing to trust the President, even Democrats were willing - some Democrats were willing to trust the President in assuming he knew what he was doing. The problem is now that there's ample evidence that says that they didn't understand what they were getting into. They still don't know what we're doing there. They change their goals, the troops are still not properly equipped, the constitution looks like it may take away freedom from the Iraqi people - at least half of them - instead of add to them. What we need is a plan from the President of the United States.


That's basically it. What is a reasonable way to get out?

Getting Out

No matter what one thinks about how that should be achieved precisely, our mission in Iraq right now should be to "get out." This was, in theory, the goal which was in place on "Mission Accomplished" day, around which time the administration was talking about reducing troop levels to 30,000 by the end of that summer.

The problem is that the jingosphere who are well represented in the administration believes that as long as the insurgents want us to "get out" then we can't get out because that would be doing what they want. Of course, the idea that getting out might be what's best for the Iraqi people is of little concern. Proving we've got the biggest balls is what matters, and by "we" I of course sad little men with their little empty bags of cheetoes who believe this grand adventure gives them Testicles Maximus By Proxy.

The other problem is the little fact WHICH THE MEDIA WON'T TALK ABOUT that we can't leave because we don't have any intention of leaving. If we do indeed plan to have a permanent military presence of 30,000, and we face a tough security situtation, then those 30,000 require another 100,000 to protect them. Drawing our troops down to zero may actually be a realistic proposition, while drawing them down to a permanent presence of 30,000 probably isn't. So, it'll be groundhog day in Iraq as soldiers continue to die to maintain the "honor" of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders and the imperial dreams of the neocons.

And, hey, as I've written before, maybe having a permanent military base in Iraq is a good idea. We have lots of permanent military bases all over the world and there's certainly no a priori reason while having troops permanently in Iraq is such a bad idea. But, to make that determination we have to have a realistic understanding of what we hope to accomplish and what the cost, in Iraqi and American lives and treasure. Obviously the architects believed they could flick the Saddam regime out of power with their fingers and then build the bases on top of the resulting rose petals. Like so many other things they were wrong about this. Are the military bases still a good idea? Now that we have new data which tells us it's going to cost us 2+ soldiers per day indefinitely, and who knows how much money, should we still stick with this plan?

Wankers of the Day

The Washington Post, for posting without rebuttal the claim that DeLay severed contact with Abramoff in February of 2001, a claim which even a bunch of google monkeys after a few martinis on a Saturday night can clearly determine is bullshit.

We get the double bonus of confirming conservative ultrareligious nutcase Paul Weyrich as a known liar, one who feels comfortable bearing false witness when it serves him.

Our First Album

Here's the cover.

Debut live performance at Eschacon.

BoBo's World

Though not our usual type of Bobo's world entry, this too does not correspond to the fictional red state reality which exists in Bobo's head. Kentucky edition:

But on Friday, Comley's grandmother, 80-year-old Geraldine Comley of Versailles, described herself in an interview as a former Republican stalwart who is "on a rampage" against the president and the war.

She said she would like nothing better than to join Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who has been holding a peace vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Texas.

"When someone gets up and says 'My son died for our freedom,' or I get a sympathy card that says that, I can hardly bear it," Geraldine Comley said.

She said her view, developed before her grandson's death, is that Bush pushed for war because Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had tried to assassinate the first President Bush, and to get control of Mideast oil.

"And it irritates me no small amount that Dick Cheney, in the Vietnam War, said he had 'other priorities,'" Geraldine Comley said. "He didn't mind sending my grandson over there" to Iraq.

Sunday Bobbleheads

Document the atrocities.

Losers

"People like you caused us to lose that war."

--Ann Coulter, to disabled Vietnam Vet on MSNBC some years back.


Digby's right, the anti-military right is back.

Open Thread

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it. --Horace Mann

Open Thread

Because threads have feelings too.

Open Thread

Too many threads spoil the soup.