I am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. I'm gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that. And we have succeeded. You know we've succeeded. They are on the run in corporations, in the media, everywhere. They are on the run, because I will put their face and their name on television, and I will talk about them on the radio if they do it. There is no reason on this earth that all of us cannot celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together. There is no reason on the earth that we can't do that. So we are going to do it. And anyone who tries to stop us from doing it is gonna face me."

posted by jabartlett 5:42 PM |

We are right and everybody else is wrong...

The Australians are now willing to discuss mandatory CO2 emissions caps, leaving the United States of Exxon as the world's holdout. No one, and I mean no one, believes the free markets will fix runaway climate change, including President Fuckwit.

Everyone of us (note proper case) Americans should read Harold Pinter's Noble prize acceptance speech. Pinter is in my opinion a friend of the U.S. telling us what we will never hear from our institutions of power and privilege, our vaunted leadership, our distinguished mass media. After his speech, read (or reread) the U.S. Bill of Rights and try to defend the proposition that several of them are not disappearing faster than Arctic ice.

For language mavens, Professor Rice's semantic hijinks respecting torture, renditions and law over the past three days have proved to be a goldmine for study, contemplation and nausea. As much as I am disinclined to accept anything from Scott McCllelan's oral meatus, his comment yesterday that Rice has not articulated any change in U.S. torture policy is credible. Even habitual liars occasion the truth.

posted by Lee Harlos 1:12 PM |

I remember exactly where I was, who I was with, what I was doing 25 years ago tonight around 11:00 when I heard. I never had any illusions that Lennon's music and Lennon the man matched: he was as big a bastard as we are all capable of being. I like to think that all his exhortations for peace and generosity and "Instant Karma" (on the radio right now on KEXP) were personal exhortations aimed at his own propensity for violence and greed and depression, and that's what gives the songs their emotional oomph in me. "Imagine" is a terrible song if he is hectoring me. It's plaintive if he's hectoring himself.

bLCkdgRd

posted by Blackdogred 12:39 PM |

Chase this story

Shrubby yesterday made another weak attempt to link Saddam with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile in his first interview since becoming Saudi ambassador prince Turki told Reuters that the Junta's failure to capture Osama bin Laden spurred the growth of militant Islamic cells. The man who was Saudi intel chief for 25 years (he goes all the way back to Bill Colby's days as DCI) also points the finger at Tehran for fomenting Muslim vs Muslim fratricide in Iraq. Turki's sources are far more reliable than anything Rummy and the Porter can buy from Iranian agent Ahmed Chalabi and the rest of the bunko "democracy builders" scamming your tax dollars in Iraq. And let's give it up for Cigar Afficionado poster boy Tommy Franks for screwing the pooch at the Tora Bora caves.

posted by Groom 4:20 AM |

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

CLASSIC!

From Think Progress via Daily Kos,

Lieberman yesterday: "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril." Murtha today: "Undermining his credibility? What has he said that would give him credibility?"

posted by John 10:15 PM |

The Economy is Doing Just Great—For Who?

Headline just in from Marketwatch

U.S. job cuts jump 22% in November; 2005 set to become fifth straight million-layoff year

posted by John 9:33 PM |

Whoa!

Take a good look at one of the folks who clearly comprises the 34% who love our fearless leader, who shamelessly torment tortured spouses like Michael Schiavo and who are only too happy and self-justified to tell the rest of us what to believe and how to live. If this woman is in the rapture of a loving God, please tell me what hell looks like. I'm not surprised that there are people in the evangelical community walking around with this kind of rage--this is the stuff the Klan and Nazi Germany are made of. It's just rare to see it perfectly framed on national TV. And it's scary that in 21st Century America, people like this have serious political leverage and not a perpetual Prozac prescription.

posted by Leftcoast 1:24 PM |

Annals of Diplomacy

So now the Bushies are saying Condi didn't really admit that the U.S. had made a mistake in nabbing an innocent German citizen and that new Chancellor Angela Merkel is a liar. Isn't it great when old friends play nice together? I hope the Krauts have it on tape.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9:37 AM |

Condi's Pox Europa

As if Shrubby guided her down from Mt. Ararat, our house Topsy has offered a revelation... naysayers will fall victim to more terror attacks should they continue to criticize the Junta for its use of "black sites" for the detention and torture of alleged terror suspects.

posted by Groom 1:16 AM |

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Serving God? Or Serving Mammon?

Com'on guys, no big deal. You're supposed to run churches in a bizness-like manner, aren't you?

This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day.

Critics within the evangelical community, more accustomed to doing battle with department stores and public schools over keeping religion in Christmas, are stunned by the shutdown.

See the rest of the story here.

posted by John 11:51 PM |

It's what we feed our children, stupid

According to Ad Age,

A government report today that accuses food marketers of using billions in marketing dollars to woo children away from good diet choices could become a watershed on the scale of the 1964 Surgeon General's report on tobacco.

The report urges the food industry to work voluntarily with the government to forge an agenda to turn beverage and marketing toward better diets. But if that cooperation doesn't yield substantial change within two years, the report calls for legislative action.

How this report gets handled will be a clear indicator of who gets fed at the Washington trough. Will our children wind up with a better diet? Or will junkfood purveyors's profits continue to fatten while the kids suffer from increasing obesity and higher rates of diabetes—creating more profit-making opportunities for big pharma as well?

posted by John 9:57 PM |

A Fascist-Based Conservative

From the Associated Press:

"The Bush administration policy is against torture of any kind; it's prohibited by federal criminal law," said John Yoo, a University of California-Berkeley, law professor. As a Justice Department lawyer, he helped write internal memos in 2002 designed to give the government more leeway in aggressive questioning of terror suspects.

"The debate is whether you can use interrogation methods that are short of torture," he said. "Some who have been critical of the Bush administration have confused torture with cruel, inhumane treatment."

So, what Shrub and Condi are saying when they claim the U.S. does not "torture" is that we use "cruel and inhumane" treatment instead. A rather fine distinction, wouldn't you say?

Seems to me there's an easy way to settle this. If the Administration feels that waterboarding is not torture, let's have Professor Yoo, or perhaps Condi or that fine physical specimen, the Shrubster himself, allow themselves to be the subject of a demonstration of the effects of waterboarding on Larry King Live. Or, maybe Rush or Sean Hannity would like to volunteer?

posted by Jerry Bowles 7:32 PM |

A Reality-Based Conservative

Robert Kagan, writing in The Weekly Standard:

The U.S. force was too small at the beginning and remained too small for most of the past two years. As a result, it did not play the role that an occupying force must play in bringing stability to the country, the prerequisites to producing a secure Iraq capable of standing on its own feet. Instead of worrying about an overly large American "footprint," administration and military officials should have been worrying about stopping armed opposition from spreading and about the moral and practical responsibility of providing security to the people whose country we had invaded.

It's heartening to hear an honest Conservative speak of our moral responsibility as a nation at a time when we are led by a gang of thugs who don't believe we have any.

posted by Jerry Bowles 6:28 PM |

Allies? There Are No Allies.

CIA deliberately lies to Italian secret services so that Italians cannot capture known terrorist:

The strategy worked for more than a year until Italian investigators learned that Nasr had not gone to the Balkans after all. Instead, prosecutors here have charged, he was abducted off a street in Milan by a team of CIA operatives who took him to two U.S. military bases in succession and then flew him to Egypt, where he was interrogated and allegedly tortured by Egyptian security agents before being released to house arrest.

(snip)

"The kidnapping of Abu Omar was not only a serious crime against Italian sovereignty and human rights, but it also seriously damaged counterterrorism efforts in Italy and Europe," said Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor in Milan. "In fact, if Abu Omar had not been kidnapped, he would now be in prison, subject to a regular trial, and we would have probably identified his other accomplices."

First, can we stop using the phrase "Global War on Terror," b/c as far as this administration is concerned, this is our war. That train bombing in Madrid, those tube bombings in London? Pissant attacks. This is another symptom of the disease of exceptionality, the pride a college football player takes in playing injured, the pride a fencer takes in his facial scars. This is survivor's pride, and unlike survivor's remorse, pride leads to revenge, and revenge is not to be shared with those who were not similarly attacked, and since we're exceptional, nobody else was attacked like us.

Second, torture. The CIA wanted to torture Abu Omar and was afraid that the Italians, if they captured him first, wouldn't allow the Americans to torture him. A choice was made: lie to an alleged ally so that a man suspected of plotting against the United States could remain free to continue plotting until such a time that Italian sovereignty could best be violated in order to capture the man and illegally render him unto Egypt for torturing. Makes you proud, yes?

This is beyond moral imbecility. What if, in the interim between the possibility of Abu Omar's capture by the Italians and his capture by the CIA he had been highly responsible for a vicious attack anywhere, not just the US, which his capture by the Italians might have prevented? Since he was in Italy, perhaps he was plotting an attack there: the US decides it's more important to our interests that he go free until he can be picked up for torturing by us? Our right to expedite the torture of Abu Omar trumps treaties, international relations and obligations, national laws, and good faith.

Because this is our war. Ours, ours, ours. Because it's true: we are exceptional.

bLCkdgRd

posted by Blackdogred 8:23 AM |

The torturer's apprentice

Hey there terror suspects... if you think Lynndie England was a hoot at Abu Ghraib, grab a look at my lawful weapons.

posted by Groom 5:05 AM |

Give Us Barrabas Monica!

Sen. Clinton co-sponsors anti-flag burning law

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is supporting new legislation to criminalize desecration of the United States flag -- though she still opposes a constitutional ban on flag attacks.

Got that? She wants to stand up to the Supreme Court! We're gonna revere the flag in this country, dammit!

The [ ] measure outlaws a protester intimidating any person by burning the flag, lighting someone else's flag, or desecrating the flag on federal property.

Oh, so it's a halfhearted empty gesture and constitutional dodge dressed up as a principled stand against the Supreme Court -- that should go over really well in all quarters, don't you think?

The woman wants to keep our troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, too. Remind me, again: Why is she a Democrat?

posted by Michael 1:39 AM |

Monday, December 05, 2005

Good advice for dealing with dumb trolls.

posted by Blackdogred 1:02 PM |

Rice defends extraordinary renditions of suspected terrorists.

One sign of the progress in black-white relations that our society has made over the years is the spectacle of a privileged woman of color defending activities comparable to those used by U.S. institutions and their agents during the periods of slavery and apartheid. Strange fruit indeed.

Any U.S. official claiming that the U.S. complies with U.S. law is saying little, given the strained interpretation of torture developed by Bybee, Yoo and blessed by U.S. jefe abagado Gonzales. As the liberals defimed deviancy down, so have the right wingers torture. The utility of torture, lest we forget, is not to obtain information or demoralize the enemy. It is an end, not a means. Elemental power, no more no less. There are no moral justifications. Period.

posted by Lee Harlos 10:16 AM |

A party divided cannot stand

Dems are divided on Iraq. When John Murtha turned against the war of lies he spoke for many senior officers who understand the geopolitics of the oil bidness but are committed to a non-politicized military. That’s the piece that Hillary (and Bill) Clinton, William Perry, Wes Clark and Richard Holbrooke and others in the Democratic “foreign policy elite” prefer to ignore. They are all afraid to go on record with something really substantive for fear of getting victimized by the GOP a la John Kerry in 2004. The twin towers, social security, the Medicaid “drug benefit” and education and job creation are far more important issues in 2006 and 2008. A compromise on Iraq can only create a larger fissure in the Democratic party fault line and play into the GOP strategy to project dems as weak on national security.

Because the State Department has lost power during the Junta years the question of why the US is in Iraq is not a traditional foreign policy issue. Iraq became the front burner national security issue after the Junta stole the 2000 election and Shrubby’s numbers were diving in the polls. Rove’s media machine linked Saddam with Usama bin Laden and the Saudi 9/11 attacks. One must give Lord Rummy and Lord Cheney credit for creating the illusion that they were filling the national security gap created by the Democrats, who will never recover from that rap no matter what they do. If Dems want to point the finger on the “national security gap” they should point it at Poppy Bush for not having Stormin’ Norman go to Baghdad during “Desert Storm.” That’s the incubus for the Saddam problem. And don’t forget the Saudis and their OPEC pals paid the US treasury big money, about $65 billion, to do Desert Storm. This time it’s me and you who are picking up the tab.

Thanks to the Lords the highly politicized DOD boasts a $420 billion FY 2006 budget excluding black programs and the special appropriations for Iraq (including the vig for crony consultants and contractors). They've also usurped the power of the CIA. What better a name for Junta DCI than Porter. The last half-decent Dem topper at the Pentagon, Harold Brown, only had $125 billion a year to throw around… a quarter of what Rummy gets. The Clintons and their pal the Ace of Spades picked Les Aspin to run the DOD. A Poppy Bush lite on Iraq, he waffled on the Somalia crisis before stepping down and stroking out. William Perry was a Brown protégé who filled in as technocrat until the Clintons got the bright idea of insuring the “non-partisanship” of the Pentagon by naming Republican moderate Bill Cohen to run it. Bill has his own outfit on K Street these days. Dick Cheney would have been a better “non-partisan” choice… but he was too busy running Halliburton at the time.

posted by Groom 4:34 AM |

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Extraordinary Renderers

Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Right Wing American. Here's the scenario. An American citizen has a fight with his wife and decides to drive up to Canada for a couple of days to cool off. He is detained at the border because a name similar to his is on a list of possible terrorists wanted by the French. The Canadians send his passport off for verificaton and contact the French intelligence agency which then decides it can't wait for those bureaucrats in Washington to decide if the suspect is really an American citizen or not. Madame LaFarge, the spiky-haired bull dyke who runs the French anti-terror unit, orders the man shipped off to Algeria where he is tortured for five months. By then, two rather embarassing things have become clear. One is the guy really is an American citizen and, two, he really isn't a terrorist.

How would you feel about that? Can you hear loudmouths like Hannity and Rush bellowing their lungs out? Can you imagine the international stink?

But, you say, such a thing couldn't happen here. Wrong. This is the real story of a German citizen of Arab descent who was detained on the Macedonia border and, on the orders of the spiky-haired bull dyke who runs the CIA anti-terror unit, shipped to Afghanistan for five months where he is tortured and mistreated. He was then quietly released and both the Germans and the CIA are denying that it ever happened. But, it did happen, as the increasingly indispensible Dana Priest documents in today's Washington Post. And, you can bet your ass, that it's happened more than once.

How do you like facism so far?

posted by Jerry Bowles 4:41 PM |

DNC locks out journalists

Pay-to-play Dems think they can put out an electrical fire with a water hose. At the DNC Phoenix sitdown this weekend, they expanded the inclusionfest to include two new bodies, "people of faith" and Iraq war veterans and familes. Howard Dean gets good marks for throwing money at the folks who talk with grits in their mouth. But the DNC banned the press from the group meetings. Do they fear GOP oppo research? Or do they fear the "liberal media?" How do you spell Heil Hegel!

posted by Groom 4:25 PM |

Corporate welfare? Or a safety net for business that saves thousands of jobs and the middle-class dream in America?

Do ask your Republican friends about this story in the Washington Post.

Troubled U.S. automakers and their allies on Capitol Hill are seeking billions of dollars in aid from the federal government ranging from health coverage for their workers to extra tax write-offs for themselves.

The charge is being led by Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), but do notice this.

Republican lawmakers from regions affected by the auto company retrenchment are joining the drive. Rep. John J.H. "Joe" Schwarz, a freshman Republican from Michigan, has been working on a universal health care plan modeled on federal employees' benefits that potentially would help GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler unload billions of dollars in annual health care costs for current workers and retirees. "It is wrong to destroy the middle-class dream in America," Schwarz said. "We are going to have to find a way as a country to work our way through this."

And do ask your representatives—why shouldn't that universal health care plan modeled on federal employees' benefits be extended to every American?

posted by John 10:56 AM |

Dems running on Rove Lite

Democrats, liberals, meet your potty's new Karl Rove... Chickenhawk Marshall Wittman, er… uh, Marshall Wittmann… one time GOP consultant, Christian Coalition pimp and John McCain press guy now playing front man for Al From’s Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). While with Team McCain, Marsh got the vapors over the Bush “tax cut for the rich” and flipped. My, my…how surviving in desert of the Valley of the Sun can heat up the zeal of converts. Marsh talks war. Marsh talks grits. Marsh talks intelligent design. Kiss traditional Dem core issues like Social Security, Medicare and education goodbye. I can't remember a schande this bad since Roy Grutman became the Jewish pit bull for Jerry Falwell. Anything the Dems can do to co-opt those Kompassionate Kristian Konservatives in our economically restructured, no privacy, post post-industrial society. Wittmann says the Dems are squishy soft on Iraq and other national security issues. Joe Lieberman tells the Council for Foreign Relations that America may face a shooting war with China over oil. Low-fi Dem voters who aren’t part of the pay-to-play crowd need to wake up and see where their potty is heading before issues Kapo Wittmann hijacks the agenda. If they don't want Chuck Hagel as the next president some Dems with access to the new “inner circle” ought to remind Howard Dean that it is independent voters who make up their minds- using non-scientific methods right around election day- who really decide elections. Not the victims of a Kapo Wittmann media massage.

posted by Groom 7:53 AM |