Impermissable

The Victor Laslo Moment

2005-11-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

In Casablanca there is a scene where Victor Laslo, defying the Nazis gets the orchestra to play the national anthem of France to drown out the germans singing their own national songs. Everybody who was previously afraid to say anything stands up an joins in. They are part of something now. They no longer believe they are isolated and on the margins.

That moment has arrived. Whoever stands up now and demands the orchestra start playing over Gutless Wonder Bush and the Fox channel gets to be the hero. And not the usual everyday Best Daddie Ever Mug hero either. We're talking Patrick Henry status here.

The naked emporer is singing, a handful of sycophants are singing with him. Sixty percent of the country is not. There's the orchestra, the majority of the room is waiting. Who will stand up?

Downtime

2005-11-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Too busy keeping up with FireDogLake, the best source on the web for following traitorgate, and the phenominal commentary by Digby and Tristero here

The analysis and commentary over this last month has been so accurate that you could calibrate scientific instruments with it.

US Business Reporting - Got Perspective?

2005-10-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Business reporting sucks post #1

GM CEO Rick Wagoner: "health benefits add a staggering $1,500 to the price of every vehicle GM makes."

GM has 14 employees per car manufactured. Toyota has 7. Toyota manufactures more cars in the U.S.A. than GM. So does Honda.

Well the CEO of Delphi alone, say again, just this one guy costs $2.71 in compensation per vehicle. How many executives get this kind of compensation? Someone want to add it up? How about corporate jet and helecopter expense? How much would you like to bet that these stratospheric expenses from high-flying executives cost as much as the health benefits (and they get these too).

Calculations: 2.4m produced in first 6 months of 2005, doubled then divide into 13,398,000 compensation for this single executive. I couldn't find all of the executive compensation in the statements put on the web. I see them in the ones sent out for investors to vote on. Hmmm, conspicuous by its absence, yes?

Also, interest expense on their debt calculates to $3041.56 per vehicle. Now, if they didn't have these but-I'm-poor-next-to-Bill Gates one-upsmanship $10 million pay packets, maybe they wouldn't need so much debt. They don't seem to be braying about the cost of their debt which is double the healthcare overhead.

Flat Tax My Bubble Economy

2005-10-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

Shorter Fixed Tax debate: Will the alien visitors be friendly or not?

That's just about as relevant as what is being ~~blathered over~~ discussed in the mainstream media. All media outlets have become so timid about discussing reality that they continue to dance around the most obvious truths. The middle class pays very little in tax--not that there's anything wrong with that (unless that's your agenda). The middle class will continue to have the smallest burden because the pols will pander to the broadest swath of voters they can get to listen between breaks on CSI. Or vote Republican again. You have to admit, they seem to be able to sell people on voting against their interests in the name of superior stances on unpopular people/causes. Hate those gays? We'll ~~kill cut slash~~ reform Social Security as a returned favor!

But nobody, I mean NOBODY, will state the obvious: that paying their fair share would mean tripling (or more) what the typical family pays now. If you don't believe me, take your income, assume it's a restaurant check and figure in a 15% tip. That's your flat tax bill. Now take your jaw and pick it up and try adding some more because it's likely going to be 17% with NO DEDUCTIONS. It's flat, remember? But what about my mortgage interest? NO! Kids? NO!

If you like this arrangement, then congratulations and sympathies because 1) you make more money and 2) there are more of them than you and you won't get it. It's a stealth republican gambit and the jig is up. A stealth republican is a one or two professional income household and therefore upper middle class. They get hit pretty good with taxes. But you'll get no sympathy from those making less and no help from those making more. The 250K and up bracket can buy influence and they have--Bush lowered their rate. If you're 75K to 150K, well you get to pay more than your share.

George H.W. Bush, was an arguably successful president, but he was defeated by a almost totally unknown Arkansas governer. What little was known about the Clintons involved a history of minor but questionable personal and financial activities. But Poppy Bush put tax hikes on the table for possible discussion and lost his base. That alone is a pretty clear statement from the public--I'm all for tax fairness as long as my fairness is better than before.

So can we just stop the bullshit? There is no such thing as a Flat Tax debate. Somebody has to make up the difference and the only question is who will pay more than before. Somebody gets more of the burden and you need leadership to get a consensus on that. None of that is remotely visible on the horizon. We've got a war that nobody has the guts to address in any way other than some hackneyed sports metaphor. How many people want to retch when they hear that resolve word again.

Brownie Gets Busted

2005-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

As if you didn't already know Brownie was a liar, now we have proof. His emails have been leaked to the press. Since he has testified in front of congress to the contrary, he may have some trouble ahead. Here's my favorite part:

Later, on Aug. 31, Bahamonde frantically e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands are evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."

"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote.

Less than three hours later, however, Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.
"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."

My God, I can only imagine this guy at some point losing it and screaming "What's wrong with these people, it's flooding! Fish swim in water, right? So what's the problem, grab a fish and have a drink! You know what they charge for sushi in D.C?

The Dream Date is Over

2005-10-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

Like a stalker that has imagined the perfect date with the perfect woman, the neocons have spent all their effort to front themselves as the perfect match. Imagine a date where the man is so into himself that he does nothing but regale his date with his prowess the whole evening, truly believing that all of the accolades he heaps on himself will surely lead to the most beautiful night of delicious nirvana. Why even HE finds himself irresistable!

Well the goddess of illusion just said good night and gave Bush a sympathy pat before disappearing behind the door. Bush can't believe it! He's standing on the doorstep with his bag of lube and lace teddies! His codpiece swelling with Viagra induced torpidity. How could she not notice such full on manliness? Don't you know who I am?

If there is any small upside to the miserable, soulless cabal that is the Bush Administration, it is that their own insatiable greed for power and influence ultimately causes them cannibalize their own ranks when the goddess of illusion slams the door in their face. Someone's gonna pay for this! And who do they know? Only their own. Somebody fucked up and it wasn't me! The other ratfuckers know the game too. They don't want the failing collossus dropped on their head! They were just being good team players after all--they didn't drop the ball, they did as they were told.

The true beleivers are crecking up. Each is moving to a new way of looking at the situation now that defeat is looming. I didn't fuck up--Bush fucked me! I worked hard to put him in place for victory, not defeat. I was promised a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, now nothing? Fuck this shit!

Well, you reap what you sow you assholes. You picked a good muppet boy and angry puppeteer to start this conflagration and now muppet boy has decided he's Nobody's Fool. President CrazyBananas assayin' he gonna nonominate him some Harry-et Maieerrrrs dagummit. And you feel let down. Boo hoo. He's a burn artist, idiot. He burns 'em when he's done with 'em and now he's done with you. Live with it.

Traitorgate Fans - Alert

2005-10-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

I read Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack when it first came out. It is more important as a resource now than ever since it lays out a timeline of events leading up to the war. This timeline is also part of where all of events that the criminal charges will be focused.

Consider that the White House fact checked this book in better times when they were confident of victory (or at least getting along without a prosecuter nipping at them), so there is way more detail in this book than they would ever want anyone to know today.

This is an excellent background story and reads like the best suspense fiction (since this group is strange beyond fiction). It's like being at a party and meeting people who seem normal, but then they start a video and sit in rapture as the Great Glagnar demonstrates manually cross-breeding gerbils to make a master rodent race that will fix the ozone layer by chewing latent seed pods or some bullshit--and then you're rich.

I would like to see the blogs follow up on this tidbit in the book: Hosne Mubarek calls Bush and tells him that Saddam is willing to leave Iraq if he can keep his money. In other words, a bloodless coup was offered up--and discarded by Bush himself. Bush relates this in an interview with Bob. Where have you seen this repeated?

Hoopty Rides: Considering Service Stations

2005-10-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

Take a break from the ordinary to see this great blog. I want to retire and do something this entertaining, fun, and useful.

Later, let's look back on this one...

2005-10-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, we should really re-evaluate our assumptions about the world. Here's some suggestions from James Howard Kunstler:

Take a good look at America around you now, because when we emerge from the winter of 2005 - 6, we're going to be another country. The reality-oblivious nation of mall hounds, bargain shoppers, happy motorists, Nascar fans, Red State war hawks, and born-again Krispy Kremers is headed into a werewolf-like transformation that will reveal to all the tragic monster we have become.
What we will leave behind is the certainty that we have made the right choices. Was it a good thing to buy a 3,600 square foot house 32 miles outside Minneapolis with an interest-only adjustable rate mortgage -- with natural gas for home heating running at $12 a unit and gasoline over $3 a gallon? Was it the right choice to run three credit cards up to their $5000 limit? Was I chump to think my pension from Acme Airlines would really be there for me? Do I really owe the Middletown Hospital $17,678 for a gall bladder operation that took forty-five minutes? And why did they charge me $238 for a plastic catheter?

Maybe you already thought about this. What about those who are unprepared?

The Torture Thing

2005-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Medium Lobster intuits a likely scenario for explaining all of the torture that allegedly and coincidentally takes place in various US controlled prisons all over the world.

The Funt Hypothesis: Nothing but wild pranks - wild, deliberate, meticulously organized pranks on the part of the military, the CIA, the press, the Iraqis, and a host of international human rights organizations to trick America into thinking it's actually been torturing people. A couple months from now, while being led by some of its closest friends to a vaguely trendy restaurant, America will hear a bunch of abused prisoners shout "Surprise!", see Osama bin Laden pop out of a birthday cake, and be simultaneously relieved and bemused to learn that the entire War on Terror has been an elaborate joke.

I mean, there really must be some explanation that both fits with our long held ~~prejudices~~ worldview and can be ~~inoffensively distributed~~ reported to the public. Nah, lets do what we normally do, make it a salacious, fetishistic, voyeuristic, bloodsport thrillride and then turn on those we ordered to do it for us.

Operation Enduring Failure

2005-09-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

Martin van Creveld, peering through a glass darkly, foresaw this spectre of defeat in an essay called Why Iraq Will End as Vietnam Did.

"[He] who fights against the weak – and the rag-tag Iraqi militias are very weak indeed – and loses, loses. He who fights against the weak and wins also loses. To kill an opponent who is much weaker than yourself is unnecessary and therefore cruel; to let that opponent kill you is unnecessary and therefore foolish. As Vietnam and countless other cases prove, no armed force however rich, however powerful, however, advanced, and however well motivated is immune to this dilemma. The end result is always disintegration and defeat; if U.S troops in Iraq have not yet started fragging their officers, the suicide rate among them is already exceptionally high. That is why the present adventure will almost certainly end as the previous one did. Namely, with the last US troops fleeing the country while hanging on to their helicopters’ skids."

via Wolcott

An insightful writeup of the coming fallout from this failure.

BushCo the Movie, Starring Steven Segal

2005-09-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

I've been overwhelmed by keeping up on the events of Katrina, the most fucked up photo op platform for Bush that the faux press has participated in. Unfortunately for the ratings based press corp, even the soulless producers were ill equipped to deal with their location reporters reversion to human form. When they were faced with the actual human cost of Bush's failure, they were unable to summon their usual unctuousness and whitewash the whole fiasco. They were unable--for a moment--of making Bush a hero yet again for his unrivalled skill ot being able to stand still, squint and force out some sequence of words that--if you tried real hard--sounded almost like english and almost like sincerity.

So, we have a window here where things are fucked up because they are fucked up, instead of the media doing the Our Society is In Danger because A White Girl is Missing and if she is missing than you are next slippery-slope bullshit.

And then I read this:

Lots of people are, with good reason, somewhat fascinated by tales of the medieval Vikings and the classical Icelandic sagas make for interesting reading. Contemporary Scandinavia -- prosperous, homogenous, peaceful, egalitarian -- is infinitely duller and can only generate heroic tales by importing significant irrealism and transposing the setting to the unremittingly hostile climate of Greenland. There's surely something regrettable about this, but it would be moronic to deliberately re-engineer 11th century social conditions in order to generate better stories.

Updated: The media appears to be helpless to fact check the most outlandish rumours (massive deaths, child rapes in the Superdome). But it's not helplessness that causes them to trumpet any salacious idiocy, it's because it's just a more exciting narrative. So what if it's false? Then they get the opportunity to tut-tut over the media afterwards, like it's Those Other People up to their Old Antics and act as though they had nothing to do with it.

Yes, we're living in a Steven Segal movie. Every other action hero at leasts goes to the gym, gets in shape, and takes some real fight coaching. Segal has not use for this--quick camera cuts and angles are utilized to make his hilarious chop-socky look almost not like a demented flailing of limbs at all who confront him. And his blousy, long-sleeved shirts cover up the sagging flesh. No shirtless scenes in a Segal fight! And so it is with our hapless president. His only interest is having the production company make it look like he's doing something. He has no interest in actually doing anything other than have the truly spineless press corp and the sycophantic republicans act their part--or else.

No Car, No Worth--Die, Bipeds!

2005-09-12T05:18:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports on hotel guests, in town for an convention of emergency medical specialists. Here's what happened to them:

The hotel allowed its guests and nearly 250 residents from the nearby neighborhood to stay until Thursday, Sept 1. With its food exhausted, the hotel's manager finally instructed people to leave. Hotel staff handed out maps to show the way to the city's convention center, to which thousands of other evacuees had fled.
A group of nearly 200 guests gathered to make their way to the center together, the four said. But on the way, they heard that the convention center had become a dangerous, unsanitary pit from which no one was being evacuated. So they stopped in front of a New Orleans police command post near the Harrah's casino on Canal Street.

A New Orleans police commander whom none of the four could identify told the crowd that they could not stay there and later told them that buses were being brought to the Crescent City Connection, a nearby bridge to Jefferson Parish, to carry them to safety.

The crowd cheered and began to move. Suspicious, Mr. Bradshaw said that he asked the commander if he was sure that buses would be there for them. "We'd had so much misinformation by that point," Mr. Bradshaw said.

"He looked all of us in the eye and said, 'I swear to you, there are buses waiting across the bridge,' " Mr. Bradshaw said.

But on the bridge there were four police cruisers parked across some lanes. Between six and eight officers stood with shotguns in their hands, the witnesses said. As the crowd approached, the officers shot over the heads of the crowd, most of whom retreated immediately, Mr. Bradshaw, Ms. Slonsky and Ms. Golden and her son said.

Mr. Bradshaw said the officers were allowing cars to cross the bridge, some of them loaded with passengers. Only pedestrians were being stopped, he said. Chief Lawson said he believed that only emergency vehicles were allowed through.

Mr. Bradshaw said he approached the officers and begged to be allowed through, saying a commander in New Orleans had told them buses were waiting for them on the other side.

"He said that there are no buses and that there is no foot traffic allowed across the bridge," Mr. Bradshaw said.

Doesn't this seem like some B-movie horror script, except that the cops have been told that the brain eating zombies are notable only for the fact that they dont' have cars? "They will come on foot! They look just like other people, but don't be fooled! In there wake comes the vile brown hoards that destroy property values!"

With Republicans in charge, it's always about property and not people. And not the long term view, just a relentlessly short-sighted, unlearning, unquestioning, reptilian response: "Them not like us! Them bad tribe!" All higher intelligence is put to use in rationalizing the reptilian behavior into palatable and reasonable narrative for public dissemination.

MSM No Longer the Washington Generals?

2005-09-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

I'm getting the impression recently that the MSM has decided to actually step up and not be the Washington Generals to the BushCo Globetrotters. They used to able to pull off easy layups of any lameass excuse every time they were exposed as total failures but this time feels a little different, if only a little.

However the "Nobody Could Have Possibly Imagined (insert latest catastrophe)" seems to actually getting old with people. It's almost as if it's actually dawning on these dimwits that BushCo is really as bad as their results would indicate. But that's assuming you think with your own mind, not the Rush hive mind or the corporate zombie lickspittle minds of the MSM androids.

Maybe I should start a free t-shirt offer to the first person to predict the number of days from now that we're back to usual fare of celebrity obsession, missing blonde girl, chat room predator threat stuff. How long before the MSM totally forget that the next catastrophe will be just as bad if not worse because they won't give it any coverage Sorry, it's just not as lucrative as their usual conjured up melodramatic garbage.

At least there a few in the print media who know whats going on:

NYT

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

Well said.

Meet Mike Brown, the Who Could've Imagined Guy!

2005-09-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

If the Fire Chief of your town says "Who could've imagined a fire?" after a fire, it's OK to question their credentials. So Mike Brown, the head of the Agency that has Federal Emergency Management in it's fucking name is all over the teevee making sure people understand that nobody but nobody could have predicted there would be, you know, a disaster when a natural catastrophe that is bound to happen at some point, you know, happens. From DailyKos we find out why:

Yes, that's right... the man responsible for directing federal relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sharpened his emergency management skills as the "Judges and Stewards Commissioner" for the International Arabian Horses Association... a position from which he was forced to resign in the face of mounting litigation and financial disarray.

I watched this guy squirming around like the rat guy in Harry Potter and I thought I sas a thought bubble over his head: "When will people learn to lower lower their expectations of us?"

"When there is no lion on the mountain, the monkey will rule" --Confucious

Update: Mike Brown has a notable history at FEMA!

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla) has urged President Bush to fire Michael Brown as undersecretary of the Homeland Security Department in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Wexler cited reports in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that FEMA under Brown's management inappropriately gave away $30 million in disaster relief funds to people in the Miami, Florida, area even though they were not affected by Hurricane Frances, which made landfall more than 100 miles away.

Later Update: Looks like what New Orleans is getting is "appropriate"

In a May 15, 2001, appearance before a Senate appropriations subcommittee, Allbaugh [then head of FEMA] signaled that the new, stripped-down approach would be applied at FEMA as well. "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program and a disincentive to effective state and local risk management," he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

Jeebus, how many cover stories on gutted FEMA and looming disasters are there? It certainly is beginning to look like the only people who didn't expect a hurricane disaster are in the government.

The Abyss Calls

2005-08-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Unbelievably great writing from Tom Watson:

The symbols have never been more stark: no screenwriter (even those who write farces) could have sold such a script in 2000, before the national election was pickpocketed by James Baker. Too unbelievable. A blithe, play-acting President on a bicycle on the ranch, under siege from a growing camp of aggrieved Americans while the finest, middle class youth of the nation is bled white thousands of miles away in the midst of a religious civil war triggered by the United States - with no hope of victory, no hope of Jeffersonian democracy, no hope for honor. Yes, this does sound like 1968 - minus the bicycle, and with lower approval ratings and a more mainstream opposition.

Yet, of course, the toothless, political cowardice of the Democrats must not slip away into the night of history. Particularly in this Congress, lockstep support for national security in the "time of war" has given the Administration the social checkbook it needs to write the bills for this war. Far too many Democrats went along for the ride, bought too easily into the argument that everything is different after 9-11. They missed the fact that one thing didn't change, despite the panic of the President and his little yelping terriers: we still have some national character in this country, we can't be sold a bill of goods forever, we know when to hold 'em and to fold 'em.

And folks, it's time to fold 'em. When the argument for continuing war is to merely to honor the dead that have gone before with more dead, with more wounded, with more destruction, you know the jig is up, that the military maneuver is merely in the form of a forlorn hope, destined to die for nothing. The Iraqi civil war will rage until there is no Iraq. There never was an Iraq, except as the construct of an empire and a dictator; we had no business in the squabbles of religious tribes. And we have no business in helping to write a consitution that places the lives of women at the mercy of a medieval code of sexist, moralist, symbolist humiliation and punishment. Conspiring with the mullahs against women may be George W. Bush's greatest act of treason against the world's people - and it will live in infamy.

There is nothing to this but to admit failure, and save American lives. Perhaps that is not honorable. Perhaps it leaves a vaccuum in the east, into which the hard-core religionists can step. To bad: it is done. And we need to be done.

Here's the thing I don't get about Bush's true believers: What happens when he's done with you? If you have value as Colin Powell or George Tenet did, he used them to get what he wanted and then they're gone when that value has been spent. You could say they got rewards, but really, ask yourself if you as a true believer--or not--have put value on their integrity and credibility. Was it more before they left or more today? He's done with them. He'll get a new one, use them, and burn them when it furthers his purpose (or whim). Just like you.

He's got his second term now. There is no one to please except himself, which is probably why he's back to vacationing. Republicans dominate the government as never before in this century. Where is the agenda? What about smaller government? I've had years of hearing the republican yammering against those libruls and their so called agenda. Well OK then. You're running the place now. The biggest answer seems to be hugely expensive micro-managing of the public schools. If you ask me, nothing smacks more of liberalism than No Child Left Behind, a big budget Federal mandate. Oh I forgot, it's only a liberal program when somebody else gets the benefits.

But that's where we are today, bleeding heart conservatives wanting to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on rebuilding other countries into peaceful muslim theocracies. The old people have become the new hippies. Free drugs (now Lipitor and Viagra), freedom at any price (well, sort of, we'll settle), "hey it's just money, man" deficit spending. And if you oppose the war, well "hey man, you're sending all this negative energy man, like, over to the other side - OK - and like they can pick up this energy and use it agains us man, it's not cool man." Really. What party is wearing the rose colored glasses now?

Time to Get Rude

2005-08-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

As in time to read more of the Rude Pundit. Please check him out. Here's a recent bit that had me howling as usual:

See, when Bush speaks, it's like watching the President of another country talk. "God," we think, in ever-increasing, staggeringly large, impeachment supportable numbers, "what a happy nation that man lives in; god, how we wish we lived there; oh, fuck, he's talkin' about here; oh, fuck me, we're fucked." When Bush talked briefly to reporters yesterday in his Idaho vacation away from his vacation "ranch," it was all jovial shit about how super-duper wonderful Iraq is in its splendiferous shiny new pseudo-Constitution; how, despite every bit of evidence to the contrary, he could say, "The fact that Iraq will have a democratic constitution that honors women's rights, the rights of minorities, is going to be an important change in the broader Middle East." Despite news reports that very day saying how the Sunnis have been excluded from the process, despite the outcry of Iraqi women, it's all great, greater, bestest.

Now read the whole thing. Hilarious.

The Future of CNN

2005-08-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

CNN 2010:

Need Proof? I mean, besides missing blondes getting hundreds of hours and the veterans missing limbs getting, oh, jack squat.

We used to get news from actual journalists and reporters. David Brinkley even wrote his own copy. Such was the reserve of credibility that the networks have been mining ever since.

Then we had infotainment--the evening news magazines--we all know what that looks like. It's popular, it's exciting. What if we bring that sexy, jazzed up stuff to the news? Well as in lot's of things, other countries sometimes try it out before we do--so have a look at Primer Impacto, the spanish language CNN that we almost look like today.

Mmmmm. That's good looking news about Tumba de Concreto. Must...change...channel...No...must...watch.

Hay, me gusto mucho las anchorettas bonitas! So you just know it's where were going because CNN is already robbing the cradle for cuter and younger anchorettas. This next one is real:

I'm writing a anchorette interview bot. It's real easy to write programs that form a continuous loop. I think it's something like:

while listening = true;
{"We show you salacious crap because you keep watching it, so we can't show you hard news because then you'd turn it off and watch porn, so we HAVE to show you porno news because otherwise the public would not get their news because we can't show it and it's our responsibility to show it because Americans trust us as their news source and we can't let them down and so" //repeats indefinitely
}

Iraq, Another Glorious Victory for Democracy

2005-08-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Guest Post by conservative columnist Clint Barkinmad of the Daily Times-Dispatch

FOLKSTOWN, USA: Yessir, the values we hold so dear in this special heartland in the U. S. of A. are a spreadin' worldwide! Countries I can barely pronounce, like Rwanda and some o' them Russky states are all votin' up a storm. I hear lately about votin' in Iran too, so folks round here ain't cottonin' to that ole Cindy She-man story sayin' that her boy done died for nothin. Not if you call votin in Iran and Iraq nothin by George! Thats a goodn!

So now the latest news that we're a sposed to be unhappy about cordin' to some liberal talkin heads. Some Iraqi doctor lady that called our President "my Liberator" is now turnin her back on Iraq and skedaddlin on outa there. Well zipiti-do-dah! What's her lil ole problem?

"This is the future of the new Iraqi government - it will be in the hands of the clerics"

Well my oh my. Guess she hasn't been applyin for no buildin permit round here recently, them clerics down at the commission really are a pain in the patootie but you don't see us runnin off ta Canada do ya? (hehe) Look, I'm no saint, but if we gotta deal with them church fellers runnin the country over here, then it ain't gonna be much different over there ya gotta figure. I got no problem with that. Been a christian all mah life, tell you whut. An if you ain't a christian, well then son, lemme clue you in. Better get with the program.

Now don't get all upset and get me wrong on this here issue. Our under God government ain't out to hurt you if you ain't a christian, but on the other hand, you don't build your house where the new roads goin if you see what I mean. Pat Robertson called for the assassination of some ole President down south of the border there just for even thinkin a crossin us, so I'd advise all you disagreeable types to start agreein mighty quick.

Well, gotta run. That dang ole rooster got himself in a twist again out there in the field.

(Clint Barkinmad 57, is a long haul trucker on permanent disability who lives just outside Folkstown where he looks after his mom, her chickens and runs a "Draft Hillary--for Iraq" club which meets at Red's Billiards just outside of town on Rt 46. A portion of his Social Security income goes to the Club for Growth to support efforts to shut down Social Security. He is a fervent christian who believes prostitution should be legal "Mary Magdalene was a whore and she was holy", enjoys taunting people who read books or magazines at the diner. His favorite show is Foxnews and his favorite movie is "Butt Fuck Sluts Go Nuts #46").

Christianity, New and Improved! Assassinations A.O.K.

2005-08-23T04:45:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, Pat Robertson, soul of Country Buffet Christianity (gorge on deep-fried scapegoat with rich and tangy vengeance sauce!) is publicly for assassination when money is possibly at stake. Here he is, in his Christian glory, calling for the pre-emptive assassination of Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, before he can threaten the Venezuelan supply of oil
to the U.S.

You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.

Well, isn't that special! Jesus as an economic mercenary, a killer for money. And not in response to any action, before any action! When are we going to stop referring to these people as Christians? Because I don't believe it's Christian to murder someone because they have more beanies than you and you want them.

Via Media Matters, watch the video

Meet The New Science -- No Science Involved!

2005-08-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

So the NYT publishes an article about Intelligent Design saying how much money has been spent on funding 'science' research.

"$792,585 financed laboratory or field research in biology, paleontology or biophysics, while $93,828 helped graduate students in paleontology, linguistics, history and philosophy"

Now that's a fair amount of money. One would reasonably expect some actual 'science' to be performed with those funds, would they not? Well, the money went somewhere, but as anyone can find out for themselves, not one scientific paper has been written. (Click here to read the whole article and find out how to confirm this.)

In order for Intelligent Design (ID) to be considered a "scientific" theory one has to actually, you know, publish the science and have it peer reviewed by other scientists. So why is the MSM discussing ID as a scientific theory when, in reality, no actual science has ever been performed?

Don't miss the next Science issue of the New York Times, where an exciting discussion of the alternative theories of witchcraft and voodoo and why they should be taught in medical school. Disagree at y0ur own peril, you cultural elitist!

People used to think that thunder and lightening represented God's anger. Now we know it's just the weather. Does that weaken a person's faith? Is God somehow lessened by this substitution of science for God?

Executive Summary: All you really need to know about the ID/fundie folks is that science is an abomination until they need antibiotics.

"The creationists' fondness for "gaps" in the fossil record is a metaphor for their love of gaps in knowledge generally. Gaps, by default, are filled by God. You don't know how the nerve impulse works? Good! You don't understand how memories are laid down in the brain? Excellent! Is photosynthesis a bafflingly complex process? Wonderful! Please don't go to work on the problem, just give up, and appeal to God. Dear scientist, don't work on your mysteries. Bring us your mysteries for we can use them. Don't squander precious ignorance by researching it away. Ignorance is God's gift to Kansas. "

Richard Dawkins, FRS.
Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, at Oxford University.
Taken from his essay
Creationism: God's gift to the ignorant

(More here)

Free 2002 Scientific American article in PDF

Bush Air Reports Flawless Safety, Record Profits

2005-08-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

Aug 18, 2005 Crawford, TX. "We are pleased to report a record of flawless safety and record profits" said G.W. Bush today, CEO of Bush Airways. While President Bush is not involved in the day to day operations of the airline, spending his time on vacation as President, he has handed over the operation of the airlines to longtime friend and supporter Orvis "Hooper" Carlysle.

Despite the stock sinking to record lows, the President remained upbeat. "Hooper tells me things could not be better, and I believe him." said President Bush.

There have been widely circulated reports that recent crashes have been due to cost cutting in the maintenance unit, which was apparently laid off last quarter and the pilot crews replaced by lower cost employees from Mexico. Randolph Likspittle, spokesman for the Airline, denied any such rumor. "That is a ridiculous statement, we have perfect safety record." Asked about a recent crash in Otter Creek, Randolph replied "that was not a crash, it was an unscheduled landing event at a non-prime location."

Several people injured and families of the dead involved in the unsheduled landing have filed suit for damages. "Micheal Moore and MoveOn.org are totally behind this effort, it's just another case of their usual partisan trickery." One of the mothers of the deceased, Casey Sheenan, was blasted by Bill O'Reilly when she appeared on the O'Reilly Factor last night. "You're nothing but an America-hating left-wing socialist bent on the destruction of the American airline industry!"

A senior airline industry spokesman who would not give his name stated that the use of mexican immigrant labor, trained in simulators for 3 weeks by Halliburton contractors was a novel and unproven approach to flight training. "Calling our pilots inexperienced and unable to communicate in English is a deplorable racist and class warfare tactic known to be used by the extreme left in this country" declared Mr. Likspittle.

Rescue workers were delayed getting to the "landing" site due to the lack of a mayday message coming from the plane. Repeated calls of "Hay, Dios Mio" went unheeded.

Bush Airways trades at $1.07.

The Way I See It

2005-08-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

Guest Post by conservative columnist Mike Rightsmith of the Plains Chronicle Journal

Freedom and Democracy are on the march! And boy is that expensive! Thank goodness we have decent Republicans around to print the free money to finance it! Republicans have taken on the thankless job of being the nation building policemen of freedom that they used to despise. But that was the pre-9/11 mindset. Today, they need our support. We know if there is going to be peace in the world it's up to Republicans to lead the way, by force if necessary. Cost is no object because hey, the intention is that it should cost less and that's what really matters. Only a terrorist sympathizer questions the motives of truth and goodness behind this global war.

And we will prevail! Success is all in how you look at it. How many car bombs did not go off today? A lot more didn't than did! And so the average car bomb to car not-bomb has dropped significantly! This is the kind of progress the Liberal media will not show on TV!

You tax and spend liberals all wanted to coddle the Arabs after 9/11. How predictable! The Republicans again showed the better way, rather than try to be all touchy-feely friendly with the Arabs, we would rebuild their whole damn country! For Free! Not one therapist in sight! And it won't cost the taxpayers one red cent because we don't raise taxes. On this point alone, Democrats will just never learn.

And to all the liberal whiners complaining about everything. Shut Up! You're not running the country, we are! If there is anything wrong, we get to say what it is, not you! And you know what? You're what's wrong! All you Micheal Moore, Ted Kennedy liberal types with your liberal ways are what brought this country down!

Your one world government plans are doomed, because while you liberals sip your lattes we are concentrating more power in the Executive branch. Your activist courts will be brought under the power of the people once again and our elected leaders will have the power to legislate and enforce law as the will of the people. The final solution being the single party domination of the all branches of government, and the ultimate power in the hands of the President of the global superpower U.S. of A.! At last, all power centralized on one office, enough to finally defeat the liberal dream of a all-powerful, world-dominating government!

War as Bad Choice Does Not Equal Anti-Americanism

2005-08-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

digby nails it again

Memo to those on the right who say the Left supports Islamic fundamentalists: we're the Godless Heathens, remember? We're against the religious zealots running governments across the board. Of course, that includes your "base" here in the US too so you'll have to pardon us for our consistency and ask yourselves why we find you incoherent on this matter.

We always understood that while deposing Saddam was easy, the risk of civil war or an Islamic theocracy were very high. We thought it might be worthwhile to wait for just a fucking minute to see how this little terrorism problem played out before jumping into the middle of the hornets nest and swinging wildly. So, please don't blame us. We don't like totalitarians. We don't like theocrats. And we understood that when you go mucking around in the middle east at the direction of con-men and ideologues, you are likely to fuck things up.

America isn't magic. The military does not have magical powers. We knew this. Michael Ledeen and his fanciful cohorts apparently didn't. Now they are blaming everybody --- and I mean everybody --- but themselves for the failure they have wrought.

It's the Sound Bites Stupid!

2005-08-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Democrats know about the degradation of discourse into media sound bites. They've apparently just decided to remain the woe-is-me victims instead of just winning with it. Republicans craft their talking points with the adroitness of the best Madison Avenue advertising craftsmen. They're perfect little soap bubbles of thought--only enough substance to create a pretty appearance and delivered with the eau du Liberal French perfume that attracts and repulses them equally. They are waiting for the slightest touch to pop into nothingness. But no one is there to do it, except the Daily Show.

The president has noted many times on many occasions that he "thinks about Iraq every single day." What is his analysis then? What is the result of all that thinking? Can we at least get a peek into that daily process?

Isn't this a bloody obvious question? Please someone ask it so that I can see dear leader's brain-crash stare one more time.

Talking Point: Resolve

2005-08-15T04:42:00.000-07:00

Resolve is not defined as one's determination to gamble with other peoples money or lives at no cost to themselves. How far we've come from LBJ, who at least felt responsible and empathetic towards the soldiers he sent to die in a previously ill-conceived war. Gutless Wonder Bush won't even have his nap time interrupted for the war that is his own personal project. He's rested, tanned, and healthy.

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy but that could change." .Governor George W. Bush, 5/22/98

How's that Conservative Agenda Going?

2005-08-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

So, the Republicans have had a majority for how many years? And the House, Senate and White House all republican, all the time for how many years? So, when can we start asking, where's the beef? Where is the smaller, less intrusive, less expensive, better run, better financed government they were going to bring us? I'm all for conserviatism in government, but I don't see any of that happening. I just hear a lot of whining about about those Other People Not Acting Right. Other People are Poisoning the Culture. Families are Under Attack. Relentless Bombardment in the Media of Images, yadda yadda.

Look, don't ask me to have an iota of respect for your manhood or intellect if you can't tune out the media noise and run the bloody government. That's what you ran for office for, running the government, not yelping like a meth-stuffed poodle over every crappy movie, game, TV show or single-serving celebrity scandal. And that goes for unit-dosed missing white girls too. Ok, something happened to somebody. Delegate it! There's 300 million of us out here! Get back to work already!

Just What Noble Cause Are They Dying For?

2005-08-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

via Digby:

Cindy Sheehan:

I said I want the president to explain what was the noble cause that my son died in, because that's what he said the other day when those 14 marines were killed. He said their families can rest assured that their sons and daughters died for a noble cause. And I said, "What is that noble cause?"

Digby says:

It is not an academic exercise for her. She lost her son --- and she'd like to know why. Nobody can explain to her -- or to any of us --- why we invaded Iraq and why people are dying. They said it was to protect us -- but it wasn't a threat. Then they said it was to liberate the Iraqi people, but Saddam and his government are a memory and yet the Iraqi people are still fighting us and each other. Our invasion of iraq has inspired more terrorism, not less. Oil prices are higher than they've ever been. The country is swimming in debt. People are being killed and maimed with the regularity of the tides.

And everybody knows this. Deep inside they know that something has gone terribly wrong. We were either lied to or our leaders are verging on the insanely incompetent. That's why when Cindy Sheehan says that she wants to ask the president why her son died --- in those simple terms --- it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It's not just rhetorical.

She literally doesn't know why her son had to die in Iraq. And neither do we.

Well said...

Homeland Insecurity

2005-08-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

People used to travel the world to see the wonders of other civilizations. Now, we see the most mind-bogglingly bizarre things during travel. For instance, I recently watched what looked to be a ninety-pound, frail, old, crippled, wheelchair-bound, palsied woman being patted down and wanded in her wheelchair at the airport.

Can we stop looking for terrorists in the places they showed up previously and possibly try an educated guess at what high value targets are laying around unprotected. And when I say unprotected, I mean unprotected from people willing to die killing the guards, not crippled ladies.

Try this on for size: 5 guys go to a gun show and pick up some assault rifles and handguns. They can then blast their way into:

A nuclear power plant control room and start a meltdown. Millions dead.
A chemical plant, blow it up. Hundreds of thousands dead.
A natural gas LNG storage facility. Thousands dead.
Gas or Petroleum processing facility. Hundreds dead.
A repeat of the London bombings in New York. 40 dead.

Thank god we're putting on a good show of sort of protecting those high value trains and buses! We have to start learning. Setting up concentrations like security checkpoints is the same as creating new targets. They blow up checkpoints in Iraq, but then, they can't get at any higher density targets. We're leaving the high density targets open--like nukes, then creating new smaller targets.

The worst of the urban legend memes is the "dirty bomb." Oooh. Terrorists are going to get their hands on one and smuggle it into the country! Why Fucking Bother? Just shoot the guards at a nuclear plant and take the fucking waste out and dump it in the reserviour. Oh wait, thats Three Mile Island and they do that anyway. What makes people think they won't just Chernobyl the thing and kill everyone in the fucking state?

Here's Chernobyl downtown where nothing lives.

Also, a small town 25 miles away from Chernobyl and hot it looks like today. All part of a huge dead zone where nothing can live.

These pictures come from someone who used to live there. You can support her site here.

Can we also stop pretending that all terrorism comes from those other religions? Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh weren't part of Hezbollah. Don't forget, the Christian Evangelicals think we're all dead anyway.

Update: I just watched the HBO special "Indian Point." Indian Point is the nuclear plant about 50 miles north of NYC on the Hudson. Security appears to be about as bad as anyone familiar with our government culture would guess. The funniest moment is the use of the fat, old guards with their M16s at the gatehouse. Here's a hint fellas, if the cameras can shoot you from the public street, so can a terrorist.

We still have this idea of security as a "show of force" rather than actual, real force. There's a reason they don't have armed guards in banks anymore. Over time, they found that all they were doing was providing a free gun to the robber, who could quickly take it away from just about any guard, because the element of surprise beats boredom every time.

The scariest moment comes after a former guard goes public to say the security is a joke. In response, the security gets evaluated and polls all of the security guards. Only 19% think they could repell an enemy attack.

If you want a look at what armed security looks like, have a stroll arount the Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Here you will find eagle-eyed, ramrod straight-backed special forces types straight from central casting with well-oiled machine guns cradled with such neural sensitivity, they appear to be natural extensions of their bodies. And these guys are patrolling. They eyes are sweeping the place constantly. If you saw it you would understand, the US is Mayberry RFD by comparison.

Rules of Replicans #42

2005-08-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

You must have an active sex fetish, or at least, be in active denial about your sex fetish. There isn't room to link every Rupublican sex fiend with a naughty fetish here. But let's just start with Arnold the Family Man.

Remind Me Who Runs the Country Again?

2005-08-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

How is it that the people who run the country, have their fingers on the buttons, and sit in the lap of power get to whine incessantly about being powerless to defend themselves from their detractors--who really have no power at all?

Via Atrios:

I hate when people who have access to the most influential platforms in the world whine about being "attacked," and she's compounding this by claiming she has no way to "fight back."

Yeah, here are some people who are actually unable to "fight back" because you were "proved fucking right" Judy [Miller].

Judith Miller personally put the Good Housekeeping Approval stamp on the Iraq WMD hoax. She has so much power at the The New York Times that she can basically get a war off the ground with her one source story, a spy named 'Curveball' who we now know was an Iranian agent, Ahmed Chalabi (now in Tehran).

She still has a job and the support of the paper after this:

On May 26th, the paper published an editor’s note acknowledging that it had been improperly influenced by Chalabi. “Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted,” the note said. “It looks as if we, along with the administration, were taken in.”

Emphais mine. Not always?

Iraq, Demoted from War to Struggle, Slips in Ratings

2005-08-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a clipped image from the MSN Homepage today.

Puzzle: Can you find something Americans are being asked to fight and die for and costs a billion dollars in your tax dollars every X hours? Ok, so their not your kids and it's borrowed money from some future taxpayers, but still...

There is more emphasis on "Are you fighting over Fluffy" than Operation Enduring Inattention. Headlines and graphics on newspages are not randomly generated. Management has made the conscious decision that the war doesn't matter except as a daily footnote. They know they can't ignore it completely. Although, like President CrazyBananas, they would if they could.

Mothers Against Drunk (War) Drivers: Cindy Sheehan

2005-08-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

Can any Democrat address this criticism of their party?

...Their voices are silent. Thus, both they and the party they claim or presume to represent look dumbstruck, awkward, pitiful, and timid. Where the single greatest issue of the day, and one of the most potent issues of our time, is concerned, there is no courageous opposition.

Meanwhile, the caskets keep coming home…with no public official to greet them or to respect them. They are the forgotten dead and they represent thousands more of the even more forgotten wounded.

But wait. There is someone to hold the emperor to account. There is someone willing to look ridiculous, to be mocked and made a fool of, to challenge the conventional wisdom of the court.

She, unfortunately, is not a Senator. She is not a party leader. She is not in the regular establishment Rolodex of the Sunday talk producers. Yet, she holds the highest office available in a republic, that of citizen.

And to the embarrassment of both Republican and Democratic establishments, she takes that office more seriously than they—the silent “leaders”—do theirs. When the last Marine leaves Iraq, dead or alive, she can claim more credit than them all. Because of the courage of one brave woman, she quite possible will have had more to do with finally bringing this great nation back to its senses... and to its principles.
Remember her name. It is Cindy Sheehan.

So do we have any leaders coming to support her? Anyone?

Michelle Malkin: A Life of Ligitimizing Hateful Mindless Bullshit

2005-08-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

Awaken Citizens! America is only a free country because we are ever vigilant in defense of this freedom! It is a dangerous world we live in! We can no longer afford to wait until they strike. We must intern those who appear to be any possible threat! And we must find out what they know!! By any means!!!

A beautiful dissection of the innerworkings of this birdbrain via the Peking Duck.

Wingnut Workings

2005-08-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

A crash course in how the rethuglicans work is presented in concise format:

Anyone who follows American politics with a clear head knows that the GOP and its fans are constantly making up accusations out of thin air, setting off tactical smear-bombs and 'working the refs' by simply out-and-out, bare-assedly lying about having been victimized and persecuted, knowing that some percent of the charges will stick. The genius of this tactic, as I'm reminded presently, is that an accusation can be made in moments, in a sentence, while disentangling it can take minutes and paragraphs, sapiency and an audience able (and willing) to follow the threads of discourse to a reasoned conclusion. In American political life today (as on the grade-school playground), the whooping-ass liars have an advantage in that it's often simply too much trouble to figure out the truth -- and the US media is structurally handicapped against calling flaming, howling, pants-on-fire liars, 'liars,' so there you go.

Couldn't have said it any better than that. Worth reading the whole episode--another right wing nutjob completely plagiarizes some other work, and calls it their own--but that's just the boring part! When confronted with her plagiarism, she does the perfectly Republican trick of accusing the accuser of plagiarism! With more stolen content!

Via Sadly, No!

Another Mom Stomps O'Reilly

2005-08-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

It is just too much fun to watch an old bully blowhard like O'Reilly get a taste of what he dishes out constantly.

The Five Families

2005-07-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

The mass media has been consolidated into just a few hands. You've heard it before, but until you actually see it, you wont really appreciate it.

OMG, Democrats have found someone smart!

2005-07-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

How to beat the Republicans. Hey, it could happen! Now we just need someone who isn't a total dork and try to adopt some lame-ass we're concerned about morals too! and like, bad TV and rap and video games n' stuff dickhead like Joe Lieberman. Hey, Joe! STFU! You too Hillary "Grand Theft Auto is destroying our youth" Clinton.

Dammit, Hillary. That was your "hey supermarkets have like product scanner thingies in 'em." moment. You can't affort to keep handing out free bullets to the opposition. I have not doubt that Karl Rove actually pleasures himself at the thought of being able to do his magic on you.

Here's a question, how come the only Democrat that has any testicular weight at all is Nancy Pelosi?

Democrats, be the only party for Privacy

2005-07-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

We cannot let the terrorists win, so instead, do we let the Republicans terrorize us?

No one is allowed to take photographs of public buildings from a public space.

Why must we free to do not do things? Because the USA is a free country! And in a free country we cannot have people just doing whatever they please! There are limits! Particularly when we're scared of things! Like 62 year old ladies!

Democrats, you can add: The Party of Dignity

2005-07-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

In bemoaning the state of our culture and trying to tell us all to be good Christians we should ask our president one question:

"What kind of one-finger salute would Jesus give?"

Democrats, be the only party for the Rule of Law

2005-07-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Here's another talking point:
Democrats will be the party of law since the Republicans have abandoned that concept.

If our fellow Americans don't feel bad about the torturing of our enemies, can we at least be honest about this? The people being tortured are "suspected" enemies which do not have enough evidence against them to warrant an arrest under any law of this country. Torturing suspects without evidence, just suspicion is kind of shaky isn't it? Is this America?

Is it a liberal concept that some suspicious looking or acting Arab foreigner shouldn't be detained indefinitely without due process? That actually sounds like a conservative, by-the-book approach.

Is it conservative to spend half a trillion dollars and thousands of American lives (so far) trying to "make nice" and rebuild Arab countries? That actually sounds pretty liberal.

Maybe Democrats are the conservative party after all.

Oh yes, and we won't lie in your face about delegating the war to the military, when we're really orchestrating very unusual legal back doors to undermine our soldiers abilities in the field. Honest to God, can anyone not see that Iraqis can't see our soldiers as the face of freedom and liberty when their job is also to deliver people to the torture chambers? That's the foe, not the friend!

From the NY Times:

Senior military lawyers lodged vigorous and detailed dissents in early 2003 as an administration legal task force concluded that President Bush had authority as commander in chief to order harsh interrogations of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, newly disclosed documents show.

Despite the military lawyers' warnings, the task force concluded that military interrogators and their commanders would be immune from prosecution for torture under federal and international law because of the special character of the fight against terrorism.

In memorandums written by several senior uniformed lawyers in each of the military services as the legal review was under way, they had urged a sharply different view and also warned that the position eventually adopted by the task force could endanger American service members.

Democrats, your talking points are here;

2005-07-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, you need a new message, so try something new instead of lame GOP castoffs:

Since Republicans have abandoned fiscal conservatism, we will be that party and balance the budget--we've led on that issue before.

Since Republicans have abandoned the idea of small government in favor of very large, very centralized, very expensive and very intrusive government, we will be the party of government restraint. At our worst, we've never been this bad anyway.

Since Republicans have abandoned the free market in favor of selective industry and company subsidies (based on who contributes what) we will become the party of free markets and deregulation. Really, if Republicans wanted to do anything here, they've had 5 years of running the place and could do it. Nothing, zip, nada. We can't do any worse!

Democrats support faith based ideas, just not in war planning, budgeting and nation building.

Since Republicans have abandoned integrity, in war and in Presidential guarantees ('the leaker will be fired'), we will be that party. Again, at our worst, we were never this bad.

We will not be the party of pre-emptive war on meticulously constructed intelligence hoaxes--ever.

We will not be bleeding heart conservative nation builders. If we ever attempt help, we will not finance another country's socialist healthcare system.

We will not the party of knowingly providing false White House press passes to gay male prostitutes under false names.

America, we know why you don't like Democrats: We tax and spend, thus balancing the budget and not raising interest rates. Republicans borrow and spend and we get the thankless job of trying to clean up after their fiscal orgies. Everybody wants to go to the party, nobody wants to stay and clean up.

Let us come clean--since many of us travel, we get exposed to crazy new ideas. Like the idea of hot chocolate and coffee together is quite delicious. However, some snob named it a grande mocha latte and that's where all the trouble all started. It sounds all "look at us, we're a bunch of callous sophisticates, we're better than you." But honestly, all this fancy lingo is just so they can charge you more money for coffee with milk in it. We're still normal people. And Volvo is owned by Ford, so driving a Volvo is not anti-American. They own Jaguar and Aston Martin too.

We will keep Social Security and Medicare afloat as well as possible with the broken treasury we have been left by the Republicans. And we will take a page from their playbook and just rename these programs to something that sounds better, like Fiscal Security and Super MediFund. Honestly, we do think it's dishonest to continually adopt new euphamisms for things, but if we don't, we'll be the only ones that don't. Do you really want that?

And finally we'd like to offer an olive branch to George W. Bush. In his striving to rebuild Arab countries as Socialist States and help the poor and middle class with government money, to restructure the Social Security system with additional trillions of dollars. This man truly knows how to be a liberal. So we now leave liberalism to the Republicans because they have so demonstrated that it doesn't work.

God Bless You My Fellow Americans. And that means everyone's God and All Americans, not just the ones that consider themselves more religious and more patriotic than everyone else. Although we still welome Evangilicals and if you really want to insist you're better and more special, well, you're special to us.