Got a letter published in the courant.
Still a lousy paper.

The right wing looneys at townlahll.com never cease to fail in their need to excuse anything done by a conservative...
Emmett Tyrrell (king of the loons)
No one I have encountered claims he was taking the prescription medication OxyContin for kicks.

Rush Limbaugh:
I took the drugs because I liked them and I found excuses to take them

I can't stop playing this....

for the record:
1224.1

Mel Gibson:
"My dad taught me my faith, and I believe what he taught me. The man never lied to me in his life."

Hutton Gibson regarding the 9/11 attacks:
''They were crashed by remote control,''

The second Vatican council was:
''a Masonic plot backed by the Jews.''

Regarding the holocaust:
''Go and ask an undertaker or the guy who operates the crematorium what it takes to get rid of a dead body,'' he said. ''It takes one liter of petrol and 20 minutes. Now, six million?''

Rich Lowry is an idiot.

Poverty in America is primarily a cultural phenomenon, driven by a shattered work ethic and sexual irresponsibility. Child poverty would be nearly obliterated if every household had one adult working full time and married parents.

Gee, he really would look stupid if people actually documented this and found it to be complete bullshit.

This is interesting.

REmember that the next time a cosnervative complains about people living off the government dime.

Sharpton gives Brokaw a smackdown

BROKAW: Reverend Sharpton, there is a great war going on in the world between the West and the Nation of Islam. And the United States, at the moment, is losing the war for hearts and minds. Everyone agrees on that, whatever their political position happens to be.

Specifically, what should the United States be doing in terms of programs? And how much money should it commit to find common ground between this country and the democratic ideals that we all embrace and the Nation of Islam?

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, I assume when you say "the Nation of Islam" you're talking about Islamic nations, because there is a Nation of Islam in the United States that has nothing to do what you're talking about.

(LAUGHTER)

So I'm just asking for clarity.

(APPLAUSE)

BROKAW: I'm talking about Islamic nations.

SHARPTON: You're talking about Islamic -- first of all, I think...

This is bad news. And for the rabid partisan (like me) this can be looked at as ammunition against Bush. But what I enjoy most is watching so called economic pundits who are so clearly whores for Bush look like idiots. Every time Bush pushes through huge spending increases, tax cuts, they always talk about how, real soon, its going to turn this countries economy into the greatest ever. Trust us, its just around the corner. For instance. Now that the initial reports from the holiday season are out and showing to be lower than expected, lets actually see what these morons predicted.


Fathead Neil Cavuto, whose insightful knowledge of economics led him to offer this statement to Harvard Professor and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “You just hate rich people don’t you?”
I hear some economists have conservatively predicted holiday sales gains about 3 percent ahead of last year. I think they're being positively Scroogian. I think they'll be at least triple that. You heard me right. I'm predicting holiday sales this season will be 8 to 9 percent better. That's right . . . up to 9 percent better than last year!
Mark it on your Etch-a-Sketch (which is selling very well, I might add).
Shop early. Shop now. Beat the crowds. Get the deals.
And save this column. I will readily refer to it when I'm proven right.

Larry Kudlow, who admitted writing up Reagan’s supply side policy while strung out on cocaine has this gem. After shopping at ultra rich Manhatten stores with other millionares, he saw that they were buying silk neckties and diamond encrusted toothbrushes, so taht must mean our economy is great!:
But my little tour of some upper-end establishments was confirming for me what I've believed for some time: that this economy is doing better than most analysts are leading us to believe.

Or this:
The third-quarter tally was no fluke. GDP will continue to grow rapidly as the step-up of inventory production creates a flood of new jobs in both manufacturing and services.

Go back to polishing Bush's ass boy's. It's what your best at.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

What a complete jackass. He'll miss the whole season and since he broke his contract , he wont get paid either.

That made my week.

Got this from the horse who got it from here. Despite the fact that it conveniently ignores John Kerry's divorce, its pretty good.

A New England Primer

I keep hearing people on TV say that John Kerry is "aloof".

Why? Because he doesn't walk around in a flightsuit and a cowboy hat?

Up here we call that "not acting like a jack@ss".

Why does the Northeast always have to apologize for who we are? We're Americans, too. New Englanders were the ones who stood up to King George. New Englanders risked their necks (literally) by tossing the tea into Boston Harbor. New Englanders lowered their muskets and fired at British soldiers when the whole world trembled at the sight of them.

Sorry if we talk too fast; it gets really cold here, ok? We do everything quickly so we can go home. There's a pot of chowder on the stove, and the game is on.

Sorry if we don't mention Jesus every second sentence. Up here you just don't talk about religion in public. It's bad manners. And frankly it drives us crazy that some of the country's politicians never shut up about it.

In New England you can live next door to very religious people for years and not know it about them, unless you eventually notice they're never home on Sunday mornings.

And that's high praise.

A friend once related a conversation she'd had--and this is a true story--with a woman in Texas while there on a business trip. The woman had fake bre@sts, fake lips, a nose job, and dyed blonde hair. Apparently she was quite attractive. And she talked openly and endlessly about Jesus, morality, and the fact that she'd just got married for the 5th time.

Do you know what "got married for the 5th time" sounds like to a New Englander? Good grief, they only legalized divorce in Ireland a few years ago, and they're five hours ahead of us. Around here you have to retire, move to Florida, and wait for your spouse to pass away on the golf course before you marry again.

And you'd never in a million years discuss Jesus or morality with the internal auditor who'd come from the corporate office to check your books.

On "60 Minutes" last week Ed Bradley tried to get John Kerry to describe how he got his Silver Star. Of course, Kerry did not. He never would, and those of us watching here could have told Bradley that and saved him the trouble of asking. My own father told us he'd never been near combat in the South Pacific. Only years later did we learn from an uncle that it wasn't true.

John Kerry is a New Englander. We're taught never to talk about religion, money, or politics in public. He obviously can't avoid talking about politics, but I wouldn't expect to hear too much about religion, money, or how he got his medals. That's just the way it is here.

But ask yourself this and be honest: if you were in combat, and in trouble, who would you want to be there to bail you out: Lt. George W. Bush or Lt. John Kerry?

Does John Kerry take botox injections?

You be the judge.


(Thanks to sgw for the joke)

Rush Limbaugh's attorney mounted an offensive Monday, accusing Palm Beach County prosecutors of smear tactics and likening his client to any ordinary American with chronic pain.
''This nation is full of people who take medication every day and will do so for the rest of their lives,'' said Roy Black, speaking in a news conference in Miami.
Discussing the prescription-drug abuse allegations in unprecedented detail, Black reasoned that the quantity of medicine Limbaugh is accused of ingesting -- 1,800 pills in 210 days -- works out to roughly 8.5 pills a day, ``certainly not an outrageous amount.''

Gee not at all, unless you factor in the fact that the maximum prescription for Oxycontin is for 2 pill's a day since they are time released for 12 hours.


So I just destroyed Rush's lawyer's argument within about 45 seconds with a google search. How much does he charge an hour again?

I found this in my inbox from a friend.

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one.

Please don't answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and consider each line - this is important for the test to work accurately.


You're in Florida. In Miami, to be exact. There is great chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and severe floods. There are huge masses of water all over you. You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.

You're trying to shoot very impressive photos. There are houses! And people floating around you, disappearing into the water. Nature is showing all its destroying power and is ripping everything away with it.


Suddenly you see a man in the water - he is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken away by the masses of water and mud. You move closer.

Somehow the man looks familiar. Suddenly you know who it is - it's George W. Bush!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away, forever.

You have two options. You can save him or you can take the best photo of your life.

So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer Prize winning photo, a unique photo displaying the death of one of the world's most powerful men.

And here's the question (please give an honest answer):

Would you select color film, or rather go with the simplicity of classic black and white?

Create a joke COntest.

Create a sufficently snarky joke based on this news event, or just the picture, and win... well... absolutly nothing.

Pope John Paul II has sent an apology by e-mail for a string of injustices, including sexual abuse, committed by Roman Catholic clergy in the Pacific nations.
The 81-year-old pontiff transmitted the message, his first"virtual" apology, in a recent string of statements of contrition, from a laptop in the Vatican's frescoed Clementine Hall on Wednesday.

Strangely this title is presented without a hint of irony.

For anyone out there still undecided. Newsmax has endorsed Lieberman in the Primaries.

In my experience I would guess this is not a proferssional killer.
NEWPORT TWP. - A man who said he didn't like President's Bush's State of the Union address was arrested Wednesday night after he phoned the county's 911 center and said he was a terrorist and was going to "kill the president," authorities said.
Myron Demchak Jr., 40, last known address of 2641 S. Main St., Hanover Township, made a second call moments later and said he was going to "kill the son of a bitch," according to a criminal compliant filed by the U.S. Secret Service agent Mindy Pretzman.

Ashcroft say's Saddam used evil chemistry and evil biology.

He probably believed in evolution too.

Good lord.....

'People ask me what great new ideas did you bring to Washington. I say, `Arithmetic.' ''

Bill Clinton - January 25th 2004 (stolen from Counterspin)

Indoctrination is funny.

Just finished watching the Dennis Miller show.

Horrible.

Excruciatingly unfunny.

40 minutes of a literally giddy Miller interviewing Schwarzemegger was bad enough. But when he had a roundtable with David Horowitz, who he introduced as "brilliant", my jaw dropped. Horowitz is a notoriuos smear artist. He has praised white Supremicists. He has boasted that he violated the espionage act. He literally lies with impunity. Dennis Miller thinks hes brillaint.
And he was in prime form. Horowitz expressed the thought that it was "unconscionable" that the democrats in New Hampshire were criticizing the president during war and by doing so were giving "aid and comfort to the enemy". Miller nods approvingly. Simply astounding.

A comedic political talk show where the host declares he will never be critical of the president. And he wants a monkey to fling feces during his broadcast.

Can't believe Monday Night football let a gem like him go.

Dennis Miller has usually been happy to spray his acerbic wit across the political spectrum, but things will be different on his new CNBC talk program. President Bush is in a mock-free zone.
"I like him," Miller explained. "I'm going to give him a pass. I take care of my friends."
[snip]
The show will feature interviews, a rant on a selected topic, a "Weekend Update"-like comic newscast and a pundit panel he calls "The Varsity."

And a monkey.

You read that right. Miller wanted a simian presence, believing a monkey occasionally scampering across the studio floor will keep both guests and viewers on their toes, he said.

This is interesting. The number of words spoken at last nights debate.
Candidates
Edwards: 2641
Kerry: 2128
Lieberman: 2089
Dean: 1968
Clark: 1619
Kucinich: 1550
Sharpton: 1532

Moderators/Questioners
Jennings: 1870
Hume: 1403
Griffith: 1296
Di Staso: 1185


They also have a good piece on how the majority of the panel were conservatives who were doing nothing but asking "gotcha" questions and not the least bit interested in things like policy or what their vision is for being president.

Add another 10 or so billion in pork to this Congress's already shameful record.

And I just heard an interview by so called liberal Juan Cole with Karl Rove on NPR who said that the reason states are in financial troubles is because of their “insatiable” need for spending. Jaun Cole had no response because he was too busy giving Mr. Rove a rim job.

Republican Congressman Bill Janklow, who killed a man while he was recklessly speeding, is sentenced to only 100 days in jail.

Janklow, who is famous for his "tough on crime" policies, felt that he should not spend any time at all in jail for killing another human being because "My political career is wrecked, I can't be punished any more than I've punished myself."

You here that people! His career is wrecked!! Now he's going to have to probably become a rich lobbyist! Hasn't this man suffered enough!

You know what is punishing mr Janklow? Having the Scott family grieve for the senseless death of their son and brother because of you.

Halliburtons letter in USA TodayFriday, Dec 26th:
Halliburton did not choose to import fuels from Kuwait; we were tasked to
do so. In fact, we recommended that the government source fuels from Turkey.
That suggestion save the taxpayers $164 million.

Kuwaiti fuels are more expensive to transport because products travel
farther and through a war zone. Several of our drivers have been killed and more than
60 vehicles have been destroyed or damaged. It is a difficult and dangerous job.

Halliburton followed all government-approved procedures in the contracting
process.

Today:
Oil services company Halliburton Co has told the Pentagon that two employees took up to $6 million in kickbacks for awarding a Kuwaiti-based company with work supplying U.S. troops in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday.

Proof I’m a huge geek.

I love the BBC Sherlock Holmes Mysteries with Jeremy Brett. Just received the second series boxed set in the mail so it’ll be another Holmes filled weekend.


And if that’s not bad enough, I’ve been to the “real” 221-b Baker street and sat in his chair in the study.

And if that’s not enough to convince you, when I read that there were commentary tracks, I actually said out loud “cool”.

Try and top that.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell conceded Thursday that despite his assertions to the United Nations last year, he had no "smoking gun" proof of a link between the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and terrorists of Al Qaeda.
"I have not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection,"


“I continue to believe — I think there’s overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government,” Cheney said. “I’m very confident that there was an established relationship there.”

Jesus they are just a bunch of idiots. It’s like they can’t even keep track of their own lies anymore. But hey, its not like the press is paying attention anyway…

HAHAHAHA!!!

"We're very concerned that the traditional state of marriage is under threat in our country by homosexual activists," said AFA representative Buddy Smith. "It just so happens that homosexual activist groups around the country got a hold of the poll -- it was forwarded to them -- and they decided to have a little fun, and turn their organizations around the country (onto) the poll to try to cause it to represent something other than what we wanted it to. And so far, they succeeded with that."

Of course, no such poll can be said to represent an accurate picture of popular opinion. But, clearly, the AFA had hoped Congress would take the numbers it planned to produce as exactly that kind of evidence.

Now, Smith says, his organization has had to abandon its goal of taking the poll to Capitol Hill.

"We made the decision early on not to do that," Smith admitted, "because of how, as I say, the homosexual activists around the country have done their number on it."

First of all, I take offense. I voted in the poll and am not a homosexual or a homosexual activust, although I am willing to learn.

ANd secondly, the irony is priceless. They are scrapping their poll because the results "represent something other than what we wanted it to."

Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.Scumbags. Every last one of them. Turns out Republicans have been, through a glitch, secretly monitoring private democratic memos for over a year.


"There appears to have been no hacking, no stealing, and no violation of any Senate rule," Miranda said. "Stealing assumes a property right and there is no property right to a government document. . . . These documents are not covered under the Senate disclosure rule because they are not official business and, to the extent they were disclosed, they were disclosed inadvertently by negligent [Democratic] staff."

Amazing isn’t it? Sure what we did was wrong and completely unethical but I didn’t technically break any law so you can all suck it.

This statement from a man who is the chief judicial nominee adviser on the JUDICIARY committee. Apparently the priciples of the American judicial system, namely learning the difference between right and wrong, are lost on most of the republican members.

It makes me want to spit nickels. I swear.

I can't wait. THis is gonna be good.

Bush last night:
Activist judges, however, have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives.

Imagine if he accidentally said “elections” instead of “marriage”? It would have been a much more accurate statement.

In no particular order and for no paticular reason, my top ten caper movies.



The Score
Come for brando’s fat, stay for de niro’s acting


Sting
Although nowadays the twist ending angle is so played out it takes the surprise out of it in the end, its still a fun movie.

Great Train Robbery
Connery and Victorian England.

Heist
Mamet dialogue being spoken by Gene Hackman

Oceans 11
Just a slick well done film. I didn’t even hate Julia in it, which is an accomplishment.

Sneakers
River will live on forever.

THE Great Muppet Caper.
What was that Neville?
Whats that?
Outside. what was the noise?
Oh yes that. Pig. Climbing up the wall.
Oh.
(return to eating dinner)


Topkapi
Haven’t seen it in years, but I used to love it. Its from the sixties.

Hot Rock
From the seventies, with Redford.

Pink Panther
Peter

Word is Bush knocked over Cheney's water glass at the end of the speech last night. I didn'watch the speech so I don't know, but it sounds funny.

I know I know, its such an easy trarget, but I can’t resist.

Rush Limbaugh is now on the “Kerry is elitist” talking points as issued from the RNC, which he follows faithfully.

In order to raise money he is mortgaging the Renoirs. It's a brilliant strategy, too, for Senator Kerry to show how he is in touch. It shows you he understands the plight of the common man.


Ah yes, the same Rush Limbaugh who admits that he does not shop for groceries, but instead has “people” who do that for him, is a regular smoker of fine Cuban cigars and in an interview with cigar afficianado claimed that his favorite Bordeaux is the two thousand dollar Chateau Haut Brion '61 (but he’ll settle for the equally expensive 82). wine.

I hate to say it, but I’m starting to suspect MR. Limbaugh is a bit of a hypocrite.

You've got to be f*cking kidding me.



Shameless right wing whores.


Thanks to This modern World

UPDATE:

Trent Lott has spoken. As I noted below, here is what he said in 2000:
“[A]ny appointment of a Federal judge during a recess should be opposed, regardless of who they are or whether it is Republican or Democrat. I commit myself now to remember that when there is a Republican administration, as well as a Democratic administration.”


Here is him this week now that a federal judge he is personal friends with has been given a recess apooiintment:
"Judge Pickering's record deems this recess appointment fully appropriate."

- Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), 1/17/04

Well, its not like he ever put integrity at the top of his list anyway....

Watching various political shows last night I have come to the conclusion that virtually all the pundits and pollsters are completely useless idiots.

MSNBC had Hardball with Chris Matthews. His panel included oh so neutral analyzers as Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough. As a congressman he tried to oust Newt Gingrich from his speakership because he thought he was too “liberal”. The same Scarborough who when railing about a pork subsidy for a Peanut Festival on his show, inserted a shot of a Jimmy Carter sign, even though the pork subsidy in question was requested by a Republican and had nothing to do with Carter. Gee, Lets listen to his take on the democrats. I’m sure it will be enlightening fair and evenhanded.

Then we jump over to the MSNBC Pollster Pat Caddell. He is almost always introduced as Jimmy Carters former pollster. Yet they leave out the fact that he has been on Hardball for the last 5 years as a virulen Clinton hater who claimed that Reno was “covering up” for the president, and that the democratic party has been “hijacked by a confederacy of gangsters.”

Then we cut to the pollster, Republican Frank Luntz, famous for polltesting words he told newt to use when describing democrats. Words like “corrupt” and “degenerate”. Gee, lets cut to his impartial analysis…

Then alter on we got Pat Buchanans take on it.

I think for about 60 seconds there Dee Dee myers was allowed to talk, but she was drowned out by Chris constantly talking about Deans “temper”.

Freaking liberal media makes me want to puke.

O'reilly clock.

Here's what Orrin Hatch said about Clinton threatening a recess appointment:

"I think you're going to have difficulty getting judges through. They're going to have difficulty on the appropriations process. I think there'll be attempts by some to ... really let the president know you don't do this."

IF Democrats do the same, will Hatch agree it's fair?

Another silent Senator. THis time it is none other than Charles Pickerings close friend and staunch advocate Trent Lott of Missippi. Here is what Trent Lott said about appointing a federal Judge as a recess appointment:

“[A]ny appointment of a Federal judge during a recess should be opposed, regardless of who they are or whether it is Republican or Democrat. I commit myself now to remember that when there is a Republican administration, as well as a Democratic administration.”
Trent Lott, December 15, 2000

Will Trent Lott keep his Commitment?

So far no word. Email him and ask him why.

People are so stupid.

RightMarch.com is making an impact on the radical left's all- out effort to depict President George W. Bush as a modern-day Hitler. Each time MoveOn.com uses some of the $15 million from billionaire George Soros to buy a national TV commercial to call our President another Hitler, RightMarch.com is right there to counter with the truth. Learn all about it at http://www.CNSNews.com

TO anyone with a brain and five seconds to spare would realize that Moveon has never and will enver spend money to buy a national TV commercial to call our President another Hitler. It's just funny that they forward a lie, and then say they will counter there own lie with the truth. IT's like you can't even make fun of these people anymore.

I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies in our homes and places of worship and to reaffirm our commitment to respecting the life and dignity of every human being.

As Governor Bush executed more prisoners, 152, than any other in history in the same time period. As is the usual with pro-lifers, who beleive abortion is murder yet don't advocate the death penalty for the mothers who get abortions, they are raging hypocrites.

With all the shock and outrage at a few anonymous people on the left comparing Bush to hitler, I found this interesting. FOx news is all over it. THE odious Sean Hannity, who frequently fills in for Rush "femi-Nazi" Limbaugh, thinks anyone who uases this tactic is the lowest of the low. O'Reilly parrots the same tired thing as well.

But recently an Op Ed, as opposed to some anonymous person posting an ad to a website, in the Riupert Murdoch owned NY Post made numerous Nazi comparisons to Howard Dean. FOX News has not mentioned this op ed once, and you'll notice that the op-ed itself has disappeared completly from the Post's website. You can see the Google cached version here. But don't bother searching the Post archives that they say go back 2 years. Its been erased.

Do as I say, not as I do. If anyone questions us, just pretend it never happened. I'm amazed this cretins can look at themselves in the mirror and not be disgusted.

Bush has used a recess appointment to install Charles Pickering, Lott's old race baiting buddy. I have been dutifully checking Senator James Inhofe's website to see if he will make any statements but so far he has been tight lipped. SInce Senator Inhofe is a vehement opponent of recess appointments I would assume something is forthcoming. FOr instance, here is what he said when Clinton used one to install Hormel as ambassador to LUxemborg because the senate was not letting it come to a vote because he was gay:

"President Clinton has shown contempt for Congress and the Constitution. He has treated the Senate confirmation process as little more than a nuisance which he can circumvent whenever he wants to impose his will on the country."

So far no word from the good Senator....

He previously rebuffed attempts by the governor's office to get him to resign and has said that he didn't download pornography intentionally. In some cases, he said he was just trying to "unsubscribe" from e-mail lists.

However, the investigation found that the second most frequent web address displayed on his computer - 330 times - contained a slang term for penis. That site had been saved as a "Favorite" on his computer's Internet Explorer program, the labor relations report noted. Another address with a slang word for a woman's breasts was displayed 289 times.

If your going to profess your innocence, you gotta make sure "Big Black Dicks with Pearly White Cum" is not on your favorites.

I am part of a global posse people. And I be ready to roll.

Added a new link. Josh Marshall's old site used to have a fantastic links page that has now disappeared from his new website, but still exists out there in the ether under his old web address. Its not so much a blog list, which are ubiquitous these days, but a collection of news links from newspapers and other news outlets from around the world, as well as left and right leading commentary magazines. It also includes a dictionary, Google, and news search.

I use it all the time.

I'm all for experimenting with new cuisines. Heck I'd eat dog if I was in North Korea. But this is just disgusting beyond words.

F'ing liberal medaia. THis is from Chris Mooney and just makes your f*cking jaw drop.

Here is a direct quote from a Washington Post story about a group of scientists that predict up to 37% of all species amy be driven to extinction from Global warming:

One skeptic, William O'Keefe, president of the George C. Marshall Institute, a conservative science policy organization, criticized the Nature study, saying that the research "ignored species' ability to adapt to higher temperatures" and assumed that technologies will not arise to reduce emissions.

A quick check of Mr O'Keefe's Bio reveals that he is not a scientist but in fact a former president of a Petroleum company.

I just signed everyone on this page to receive daily emails from the DNC.

Roger Clemens unretires after promising not to and New Yorkers are upset.

Post and Daily News headlines read: “Roger the rat'' and "WHAT AN ASSTRO!''

New York Yankee fans are the biggest goddamned crybabies.

My favorite quote is this one:
"Why would he leave the Yankees to go to a second-rate team?" asked Tom Kues, 49, of Valley Stream, L.I.

Hey Tom, did you check out your Yankees starting rotation?

Economist Brad Delong has been posting the juicest bits from Suskinds new book about Paul O'neil's tenure at Treasury. Can't wait to buy my copy.

From Altercation.
"No President has ever done more for human rights than I have."
George W. Bush

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.



Imagine if Clinton said anything so mindnumbingly arrogant and stupid.

FLorida. Doing everything in its power to continue to be a national joke.

The Paul O’Neil saga is fascinating to me. But not in the usual ways. Anyone with a brain knew that Bush was detached and clueless, thought deficits were irrelevant, and wanted tog et Saddam before 9/11 and just wanted a reason. Hearing Paul O’Neil repeat this isn’t news to me.

What I’m fascinated by is how disciplined and vicious the Bush attack machine is. It took 78 day’s and a media uproar for the White house to finally start an investigation into the outing of a CIA operative, which is illegal and traitorous act. Paul O’Neil says something the Administration doesn’t like and they announce an investigation accusing him of leaking classified documents in one day.

And it gets even worse. First of all, O’Neil is accused of leaking notes from meetings of the National Security Council. Bush administration officials did the exact same thing to Bob Woodward for his asskissing Bush is Rambo 9/11 Washington Post piece. Even Woodward admitted that Bush himself was answering questions about classified information, to which Woodward thought:
"Certainly Richard Nixon would not have allowed reporters to question him like that. Bush's father wouldn't allow it. Clinton wouldn't allow it.''

Since the Woodward Piece was a fawning piece of propaganda, no investigations or even complaints from the White House. Now that Paul O’neil does the exact same thing, but since he is critical of the president, an investigation is announced and splashed over the front page of USA Today within 2 days. This is how the Bush attack machine works.

Want to here the kicker? Valerie Plame, which took 78 days to start an investigation is a clear cut illegal act, violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. But Classified information in and of itself, as described here by Steven Aftergood, editor of Secrecy News, a newsletter published by the Federation of American Scientists, is not necessarily illegal, which is why Bush and Bob Woodward aren’t up for investigation.

There are several specific categories of classified information that are protected by statute -- communications intelligence, identities of covert agents, nuclear weapons design information, and some others. Those statutes are binding on the executive branch as well as on everyone else.

But most classified information is not protected by law. Instead, its classified status derives from the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief. He has full authority to declassify and disclose it as he sees fit.

The numerous disclosures of classified information made to Woodward probably did not violate the specific statutory prohibitions. (I didn't examine them carefully with this question in mind.)


The Bush Adminstration will condone serious criminal activity that is treasonous and puts American lives in danger in order to prosecute their political enemies, and they will start bogus “investigations” against anyone critical of the administration, in order to smear them.

Howard Dean take notice.

Keeping with the Bush theme of 2004, in which Bush will use any tactic and abuse any power he has in order to win, we get this.



Bush is even turning medal’s given to our soldiers into a political prop. Suffice it to say many in the military are upset about this. Even the so called “military hating” Clinton never stooped this low.

Bush planned on war before 9/11 and was just looking for an excuse.

Sound like a crackpot conspiracy theory?

Well it is from a memoir by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'neill who saw it all first hand.

Update: My mistake. It is not a memior by O'Niel, but a book written by Pulitzer prize winning Wall Street Journal Reporter Ron Suskind, who used O'neil as his primary source.

"Haven't we already given money to rich people. ... Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle,"

A direct quote from Bush. Even though all the conservative pundits screamed that it was definitly not tax cuts for the rich, and Bush himself promised his tax cuts help everyone.

This was pretty cool.

From Time Magazine.

M A U R I C E C H E E K S ' V O C A L A S S I S T
Cheeks was an all-star point guard in the NBA before becoming Portland's coach, but his best assist was the one he gave to 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert on April 25. Prior to Game 3 of the Mavericks-Blazers playoff series in Portland, Gilbert began to sing the Star-Spangled Banner before a crowd of nearly 20,000. But then she forgot the words and was left nervously shaking alone, until Cheeks walked over from his team's bench, put his arm around Gilbert and sang the rest of the song with her.

Second most inspirational sports moment?
Watchcing fat head Zim get dropped.

SO I am assuming we are going to dip into our special hidden away piggybank with our rainy day fund to pay for this?

I mean it's not like we having a crushing debt and extravagant new spending programs.

Remember those long ago days back when cell phones were about 6 ounces heavier, ER was in its 3rd season, The world didn't despise us and Republicans were for lower spending?

Those were heady day?s


And FYI, Bush's father wanted a manned mission to Mars too, the estimated cost was a trillion dollars.

Man, Atrios is right o this one. Crushing debt, 3 million lost jobs, a preemptive war we were lied into costing us untold billions, the new immigration policy proposal, Clark released his in depth tax proposal, Bushs new budget figures coming out, including cuts in veterans benefits.

Whats the lead in the NYT story?

Clark is now wearing Argyle sweaters.

This is something to keep in mind if you ever leave comments in a blog.

God they are so freaking stupid over there at the Corner.

FYI, Drudge is playing up a video Byron reported on this morning in his NRO piece on MoveOn.Org: MoveOn has no reason to be backing away from the Bush-as-Hitler contestant because it's no aberration. One of the finalists in their commercial contest has a Bush-as-Hitler video themselves. Byron wrote about that group and their fellow travellers back in September for NRODT.

Besides the fact that any reputable magazine would take someone like Matt Drudge seriously, there reasoining now is Moveon.org should now be held responsible for ad's they didn't produce and have never seen.

THose people are about as sharp as a bag of wet mice.

Jonah Goldberg is such an idiot. LIke mother like son I guess. The fact taht he would even for a second think that Jiimmy Carter said that the Orcs in the LOTR "were not evil, but rather suffered from poverty and hopelessness" is just a complete buffoon.

It's a parody Jonah. Bad parody too.

Kind of like your career.

Keeping in mytradition of going after easy targets...

The fine young men at Young Conservatives. HEre is a snippet from one of their editorials.

Democrats have been driven insane by hatred; how else can you explain Dean’s statement that the capture of Saddam Hussein doesn’t make America safer?

For perspective, here is a poll taken by CBS/Time after Saddams capture.
AS A RESULT OF CAPTURING SADDAM, THE FOLLOWING THREATS WILL:
Terrorist threat against U.S.
Increase 18%
Decrease 19%
Same 60%

So according to the fine men at Young conservatives, 78% of america is driven insane by hatred.

I was born in the wrong decade.

I always seem to gravitate towards the easy targets. Probably because its effortlessly easy to make fun of stupid people saying stupid things, and makes me feel like I'm some kinda bigshot on my oh so cool "Blog" that 5 people read.

So in that vien, here's drudge today:
One of the finalists of the MoveOn.org ad contest is responsible for another heinous web video that compares Bush to Hitler, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

An ad by "Take Back the Media" is one of 15 Finalists in MoveOn.org's Bush in 30 Seconds Commercial Contest. Produced by Michael Stinson [SYMBOLMAN], The ARMY OF ONE flash animation has been chosen out of over 1000 submission by nearly 3 million votes online.
But currently streaming on the Take Back site with ARMY OF ONE is another shocking advert produced by Michael Stinson [SYMBOLMAN] -- alleging Bush/Nazi ties!

Let's recap:
The ad in question has nothing to do with Moveon.org at all. But the talking points of the day is to smear Moveon as parroting the bush/hitler attack. See here and here. This line of attack is nothing new. Remember the gay episcopal bishop who was afffiliated with a program whose website was linked to a website that had a link on that website that had GAY PORN!!!

But Drudge, crack newsman that he is (he wears a freaking FEDORA for gods sake), has morphed mentioning alleged Bush/Nazi ties, which believe it or not are 100% true (albiet his grandfather and admittedly unfair and silly to bring up regarding his grandson) into comparing Bush to Hitler.

Mentioning the Nazi ties that Prescott Bush had with the nazi's, which is a documented fact, is now equated to comparing Bush to Hitler.

MY governor, who was served a federal subpoena, and is facing impeachment, last night:
I was wrong when I accepted gifts given to me by state employees and from friends who do business with the state. For this I accept full responsibility.
But worse, I was wrong in failing to truthfully address these issues. I lied and there are no excuses.

A poll released today:
And 79 percent of voters - including 70 percent of Republicans - said Rowland is not honest or trustworthy, compared with 73 percent from the last poll.

It’s nice knowing that 21 percent of the people in my state are complete morons.

It's amazing how much stupider Trent Lott get's with age. Heres a little blast from the past:
A congressman who questioned U.S. efforts to link Iraq to the al Qaeda terrorist network should "come home and keep his mouth shut," Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott said Sunday.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington, who is one of three House members visiting Iraq to urge Iraqi officials to avert war by allowing U.N. weapons inspectors back in, has acted irresponsibly, Lott said.
"For him to be in Baghdad, the center of one of the most dangerous dictators in the world, with all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, to be questioning the veracity of our own American president, is the height of irresponsible," said Lott, R-Mississippi. "He needs to come home and keep his mouth shut."

I really like that picture.

John Derbyshire is a racist!

At least according to Newsmax. Neanderthal is overtly racist language!!

It was only a matter of time before the Dean is like Hitler smears started getting hurled. Congratulations to the New York Post to be the first one out of the gate! Leave it to FOX news owner Rupert Murdoch's paper to be the first to use this disgusting hate speech!

This self described "intellectual" manges to compare Dean to Hitler, forward a baltant lie, and hurl a third grade insult. All within 1000 words! Not that I have anything against third grade insults. But I'm not a self described "intellectual" writing for a major newspaper.


Feel free to let the NY Post know how you feel

Rush today:
“We've got one case of mad cow disease - which the cow contracted under Clinton - and the Washington Post has George W. Bush defeated because of it. Unbelievable.”

The cow contracted it under Clinton. We've gotten to the point where absolutly anything bad that happened from January 1992 to January 2000 is "under Clinton". Unless its a good thing, like the 22 million new jobs, economic expansion, lower crime, etc, thats because of teh republican congress. OK then.

Rush was able to take fantastic pain medication that got him high so he could forget his back pain under a republican congress.
Rush then became a Junkie under Clinton.

Neil Bush banged hot asain hookers and didn't even have to pay for it, under a Republican Congress.
Neil Bush got Herpes from hot asain hookers under Clinton.

The movie Schindler's List was released under a Republican congress.
THe movie Bio-Dome was released under CLinton.

Millions of cute puppies were born under a Republican congress.
Millions of cute puppies were put to death by the humane Society under Clinton.

feel free to add your own.

This guy is a piece of work. Virtually every quote in this article from him is ignorant. A proud gay republican who doesn’t understand why more gays aren’t republican. Perhaps Bush vowing never to hire a gay in his administration, Rick Santorum comparing homosexuality to bestiality, etc..

But his delusion covers all aspects of his life. You cannot be a “devout catholic”, as he maintains, and gay. Homosexuality is a sin in the church. By not rejecting his homosexuality he is, according to his own “devout” beliefs, an immoral and unrepentant sinner and should be excommunicated.

And the “Clinton recession” crack simply shows his ignorance extends to his grasp of basic economic issues. And he can’t understand why gays aren’t for the Iraq war because saddam treated gays so badly. Being a “huge Bush supporter” and thinking that hes done a “great” job, he neglects to inform us as to how upset he must be at Bush for not invading and overthrowning every country that has a bad raecord regarding gay rights. I’m sure it just slipped is mind.

He was “surprised” that Columbia law school was liberal?

“Democrats haven’t had a new idea in 40 years”. Besides the obvious notion of making discrimination against gays illegal, the list is quite long, but why bother actually learning anything, when you can simply spout mindless slogans.

2003 media whore candidates announced.

Beware theres audio.

Kos urges everyone to write not only the AP, but any paper that prints this AP story by partisan hack “reporter” Nedra Pickler. Besides being a conservative partisan wh spins all her stories, todays involves a quote that doesn't exist
"I opposed the Iraq war when everyone else up here was for it,"

Kucinich andBraun were against it. What he actually said was:
I opposed the Iraq war; with the exception of Dennis and Carol, everybody else supported it.




The AP's credo also happens to be:
"News bearing the AP logotype is expected to be accurate, balanced and informed."

Contact Ms Pickler personally here:
Phone: 202.776.9421
email: npickler@ap.org

And check your local paper and if they run this story, complain.

Could the Mad Cow recall have been prevented if it wasn't for Republicans?

Yes.

For years, the politically potent and well-financed cattle and meatpacking industries have held sway in the debate over the practice of slaughtering and marketing non-ambulatory, or downer, cattle. They repeatedly blocked efforts by urban Democrats and a handful of moderate Republicans to end the practice -- which provides producers with millions of dollars of profits each year but also represents the biggest potential source of contaminated meat.

Notice it was Democrats who were urging the change, but were defeated by Republicans in congress who were eholden to corporate interests.

Tom Delay:
"Their leaders have lined up behind Howard Dean's brand of angry, intolerant politics. They've made their message clear: 'moderates need not apply' and that's a sad trend for a once-great party,"

Tom Delay is now upset about intolerance?

"Ladies and gentlemen, Christianity offers the only viable, reasonable, definitive answer to the questions of 'Where did I come from?' 'Why am I here?' 'Where am I going?' 'Does life have any meaningful purpose?' " DeLay said. "Only Christianity offers a way to understand that physical and moral border. Only Christianity offers a comprehensive worldview that covers all areas of life and thought, every aspect of creation. Only Christianity offers a way to live in response to the realities that we find in this world -- only Christianity."

Upset about angry people? The man who shoved a Congressman on the house floor and called him a "chickenshit"?
INtolerance from thre man who said Columbine happened "because our school systems teach our children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial mud."

Oh no. Blogs are now officilay "out"?


Whatever shall I do now that the "HIP-O-METER" at the Philadelphia Weekly has declared blogs "out"?

I do take solace in the fact that there is no way on gods green earth anything or anybody using the phrase "HIP-O-METER" can ever be "in".

Thats just gross.
And its nice to know our condition Orange can't even find freaking rotting corpses on a plane much less a tiny bomb.