All I've got to say

Someone should really bring charges against the news media for aggravated assault on a deceased equine.

Dysfunctional Heavenly Family

While I have criticized religion before, I don't want to be seen as one of these Richard Dawkins-esque atheist types - from my reading of "American Atheist" magazine - the one published by the late Madelyn O'Hare's group - I've discovered disbelievers can be just as fundamentalist as any believer. And religion has done some useful things for people and society - witness the Plowshares activists and the Berrigan brothers.

But what the hell is going on in America these days?

First, we've got a choir director in San Francisco who's calling on people to pray the price of gas down:

Rocky Twyman of Washington, D.C., came to San Francisco over the weekend to stage a pray-in at a Chevron station. He is also calling on churchgoers to ask for God's intervention where he says politicians have failed.

Gas costing $4 a gallon or more has become common around the San Francisco Bay area.

Um, oooooo-kay. Not that I'd be amiss to seeing oil company CEOs get lightning bolts upside their heads, but really - this is the best we can do?

Admittedly, he's calling on people to walk and carpool more (though not to use public transportation, but then again I don't know how good the public transport system in SF is) and has previously encouraged people to donate bone marrow, so I'm not going to be too harsh on him.

Our second contestant, though -

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Struggling to confront a worsening homicide rate, the mayor of Birmingham asked pastors and citizens Friday to don burlap sacks and ashes Friday in an Old Testament-style sign of biblical repentance.

Mayor Larry Langford said his "sackcloth and ashes" rally at Boutwell Auditorium was inspired by the Book of Jonah, where residents of the ancient city of Ninevah wore rough fabric and ashes as a sign of turning away from sin.

Okay, seriously - WTF?

Since he took office last year, Langford has held three prayer rallies as a way of addressing crime and violence. Bibles were handed out at one of the events.

"This city needs to humble itself," said Langford, a professing Christian.

So far this year 27 people have been killed in Birmingham, compared to 19 at the same time last year.

Oh, my, this alternative plan for addressing violent crime seems to be working SO WELL. Kind of like God's decided, what with natural disasters, famine, war, flood, and fire to deal with, he's really got better things to do than pay attention to yet another Bible Belt clown whining to him for help.

It's not the first time Birmingham has tried this, either:

The former chief, Annetta Nunn, promoted the idea of turning people toward God to quell the violence in the city's neighborhoods, and she instituted a Bible-based plan of civic responsibility for cleaning up rundown neighborhoods.

Ah, that's what we need to clean up 21st Century American neighborhoods - the principles of ancient Hebrew pilgrims. I can just see it now - closing down seafood restaurants, stoning herbalists, and punishing people wearing more than one kind of fabric at a time. Whee!

Or maybe we could adequately fund schools, promote investment in "rundown" areas, spend more on public infrstructure, that kind of thing... but how's THAT going to save souls?

This is odd... or maybe not

Apropos of totally nothing, FAUX News (Fair and Balanced, if you're to the right of Genghis Khan) ran a story on their headlines Thursday about a group of pastors who decided to denounce Planned Parenthood as a racist organization:

Holding a brief vigil and press conference in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, D.C., the group of pastors and activists said they were incensed by the results of recent “undercover” inquiries into several Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.

“Every day … over 1,500 black babies are murdered inside the black woman’s womb,” said Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, of Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND). “This is a race issue.”

(1500 babies? That must be one spacious womb.)

The story goes on to describe an admittedly troubling conversation with an employee in Planned Parenthood of Idaho who accepts a caller's (one of the undercover inquirers) request to direct his donation to black women:

The "donor" proceeds to proclaim that “the less black kids out there the better,” followed by, “understandable, understandable,” by Kersey, who laughed as if he were joking.

Lord, a racist in Idaho. Imagine that. And "Planned Parenthood clinics in six states" were willing to accept donations from such creeps, which maybe shows more that they're willing to take money from anyone who's willing to donate it in tough economic times, rather than their inherent racist bias.

And let's drag out the "Margaret Sanger was a racist" trope, while we're at it:

Over the years, comments made by Sanger about reproduction among the poor and minorities have led to her reputation as a racist and a belief that she wanted to “weed” out blacks from society. Planned Parenthood has disputed that caricature and has pointed out her supporters in the black community, including Martin Luther King Jr., and W.E.B DuBois. Nevertheless, Childress and others repeatedly invoked her name as a major force behind a century-long “genocide” on the black community.

Well, the history of eugenics is unpleasant but also complicated, and just because the people of the early 20th Century were prone to casual paternalistic racialism doesn't necessarily mean anything they touched is tainted.

I mean, using that logic, the fact that the American Pledge of Allegiance was written by a Socialist should mean these guys would never let its words pass their lips. Which I don't think is the case.

But this "BOND" group - what about them? Let's spend some quality time with Teh Great Gazoogle and find out.

Vision Statement

To Help Men and their Families, Particularly in Major Urban Areas find Spiritual and Personal Freedom through our Personal Development Programs and Community Outreach and Renewal Efforts.

And to evidently abuse the language as well through inappropriate use of capitalized words.

Since 1990, BOND has helped men and their families regain control of their lives and overcome life’s challenges. The commitment of the organization stresses the importance of self-reliance, honesty, and helping others through patience.

Well, I have to admit that sounds all well and good. But this is the modern-day a-go-go world of 2008, where we're evidently expected to judge black folks by who they associate with. So who does BOND associate with, anyway?

BOND has played an instrumental role in helping young men and women build lives which will help inspire the next generation. --Sean Hannity

Um...

Written Commentary

Dennis Prager
How Liberals Lost a Liberal

Michelle Malkin
The Democrats' Jimmy Carter Problem

Thomas Sowell
A Living Lie

Robert D. Novak
What's the Matter With Obama?

Okay, WTF? Prager, Sowell and (Douchebag of Freedom) Novak are bad enough, but the MALKIN? They're willing to link their name with Ms. Neo-Nativist herself? Someone who's willing to pursue vendettas against small children and who looks for secret codes to Reconquista in vodka ads? Cripes. I'm surprised they didn't include an endorsement from Bill "M-Fer, I want more iced tea" O' Reilly while they were at it.

Is this really the best we can do for young blacks - patronizing, paternalistic Christian conservatives who're willing to associate themselves with racists, as long as the racism is directed at someone else?

There's something in the water, I tell you

Just like it's the water in New York City that makes bagels from there so damn good (drool...), there's something in the water here that makes politicians insane.

I mean, on top of Strom "The Thing That Would Not Die" Thurmond and Lindsey "Cracker" Graham, we've got a few loose nuts in our State Leg as well.

Example #1 - We've got legislators actually arguing whether or not putting ads INSIDE school buses is a good thing (and managing to dodge taking a stand on it):

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - A South Carolina senator who objects to advertisements on school buses has told lawmakers considering the idea that students shouldn't be force-fed corporate ads on their way to school.

Republican Senator Greg Ryberg of Aiken wants to ban school districts from putting ads in buses to raise money. Some senators at a subcommittee meeting Wednesday said such decisions should be left to local school board members and parents.

Well, it's at least nice to see a Republican being something other than a evil tool of corporate interests, as so many of his peers aspire to.

Democratic Senator Kay Patterson of Columbia says it's an option some districts may need because the Legislature doesn't adequately fund education.

Well, imagine that. Inadequately funding public education, so the private sector is willing to step in and hang an ad in front of lil' Johnny and Britney's faces while they're supposed to be "learning". After all, it's not enough that the school halls, school cafeterias, even the lessons themselves have been intruded on by advertising, not to mention the ads kids willingly inflict on themselves. Hell, why should kids get ANY respite from the corporate world?

We should just sell kids outright to corporations - or at least rent 'em for the time they're in school. Tattoo a logo on the back of their hand, so they can never escape advertising. Change their names legally while they're in school - Britney Johnson might be, say, Nike Johnson. When they graduate, not only can the corporation get their name mentioned, but maybe the presenter can even say the company catchphrase in awarding the diploma! Whee!

After all, it's all so much easier to rely on The Free Market(tm) than it is to adequately fund education.

Example #2 - Legislators fret over the menace that is Skee-Ball:

Columbia, SC -- The South Carolina House killed what's known as the "Chuck E. Cheese" bill Wednesday morning, over concerns that it would allow video poker to sneak back into the state.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, said, "I think it is drafted in such a way that it would create a loophole to basically get us video poker back, where you're paid off in merchandise rather than cash."

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, to make it clear that Skee Ball and other games that offer tickets or tokens that are traded for toys or candy are perfectly legal.

While Rep. Harrison was speaking against the bill, Rutherford asked him about the current law against gambling. Harrison explained that, under the current law, if you pay something of value and an element of risk is involved to win something of value, that's gambling.

"So little three-year-olds or five-year-olds at Chuck E. Cheese are, in fact, breaking the law by gambling? Is that what you're telling me?" Rutherford asked.

Harrison replied, "I think under the current definition of gambling, that what goes on as innocent fun in many cases is gambling."

Oh, my! Little Johnny Staples might be GAMBLING! OH NOES WE"LL ALL DIE

Of course, by Rep. Harrison's own definition, the State Lottery is "gambling", but that's irrelevant 'cause that money is intended for "education".

So how's that new education funding working out?

50th in high school graduation rate. Manhattan Institute.
See The Post and Courier, 2/16/05: "South Carolina has long lingered near the bottom in many national rankings of public education. But none offers a more worrying indicator of the state's future than our low standing in high school graduation rates-- now last among all 50 states, according to a new report by the Manhattan Institute."

49th in average SAT scores. The College Board. See The Post and Courier, 8/31/05: "In test results released Tuesday by The College Board, South Carolina's average SAT score increased seven points to 993, or 35 points below the national average of 1,028. The Palmetto State's average score on the college entrance test tied with Georgia for 49th place, topping only Washington, D.C."

First in high college tuition. Chronicle of Higher Education. See the Myrtle Beach Sun News, 9/15/05: " South Carolina's average tuition was ranked the highest in the nation by the Chronicle of Higher Education when compared to percentage of per-capita income."

Well, I guess it's not really gambling then, since you do indeed "pay something of value and an element of risk is involved", but getting something of value back? Not so much.

But you do get one of those cool scratch-off cards that you can leave all over convenience-store parking lots when you're done with them, so I guess that's something.

Not good, very bad

Two stories from the last 24 hours, the first courtesy Atrios at Eschaton:

Bakers feeling pinch of short supplies

Rye flour stocks have been depleted in the United States, and by June or July there will be no more U.S. rye flour to purchase, said Lee Sanders, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs at the American Bakers Association.

"Those that are purchasing it now are having to purchase it from Germany and the Netherlands, and that's very concerning," Sanders said.

[snip]

For bakers, rye grain is not the only supply stock that is declining. In the past the market has typically had a three-month surplus of wheat stocks to serve as a cushion against supply interruptions, but now the surplus is down to less than 27 days worth of wheat, Sanders said.

And two:

Wal-Mart's Sam's Club limits rice purchases

Sam's Club, the No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator, said it is limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice "due to recent supply and demand trends."

U.S. rice futures hitting an all-time high Wednesday on worries about supply shortages.

[snip]

Food costs have soared worldwide, spurred by increased demand in emerging markets like China and India; competition with biofuels; high oil prices and market speculation.

The situation has sparked food riots in several African countries, Indonesia, and Haiti. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that higher food prices could hurt global growth and security.

Rice prices have risen 68 percent since the start of 2008.

Trade bans on rice have been put in place by India, the world's second largest exporter in 2007, and Vietnam, the third biggest, in hopes of cooling domestic prices. Rice is a staple in most of Asia.

But cripes, again, with scintillating stories on the big news websites like "Teen-repelling noisemaker draws protests" (CNN.com) and "Study: Frequent Masturbation May Stop Prostate Cancer" (foxnews.com, as if you couldn't guess), why get distracted with trivia? I'm sure the Free Market(tm) will sort it all out, after all.

Clear priorities

Well, thank god this fell off the front page of CNN.com, 'cause who could possibly care about something so inconsequential?

(CNN) -- World Vision, one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations, announced Tuesday that it cannot feed 1.5 million of the 7.5 million people it fed last year and made an urgent appeal for international donors to step in.

The cutback could affect donations to 35 of the 100 countries in which the agency works, said Rachel Wolff, media relations manager for disaster response.

The cutbacks are occurring across the developing world. Some of World Vision's food aid programs have been cut altogether, such as those in East Timor and Sri Lanka, while others have been reduced, such as those in Burundi, Niger, Cambodia, North and South Sudan. The cuts affect people in nearly every region of the world.

[snip]

"Based on a very rough analysis, we estimate that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty," World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said in Washington last week. "This is not just a question of short-term needs, as important as those are; this is ensuring that future generations don't pay a price, too."

He has called for a "New Deal for Global Food Policy" to meet the crisis, as well as $500 million -- about half of which has been met -- from donor governments to close a gap identified by the United Nations' World Food Programme.

But World Food Programme spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said Monday that the estimate had risen to $750 million over the past few weeks.

Cripes, $750 million? That's - what? - about 5 hours worth of Iraq spending? For something a whole lot larger than one country? (Oh, but that's fighting terrorism - how can you compare that to feeding poor people, after all?)

But between nit-picking analyses of the Presidential horse race and important news headlines like "Man fined $450 for overstuffed trash bin" and "6-legged kitten needs surgery", can you blame CNN.com for burying this story so deep that only 12 hours after they first ran it you have to actually work to dig it out from the archives?

An early contestant in the 2008 "Spurious Logic" Awards

A couple days back the news media, before they got distracted by something shiny, was fretting over the latest angry white guy kid case, from right here in South Carolina. Evidently we were going to not only have another school shooting (let's hear it for "easy access to guns"!) but a bomb as well, and from that fact the Feds have decided to charge the kid in question with possession of WMDs:

CHESTERFIELD, South Carolina (AP) -- The acting U.S. attorney for South Carolina says a teenager accused of planning to bomb his high school will face a federal charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The charge carries a possible life sentence.

And where did young Ryan get his material from? Why, TEH EEEEVIL INTERNETS, of course:

Schallenberger was arrested Saturday after his parents called police because their son had ordered 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which they retrieved after getting a delivery notice from the postal service, authorities said.

Ammonium nitrate is an explosive commonly used as fertilizer and was employed in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Authorities said Schallenberger bought it on eBay.

Well, um, considering he only had 10 pounds as opposed to the thousands of pounds Tim McVeigh used, it's questionable if that really qualifies as a WMD or not. According to the FBI, WMDs are "chemical, biological, and radiological/nuclear materials", so something that would merely cause a big explosion hardly seems to qualify to me. (If I were the defense lawyer, personally, I'd make a point of the imperfect definition of the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" and how it might, or might not, apply in this case.)

ANYWAY - what this all leads to is my subject, one of the blog links from CNN.com's story about the subject. Some being writing something called "The Dan Lee Report" (pretentious, much?) decided that the accusation of WMDs in this case somehow-or-other means that "liberals" should defend this kid, or something:

Not that I feel bad for too bad for this teenager accused of planning to bomb his high school in SC, but I do fully expect that in a twisted act of “fairness”, liberals should be out in droves defending him like they did Saddam Hussein.. I mean after all, he had all the components to assemble a WMD, but since they didn’t find new enough mustard gas/serin filled bombs to satisfy Liberals, they claimed there were no WMD in Iraq, so why doesn’t that standard apply here?

This kid hadn’t even put anything together yet, so by their own logic, shouldn’t they be veraciously defending him too? I’m not counting on it. It seems that only when one of our own citizens makes illegal weapons with the intent of harming others, that the Democrats are willing to call them “WMD.”

Well, call me crackers, but it's not "the Democrats" who're making the accusation, it's the Acting US Attorney for the District of South Carolina, and his Web bio makes no mention of his party affiliation. Furthermore, not only didn't we find the WMDs in Iraq, we also didn't find the stockpiles or assembly facilities necessary for making them. Furthermore, it wasn't just "liberals" who couldn't find the Iraqi WMDs. Furthermore, nobody was "defending Saddam", we were just pointing out how criminally stupid and mendacious the Iraq invasion was, which has proved to be the case to the point where it's not even open to debate anymore. And let's not even get into "Dan"'s - um - creative use of spelling and grammar. (Hint: It's "sarin", not "serin".)

But, hell! I deny thee, "Dan Lee"! Let's treat this case like we did Iraq.

In that spirit, I call for immediate, tough sanctions on South Carolina with restriction of "dual-use" WMD precursor materials such as fertilizer and fuel oil, maybe with the imposition of a "Food For Okra" program later on if things get too oppressive for the people of the state, whom of course we have no argument with. Plans should be drawn up to destabilize the regime in the State House and troops should be massed on the Georgia and North Carolina borders (just in case). Additionally there should be a no-fly area imposed over Chesterfield, with routine bombings of any ground traffic moving in the area just in case they try to sneak their ammonium nitrate stockpiles to Syria Tennessee or something.

I realize this is going to be painful and expensive. I realize even I, as a resident of South Carolina, may get caught up in the chaos of invasion and occupation. But I am willing to meet our liberators with rose petals and cheers, in the hope that one day in a colonial free South Carolina, Presidential candidates will be able to fly in and shop at our charming native marketplaces, backed by only a brigade or two of heavily armed troops, and we can settle down to a peaceful and calm existence with only the occasional massive car bombing to prompt warbloggers to cluck about how "ungrateful" some of us are for our liberty.

I'll see your stupid, and raise you

In response to former President Carter's meeting with the most evilest people in the entire world (other than, of course, Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, the Chinese government, the North Korean government, and the Berkeley City council) Rep. Joe Knollenberg wants to cut off federal funding for the Carter Center:

"America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies," Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., said in a statement from his office. "It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups."

Knollenberg said the Carter Center has received about $19 million in taxpayer funds since 2001. He named his bill the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals Act — or CARTER Act, for short. The Carter Center is housed at Emory University in Atlanta.

"CARTER" act, hurr hurr hurr hurr! Him make funny! And as far as that $19 mil goes, I'm sure it could be put to so much better use in Iraq.

Not to be outdone, though, fellow Representative (what IS it with the House? How do all these nutjobs get elected?) Sue Myrick wants to revoke Carter's passport:

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., told FOX News that she advocates revoking Carter's passport and supports a measure to withdraw all federal funding from his Georgia-based institution, the Carter Center.

"We have a policy in this country about Hamas and he is deliberately undermining that policy," Myrick said. "Why should we support his center when he will not support his government?"

Harumph! After all, there's nothing worse than a civilian undermining national policy.

But, of course, we have The King Twit himself weighing in on the subject:

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., told FOX News that "at best, President Carter is being naive" in trying to negotiate with avowed terrorists. "There is a long list of people who thought they could reason with dictators and killers, going back to Neville Chamberlain and Hitler in the 1930s, but it has been shown to be absolutely wrong."

After all, negotiations with terrorist groups have never, ever worked.

I hereby vote we extend Godwin's Law to not only cover accusations of being fascist, but to any mention of Chamberlain, Munich 1937, or "appeasement".

Things like this just happen, you know?

Didn't watch the "debate" last night (yes, I'm a bad American, but I don't wear a flag pin either, so there you go) but evidently those who did were - well, let's just say less than impressed with The George And Charlie Show.

CNN has evidently decided to take the "it was broken when I got here" option on their coverage of the debatcle*, pretending that the lack of substance for the first hour or so had nothing to do with the loaded questions that the hosts were asking:

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- In their last face-to-face meeting before a crucial primary showdown in Pennsylvania, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went back and forth over recent campaign-trail controversies before staking out differences on taxes and the economy.

[snip]

The candidates spent nearly half of the debate, hosted by ABC News, tilting over flare-ups that have been fodder for journalists, partisans and pundits for the past few weeks.

No indication that it was the fault of the hosts in asking the stupid shallow questions; no, evidently in CNN's journalistic alternate universe these irrelevancies just appeared from the ether and intruded on the substantial debate that was occurring.

Mind you, in a microcosm of the debate itself, the CNN.com story spends most of its time discussing the fluff'n'nonsense that was asked of the candidates in lieu of real questions, while relegating discussion of Iraq and taxes to the last couple paragraphs, so it shouldn't be a total surprise to them.

*debate+debacle

Fish. Barrel. Shotgun.

Oh, cripes, the Beck is at it again:

In a global economy, companies can locate themselves wherever they want. They will set up shop wherever it's easiest to do business. That's also where they will pay most of their taxes and hire thousands of workers.

If you have to make the decision on where to do business, would you choose the country that, according to the Tax Foundation, features the highest corporate state and federal tax in the developed world? I doubt it.

The World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers just finished their report studying the burden that businesses face by various tax systems. In what it calls the "ease" of paying taxes, we ranked 76th out of 178 countries overall. That's not good.

The "Tax Foundation" may sound familiar - it's the conservative PR outlet that coughs up B.S. about "Tax Freedom Day®" (make sure you use the trademark!) every year. Yeah, there's an impartial source for you.

I am aware that arguing for a tax cut for companies may seem counterintuitive to some, with all the economic problems "Main Street" is feeling at the moment. But that's exactly why we need it so badly. Now is not the time to chase away the companies that employ us.

No, they'll just stay in the United States, claim tax credits and subsidies, and hide their profits offshore:

Merck had cooked its tax books by moving ownership of its drug patents to its own Bermuda shell company -- an entity that has no real employees and does no real work -- and then deducting from U.S. taxes the huge royalties it paid itself. While setting up a shell company is not inherently illegal, it is if tax authorities determine that its only purpose is to evade taxes. Bermuda is a tax haven that has no levy on royalties.

And let's not even talk about the majority of companies that paid NO taxes to the government between 1996-2000. And, according to this article, many of them were still getting away with it in 2004.

Or the fact that corporations dodge even more of their state tax obligation than what they owe the Feds.

Ah, yes, Glenn Beck, champion of the little people, as long as the little people are earning more than $100 billion a year.

Raise your hand if you saw this coming

Oh, well, we have to stay in Iraq - to defend them from Iran!

Last week's violence in Basra and Baghdad has convinced the Bush administration that actions by Iran, and not al-Qaeda, are the primary threat inside Iraq, and has sparked a broad reassessment of policy in the region, according to senior U.S. officials.

Evidence of an increase in Iranian weapons, training and direction for the Shiite militias that battled U.S. and Iraqi security forces in those two cities has fixed new U.S. attention on what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday called Tehran's "malign" influence, the officials said.

The intensified focus on Iran coincides with diminished emphasis on al-Qaeda in Iraq as the leading justification for an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Um, yeah. O-Kay.

That's "Al-Qaeda In Iraq" as opposed to "Al-Qaeda in Iraq", by the way, but who gives a damn about hairsplitting distinctions like that now that Iran's proved their evil machinations on our lil' fragile doe-eyed colony democracy?

Partly in response to advice from Petraeus and Crocker, the administration has initiated an interagency assessment of what is known about Iranian activities and intentions, how to combat them and how to capitalize on them. The review stems from an internal conclusion, following last week's fighting, that the administration lacked a comprehensive understanding and a sophisticated approach.

"the administration lacked . . . understanding". Oh, jeezul, color me all kinds of surprised at that.

Iran's brokering of a tentative cease-fire among Shiite political groups and the militia in Tehran added to U.S. consternation.

"The importance of Iranian influence in facilitating the discussion between different political factions was of significant importance," Petraeus told Pentagon reporters yesterday. Administration officials worried that Iran appeared in control of events in Iraq, while the United States seemed weak and uninformed.

"the United States seemed . . . uninformed." Now how could THAT be?

I mean, it sure as hell isn't as if we have a press that spends its time doing silly stuff like worrying about reflections in Face-Shooter Dick's glasses or who's picking guests up at the airport, nosirree.

And Crocker et al whine at the rest of the Arabs, and our buddies the Saudis in particular, that they could be a little more neighborly:

The message to the Saudis, he said, "is going to be . . . it is time, more than time, for the Arab states to step forward and engage constructively with Iraq. Get their embassies open, get ambassadors on the ground, consider visits, implement debt relief, treat Iraq like the country it is, which is a central part of the Arab world."

C'mon, come back to Jamaica Iraq! What's a few mortar rounds and IEDs between friends? Bring the family! Bring a cake and some tuna noodle casserole! And, hell, if you really wanted to send a couple brigades of troops our way we wouldn't mind one bit.

Last nail goes in

Way back in only the second post of this blog, I complained about the local Air America station and their insistence on carrying local programming in lieu of Randi Rhodes, who I adore.

Welp, nobody's listening to the Rhodes on AA now.

Randi Rhodes, the radio talk show host who was suspended last week from Air America after going on an obscenity-laced tirade against Hillary Clinton and one of her prominent supporters, has resigned.

Mark Green, president of Air America Media, told FOXNews.com that Rhodes terminated her contract Wednesday after she refused to apologize on air for her remarks.

“We sought an apology, because of what she had said…like Imus, like David Shuster,” Green said. “She refused and instead last night informed us she was terminating her contract with Air America, which she has the option to do.”

Well, I should have talked about it at the time, which I regret not doing, but I'm not sure what the hell motivated Air America to suspend her in the first place.

For one, Imus and Shuster made their comments in the contest of their respective programs, while Rhodes made hers in the context of a stand-up performance at a public though limited-audience event, though as you'll notice the stories published on the FAUX news site don't make that distinction clear (and in fact make it out to be something she said on-air!).

In a statement issued on the liberal radio network’s Web site, Air America chairman Charlie Kireker said that kind of salty talk has no place in the political dialogue.

Why not? These days it's practically fscking patriotic. (Lil' linux humor there, forgive me. :)

And as far as the "mysogynistic" part, well, sure, that's just beyond the pale in respectable political discourse.

As Stranger puts it well over at Blah3.com:

And with that, Air America has dismissed the last interesting bit of on-air talent from the original lineup they went on the air with, as well as late additions and replacements for shows that didn't survive early on.

Randi? Gone. Seder/Garafalo? Gone. Franken? Gone. Young Turks? Gone. Morning Sedition? Gone. Mike Malloy? Gone.

You get the idea. In the name of staying straight down the center, AAR has eviscerated itself. Expect plenty of non-threatening, uncontroversial radio like Lionel. I'd be extremely surprised if the lone bright spot left on the lineup, Rachel Maddow, sticks around much longer.

[snip]

But this probably is the beginning of the end for Air America. With few compelling hosts and what looks like a recitence to rock the corporatist/mainstream boat, they'll be a weak-tea version of NPR in short order.

Cripes, definitely. (And as far as NPR goes I've GOT to do a post one of these days on the yell-at-the-radio festival of centrist shallowness that is "On Point". Eeeeeyurgh.)

*snort*

Okay, I don't want to get involved with the Truthers and their silliness more than I absolutely have to, but this is just too frickin' funny:

8) How could a single missile destroy a battle station the size of a moon? No records, anywhere, show that any battle station or capital ship has ever been destroyed by a single missile. Furthermore, analysis of the tape of the last moments of the Death Star show numerous small explosions along its surface, prior to it exploding completely! Why does all evidence indicate that strategically placed explosives, not a single missile, is what destroyed the Death Star?

This guy better be careful. The Conspiracy's Secret Police have a way of disappearing people who get too close to the Truth like that.

(By the way - make sure to read the comments on that post. I don't know which are funnier - the ones who get the joke and run with it, or the ones who don't and are all indignant.)

Ryan Crock-O-Crap

Oh, lordy. Even I, in my depths of cynicism, couldn't have imagined what came out of the Iraq testimony before Congress today.

It wasn't at all surprising that Iran (who helped negotiate the cease-fire in Basra a couple weeks back, but nemmind THAT) was made out to be the great threat to our fragile lil' Petri Dish O'Freedom:

Throughout their testimony, Petraeus and Crocker have been unequivocal in their belief that Iran has been fueling fighting, supplying mortars that rain down on the international Green Zone in Baghdad as well as arming so-called "special groups" that were behind recent fighting in Basra.

Well, cripes, of course! Have you ever heard of the citizens of a country resisting an occupation, after all?

Of course, those citizens never had to live under an American occupation, in which, even if political power comes from the barrels of guns, those guns fire cotton candy and ice cream! And everyone gets a pony! Whee!

Anyway, getting back to the dog-and-Petraeus show, Ambassador Ryan Crocker pegged my outrage meter with the following emerging from his ignint cakehole:

"Iran has stated (publicly) that its policy is to support the Iraqi government. And in my view, if you take sort of an objective analysis of the Iran-Iraq relationship, that is what Iran should be doing, supporting the central government, because the truth is no people suffered more from Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad than the Iranian people, with the sole exception of the Iraqis themselves," Crocker said.

Uh.

Grok it, folks* - the frickin' Ambassador to Iraq actually implied, gawdhelpus, that Iran should be THANKFUL we invaded. 'Cause we overthrew their archenemy Saddam, y'see! They should love us!

Sure, we invaded their neighboring country, destabilized the government, caused millions of citizens to become refugees, arrested their diplomats in Iraq, accused 'em of being Nazis, appropriated money to overthrow their government as well, and rattled, rattled, rattled the sabers at them.

But we got Saddam! So they're safer than ever now, and they should be grateful to us.

If "a boy, having just been convicted of murdering his parents, begging the judge for leniency because he is an orphan" is a definition of chutzpah, what the hell is this? Doubleplus chutzpah, maybe?


*I would have said "Comprende", but I was afraid of getting boycotted by the Malkin.

Cast into the outer darkness

You know, in my last few years of commenting on the Internet, I've been called many things.

But an apologist for the Bush Administration? Someone who looks to them to keep us safe, fercrissakes? Not until now.

I've really, really got to stick to reading the stories at Common Dreams and ignore the damn comments threads. Made the mistake of commenting on this article over there by songwriter David Rovics about how a red-faced "9/11 Truther" screamed at him during a performance, and I dared to mention the fact that, while I accept the fact that Bush & Co. were homicidially neglectful before and during, I don't buy the controlled demolition/guided missile/thermite bombs version of what happened that day.

Cripes, you'd think I'd have advocated shopping at (eeeyugh) Wal-Mart.

From "Peacenikk" at April 8, 1:49pm:

Fear is what motivates Jakenewton, Pere Ubu and their ilk. To accept the notion that their government could perpetrate something like 9/11 would necessitate acceptance of the fact their governments are responsible for many more egregious acts and this is simply too terrifying for them so they resist it with everything they’ve got.

The truth will set you free. These people are living in the prisons of their own small minds and will probably blindly believe the rationale for the pending attack on Iran.

Oh, yeah, "fear", sheeyooot, that's why I've never, ever criticized Bush on this blog. I'm afraid of the big men coming and taking my voice away, y'see.

Why, I've uncritically defended the occupation of Iraq, defended the squatter in the White House, supported the new National Security State, even expressed my bovine acceptance of 9/11 and Bush's activities (or lack thereof) that day. Hell, I'll even uncritically repeat government propaganda about Iran.

All this follows, of course, from the fact that I don't accept the "Loose Change"/Alex Jones account of what happened on 9/11.

Well.

I have no frickin' idea why I'm wasting my time with this, but here's an example of one problem I have with The Alternative True Story, from the site of "Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth":

Further, the leaseholder of the three buildings, Larry Silverstein, said in 2002 on PBS that on the afternoon of 9/11 he suggested to the NYC fire department commander that they "pull" WTC 7. "Pull" is an industry term that means "demolish," but it normally takes a team of skilled people many weeks to design and implement large demolitions.

Then it should be bleedin' simple to check on who did it, given that the FEMA report cited elsewhere on that same site says that "only a handful of demolition companies in the world" are capable of demolishing a building so it falls within its own "footprint". Is there any evidence that that investigation was done? Or did a small group of secret agents somehow accomplish what it takes a major company "many weeks" to do?

If you have any interest at all in criticisms of the "Truth" account you could do worse than check out Debunking 911, which appears to be a one-stop source for critical examination of the claims of controlled demolition, thermite bombs, and suchlike.

But me? I've been cast into outer darkness, forever denied the shining 9/11 Truth, and there is no hope for my immortal Left-wing soul.



Alas! I am lost!

UPDATE: Here's what was involved in bringing down a building only 1/3 the size of the Towers, according to the company that did it, Controlled Demolitions, Inc.:

CDI had to sever the steel in the columns and create a delay system which could simultaneously control the failure of the building’s 12 different structural configurations, while trying to keep the hundreds of thousands of tons of debris within the 420 ft by 220 ft footprint of the structure. CDI needed structural data to complete its design. Under CDI direction, Homrich/NASDI’s 21 man crew needed three months to investigate the complex and four months to complete preparations for CDI’s implosion design. During that period, the lower two basements of the structure were filled with engineered fill and the perimeter basement walls bermed to 1st basement level with soil to support perimeter walls which would surely have failed under soil and hydrostatic loads once the horizontal support of the Hudson’s internal structure was removed by the implosion.

Double column rows installed in the structure between vertical construction phases, internal brick shear walls, x-bracing, 70 elevators and 10 stairwells created an extremely stiff frame. Columns weighing over 500 lb/ft, having up to 7.25 inch thick laminated steel flanges and 6 inch thick webs, defied commercially available shaped charge technology. CDI analyzed each column, determined the actual load it carried and then used cutting torches to scarf-off steel plates in order to use smaller shaped charges to cut the remaining steel. CDI wanted to keep the charges as small as possible to reduce air over pressure that could break windows in adjacent properties.

CDI’s 12 person loading crew took twenty four days to place 4,118 separate charges in 1,100 locations on columns on nine levels of the complex. Over 36,000 ft of detonating cord and 4,512 non-electric delay elements were installed in CDI’s implosion initiation system, some to create the 36 primary implosion sequence and another 216 micro-delays to keep down the detonation overpressure from the 2,728 lb of explosives which would be detonated during the demolition.

I don't know, seems to me that that kind of preparation would have been noticeable before 9/11. Doesn't seem like the kind of thing a small covert group could slap together in a weekend, either.

And from Tim Wilkinson, Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney:

Demolition experts spend weeks inside a derelict building planning an event. Many of the beams are cut through by about 90% so that the explosion only has to break a small bit of steel. In this state the building is highly dangerous, and there is no way such a prepared building could still be running day to day like WTC was.

Q.E.D.

FINAL UPDATE: Cripes, the same people who assert that laws of physics can never, ever be violated (thus the Towers HAD to be a controlled demolition) assert that, with enough black-budget gummint funding, the laws of physics can indeed be cheerily violated!

From "namaste", April 11th (FOUR DAYS after the original article was posted), 2008 2:51 pm:

Think about all of that preparation effort that the nominal (non-covert) controlled demolitions MUST complete, prior to blasting the charges. There is much of an over-design mandated in buildings, that is called “LIVE-LOADing”, which is commonly known as people and furnishings.

Usual controlled demolitions pre-cut much of the steel girders (I recall something like 1/2), and of the few left that can still hold up the building, they zig-zag through those beams so that the shaped CUTTING charges can be more simply sequenced and controlled.

There is much UNKNOWN of the techniques that MUST have been USED during the novel challenges of 911 controlled demolitions, but with billion$ to spend, I doubt anyone could say that it was impossible (except perhaps JAKE)

Pfaugh, yeah, enough spondulix and you'll be violating long-standing principles of engineering and materials science in no time!

Still, it's better than the guy the next day who was claiming WTC 7 was brough down by "mini nukes". Ah, to get all your information on how the world operates from episodes of "24" and Tom Clancy novels...

More mill-grist?

According to the Times of London Big Boy Petraeus is going to claim that Iran's been very, very bad as of late:

IRANIAN forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week.

Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi’ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think.

Maybe this isn't the casus belli I'm thinking it is; maybe the Times is accurate in that Petraeus

intends to use the evidence of Iranian involvement to argue against any reductions in US forces.

All I know is that there are a lot of people out there who are wondering why we haven't attacked Iran already if "they're killing our troops", and this is just going to encourage them all the more.

Lawdy lawdy lawdy outrage all around

Seems like it was a week for wingnuts to get their panties in a wad - liberal radio host Ed Schultz came out and called poor lil' dovish McCain a big bad "warmonger":

The comments in question came Friday evening at an event in North Dakota where Barack Obama also spoke. Radio talk show host Ed Schultz addressed the crowd, during which he criticized McCain's support of the Iraq war and called him a "warmonger." Obama was not present for Schultz's comments and spoke later at the event.

"I hope that in keeping with the spirit of Sen. Obama, that they condemn, that Sen. Obama will condemn such language since it was a part of his campaign," McCain said. "But that kind of language is unnecessary for this campaign. I think its very clear how I feel about war and my experiences with it."

Yeah, Mr. 100-Years-In-Iraq, we've seen how you feel about war:

McCain was asked by an audience member about possible U.S. military action in Iran.

"How many times do we have to prove that these people are blowing up people now, never mind if they get a nuclear weapon. When do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?" a man in the crowd asked.

Yuk yuk yuk, "send them an airmail message"! hur hur hur

Well, given how he feels about war and his experiences with it, how did John McGhandi respond?

Oh, THAT'S RIGHT:

In response, McCain said, "That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran" — which elicited laughter from the crowd. McCain then chuckled before briefly singing — to the tune of the chorus of the Beach Boys' classic "Barbara Ann" — "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ...."

The audience responded with more laughter.

Meanwhile, Absolut Vodka is apologizing to wingnuts for advertising that wasn't even run in the United States:

The campaign, which promotes ideal scenarios under the slogan "In an Absolut World," showed a 1830s-era map when Mexico included California, Texas and other southwestern states. Mexico still resents losing that territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War and the fight for Texas independence.

But the ads, which ran only in Mexico and have since ended, came as the United States builds up its border security amid an emotional debate over illegal immigration from their southern neighbor.

"Emotional debate", my ass - the Malkin went ballistic and decided this was some seekrit code to the waiting hordes of Reconquista:

The advertising firm that created the Absolut Reconquista ad is Teran/TBWA. Teran is based in Mexico City. The company’s website boasts a pretentious statement of philosophy advocating “disruption” as a “tool for change” and “agent of growth.” (Scroll your mouse over the little buttons in the upper-right margin.) The firm advocates “overturning assumptions and prejudices that get in the way of imagining new possibilities and visionary ideas that help create a larger share of the future.”

Translation: The company advocates overturning borders that get in the way of imagining new maps of North America that help Mexico create a larger share of the continent.

OH LAWDY LAWDY LAWDY THE MEXICANS IS COMIN' GET THE SHOTGUN MA! Aieee, run fer the hills, the jute mill done exploded!

Maybe the Malkin should start checking out the back of cereal boxes just in case they're printing seekrit takeover maps as well:

Trochmann also reports on the mysterious black helicopters and ties them to the U.N. takeover plot. In one of his lectures, distributed on a MOM videotape, he uses as evidence a map -- found on the back of a Kix cereal box -- which divides the United States into ten regions, reflecting, he implies, an actual plan to divide and conquer the nation.

And I suppose this Absolut ad is therefore part of the great global warming conspiracy to cure the problem by getting God to drop giant ice cubes in the Mediterranean, then:



Man, the truth is out there!

GORE IZ BIG POOPY HED

The insufferable Glenn "Like Limbaugh, Just Not As Smart" Beck (I hope you're really happy giving this guy a voice, CNN!) opens his ignorant piehole and defends poor abused Big Oil:

Yes, times are tough for many. Sure, oil companies make a lot of cash. But, for that money, they get us to work, get ambulances to the hospital, keep our homes warm, and employ thousands of our friends and neighbors while financing their retirement, paying their health care, and providing energy to millions. Because of capitalism, they have the incentive to do that. I've yet to see what our government does for us with their rather large chunk of each gallon of gas we buy, and I've yet to see them offer to return it or suggest a gas-tax-windfall-tax-tax.

Aw, cripes, see, they're just goddamned philanthropists, those oilmen! Thoughtfully providing the only source of transportation to us, keeping our lil' kiddies warm and cozy, running our ambulances, doing it all while collecting barely enough money to pay their bills and finance their frugal lifestyle.

*Snif*. I'm sorry I ever criticized them. Can you forgive me, Big Oil? Hug?

I'm not sure where he gets "rather large chunk" federal taxes take out of gas costs, since according to information available here from the oil industry itself, federal taxes are 18.4 cents a gallon, which based on the national average of $3.30 a gallon comes to about 6% of the cost per gallon.

Not exactly a crushing burden. (Note, though, that local and state taxes add onto this and thus vary in total, including the federal tax, from 26.4 cents/gallon in Alaska to 62.5 cents in Connecticut.)

As to what it gets used for, the federal gas tax is used for highway and bridge construction, as well as infrastructure maintenance. In other words, no, it isn't instantly obvious what it gets used for in roughly the same way getting vaccinated doesn't seem to do anything for you 'cause you don't get sick. Using Beck-logic, vaccination is thus a huge ripoff.

With that the part of the article having anything to do with the CNN.com headline is over with and Glennzilla can continue on to his real target - the evil Algore:

The other villain of the moment is the global warming "denier." Anyone who disagrees, even in the slightest, must be ridiculed. On "60 Minutes" last weekend, Al Gore said: "They're almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the Earth is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off."

[snippage]

Despite the media's one-sided view (the Business and Media Institute says dissenting voices about global warming are outnumbered on CBS News broadcasts by a 38 to 1 ratio), only 21 percent of Americans say "the release of greenhouse gasses is the most important factor causing global warming" according to a 2007 New York Times/CBS News poll.

Well, when you spend metric assloads of time and money convincing people that down is up, there's a certain number of people who'll insist on trying to stand on the ceiling no matter how many times they fall on their heads. And, to extend the Glennster's analogy, I'm sure that the majority of news stories assume the Earth is round, ignoring the undeniable possibility that it is indeed flat! Sphereist bastards, obviously. Science, after all, should be done not by research but by which PR company can produce the best ads.

The entire "60 Minutes" piece felt like a commercial for Gore's upcoming commercials. He's spending $300 million in advertising to convince people of something he claims there is already a consensus on. To put that much money into perspective; it's more than Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. John McCain, former Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul raised in all of last year combined. Think of it as going green by getting lots of green.

Where is all that money coming from? Gore says he's donating his profits from "An Inconvenient Truth," and his Nobel Peace Prize cash award. Let's be generous and say there's only $290 million left to explain. Apparently, a follow-up question to find the origins of this nine-figure sum would have involved six seconds that "60 Minutes" wasn't willing to commit.

Oh, for some old-style serious journalism, since obviously "An Inconvenient Truth" made no money at the box office whatsoever and the Nobel Prize is obviously worthless, being in some godless European play-money. Lord knows he couldn't have any money of his own, nosirree. The only thing to conclude, of course, is that he's hanging out in front of public schools and shaking down kids for their lunch money, 'cause he's soooooo evil!

What is there to learn from all of this?

That the members of Congress should shut up and stop being so mean to those poor oilmen, major corporations are just cuddly altruistic endeavours that exist to help old ladies across the street with no wish for compensation, and that Algore is a big fat hypocritical poopyhead who's somehow simultaneously obscenely wealthy and dirt-poor.

Or not.

UPDATE: Just noticed from the top of Glenn-Boy's article (which I usually avoid to keep from looking at that dumb smug scumbag grin of his):

Editor's note: "Glenn Beck" is on Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET.

ooooh-WHEEEE, as we say here in the South. Twice a night! Well, DAY-UM, it's just a dirty rotten shame that I can't watch B-Man's insightful commentary twice a friggin' night 'cause I'm, um, busy waxing the cat that night. Or washing my hair. Or something.

Thirteen Days

I have no idea why I'm in nuclear crisis mode - recently I've read Arsenals of Folly by Richard Rhodes with a description therein of the belligerent rhetoric of the Reagan Administration being taken so seriously by the Soviets that the ABLE ARCHER 83 wargame exercise in 1983 came close to triggering all-out nuclear war; Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon by P.D. Smith, ostensibly about the creation of the idea of the "doomsday device" cobalt bomb, but more of a wide-ranging exploration of weapons of mass destruction in general and their relation to fictional WMDs specifically; and Thirteen Days, by Robert Kennedy, a memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it's the last one that I want to talk about.

Robert Kennedy was, of course, brother of John F. Kennedy, and present in the JFK White House while the crisis unfolded. Admittedly, I'm sure it's a biased account; first published in 1969, not long after RFK's own assassination and not so long after the events in question, there was undoubtedly much Kennedy couldn't discuss due to security concerns, and, being close to his brother as he was, I'm sure there was some bias in JFK's favor in the writing.

John Kennedy comes out as an admirable figure, though - a man who literally did everything humanly possible to avoid a confrontation with the Soviets, while asserting American power and security. He demanded input from his advisers - and received a range of opinions from "do nothing" to "invade Cuba". The blockade of the island was the decision he went with, of course, striking a balance between pressure on the Soviets while enabling them a graceful "out" to the situation.

What brings this up is Sen. Joe Lieberman's appearance on TV last Sunday, specifically his assertion, according to the article linked,

that among the three presidential candidates, McCain comes closest to reflecting the legacy of John F. Kennedy.

Um.

McCain, he said, is “a reformer, somebody who understands ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country and remembers the other part of the Kennedy inaugural, which said that we will bear any burden, pay any price to assure the survival and sustenance of liberty. That's John McCain.”

Uh, well, yes, Sen. Lieberman, that's really great inaugural rhetoric, but it's what someone does in a situation as happened on October 27th, when one of the U-2 surveillance planes over Cuba was shot down, that really matters as to their fitness for becoming the President.

From Defense Secretary McNamara's recollection of the incident, via Wikipedia:

We had to send a U-2 over to gain reconnaissance information on whether the Soviet missiles were becoming operational. We believed that if the U-2 was shot down that—the Cubans didn't have capabilities to shoot it down, the Soviets did—we believed if it was shot down, it would be shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air-missile unit, and that it would represent a decision by the Soviets to escalate the conflict. And therefore, before we sent the U-2 out, we agreed that if it was shot down we wouldn't meet, we'd simply attack. It was shot down on Friday [...]. Fortunately, we changed our mind, we thought "Well, it might have been an accident, we won't attack."

Say what you like about JFK's commitment to anti-Communism or his support for the immoral Vietnam endeavour; is there anyone who would argue that "closest to JFK" McCain would be as restrained in a similar situation? (Hell, we KNOW what Bush would have done - by November 2, Western civilization would be nothing more than a memory.)

As far as Dems go - well, based on her husband's precedent I have the awful feeling Sen. Clinton would have yielded to pressure from the Right not to "back down" or "appease dictators" and once again the missiles would be flying by November. Sen. Obama, based on his speech from March 18th, I have the feeling might have been able to control himself as well as JFK did.

Contrary to what wingnuts would have you believe, "acting tough" is not always the best measure of leadership. Sometimes not acting takes more courage.

Make a run from the border

Howzabout that? "Skeletor" Chertoff is so goldanged determined to keep people from sneaking across our designer borders and thus BREAKING OUR LAWS that he's, um, going to BREAK OUR LAWS to do it:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security will bypass environmental and land-management laws to build hundreds of miles of border fence between the United States and Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday.

"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation," Chertoff said.

Well, I see Mr. Chertoff has a healthy contempt for the democratic process, as with so many others in the Bush regime. After all, in the midst of a national crisis to defend our American values, why fret about our American values?

Chertoff cited a congressional requirement that 361 miles of fence be completed by the end of the year. He also pointed out that Congress had given him the authority to bypass laws.

Aw, well, see, it's the fault of Congress! They passed a requirement, after all! And hell, they GAVE him the ability to piss all over the law, so why not use it?

I mean (and I don't want to give these yahoos any ideas) but why the hell not go the whole route - defoliate the entire Southern border, salt the land like Carthage, strew it with landmines and release rabid poodles to patrol it? Or just use those happy nukes we're letting go to waste to dig a giant moat? Radiation? Pshaw, the fallout would just help slow 'em down!

It's what Loud Obbs and the Paulistas would want, after all.

Holy. Crap.

Oh no he di-unnnnnt:

Summary: On Hardball, discussing Sen. Barack Obama's bowling performance at a campaign stop, Chris Matthews said to MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard, "You know, Michelle -- and this gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder." [emphasis added]

JAY-ZUS. Maybe Tweety can fill us in next on Sen. Obama's dancing style, which i'm sure we'll be told has natural rhythym.

Whee! And only 5 months to go to the Republican Convention. "Aaaaaaan-ti-ci-pation...."


ABOVE: The entertainment at the RNC Convention, based on precedent