THE DAILY WORD -- Learn it, use it, spell it
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niddering (nid'-er-eng) noun Archaic. [Misreading of Middle English nithing, from Old English nhthing, from Old Norse nhdhingr, from nhdh, scorn.]
A cowardly person; a wretch
Usage example: Polishing off his fifth scotch in about two gulps and slamming the glass down on the podium and muttering that Bush is a "likable niddering, a sycophantic imbecile who couldn't screw in a lightbulb without Cheney, much less spell 'niddering' or 'sycophantic,'" Gore, possibly dressed in faded Sean John khakis and black Ugg boots and an "Evildoer" T-shirt, did not go on to say how he truly believes Dick's defibrillator is powered by tiny frantic radioactive demon-monkeys running on little alien treadmills from Hell. But he should have. - Mark Morford, SF Gate Morning Fix, via email.
September 30, 2002
GOOGLE SEARCHES
I've actually lost count of the number of searches for fool+me+once, or variations thereof.
Another biggie was aaron+mcgruder+cspan+transcript, which I still haven't been able to get a hold of, unfortunately.
Then, some that left me scratching my head:
Halliburton+drill+squeezer - I think he's at an undisclosed fundraiser.
free+pics+of+old+slappers+with+big+boobs - I've told you, I do not have naked Rush Limbaugh pictures on this or any other site.
osama+poophead - hmmmm....I can post the one of Osama knockin' at W's 'back door'...
locations+street+hookers+best+find+price - I hear Ann 'the man' Coulter does it for french fries...?
another for chimpanze+sex - See last item above.
and last but not least, arkansas+pussy+rooms - Trent? Was that you?!
QUOTE OF THE AFTERNOON
"Just talking about invading Iraq has a very useful effect for President Bush. It stops a public debate about his catastrophic record as President. Indeed, had President Clinton or any Democrat a similar record, impeachment would already be underway. " - that damn libral commie paper, the UK Guardian, God bless 'em.
WORLD COMING TOGETHER AGAINST ROGUE NATION
France, Russia Rebuke Bushies on Iraq: here.
War Not The Answer to Iraq 'Standoff': here
RAF Navigator and Persian Gulf War POW accuses the United States and Britain of being hypocritical about Saddam: MSNBC.
400,000 people protest against military action in Iraq in one of Europe's biggest anti-war rallies: BBC News.
U.S. Doctrine Worries Europeans - Decades of Coalition-Building Seen at Risk: the Washington Post.
Thousands of demonstrators in Rome call for peace with Iraq, accuse George W. Bush of war-mongering: MSNBC.
Bishop Desmond Tutu berates Bush on Iraq: the Toronto Star.
Russia, France and China reject US draft plan for dealing with Saddam Hussein: SMH.com.
DAMNED IF YOU DO, DAMNED IF YOU DON'T
The AWOL Wonderchimp was relaxing at his pig farm, the Lazy W, this weekend after a heavy couple days of fundraising, while some of our elected officials were in Iraq trying to find ways to avoid a war.
Two Democratic congressmen, speaking from Baghdad on Sunday, said Iraqi officials have assured them they will allow weapons inspectors unhampered access to sites where Saddam's government may be stockpiling chemical and biological weapons or attempting to manufacture a nuclear device.
"They said they would allow us to go look anywhere we wanted," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., on ABC's "This Week."
Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich, said Iraqi officials told them they would allow "unrestricted, unfettered" access, though they do want "their sovereignty respected."
The White House shrugged off the lawmaker's comments.
"The president welcomes their opinions," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "But as he said ... he is confident that we will be able to work out with Congress a bipartisan resolution that is strong, effective and authorizes the use of force." - so phththththth.
Blah.
I was a bit out of sorts this weekend and spent most of it sleeping when I wasn't watching the Jets and Giants lose - I'm going to come home one day to hear the parrot yelling "Jets suck!" while throwing peanuts at the TV - when my sister called last night to tell me our mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she'll be going in for surgery next week. She'll then be facing radiation therapy, 7 days a week for 7 weeks. I woke myself up at 1:00 this morning, screaming, and I've been awake ever since.
Numb.
QUOTES OF THE MORNING
'People are getting sick of this patriotic intimidation.' - Shawn Morris, 34, professor at Metro State College, at the Anti-Bush, Anti-War protest in Denver on Friday.
'He snuck in and out like a rat. He's afraid to face his own people.' - Gordon Golding, 47, Boulder, Colorado, speaking of Mr Honor and Dignitude himself, George W Bush.
REMOVE HEAD FROM COLON, OPEN MOUTH, INSERT FOOT
Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas government professor who has followed Bush's political career, said the "kill my dad" remark revealed how deeply the Court-Appointed Asswipe has personalized the issue.
"These aren't gaffes or Bushisms - they're glandular reactions," Buchanan said. "This is clearly what he felt in his heart. It's part of his tendency to see things in black and white rather than gray."
"We have to question whether he has sufficiently nuanced views to make decisions like this under these sorts of pressures," Buchanan said.
Bush's bluntness produced a major headache for the White House last week and soured relations with congressional Democrats. They castigated Bush for his unscripted addition to a speech in Trenton, N.J., when he accused the Democratic-controlled Senate of being "not interested in the security of the American people."
Even so, his nannies say he has no plans to apologize, and the Republican National Committee e-mailed the quotation to more than 2 million party supporters two hours after Tom Daschle (D-Neutered) complained. In fact, senior Bush doody-wiper Karen Hughes said "The president is a very disciplined person and he says what he intends to say."
So much for "changing the tone in Washington."
September 27, 2002
IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL BOMB IF I WANT TO
Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid accused the Republican National Committee of trying to raise money by circulating an e-mail on Friday headlined: "Tell Your Senators to Support President Bush's Homeland Security; Democrat Senators Put Special Interests Over Security."
On Wednesday, the RNC sent an e-mail to 2 million people containing Bush's controversial quote from Monday, in which he said, in reference to the Homeland Security Department debate, the Senate is "not interested in the security of the American people."
"This is what it's all about: raising money for the Republican Party," Reid said on the Senate floor. Reid also demanded the White House give Congress an accounting of Bush's political travel and justify the expenditures in the face of a costly war.
Last night, at a fundraising dinner in Houston, Bush made perhaps his most personal reference to the Iraqi plot to assassinate his father in 1993, shortly after George H.W. Bush left the presidency. "There's no doubt his hatred is mainly directed at us," the president said of Hussein. "There's no doubt he can't stand us. After all, this is a guy that tried to kill my dad at one time." - The Washington comPost.
IT COULD HAPPEN...
The Bush twins, Jenna and Barb, share a box in the Hollywood Squares Betty Ford Championship Playoffs at SomethingAwful.com.
WAR TALK ON DIFFERENT PLANETS
(From here and here.)
"Only a person lacking in wisdom would send American troops wading into this mire" with the belief that Iraqi people would help oust Saddam, and that his overthrow would "somehow bring the winds of democratic changes to the entire Middle East region." - Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin.
Bush "has not yet made the case to the American people that the United States must solve this problem alone, if necessary." - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden.
"The administration has not made a convincing case that we face such an imminent threat to our national security that a unilateral, pre-emptive American strike and an immediate war are necessary." - Sen. Edward Kennedy.
French President Jacques Chirac "reiterated that France remains more than ever in favor of a two-step approach and that this is the view of the majority of the international community." - spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.
"If the weapons inspections do not take place, if we do not have clear proof and if we do not have the authorization of the Security Council, we cannot launch a military attack on Iraq -- otherwise, there would be incalculable consequences." - Prime Minister Zhu Rongji of China.
"Anything that's going to condition what the president's going to do on whether or not the U.N. Security Council acts ... is not going to be acceptable," said Senate Minority Leader/hairball Trent Lott.
"WAR, WAR, OR WAR"
Snipped from Terry Sawyer's column, here.
Believe it or not, there are drawbacks to running the presidency like a bottom-tier public relations firm staffed by carnies.
This week brought us the collapse of George W. Bush's short-lived stab at pretending that other people in the world might justly disagree with us or, Baby Jesus forbid, occasionally be right about their disagreement. This thinly feigned spirit of cooperation consisted of one speech of your typical Bush moralism: completely inconsistent and yet uncompromising in its contradiction and backed up with cigar-chomping, golf-course machismo. We huffed and puffed and then blew our house down.
I'm sure that this strategy probably sounded ingenious at some cabinet BBQ luncheon. First, you create a wholly fabricated sense of urgency in order to deter the country from focusing on the fact that other than accidental moments of imposed greatness, your administration has been a feckless flop. [...]
Don't look for a Democratic opposition any time soon. They're as scarce as the reasons for war and everyone hates to be considered yellow-bellied in a world where masculinity and patriotism are based on your willingness to drop bombs on foreign people whose governments piss you off. This is the era of redneck diplomacy, which is to say fully funded military-industrial bar brawls.
NEW LINK
A big welcome to Alas, a blog - 'Political cartoons, politics, feminism, and whatnot' !
WELL, IT'S A START
Dick 'Fluffy' Gephardt, miffed over Bunnypants playing politics 'with the safety and security of the American people,' has written a piece for the NY Times:
"Four times in the past week Mr. Bush has echoed these words. On Monday, he went so far as to say that the Democrat-led Senate is 'not interested in the security of the American people.' In a recent speech in Kansas, Vice President Dick Cheney also entered the act, saying that our nation's security efforts would be stronger if a Republican candidate for Congress were elected."
[....]
"This is not how a great nation should debate issues of war and peace. To question people's patriotism for simply raising questions about how a war is to be fought and won — to say that anybody who doesn't support the president's particular policy on national security is against national security — is not only insulting, it's immoral.
Well, great - it really is about time some of you lily-livered clowns woke up and said something. It just isn't good enough to bleat your 'outrage' over insulting comments from the rightwingnuts and chickenhawks, then go back to pink-tutu mode, trying to appease them. It doesn't work. We need more speeches like Al Gore's, Tom Daschle's, and comments like this by Gephardt, and we need to flood the media with them. We need the Dems to start kicking ass.
It's always darkest before the dawn, but it's been night for too goddamn long now.
WHO SPEAKS FOR US??
Snipped from Mark Morford's column:
Dubya finally agreed to ask for congressional approval to launch his dad's grumpy unfinished war and then Cheney had his flying monkeys orchestrate it so anyone who voted "no" would have their political genitalia handed to them in a Dixie cup by Ashcroftian goons...
Plethoric and growing like a ConAgra heifer on BGH are the numbers of giddy Republicans applauding Bush's every oil-drunk Cheney-led move, glad handing each other and lighting each others' stubby Cohibas and gloating about how this sure is the best of times, strike up the band and launch some missiles and let's do some oily good under God, Inc.
And according to the polls, this ruddy, trigger-happy bunch apparently represents a very large segment of the American populace.
It claims to speak for many of the deeply and patriotically misguided as they wave their flags and blindly support Geedubya and ignore the appalled international reaction, the horrifying shift from relative global steadiness and cooperation to interminable uproar and aggression.
And just across the aisle like a quivering mass of timid gelatin sits an emasculated and depressingly large cadre of spineless Democrats, shoulders slumped and looking at their shoes, trying to remain viable and appropriately zealous and pro-America as they toe the line...
September 26, 2002
GO, 'NADS !
Democrat Mike Feeley vowed Wednesday night to single out "every chicken-hawk Republican running for office" if President Bush doesn't apologize for making political remarks about the possible war on Iraq.
Feeley, a former Marine, came out swinging at an evening debate at Red Rocks Community College, saying he was "really upset with our president right now."
"It is not the time to play politics with the possibility of going to war with Iraq and the possibility of losing young American lives," Feeley said.
If he doesn't get an apology, Feeley said, "we'll play politics.
"I'll talk about every chicken-hawk Republican running for office - who never served a day in uniform defending this nation - asking for your vote so they can go to Washington and send someone else's child to war."
PRES-ELECT GORE: BUSHIES ERODING FREEDOM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Al Gore accused the administration today of an "attack on civil liberties" and ignoring signs that Osama bin Laden had been planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
It was the former vice president's second scathing attack on pResident Evil in a week.
Speaking at a Democratic fund-raising breakfast in Wilmington, Del., Gore took issue with the administration's handling of intelligence information prior to the Sept. 11 attacks and for its treatment of some terrorism suspects since then.
"The warnings were there" before the attacks, Gore said. He asserted that Bush's Justice Department had devoted more time and agents to investigating a suspected brothel in New Orleans than to monitoring bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.
"Where is the sense of priorities?" asked Gore.
Gore said "highly questionable" decisions are being made in the criminal justice system under noted Crisco-abuser "Jesus" John Ashcroft.
"What's going on nationally, with the attack on civil liberties, with American citizens in some cases just disappearing without right to counsel, without access to a lawyer, I think that is disgraceful," he said.
"I think we need to stand up for our principles in this country and stand up for what this nation represents, even as we face the terrible dangers that we have to confront in the world today," he added.
HOT !
The talented stranger at Blah3.com has just released the latest flash movie in the Question Mark series, #19: Who's Politicizing War?', with music by John Williams.
Who's playing politics with war and Homeland Security?
You got it.
Another poster by snabby!
OH BROTHER
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican and Democratic leaders proposed on Thursday a draft war powers resolution that authorizes the use of military force against Iraq, if the White House determines that further diplomatic efforts would not adequately protect the United States from threats posed by Iraq.
The draft resolution will be presented to Senate Democrats later today and to Republicans on Friday morning.
The resolution also calls on the Dictator-Tot to report to Congress at least every 90 days on the Iraq situation.
'FETISH FOR SECRECY'
''My senior year (at Yale University) I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society,'' President Bush wrote in his autobiography, ''so secret, I can't say anything more.''
He doesn't have to. He's practically turning the government into a secret society -- an old-boy, throwback establishment that even holds its secret spy-court proceedings in an elaborately locked, windowless room that sounds similar to the Bones' elaborately locked, practically windowless ''tomb,'' or campus clubhouse.
Bush, a loyal and particularly active member of Skull and Bones, a mysterious, historically misogynist Yale-based secret society, seems to have done almost all he can to promote a level of secrecy in government not seen since the Nixon administration. - snipped from Alexandra Robbins' op-ed in USA Today.
SO, SADDAM WALKS INTO A BAR...
Yeah, war, death and destruction are always real knee-slappers.
Bush was in the Oval Office with President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia when he was asked whether Hussein was a bigger threat to the United States than al Qaeda. "That is an interesting question," the Moron of Midland began. "I'm trying to think of something humorous to say." - the Washington comPost.
POOTIE-POOT POOH-POOHS PADDING PRESENT UN POSITION
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin called today for a political solution to the Iraq crisis through existing U.N. resolutions, the Interfax news agency reported.
"We favor a rapid resolution of the situation around (Iraq) on the basis of existing U.N. Security Council resolutions, and in accordance with the principles and norms of international law," the agency quoted him as saying.
Bunnypants is pushing for a new U.N. resolution which he hopes will piss off Saddam enough that he gives the AWOL Wonderchimp the excuse he needs to get in there and start bombing.
LAZY, DUMBASS PRESS
Great rant from Scott at AMCGLTD.com:
"YOU! Yes You! Get off your f*cking ass and step out of your f*cking office and go out into the F*CKING world some time before you print something. We know that to you the library was just a great place to score dope and hit on chicks when you were working on your journalism degree, but now you got a job that requires RESEARCH. You know R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H? Those funny oblong things actually open up and TELL YOU THINGS.
[......]
"Buy a clue. Do some goddamned research. Quit picking your noses and regurgitating press releases and actually DO YOUR F*CKING JOB."
September 25, 2002
"On Tuesday, the White House received word of the Gore speech, and aides read some highlights to Shrub while the President was mounted atop the official Oval Office rocking horse (nicknamed "Barb") and was busy furiously "riding" into an imaginary "Baghdad," silver cap gun in one hand and a copy of the Children's Illustrated Large Print Rhyming Bible crammed in the oversize back pocket of his blue Osh Kosh overalls, and squinting furiously." - Mark Morford, in the SF Gate Morning Fix, via email.
Another MIMSpirations poster from snabby:
AND ANOTHER THING...!
Barbara in the BuzzFlash mailbag today reminds us that "...in order to beat John McCain [in the South Carolina primary, Bush] said he was crazy, lied about his stand on veteran's issues, and [his] surrogates called every white voter in the state with a false rumor that the Senator had a black love child."
SOMEBODY HAND HIM THE POLITICS FOR DUMMIES BOOK AGAIN...
"You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch." - the Oaf of Office, Washington, D.C., 9/19/02.
IDIOCY OF THE WEEK
Andrew Sullivan, dittospank bushmoonie and bareback rider.
I had the misfortune to accidently open his column in Salon - what a friggin' gasbag! Here he is talking about Al Gore, on the heels of Gore's anti-war speech the other day: "...he's one of the most naked opportunists in American politics. He will shift and bob and change stance purely on the grounds of his own self-interest. He will level the worst charges against an opponent -- and then refuse to take responsibility for his words." - I think the dial on the hypocrisy meter broke again. It sounds like he's describing every republican crony of this misadministration. Huh.
He is correct in calling the Dems cowards, though.
WH HISSYFIT CONTINUES
I'm soooo glad the "adults" are back in charge.
WARSAW (Reuters) - Donald Rumsfeld walked out of a NATO meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday night, minutes before his German counterpart was due to speak.
"No, I did not intentionally snub anybody. That's not my way," Rumsfeld told a news conference. But he couldn't resist a swipe when asked what steps Berlin could take to mend relations between the NATO allies.
"It's not for me to give advice to other countries," Rumsfeld said.
He left a long pause and then added: "We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging."
Another pause.
"Erm, I'm not sure I should have said that," he said, almost giggling. "Let's pretend I never said that."
How very professional of you.
Even the Unelected Arsehole behaved like a 2-year-old having a tantrum and did not make the usual congratulatory phone call to Schroeder following his victory.
"But I don't think anybody should be surprised or find anything unexpected that words and actions have consequences. They don't go away after the election," Ari Fleischer said.
You better believe it, buttwipe.
Click on the Clix button.....click on the Clix button.....
DASCHLE: DUMBYA A DICKHEAD
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle today demanded an apology from The Uniter, Not A Divider for comments he said were politicizing a possible U.S. attack against Iraq.
His voice thick with emotion, Daschle said Bush had insulted Democrats, many of them veterans of war, in saying the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate was "not interested in the security of the American people."
He said the president ought to apologize to Democrats and the American people.
"We ought not to politicize this war. We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about life and death," Daschle said.
ITS GOOD TO BE THE KING
There are spoiled brats and then there is Court-appointed President Bush, a child of privilege so spoiled he's rancid. As such, he'll go to any measure to get what he wants. After all, once you've been allowed to be president without benefit of election, why shouldn't you expect your every whim to be fulfilled?
What follows is a summary of the arguments our office-taker-in-chief has proffered in his preemptive assault on anything remotely resembling a thoughtful foreign policy:
(1) Support an attack of Iraq or I'll question your patriotism.
(2) Let me invade Iraq or I’ll announce that you are not supportive of “our brave American men and women in the armed services.”
(3) Invade Iraq or I’ll tell everyone you’re in favor of Saddam’s use of chemical weapons on his own people. I won't mention how an earlier Republican administration gave Iraq Iranian troop coordinates so that Saddam could gas them. That would upset Poppy.
(4) Let me invade Iraq but never mention the fact that Cheney and I are oilmen with dreams of the corporate re-colonization of that country and the world’s second largest oil reserve it sits upon. - more at Barry Crimmins.com.
Why do you hate Amurka?
I love watching Tucker Carlson get all huffy on Crossfire. Does he really think we're all falling for it? Can he possibly believe that crap he's trying to spin, or does he fall asleep at night in a panic, spluttering "the man's an idiot! What have we gotten ourselves into??" But then I remember that republicans are not only dittospanks, but they don't have consciences either.
Fooking Dems. I've eaten mice with bigger balls...
GORE MAY GALVANIZE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT
But he has to keep speaking out!
WASHINGTON (Reuters ) - A fierce attack on the Harken Halfwit's Iraq policy issued by Al Gore could help galvanize U.S. opposition to a new Gulf war while serving as a launching pad for Gore's probable 2004 presidential campaign, analysts said on Tuesday.
In a speech in San Francisco on Monday, the man who actually won the presidency laid out a scathing critique of Bush's Iraq policy.
Pollster John Zogby said Gore's message was "very well timed."
"Gore stepped in just as it appeared that pro-war sentiment would go virtually unchallenged in Congress and in the country," Zogby said. "There will be an anti-war movement that grows out of this."
The pink-tutu'd Democrats in the U.S. Congress, acutely aware the mid-term elections that will decide control of both houses of Congress are only six weeks away, have been wary of speaking out against Bush on Iraq. Their main tactic has been to roll onto their backs like submissive little try to change the subject to domestic issues, but with scant success.
Only around 52 percent of Democrats support the war, leaving Gore giving a voice to a substantial constituency within his own party, many frustrated with the timidity of their congressional leaders, who seem to have been either neutered or lobotomized. Or, in some cases, both.
"Gore is trying to present himself as the only Democrat with backbone and the guts to take on the president," said Tom DeLuca, a political scientist with Fordham University in New York. Well, it shouldn't be too hard. Here's a link to today's chapter of When Democrats Cower : 'our new tutus are here!'.
September 24, 2002
END OF AN ERA
In what will probably be his final speech in the U.S. Senate where he has served for nearly half a century, South Carolina Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond today bade farewell to politics and made a parting crack about his legendary love of women.
Having the dual distinction of being the oldest person ever to serve in the Senate (he'll be 100 years old on Dec. 5) as well as the longest-serving senator, Thurmond will retire when Congress adjourns for the year, sometime in the next few weeks.
"The U.S. Senate is a special place. I love all of you -- and especially your wives," he said with a grin.
Meanwhile, across town...
Mistresse Chatte recoiled in disgust. She recognized that knock - it was Trent Lott, hoping for another evening of mimosas, Jack Jones tunes, and spankings.
OH, GEE, GUESS WHAT ?!
Talk of a possible war with Iraq, dim profit forecasts and disappointment that the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged sent stocks reeling AGAIN today, driving the blue-chip Dow average to its lowest close in four years.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> slumped 189.02 points, or 2.4 percent, to 7,683.13, according to the latest data. It was the lowest close since Oct. 1, 1998, when the Dow average ended at 7,632.53.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 14.43 points, or 1.73 percent, at 819.27 and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 2.79 points, or 0.24 percent, at 1,182.14.
On Monday, the Nasdaq closed below 1,200 for the first time since September 1996.
Thank you, BFEE, whore media, and neutered Dems.
WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION
'War is a lousy way to win an election'
With no evidence of any threat from Iraq that did not exist in January 2001 or January 2002, why the mad rush to war at this particular time? The inescapable conclusion is that it is the coming elections. War hysteria led by a Republican president is almost certain to lead to Republican gains in Congress.
With the economy ailing, the war in Afghanistan bogging down and the administration trying to dodge growing indications of security failures related to 9/11, a war build-up is a perfect political answer. It diverts attention from inconvenient issues and puts Democrats in a lose-lose situation. If they dare to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes, they will be attacked as unpatriotic. If they bend to the hysteria and try to out-warmonger the warmongers (as some have clearly chosen to do), they will be perceived as a pallid imitation of the real thing.
This war-hysteria-as-electoral-strategy is callous beyond comprehension. It will cost many thousands of lives, both of our troops and innumerable Iraqi civilians and conscripts. It will require a massive U.S. occupation for years to come. And most important, it will make Americans less, not more, safe. - Larry Weiss, The Minneapolis Star Tribune.
IN OTHER NEWS
WorldCom Restates Restated Earnings
Corrects previous misstatement of restated restatements.
Snakehead Fish Eradicated From Maryland Pond
Immediately added to Endangered Species List.
Inventor Marks 20th Anniversary of :-)
Man who first used cute smiley face "emoticon" in an e-mail message is skinned alive by an angry mob.
Sen. Thurmond Backs Military Action
"Remember the Maine!" he shouts, then dozes off.
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Sept. 17, 1789: After a prolonged struggle, our country's Founding Fathers sign the Constitution of the United States, assigning to Congress the sole power to declare war. The document is now primarily of historical interest. - - Ironic Times
BUSH LYING ABOUT IRAQ 'EVIDENCE' ...
...and threatening the naysayers.
One of the key pieces of "evidence" in the Bush administration's case for military action against Saddam Hussein is being questioned by a number of leading US scientists. It is also alleged that the administration is silencing dissent among its own analysts who have raised questions.
Dick 'Chicanery' Cheney was all over the news a few weeks ago saying the discovery of shipments of high-strength aluminum tubes to Iraq was 'proof' that Saddam was "actively and aggressively" trying to develop a nuclear program.
But a report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) says such claims cannot be made. The report concludes: "By themselves these attempted procurements are not evidence that Iraq is in possession of, or close to possessing, nuclear weapons. They do not provide evidence that Iraq has an operating centrifuge plant or when such a plant could be operational."
David Albright, the director of ISIS and a scientist with first-hand experience of Iraq's nuclear weapons program as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection team, said there was a debate within the US scientific community about the government's claims but added that the Bush administration had clamped down on such discussion. "I don't know why there is not more debate. I have heard that a lot of people are expected to remain silent. [The Bush administration] has certainly scared people," he said. "I met one government scientist who said his phone was being monitored."
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - the Dictator-tot
"Watch what you say." - WH spokes-tool Ari Fleischer
WHAT'S HE HIDING??
Bunnypants Agreed to 9-11 Inquiry Because the Victims' Families Threatened to Challenge His Coverup on TV.
For a year, Bush rejected a Blue Ribbon Commission on 9-11. But last week, he did a triple back flip. 'The change came, Newsweek has learned, after three secret and at times contentious White House meetings between family members and top presidential aides,' including one with chief of staff Andrew Card.
At the meetings, family members pushed for a blue-ribbon panel and voiced their frustration that top government officials had yet to be held “accountable.” With momentum for the commission rapidly gaining on Capitol Hill, and the family members threatening to go public, the White House had virtually no choice.'There was a freight train coming down the tracks,' said one White House official. 'They realized how powerful the voices of the families were,' added Democrat Rep. Jane Harman.
Bush aides still don’t want the commission to delve further into CIA and FBI failures. They laughingly suggested it focus on new areas like border security and visa issues; they also want the panel to investigate the “role of Congress” in overseeing the work of the intelligence agencies. In other words, blame everybody but us. Another potential flash point: the White House’s refusal to turn over documents showing briefings the intelligence community gave Bush prior to 9-11. One aide described the documents as the “crown jewels” of executive privilege. “That’s the kind of stuff we’d never give up,” said the aide.
'I never want to hear the phrase 'lessons learned' again,' said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was killed in the World Trade Center. 'I want people brought up on charges of malfeasance.'" (thanks to democrats.com)
DOCTRINE OF DOODOO
"You know what? If we had a foreign policy that tried to get people to like us, as opposed on irritating everybody in the damn world, it would be a lot better thing." - James Carville, Crossfire, 9/23/02.
"By shifting from his early focus after September 11th on war against terrorism to war against Iraq, the President has manifestly disposed of the sympathy, good will and solidarity compiled by America and transformed it into a sense of deep misgiving and even hostility. In just one year, the President has somehow squandered the international outpouring of sympathy, goodwill and solidarity that followed the attacks of September 11th and converted it into anger and apprehension aimed much more at the United States than at the terrorist network, much as we manage to squander in one year's time the largest budget surpluses in history and convert them into massive fiscal deficits. He has compounded this by asserting a new doctrine of preemption." - Al Gore, 9/23/02, and about time.
September 23, 2002
JUST WATCH WHAT YOU SAY
"We love the idea that people can debate and speak their mind, and holler and whoop about politics. They hate it. They hate free thought and free speech. We love a free press, they hate it. See, they hate freedom and we love freedom." - the Dictator-tot, Trenton, 9/23/02 (thanks to TBOGG on for the quote).
GOOD GOD
"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." - you guessed it. The Blithering Idiot, Trenton fundraiser, 9/23/02.
GOOGLE SEARCHES !
1 for Karl+Rove+floppy - there's a scary thought.
15 more for George+Bush+fool+me+once.
2 for plowed+of+the+leadership (a shrubbism from a few days ago)
1 for ann+coulter+miniskirt. Yak!!
1 for Bush+speech+feed+ourselves
From the Spanish google site, sex+chimpanze+pics, which led this sick, sick individual to our W-inspired 'Voules-vous coucher avec le petit chimpanze?' headline a week or so back ("Tony "Fifi" Blair faced criticism from his European allies yesterday when the French president, Jacques Chirac, hinted that he found the British prime minister's support for the US on Iraq "sycophantic".").
SHAMELESS BEGGING
Please help spread the word by hitting the Clix banner on the left. Clix Member sites are automatically ranked by how active they are - kind of like a click counting as a vote. The more clicks, the higher we get in the ranking system, thereby getting more exposure. Right now I'm off the damn charts - seems as though people would rather read about the sexual fantasies of high-school girls. WTF's with that??
Here: I can I can do my part:
An ebullient Rush Limbaugh, face glistening with sweat and the grease from a bag of pork rinds, raced to the mailbox - his blowup gerbil had finally arrived.
Tomorrow: A visit from PETA!
AND WHEN U FIND A DUD, KICK HIM THE F*** OUT
"I like to put it this way: When you find a good one, you've got to back him." - the Oaf of Office, at the $1.5 million fundraiser for Doug Forrester in NJ today. His little jaunt was billed as official business, allowing the White House to bill taxpayers for a portion of the three-hour visit.
I didn't sleep well last night. I lay awake listening in vain for the rain that was forecast to start, but nooooooooooo. I'm very worried about our well. We're in a serious drought here, but since we're not in a farm/ranch belt, we will not be listed as a disaster area. For the first time since I was a schoolkid, I'm praying for a miserable winter!
GET THE F*CK AWAY FROM ME, I HAVE A HEADACHE
Headlines from Yahoo news this morning:
Ecstasy-Viagra Mix Alarms Doctors
That idea isn't doing great things for me, either.
Bunnypants Opens Week of Heavy GOP Fundraising
Glad to see he's got time to waste. Have we dropped below alert level Yellow? Here we go again.
The Clueless Cowpie's visit to Trenton, NJ, today is the opening event of an especially heavy week of fund raising for Poppy's Widdle Poophead, who has blazed new records by garnering nearly $116 million for GOP candidates this year, even though we're "at war" and the economy is in the crapper. Reznit Dumbass, showing no signs of a slowdown six weeks before the November election, scheduled four fund-raisers in three states, in effect saying f*ck the economy, I've got mine, and I want more.
On Thursday he'll be in Houston for his second money-raising event this year for John Cornyn, the GOP Senate nominee in Texas.
On Friday, he'll knock 'em dead with his Trifecta joke in Denver, fundraising for Bob Beauprez, a House candidate. Later that day he plans to raise money in Phoenix for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon.
Then it's the weekend! Oh boy!
In a related story, the stock markets around the world tanked today, with the Nasdaq hitting its lowest level since 1996.
Speculation of a possible second Gulf War added to Wall Street's worries and triggered a spike in oil prices, while Napoleon Bonehead reviewed military options for a possible attack on the oil-rich nation.
Feds Seek to Overturn Suicide Law
The federal government resumed its bid to ban Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide, filing papers today with an appeals court in an effort to strike down the only such law in the nation.
Jesus John 'Crisco' Ashcroft is seeking to sanction and perhaps hold Oregon doctors criminally liable if they prescribe lethal doses of medication, as the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act allows. Gee, maybe if they used anthrax it would be OK with him.
September 22, 2002
BOONDOCKS CREATOR KICKS BUTT
DU has a thread on Aaron McGruder's interview on CSpan yesterday. It's supposed to replay again tonight at 10:05 ET. Some of the highlights, as sent in by the DU readers:
Bush administration = criminals.....on the level of Suge Knight gangstas...Stole the election in broad daylight so they know they can get away with anything now. The whole administration can be put in jail just based upon what is printed in the NYTimes everyday.
Bill Clinton had sex...these guys have broken EVERY LAW UNDER THE SUN and the left says nothing...
Thinks Bush should say "3000 people just got killed cause my dad was an asshole. And I resign the position."
If George Bush had linked al-Qaeda to the Democratic party, they would have voted to bomb themselves.
I have got to get a transcript.
MUST SEE !!
The new flash movie in Blah3's excellent Question Mark series, #18: 'It's Time For Every Son To Be A Soldier.'
"..it's time to realize that we are going to war with Iraq. And when we do, the body bags will come home. When that happens, we need to remember that our soldiers didn't die for freedom and they didn't sacrifice their lives to defend their nation.
"The simple truth is that the body bags represent what the Bible calls the ultimate evil: Greed. The lives sacrificed represent the ultimate greed and the men behind that greed -- George Bush, Dick Cheney and their oil buddies." - Les Mahler, in The San Francisco Examiner.
WHERE'S THE FIRE, DUMBYA?
Well, there seems to be one under Senator Byrd's ass, thank God!
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-BigBrassOnes, said the Menace of Midland's plans to invade Iraq are a conscious effort to distract public attention from growing problems at home.
“This administration, all of a sudden, wants to go to war with Iraq,” Byrd said. “The [political] polls are dropping, the domestic situation has problems.... So all of a sudden we have this war talk, war fervor, the bugles of war, drums of war, clouds of war.
“Don’t tell me that things suddenly went wrong. Back in August, the president had no plans.... Then all of a sudden this country is going to war,” Byrd told the Senate on Friday. “Are politicians talking about the domestic situation, the stock market, weaknesses in the economy, jobs that are being lost, housing problems? No.”
Actually, back in August, the only plans Bunnypants had were playin' golf and fundraisin' during his month-long vacation. But even so, propaganda ministers Karl 'n' Andy had already decided that August was a bad month for marketing war.
Byrd said his belief in the Constitution will prevent him from voting for Bush’s war resolution. “But I am finding that the Constitution is irrelevant to people of this administration.”
September 21, 2002
IN OTHER NEWS
Brought to you by The Daily Probe and Ironic Times:
Opinion: Cinnabon's "Let's Roll!" Campaign Last Fucking Straw
Bush Smirk, Cheney Sneer Join Clinton Pout in Facial Tic Hall of Fame
7 Injured as Rumsfeld's Rhetoric Catches Fire, Explodes
Administration Presents Case for Iraq Invasion to Congress
Cites 12% rise last year in sales of luxury SUVs.
News Quiz:
A top official of the Federal Reserve Bank has called on CEOs to cut their own pay. This is most likely to happen:
A) during the holiday season of giving and introspection.
B) after the fall elections, but before 4th Quarter earnings are released.
C) when pigs fly out of Alan Greenspan's ass singing "The Internationale" in Uzbek.
OH FER PETESSAKE...
From BBC News: Colin Powell has said the United States will find ways to stop weapons inspectors going back to Iraq unless there is a new United Nations Security Council resolution on the issue.
Addressing a Congressional committee, Mr Powell said the Security Council must spell out to Iraq the serious consequences if it fails to co-operate with the inspectors - that any new UN resolution must spell out the "decisive consequences" Baghdad would face if it fails to disarm. He said Washington would find ways to thwart any attempt to return the inspectors without any such resolution.
We've had lots of people searching for Bush's fool me once quote. Thanks to kramsret and 1tweezy from the bc forum, we have some links:
Here's the downloadable MP3: http://www.bushnews.com/ourfearlessleader.mp3 .
Here's the realplayer speech, with commentary: http://www.poofle.com/.
And this eventually leads you to pMSNBC's media player (and an oblivious Andrea Mitchell reporting): http://villagevoice.com/.
We are so f*cked.
It's waaaaaayyy too early.
Something to drink your coffee by:
From Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday, a collection of product placements in movies and photos. A small sample:
September 20, 2002
GOOGLE SEARCHES
It was a week for assholes:
17 for fool+me+once
5 for George+W.+Bush+audio
1 for Katie+Couric+colonoscopy+pics
1 for mims+bfee
THE DAILY WORD -- Learn it, use it, spell it
***********************************************
ampulla \am-'pu-le\ noun pl ampullae [ME, fr. OE, fr. L, dim. of amphora] (bef. 12c)
1) A glass or earthenware flask with a globular body and two handles used esp. by the ancient Romans to hold ointment, perfume, or wine
2) A saccular anatomic swelling or pouch
ampullary - adjective
Usage example: And Rummy would spend countless hours lost in a peyote/rat poison haze, absent-mindedly fondling Lynne's fleshy cellulitic ampullary thigh flesh as they rocked there in the big fuzzy chair, reciting entire verbatim hunks from the latest article from Monsignor Andrew Baker of the Congregation of Bishops at the Vatican, and gurgling softly. - from the SF GATE MORNING FIX by Mark Morford.
SPRINGTIME FOR SMIRKY
From the NYTimes and Democrats.com (via email) - German justice minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin says Bunnypants' Iraq saber-rattling is wagging the dog.
"Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used." Bush is outraged - because Daeubler-Gmelin has said out loud what everyone in Germany (and the world) believes. Daeubler-Gmelin denied comparing the two men, but did not deny comparing their tactics. "I didn't compare the persons Bush and Hitler, but their methods," she said. The Germans have learned the tragic lessons of history. Unfortunately, the misadministration's propaganda whores in the corporate media will use this to "express outrage" over the use of the 'H-word' and conveniently ignore the bigger picture.
TOY SOLDIERS
A-Dubya-O-L and Chickenhawk Cheney: The Story the Republicans Can't Kill
In spite of the determined stonewalling by the "liberal media", Americans are well aware that during the Vietnam War, pReznit Privilege got into a nice safe "champagne unit" of the Air National Guard thanks to his daddy's influence, and Dick "I'm too important" Cheney "had other priorities". Letters like this one in the Asheville NC Citizen-Times are appearing every day in newspapers across the country, expressing outrage that these cowards are so eager to send other people's children off to be killed.
For the shameful details of Bush's National Guard record -- he skipped out on nearly a third of his commitment -- visit http://www.awolbush.com. - (Thanks to democrats.com!)
WHAT HE SAID
Saddam Says Bunnypants Plans to Attack to Control Politics, Oil and Economic Policies
The NYTimes reports: "Saddam Hussein... accused the Bush administration today of seeking to 'destroy Iraq in order to control the Middle East oil' and asserted that Mr. Bush had made 'distortions' to lead Americans to think Iraq had a role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Mr. Hussein declared that Iraq is 'clear of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons'... and made a general offer to 'any scientific experts accompanied by politicians you choose to represent any one of your countries' to come to Iraq to look for weapons. He said Iraq would provide those foreign experts 'all the facilities they need to achieve their objective'... Mr. Hussein said the Bush administration was planning an attack against Iraq in order to 'control the politics as well as the oil and economic policies of the whole world. If it succeeded in that, God forbid...it would dictate on you what each country needs for its economic development' by controlling the price and distribution of oil."
"Son, ah love a man in uniform. Kin ah play with yore pistol?"
"President Bush canceled a congratulatory call to the new Miss North Carolina when he found out she wants to bring about world peace." - Craig Kilborn.
IT'S RAINING MEN
With working genitalia! Progressive Dems Reject Bunnypants' Declaration of War
CNN reports, "Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), called it a 'non-starter' and an 'affront to the Constitution.'
'This proposal is a case of the administration telling Congress to stop asking questions and literally 'leaves it all to us.' To endorse such language would be irresponsible,' said Feingold. The language could lead to a 'miniature Armageddon' or 'potential World War III,' said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), who said he will write an alternative resolution with fellow liberal Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), that would place more pre-conditions on Bush before he could use force in Iraq. 'Nothing in our intelligence suggests that Iraq is ready to attack Washington or Fort Lauderdale,' Hastings said. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) agreed. 'There is no question that Saddam Hussein is not a nice person or that he's broken the resolutions of the UN, but that does not give us the power to pre-emptively strike a country,' he said. 'Once you start down that road, where do you stop?'"
September 19, 2002
Time magazine: Some on the right call you the new Jane Fonda, and joke about what you'll call your exercise video.
Scott Ritter: Those on the right who say that disgrace the 12 years of service I gave to my country as a Marine. I love my country. I'll put my record of service up against anyone, bar none. If they want to have an exercise video then why don't they come here and say it to my face and I'll give'm an exercise video, which will be called "Scott Ritter Kicking Their Ass." - Time magazine mini-interview, 9/14/02.
LOOK! SADDAM!
WASHINGTON (Salon) - House and Senate intelligence committees held their first public hearing looking back to the intelligence failures preceding the attacks of Sept. 11 and whether or not more could have been done to stop them.
Among the most chilling revelations from the joint committee's probe were the warnings, dating back to 1994, that terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida were considering using hijacked airplanes as weapons to fly into government and high-rise buildings. The World Trade Center was named as a possible target for a hijacked plane as far back as 1998. And since the attack, the committee reported, both the Bush administration and key intelligence officials have been less than fully cooperative in the investigation.
While families of Sept. 11 victims gave emotional testimony before the committee, calling for a more thorough investigation and seemingly looking for someone to blame, the Bush administration is clearly concerned that the blame might be directed at the White House. The revelations in May about Bush's intelligence briefings sparked a round of questions asking exactly what the Bush administration knew about the terrorist attacks and when, and whether more could have been done to prevent them.
In her presentation of the joint committee's findings, staff director Eleanor Hill presented new information that had previously been classified. But, Hill said, the White House has demanded that any mention or chronology of intelligence briefings received by the president remain top secret. "We believe the American public has a compelling interest in this information and that public disclosure would not harm national security," Hill said.
Look forward to more stonewalling from the Accountability Administration.
D'OH!
The Independant is reporting that the United Nations is "likely to throw into disarray" Bunnypants' war plans for Iraq by "introducing a timetable for weapons inspections that could give Saddam Hussein a breathing space of almost 12 months."
The extended timetable, which would allow weapons inspectors to begin and complete their mission, is liable to cause mass pantywetting among the Cheney Chickenhawks, and could exhaust the patience of Emperor Snippy, who is absolutely stoked on attacking the country much earlier, like now.
When apprised of the UN's motion, a mumbled "goldarnit!" could be heard emanating from the secret fort under the Oval Office desk.
RUM 'N' COKEHEAD
WASHINGTON (NYTimes) - Smirky McGolfcart scoffed today at Saddam's promise to admit weapons inspectors to Iraq, saying it was just another trick, and Defense Secretary Donald "what, me fight?!" Rumsfeld told a House panel that the Iraqi dictator poses a unique threat to the United States and must be dealt with soon.
"All they've got to do is look at his record, his latest ploy," the Confused Cowstalker said, urging allies of the United States not to be lulled by Mr. Hussein's latest overture. "He's not going to fool anybody."
Tom 'Isadora' Daschle (D-Neutered), used similar language. "This is a ploy we've seen Saddam Hussein use on many occasions. We shouldn't be fooled by it," Mr. Daschle said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my kneepads need polishing."
The Democratic House leader, Richard 'Fluffy' Gephardt, said he thought a group of lawmakers from both parties would be at work "over the next days" on the language of a support resolution.
"This is about life and death. It's about national security," Mr. Gephardt bleated. "But I'm late for my bikini wax!"
Several House Democrats told reporters they were not decided. "Right now, everyone is seeking information," said Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, a member of the Armed Services Committee. "But thank God some of us Dems still have testicles."
WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION
Go, Will Pitt!
The UK Guardian posts an interview our old DU and BC Forum buddy William Rivers Pitt, author of War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You To Know (Context Books, October 2002), had with former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, on why we should not believe the AWOL Wonderchimp's insistence that Iraq is harboring dangerous weapons.
{snip} "Since 1998 Iraq has been fundamentally disarmed: 90-95% of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability has been verifiably eliminated. This includes all of the factories used to produce chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and long-range ballistic missiles; the associated equipment of these factories; and the vast majority of the products coming out of these factories."
Meanwhile, to no one's surprise, USA Today is reporting that the Fundraising Fratboy and his nannies are "expanding on and in some cases contradicting U.S. intelligence reports in making the case for an invasion of Iraq:
"Administration officials accuse Iraq of having ties to al-Qaeda terrorists and of amassing weapons of mass destruction despite uncertain and sometimes contrary intelligence on these issues, according to officials. In some cases, top administration officials disagree outright with what the CIA and other intelligence agencies report. For example, they repeat accounts of al-Qaeda members seeking refuge in Iraq and of terrorist operatives meeting with Iraqi intelligence officials, even though U.S. intelligence reports raise doubts about such links. On Iraqi weapons programs, administration officials draw the most pessimistic conclusions from ambiguous evidence."
Gee, that wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that since the Golfing Goober came into office 2 million jobs have been lost, there's been a $4.5 trillion loss in stock market values, drops in the value of workers' retirement savings and in consumer confidence, health care costs and foreclosures have increased, not to mention the huge projected federal surpluses have all but vanished?
Nah.
UNCA DICK, LOOK - GI JOE'S SHOOTIN' THEM DARN EVILDOERS! BLAM!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stepping up his campaign against mentions of Harken and Halliburton in the media Saddam Hussein, Poppy's Widdle Poophead today will send the U.S. Congress a draft resolution authorizing him to use force against Iraq "if necessary."
A U.S. official said Bunnypants would ask lawmakers to give him "maximum flexibility" for action against Iraq, including a specific endorsement for military action in the event it is needed, such as whenever Dick "I had better things to do than serve my country in time of war" Cheney feels the polls have slipped too far, or the media is again focusing on the many BFEE scandals or that they had at least 33 reports that Al Qaida members were planning to fly airplanes into buildings in NY and DC.
While the misadministration continued to press for international backing for any action against Iraq, poor Colin Powell was marched out again to drone that "the United States reserves the right to defend itself."
Can we at least start by sacking Rummy? How about John Ashcroft?
Smirky O'Harken intently watches the Marx Brothers' classic Duck Soup.
GUILTY NO MATTER WHAT
Betcha didn't hear this on the Sunday morning propaganda talk shows.
"Now we know just how vicious Saddam Hussein can be. Agreeing to unconditional United Nations inspections at a time when our president had his heart set on war is just the sort of mean-spirited treachery that one can expect from this modern-day Hitler." - Robert Scheer writes.
"...it would be a global embarrassment if Bush at this point turned down Saddam Hussein's offer of unconditional inspections.
"Still, we must go to war or voters might start focusing on the dismal state of the economy under George W. Bush's stewardship and return a Democratic Congress in the November elections, right?
"But it also would be devastating if inspectors went there and found only old U.S. ordnance given to Iraq by Bush's father and Reagan. It was embarrassing enough for the younger Bush in his speech to the United Nations to be reduced to trotting out examples of Iraq's war crimes from the days when Hussein was a de facto ally of the United States. It's so inconvenient that Iraq did not appear to use any chemical or biological weapons during the Gulf War or in the decade since but definitely did back when Hussein was our partner in the war against Iran's Islamic revolution.
"Worse, U.S. companies, with the permission of the Reagan and elder Bush administrations, supplied Hussein with the ingredients for making such savage weapons."
Yeah, but President Clinton had sex!!
September 18, 2002
PSSSSSST! ENRON! HALLIBURTON!
Paul Krugman, please don't quit your day job.
"Dick Cheney vehemently denies that talk of war, just weeks before the midterm elections, is designed to divert attention from other matters. But in that case he won't object if I point out that the tide of corporate scandal is still rising, and lapping ever closer to his feet.
"An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal confirmed what some of us have long argued: market manipulation by energy companies — probably the same companies that wrote Mr. Cheney's energy plan, though he has defied a court order to release task force records — played a key role in California's electricity crisis. And new evidence indicates that Mr. Cheney's handpicked Army secretary was a corporate evildoer."
Jim Jordan, head of the Democrats Senate campaign committee:
"It's hard not to notice that the sudden urgency of war with Iraq has coincided precisely with the emergence of the corporate scandal story, with the flip in the congressional [poll] numbers and with the decline in the Republicans' prospects for retaking the Senate majority. It's absolutely clear that the administration has timed the Iraq public relations campaign to influence the midterm elections...and to distract the voting public from a failing economy and an unpopular Republican domestic agenda."
"SHE KEEPS GETTING OUT OF IT"
Monday night taped conversation from a client at the Center for Drug-Free Living, Orlando FL:
OPD Operator: You're being recorded.
Caller: Yes, I'd like to make a report please.
OPD Operator: OK, what happened.
Caller: I am located at the Center for Drug-Free Living, and I would like a police officer to come out, please.
OPD Operator: What address are you at, ma'am?
Caller: (gives address)
OPD Operator: OK, can you tell me what happened?
Caller: This is basically a treatment center for women with children.
OPD Operator: Yeah.
Caller: And one of the women here was caught buying crack cocaine tonight. And a lot of the women are upset because she's been caught about five times. And we want something done because our children are here, and they just keep letting it slip under the counter and carpet.
OPD Operator: Your name?
Caller: I'm anonymous.
OPD Operator: Well, we're going to have to meet with someone.
Caller: OK. Can I put all the girls? Because we're all here; we're all here wanting to talk to someone.
OPD Operator: Who was she caught buying the drugs by? Who caught her buying the drugs?
Caller: The staff.
OPD Operator: Pardon me?
Caller: Staff. They said, you know, because it's basically Noelle Bush. And she keeps getting out of it. Because every...she does this all the time and she gets out of it because she's the governor's daughter. But we're sick of it here 'cause we have to do what's right, but she gets treated like some kind of princess. And everybody's tired of it, you know. We're just trying to get our lives together, and this girl's bringing drugs on property.
OPD Operator: OK. And the staff caught her?
Caller: Yes.
OPD Operator: They caught her today?
Caller: Yes. This is just about 30 minutes ago.
OPD Operator: And she's still there though.
Caller: Yes. And she is on probation, I guess. And all kinds of stuff. I don't know what all that is. But...And procedure is that they would call the police, but they're not doing it here because of who she is.
OPD Operator: OK. So the staff is refusing to do anything about it.
Caller: Because of who she is.
OPD Operator: OK. OK. OK, if you don't want to leave me your name that's fine. But somebody needs to meet with the officers when they get there.
Caller: OK, we'll be out front. Do you know how long...
OPD Operator: OK. All of you will be out front?
Caller: Yeah. There's 24 of us.
OPD Operator: OK. Hopefully, it will be within the next maybe 15 or 20 minutes. It may be longer depending on how many officers are available now.
Caller: OK.
OPD Operator: All right.
- from Media Whores Online, who also have the audio link. I just can't help feeling if it was anyone else they would've been in the slammer, 5-10.
LIGHTS! CAMERA! KNEEPADS!
CNN's hatchet job on Scott Ritter.
I meant to post this last week before I left - an editorial on the shameful treatment of former United Nations weapons' inspector Scott Ritter at the hands of the Breaking Nooze Network's talking hairdos.
{snip} "As an American citizen, I have an obligation to speak out when I feel my government is acting in a manner, which is inconsistent with the principles of our founding fathers," said Ritter. "It's the most patriotic thing I can do."
Not in this climate. Not when there's the ironically named U.S.A. Patriot Act which abrogates civil rights. Not when those who criticize the administration are considered to be "with the terrorists." Not when the U.S. media let President George Bush's advisers — who, with the exception of Secretary of State Colin Powell, have never served their country as Ritter has — gallop all over the airwaves.
Thank God for the international media.
WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA?
Protests Follow Bunnypants Everywhere He Goes
George Ochenski writes, "Deafened by war drums and isolated by handlers, President Bush seems unaware of the broad opposition to his current policies.
"..the White House will go to any lengths to manufacture a positive image for Bush, including limiting our basic rights to peaceably assemble and petition our own government. If you're for the Bush policies, step right up here in front of the cameras. If you're against the Bush policies, step over here behind these trucks, where the dogs and cops are waiting for you. The problem, however, is that the protests are waiting everywhere Bush goes these days - even at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Simply put, it's getting harder and harder to maintain the facade of broad public support for the Bush agenda in the face of mounting resistance. Ironically, while Bush unleashes much of his harshest criticism at leaders like Fidel Castro or Saddam Hussein, whom he says disdain the wishes of their people, he is hypocritically isolating himself behind a barrier of agents, soldiers, and cops from any contact with those critical of his own policies."
GREAT MOMENTS IN CHURCHILLIANA
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." - the Oaf of Office, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002.
I'm absolutely speechless.
GET ME REWRITE!
Karl's post-9/11 script undergoes revision.
WASHINGTON (AP) - American intelligence agencies received far more reports of terrorist plotting to use planes as weapons before Sept. 11 than the U.S. government has previously acknowledged, congressional investigators said Wednesday. Well, there's a surprise.
Eleanor Hill, staff director for the House and Senate intelligence inquiry, outlined 12 examples of intelligence information on the possible terrorist use of airplanes as weapons, dating back to 1994. The last example occurred a month before the attacks, when intelligence agencies were told of a possible bin Laden plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, or crash a plane into it.
In August 1998, U.S. intelligence learned that a "group of unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country into the World Trade Center," says the report. Other intelligence suggested that bin Laden supporters might crash a plane into a U.S. airport, or conduct a plot involving aircraft at New York and Washington, the report said.
With revelations in the spring that George of the Bungle had learned a month before the attacks that that bin Laden wanted to hijack airplanes, White House nursemaids used doubletalk as a pathetic defense, saying Chimpy the Red-eyed Boozer's comic books briefing detailed plans for traditional hijackings, not the use of airplanes as weapons. Ohhhhhhhhh.
"I don't think anybody could have predicted ... that they would try to use an airplane as missile," Condoleezza Rice said after the attacks. Sure. It's understandable - having to count on only 12 intelligence reports is a bit much to ask for. If you're a dumbass. But I guess it wasn't as obvious as predicting that Chimp and Cheney would use war talk to prevent coverage of the Harken and Halliburton scandals, their buds at Enron walking around free, and the economy being in the crapper.
I've had to work all day today.
The conference in Pittsburgh was OK but way too long. Being without a computer was horrible - like being stuck in a hot elevator with your idiot mother-in-law and a slovenly guy who farts all the time. I drank a lot. It didn't help reading that Daddy's Little Doofus made a 'forceful' case to the UN and that Cheney would rather quote his imaginary friends - the ones telling him that Saddam has all these WMD - than actual intelligence reports that say he doesn't. On top of that, nobody wanted to talk politics, except for one good ol' boy in the hotel bar who said Bunnypants is right about going into Iraq. He got yelled down by a bunch of Steeler fans wearing buses on their heads, so I don't think he heard my ''who's going to pay for it?' comment.
It's good to be back.
QUOTES
"I don't see this as a cause for politics, but my opponent, whose campaign has slipped in recent months, feels this is an opportunity to use the lives of military personnel as political pawns." - Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), on Rep. John Thune (R-Rove'sBoyToy) bashing him for his opposition to going to war with Iraq. Johnson wants to build international support first.
"...the mood in the White House today seems disconsolate and sulky. Iraq's abrupt agreement to renewed, unconditional U.N. weapons inspections must be particularly disappointing to Gen. Karl Rove, commander of Republican forces in the midterm election. Changing the subject from Social Security, pension reform, corporate corruption, prescription drug coverage and other topics that delight Democrats won't be as simple for Rove as it was yesterday." - Joe Conason.
September 12, 2002
REMEMBER THIS ONE
"What is it with Democrats having a hard time voting - I don't know." - banana republic Florida gov. Jeb Bush.
The real story:
People waited from 20 minutes up to 5 hours for the new voting machines to warm up.
By 9 a.m., 68 of Miami-Dade's polling stations still had not opened.
Poll workers elsewhere in Miami-Dade and Broward counties struggled to get precincts open on time and the new touch screen voting machines running, frustrating scores of other voters.
Jebbie ordered polls across the state to stay open an extra two hours Tuesday night but several dozen precincts in Broward defiantly closed well before 9 p.m.
Election workers in Orlando said 42 percent of Orange County's ballots would have to be counted by hand after polls closed. The ballots were tearing as they were fed through optical scanning machines, making them unreadable.
In Duval County, a downtown Jacksonville polling place opened 90 minutes late because poll workers didn't turn on the machines in time.
In some Broward precincts, the computer screen for the governor's race did not come up.
In the Broward city of Dania Beach, meanwhile, poll workers shut the doors at one polling place while they struggled to get their touch screen machines started. Still unable to get them up by 8:30 a.m., they opened the doors and allowed people in the overwhelmingly Democratic precinct to vote on paper ballots. They all received ballots for the Republican primary.
BUT...BUT...
Paula 'Duh?' Zahn interviews Scott Ritter, gets own ass handed to her on a paper plate. Link takes you to the transcript of the 9/09/02 show on the Breaking Nooze Network.
"What makes them convinced? What evidence do they have? We're talking about going to war here, Paula. War. War kills people. War destroys things. War is something that's going to put the lives of American service members at risk and if we go to war along the lines that Bush is talking about, destroy our reputation in the international community."
Slap!!
GOP PANTIES IN A BUNCH OVER WEBSITE
LOLOL. Fooking crybabies.
A Web site that includes satirical material disparaging pReznit Poopypants' handling of the Sept. 11 attacks has raised "a considerable amount of money" for Sen. Paul Wellstone's campaign, one of its founders said Wednesday (the site began experimenting with a pop-up Wellstone ad during the past 10 days).
Ginny Wolfe, communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said Wellstone was guilty of at least poor judgment for using a site that would run material that was "disrespectful to all Americans" * and especially to have the material running on September 11, "a sacred day for America." **
On one of its pages, Democrats.com reproduced a picture of Bunnypants talking on the phone on Sept. 11, and sponsored a contest for the best caption indicating what Bush may have been saying.
The first entry in the caption contest has Bush saying: "But Dick, I soiled my pants when I learned about the attacks so please just let me come back to Washington for a change of underwear."
The 30 other published entries are similarly derogatory. (heh heh heh)
*Not all, honey. You want to see "disrespectful" go visit the bushmoonie sites. They actually talk of killing people over there.
**Though it was perfectly OK for 'dick' Cheney to appear on rightwingnut hate-monger Rush 'anal probe' Limbaugh's show yesterday, wasn't it, you hypocritical idiot.
Go Democrats.com!!
SHHHH! I TOLD YOU NEVER TO CALL ME HERE!
WASHINGTON (USA Today/wtf) - The White House still has not requested that the CIA and other intelligence agencies produce a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, a formal document that would compile all the intelligence data into a single analysis.
An intelligence official says that's because the White House doesn't want to detail the uncertainties that persist about Iraq's arsenal and Saddam's intentions - that the White House decided not to request the report to avoid enshrining in a widely circulated document the uncertainties that persist about Iraq - the doubts about links between al-Qaeda and Iraq, about what weapons of mass destruction Saddam may or may not have, and if he does, about whether he'd be likely to use them against the United States and its allies.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, calls that ''stunning.''
''If we are about to make a decision that could risk American lives, we need full and accurate information on which to base that decision,'' he says in a letter sent Tuesday to leaders of the committee and CIA Director George Tenet. "I'm really beginning to believe this administration is full of shit."
REPUKE FAMILY VALUES
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Neil Bush, brother of George of the Bungle , has filed for divorce from his wife after 22 years of marriage, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The divorce petition, filed Aug. 26 in Houston, cites "discord or conflict of personalities" as the reason for the split, the Houston Chronicle said. Bush, 46, and wife Sharon married in July 1980 and separated in July this year, according to the petition.
The Bush family suffered another setback this week when police in Orlando, Fla. said Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida gov. and hanky mascot Jeb Bush, was under investigation for crack cocaine possession while attending a drug treatment center.
BUSH TALKS, STOCK MARKETS TANK
NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street took a dive today, pressured by two disappointing economic reports and a speech by Napoleon Bonehead to the United Nations demanding action against Iraq..
NOT SO FAST, CRACKBOY
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan challenged Emperor Snippy's policies on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his opening address to the U.N. General Assembly.
Apparently referring to U.S. responses to last year's Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Annan stressed that while any country had the right to fight back when attacked, only the United Nations could authorize the use of force in cases that go beyond straightforward self-defense.
Without referring directly to U.S. talk of a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, Annan said: "When states decide to use force to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, there is no substitute for the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations.
"The more a country makes use of multilateral institutions - thereby respecting shared values, and accepting the obligations and restraints inherent in those values - the more others will trust and respect it, and the stronger its chance to exercise true leadership," Annan, in his address, said. "The little fratboy is on thin enough ice as it is."
September 11, 2002
NICE TRY, GAMEBOY
The Washington comPost reports, "Congressional Democrats said yesterday that classified briefings by Bunnypants' top nursemaids have failed to make a compelling case for quick military action against Iraq, and several leaders said Congress should wait until after the November elections before voting to authorize a strike against Saddam Hussein's regime.
'I know of no information that the threat is so imminent from Iraq' that Congress cannot wait until January to vote on a resolution, said Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi (CA), the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee. 'I did not hear anything today that was different about [Hussein's] capabilities,' save a few 'embellishments.'
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) said: 'It would be a severe mistake for us to vote on Iraq with as little information as we have. This would be a rash and hasty decision' because the administration has provided "no groundbreaking news"
"What was described as new is not new," said Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) about information that Rice and Tenet provided to lawmakers. "It was not compelling enough" to justify war. "Did I see a clear and present danger to the United States? No."
