I'm pretending this seed is your tiny little brain, you smirking empty war-head...
Chimpy McChickenhawk had a temper tantrum yesterday when most of the planet basically told him "fat chance, fratboy." Watch out, everyone: the shit is about to hit the fan.
Bad rerun
What will the BFEE's Gulf-of-Tonkin be? An anonymous anthrax letter to the Kurds?
In the face of mounting doubts about the war at home and downright hostility abroad, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld sorely need some provocation they can either point to or invent.
The new Bush doctrine claiming the imperial right to wage pre-emptive war is so shameless that the administration may well launch the bombers with no fig leaf at all. But you can bet it will continue to look hard for any possible pretext. - Adam Hochschild.
Moral clarity
For every person protesting on the streets of Tokyo, Islamabad, Cairo, Damascus, Moscow, London, Washington and elsewhere, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others who share their worries. The momentum of these demonstrations is certain to build in the coming weeks. Consensus is also proving elusive among Britain's traditional allies. The widely distrusted George Bush is a particular handicap in Europe; a majority of Germans, for example, finds him more frightening than Saddam. - from an editorial in the Guardian.
January 22, 2003
January 21, 2003
Unca Dick, where's my crayolas?
pReznit Poopypants is taking his box of crayons thick Sharpie pen to the first draft of his handlers' State of the Union address (scheduled for January 28), determined to justify war with Iraq while outlining a domestic policy agenda geared toward re-election, CNN is reporting.
"The president believes that State of the Unions should be about big things. This State of the Union will describe his vision of what role the United States should play in the world, how to bring help to the American people who need help and compassion, and how to strengthen the economy," White House spokes-tool Ari Fleischer said with a straight face, apparently addressing a group of kindergartners.
An early draft clearly outlines Drinky McHappycrack's bold, morally clear, statesmanlike proposals, if you ignore the doodles of Dick Gephardt being strafed by fighter jets: Saddam is hiding weapons of mass destruction, has ties to terrorist groups and is an imminent threat to the United States.
He also will try to explain why he is preparing for war against a dictator who may not have a nuclear weapon while sticking to diplomacy in North Korea, which has at least one nuclear bomb and could soon make more.
SOTU Fun: Count how many times he says "nookuler"!
CNN & Time bury another poll
Democrats.com is reporting that CNN and Time are again scrubbing their own polls that show just how bad Napoleon Bonehead's job approval ratings are (they've dropped to 53%, just 1% above the LOWEST approval figure for his entire residency. Compare that to Bill Clinton's second-term job approval ratings, which only dropped to 52% right after the Monica Lewinsky story broke in January 1998, and the following week jumped 16% to 68% {http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm}). Karl Rove doesn't want America to know the truth - that Bush has pissed away all of the support from 9/11 - but he couldn't stop James Carville last night, who managed to rant about it and bitchslap Bob Novak at the same time.
...and the NY Times lies about Bush's popularity
What a tool: NY Times political propagandist correspondent Adam Nagourney writes, "Bush is riding high as he prepares for his re-election campaign. He is a popular Republican president in an increasingly Republican country." This is an utter, disgusting, pandering bald-faced lie. Bush is not "riding high" - he spent the weekend hiding from hundreds of thousands of protesters by going to Camp David. He is not "popular" - check out this past weekend's poll numbers. This is not "an increasingly Republican country," since Al Gore beat Bush by 540,000 votes while getting the second largest number of votes in American history. Democrats.com supplies Nagourney's e-mail - adamnag@nytimes.com - in case anyone would like to ask him what his price was, or how it feels to be a whore for the GOP.
Quote of the day
"Who appointed the idiot Bush as the world's police officer?" - Iraqi envoy Ali Hassan al-Majeed, 1/20/03.
France gives finger to Fratboy F*cktard
I love this blurb by the Washingtoon comPost: U.S. Schedule Put at Risk By U.N. Debate. How dare they try to delay our holy oil war for the sake of caution and reason! Don't they know Squinty the Squatter's poll numbers are dropping?!
France promised a "major diplomatic fight" yesterday, including use of its veto power, to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.
France's opposition to a war, emphatically delivered by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, is a major blow for the misadministration, which is pouring tens of thousands of troops into the Persian Gulf in preparation for a military conflict this spring.
With Russia, China, and Germany willing to wait on the inspection process, only BFEE poodle Tony Blair is siding with the bushies. Even Colin Powell sounded as though his family was being held hostage by Karl Rove, somewhere beneath Dick 'dick' Cheney's undisclosed secret bunker/steakhouse.
"We must be careful not to take unilateral steps that might threaten the unity of the entire coalition. In this context we are strictly in favor of a political settlement of the situation revolving around Iraq," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said at the UN.
Powell replied: "We cannot fail to take the action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do. We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us."
But the French wouldn't have any of it. France would never "associate ourselves with military intervention that is not supported by the international community," de Villepin said. "We think that military intervention would be the worst possible solution." So f*ck you.
January 20, 2003
Bloghopping
Kevin at Hep to the Jive watches Joe Millionaire - so you don't have to.
Great pics of empty warheads at MediaWhoresOnline and SK Bubba.
Beer Mary explains why she's got issues.
Ellen may be able to help you with your questions regarding butt-plugs, at AMCGLTD.com.
Hesiod lists The Top Ten Causus Belli Discovered by Hans Blix, at Counterspin Central.
Skippy writes a damn fine letter to Lou Dobbs.
The Aaron Brown take-down at Blah3!
Martin Luther King, Junior's I Have A Dream speech is posted at the Storm.
Quote of the day
"It seems that people are finally beginning to figure out that the smirking dingbat masquerading as leader of the free world only supports a leg up for rich, stupid C students when it comes to college admissions. And who is coming to his defense? Why none other than Condolleeza Rice, the ultra-right, doctrinaire idiot who sold out our national security to political considerations - completely dropping the ball on Al Qaeda despite Sandy Berger's warnings." - Pundit Pap.
Canadians Clobber Coward of Crawford
Bush impatiently insisted last week that "time is running out." But for what?
With the Iraqis on their knees, offering no resistance to U.N. inspectors, it's hard to imagine what time pressures are posing problems here - other than the U.S. election timetable. (Doesn't that infernal Hans Blix realize Bush needs a war victory to launch his re-election bid? What the hell is Blix thinking, dragging these inspections out like this?)
Some of those keenest for war in the Bush administration - including Bush, vice-president Dick Cheney, senior officials Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle - never served in Vietnam. Sometimes called "chickenhawks," they make up for their shyness about going into battle themselves with their enthusiasm for others doing so. (Bush avoided Vietnam by joining the National Guard, and then failing to show up for guard duty for months at a time.)
But with the massive U.S. assault about to be unleashed on enfeebled Iraq, the Pentagon may have finally found a way to wage a war so safe (for U.S. soldiers) that even a young George Bush wouldn't have been scared to participate. - from an editorial in the Toronto Star.
Smoke this
Smirky the Crack Chimp's "smoking gun" strategy for launching war against Iraq has utterly failed, because the discovery of 11 empty chemical weapons shells convinced the world that inspections are working. This has made the Busheviks insane: "Some administration officials say they have lost control of the public relations aspects of the inspection process."
The misadministration, concerned that a "smoking gun" may never be found, is starting to panic. They're 'urgently assembling an argument that Iraq's withholding of weapons information, and its refusal to make scientists freely available, should persuade our allies to back the use of force against Saddam Hussein.' Yes, that's right: any obstruction by Iraq in interviewing scientists bribed by the bushies is likely to be considered a cause for war.
A leading Arab-language newspaper in London, Al Sharq Al Awsat, reported in December that based on "Iraqi sources" and charges by Iraqi diplomats, it was apparent that at least three top Iraqi weapons experts had been "subjected to pressures and offered financial incentives" to defect or "cooperate" with American intelligence officials. - the NY Times (with thanks to democrats.com).
Update: Iraq said today it was encouraging its scientists to be interviewed privately by U.N. inspectors as part of an effort to do more to help inspectors verify that Iraq is complying with U.N. disarmament demands.
Hall of Shame
The award today goes to CNN, for obediently assuming the position and blatantly airing WH propaganda when they knew all along it was totally bogus. Their breaking nooze alerts! last week regarding the CHEMICAL WARHEADS FOUND IN IRAQ!! were disgraceful. Anyone with internet access already knew the shells were empty. They win the "WTF, You F*cking Dickheads?!" red-ass-of-ignominy prize for last week.
Extra Credit: Aaron Brown whining over the what's-up-with-CNN? letters he's been getting. Pussy.
Alassea Séregon, writing from Drivensno, West Rime -
It was one of those weekends. Bitterly cold - it may have gotten as high as 15 degrees - so of course all the power went out. The dogs and cats quickly got dibs on all the sunny spots, damn them, so we had to trudge out back and dig out armfuls of kindling from the frozen woodpiles so we could start a fire. Luckily we have a fireplace. I basically sat there the rest of the weekend, drinking coffee, smoking cigars, and once the power came back watched The Fellowship of the Ring - wow. I mean, wow! The passage through the Mines of Moria was one of the most intense scenes ever. Saruman needed some serious buttkicking. And I want one of those elf tree-houses.
What's your Elvish name? Find out here.
A Stirring in the Nation
"Mr. Bush and his war cabinet would be wise to see the demonstrators as a clear sign that noticeable numbers of Americans no longer feel obliged to salute the administration's plans because of the shock of Sept. 11 and that many harbor serious doubts about his march toward war. The protesters are raising some nuanced questions in the name of patriotism about the premises, cost and aftermath of the war the president is contemplating. Millions of Americans who did not march share the concerns and have yet to hear Mr. Bush make a persuasive case that combat operations are the only way to respond to Saddam Hussein." - NY Times Editorial.
"They couldn't ignore us this time."
"To be truly patriotic in America today," a vet named Tom said, "you must be against wasting our guys in a stupid war for oil and empire. This is not about national security, this is about a group of chickenhawks who have no idea what war is and wanting to use our military for their personal interests." - Regis T. Sabol writes about Saturday's huge demonstration in DC, at Intervention Magazine.
pReznit Pinhead's poll numbers plummet
The AWOL Warmongering Wonderboob's job approval plunged to a pitiful 53 percent in a new CNN/Time poll released over the weekend, and to an equally putrid 56 percent in a Newsweek poll.
By 60 percent to 35, people in the Newsweek poll (released Saturday) said they would prefer that the misadministration back down, shut the f*ck up, and give the U.N. weapons inspectors a chance. - link.
January 18, 2003
It's really cold!!!
Last night on Crossfire
James Carville: Tell me what merit got George W. Bush into Yale? Affirmative action -- he says we've got to do everything merit based. What merit got him into Yale?
Susan Molinari: There was a point that he, in fact, had decent grades.
Audience: ....wild laughter, hooting....
Thousands rally to protest BFEE's war
Protesters rallied by the thousands in the bitter cold of Washington on Saturday and in capitals worldwide in a passionate show of dissent against war with Iraq. The cry "No blood for oil" echoed from America's National Mall to the streets of Pakistan. Some of the demonstrations planned around the country for this weekend:
Arizona: In Tucson, 40 groups have a march and rally.
California: San Francisco rally, starting 11 a.m. at the foot of Market Street at Embarcadero, march to Civic Center Plaza.
Florida: Rallies in Tampa, St. Augustine and Venice. Tampa marchers plan to go to main gate of MacDill Air Force Base, headquarters of Central Command.
Iowa: 11 a.m. march in Des Moines from Grandview College to the Statehouse, followed by rally.
Massachusetts: Vigil and rally in Cambridge, 10 a.m. to noon.
Minnesota: 9 p.m. candlelight vigil at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis.
Missouri: St. Louis rally, march and interfaith service Monday, starting 10 a.m. at the Old Court House.
Nevada: In Las Vegas, noon rally from the Bellagio fountains to the Tropicana and back. In Reno, rally at the University of Nevada.
New York: In Albany, a candlelight march at 4:30 p.m. Friday from the Capitol. Schenectady march Saturday.
Oregon: 1 p.m. rally and march in Portland, with about 50 groups participating.
Vermont: March and rally in Montpelier.
In Lansing, Mich., several hundred people met at a church before marching 20 blocks to the state Capitol. "It's just great enthusiasm here, and a great spirit of peacemaking," said the Rev. Fred Thelen from Cristo Rey Catholic Church. Signs said: "Peace is Patriotic" and "Iraqis are not evil."
Demonstrators also staged peace rallies worldwide. 5,000 people marched through downtown Tokyo, carrying toy guns filled with flowers and wearing face masks that parodied Bush. The crowd, made up largely of students and laborers, was orderly. More than 400 New Zealanders demonstrated in Christchurch. In Moscow, a few hundred people agitated outside the U.S. Embassy in a protest organized by a branch of the Communist Party. People turned their backs to the building, and signs called the United States a "Global Cannibal."
Three dozen bushmoonie freepers people turned out by the Vietnam War Memorial to show support for Bush's policy on Iraq. - links here and here.
January 17, 2003
After two days of computer problems, I think I'm finally back online.
"it would all be so much easier if Clinton were still in the White House"
Why the British don't trust Hopalong Headcase.
The perception persists that the Prime Minister is being sucked into conflict on the slipstream of an American President driven by a thirst for oil and revenge on behalf of his daddy.
Across British public opinion, George Bush is seen as the global village idiot. This is a one-dimensional caricature of the man - albeit a caricature that he has rather encouraged. The point is that the cartoon cowboy image is now pretty indelibly stuck.
The broad British view of George Bush is that he is Ronald Reagan without the brains. One of the Prime Minister's own advisers on foreign policy privately describes the American President as "cretinous". - Andrew Rawnsley, of The Observer.
Bush Racking Up "Frequent Liar Miles"
Strategy of "lie and rely" relies on media to disseminate Dubya’s deceptions.
Throughout Campaign 2000, candidate Bush test-piloted “lie and rely.” He lied to a Dallas Morning News reporter to keep hidden a drunk-driving conviction. He lied repeatedly to the national media about his own and Al Gore’s economic plans. Did so in speeches and again in the debates.
The lies traveled far and wide. Amazingly, they remained airborne even after repeated puncturing by New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman. From that experience, Bush learned an invaluable lesson: So long as the airwaves remain loyal, “lie and rely” can override isolated, ink-based exposure. - Dennis Hans, at The Scoop.
Calendar quote for the day
"The Bob Jones policy on interracial dating, I mean I spoke out on interracial dating. I spoke out against that. I spoke out against interracial dating. I mean, I support inter - the policy of interracial dating." - our Churchillian statesman, the Crackwacky Wonderboob, 2/25/00 (from the They Misunderestimated Me! calendar).
Today's top stories, concerning Emperor Snippy:
Consumer Sentiment Slips Again in January - link.
Trade Deficit Surges to a Record High - link.
Factories Quiet, Consumers Glum - link.
Stocks Skid; Techs Drag Market Lower - link.
Blix Not Worried About Found Weapons - link.
Protesters Rally Against War on Iraq - link.
Iraq Mends Russia Ties with New Oil Deals - link.
S.Korea's Roh Urges U.S. to Talk to North on Crisis - link.
Poll: Americans Need Convincing on War - link.
Turkey: Can Give Only Limited Help to Iraq War - link.
then there were these:
Bush Proposes Limit on Malpractice Damages - link.
Bush Lawyers Urge Top Court to Back White Students - link.
The hard-working Squinty McSquirtypants will be spending the weekend hiding out at Camp David.
I'm sure Faux Nooze is painting a much rosier picture for him. Still, Karl's panties have to be getting awfully sweaty these days.
January 15, 2003
Hull breach!
Russell Mokhiber: Ari, two things. Last week Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said that soldiers drafted to service in the military, "added no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services." The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation called this an egregious slur and a great insult to the memory, sacrifice and valor of those who lost their lives in Vietnam. One Vietnam vet, Thomas Gohan (phonetic), of Rochester, New York, said this, as a draftee who spent a year of his life in Vietnam: "I would like to suggest that perhaps my inferior service to our country wouldn't have been necessary if those proud, flag-waving patriots like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of the cowards had come forward to enlist. I would like to see Secretary Rumsfeld repeat his speech in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day."
Does the President agree with Secretary Rumsfeld that soldiers drafted to service added no value to the United States armed service?
Ari 'the Liar' Fleischer: Russell, Russell, Russell, while I'm honored that you chose -- in the face of a Rumsfeld briefing at the same time as mine -- to come here, I'm sure that if you took the entire text of what Secretary Rumsfeld said to Secretary Rumsfeld and asked him, and shared with him the entire context of what Secretary Rumsfeld said, you would have thought twice about taking any one statement. I think if you look at everything Secretary Rumsfeld said, you'd have a very, very different picture. ...Connie.
Russell Mokhiber: Can I have a second question?
Ari: No. Connie.
and this:
Terry Moran: You said the President is against racial preferences because they're divisive. Is he against other preferences that colleges and universities routinely grant that people see as unfair? Like the one he got?
Ari: I understand -- I understand all the interest and the specific questions dealing with the review of the University of Michigan case --
Terry Moran: That is not what I'm asking.
Ari:: -- and the implications that come from whatever decision is made. I'm not going to go beyond --
Terry Moran: I'm asking a question about fairness.
Ari: -- I'm not going to go beyond where I've gone, because -- be able to base it on reason and judge for yourself once you see what the President has concluded and why he's concluded it. And he'll share his thoughts.
Terry Moran: But the general question about his feeling about fairness in America. When he was 18, he got into Yale University, which had and still has a policy of granting very special preferences to children of graduates, like him. Is that preference okay, to give him a leg up, but other preferences are not?
Right on schedule, part 2 -
Plague samples reported stolen from Texas lab.
Samples of bubonic plague were stolen from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and the theft was reported to Texas Tech police Tuesday night. - go figure.
Prisoners are still sh!t ouf of luck
Pledging to build a culture that respects life, the hypocritical Drinky McDeathrow is declaring a National Sanctity of Human Life Day.
"As we seek to improve quality of life, overcome illness and promote vital medical research, my administration will continue to honor our country's founding ideals of equal dignity and equal rights for every American," Bush said Tuesday, in a document that enacts no change in policy or program.
"By working together to protect the weak, the imperfect and the unwanted, we affirm a culture of hope and help ensure a brighter future for all."
The former governor of Texas heralded the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act he signed last year, which amends the legal definitions of "person," "human being," "child" and "individual" to include any fetus that survives an abortion procedure. link. His former girlfriend, whom he forced as a teenager to have his unborn child aborted, could not be reached for comment.
'Karl! They're on to us!'
Did ABC censor a crowd’s disapproval of George H. Bush? The father of the AWOL, warmongering nincompoop currently in the WH delivered a taped message at the American Music Awards on Monday night, and sources who were there told MSNBC that the crowd booed him.
When the band Alabama received the Award of Merit, the face of Bush-the-only-slightly-smarter appeared on screen. “I’m very proud to be part of tonight’s tribute honoring one of the most highly successful bands country music has ever known,” said the former, actually-elected president, but his image was met with a loud chorus of boos.
The boos from the crowd, however, were not audible in the broadcast, leading some to believe that they were deleted by censors. “To be honest, I can’t tell you,” a spokesman for ABC said, who referred the question to a spokesman for the production company.
“I don’t know and I can’t tell you,” said a spokesman for the production company, who referred questions back to ABC. - msnbc.
"I think Bush is doing an excellent job...of turning this country into the Germany of the 1930's." - DemoUnderground reader fed2dneck, in response to a poll at msnbc.
Quote of the morning
"I trust Bush with my daughter, but I trust Clinton with my job." - Craig Patterson, St Louis ironworker/patriot (link).
Right on schedule -
Bush's poll numbers drop, anthrax "detected" in DC.
The Federal Reserve yesterday reported a positive initial test for anthrax at the center that checks incoming mail for such threats, the U.S. Postal Service said.
"This appears to be a very isolated incident and it is not clear at all specifically what, if any, piece of mail this came from," said Tom Day, vice president of engineering for the U.S. Postal Service. - link.
Faux nooze
Foreign journalists disillusioned, affronted by state of US media.
"...CNN, America's premier showcase for international news, struck the Serbian journalists as jingoistic, amateurish, shallow, and speculation-crazy, especially when compared to the generally calm and thoughtful BBC. As for the Fox News Channel, its daily fare sounded suspiciously like the rabidly nationalistic, pro-Milosevic propaganda the Serbs are still trying to flush out of the system here." - Russ Baker's Blunt Words About the Soft Press.
January 14, 2003
You broke it, you bought it
Europe will not willingly pay for the reconstruction of Iraq if the US does not obtain United Nations authority for war, Chris Patten, the EU external relations commissioner, has warned.
Signalling a slightly more confident tone over a crisis which has deeply divided the union, Mr Patten said it would be hard to persuade Europeans to pick up the tab if pResident Bush acted unilaterally to disarm Saddam Hussein.
"I would find it much more difficult to get the approval of member states and the European parliament if the military intervention that had occasioned the need for development aid did not have a UN mandate," he said yesterday. "We would be forced to say 'f*ck you - bend over' to the American taxpayers, but I'm sure they've heard that often enough from their own government these past two years." - from the Guardian. Mostly.
Spin cycle
Update on that Time poll:
Which country poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003?
North Korea: 10.8 %
Iraq: 18.9 %
The United States: 70.3 %
Total Votes Cast: 57066
NOTE: This is an unscientific, informal survey for the interest and enjoyment of TIME.com users and may not be indicative of popular opinion.
Ohhhhhhhh - kay......
"an intemperate child"
It's truly frightening when facts don't matter as a nation prepares for war. Once the bombing begins, any search for truth will end. Now is the time to question a pattern of egregious distortion of the facts on the part of a White House that apparently feels it needs a war to retain its fading popularity. - Read more of Robert Scheer's column here.
No brainer
"...the thing that struck me, and most of the voting public, about Dubya, wasn't that he was a "masterful leader" so much as that he was an "embarrassing fool". A cartoonish, empty-headed serial idiot with a resume made up entirely of draft dodging, tequila shots, and gifts from daddy and a political platform composed entirely of lies, impossible promises, and stunningly, shockingly, record-breakingly empty rhetoric. And don't tell me that this is some liberal propaganda - I watched the debates, I watched every step of the way, I watched you babbling on with a smirk on your face like some 4th grader giving the class his book report on a book he didn't even read. Every time you spoke it was a breakthrough in the field of stupidity, opening up unexplored vistas of idiocy beyond anyone's wildest imaginings." - Andrew Northrup.
"We don't need no stinkin' UN!"
Tony Blair said yesterday he would refuse to allow the United Nations to veto military action to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction, which at this point don't seem to exist anywhere but in the tiny little minds of pReznit Poopypants and his pet poodle. Oh, and Don 'Huge Warboner' Rumsfeld, who, upon hearing of Mr Blair's statement, soiled not only the ceiling of his office, but most of his toy-soldier diorama, ruining the desert-like effect.
Blair also suggested a war could be launched even if the inspectors found no evidence, on the basis that Saddam had 'obstructed their work.' - link. Yeah - just try using that excuse in everyday life.
Is it too late to start beating the crap out of Joe Lieberman?
WH blowing smoke up our a$$?
Bartcop has the answer:
"The problem with guns that are hidden is you can't see their smoke. We know for a fact that there are weapons there." - Ari 'the Liar' Fleischer .
"Ari, I can solve this. Just have Poppy Bush and Whistle Dick Cheney show us the Carlyle and Halliburton invoices that have Saddam's signature and we'll believe he has them. " - Bartcop .
Bunnypants given the finger in latest poll
Number of bushmoonies, uninformed still too high.
Emperor Snippy's job approval rating has dropped below 60% for the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks, in the latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll. The drop of 5 points in one week brings him to 58%, which some hack at the AP is calling "still solid overall." Excuse me, but that's not even considered solid for a bowel movement.
Bush's rating on handling the economy slipped to 48%, the lowest of his presidency. His approval rating on foreign affairs was 53%, the lowest since Sept. 11. And though 59% said he was paying the right amount of attention to terrorism, 55% said he wasn't paying enough attention to the economy. - link. Huh - CNN's site doesn't mention it at all.
When asked which issues would be most important in their vote for president in 2004, 52 percent said economic conditions and 32 percent said terrorism. A third said they would definitely vote to re-elect him, a third said they might or might not vote for him and a third said they would not. - link. Baaaaaaaaaaaaa.
January 13, 2003
On the heels of Bend, Oregon's proposed ordinance, the WH plans to ban "highly objectionable" questions during Ari 'the Liar' Fleischer's press conferences and Smirky the Crack Chimp's Rovian recitations from the Rose Garden. From now on, only pre-approved inquiries regarding W's sublime masculinity and bold moral clarity will be allowed in these venues.
Blog A Day Tour?
(Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Nope, we're not at the end of the Amish Tech Support 2003 Blog A Day Tour yet, so here's another post from Laurence Simon on a blog that isn't his...)
They've seen the carnage and wreckage from Israel when mad suicide bombers release flames and shrapnel, and the people of Bend, Oregon are taking matters in to their own hands in the War on Terror. They want to ban chemical weapons of a sort from their own buses:
Proposed new city rules would ban spitting, smoking, skateboarding, and stinking on city buses.If only the Japanese had such an ordinance before those terrorists released the Sarin gas in the subways.
The regulations ban anyone who "emanates a grossly repulsive odor that is unavoidable by other Bend Extended Area Transit customers" from being in the bus station or on a bus.
"It's an effort to keep the riding experience as pleasant and safe as possible," said city attorney Jim Forbes. He noted that the city already has an ordinance prohibiting people from releasing "highly objectionable odors" from their property.
"Excuse me, but there's a highly objectionable odor coming from your property. Would you mind opening that canister with the skull and crossbones on it outside?"
Thanks for reading today's Amish Tech Support 2003 Blog A Day Tour entry. If you're interested in volunteering your own site for a stop on the Tour, feel free to follow the link back to Amish Tech Support and let Laurence Simon know you want him to post on your site.)
Fargo, Russia
A Russian man who murdered his friend in a drunken argument and then minced and flavored his body for a meal was jailed for 12 years.
Yevgeny Usanov stabbed his victim through the heart in the central Russian town of Saratov. He cut up the body, wrapped it in bay leaves and fed it through a mincer.
"These culinary preparations were done with only one aim -- to eat the victim," prosecutor Natalya Rubanova told the court. It was not clear whether the man ate his friend before he was arrested. - link.
MWO announces their 2002 Media Whore of the Year ! And in a related story:
"a devastating indictment of the state of American newspapers"
'With war looming it is no good the American public looking to its newspapers for an independent voice. For, says Matthew Engel, the press have now become the president's men. The supposedly liberal American press has become a dog that never bites, hardly barks but really loves rolling over and having its tummy tickled.' - the the Guardian blasts the WH propaganda machine and the smeg-encrusted knee-scabbed dittohead cowards of the US media.
The Top Ten Conservative Idiots is back!
GOP senators 'on the warpath'
'Republican senators complained bitterly of arrogance by the Bush administration, especially the Pentagon, in treatment of Congress along the road to war.
'Two years of growing discontent boiled over during the closed-door meeting at the Library of Congress. White House chief of staff Andrew Card was there to hear grievances from President Bush's Senate base that it is ignored and insulted by the administration, particularly by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in preparing for war against Iraq. According to administration sources, Bush is aware of the problem but has not yet addressed it.' - Bob Novak.
I was seriously thinking of making the pic of the day one of the opening scenes of The Terminator. I have never felt so close to total annihilation in my life.
Right on cue, Karl blames Clinton
But N Korea says 'what a stupid f*cking excuse.'
North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Han Song Ryol, had said the Bush administration's tough policy toward North Korea was motivated primarily by Bush's desire to do the opposite of what his predecessor had done on foreign policy.
Han asserted that Pyongyang had been developing a working relationship with Washington toward the end of the Clinton era - indeed, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang just before President Bill Clinton left office - but then faced a reversal of policy under Bush.
"They think the Bush people have closed the door on them just because Clinton had opened it," said someone involved in the Santa Fe talks. - link.
"I must say, for some people in the administration, I'm beginning to think that blaming Clinton is a substitute for thinking." - Sandy Berger, in disgust, to Wolf 'Toady' Blitzer yesterday on CNN. Amen!
"The Pukes spent all day yesterday blaming the North Korean crisis on Clinton - for negotiating with the Evil Ones. Less than 24 hours later, they do a complete about-face and tell us that if North Korea cooperates, we'll give 'em back their oil." - Antidolt, at the BC Forum.
January 11, 2003
WH dodges anthrax questions
Boy, it's been a bad week for Snippy the Chimp! {snort!}
"Bush administration stonewalls on production of documents concerning decision to put staff on Cipro beginning September 11, 2001 - Brentwood postal workers denied treatment while White House protected itself.
"Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government abuse and corruption, said today that the Bush administration has failed to provide a complete and accurate response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request concerning the decision to place White House staff on a regimen of the powerful antibiotic, Cipro, the same day as the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001." - link.
Quote of the morning
"I suppose it's too much to ask for profundity from Bush when he's on his way into a coffee shop in Crawford or out giving tours of his ranch, but could the guy prepare a little more before he meets the press? The United States may be within weeks of waging war against Iraq, and the commander in chief can't make a coherent argument to save his life as to why Baghdad is more threatening than Pyongyang." - Matthew Rothschild.
Bush's sneak attack
"The Bush administration said yesterday it will consider removing Clean Water Act protections against pollution and development from up to one-fifth of the nation's streams, ponds, lakes, mudflats and wetlands. While the question is being decided, the administration said, federal regulators should act as if that policy already is in effect. Only by getting clearance from headquarters can the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA try to protect the approximately 20 million acres that appear to be affected, administration officials said.
The move was denounced by some environmentalists and their allies in Congress. Sen. James Jeffords said it would "roll back 30 years of progress" under the landmark environmental law. For those waterways and wetlands that lose protection, "you can throw garbage in it or animal waste in it," said Joan Mulhern, a lawyer-lobbyist with the Earthjustice law firm. "You can kill it, ditch it or destroy it.".
In Washington state, the policy apparently would remove protection from mudflats that scientists say are critical to the biological health of Puget Sound. David Beckman, director of the California Clean Water Project said Bush's decision "is going to make it much easier for big corporations to develop wetlands and discharge pollutants into streams. It's a blatant attempt to sidestep Congress, a move under the cover of darkness to rewrite the rules incorporated by the act." - link.
Rosslyn Chapel to undergo hi-tech search
21st century technology is to be used to solve an age-old mystery at a famous Midlothian chapel.
The carved stones of the 15th century Rosslyn Chapel are said to contain dozens of historical relics including early gospels, the Ark of the Covenant, the holy grail and the mummified head of Christ.
Now, more than 550 years after work began on the site, the latest technology will be used to try and find the supposed relics. A non-invasive survey will be carried out at the chapel, home to the Knights Templar, successors to the warrior monks, who fled the Pope to Scotland in the 14th century.
The Knights Templar, successors to the warrior monks, will use ultra-sound and thermal imaging equipment in a bid to find the reputed relics in the vaults. John Ritchie, grand herald and spokesman for the Knights Templar, said: "The machine we are using is the most sophisticated anywhere and is capable of taking readings from the ground up to a mile deep without disturbing any of the land.
"We know many of the knights are buried in the grounds and there are many references to buried vaults, which we hope this project will finally uncover."
Rosslyn Chapel was founded by Sir William St Clair, third and last Prince of Orkney, in 1446. One of the ornate columns, the Apprentice Pillar, is said to contain a lead casket which holds the legendary Holy Grail, a cup used by Christ at the Last Supper, which was also used to collect his blood. - Edinburgh News.
On this date
11 Jan 1966: numerous people, including the mayor of Wanaque and their police chief, observed a UFO over Wanaque Reservoir, burning holes in the ice. The Air Force at first freaked, then explained it as a weather balloon, but later withdrew that claim and called it a helicopter. To this day, the police who were there say it was a UFO. We lived near Wanaque at the time - I still remember the radio/TV interference and the panicky phone calls that some of the radio stations were broadcasting.
In war, some facts less factual
US lies from the last war on Iraq have some experts skeptical this time around.
John MacArthur, publisher of Harper's Magazine and author of "Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War," says that considering the number of senior officials shared by both Bush administrations, the American public should bear in mind the lessons of Gulf War propaganda.
"These are all the same people who were running it more than 10 years ago," Mr. MacArthur says. "They'll make up just about anything ... to get their way."
"This administration is capable of any lie ... in order to advance its war goal in Iraq," says a US government source in Washington with some two decades of experience in intelligence, who would not be further identified. "It is one of the reasons it doesn't want to have UN weapons inspectors go back in, because they might actually show that the probability of Iraq having [threatening illicit weapons] is much lower than they want us to believe." - Read the whole article at the CS Monitor.
Crazed, powermad chickenhawks in the BFEE oil cartel will attack Iraq 'without UN backing'
America will not delay a war with Iraq until the autumn and is prepared to launch military action against Saddam Hussein without further United Nations authorisation, a senior Bush administration adviser said yesterday.
Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon's Defence Policy Board and a hawk whose views carry considerable weight, rejected suggestions from British ministers and senior Foreign Office officials that plans for an early war should be put on hold. Mr Perle, who is close to Donald Rumsfeld, said he did not expect the UN Security Council to reach agreement on the use of force but had little doubt that George W Bush, would press ahead regardless. - UK Telegraph.
I told you I loved you, now get out
Antidolt from the BC Forum cheerfully informs us "He's losing it!":
"Journalists escorted into a Cabinet meeting on Monday were allowed just four questions. On Wednesday, the media were ushered in at the beginning of a session with congressional leaders from both parties. Bush tersely informed them that no questions would be welcomed.
"I'm going to have a statement and then we'll ask you to leave so we can get down to our business," he said. After his statement and the signing of legislation extending federal unemployment benefits, he reiterated the point. "Get out of the room as quickly as you came in," he said." - link to article.
'They try their best to make excuses for his "tartness", but ultimately, we're getting to see the same Bushie, who when working on Poppy's campaign, had to be restrained from punching reporters.'
January 10, 2003
Pseudo-tough and rapidly crumbling
Has anybody else noticed how rapidly the Bush administration's foreign policy is disintegrating? Based as it was on a knee-jerk rejection of everything that Clinton's diplomats tried to do in the Middle East, on the Korean peninsula and with multilateral organizations, the Bush policy was always feebler than it sounded. Now, despite heroic efforts by Colin Powell, the price of those fundamental errors is coming due.
The most obvious example is North Korea, where the president's pugnacity helped to create a dangerous confrontation that his aides are now scrambling to defuse. Actually, the White House has been forced to turn to Democrat Bill Richardson, former Clinton U.N. ambassador (and newly elected liberal New Mexico governor), whose negotiating skills may get them out of this mess. Richardson's meeting last night with two North Korean officials will, with any luck, bring concrete results. Its symbolic significance is to expose the phoniness of the pseudo-tough, "axis of evil" attitudinizing of the president and his aides. Incidentally, this isn't necessarily a partisan difference, although the Republicans have tried to make it into one. Among the strongest advocates of resuming engagement with North Korea is Donald Gregg, the former national security advisor to George H.W. Bush during the Reagan administration who later served as ambassador to South Korea
Eventually Bush will have to conclude a deal with the North Koreans that brings them back into the international nonproliferation regime. The lesson of this experience is that the United States ought to display greater regard for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, so casually discarded by the Bush Republicans before they understood the potential consequences. Maybe they will wake up now, although I doubt it.
In the Middle East, Bush's original decision to distance himself from Clinton's strenuous peacemaking has had disastrous effects that are now undermining his Iraq policy. Although the rift hasn't received much coverage here, the White House and Downing Street are in the midst of intense disagreement over Israel and Palestine. The Bush tilt toward Ariel Sharon always disturbed Tony Blair, but the quiet dispute broke into open feuding this week when Blair invited Labor Party challenger Amram Mitzna to visit him on the eve of the Israeli election. Blair was evidently furious after his "friends" in Washington helped Sharon to scuttle the prime minister's own attempt at Mideast diplomacy by saying nothing when Jerusalem refused to allow Palestinian leaders to attend the London peace conference next week.
Now the Likud Party, which has enjoyed such uncritical support from the White House, turns out to be more or less a racketeering conspiracy, with increasing evidence pointing toward serious offenses by Sharon and his sons, among others. (I can't wait to read about the next late-night phone call from "Arik," explaining the whole affair to William Safire -- who will surely show more sympathy than he did when covering the phony Whitewater scandal.)
With Blair and Bush in conflict over Israel, the inherent tensions of their alliance against Iraq are beginning to emerge, at an inconvenient moment for the White House and the neocon faction so influential in its councils. The British are increasingly alienated from Washington, the Turks don't want their territory used as a base against Baghdad, the U.N. Security Council is unlikely to approve immediate action in Iraq -- but Bush and his advisors may see war as the only way out of the corner they've backed into. After the Korea humiliation, they will surely want to prove how tough they really are. - Joe Conason.
Officials consider faster ways to alert U.S. to terrorism:
whenever you see that Smirky McDumbass's poll numbers have dropped, figure something else is goin' down.
Oh, sorry, was I being cynical? Anyway, here's the link.
"President Bush says he's closely monitoring the situation in North Korea. He's watching M*A*S*H reruns." - Conan
Calendar quote
"Actually, this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me." - the Boob of Kennebunkport to Tweety the Moist on Hardball, 5/31/00.
"Doctors have found that working with stupid people can frustrate you so much it can give you a heart attack. More bad news for Dick Cheney." - Leno
"President Bush said his new year's resolution was to eat fewer cheeseburgers. The economy's collapsing; there's trouble in Iraq...you'd think he'd have a loftier goal, not the same one as Clem from the Shell station." - Leno.
Iraq's oil to pay for war and occupation
Misadministration officials are seriously considering proposals that the United States tap Iraq's oil to help pay the cost of a military occupation, a move that likely would prove highly inflammatory in an Arab world already suspicious of U.S. motives in Iraq.
Officially, the White House agrees that oil revenue would play an important role during an occupation period, but only for the benefit of Iraqis, according to a National Security Council spokesman (nudge nudge, wink wink).
Yet there are strong advocates inside the administration, including in the White House, also including in Dick 'Chicanery' Cheney's office, for appropriating the oil funds as "spoils of war," according to a source who has been briefed by participants in the dialogue.
"There are people in the White House who take the position that it's all the spoils of war," said the source, who asked not to be further identified. "We [the United States] take all the oil money until there is a new democratic government [in Iraq]." No matter how long it takes. - Knut Royce (mostly).
I must be only two feet tall
There's no guarantee that rich people will do anything economically productive with more money. Their major strategy seems to be stashing it in offshore banks so they don't have to pay any taxes. As Leona Helmsley famously remarked, taxes are for "little people."
The dirty little secret about taxes in this country is that rich people and corporations mostly don't pay them now - they have a whole system of shelters and offshore deals. We don't need to raise taxes in this country - we need to collect them. - Molly Ivins.
January 9, 2003
The Biggest Threat To Peace
I bet they never saw this coming -
TIME asks for readers' views: Which country really poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003?
North Korea 21.5 %
Iraq 20.0 %
The United States 58.5 %
- Cast your vote now!
It's our secret club, we can do whatever we want
Don 'Centerfold' Rumsfeld has suggested that Washington may present little or no evidence of Iraq’s quest for banned weapons even if the Poll-dropping Primate decides to go to war.
Rummy said that disclosing such details to the world or even to the United Nations Security Council could jeopardise any military mission by revealing to Baghdad that the powermad bushies know jack shit what the United States knows.
When weighing the demands of global opinion for proof of Saddam Hussein’s danger against the need to shroud an effective military campaign in secrecy, Rumsfeld said the safer option would be for the US to tilt towards secrecy. - UK Times.
Links update
The Taste of Ink is now The Truth and Other Fiction.
Please welcome Are You Hep to the Jive?!
Well, the hell with you, then!
According to four Time sources, the magazine had prepared a Person of the Year cover commemorating the partnership between Bush and Dick Cheney. But it fell through after the White House balked at giving the magazine access for such a presentation. Aides to Emperor Snippy reportedly preferred that their boss appear alone on the cover. - From the Washington City Paper. Jeebus.
More on the invisible poll
...thanks to skippy!
"Now, a Time/CNN poll -- the results of which the media, including Time and CNN, ignored or buried -- showed that Bush's approval rating has dropped from a high of 90 percent in late September 2001 to 55 percent by last week. In other words, he's lost 35 percent of his popularity in a little over one year. The same Time/CNN poll taken at two points in Bill Clinton's reign may help put this in perspective. On Dec. 9, 2000, the day he left the White House, Clinton's approval rating was 68 percent; on Feb. 12, 1999, the day after his impeachment vote, Clinton held a 73 percent rating. By contrast, and I repeat for emphasis, Bush's rating is currently at 55 percent." - Alan Bisbort.
Oh, yuck
Howard 'the Hormonal' Fineman squirts out another passionate piece of hot, pulsating love to Squinty the Pinhead:
"At various times, he’s played the presidency as Dirty Harry, Emperor Augustus, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Dag Hammarskjold. He’s been skillful in each role, but the variety show is confusing..." - he ejaculates over at pMSNBC, where they really ought to be ashamed of themselves. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go shower.
Time portal to Hell
"One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end." - the Oaf of Office, Washington, DC, 1/8/03, evidently stuck in an hyperstupidity-vortex again.
Sore loser, man
"For the past couple of weeks, those wags at Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe in Dupont Circle have been marketing a beverage called the "Trent Lotte." The menu describes the $3.25 item as "separate but equal parts of coffee and milk" – a not too veiled reference to Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott's career-damaging 100th-birthday praise of fellow Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond's segregationist 1948 presidential campaign. Yesterday bartender Mark Kutcher told us that the coffee and steamed milk are served in two different containers, and it's up to customers to integrate them. "We think it's really funny," Kutcher said. "That's why we do it." But we seriously doubt if Lott is laughing. Our call to the deposed Senate Republican leader's press office yesterday was greeted by grim silence." - Lloyd Grove. LOLOL
Bizarro bs stories of the day
Jesus to be cloned from the Shroud of Turin - a new book from Time Warner, seen as an ad over at drudge. That's just sick.
Don't hate him because he was Der Fuhrer - he was just misunderstood: HBO developing 'Hitler was gay' documentary. WTF? Where are they going with this??
Calendar quote of the day
"The important question is: how many hands have I shaked?" - from the "They Misunderestimated Me!" desk calendar ('the very curious language of George W Bush').
"glaring racial insensitivity"
President Rove The clueless Cretin of Crawford has renominated controversial Trent Lott buddy/crossburning aficionado Charles Pickering for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer and Richard Durbin vowed to filibuster if necessary to reject him. "To me, this is a moral issue," said Schumer. He said the Dictator-tot's attempt to try again to promote Pickering was "mind-boggling" in the wake of the Lott episode. "Little f*cker gets more stupid every passing day." - link.
One important reason Karl's Little Krackhead decided to go ahead with the renomination was a belief that he had accumulated substantial political capital on race by severely criticizing Lott's comments on the Thurmond candidacy. - links here and here. Isn't that sort of like saying since Hitler was gay.....Anyway, he made one comment, then turned and ran like a dog from the whole fiasco. Give me a f*cking break.
January 8, 2003
3 April, 2002: US grants N Korea nuclear funds
"...The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused...
"In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.
"President Bush argued that the decision was 'vital to the national security interests of the United States.'"
Whole article at: BBC news - from NeonLX @ the BC Forum.
House GOP Softens Its Ethics Rules
House Republicans weakened their own ethics rules yesterday, pushing through language that would allow lobbyists to cater meals to members' offices and let charities pay for lawmakers to travel and stay at golf resorts and other locales.
The party of personal responsibility? Of honor and integritude? I'm shocked....shocked!
McCain May Team With Feingold To Limit Radio Station Ownership Consolidation
Sen. Russ Feingold said Tuesday he plans to reintroduce legislation that would limit the consolidation of radio station ownership and to punish radio conglomerates that stifle competition.
The bill died last year, but in the 108th Congress Feingold may have a powerful, if familiar, partner - John McCain, R-Ariz, who has again become chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
McCain spokeswoman Pia Pialorsi said McCain 'is interested in the topic and has talked to Feingold about it. He's definitely looking at' backing Feingold's legislation, which could be introduced in the coming weeks. - from here.
Let's help skippy get randi rhodes syndicated!
'friends, we are sure you are familiar by now with the plight of randi rhodes, a fine lefty on the radio in miami, who cannot get her bosses, clear channel, to syndicate her show because, according to her own testimony, rush limbaugh threatened to leave clear channel if they syndicate randi...'
Go here for info!
Another sign we'll be going to war soon
The administration continues to face the public perception that its policies - and perhaps especially its economic and tax policies -- favor the rich, not the middle class or all groups equally.
With the new Congress ready to go to work, most Americans think its first task should be to help the ailing economy and create jobs - not necessarily to pass a tax cut. And even while most Americans believe that war in Iraq is inevitable, just about as many would like to continue attempts at a diplomatic solution there, something many don't think this Administration is working hard enough to secure. - CBS News Poll.
WWCD?*
No matter if, in the summer of 2004, Wall Street is still suffering through a bear market, or Osama is still on the loose, or the tax cuts for the wealthy lead to more homeless people on the streets.
The TV cameras will catch only the trompe l'oeil tableau of Republican regular folk: Rudy Giuliani and a stage full of Rockettes and firemen; Bill Frist resuscitating a homeless man outside the Garden, and the Harlem Boys Choir singing to the ever fatter G.O.P. cats. - Maureen Dowd.
Don't forget the life-size pose-with-the-preznit! photoboards of Smirky the Crack Chimp standing with a bullhorn on the smoking tomb that used to be the Twin Towers.
*What Would Churchill Do?
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat, oh yeah
"Ari, other than Elliot Abrams, how many convicted criminals are on the White House staff?" - Russell Mokhiber abuses Ari 'the Liar' Fleischer here.
Last night on Crossfire:
Bob Novak: Congressman McDermott, you're a psychiatrist by profession, and although you've been on the Ways and Means Committee for many years, with all due respect, I don't think you've learned a lot. So I want to give you a good lesson in economics by somebody who did major in economics in college, and he's going to explain to you why repealing the tax on dividends is important. Let's listen to him.
(Video clip of pRezdint Privilege):
"Double taxation is bad for our economy. Double taxation is wrong. Double taxation falls especially hard on retired people. About half of all dividend income goes to America's seniors. And they often rely on those checks for a steady source of income in their retirement. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It's not fair to double tax by taxing the shareholder on the same profits."
(End video clip.)
{Incredulous hilarity ensues}
Boob Novak: Congressman McDermott, can you...
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington: Is that "Saturday Night Live"?
Novakula: Congressman, can you contradict one factual point that the graduate of economics from Yale University and the Harvard Business School gave us?
{More laughter}
Rep. McDermott: Would you like to talk about how many people have lost their jobs since he took over? I mean, didn't he cut taxes a trillion dollars? He cut it a trillion dollars, and what do we have? More people lost their jobs. We're further in the hole. We're in deficit spending; this guy wants to go to war, which is a drag on the economy. And, at the same time, he wants to cut taxes. Now you can't do that. You cannot pay for a war and also give it out the back door.
Boob: I just want someone to tell me what he said that was wrong. Do you really feel that the poor people getting dividends from their stocks on retirement, that they wouldn't be better off if they didn't have to pay taxes on this income which has already been taxed at the corporate level?
Rep. McDermott: After the corporate corruption that has wiped out people's 401(k)s, there aren't any dividends to be paid to anybody.
Novak, rich white fucktard: Oh, that's not true.
Rep. McDermott: These people are living off their Social Security. That's all they've got left.
BTW
Duh-byah and Dick Cheney each stand to reap thousands of dollars in savings from Bunnypants' proposal on Tuesday to eliminate taxes on stock dividends. Based on income reported in his tax returns for 2001, Bush would have saved $16,511 on dividend payments of $43,805 if his new proposal had been in effect for the year. Cheney, who had dividends of $278,103 in 2001, would have saved $104,823. Have a nice day!
Damn
All aboard a commuter airplane died this morning when it crashed into a hangar and caught fire at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, a police spokesman said. "The plane is so destroyed there's not much to see," said spokesman Keith Bridges. "The debris is in such bad shape."
Christopher White of the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was flight 5481 of Air Midwest and it crashed as it took off bound for the Greenville-Spartanburg airport in Greer, S.C. The plane was a Beech 1900 turboprop. Initial reports said there were 19 passengers and two crew members on the plane.Two people in the hangar were unaccounted for, Bridges said.
January 7, 2003
Bombing for poll numbers, continued
North Carolina Senator John Edwards jumps to second among 2004 Dem hopefuls (Joe Lieberman leads with 11%, John Kerry and Edwards are tied at 9%); Bush job performance at 63%, re-elect at 51%, nation still split on Iraq war - 50% support, 45% oppose; Dems lead on economy, health care, tolerance, GOP leads on terrorism, taxes, integrity, - from the latest Zogby America Poll. Integrity?????
Speaking of assholes,
The Senate this week will take up a measure allowing the disgraced Trent Lott, R-Whitesheet, to keep his taxpayer-subsidized car and driver. - link.
Well, we don't
"I think the American people - I hope the American - I don't think, let me - I hope the American people trust me." - the Oaf of Office, sounding even more like an irretrievable boob than he usually does, Washington, DC, 12/18/02.
Maybe I should just stick to lighter fluid
Does chai have caffeine?? I just started drinking it and I'm getting the shakes.
Conason said it, so it must be true
The administration has ordered the Labor Department to stop reporting mass layoffs. - link.
Dancing queen drops out of dem derby
Tom 'Isadora' Daschle (D-Eunuch) announced today that he's decided not to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, preferring to supinely "challenge" Smirky McGolfcart and the republicans from his barre post in the Senate than from the presidential campaign trail. Yeah, he's done a great job of it so far. Story from the Washingtoon comPost.
Who do we look like, Ken Lay?
"Taxes on my what?" said Ruth Farrington, contacted yesterday in the two-bedroom home she shares with her disabled, 87-year-old husband, David.
"Taxes on your stock dividends," she was told. "The president says this will correct an injustice in the tax code because ..."
She started to laugh. "No way do we own any stocks," she said. - Paul Vitello.
What a week already. Stuck at work all day yesterday, watching the snow fall. Come home, spend the rest of the evening shovelling out. While I'm shovelling it starts snowing again. Go in to feed the critters and find my last male zebra finch is dead. This morning I wake to another 2 inches of fresh snow, plus news that the refs blew the call in the last play of the Giants-49ers game and should have given the Giants another chance to kick the field goal. We're supposed to get another 1 - 3 inches of snow tonight. It's a good thing I don't work in a bar.
Quickies
"Why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?" Helen Thomas gives Ari 'the Liar' Fleischer agita here
CBS scrubbed pre-election airing of The Crooked E in blatant media bias: "CBS President Leslie Moonves and Entertainment President Nancy Tellem got cold feet as the November air date neared, growing uncomfortable at the prospect of appearing to criticize the Republican administration." - the Washington comPost.
"...the faithful laud our glorious leader's wisdom. For a variety of reasons, including the desire to avoid charges of liberal bias, most reporting is carefully hedged. And the public, reading only praise or he-said-she-said discussions, never grasps the fundamental disconnect between problem and policy." - Paul Krugman's An Irrelevant Proposal.
"Over the past few days, there has been just the smallest of hints that the American media – the biggest and most culpable backer of the White House's campaign of mendacity – has been, ever so timidly, asking a few questions." - Robert Fisk: 'The double standards, dubious morality and duplicity of this fight against terror.'
Help Tom 'Isadora' Daschle find his spine! For anyone getting the print version of Time magazine, flip to the back page of this week's issue.
Anyone pick this guy in the ATS Dead Pool?
Former Bush speechwriter David Frum - the 'Axis of Evil' guy - has infuriated top officials at the White House with his 'controversial' new book, The Right Man: the Surprise Presidency of George W Bush (they're upset about a fantasy novel??).
Anyway, tomorrow Frum starts his media tour, offering his 'insights' into Drinky McHappycrack and the misadministration, such as there is "a dearth of really high-powered brains" among the White House staff, and "one seldom heard an unexpected thought in the Bush White House or met someone who possessed unusual knowledge."
"He's going on the Today show to talk about North Korea, Iraq?!" an alarmed Bush intimate said on Sunday. "Mr. Frum should seriously consider letting the president speak for himself on these highly volatile matters."
Bwaaahahahahaha! And have it make sense? Please!! LOLOL. Shoot - would we even be in this mess today if Napoleon Bonehead hadn't shown such disrespect to N Korea back then? - developing on drudge.
Partisan-hack program shitcanned
CNBC pulled the "Wall Street Journal Editorial Board With Stuart Varney" off the air last week. While CNBC would not comment on the cancellation, a small announcement in the Wall Street Journal Friday explained that "in the course of long-planned renegotiations, CNBC and the Journal failed to agree on the future direction of the program."
I can almost hear them now: 'Show of hands: should we put the blame for the economic crisis where it belongs, on Smirky McOilfield, or lie and blame it on Bill Clinton?' Good fucking riddance.
WTF's the point?
The irony-challenged, testicularly-impaired Dick 'Fluffy' Gephardt says he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 because "President Bush is leading the country either down the wrong path or not leading at all," and would offer a "different direction for our domestic, economic and national security policies." Gee, thanks, Dick - now you decide to wake the fuck up? And why should we believe or support you now?? Did you get the Chia Puberty kit for Christmas?
Meanwhile, in other news from the Clueless Castrati Club, Tom 'Isadora' Daschle said Sunday he's strongly considering a run for president in 2004, and would make an announcement on an exploratory committee "in the next couple of weeks. I just can't make a decision until I see what the new pink tutus for Spring look like!" - AP.
Dow Jones Ends 2002 With Worst Annual Loss in 25 Years
The NY Times reports, "Stocks in the United States plunged in 2002 amid fears of war and terrorism, a weak economy, rising oil prices and dozens of corporate scandals. It was the third consecutive annual decline, the first time that has happened in 60 years. Making matters worse, the average stock fell further in 2002 than it had in either of the previous two years. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index posted its worst year since 1974; many big technology stocks slipped into the single digits, and some dropped to prices below $1. And Wall Street's mood is bleak. At the end of 2000, most investors were optimistic that a return to quick gains could not be far off. A year ago, many remained resolute, feeling that stocks and the United States economy had withstood the Sept. 11 attacks and were poised for recovery. Now that optimism has disappeared almost entirely." And in a related story.....
FBI agents say White House scripting 'hysterics' for political effect
Karl Rove Uses Terror Alerts to Prop Up Bunnypants' Plunging Polls.
Intelligence pros say the White House is manufacturing terrorist alerts to keep the issue alive in the minds of voters and to keep Bush's approval ratings high, Capitol Hill Blue reports. The Thursday report said that the administration is engaging in 'hysterics' in issuing numerous terror alerts that have little to no basis in fact. 'Unfortunately, we haven't made a lot of progress against al-Qaida or the war on terrorism,' one FBI agent familiar with terrorism operations told CHB. 'We've been spinning our wheels for several weeks now.' Other sources within the bureau and the Central Intelligence Agency said the administration is pressuring intelligence agencies to develop 'something, anything' to support an array of non-specific terrorism alerts issued by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. - the ultraconservative WorldNetDaily (thanks to democrats.com).
January 5, 2003
Spent yesterday shovelling out of 10 inches of snow, then made the rounds to visit the relatives we didn't get to see on Christmas because of that little storm. Latest forcast? Three-to-five inches of snow by tomorrow morning! Sheesh.
A well-known cardiologist died and was given an elaborate funeral. A huge heart covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service. Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever.
At that point one of the mourners burst into laughter. When confronted, he said "I'm sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral -- I'm a gynecologist."
At that point, the proctologist fainted.
- - (thanks to mb!)
The case of the five vanishing suspects
'Asked what might have triggered the initial FBI allegation about the five Middle Eastern men entering the U.S. from Canada, the Mountie replied caustically: "It was a slow week at the White House. They needed something to stir the pot because nothing was happening in Iraq."'
Unhappily ever aftermath
The year in review, by Barry Crimmins.
Giddyap, ho's!
Media Whores Online is back! Don't forget to cast your vote for Whore of the Year.
January 3, 2003
Bloghopping
"wanted: a lefty as unconcerned with the facts as rush limbaugh" - another great rant from skippy.
Sticking it where the sun don't shine: "Government Openness at Issue as Bush Holds Onto Records", at the People's Republic of Seabrook.
Amish Tech Support is asking for participants in the Amish Tech Support 2003 Blog A Day Tour, where Laurence hopes to post to a different blog every day this year.
I'm still laughing at MadKane's "Fristy The Surgeon" (and congrats for winning Political Site of the Day for Dubya's Daily Diary!).
The Shape of Things to Come - the "future history" of the year 2003, at Daily Kos.
America's stinkiest media performances of the year
Norman Solomon's P.U.-litzer prizes for 2002, via SmirkingChimp.com. So much to work with, so little space.
The Fifteenth Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting, from the Media Research Center.
The year's best blogging
Belated but heartfelt congratulations to all the Koufax Award winners and nominees! They included Atrios of Eschaton , Body and Soul, the Rittenhouse Review, stranger's Blah3, and Alas, a Blog. Kudos!
It's snowing again. We're supposed to get 12 - 16 inches by tomorrow morning. Swell.
Quote of the morning
Iraq on Friday dismissed pResident Bush’s statement that he hoped the crisis over Iraqi arms could be overcome peacefully, saying it was hard to believe he had “suddenly become rational.” - pMSNBC.
Dicking us around
Eric Boehlert at Salon thankfully pimpslaps Time magazine for their oozing, wet puffpiece on Dick 'Chicanery' Cheney and his "partnership-of-the-year" with braindead fratboy figurehead Chimpy the Pinhead. It's a subscriber-services-only article, so if anyone can't get to it and would like to read it, please let me know.
January 2, 2003
Preznit Stoopid discusses Iraq and N Korea with whoring lapdogs reporters
The Moron of Midland finds time amidst the growing crises of both rogue nukes and a tanking economy to exchange banalities with his adoring scribes during yet another extended vacation at Rancho Boguso:
"This economy cannot afford to stand an attack. And I'm going to protect the American people. The economy is strong, it's resilient. Obviously, so long as somebody is looking for work, we've got to continue to make it strong and resilient. My most important job is to protect America and Americans, and I take that job seriously. And that's exactly what this administration is going to do." - Daddy's Widdle Dictator-tot
"You said we're headed to war in Iraq - I don't know why you say that. I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq. I'm the person who gets to decide, not you." - Emperor Dumbass
"I'm thinking about a little nature walk in a couple of days. Anybody interested?" - Buckeroo Bonehead, from the Lazy W, 12/31/02 (thanks to Counterspin Central for the find).
It was the 'best of' lists, it was the 'worst of' lists
The 10 Most Overexposed Stars Of 2002, here.
Top 5 Crankiest Celebs, over here.
Deaths in 2002: the famous and infamous, here.
Worst mugshots ever of 2002, from the Smoking Gun.
The year in review, by Dave Barry.
Just flew back from Florida and am I cranky
Chimp amazes scientists with own 'words', screamed a headline at drudge this morning, and it wasn't a story about Squinty McSquirtypants.
Is anyone else getting as tired as I am of hearing about saint/humanitarian Bill Frist? Besides my cats?
Ex-Giant Bill Parcells, one of my heroes, returns to coaching. Jerry Jones' damn Cowboys, for crying out loud. Lessee, two power-mad egomaniacs, one sideline - this could get interesting. Since the 2003 dead pool is closed at Amish Tech Support, anyone want to bet on THIS outcome?!
Misread headline of the day: Cow manure used to treat mime damage (it was actually mine drainage). OK, so I forgot my glasses. My version is better, though.
Who would you vote out of the country? AMCGLTD.com has started an Anti-Survivor List. Here's mine, in no particular order:
1. Deion Sanders
2. The people that thought up the new Gateway ads. Whip 'em!
3. Bill Frist
4. Robin Williams
5. Pube divas & boy bands
6. Rudy Guiliani. Enough already.
7. Tom 'Isadora' Daschle and Dick 'Fluffy' Gephardt - come back when you get genitalia and/or spines.
8. Donald 'Centerfold' Rumsfeld. Could be Germany's next David Hasselhoff if he plays his cards right.
9. Katherine Harris
10.Tim Russert
Honorable Mention: the guy in all those DiTech commercials.
Ask me again tomorrow.
I think Elrond is hitting on me...
"Day Four: Stuck on mountain with Hobbits. Boromir really annoying. Not King yet". - from Aragorn's Secret Diary, here.
Happy New Year, everyone!
The pic above is sunset at Mallory Square in Key West, where we spent four days drinking, eating, smoking cigars, and drinking, after digging out of 12 inches of wet snow on Christmas day.
Fun Fact: the Hinkley buzzards were late arriving in Key West this winter, which freaked the locals out for some reason. I didn't want to ask.
Fun Fact II: they refer to their dogs' assholes as 'Rush Limbaughs'. I didn't have to ask.
Best eats: Meson de Pepe, terrific Cuban food and homemade sangria.
Worst eating experience: conch ceviche. Yack - tropical pickled tongue.
Best new drink: espresso martinis
Worst new drink: ha ha ha ha ha!
Favorite tourist activity: the glass-bottom boat tour. The 4 PM cruise had complimentary cheese and champagne at sunset.
Crappiest: bike-riding against the wind to Stock Island, only to find out the Botanical Gardens were closed.
Favorite sights: Hemingway's cats, the parrots of the Secret Garden, the feral chickens of Whitehead Street.
Most bizarre: the windows of Duval Street's erotica shops.
Cool: a manatee swam right past us (as did a hawksbill turtle and a nurse shark), stuck my finger into a horseshoe crab's mouth.
Lame: there were way too many children, none of which were used as shark or buzzard bait.
Reason to be back: Egon, the kitten, spent all day yesterday and all last night wrapped around my neck like a fuzzy remora.
Oh my!
