Mike Farrell: "We're not anti-military, we're anti-dogmatic authoritarianism"

ANSWER L.A. antiwar rally, Oct. 28, 2006

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The Mother Of All Trailers

The Mother Of All Trailers

Lawn Furniture for Literalists

readymademag.com: Lawn Furniture for Literalists

Rumsfeld: Supporting The Tin Foil Hat Industry ( ? )

Here's what Rumsfeld said Friday:
"I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten – indeed the word 'terrorized' is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be."
youtube.com: Rumsfeld said Flight 93 shot down

Honey Bunches of Cheney

"Everybody Loves Blastocysts"

Good news out of Iraq: 1) Vast majority of Iraqi population still alive. Many unwounded, untortured. 2) Insurgency's supply of explosives steadily dwindling. 3) Scrap metal business literally booming. Lots of extra car parts.

The president is is not is "cutting and running" from the phrase "stay the course"
alternet.org: Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil [ 2 ]
ajc.com: EPA Closes Principal EPA Chemical Library via thinkprogress.org
govtrack.us: S. 3930: Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Vote On Passage)
editorandpublisher.com: Eavesdrop on our president chatting with FOX News and friends
The Illustrated Daily Scribble: daily.scribble 05.24.04
Rolling Stone:: The Worst Congress Ever
Rolling Stone: The 10 Worst Congressmen
youtube.com: Olbermann's Special Comment on GOP Fearmongering

daily drivel
Google Video: Darth Vader Calls The Emperor
youtube.com: VD is for Everybody (1969)
youtube.com: C is for Cookie
youtube.com: GOP Halloween Treat
youtube.com: Rube Goldberg Officeplace Contraption
youtube.com: Jay and Silent Bob: "Zoinks, Yo!"
youtube.com: The ladies of P.E.T.A. get naked, and protest poultry
workingforchange.com: Fiore presents: Freedom from the press
satiricalpolitical.com: Limbaugh ‘stays the Coarse’: Claims FDR Faked Polio
current.tv: Link from Mark
wrotniak.net: Depth of field and your digital camera via sachsreport.com

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Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122)

Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder." President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."

uruknet.biz: Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
leahy.senate.gov: Hill’s National Guard Advocates Hold News Conference
To Protest DOD Bill’s Proposed Decisions On National Guard

Further evidence that CNN is soft on terrorists.

Exactly Who Are We Fighting In Iraq?
WARE: America's enemies in Iraq can be divided into two main groups: Sunni and Shi'a. But there are groups within groups, factions within factions.

Shi'a militias attack British and American troops according to Coalition intelligence officers, not to defeat them, but to keep them in a defensive mode. So they worry about survival instead of the militia's political control and their Iranian backing.

But the insurgents most Americans recognize as the enemy are Iraqi Sunnis. They are mainly former military from Saddam's regime and account for most U.S. casualties. They are divided into two large categories: nationalists and Islamists, each comprised of smaller groups. As the nationalists, their agenda is secular, anti-Iranian and focused on liberating Iraq from foreign occupation.

The Islamists, meanwhile, are more moderate than al Qaeda. They don't call for a religious state. They tolerate other Muslim sects and also vow to fight until U.S. forces leave.

Both of these large insurgent blocks are willing to talk peace with the United States. But there is still those America cannot reach. The darkest heart of the Sunni insurgency, al Qaeda and the many groups aligned with it.

This is the group that sends out suicide bombers and who once cut off westerners' heads. To them, there will be no end until Osama bin Laden's plans for an international Islamic state are fulfilled.

And most troubling, the longer this war goes, the more Sunni groups drift toward al Qaeda and the more Shi'a embrace Iran.

KING: Michael, a fascinating look there at the insurgency. Help us understand the point you make in the piece. How willing are some of these guys to talk to the United States?

WARE: Well, John, clearly (with) some of them, there's absolutely no chance at all. Certainly with al Qaeda and the groups most closely aligned with Iran.

But those in the middle have shown a willingness to talk to the United States. Indeed, they've been doing so. Or certainly elements of these groups have been doing so for at least a year and a half.

And some of these men who are involved in these talks are former top military officers from the Iraq army under Saddam who were American allies in the '80s during the Iran-Iraq War — John. CNN via Crooks and Liars

The truth about the Lektroids comes out!

"Bully Puppet"

Watch the first two seconds of this video. This is proof positive that modern "Republicans" are really Lektroids from planet 10.

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said that you secretly want to be Jewish

LAKELAND -- Flanked by a banner that reads "Israel shall stand forever," Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein sings a song in a rousing mix of Hebrew and English.

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris is on her feet, stomping and clapping to the beat from her place on the stage.

The predominately Christian audience waves its arms to the music as Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, praises Israel.

Next, Harris gets her turn.

"Nothing that we believe in the world would exist without you," she says to Jewish leaders in the crowd. "We're all sort of Jewish wannabes."

[...] Here, Harris doesn't talk about the Iraq war, oil drilling off Florida's coast or whether Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, her opponent, is too liberal.

Instead, she focuses on her love of God and gets her message out to hundreds of people without ever mentioning one line from her campaign speech.

Jews "are the chosen people," she tells the crowd, to uproarious applause and whistles. "You are the apple of God's eye."

The crowd of more than 1,000 people is part of a movement that believes Jews play a key role in the fate of Christians.

For them, the Rapture -- a miraculous event where Jesus Christ resurrects the dead and sweeps his loyal followers from the Earth -- depends on a complete restoration of the nation of Israel, including the rebuilding of the Temple on the Mount and the reclaiming of all the holy lands.

Some believe the Rapture is coming any day now.

The movement has led to a unique marriage between Christian evangelicals, the Republican Party and pro-Israeli groups across the country.

But it has also drawn criticism from some Jewish leaders who fear it provides Christians with an outlet to convert Jews.

"It's a problem to many in the Jewish community," said Kenneth Wald, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of Florida and former head of the Center for Jewish Studies. "They are only seen as a bit player in the larger Christian destiny."

[...] "We have to stand with Israel," she said. "Our futures are linked."

She also condemned the United Nations for its failure to take stronger action when the terrorist organization Hezbollah attacked Israel this year.

"The United Nations should be held to account for its anti-Semitism," she said.

When Harris wrapped up, Without Walls

pastor

Scott Thomas, organizer of the event, reminded his followers to vote for her in November. ( ! )

Harris' campaign would not comment on whether she subscribes to the idea of the Rapture. [...] heraldtribune.com

heraldtribune.com: Harris may or may not believe in the Rapture, depending on the polls

Michael J. Fracas

Response Ad to Michael J. Fox


A Response to the Response

Is this really women's liberation?

Tesco has been forced to remove a pole-dancing kit from the toys and games section of its website after it was accused of "destroying children's innocence."

The Tesco Direct site advertises the kit with the words, "Unleash the sex kitten inside...simply extend the Peekaboo pole inside the tube, slip on the sexy tunes and away you go!

"Soon you'll be flaunting it to the world and earning a fortune in Peekaboo Dance Dollars."

The kit comprises a chrome pole extendible to 8ft 6ins, a 'sexy dance garter' and a DVD demonstrating suggestive dance moves.

[...] Also on sale on the Tesco website is a strip poker game, "Peekaboo Poker" which is illustrated by a picture of a reclining woman in underwear.

The card game is is described as a game that "risks the risque and brings a whole lot of naughtiness to the table.

"Played with a unique pack of Peekaboo Boy and Girl playing cards, the aim of the game is to win as many Peekaboo chips as possible and turn them into outrageously naughty fun."

[...] In recent years Asda was forced to remove from sale pink and black lace lingerie, including a push-up bra to girls as young as nine.

Next had to remove t-shirts on sale for girls as young as six with the slogan "so many boys, so little time."

And BHS and others came under fire for selling padded bras embellished with a "Little Miss Naughty" logo and t-shirts with a Playboy-style bunny that said "I love boys...They are stupid."

dailymail.co.uk: Tesco condemned for selling pole dancing toy
wikipedia.org: Tesco

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are just rearranging their prejudices." William James

Don't hate them just because they love Al Quida

Glenn Greenwald: The networks' refusal to accept ads for The Dixie Chicks documentary
Via Crooks and Liars: The networks' refusal to accept ads for The Dixie Chicks documentary

Above the law

President Bush says that he gets to choose the next FEMA Director, despite both a Congressional mandate and the law.

Washington Post: Bush Balks at Criteria for FEMA Director
Via Crooks and Liars: Bush Reserves Right To Repeat Katrina Failures
Wikipedia: Signing statement

The Pat Robertson and Friends Coloring Book

Garrett County Press asked favorite artists to "color in" pages from Kevin Stone's latest project, The Pat Robertson and Friends Coloring Book. The artists, who range from Philadelphia designers to Bangkok street artists, were given simple instructions: pick your favorite page and have fun. powells.com via evangelicalright.com

powells.com: The Pat Robertson and Friends Coloring Book

HAL 9000: The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made.

Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen -- the final voting step. Election officials say they aren't aware of any serious voting issues. But in Broward County, for example, they don't know how widespread the machine problems are because there's no process for poll workers to quickly report minor issues and no central database of machine problems. Debra A. Reed voted with her boss on Wednesday at African-American Research Library and Cultural Center near Fort Lauderdale. Her vote went smoothly, but boss Gary Rudolf called her over to look at what was happening on his machine. He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly registered the Republican, Charlie Crist.

DailyKos: Updated: Florida machines flipflopping votes to GOP already
Miami Herald: Glitches cited in early voting
democraticunderground: Votes for Democrats are registering for Republicans
Reuters: Diebold quarterly earnings rise, shares jump

The invisible hand of the marketplace has no conscience

MACACA DOODLE DOO!!!

The George Allen Insult Generator

Ken Mehlman accepts "contributions" from gay porn king

RNC Chief Ken Mehlman accepted political contributions from gay porn king?.... the Republican National Committee is a regular recipient of political contributions from Nicholas T. Boyias, the owner and CEO of Marina Pacific Distributors, one of the largest producers and distributors of gay porn in the United States... Talking Points Memo

Talking Points Memo: RNC Chief Ken Mehlman accepted political contributions from gay porn king

AMERICAblog: Republican National Committee regularly takes contributions from gay porn "king"

>"Today" host Matt Lauer just called you an ill-informed, insulting, prejudiced asshole

Rude Pundit: Jesus Disagrees With Michael J. Fox
Hughes For America: "Today" host Matt Lauer just called you an ill-informed, insulting, prejudiced asshole
youtube.com: Response Ad to Michael J. Fox
Freeway Blogger: Endless War
tpmcafe.com: Bachmann: "God then called me to run" for Congress
nypost.com: Humorless Dave Rips O'reilly via Wonkette
Beliefnet.com: Putting the Good in Goodies - Halloween candy with a religious spin
Daily Kos: IRS commish accused of playing politics with collection actions
youtube.com: Under the Tusken Sun via The Jawa Report
youtube.com: Speak

Top US general is one of the Gamma People

Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God

MIAMI - The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.

"He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Rumsfeld is "a man whose patriotism focus, energy, drive, is exceeded by no one else I know ... quite simply, he works harder than anybody else in our building," Pace said at a ceremony at the Southern Command (Southcom) in Miami.

Rumsfeld has faced a storm of criticism and calls for his resignation, largely over his handling of the Iraq war.

But he got a strong show of support from the military establishment at Thursday's ceremony, where Navy Admiral James Stavridis took over Southcom's command from General Bantz Craddock.

"He comes to work everyday with a single-minded focus to make this country safe," said Stavridis who was a senior aide to Rumsfeld before taking on the Southcom job.

"We're lucky as a nation that he continues to serve with such passion and such integrity and such determination and such brilliance," said Stavridis, 51.

As head of Southcom, Stavridis will be responsible for military cooperation with Latin American countries, and will be in charge of the Guantanamo US military base in Cuba where more than 400 "war on terror" detainees are being held.

Craddock, who was named supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, hailed the role Southcom has played.

"Today I believe that we can say we were successful in our efforts and contributed to ensuring our nation's security through support on the global war on terror, and encouraged regional cooperation to enhance the security and stability in the region," he said. : news.yahoo.com

news.yahoo.com: Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God

Video the Vote 2006

Video the Vote 2006

videothevote.org

President Bush has announced that he's in charge of the entire freaking universe

President Bush in space The Bush administration is eager to turn the final frontier into an American frontier, exploited for its economic, strategic and military benefit to the United States, policed by the United States and off limits to any nation Washington regards as hostile to its interests. Such is the intent of a revised U.S. national space policy quietly authorized by President George W. Bush. It is an aggressive and troubling shift from the official policy of the past decade, which sought to balance security concerns with the recognition that other nations also had rights in space. "Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power," the policy document asserts, effectively arguing that there can be no limits on U.S. behaviour. "In order to increase knowledge, discovery, economic prosperity and to enhance the nationalsecurity, the United States must have robust, effective and efficient space capabilities." The policy, part of which remains classified, does not call for the deployment of U.S. weapons systems in space, but it does rule out any arms-limitation treaties that could inhibit such a development. "Proposed arms control agreements or restrictions must not impair the rights of the United States to conduct research, development, testing and operations or other activities in space for U.S. national interests." As a defence policy analyst told The Washington Post, the new directive "kicks the door a little more open to a space-war fighting strategy." As if that weren't worrisome enough, the administration seems eager to transport its world view into outer space as well. Nations that support U.S. space policy will be encouraged to participate in activities "that are of mutual benefit and that further the peaceful exploration and use of space, as well as to advance national security, homeland security and foreign policy objectives." But what about those countries, including traditional U.S. allies, that might object to turning space into a testing ground for U.S. military systems or a playground for U.S. business interests? Presumably, they will be left out in the cold. And it will be Washington that de-cides whether another country poses a threat to U.S. capabilities in space and hence its national interests. Under the new policy, the administration gives itself the right "to take those actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests." Washington is well positioned to enforce its will as the equivalent of a frontier marshal in space, where it is unchallenged, either commercially or militarily. Russia lacks the financial means to reopen the race to dominate space, and in any case has been co-operating closely with Washington on such projects as the international space station. China is still in the early stages of developing its ambitious program. Of the nearly $22.7-billion (U.S.) earmarked globally for military space programs this year, the United States accounts for $21.4-billion. Obviously, if one country is going to treat space as its property to control and manage, the world is better off if that country is the United States. But that's not the point. National sovereignty should not be extended to space. The sheer might of the U.S. does not make its turn to unilateralism in space right. theglobeandmail.com

guardian.co.uk: Bush issues doctrine for US control of space
humorgazette.com: Bush suffering from Venus envy?
cjonline.com: Bush opens outer space to combat
SmallTownPapers.com: It’ll take a big fig leaf to cover naked aggression
theglobeandmail.com: President Bush in space

(On the seventh day, maybe President Bush should get some rest.)

Rush Limbaugh Was Right All Along!

"It's no the vinegar in my words. You are just suffering from pickled hearing."

"In order to win the 'Global War On Terror' 'Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism' 'War on Terror,' We must 'Stay the Course' 'Win By Adapting' 'It's Never Been Stay the Course.' It's between 'Stay the Course' 'Win By Adapting' 'It's Never Been Stay the Course' and 'Cut and Run.' It's just that simple."

(I think I'll just have the hemlock, please.)

You are just suffering from pickled hearing."" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank">

Rove already making excuses for the upcoming Diebold 'election'

Rove already making excuses for the upcoming Diebold 'election' "Karl Rove, President Bush's top political strategist, says he doesn't believe the polls -- at least the public polls that claim the Republicans are likely to lose the House of Representatives and possibly even the Senate on Election Day." "'I see several things,' Rove says. 'I'm allowed to see the polls on the individual races. And after all, this does come down to individual contests between individual candidates.'" "In addition to polls not generally available to the public, Rove says the Republicans have a huge financial advantage in the home stretch." NPR: Rove Sees No GOP Fall in the 2006 Election Via Blue Gal

Terrorist Panty Raid

"Elections are only a few weeks away and it looks like the Republicans are going to lose a lot of them. I guess desperate times require desperate measures. [on screen: RNC's TV ad depicting another terrorist attack by Osama bin Laden, followed by a reminder to vote 11/7]. Let me get this straight. Osama bin Laden is threatening to attack America again, so what we should do is vote for the people who haven't been able to catch him for the last five years?" --Jimmy Kimmel

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl --AZ-01: Rick Renzi --AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth --CA-04: John Doolittle --CA-11: Richard Pombo --CA-50: Brian Bilbray --CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave --CO-05: Doug Lamborn --CO-07: Rick O'Donnell --CT-04: Christopher Shays --FL-13: Vernon Buchanan --FL-16: Joe Negron --FL-22: Clay Shaw --ID-01: Bill Sali --IL-06: Peter Roskam --IL-10: Mark Kirk --IL-14: Dennis Hastert --IN-02: Chris Chocola --IN-08: John Hostettler --IA-01: Mike Whalen --KS-02: Jim Ryun --KY-03: Anne Northup --KY-04: Geoff Davis --MD-Sen: Michael Steele --MN-01: Gil Gutknecht --MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent --MT-Sen: Conrad Burns --NV-03: Jon Porter --NH-02: Charlie Bass --NJ-07: Mike Ferguson --NM-01: Heather Wilson --NY-03: Peter King --NY-20: John Sweeney --NY-26: Tom Reynolds --NY-29: Randy Kuhl --NC-08: Robin Hayes --NC-11: Charles Taylor --OH-01: Steve Chabot --OH-02: Jean Schmidt --OH-15: Deborah Pryce --OH-18: Joy Padgett --PA-04: Melissa Hart --PA-07: Curt Weldon --PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick --PA-10: Don Sherwood --RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee --TN-Sen: Bob Corker --VA-Sen: George Allen --VA-10: Frank Wolf --WA-Sen: Mike McGavick --WA-08: Dave Reichert

Via Blue Gal

Part of a daily balanced diet.

"According to some nosey international group, the United States has again fallen down the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. (We're Number 53! We're Number 53!)" rsf.org via Wonkette
alertnet.org: Bush defies Senate, appoints mine agency head
youtube.com: VD is for Everybody (1969)
albinoblacksheep.com: Towery
theaustralian: Republican ragging for bleeding heart Clint
archive.org: Nosferatu
samkass.com: Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard
FOX News: Neil Young: Exclusive 'Impeach the President' Lyrics
wired.com: Terrorist or UFO Truth Seeker?

Santorum is the only thing standing between us and fascism

"Likening the times to the late 1930s as Nazi Germany was rising to power, Sen. Rick Santorum said last night that if he loses his re-election bid, it could set the stage for terrorism to become more of a threat than the Nazis ever were." "'If we are not successful here and things don’t go right in the election, there’s a good chance that the course of our country could change,' he said. "'We are in the equivalent of the late 1930s, and this election will decide whether we are going to continue to appease or whether we will stand and fight while we have a chance to win without devastating consequences.'" "'And you here in Pennsylvania — you here in this room — will have a huge role to play as to what happens.'" ldnews.com via The Carpetbagger Report

Bush: "We'll bomb that bridge when we get to it."

Rumsfeld Agrees Bush Is 'Not Backing Away From Stay The Course' Faced with widespread disappoval of its Iraq policy, the Bush administration launched a coordinated effort this week to convince Americans it has never had a stay-the-course strategy in Iraq. On Sunday, President Bush said, "We've never been stay the course." White House Counselor Dan Bartlett disavowed the label again yesterday. But in a radio interview today with Sean Hannity, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed that the Bush administration isn't planning to shift its strategy. Rumsfeld called media reports about Bush’s reversal "nonsense," and said "of course" Bush is "not backing away from 'stay the course.'" thinkprogress.org

thinkprogress.org: Snow Falsely Claims Bush Said 'Stay The Course' Only 8 Times (Actually, It’s At Least 30)

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Lil' Suzy tells it like it is

Anthrax - the other Osama that got away (without a clue)

Anthrax Attacks New York Times Columnist Must Reveal Sources, Judge Rules A federal judge has ordered the New York Times Co. to disclose the confidential sources used by Nicholas D. Kristof in columns that explored whether a former Army scientist was responsible for the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks. The ruling, made public yesterday, came in a lawsuit filed by the former scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, contending that the paper defamed him in a series of Kristof columns in 2002 that identified him as a "likely culprit." Hatfill has been identified by authorities as a "person of interest" in the anthrax-spore mailings that killed five people and sickened 17. No one has been charged in the attacks. Washington Post

O’Reilly: Taliban Resurgence In Afghanistan Is A 'Myth'

O’Reilly: Taliban Resurgence In Afghanistan Is A 'Myth' Yesterday on Fox News, host Bill O’Reilly tried to argue that Afghanistan has been "successful" and that "there’s no danger at all of the Taliban reclaiming that country." At the worst, he said, the Taliban will be "annoying." When his guest, Harvard University professor Sarah Sewall, pointed out that people on the ground disagree, O’Reilly dismissed her, stating, "I talked to everybody." Supreme NATO commander Gen. James Jones recently stated that Afghanistan is close to becoming a "narco state," whose $3 billion dollars in annual drug profits are financing the Taliban. Council on Foreign Relations Afghanistan expert Dr. Barnett Rubin said that Afghanistan Afghanistan is at a "tipping point" and that the Afghan people believe "trends are going in the Taliban’s favor." Gen. David Richards, a British officer who commands NATO’s 32,000 troops, warned that unless coalition forces begin stepping up reconstruction efforts, 70 percent of the country could decide to back the Taliban. thinkprogress.org

csmonitor.com: British General: Time running out in Afghanistan
(NATO commander warns if lives don't improve soon, a majority of Afghans could switch allegiance to the Taliban.)

The Quiet Earth

The Quiet Earth

Mission Accomplished

The invisible hand of the marketplace...

The Mother Of All Heists More than half a billion dollars earmarked to fight the insurgency in Iraq was stolen by people the U.S. had entrusted to run the country's Ministry of Defense before the 2005 elections, according to Iraqi investigators. Iraq's former minister of finance says coalition members like the U.S. and Britain are doing little to help recover the money or catch suspects, most of whom fled the country. The 60 Minutes investigation also turned up audio recordings of a suspect who seems to be discussing the transfer of $45 million to the account of a top political adviser to the interim defense minister. Correspondent Steve Kroft reports on this mother of all heists. "We have not been given any serious, official support from either the United States or the U.K. or any of the surrounding Arab countries,”" says Ali Allawi, who was confronted with the missing funds when he took over as Iraq’s finance minister last year. CBS News

We are at peace with Oceania, we have always have been at peace with Oceania...

President Bush on Iraq: It's Never Been "Stay The Course"

"The choice in this election is not between 'stay the course' and 'cut and run.' It's between 'win by adapting' and 'cut and run.' Let me tell you what we're doing. The fact is, before the successful Iraqi elections, the number of troops went up from 137,000 to 160,000. That's adapting to win. Recently, we increased troops in Baghdad, adapting t o win. We changed how the training of Iraqi forces occurred to involve more Iraqis. That's adapting to win. We've involved the international community more, the EU, the UN." - RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, NBC's "Meet The Press," 8/13/06

Crooks and Liars: Bush: Well, listen, we’ve never been "Stay the course"
Crooks and Liars: TDS: GOP’s Ministry of Truth

Two wrongs are only the beginning

"Well played, Mr. Bolton. Well played." NYTimes, groupthinktank.blogspot.com

George Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

George Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" via albinoblacksheep

Coddling Terrorists For Fun and Profit!

Daily Kos: Blackwell purged Ohio Voter Rolls Oct 1st.
opednews.com: Ohio Lawsuit to Reinstate hundreds of thousands of Purged Democratic Voters to be Filed Fri or Monday
Democrats Call on Republicans to Ensure Fair and Impartial Elections
politicalaffairs.net: Election 2006: Doomsday for the GOP Agenda

Vote for the Instant Karma Party RIGHT NOW!

The Pinker Tones "Karma Hunters"
"All politicians are crooks, we are karma hunters."

GOP columnist slams Limbaugh, Hannity for destroying Republican party

"Tell us, why, again, Republicans need 55 senators?" Rush Limbaugh asked not long ago. "Why do we need 55 senators when we have so many malcontents and traitors in the bunch? And they all happen to be from the Northeast, and they all happen to be moderates, they all happen to be liberals."

In that spirit, the National Federation of Republican Assemblies set out to rid the party of this threat. It set up a "RINO Hunters Club" to "root out and hunt down" the squishy centrists who are Republicans in Name Only. The Club for Growth ran candidates to defeat them. Last week on his radio show, Sean Hannity blasted the RINO’s again, saying they were costing good conservatives their jobs....

Why have 55 Republican senators? Why not 25? Why not 15 brave and true? Throw in a few dozen pure-minded Republican House members and you could hold the next Republican convention in a living room.

For the past several years, Republican elites have treated the moderates, upon whom their majority depended, as the deformed cousins of their movement. Congressmen from rock-ribbed Republican districts who’ve never had to confront a dissenting view applaud themselves for their manly courage while scorning the effete wispiness of Northeastern Republicans who go home and battle derision every weekend....

The central fight in American politics now is over where the line is demarking the two zones, and the central Republican problem is that every time the party mobilizes its exurban base it further alienates the marginal voters in traditional suburbs where Congressional elections are won or lost....

So there goes your majority. In the years ahead, Republicans can either reintroduce themselves to the blue-state suburbs or they can ask themselves the dittohead question: Tell us, why, again, do we need to be a governing party anyway? NYTimes via AMERICAblog

Habeas Corpus? No thank you!

Keith Olbermann's comment on the Death of Habeas Corpus

American Exceptionalism for Dummies

We Can Kill You, and You May Not Object

Shorter Tom Friedman:

It's perfectly okay, and even admirable and required, for us to invade and occupy countries that don't threaten us, murder hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, destroy entire nations, and destabilize the broader Middle East.

It is definitely not okay for anyone who lives in those other countries to object. If they understood what's good for them, they'd shut up and die.

It's sort of American Exceptionalism for Dummies, written by one of the chief dummies.

P.S. If you can't access the entire article, you may think I misrepresent Friedman's argument. If so, I provide one key sentence: "It would be depressing to see the jihadists influence our politics with a Tet-like media/war frenzy." In Friedman's world, you see, all those Iraqis who oppose the U.S. occupation and who seek to control their own lives are "jihadists." They just don't understand that we're trying to improve them, and bring them the blessings of liberty. powerofnarrative

Exceptionalism is a claim, a pattern of claiming, or an assertion that the subject under discussion is claiming, special exemption to commonly-held relationships or principles. It is used most frequently in historical surveys and in association with an assertion of destiny, i.e. that the supposedly exceptional character draws from or is intended or useful for a larger, perhaps ideological, purpose. Wikipedia

Wikiality

The Colbert Report Wikiality Aug. 1 2006

urbandictionary.com: Urban Dictionary: wikiality
news.com: Colbert speaks, America follows: All hail Wikiality!
wikiality.net: Wikiality

Run, Katie, Run!

bartcop.com is having a contest, can you find a picture of of Katie where she is not being physically restrained?

Guess which story was the lead?

Throughout the last few months, rumors have been whipping through the breast-augmentation world that the Food and Drug Administration is on the verge of returning silicone implants to the open market after a 14-year partial ban on the gel-filled bosom enhancers. The ban, which came down in 1992, had never fully eradicated silicone -- women who had endured mastectomies or had a breast "deformity" or agreed to participate in a study could still opt for the gel -- but the average Pamela Anderson groupie, the cosmetic breast enhancer, was out of luck. She had to make do with saline. alternet.org

Cape Cod, with a breast cancer rate 20 percent higher than the rest of Massachusetts, is just one of a several places around the United States with the dubious distinction of being a "hot spot" on our nation's increasingly lit-up breast cancer map. It's joined by Long Island, Marin County and San Francisco -- places where a controversy has brewed for years -- and newly emerging areas such as the Puget Sound in Washington state and Brownsville, Texas. alternet.org

Drink deep, or taste not the plasma pool

Computers 'set to read our minds'
"An "emotionally aware" computer system designed to read people's minds by analysing expressions will be featured at a major London exhibition." BBC

huffingtonpost.com: Eat At Cheney's
hauntedhotsauce.com: Haunted Halloween Hot Sauce!
okaygo.co.uk: "Someone keeps stealing my letters..."
unitednude.com: High Heel Mobius-strip shoes via growabrain
flickr.com: 1930s German Culture Magazines
catpartyletsgo.com: links

Video Snacks

Join the US Torture Corps, see the world, kill innocent strangers


313 Improv presents Film Noir

YouTube: Stephen Colbert - Media's Role in the War in Iraq
YouTube: The Flying Car
YouTube: Ali G Buying a House
YouTube: Jay's Rap
YouTube: Korean Madness

Breaking the snack limit

Ban for boy with two snacks
By David Sapsted

A boy aged 10 has been banned from his school dining hall because his packed lunch broke the government's healthy eating guidelines.

The father of Ryan Stupples is protesting after his son was forced to eat in the headmaster's office at Lunsford primary school, Larkfield, Kent, because his lunch contained two snacks, instead of one.

Ryan's lunch consisted of a sandwich, fruit, fromage frais, cake, mini cheese biscuits and a bottle of water. The cake and the biscuits broke the snack limit. They were discovered when a teacher checked his lunch box.

Michael Stupples, 41, said: "What 10-year-old boy won't get upset when he's out of a dining hall in front of everyone and made to eat his lunch in the head teacher's office?"

Malcolm Goddard, the headmaster, said: "We take healthy eating very seriously and everyone is aware of our new policies." telegraph.co.uk

Cleverly Disguised as Responsible Adults

Muslim Religious Differences Too Trivial to Pursue

Jeff Stein, the national security editor at Congressional Quarterly, published an op-ed piece in today's New York Times (available, alas, only to TimesSelect members) giving the results of his recent survey of counterterrorism officials. The survey has just one question: What's the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?

Stein was dumbfounded to learn that very few of his interviewees, who play important roles in intelligence and law enforcement communities and Congress, had any idea. And, as Stein writes, he wasn't asking deep, theological questions, "just the basics: Who's on what side today, and what does each want?"

For those of you who might—like Trent Lott, who recently wondered, "Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me"—see this as a rarefied inquiry, here's how Stein explains why it matters:

[T]he nature of the threat from Iran [Shiite], a potential nuclear power with protégés in the Gulf states, northern Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, is entirely different from that of Al Qaeda [Sunni]. It seems silly to have to argue that officials responsible for counterterrorism should be able to recognize opportunities for pitting these rivals against each other.

Hostilities between Sunnis and Shiites are on center stage in Iraq, and play an important role in Al Qaeda's motivations. Perhaps if officials knew more about them, better policy would follow?

But one of Stein's interviewees—the spokesman for the FBI—took the position that understanding the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite was akin to "memoriz[ing] the collected statements of Osama bin Laden, or be[ing] able to read Urdu [or] playing 'Islamic Trivial Pursuit.'"

If there's a game comparison, shouldn't it at least be Risk? motherjones.com

stupid place to draw

moonmilk.com: stupid place to draw

This just in: You are probably a terrorist

Chertoff: "The internet is turning people into terrorists"
Reuters:
"Disaffected people living in the United States may develop radical ideologies and potentially violent skills over the internet and that could present the next major U.S. security threat, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Monday."

"'We now have a capability of someone to radicalize themselves over the internet,' Chertoff said on the sidelines of a meeting of International Association of the Chiefs of Police. 'They can train themselves over the internet. They never have to necessarily go to the training camp or speak with anybody else and that diffusion of a combination of hatred and technical skills in things like bomb-making is a dangerous combination,' Chertoff said. 'Those are the kind of terrorists that we may not be able to detect with spies and satellites.'"

"Chertoff pointed to the July 7, 2005 attacks on London's transit system, which killed 56 people, as an example a home-grown threat. To help gather intelligence on possible home-grown attackers, Chertoff said Homeland Security would deploy 20 field agents this fiscal year into "intelligence fusion centers," where they would work with local police agencies."

wired.com: Chertoff's 'Web of Terror'
washingtonpost.com: Officials Tout U.S. Anti-Terrorism Record

I just wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade

Republican Woes Lead to Feuding by Conservatives

"With polls showing Republican control of Congress in jeopardy, conservative leaders are pointing fingers at one other in an increasingly testy circle of blame for potential Republican losses this fall," reports the New York Times.

"Tax-cutters are calling evangelicals bullies. Christian conservatives say Republicans in Congress have let them down. Hawks say President Bush is bungling the war in Iraq. And many conservatives blame Representative Mark Foley’s sexual messages to teenage pages."

However, "almost regardless of the outcome on Nov. 7, many conservatives express frustration that the party has lost its ideological focus. And after six years of nearly continuous control over the White House and Congress, conservatives are having a hard time finding anyone but one another to blame." NYTimes via Political Wire

Big Brother doesn't think you are worth watching

Crapaganda
NYTimes: Voter’s Allegiances, Ripe for the Picking
dailymail.co.uk: North Korea might now have The Bomb, but it doesn't have much electricity
ens-newswire.com: Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Tied to Global Warming

Wingnut Mafia: Seeing Al Qaeda in their cornflakes
mudvillegazette.com: al Qaeda's "Working Paper for a Media Invasion of America"
xignite.com: Global Islamic Media Front Discusses Plan for Penetrating US Media
youtube.com: annemetz on the page scandal

Birds fly much the way that bricks don't
drivehard.net: Conan HD Bumper Gallery
lifeboat.com: Warning Signs For Tomorrow
flickr.com: 1930s German Culture Magazines
evilmadscientist.com: How to hack LEDs into Lego minifigures for Halloween
flickr.com: Croc Costume
vintagepbks.com: Vintage Paperback Portal

I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.

Dove - Evolution Via Shakespeare's Sister

Little Suzy explains the evil origins of Islam - Catholicism!

Jack's Tracts Archives of Bible related stories in comic book format. Some of the stories are about these important subjects: "Exposes Islam as a conspiracy of the Catholic church and, by proxy, Satan," "When a priceless carpet is permanently stained, its owner learns that only Jesus' blood can remove the stain of sin", "Communist revolutionaries take over an embassy and confront a Christian man who warns them about Catholicism," and "A youth learns the only way to escape this doomed earth is Jesus."

The french call it "Royale with Cheese"

The GOP maintains a positive, upbeat message of impending doom for the party

TPM Reader PT on the Five Stages of Republican Scandal...

1. "I have not been informed of any investigation or that I am a target."
2. "I am cooperating fully, but this whole thing is a political ploy by the Democrats."
3. "I’m SHOCKED by the mistakes made by my subordinates."
4. "I’m deeply sorry for letting down my friends and family. I now recognize that I am an alcoholic. I will be entering rehab immediately, so I have no time for questions."
5. "Can I serve my time at Eglin Federal Penitentiary (aka Club Fed)?"
talkingpointsmemo.com