August 2004 Archives

Yi. My eyes are melting.

Boy, the doctor is out. Right off the bat he smacks you in the face with the MD. Man, I thought Senator would be enough laurels. Okay. We know you were a doctor and you now play one in the Senate.

OMG. He's selling Bush's health care. This is going to be good.

Cheaper? Okay. . .

"When you need it you want it to be reliable". I swear Frist was talking about Universal Health Care until he said "the best money can provide" (or something like that).

"help is on the way" tsk. Reminding people of the enemy.

OMG. He's pushing the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Ooops. Are we leaking into specifics of what's coming? Could it be?

Nope. More statistics about the great benefits of the Medicare bill. Democrats don't want seniors to get the card! Yep, Moveon.org is running ads during Matlock telling people not to bother and to go crawl into a gutter and die. Whatever.

"Part of a larger battle" Details, finally?

Nope. Just those democrats trying to steal your hard earned money.

Ah, the health savings account. "It is yours".

Which pretty much sums up the Republican party line here: "It's mine and keep your grubby hands off of it".

Ah, folksy medicine joke. Fell really flat.

Tax credits! So, if you don't pay > 3,000 taxes, you don't get any help with medical insurance.

OMG! It's the predators vs. aliens! The trial lawyers.

"The litigation lottery!"

Oh know, a story. . .

A tragic story turned into a threat by trial lawyers. The trial lawyers want to tear down our medical institutions.

"In medicine, seconds mean the difference between life and death".

Whoa! "You can no longer be pro-patient and pro-trial lawyer". JHCORFC. Go for it dude!

"He put a trial lawyer on his ticket"

Running against the nasty democrats blocking reform "so the American people can win".

Stem cell research. Sounds like Reagan Jr. there for a second. Surreal.

The canard of adult stem cells. . .

Uh, yes, there is a sweeping ban on federally funded stem cell research.

Boy, this guy is going to get eviscerated in the press tomorrow.

"An embryo is biologically human. It deserves moral respect". Hey, my hair is biologically human, too. Does that mean I can't cut it? What about my finger nails. And just what exactly is the tooth fairy up to, now that you mention it. . .

"Making health care more affordable". Uh, didn't it just rise by double digits over the past two years in a row? Geez.

More ownership society stuff. . .

Electronic medical records.

Only one candidate can make electronic records happen.

"Patient centered vs Kerry's trillion dollar plan"

"Kerry remains the personal injury lawyer's best friend"

"One choice for a healthy, stronger, freer America".

I agree.

Sam Brownback is spinning the "every sperm is sacred" line via Slavery and HIV.

Somehow Bush is focusing more on abstinence and less on other means of prevention, and this is doing more of what's necessary. Man, no wonder we're doomed.

"George Bush has marsAzaeled an Army of Compassion^tm". That's a good one.

Ah, the president will fight for prostitutes. Good to hear.

So, GW is going to be fighting an awful lot of battles. It sounds like he's going to fight for everything. Can we get some priorities? Say GW is in a burning building, would he save the poor prostitute on the third floor or will he rush out the Al Qaeda terrorist on food stamps so he can be tortured to reveal the plan to blow up Veterans hospitals? Tick. Tock.

I don't think there's anything nasty you can say about a man who has sacrificed so much for his country. Good speech.

My god. The War Against Despair^tm. They're not satisfied with one noun, they're going after the whole enchilada.

Oh. It's Erika Harold. I'm waiting for the "World Peace" line from Miss America.

Yes, the Louisiana state penitentiary is a strange place for Miss America to visit.

Ah, faith based initiatives. She was "compelled" to visit (by the holy ghost).

George B. Bush. Never heard of him.

Wow, a bunch of stuff Bush has theoretically done, but nothing about what he's going to do. I don't think there's a person on the left or the right who thinks things are currently going well. So standing on the laurels of what he's currently done. . .

Bush is responsible for home ownership? Astounding.

Ah, the ownership society. SS needs to be fixed? Ah, younger workers should be able to invest their own money. That means the rest of us suckers are going to have to tough it out, cause they sure as hell ain't raising benefits with a deficit like we got staring us in the face.

Or so they would have you believe. . . Is that Paris Hilton in the crowd?

Wow. Dressed in yellow, so I won't make the obvious joke.

"Courageous in times of trial, decisive leadership in times of crisis."

"Restoring honor and dignity to the white house"

My god, it's coming so fast. Where's the pause button.

The "Burden" that Bush has had to bear? What exactly would that be? Would it be the idyllic life he had as the son of a powerful and wealthy family? Or would it be the burden of getting into a top notch school because of the bonus legacy points? Or would that be the terrible burden of his bad financial decisions that his daddy's friends bailed him out of. Oh well, maybe she'll get to specifics soon.

Nope. "Peace that passes all understanding" code word instead - the benediction has been given.

"Who we are and what we believe has never wavered".

I guess that would be fiscal responsibility, a ban on nation building, rounding up people based on race and locking them up or exporting them for the good of the rest of us and - the corner stone - the sanctioning of torture in the pursuit of those who would do harm against us.

"It's roots deep in the firm soil of timeless truths"

Man, that's just a bit too much information there, Mrs. Dole. Her whole hair is freaking me out something fierce.

"Character is king". I thought actions were king?

Virtual Slavery? Wait a minute, there's still Real Slavery going on in Afghanistan right now.

Blue skies of freedom? Hey, that's a democratic color.

"We believe in life". Yea! Democrats are the party of death! Those losers!!!

Ah, the segway into the "Cornerstone of civilization" - i.e. the most important issue facing America today. Gay marriage.

See? It's just like abortion! OMG! She just mentioned those not yet born!

Right! Democrats will never defend the unborn child. They'll let people die, exposed to the wolves before they'll even think about giving the poor woman food, shelter and all sorts of free medical aide. Imagine.

Yep. God's Own Party! Those heathen democrats trying to strip God from our pledge, the money from our pockets and the walls of our courthouses (wow, that just rolls of the tongue). See? God is necessary to keep the liberals from taxing you and steeling money from your wallet. And if we had the 10 commandments firmly ensconced as law, they wouldn't be able to do that.

"Not Freedom From Religion". Uh, I actually think it does. People have the right to not have your religion thrust in their face, determining the books their children will learn from, and determining whether or not two people will be able to have the same civil benefits of marriage even though they happen to be of the same sex.

Geesh. Don't they teach this stuff in school? Oh yea. I forgot that the text book industry bows before Texas. Never mind.

"Will Defend" Getting sick of that line.

"They say America is self obsessed. They do not know America!"

Strange how she connected terrorists and people who don't want to help other people, but there you are.

"values? virtues? truths?" Uh, where were these?

"They are the shared truths of the American people". But apparently not democrats.

From sea to shining sea. Yea, we get it. Okay, she didn't drag it out and saved it.

"The American Century". Yep, we've done some seriously cool kick ass shit.

There's the compassion stuff.

Okay guys, I'm starting to wonder where the domestic policy details are here. Dole is talking abstracts and "virtues", but absolutely nothing definitive. Oh well, what did I expect from her? Maybe I'm out of line here. Still, I thought this convention was supposed to be all about specifics.

Well, day 2 started off pretty well. Liked the singing of the national anthem.

Then we were greeted by a perfect example of horizontal prayer - i.e., it's a sermon you take in while your eyes are closed, head bowed to he who speaks it. Note that I'm not saying that prayer is bad, it's just prayer which is directed to the fellow man - not upwards towards one's deity.

Whatever. It's finally over.

The MTV people are stunningly cute. Amazingly cute. Preternaturally cute. Let's hope they get out the vote. Nice of the RNC to allow them coveted media time.

Wow. They're letting Princella Smith, the winner of the MTV essay contest to speak.

OMG. Generation X-Ample. Yi. Not saying I could have done any better, mind you. And it's precisely the kind of thing that would tickle the fancy of the RNC.

Okay.

"People Of Compassion" Yea, keep saying it guys.

Pretty odd watching the roll call votes on Tivo fast forward.

Fulfilling America's promise. ????

The promise of our young virginal body budding into woman hood? The promise of our long awaited robust jobs outlook? The promise of our salaries - in real terms - going up instead of down or flat?

Okay. I know it makes no sense.

Again with the CJ's. Man those people are really freaking me out. They're so perky. And loud. Easily 30 decibels above the shrill level and their voices are right smack in the sweet spot of the spectrum which is allocated to screeching babies, ambulances and other emergency vehicle sirens.

Oooooooooo It's the Dole lady. Let's hope she has some spit n' vinegar in her speech.

Wow. Missed Giuliani (catching it on Fox)

Red baiting Germany and Europe. Classy.

Well, the Republicans are trying to molecularly bond with 9/11. Duh, I guess.

Ooops. Giuliani just popped the "Either you're with us or with the terrorists" line. They call this guy a moderate?

Wow, he's pulling down the demon media. And I'm pretty surprised to see him bringing up the ridicule of Bush. Not something I'd want to remind people off.

Ooops. He just brought up the "stubbornness". Again, not really a wise thing in my book. But what the heck do I know.

Ah, the Leader kick. The war time president.

"Leadership at the core of our decision" as to who should be president.

Yep. I agree Rudy.

Godwin's Law Violation!

I can't believe Rudy just brought Hitler into the discussion. Yep, Rudy takes the cake for the evening.

Ooops. Brought up the "Kerry's service to our nation".

Yep, there's the "Steady leadership in times of change" line. God, it's like a bad B movie.

Ha ha ha. Kerry's a flip flopper. The writers must be proud.

Goes on about 2 minutes longer than he had gas for. Shit rolls downhill.

Ha ha ha. "John Edward's Two Americas". This joke is dead. Please let it die.

My god, it just keeps going on. I had a glimmer of hope when Hitler came up that this was going to be juicy. C'mon Rudy. You're letting me down here.

Ah, the "Flypaper Theory" returns! "Playing offense with terrorism, and not just defense". It's like a zombie that can't be killed. Bring me a quart of salt and some chicken's blood.

Right Rudy. Kerry's going to let everyone else set the agenda. How stupid do you have to be to believe that line. (Pan to the RNC audience).

Kind of surreal to see the Fox news ticker about the Iraqi torture trials going on while Giuliani is speaking. Kind of surreal indeed.

Much, much more 9/11. Amazing how the bar for Bush is "doing anything any other president would have done in a time of tragedy". Yep. Bush/Cheney 2004: We did what anyone else would have done under the circumstances.

Okay, he's thanking the democrats. Mighty white of him.

Ah, now we're "one America". Just 10 minutes ago he was telling us we're either "wish Bush or for terrorism".

Saddam needed to be removed.

"I believe then and I believe now". . . Ye gods.

Oooooh. Saddam, himself, was a Weapon of Mass Destruction^tm. Good one Rudy.

Then he slides into a big rally for the troops. Pan to people looking stupefied at what he was saying before he mentioned the troops.

Yea, Rudy. We're the world's scapegoats. Hmmmm. Think our support for the Saudi regime has anything to do with it? What about the Egyptian regime? Oh well. . . Logic.

"The President's vision for the future".

"Faith in the power of freedom". Yep. We're running of faith here.

Brought in the old testament.

Somehow brought the fire fighters of 9/11 back into that rant. Not sure how. . .

"Don't be discouraged. Don't be cynical".

Rudy knows there will be an end to global terrorism. He is invoking the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union.

Freedom will end terrorism!

Nothing more powerful than freedom!

That's what we've done in Iraq. We extend FREEDOM! It's the long term answer to everything.

Never mind.

Arrrgggg. Rudy's evil eye is getting to me. I've never really listened to him for this long. Looking into his eyes and wondering which pocket he keeps his soul in. It's hypnotic.

"We have done all that we could".

"A message of peace". Yes, Rudy. That's precisely the message the world has heard from the USA. That's why we have so many troops scampering about and dying.

"God bless America". And he's out in under 40 minutes.

Oh my god. I'm looking at Brit Humes and his gaggle of right wing jackals giving commentary.

My eyes! My eyes! My brain is starting to melt at the innane babble of Fred Barnes.

I want to use the phrase "Bush's butt boy", but respect for the man prevents me from writing the words. I do hope he's happy in his new role in the party. Ye gods. These people are like vampires, sucking out all that is good in anyone they sink their teeth into.

He asserted

Saddam refused unfettered UN arms inspections
Iraq/Al Qaeda connection

Well, not really. But they did get nice and ugly. They likes the gladiator thing, after all.

Shorter McCain's Iraq war argument:

If Saddam was freed of all restraints he'd kill us.

"We couldn't afford the risk posed by an unconstrained Saddam".

It's just like candy to these zombies.

Love the "I still believe to this day that mission was necessary, achievable, and noble".

Wonder how well that line will wear in the coming months of the Plame/Israel/Niger thing. It might have been achievable, but only if it was prosecuted by people who lived in this reality instead of the Rumsfeld Zone^tm.

Which reminds me, he's nowhere to be seen. Guess him n' Powell are out having beers with Wolfie and Perl.

"He has been tested and risen to the most important cAzaellenge of our time... he has not wavered... he will not yield.... (and neither will we)."

At the end here he's starting to make sense about the weakness of our enemy's causes. And the whole "we'll never surrender" thing. Well, until it turned into a pure rally for Bush. Nothing wrong with that, after all, just not my thing - obviously.

Which reminds me. 9/11 is permeating this convention. Just in case anyone was wondering what the Republicans are running on.

Oh, and I really loath the CJ's. What a moronic idea. But then, any idea is going to be moronic - it's a convention. I should thank my lucky stars that this isn't the seventies and everyone's in polyester.

Ye gods, they have some 9/11 wives. Yi.

I sit in stunned awe as the Deutsche Bank General Counsel for the Americas is giving us a educational speech on the wonders of the PATRIOT Act. Yep, the FBI doesn't care what you read.

Most bizarre.

I can remember seeing this guy on Crossfire before the war. He was guest hosting as the faux liberal.

OH MY GOD! Silver just invoked his "liberal credentials" in the speech. Now he's telling everyone that liberals are nothing but a bunch of wimpy pussies. Screw you Ron. I'll kick your political ass the next time you try to pass off the crap that Liberals won't use force. We'll kick all your political asses. We'll even get the peace nicks to kick your political asses.

"George Bush did exactly the right thing". It's going to be the sound bite tomorrow. Silver is such a tool.

Ye gods. Silver looks like he's trying to invoke Satan up on the stage. The fire in his eyes! The goatee isn't helping me with that image. Yi.

They're panning the convention floor and the comparison with last month's democratic convention, it's stunning how white it is. And the Christian rock groups are really starting to freak me out. I survived the melody of show tunes and the almost surreal Saturday Night Live intro they did. About a minute too long, guys.

Still, it's shaping up to be a feisty convention. Hope a floor fight breaks out over the gay marriage issue. Now that would be cool.

Side note: They did an awful good job on Dick Cheney's human suit. Barely noticed the toxic purple gas that always seems to be following him.

Okay, enough convention blogging for now.

My, the press seems a might bit persnickety. The republicans are really on the defensive. Considering all the nasty, ugly crap going on at the moment - lackluster job growth, looming deficit, Iraq, Afghanistan, an Israeli mole, Plame, SVBFT and the ever looming protests - it seems all they can do to keep their heads above water.

It's really hard to see how they're going to come out of this with a net positive. The best they can hope for is that they hold onto their base and pray that the bad news stops.

Break up Microsoft now. For the good of the entire planet.

The communications failure that nearly brought NASA's Spirit mission to Mars to an early end in January was caused by an unforeseen aspect of the DOS file system, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist said Monday.

During a presentation at Stanford University's Hot Chips conference, JPL software developer Robert Denise said his team did not anticipate that a DOS file system containing directory information would continue to grow after other files had been deleted from the Spirit rover's flash memory. This oversight, coupled with an instruction to copy the contents of Spirit's flash memory into its limited random access memory launched the rover into a nearly disastrous cycle of errors and reboots.

Fortunately for NASA, the JPL team was able to upload a software upgrade and disable the copy instruction before the rebooting completely drained the rover's batteries.

Spirit has performed well ever since, according to NASA. In April, the agency extended the rover's mission -- along with that of its twin, Opportunity -- for an additional five months. Both rovers have already detected evidence of the water that is thought to have once existed on Mars.

Yglesias continues his outreach to the Dreznerites with an example pulled out of today's headlines. Myself, I'm not sure what the utility function would look like with respect to effort invested in flipping the .0001% of the right wing that still has a soul left. I mean, really. If it takes this kind of shit to finally wake these people up, then perhaps there's other priorities.

In any event, Matthew's point is that the observation that Bush's Administration is incapable of running our government. And if nothing else, we should have people capable of running our government in office, serving us - regardless of their political leanings.

Myself, I think the issue is a far more general one. It goes right to the heart of the belief that people seem to have that we should run the government like a business.

The Bush Administration is exactly like every dot com CEO run organization I've ever witnessed. It's the hyper version of what happens inside of every large and powerful corporation on the planet today.

For some inexplicable reason, people seem to completely forget what it is actually like inside of the large corporations that exist today. They aren't some well oiled machine that reacts at the mouse clicks of the oh-so-well-groomed CEO. They are chaotic fiefdoms ruled by warlords kept together in a loose federation swearing fealty to the CEO and his (her) immediate officers.

Anyone who says different is either some business law school theoretician or someone who lives on another planet.

In the "healthy" corporations, this kind of behavior is rather civilized and the waring factions actually come to semi-rational decisions and then gear up to fight again on the latest battle their fearless leader has set them up for. It's a kind of decision mechanism for the group. You set up warring groups to compete for the solution and the winner is the best solution - in theory.

And for the most part, this works. The problem is that this kind of decision making mechanism breaks down when the person in charge of making the decisions on the winner is an incompetent boob put there as a figure head.

Our US Constitution set up a system of factions whose goal conditions set up competition between them. This is just the system of checks and balances. And it's a good one.

And it's a different one than the model of competition used in business. In the Constitution, the SYSTEM is the GOAL. It is precisely the bureaucracy that the SYSTEM is designed to preserve. It isn't a machine that is ready to snap into action at the click of a CEO's mouse.

It's the web of laws, regulators, judges, policeman, council members, etc., etc., that is the living body of the constitution.

It isn't a body there to command by the CEO.

It's a system designed to protect us from just the kind of people that a CEO represents.

Again, it's not to say that business CEOs are intrinsically evil. The model just isn't the same for our President. It isn't the model that the constitution has.

Imposing this business model on our system of government is guaranteed to result in fascism. Corpratism is fascism.

Perhaps if we had some existence proof of benevolent dictators in our current super powerful global corporations, we could be less disdainful of an political movement that has been trying to convince us that we should "corporatize" our system of government (i.e. let's run it like a business). Instead, we are subjected to a non stop parade of corruption, greed and criminal activity.

Anyone who has a job in the mega corporations which stride across today's planet like gods knows what it's like to live under the aegis of corporate mentality.

Myself, I prefer a liberal democracy to the board room. A vote instead of a share. A system that is theoretically responsible to me and the rest of the citizens, and not to a relatively few people who own 51% of the shares.

But back to Matthew's point. Even for corporatists, these guys are pretty darn incompetent. Myself, I think it's the inevitable result of the thinking pattern which thinks it's a good idea to run a government like a business in the first place.

But that's just me. I believe in entropy and the universal existence of incompetence.

Over at the Obsidian Wings, Von does a great disservice to both humanity and the general practicing of science in his post on Global Warming. 99% of the post is actually perfectly fine. Makes a good case for why you should believe the experts and consensus opinion and treat those outside the mainstream as suspect.

Where he absolutely blows it is in the afterthought that he adds at the end

(Similar logic applied to the assumption that Saddam had WMDs before the War in Iraq, IMHO.)

Azael -- The pre-war consensus view, flawed as it was, was that Saddam had WMDs. (See the UN, US, the UK, France, Russia, et al.) A non-expert was entitled to rely upon it (whether experts were so entitled is another questions).

Before the war, every single piece of evidence that this Administration placed before the public was shot down within minutes of it appearing on the radar. If you have any doubt this is the case, you can just take the showpiece of the Administration's efforts, The Powell Presentation^tm before the UN, and look at the articles and commentary that came out immediately after completely destroying every piece of evidence that Powell produced as "conclusive, undeniable proof" that Iraq had WMDs and things were going to get really, really bad if we don't take this guy out.

This is precisely the same as saying a Tech Central Station flack writer is the equivalent to the consensus scientific view on Global Warming.

It boggles the mind.

The President isn't an expert in WMDs. Neither is Powell. Neither was Judith Miller. There was plenty of very good reasons to believe they weren't telling us the truth either - chief of which was the fact that we had had a UN inspection team in there with the most intrusive regime we had ever had. They were searching EVERYTHING, including presidential palaces.

And NOTHING was found. NOTHING.

And that means the equivalent to the "consensus scientific view" was Hans Blix. Not Donald Rumsfeld. Not Dick Cheney. Not George Bush. Not Glenn Reynolds.

The problem with the run up to this war is that seemingly sane people seemed to just completely chuck rational thought out the window and decided that Tech Central Station was far more believable than a bunch of people who had actually been in Iraq searching for any evidence at all of the asserted WMDs.

Really now. Is Von really saying that Cheney is an "expert" and that Hans Blix is some whacked out guy with an axe to grind who shouldn't be considered?

I would hope not.

Certainly Von can say that he "trusted" GW and his merry band of Jackals. But they weren't the "experts".

People chose to ignore this and went with their "gut feelings" or whatever it is that caused them to dislodge their rational thought and believe these jokers - despite all the evidence to the contrary lying around in plain sight.

They did not do it because of a rational belief in the "experts".

Update: Note that the consensus view - i.e. the one expressed by the UN, France, Germany, Russia, China, etc. was "let's wait and see. We haven't found jack shit, yet". It was not "there are WMDs and we need to take this guy out pronto". Just wanted to correct that other bit in Von's reply. After all, we tried like hell to get them to vote for the war and ended up doing it without a vote. Damning evidence that Von's characterization of the consensus view is just wrong, wrong, wrong.

Update 2: See Atrios for more examples of this kind of insane rewriting of history.

In any event, below the fold is just a taste of the errors, misstatements and plain exaggerations we knew AT THE TIME of Powell's little dance of the hours before the UN. Enjoy.

Ben Barnes, the former Speaker of the House in Texas, the guy who got President Bush into the Texas Air National Guard, at a Kerry rally. Mirrored here.

Let’s talk a minute about John Kerry and George Bush and I know them both. And I’m not name dropping to say I know ‘em both. I got a young man named George W. Bush in the National Guard when I was Lt. Gov. of Texas and I’m not necessarily proud of that. But I did it. And I got a lot of other people into the National Guard because I thought that was what people should do, when you're in office you helped a lot of rich people. And I walked through the Vietnam Memorial the other day and I looked at the names of the people that died in Vietnam and I became more ashamed of myself than I have ever been because it was the worst thing that I did was that I helped a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get into the National Guard and I’m very sorry about that and I’m very ashamed and I apologize to you as voters of Texas.

One of the tenets of political life is to never let 'em see you sweat. Eleanor Clift (yes, that Eleanor Clift) has a nice little paragraph which sums it up rather nicely

My Republican mole on Capitol Hill says the green light has gone out to Republicans to do whatever it takes to get Bush elected. “This is the way we hold onto power,” he says with disgust. Pollster John Zogby’s survey of battleground states taken last week as the Swift Boat controversy raged shows no fundamental change in the race. “It’s running its course, and it may boomerang,” he says of the attack on Kerry’s heroism. The fact that the sleeper network has gone nuclear is evidence of Bush’s weakness, not his strength, says Zogby. “If [the Bush team] weren’t seeing serious damage, they wouldn’t be hitting so hard so early. The president is on the ropes; there’s no other way of looking at it.”

Sometimes he's lucky. Sometimes his daddy's rich and powerful friends pull his ass out of the fire. Sometimes people don't seem to notice the blunders and he gets away scott free.

Sometimes he falls flat on his face.

Just thought I'd state the obvious going into the next week's convention-o-rama.

On another note, is Sistani really going to march into the Shrine of Imam Ali? This is keeps getting more and more surreal.

After meeting with al-Sistani, Basra Gov. Hassan al-Rashid told reporters that the cleric would lead a march Thursday to Najaf. “The masses will gather at the outskirts of Najaf, and they will not enter the city until all armed men, except the Iraqi policemen, withdraw from the city,” he said.

Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

"I am the eye in the sky, looking at you. I can read your mind"

You know? The whole point is that you shouldn't believe that democracy is something we can easily gain. Something we can automate.

And if you think liberal democracy can be brought at the point of a sword - even a liberating sword - you're just provably insane. Even in the best of all circumstances, it's a crap shoot whether it will even work out to something tolerable (if you squint real hard like Rummy).

Really guys. If you're going to act like a bunch of "Swift Boat Liberals for Political Correctness", then I think you're at least a decade too late. Part of being a "man" is sucking it up and not getting bitchy when someone of your own party strikes a little bit too close to the belt in a more than legitimate attack on the jackals that rule our life. Something you can keep in the "drafts" section of your blog, but nothing that anyone who has any sense should allow to see the light of day.

Anyone who still thinks it's possible to bring liberal democracy to a nation with a surgical regime change should literally have his head examined. Anyone who thinks there's a shred of hope left in the 200 Billion plus dollars we've dumped into this mess should look into the eyes of each of the 950+ soldiers who gave their life for this pile of crap and tell them it was worth it.

I'm personally dumbfounded by the mindset that says "well, it could have been far worse" and declare it a victory because it wasn't.

Yes, I truly believe that the world is incrementally better off without Saddam. Whatever. There's MILLIONS on the edge of disaster in Sudan at the moment, dude. Tell me the Iraqis were a higher priority. C'mon. I'd love to hear the justification.

I completely understand the whole "we trust our leaders and the flower of liberal democracy is a good thing" meme y'all have going on. I admire it, and think it's an important part of the whole "diversity" thing.

But you're living in some kind of absolute fantasy land if you think that we are going to pull off the planting of the seed of liberal democracy. You're living in a parallel universe if you think that an Iraq built on a foundation of shifting sand will yield the towers of liberal democracy.

And don't get me wrong. I think the Iraqis - like all humans - are perfectly capable of liberal democracy.

The problem is, they have to want it. And right now, the only thing anything anyone in that bleeding country wants is part of the 10 billion dollars we're sluicing through their economy. And the fact that people who are fucking economists don't see the obvious travesty just boggles my mind and makes me seriously wonder about their sanity (but I digress).

Really guys. If you can't figure out that Atrios was bitch slapping the media and not the the noble Liberal Hawk Bloggers for Truth^tm, then you really should spend a few moments and fine tune those metrics. . .

War is serious shit. People die. Lots of them. Even more get wounded. Oh. And it's really expensive. Really, really expensive.

If Atrios' words sting, then you should really tend to that touchy wound and see to its care. Pronto. This shit is serious and it's not to be left to complete and utter fools - fools proven well before 9/11, I might add. No matter how good their intentions.

So buck up and take it like a man. You claim to stand shoulder to shoulder - we'll, get those shoulders straight and admit your mistakes and move on.

As the song says:

We won't get fooled again

Even if they do write only slightly better than adolescent, teen age girls - like me.

Can we just come out and say it? No matter how much Michelle Malkin's external form is pleasing to the eye. . . No matter how much any red blooded male (and female) human beings would love to mate with her from just a physical point of view. . .

It's just not worth it. She is evil - pure and simple. She is a complete and utter ass whole who deserves to be shunned as a pariah from every possible social function.

Until she stops this obvious bullshit, she shouldn't breed. Sorry if if that sounds harsh and eugenic of me. I'm not saying she should be sterilized, after all. I'm just saying that any red blooded American (or other nationality, for that matter) human male should not donate their sperm in propagating the tragically idiotic meme that is embodied by Michelle Malkin. I'm saying that she shouldn't even be allowed to clone herself. You shouldn't even fantasize about her.

I mean, I can sympathize with the whole Female dominate thing - the whole Nazi master of your life. But dude. It's just not worth it. You won't have enough money to afford a mistress like that. Not even close. She's simply insane.

And even if you like the whole trained poodle dominatrix insane woman thing, I'm telling you it's just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Get over her. There's plenty of fabulous babes you can fantasize about who will give you all the discipline and contempt you desire without actively destroying your future.

Trust me.

Sorry. . . I just can't resist. It's blaring out in Dolby stereo.

Via Shriekback (the dance version, 'natch).

This is dedicated to "all you zombies" (and you know who you are)

In a jungle of the senses
Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Very little fruit is forbidden
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
But you know evil is an exact science
Being carefully correctly wrong

Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big Black Nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home

We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
We drink elixirs that we refine
from the juices of the dying
We are no monsters, we're moral people
and yet we have the strength to do this
This is the splendour of our achievement
Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss

Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

How bad it gets, you can't imagine
the burning wax, the breath of reptiles
god is not mocked, he knows our business
Karma could take us at any moment
Cover him up.....I think we're finished
You know it's never been so exotic
but I don't know, my dreams are visions
We could still end up with the great big fishes

Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

This is from the Giorgio Moroder version of Metropolis. Holds a special place in my heart - in no small part due to Jon Anderson's authorship of the song. . . My special message to all the republicans and libertarians out there who still claim to have ownership of their soul (a small population, no doubt)

Cage of freedom
That's our prison
Where the jailer and captive combine
Cage of freedom
Cast in power
All the trappings of our own design
Blind ambition
Steals our reason
We're soon behind those invisible bars
On the inside
Looking outside
To make it safer we double the guard
Cage of freedom
There's no escaping
We fabricated a world of our own....

Cage of freedom, growing smaller
'Til every wall now touches the skin
Cage of freedom, filled with treason
Changing sides as the losses begin
Our suspicion tries escaping
But they step up the security
There's no exit--there's no entrance
Remember how we swallowed the key?
Cage of freedom, that's our prison
We fabricated this world on our own....

Big brother
Is there a bigger one watching you
Or is there one smaller
Who I should be watching too
Infinite circles of
Snakes eating their own tails
For every one chasing
Another is on the trail
Is that a friend
Can you tell, is he on your side?
'Cause I spy with my little eye
Yet another spy... (fadeout)

I'm watching "Meet The Press" and Tim Russert is giving Ken Mehlman all sorts of rope and Tad Devine is just sitting there watching him hang himself.

Really. It's simply the most comical "Meet The Press" I've ever seen. Even Russert appears to be having a hard time keeping a straight face.

If Mehlman's tragically weak defense is representative of abilities of the Bush Campaign's best and brightest. . .

Update: BTW, it was pretty obvious that Mehlman was reading from notes on a TelePrompter. Even worse, it made him look surreal and shifty-eyed as he move focus from Tim to the TelePrompTer.

These guys really are robot zombies who can't even talk without a direct connection to Rove.

There's a good interview with Garrison Keillor up at Salon. Well worth the ad view to read.

Many. Richard Nixon was a good deal responsible for the Environmental Protection Agency and the push to clean up the Great Lakes. The conservation movement that paved the way, so to speak, for the whole Green agenda was very much a Republican thing. The Americans With Disabilities Act, which gave us Handi-vans and wheelchair-accessible facilities and those little ramps carved into the curbs, was brought about by Republicans (and Democrats). Republicans have been good critics of government, and good satirists at times. Republican libertarianism is a useful antidote to our Democratic/neurotic tendency to want to put up a warning sign on uneven terrain and make cowboys do their whooping in designated whooping areas. Republicans used to contribute a lot, back before they let the fanatics and teeth grinders take over and turn their party into the Leave Me Alone party, intent on proving that government is inherently inept, and they've done such damage to America in the past decade that will take a century of saints to fix.

US Public Beliefs on Iraq and the Presidential Election

Hat to to Dr. G (again!). Here's the key findings of the study:

1. Beliefs About Iraqi WMD and Support for Al Qaeda
A majority continues to believe that Iraq was giving substantial support to al Qaeda, while nearly Azaelf continue to believe that evidence of such support has been found. A majority believes that Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction or a major program for developing them. The majority of those who have such beliefs approve of the decision to go to war, while the majority of those who do not have such beliefs disapprove of the war.

1a. Perceptions of Assessments by Experts and Bush Administration
Despite statements by Hans Blix, David Kay and Richard Clarke, a majority of Americans do not have the perception that most experts are saying Iraq did not have WMD or was not providing support to al Qaeda. Also, many perceive the Bush administration as claiming to have found evidence of such links or of WMD. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that if perceptions of experts’ assessments were to change, there is a significant likelihood beliefs about prewar Iraq would change as well. Also, providing minimal information about expert assessments led to substantial shifts in beliefs.

1b. Beliefs, Perceptions, and Voting for President
Those who believe Iraq had WMD or supported al Qaeda, and those who perceive experts as either agreeing on these points, or as divided, are much more likely to say that they will vote for the President than those who do not have such beliefs and perceptions. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that were beliefs about prewar Iraq, or perceptions of what experts’ assessments, to change, there is a significant possibility that this could affect voting intentions. Perceptions of experts’ assessments may be related to voting for the President because they affect perceptions of his honesty.

2. Perceptions of World Public Opinion re Iraq
Most Americans are unaware that world public opinion is critical of the US war with Iraq. Those who perceive world public opinion as critical of the US war with Iraq are far less likely to approve of the decision to go to war, and to say they will vote for the president in 2004. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that were perceptions of world public opinion to change, there is a significant possibility that this could affect attitudes toward the war and intentions to vote for the president.

3. Perceptions of US Military Fatalities
On average, Americans are fairly accurate in estimating the number of US troop fatalities to date, but there is substantial variation in these estimates. Contrary to common assumptions, those who perceive higher levels of US military fatalities are no more likely to oppose the war or to say they will vote against the President than those who perceive lower levels of fatalities.

4. Perceptions of Iraqi Civilian Fatalities
On average, Americans grossly underestimate the number of Iraqi civilian fatalities. Those who perceive higher numbers of Iraqi civilian fatalities were not significantly less likely to support the war, but were somewhat less likely to intend to vote for the president

Can't remember where I heard that phrase, but I think it points to the crux of the issue. The entire strategy of the current Right Wing of American Politics seems entirely premised on shutting off the brain and hoping against hope that merely saying something makes it true. An entirely faith based politics.

They win when people get confused, remain frightened and let their paranoia trump reasoned, well thought out action.

Truly a message of hope. Truly a shining path to the future.

Their entire strategy is to literally suck out people's brains.

Aliens. The only rational explanation is an alien colonization attempt combined with a butt itching ray of tremendous power. Nothing else makes sense.

Via Bird Dog @ Tacitus, I'm led to a bewildering article by purported liberal, Tom Junod: The Case for George W. Bush - i.e., what if he's right?

Myself, I have no idea who Tom Junod is. He could be Howard Dean's right hand man for all I care. He's still a tool. Harsh words, I know, but read the article yourself and perhaps you'll see why I feel this way.

Junod's underlying theme throughout the whole article is the comparison of Bush to Lincoln and the Iraq war to the Civil war (even though he claims to not be doing so). The major theme is that the wolf is at our door and even though the boy crying wolf has been constantly wrong before, we better hedge our bets and think like Republicans. Because he could be right. It's really an amazing article which highlights what I find to be the worst about what I will call "traditional liberals".

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

Someone with more time and far more talent than I should be fisking this pile of stinking crap that Tom Junod has excreted. Because this is the kind of stuff that exemplifies the single biggest problem that Democrats face in this election: Fear, and the desire to be wrapped in a cozy blanket of plattitudes, Azaelf truths and completely inappropriate comparisons to the historical past.

Going to slink away now and get very depressed. This is what we face. This is the mindset. This is the thing that needs to be overcome. And quite frankly, I'm not that optimistic about the chances of succeeding.

I'm watching Zell Miller on Meet the Press. It's pretty surreal. He comes across as nothing more than a bitter old man. Tim is pretty much ripping him to shreds - in his kittenish way, of course. Still, it's a pretty pathetic performance. Sounds like a whiny little jilted lover, 14 months after the break up. You know, well after you've heard both sides of the story and are now just sick of hearing the same petty and twisted complaints over and over and over?

Geez, Zell. Grow up and stop your bitching and just join the Republican party. So the democratic party has changed. Big Fucking Deal. Take your bags and join your new friends. Just get off the frickin' television and let the adults discuss things.

Speaking of whiny weasels, I caught Howie Kurtz on CNN's Inside Politics this morning. What a sleazy whore. Still when Kurtz is going to discuss "are the media over reacting to Kerry's speech", you just have to have a big grin. Kurtz is going to bitch and whine about something, and so when he's bitching and whining about how the media is going overboard praising Kerry, then I just have to thank the fictional gods I worship and pray for more rain on this information parched wasteland we call America.

It really does seem that the only power these jackals have is the power of seeming certain. And now that same power just makes them look like out of touch bozos who don't live in the same universe as the rest of us. And the disconnect is reaching stunning levels, isn't it? I was reading about the record breaking 445 Billion Dollar Deficit we're going to have this year. And the Bush party line was truly pathetic. The major talking point seemed to be that it wasn't as big as they projected it was going to be. Like they had done something drastic, wise and staved off even worse disaster than the news currently is.

Like I said, incredibly weak. The only thing that pathetic does is at best confuse the dim witted Donald Luskins of the world, who are a lost cause anyway. The more brighter bulbs in the bunch will scratch their heads and kind of wonder at the fact that things could be even worse. Which I suppose could be seen to be working for Bush's advantage. Digby seems to be arguing that the whole fear thing plays in the Republican's favor and lord knows he could be right. But me, I think they're strumming the wrong harp strings when it comes to economic fear and uncertainty. Bush may win on the security issue when they play the Terrorism card, but with the pocket book, Kerry wins hands down.

And lord knows that Iraq isn't the bed of roses that everyone was painting back in 2002. JHCORFC. Two bombings today. Everything still seems to be a mess. People getting assassinated left and right. Yea. I'm really sure that whole mess is going to be cleaned up before the Republican national convention.

In any event, I'm getting real impressed with the campaign that Kerry is rolling out. They really seem to be running an excellent campaign and a positive campaign. It's really boxing in the right and making them look like whiny, bitchy bullies. We'll see if it works, but I must say that it's by far the best idea I've seen and it's a hell of a lot better than the 2000 campaign - and "Bob" only knows it's a zillion times better than the Democratic 2002 effort.

Biden is really great on the media. Tim is trying to play the "Gotcha" game and what's hilarious is how Russert is flailing around trying to find something to smear Kerry with and everything keeps landing on Bush. Biden, when he speaks from the heart, is really compelling. He's talking about our international relations and restoring our national credibility with a passion I haven't seen on the TV for some time.

Myself, I think Biden's line regarding "Nobody believed they would so badly misuse the powers that we gave them" is pretty weak. Here in the US we rely on the system to keep us safe. We don't depend on the sheer luck of getting the right person in the right office at the right time to do the right thing. We don't depend on heroes here in the US. We depend on our constitution and the system of government. We depend on people doing their job. Which is what the Congress of the US failed to do with respect to Iraq.

Still, as weak as the line is, it still looks worse on Bush. People can relate to being duped - seeing as they were all in the same boat, too. But they do resent those that duped them. No one likes to be duped.

And perhaps the dim, collective unconscious of the American body politic is waking up to the fact that they've been duped multiple times by these jokers. It's been quite a while since the recession (one of the mildest in history) was officially over, and most people have lost their earning power, if not their jobs. Growth is slowing and it seems like the tax stimulus wad has worked its way through the system. Given the record deficits, the well is bone dry for more tax cuts. And even if they wanted to, they'd have to personally hand deliver them next month to have an effect at this point. DOW is hovering close to 10,000 and the economic growth has slowed. Things don't seem to have changed very much. The high price of oil has sucked all the life out of the economy. We seem to be - at best - in the doldrums.

The polls are not great for Bush - and Republicans in general. They didn't expect to be fighting for their lives at this point - they were expecting Champaign and roses. They were expecting a ticker tape parade down main street with throngs of adoring crowds, riding the success of Iraq and Afghanistan into a November victory. And this bitter reality is very bad for moral. The sycophants love to be on the winning side and when things go sour, they start to bitch. They start to whine. Happened to the Democrats and now it's happening to the Republicans. The cracks are now well established and no longer talked about in hush whispers. Everyone's worrying about them getting bigger.

Nostrils are flaring and the faint ammonia-like smell of fear is in the wind.

And it's not coming from the Democrats.