First Draft

Update on the Dumbassery of Sally Kern

Damn.  Teh Gheis have taken Hawaii.

So everyone loved Athenae's post about Sally Kern.  Rightly so, and it's good to call out people who say monumentally stupid things like "gays are more dangerous than terrorists."

In a similar vein, the son of a woman who was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing wrote that execrable Republican a letter (from Pam's House Blend).

Rep Kern:

On April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City a terrorist detonated a bomb that killed my mother and 167 others. 19 children died that day. Had I not had the chicken pox that day, the body count would've likely have included one more. Over 800 other Oklahomans were injured that day and many of those still suffer through their permanent wounds.

That terrorist was neither a homosexual or was he involved in Islam. He was an extremist Christian forcing his views through a body count. He held his beliefs and made those who didn't live up to them pay with their lives.

As you were not a resident of Oklahoma on that day, it could be explained why you so carelessly chose words saying that the homosexual agenda is worst than terrorism. I can most certainly tell you through my own experience that is not true. I am sure there are many people in your voting district that laid a loved one to death after the terrorist attack on Oklahoma City. I kind of doubt you'll find one of them that will agree with you.

I was five years old when my mother died. I remember what a beautiful, wise, and remarkable woman she was. I miss her. Your harsh words and misguided beliefs brought me to tears, because you told me that my mother's killer was a better person than a group of people that are seeking safety and tolerance for themselves.

As someone left motherless and victimized by terrorists, I say to you very clearly you are absolutely wrong.

You represent a district in Oklahoma City and you very coldly express a lack of love, sympathy or understanding for what they've been through. Can I ask if you might have chosen wiser words were you a real Oklahoman that was here to share the suffering with Oklahoma City? Might your heart be a bit less cold had you been around to see the small bodies of children being pulled out of rubble and carried away by weeping firemen?

I've spent 12 years in Oklahoma public schools and never once have I had anyone try to force a gay agenda on me. I have seen, however, many gay students beat up and there's never a day in school that has went by when I haven't heard the word **** slung at someone. I've been called gay slurs many times and they hurt and I am not even gay so I can just imagine how a real gay person feels. You were a school teacher and you have seen those things too. How could you care so little about the suffering of some of your students?

Let me tell you the result of your words in my school. Every openly gay and suspected gay in the school were having to walk together Monday for protection. They looked scared. They've already experienced enough hate and now your words gave other students even more motivation to sneer at them and call them names. Afterall, you are a teacher and a lawmaker, many young people have taken your words to heart. That happens when you assume a role of responsibility in your community. I seriously think before this week ends that some kids here will be going home bruised and bloody because of what you said.

I wish you could've met my mom. Maybe she could've guided you in how a real Christian should be acting and speaking.

I have not had a mother for nearly 13 years now and wonder if there were fewer people like you around, people with more love and tolerance in their hearts instead of strife, if my mom would be here to watch me graduate from high school this spring. Now she won't be there. So I'll be packing my things and leaving Oklahoma to go to college elsewhere and one day be a writer and I have no intentions to ever return here. I have no doubt that people like you will incite crazy people to build more bombs and kill more people again. I don't want to be here for that. I just can't go through that again.

You may just see me as a kid, but let me try to teach you something. The old saying is sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you. Well, your words hurt me. Your words disrespected the memory of my mom. Your words can cause others to pick up sticks and stones and hurt others.

Sincerely

Tucker

I believe the phrase is "you got pwned," Sally Kern.

Saturday Blogwhoring

Cash money.  Here at First Draft, you better come correct.

It's Saturday, so get to whoring.  None of that $5500 per hour stuff, though.  We don't like excluding people who aren't millionaires from the fun.

The Working Classes

Jesus Skip To My Lou CHRIST, yes:

1. If something appeals to “racists”, don’t say it appeals to “working class whites”. Even if 99% of working class whites were in the KKK, it would still be insulting and, much less forgivably, imprecise. I know many not-remotely white people and/or people from not-remotely working class backgrounds who are racists. I know many working-class white people who are not. Appeals to racism - intentional or not - appeal to racists. It’s not more complicated than that. Don’t confuse things.

2. If you pull down a six- or seven-figure salary working in a cushy media job, and especially if you spend time in a makeup chair before putting on your gossipy news “show”, you forfeit the right to speak for the “working class”, or anybody who has a real job, ever again. If your made-up face on your catty chat show is beamed down to normal people from far-out satellites, you are basically a Mick Ronson riff away from being Ziggy Stardust, and should probably work on coming to grips with that, rather than imagining that you are somehow the authentic proletariat. You’re a freaky moonage rich person in spaced-out freaky daydreamland, man. Deal with it.

In the case of the first, it also applies to "white ethnic" voters, which is another pundit synonym for "intolerant asshole" that's been driving me up a tree. First of all, your grandparents' nationality is not an all-access pass to be a dick, and second, your grandparents' nationality is no guarantee you will be one, so it's an entirely meaningless distinction when talking about racist voters. I know plenty of Irish and German and Italian men and women who aren't racist assholes, and who would be horrified by the idea that their ancestors' immigrant status meant they were doomed to be the kinds of jackholes who talk about how they'd be king of the world if only affirmative action hadn't taken that away from them.

In the case of the second, I keep being reminded of this dude I worked with a long time ago, who idolized Wolf Blitzer and wore a suit and tie to a job most of us showed up at in T-shirts with holes in them, who once asked me if my hometown of Racine, Wisconsin was "a real working man's town" and was utterly fascinated by the idea that my grandfather had worked in a factory. It was like an anthropology project to him, except to say that insults anthropologists; it was more like the rest of the world was an ant farm or an alien civilization, and he was fascinated and not a little rude about it.

He was also one of the most brazen plagiarists I've ever known, so, you know, in all his study of the "real" people there were obviously some lessons he missed.

Schmucks.

A.

A Better Beatdown of Chris Hedges

That's PZ Myers on the right, Chris Hedges on the left.

So I was thinking to myself--who would do a good job demolishing Chris Hedges' bullshit false equivalence?  And only one name came to mind:  Joe Louis.  Uh, I mean PZ Myers.  Over at Pharyngula, Myers just destroys Hedges.   It's a written version of the Brown Bomber's uppercut to Jimmy Bivins depicted above.  It's worth the read, so check it out!

We Get Reviews: Scrappy!

The Isthmus, where I spent a year and a half having enormous post-collegiate fun writing about one of the greatest cities on earth, gives the book a nice review:

Founded in 1892 by a student miffed at the university's lack of a journalism curriculum, the Cardinal began with the twin engines that would power it through the 20th century: financial and editorial independence from the university, plus a completely student-run, come-one-come-all workplace that had (and still has) staffers teaching each other in a real-life newsroom.

While this open structure afforded the paper the freedom to print whatever it wished, it also left it vulnerable to interlopers who got elected to the Cardinal board and began firing editors. Hantschel gives remarkably even-handed treatment to the nefarious forces that wished to see the paper muzzled, if not shut down, whether they are upstate legislators, anti-Semitic frat boys or those outraged at the paper's defenses of "free love."

A.

Friday Ferretblogging

A.

Friday I'd Rather Be There Blogging

Aloha Friday, everyone.  At pau hana, you no work 'til Monday. Aloha a hui hou!

Today on Athenae's Obsession with the Freepi: Orphah Edition

Ferraro resigns, but do you know who ORPHAH endorsed?

Some black people like Orphah think it’s time for a black President. And the PC mindset of America has it so that no matter WHAT ideas O. Hussein has or doesn’t have, no one will see anything but his color.

Clinton KILLED Ferraro!

When a person signs up to be a Clintonista, there is no way to resign short of death, by one’s own choice or by theirs’.

It's hard out here for a pimp. Bitches don't know.

Well Gerry, you've just had the race card played on you. It's what race pimps in your party do. You may not like it, but you should not be at all surprised.

Annoying sexist is annoying.

Right on. The old hags from the 60’s and 70’s will stomp all over anybody—black, yellow, red, or white—just to get a fellow feminazi into office. (Note the fact that HRC wouldn’t be anywhere if she hadn’t married a man, or at least we think he’s a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Are we saying "mulatto" again? I thought only our grandparents said that anymore.

I believe what she said is part of the reason Obama's such a phenomena, but not the only reason. He's a moderately ok orator and he's got an initially likable personality (until you hear his positions.) He's got all the basic components of a viable democrat candidate, and he's mulatto.

This thread's even better. Did you know that on the list of problems facing America, political correctness is number one?

1st it was Spitzer for hookers, now a white broad for PCism.

Someone's been playing too much World of Warcraft:

Blood will flow leading up to Pennsylvania, and heads will roll into Denver.

Speaking of things only our grandparents say:

She seemed to have no problem with the Dems butt kissing toward WOMEN. But showing the same kind of favoritism toward NEGROES? Oh,Heaven forbid they do THAT!

Emo freeper is emo.

That is exactly how I feel. I can never get really excited knowing that the most successful Senator pushing the Democrat agenda in the Senate has been John McCain. I would like to trust him. But my inner self knows that John McCain will never fail to disappoint us on the big issues.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Tony Farto Says You Should Stop Labelling The Economy

Q So with the latest bad numbers on consumer spending and labor markets -- the news seems to be getting worse by the day -- how is the President going to allay Americans' concerns that the economy is either heading for a recession, or in a recession?

MR. FRATTO: Look, you can try to put labels on what the economy is. I mean, it's very low-growth and it's much lower, or slower, than we would certainly like to see. What we're focused on is the policies that will return us to higher growth.

[snip]

Q Well, isn't it an especially bad sign that the consumer, who has been carrying the economy for a long time now, really stopped spending in a dramatic way last month?

MR. FRATTO: Well, I mean, it's not a positive sign. We would like to see the economy continue to support -- the consumer continue to support this economy. We think as long as wages continue to grow and there isn't a sharp drop-off in jobs -- we still have more Americans working than ever before, so we have a lot of Americans working. We still have a relatively low unemployment rate. And so they should still be there to support the economy. But we want to see consumers have the strength to be able to continue to support growth and the economy.

All Out Of Ideas

Q Tony, in tomorrow's speech will the President be offering anything new, or let us know if he's thinking about other things that can be done? Or is there anything that can be done?

MR. FRATTO: We're always looking at new ideas and things that can be done --

Q I've heard that before -- will we be hearing anything new tomorrow?

MR. FRATTO: No, you shouldn't look for new major announcements tomorrow.

[snip]

Q Is it a matter of tomorrow's theme being "hold on to your hats until we can get into the third quarter, when Lazear says things will be getting better"?

MR. FRATTO: I wouldn't put it quite that way. I think we said --

Q How would you put it?

MR. FRATTO: I think -- Americans should know and Americans should have confidence that this economy will return to stronger growth.

Go Shopping!

Q Tony, could I follow up on something you said at the gaggle this morning about -- in your response to the retail sales numbers? You said, we want consumers to spend. How can they --

MR. FRATTO: We call them consumers.

Q How can they, and why can't -- why should they, when they're spending so much on gas and food prices, how can they buy other retail items?

MR. FRATTO: No, you're right, there's no question. As I said earlier, higher energy prices take -- are a drain on the disposable income of families. That's why we want to see -- we want to return to growth, and importantly, wage growth, so that people can afford more of whatever they want. Obviously, there are certain things that they need to spend on, and energy for a lot of families is a growing cost. But, yes, there's no question it's a drain on their finances, and we're concerned about that and we want to -- but we need to look at it as the needs of the overall economy.

Q How big of a warning signal is this to you, this retail report today? I know you don't want to go down the recession road, but there are a lot of analysts out there saying today that this is further warning that the economy has headed in that direction.

MR. FRATTO: Well, there are -- we have seen lots of data points in recent months that point to a very slow economy in this quarter. There's absolutely no question about that. We've been very clear about that. That's one of them; the jobs report is one of them.

Your Daily Les

Q Thank you, Tony. Two questions. Would it be accurate to say that our President realizes the great importance of any leader of a free country in setting a national example in supporting morality?

MR. FRATTO: I think the President pretty clearly supports morality.

Q Good. (Laughter.) What does -- I'm delighted. What does the President believe to be the effect on our nation's young people of one of our nation's top national leaders refusing even to comment on her state's married governor's repeated use of prostitutes, in apparent violation of the Mann Act?

MR. FRATTO: I think what the President said is it's a sad day, and I think I'll just leave it at that.

Your President Keeps Speaking!!!!

Today, at the White House.

What PRTs Is

As you can see here on the screen in front of me, we've got assembled in Afghanistan -- thanks to Ambassador Wood -- PRTs, which is Provincial Reconstruction Teams, made up of military and civilian personnel, all aiming to help the Afghans recover from unbelievable brutality of the Taliban and have a society that's capable of meeting the needs of its people.

Our Counter-Effective Counter-Insergency Strategy

Any counter -- effective counterinsurgency strategy will require more than just military action.

The Blessings Of Good Governance

And so if you look on the screen you see brave and courageous Americans in uniform and not in uniform, because they're a part of this strategy to help Afghans, one, understand the blessings of good governance -- in other words, the folks are attempting to fight corruption at the local level so that the local citizens are able to have a positive outlook about their government.

What We Got

And the best thing we got going for us, not only do we have brave and compassionate citizens willing to serve, but we've also got an ideology based upon liberty, which stands in stark contrast to the ideology of the thugs and murderers called the Taliban.

The Doug Feith Primer

VS.

Liberal blogosphere or Bush admininstration hack: Who would you trust?

It's been two years, so I can forgive people who went looking for information about Feith recently if they overlooked this, what was one of the first progressive blogosphere forays into publishing, before it became the hot new thing to do. With Doug Feith's excuse opus coming out next month (for the love of God, don't pay for the thing, steal it from somewhere or read over somebody's shoulder), it occurs to me that it might be worth reminding people that there were, in fact, people on this story before anybody else could be paid to pay attention.

People like ABW, who put together an exhaustive timeline of all Feith's missteps and mistakes in a Kos diary, such that you can go all the way back to 1996 to see how this mess got started.

People like Matt Yglesias, who put the blame where it really belonged, on the Congress that did absolutely zero oversight of anything Feith and his cronies were doing.

People like Jack K at The Grumpy Forrester who brought home why what Feith did isn't just some silly insider Washington issue.

Anyone looking for information on Feith could do worse than to start there. Anyone looking for a counterweight to his 900-some pages of "I didn't know nothing" and "the Bush ate my homework, see how unpopular he is now, it's all his fault" and "mistakes were made" could do worse than to look to the people who participated in efforts to push this story before it was popular and widely accepted. Some of these posts go back to 2003, which in blogtime is prehistoric, I know, but the history's worth knowing so the present mound of bullshit makes sense.

A.

Your President... Wait For It... SPEAKS!

Last night, in Washington.

Heckuva Job

I want to thank the House leaders who are here: Roy Blunt, Adam Putnam, Darrell Issa -- Issa, you did a heck of a job tonight, thank you for doing this.

Demoncrat

The Democrat version of protecting America is a bad bill.

It Will Be The Right Decision Ever?

Removing Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency, it is the right decision now, and it will be the right decision ever.

The Vision Folks Have Got

We're involved in an ideological struggle between folks who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives, folks who have got a vision about what they would like to impose on the rest of the world, and particularly in the Middle East, and those of us who believe strongly in the power of liberty.

But The Story, Morning Glory

I love to share this story -- and I'm sure some of you have heard this before -- but the story about my friendship with Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan.

Brainwreck

He saw the dangers that hopelessness was the only way that these ideologues could recruit suicide bombers.

Slur Words

As a matter of fact, the war was so bitter that our vocabulary had slur words in it about the Japanese for years after the war ended.

Your President Speaks! AGAIN!

This morning, at the White House.

Take A Leader, Maria

Yesterday the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence sent a leader [sic] to the Speaker explaining why the bill is dangerous to our national security.

Your President Speaks!

Last night, in Washington.

How To Get Rid Of A Troublesome Child

So the guy comes to see me, and he says, I want to marry your daughter. I said, done deal.

Which Side Are We On?

And then I remind them that we're living in a very difficult period in the history of the world. After all, we're witnessing an ideological struggle between those who kill the innocent to achieve political objectives and those who believe in human dignity and human rights and human freedom.

The Party's Over

So much for the success of the surge.

Fighters from the Shi'ite Mehdi Army and U.S. soldiers exchanged rocket and mortar fire on Thursday, threatening a ceasefire declared by the militia's leader, the anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al Sadr.

Sadr, whose militia fought two battles against U.S. forces in southern Iraq in 2004, extended a ceasefire last month, but at the weekend issued a statement telling followers they could defend themselves if attacked.

The ceasefire has been praised by U.S. commanders for reducing violence, with attacks across Iraq down by 60 percent since last June. But U.S. forces are stretched thin by an increase in attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq since January.

[snip]

An Iraqi police official, who asked not to be identified, said as many as 11 Katyusha rockets landed on the U.S. base near Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad late on Wednesday.

More Good News For Republikkkans

We're gonna mop the floor with Huggy McCain in November.

WASHINGTON - Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

This has become a fundamental question in presidential elections. And for the first time since 1992, a plurality of voters heading into November’s election answer that question with a resounding no, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Forty-three percent say that they and their families are worse off, compared with 34 percent who say they’re better off; 21 percent respond that their status is the same. By contrast, strong pluralities or majorities answered that they were better off before entering the general elections in 1996, 2000 and 2004 — when, with the exception of the extremely close 2000 race, the incumbent party held onto the presidency.

Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with GOP pollster Bill McInturff, suggests that these new numbers are more good news for a Democratic Party trying to take back the White House. “The compass points due north for the party of change.”

Thanks, Liberal Media!

Bastards.

Twenty-eight percent of the public is aware that nearly 4,000 U.S. personnel have died in Iraq over the past five years, while nearly half thinks the death tally is 3,000 or fewer and 23 percent think it is higher, according to an opinion survey released yesterday.

The survey, by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, found that public awareness of developments in the Iraq war has dropped precipitously since last summer, as the news media have paid less attention to the conflict. In earlier surveys, about half of those asked about the death tally responded correctly.

Related Pew surveys have found that the number of news stories devoted to the war has sharply declined this year, along with professed public interest. "Coverage of the war has been virtually absent," said Pew survey research director Scott Keeter, totaling about 1 percent of the news hole between Feb. 17 and 23.

The Iraq-associated median for 2007, he said, was 15 percent of all news stories, with major spikes when President Bush announced a "surge" in forces in January of that year and when Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, testified before Congress in September.

"We try not to make any causal statements about the relationship between the absence of news and what the public knows," Keeter said. "But there's certainly a correlation between the two. People are not seeing news about fatalities, and there isn't much in the news about the war, whether it be military action or even political discussion related to it."

Adventures in False Equivalence

Yes, you.

What the fuck, Chris Hedges?  Seriously, what the fuck?  And you, Salon.  What the fuck?  It's bad enough you continue to inflict Camille Paglia on us, you gotta have an interview with this dick, too?

So Chris Hedges has a new book about the "New Athiests."  You know, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris.  What about them?  Well, you see, Mr. Hedges claims that they are "preaching a fundamentalism as dangerous as the religious fundamentalist belief systems they attack."

Uh, dude?  Shut the fuck up.  Really.

I'll believe that these "New Atheists" are as dangerous as Christian fundamentalists when the President holds regular meetings with them, when they speak at political conferences and urge attacks on other countries, when millions of people pledge blind allegiance to atheism, when atheist apocalyptic movements influence military officers and policy, when they hold disproportionate influence on domestic policy, when thousands upon thousands of gullible young people attend "Atheist Camps" each year, when political candidates for high office have to schmooze with atheists to prove their secular bona fides, when atheists are able to designate entire swaths of the population as second-class citizens, when atheists are bombing church facilities and intimidating people coming to and going from services, and when the Congress grandstands and produces a bill--AND the President rushes back from vacation to sign it--to cater to a vocal atheist protest group in Florida.  I'm sure you can come up with dozens more examples, but the ghost of William Faulkner appeared to me and told me to end that sentence or he'd break his celestial bourbon bottle over my fuckin' head.

Until then?  Fuck.  You.

Hedges' interview is sloppy and disjointed, to boot.  He just makes a lot of assertions, lumps Dawkins in with Hitchens and Harris, and generally doesn't make a lot of sense.  Dawkins has really become a boogeyman for people who like to complain about secular intolerance, hasn't he?

Also, I'd like to point out that I'm an atheist (I grew up with a Catholic father and a Southern Baptist mother, so I've had plenty of exposure to religion).  I'd like to think I'm a rather well-informed atheist, too.  And I've never even heard of Sam Harris.  Some champion of atheism he is. 

As for Hitchens, it seems like the general consensus among us evil secularists is that the man is a sad drunk and a contrarian without a cause.  Yeah, he provided some cover for the Iraq invasion, but if he'd appeared on TV loudly denouncing the impending war (fat chance, as almost no one who did was allowed in front of a camera from 2002-2003), it would've happened anyway.  Jeebus himself could have appeared to us all, said "thou shalt not go to war with the Babylonians," and that wouldn't have mattered, either.  Bush's religious cronies would've come up with some explanation (not really Jeebus, it's the anti-Jeebus, it's Bizarro Jeebus, it's Opposite Day, etc., etc.), everyone would've nodded and agreed, and the Very Serious March to War would have continued apace.

And Dawkins?  The man's a biologist, not a US citizen, and not at all involved in American politics.  How the fuck did he get thrown in with those other two schmucks?

False equivalence:  FAIL.

April 4 Countdown

SO EXCITED.

A.

In Explanation, A Script For Conversation With Wingnuts About Spitzer

Republican acquaintance: You haven't posted anything about the Spitzer story, have you?

You: No.

RA: Why not?

You: It doesn't interest me all that much.

RA: I bet if he was a Republican you'd be interested.

You: Absolutely. You know why?

RA: Because you're a liberal?

You: Because if he was a Republican, he'd have been caught on video with FOUR hookers doing blow off copies of classifed CIA documents about Iran while wearing only a wet suit and one nipple clamp, with a dildo shaped like Fran Drescher stuck in his ass and the stereo blaring the collected works of Sun Myung Moon in the background while he screamed "You're not my mommy!!!!" THAT'S why I'd be interested.

A.

Columnwhoring: DEMOCRATS!

Like a big rocking thing:

Foster won the Republican stronghold despite the speaker's history and the weight of John McCain's endorsement of Foster's opponent, Republican Jim Oberweis. He won it with the backing of Barack Obama, who did a TV ad for him, and by running strongly against President Bush.

It was a shocking upset, but I really should have noticed the sea change Feb. 5, when I showed up to vote in the Illinois primary and there was electioneering going on near my precinct. Nobody in the history of elections has given a damn about my precinct; my Congressman wins his primary and the general election every time in a walk, and it's about that way for every other race, too. Voting takes a couple of minutes at most, and I usually end up hanging out to yak with the poll workers because they're just so completely bored.

This time, though? A line. Not out the door, not quite, but I actually had to wait a few minutes to get my ballot. And outside, three separate campaign volunteers had pressed literature into my hands. The precinct workers didn't even have time to say hello. It was bizarre, like dropping into an alternate universe.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

I Take That As A "Yes"

Q Were there differences between Admiral Fallon and this administration about how to handle, for example, Iran, troop levels in Iraq? Were there differences inside?

MS. PERINO: Well, as Secretary Gates said, when it comes to Iran he does not believe that there was a difference, but there had built up over a period of time a perception that there was a difference. And when it comes to foreign policy it's critical that an administration speak with one voice. And if there's a perception that they are not speaking with one voice, then that becomes a problem. And that's what Secretary Gates and Admiral Fallon both said yesterday.

No Dissenting Views!

MS. PERINO: I would also point out that some have suggested that President Bush does not want to have dissenting views given to him -- and that is absolutely nonsense, because President Bush has always fostered an environment of robust and healthy debate. He's had many people provide independent thoughts that may have dissented from his own views, and that policy has always worked out in the process, and then we speak with one voice when we go out, whether it be on domestic policy or foreign policy. I would also point out that some have suggested that President Bush does not want to have dissenting views given to him -- and that is absolutely nonsense, because President Bush has always fostered an environment of robust and healthy debate. He's had many people provide independent thoughts that may have dissented from his own views, and that policy has always worked out in the process, and then we speak with one voice when we go out, whether it be on domestic policy or foreign policy. 

[snip]

But I would say that one of the things that I know to be true is that Admiral Fallon would join the President on secure video teleconferences every week, both the ones -- he has two a week, one on Iraq and one on Afghanistan, and then in recent months we've had several on Pakistan. And Admiral Fallon would join those as well. And the President goes around the room -- or around the television screens -- and asks everyone to provide their candid and honest advice. And Admiral Fallon was a part of that.

Q And he could -- he provided a dissenting voice during those teleconferences?

MS. PERINO: Oh, I don't know. I would say he was allowed to express whatever he wanted to. I can't, obviously, speak to those private conversations.

Dana Don't Know!

Q Just one more thing. He said in the Esquire article that he had been in hot water with the White House before. Is that true?

MS. PERINO: I do not know where that came from.

Q So you don't know whether he was or not, or --

MS. PERINO: I would say I don't know whether he was or not, and I never heard that he was.

Dana Hates CREW

Q Okay. And on another subject, White House email, the liberal group, CREW, today is calling on the FBI to investigate missing White House emails. I wonder if you can react to that, but also more broadly talk about where the White House is? You've spoken before about trying to recover lost emails, make sure you have them -- where is the White House in that process?

MS. PERINO: Well, Mrs. Payton actually spoke to this on Capitol Hill last week, I think, when she testified. I haven't heard about CREW asking for the FBI to investigate. They try to squeeze out a press release a week on this, so I'll take a look at it. Scott Stanzel, in my office, is following up for us.

Martina!

Heh.  Nobody chose communism.

Martina Navratilova, the nine-time Wimbledon champion, has regained her Czech nationality after saying she was "ashamed" of George Bush.

[snip]

In an interview last year with a Czech newspaper, Lidove Noviny, the tennis player said she was as ashamed of the US under Bush as she once was about Czechoslovakia, which split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia after communism fell in 1993.

"The thing is that we elected Bush," she said. "That is worse! Against that, nobody chose a communist government in Czechoslovakia."

Your President Speaks!

Today, in Washington, before a meeting of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Prove The Agreement!

Members of both parties should come together, members of both parties should demonstrate their support for freedom in our hemisphere, and members of both parties should prove the -- approve the Colombian free trade agreement.

Treat America Unequally!

I can't understand a mentality that doesn't recognize that causing America to be treated equally is not in our interests.

Drain Bamage

We want negotiations to come from -- as a result of meaningful contributions by all folks.

There Is Neighbors

There's neighbors worrying about neighbors losing jobs.

Fails Econ 101

The more competition it is for a product, the less likely it is the price will rise.

But Can You Dance To It?

You know, they toss out the word "timeout" from trade -- it's got this kind of catchy little title to it.

What This Program Has Got

One reason I mentioned No Child Left Behind, this program has got to start early, and it is.

The United States And America

It's mutually beneficial for Canada, the United States and America -- I mean, Mexico.

Here Comes Your Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown

Or a recession, whatever.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. recession has already started and the downturn is likely to last longer than in the recent past, with the economy recovering only late next year, according to a quarterly survey of corporate finance chiefs released on Wednesday.

Fifty-four percent of the CFOs said the United States is in recession, and another 24 percent said there is a high likelihood of one starting later this year, according to a Duke University/CFO Magazine survey completed on March 7.

Nearly three-quarters of the CFOs said they were more pessimistic this quarter than in the prior quarter about the U.S. economy, reflecting concerns about consumer spending, turmoil in credit and housing markets, and high energy prices.

An index of optimism, which rates the economy on a 1 to 100 scale, is at 52, the lowest in the seven-year history of the index, the survey found.

The Worst Story Ever Written (About Blogs)

Holden already posted about the study itself, but this piece about the study is such a splendid bit of wood that I had to pull it out for further discussion. By which I mean, Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ:

A majority of Americans do not read political blogs, the online commentaries that have proliferated in the race for the U.S. presidency, according to a poll released on Monday.

Only 22 percent of people responding to the poll said they read blogs regularly, meaning several times a month or more, according to the survey conducted by Harris Interactive.

In the first place, the whole story could have been "one in four Americans reads political blogs, which is ... pretty damn good, actually, for a thing that's really only been a big deal since 2003 or so (when First Draft went online, which as we all know is the date of the birth of the universe and all creatures within it). But no, it's "most people don't give a fuck." Technically true, but ... just as easy to go the other way, and with the rampant insecurity and bitchitude going on in journalism today, I gotta say, it's not hard to see how somebody made that decision.

Then we have "even if people do read blogs," they SUCK:

Unlike traditional, mainstream media, blogs often adopt a specific point of view. Critics complain they can contain unchecked facts, are poorly edited and use unreliable sources.

What critics? We do not know. The reporter doesn't tell us. Apparently it's one of those things, like "the sky is blue" and "Democrats are weak on national security" that is so obvious we don't need to cite a source of any kind to just blurt it out there and attribute it to "critics." And all blogs, apparently, are subject to all these complaints. Equally. At once. I take offense. First Draft contains no unchecked facts. In fact, we do our best to contain no facts at all, just insults and cock jokes. And ponies.

Seriously, it's like TPM's Polk award never happened. It's like we don't link to the gaggle transcript so y'all can see for yourselves if we're making shit up. It's like you can't use your brainmeats to find out if something's true your own self, just like in the rest of the entire world ever oh my god. You want to see poorly edited? Check this motherfucker out. Ain't nobody in blogworld got a monopoly on "poorly edited."

But but but but, blogs REALLY SUCK:

Despite the attention blogs can get, the poll said 56 percent of Americans say they never read blogs that discuss politics. Another 23 percent read them several times a year, the survey showed.

SO THERE, BITCHES. REUTERS UBER ALLES!!!!!

I need a nap now.

A.

The Advantages of Being a Black Man in America

4 April, 1968





Vernon Dahmer's firebombed home; James Byrd's casket

Yeah.  I can see the advantages.  Dear Geraldine Ferraro:  Knock it the fuck off, will ya?

Your Blog Sucks!

Harris Poll:

For every political persuasion, it seems like there is at least a handful of political blogs which chart attitudes and opinions on campaigns, issues and candidates relevant to that political leaning. One always hears about a blog breaking news before the "mainstream media" actually covers it. But are people really reading these blogs? The answer is no, as over half of Americans (56%) say they never read blogs that discuss politics. Just under one-quarter (23%) say that they read them several times a year and just 22 percent of Americans read blogs regularly (several times a month or more).

[snip]

Just one in ten (19%) Echo Boomers (those aged 18-31) regularly read a political blog and only 17 percent of Gen Xers (those aged 32-43) say the same. Matures (those aged 63 and older) are actually the generation most likely to be political blog readers as just over one-quarter (26%) say they regularly do so followed by 23 percent of Baby Boomers (those aged 44-62). Also, one hears of the rabid blogs on both sides of the political aisle, but just 22 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats regularly read blogs. Independents are the ones slightly more likely to read these, as just over one-quarter (26%) say they regularly read political blogs.

Looking at those who regularly do read political blogs, over half (54%) read one or two at least once a week with an additional 22 percent reading 3-4 at least once a week. And, while they may read these, they do not comment on them. Over two-thirds (69%) of those who regularly read blogs did not comment on one in the previous week. Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to comment. One-third of Republicans (34%) commented in the previous week compared to 28 percent of Democrats.

[snip]

[O]nly one in five (22%) regular blog readers say the information they read on blogs is less accurate when compared to the mainstream media while three in ten (30%) say it is more accurate and almost half (48%) say just as accurate. Besides accuracy, there is also a value issue. When compared to the mainstream media, one-third of regular blog readers (33%) say the information they read on blogs is more valuable, half (49%) say just as valuable and just 18 percent say it is less valuable. Republicans are more likely to find value (41%) and accuracy (37%) in the information they read on blogs than Democrats are (25% and 21% respectively).

Your President... Wait For It... SPEAKS!

Today in Nashville, Tennessee.

What His View Is Is

My view is, is that if we press the enemy, if we bring them to justice, if we defeat them overseas, we won't have to face them here -- is the best strategy to protect America in the short term.

Muslim Leaders Hate Peace

And some day, if the United States is steadfast and optimistic, people -- a President will be able to say, amazing thing happened: I sat down at the table with a leader of Muslim nations, all aiming to keep the peace, to spread freedom and keep America secure.

What The Enemy Are Doing

You know, the enemy are fighting hard in both countries to seize power and impose their brutal vision.

What Afghanistan Has Got

Afghanistan has got a lot of challenges. They got to overcome corruption, they got to fight narcotics trafficking, and they got to strengthen the government at all levels.

A Belief Not Followed

I believe it is important for administrations to confront problems now, and not pass them on to other people.

Quagmire Today . . . Quagmire Tomorrow . . . Quagmire Forever!

The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency; it is the right decision at this point in my presidency; and it will forever be the right decision.

From To Be Able To Have

What would happen if they seized territory from -- to be able to have safe haven?

Other Words Needed

And as a return on our success -- in other words, as we get more successful, troops are able to come home.

Hard Werk

The work before our country is hard and it has risks -- it's just hard work.

What We Got

But we got something more powerful: We got determination, we got will, and we got freedom at our disposal.

What's Laura's Job?  Wasn't She Supposed To End Teenage Gang Violence Or Something?

I feel your prayer. I can't tell you how meaningful they have been, to help Laura and me deal with -- do our job.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Yo, Dana -- What's With All The "Terra Terra Terra"?

Q Dana, I have questions on two topics. Today's speech -- what's the strategic value in discussing the tactics of the enemy? What's to be gained by that, and why now?

MS. PERINO: I think it's important that everyone recognize who we are dealing with.

[snip]

Q Well, just to quickly follow up on that, it's five years, almost, into the war. Is there a sense from the White House that the American people has kind of lost track of this? People don't know who the enemy is by this point?

MS. PERINO: No, no, I don't think is the case, but I think that it is incumbent upon the Commander-in-Chief, when we are fighting a war, to keep the American people apprised of the situation, especially when we have tens of thousands of our men and women in uniform who are fighting for us, to remind the American people why we are there, and give them a progress report and status report as to where we stand and whether or not we need to change gears in order to further build on security gains, such as in Iraq -- or continue to work with our NATO partners in Afghanistan to make sure that we can beat back the Taliban as a alliance.

Your President Speaks! AGAIN!

Today, in Nashville, Tennessee.

What We Got

We got people in Iraq who murder the innocent to achieve their political objectives -- and we've got Americans, who heal the broken hearts of little Iraqi girls.

Of course we also have got Americans who rape and murder 14-year-old girls and their families, Americans who torture and murder Iraqis, and Americans who lie in order to initiate an unprovoked war.

More Sexist Bullshit

Have we really not moved past this shit in 90 years?

I'm going to make a confession.  I have an unhealthy obsession with the Today Show on NBC.  A good part of this is because I only have broadcast TV, so I only get five channels.  However, there's something else--something ineffable.  I just can't look away.  It's so awful.  Rather than it being informative, I actually forget things I used to know while watching it.  It basically serves as a validator of mostly-white, upper-middle-class, suburban values and stereotypes.  At least they know their audience. 

Anyway, this morning, like the rest of the media, they were happy as pigs in shit because there's a sex scandal to talk about.  With salacious transcripts!  Now, irrespective of what you think of Spitzer (I think he's a hypocritical fuck, but I also think that no one deserves to lose his or her job over consensual sexual encounters, whether money is exchanged or not.), the majority of the coverage of this event has been tabloid-level at best. 

Leave it to Today to set the bar even lower.  A rictus-grinning Meredith Vieira introduced a panel of two women and one man to discuss the following oh-so-enlightened question:  "Why do men cheat?"

That's right.  As if women never do.  So, basically, you have both the whole women-as-passive-victim and women-as-asexual stereotypes wrapped right up in that stupid, stupid question.  You also have the goddam idiot "boys will be boys" idea tied to the query.  Shit.  To get that kind of sexism, you usually have to go to a fundie church or Free Republic.  "Why do men cheat?"  Again, it's not just men--women do as well, asshole.   And there are lots of reasons.  Like any other social phenomenon, it's fucking complicated.  Looking for simple answers to complex questions is akin to, as my grandmother loved to say, pissing into the wind.

How in the fuck do these people command the huge salaries they receive?  Arrrgh.

Your President Speaks!

Yesterday, at the White House.

Surround Him Or Her

My advice to the next President is to surround him or her -- with strong, fearless women.

Tough Day Yesterday

So glad the Surge is working.

BAGHDAD — Bombers unleashed a wave of explosions in Baghdad and north of the capital Monday, including two attacks that killed eight U.S. service members in the deadliest day for the military this year, American and Iraqi authorities said.

Coming To Get You

In your schools, in your pools, in a box, with a fox, green eggs and ham, etc.:

Studies show, no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted for more than, you know, a few decades. . .

I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.

They want to get them into the government schools so they can indoctrinate them.

...They are going after our young children, as young as two years of age, to try to teach them that the homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle.

You know, gays are infiltrating city councils...did you know that the city council of Eureka Springs is now controlled by gays -- they are winning elections.

One of my colleagues said We don't have a gay problem in our community...well you know what, that is so dumb. If you have cancer in your little toe, do you just say that I'm going to forget about it since the rest of you is fine? It spreads! This stuff is deadly and it is spreading. It will destroy our young people and it will destroy this nation.

Controlled by gays, with their mind-control rays and their secret councils where they sacrifice good suburban matrons with tight perms to the lesbo goddesses. Somebody has a gay problem, all right, but it isn't who this crazy bitch thinks it is.

Reading this supremely self-absorbed bullshit, I can only make the comparisons to the Freepi who see Islam around every corner, to the gun nuts who want to arm us all for the coming Reign of Fire-style era of total societal breakdown, the tinfoil-wearing alien-abduction crowd; that is, to groups of people who are just incredibly desperate for their lives to matter. They're desperate to feel locked in some critical struggle, against outside forces determined to destroy them, the better to demonstrate their unyielding virtue and glorious strength. They're desperate to be doing something that feels like doing something, and we've talked about this before, but more and more I think it's what drives a lot of the cracktastic awfulness in society, this empty, gasping neediness, so that the first faux-fear "cause" that comes along snaps them right up. People living lives they thought mattered would never for an instant believe this shit; they'd been too busy doing other stuff.

Reasons aren't excuses, of course; I can't pity Mrs. I've Got Stuff Going On Crazy Eyes up there, because what she says results in harm to people. What she says does find a listening audience that nods along and says, "Yeah, now that you tell me I'm being subjugated by Teh Ghei, of course I feel it. Protect my marriage, please, by denying people health insurance." It's insidious and it needs to be opposed in the loudest voice possible, because Sally Kern didn't come up with this shit on her own. Somebody told her, once, the things she's telling others.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Dana, Just How Incompetent Is Condi?

Q Dana, the Secretary of State was just in the Middle East, she's just back -- I mean, was there something -- what was there that she didn't accomplish that the President thinks the Vice President -- and is this any way, would you say, a comment on the state of the peace process? Is this a rescue mission?

MS. PERINO: Kathleen, I think that that is really -- I think it's a little bit outrageous to suggest that.

Poland Needs Missiles To Protect Our Missiles That Are Not Aimed At The Russians From The Russians?  Nice Foreign Policy There, Chimpy

Q Dana, what does it say that the missiles we want to put in Poland that are not a threat to Russia, we are willing to provide Poland missiles to protect from Russian missiles? In other words, if we're going to provide patriots to keep -- to prevent a Russian attack on the missile interceptors we want to put in Poland, we are now providing a threat to Russian missiles, yes?

MS. PERINO: I don't know of anyone -- except maybe some in the media -- no one is suggesting targeting Russia in this regard. We do not want to deny any ally the ability to defend themselves, and some allies ask us for help in making sure that their defenses are above board, that they are modern. And in this regard, in this particular case, Poland has said that they don't think their air defenses are good enough.

[snip]

Q But we are willing to provide Poland with the means to protect those interceptors from an attack from Russia.

MS. PERINO: Who is suggesting that Russia is going to attack anybody? Certainly no one from here is.

Q We would not be thinking about putting Patriots in Poland were it not for Russia's threat to re-target missiles on Poland if we put the interceptors in Poland.

MS. PERINO: I really don't know where you're getting that, Wendell. It's not at all in any of the discussions that we've been involved in.

Q That was certainly a part of the security guarantee.

MS. PERINO: No, it's not. I just sat in on the meeting.

Q It is not? We are not going to provide Patriots to Poland to protect the interceptors?

MS. PERINO: I just told Ben Feller that I don't know exactly what the package will look like at the end of the day. Secretary Rice has said that she'll work with Secretary Gates, and it could take several months to do the analysis and decide what we think we can do to help them modernize their air defenses.

Q Let me try one more time --

MS. PERINO: But no one is suggesting that we should defend -- that Poland needs to defend themselves against Russia.

Q Is that not precisely what the Polish Prime Minister said he needed protection for, those interceptors -- because Russia had threatened to re-target Poland if we put them there? That is not -- that was not the conversation today?

MS. PERINO: In that regard -- when they talk about missile defense, it's not about Russia. And when he talks about air defenses, it's that their systems, they feel, are not modern, and that they want to modernize it. But no one was talking about Russia attacking Poland. If that is a concern of the Polish government, I'll refer you to them and they can talk about that.

$4,600 Per Second

Q What are the administration's latest cost estimates on the war? Are you familiar with the Stiglitz article that came out over the weekend -- the Nobel Prize-winning economist, former Clinton advisor, Joseph Stiglitz -- $12 billion a month he's now estimating.

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to dispute his estimates. I don't know exactly where he gets all of it.

[snip]

Q So what's your estimate of the monthly cost of the war?

MS. PERINO: I don't have it. We'll have to -- you know, OMB could give it to you, but obviously it's very expensive.

News Flash!  Dana Peroxide:  Not An Economist

Q Dana, back on what Peter was talking about. How has inflation since 2003 impacted the cost of the war?

MS. PERINO: I'm sure it's had an impact, but, April, I'm not an economist, and we'll either try to get you an answer or refer you to OMB.

And Now, Your Daily Les

Q Governor Rick Perry of Texas has just written a new book entitled, "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For." And my question: Does the former governor of Texas who is now President agree or disagree with this title?

MS. PERINO: I don't know if he's even aware of the book. And Governor Perry was around last week and talked to him. I'm going to move on.

Q Wait a minute --

MS. PERINO: No, Les --

Q -- you don't want to leave the impression --

MS. PERINO: Les, stop.

Q --that the President opposes both his fellow Texas governor and the Boy Scouts of America, do you?

MS. PERINO: Of course he doesn't.

Your President Speaks!

Today, at the White House.

Polish The Forces

The United States recognizes the need for Polish -- the forces to be modernized.

Brainwreck

It's important for our allies to -- when they are worried about the modernization of their forces that friends respond, and we're responding.

Beware Dangerous Materials!

Along those lines we talked about the need for mutual security, and that the significant threat to the 21st century, or perhaps the most significant is the launch of a missile with dangerous materials in its warhead.

Such Types

Technologies are developing that will enable the free world to be able to defend itself from blackmail and/or strife from these such types of launches.

The Global War On Articles Continues

Look, this is a tough issue. And we changed law.

New Sins

Stop that cloning. Stop it right now:

Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

Two questions:

1. Does this mean we can threaten people who litter with hell? Cuz I'm all over that. When I was in Florida last summer, glorious sun, vast sandy beaches covered with the Big Gulps of the American south, all I could think about was how satisfying it would be to kick the next person I saw drop a Cheeto bag in the ocean really hard in the balls. It wouldn't be quite as gratifying to just say a rosary for their sure-to-burn pathetic souls, but with the way my writer's block is settling in for the long haul, I'll take my accomplishments where I can get them.

2. Can the list possibly be expanded to include whatever it is Vera Wang is doing at Kohl's? I was over there this weekend, looking for new mixing bowls and ... I don't know what that woman's smoking but I want some of it. Is this just me being one of those people who thinks the purpose of clothes is to make you look nice, rather than make people go "oh, what an interesting designer you're wearing"? Because a sack dress with a bunch of plastic shit glued on the front of it is ... not productive, let's just say. And while I personally love chartreuse, the idea of it anyway, finding six people who don't look like a dog's dinner in it is a hard fucking sell. I don't think it's nice, somehow, making things that look like that. It feels perverse, like she's screwing with us. Maybe the Holy Father can intervene.

A.

More Good News For Republikkkans

Stay the Course!

The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show.

In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion — or more — by 2017.

Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars, with Iraq generally accounting for three-quarters of the costs.

$12 billion a month?  That's $400 million a day!

Pony Up!

Newsweek Poll:  32% of Republikkkans now seeing the light.

McCain faces obstacles on several fronts. He would be the oldest person to start a first term as president, and three in 10 survey respondents think he is too old for the job. McCain is also in danger of overplaying the endorsement he received this week from President George W. Bush. Campaigning side by side with the unpopular president could hurt McCain's chances; the president's approval rating hovers around 30 percent. Even among Republicans, almost a third (32 percent) of survey respondents said they disapprove of the job Bush is doing.

The Muskrat Ramble. Sort Of.

That's a big-ass rodent.

Good news, everyone!

Scientists have isolated compounds that can powerfully attract the nutria.  The rodents can be lured to locations where they can then be disposed of. 

For those of you who live in south Mississippi and Louisiana, this is good news indeed.  For those of you unfamiliar with these twenty-pound, two-foot (excluding tail) pests, here's a brief sketch:  The nutria was introduced to Louisiana early in the 20th century as a source of fur.  They were bigger than muskrats, which had been the staple of bayou fur trappers.  But muskrats were kind of small, and they had an annoying habit of burrowing into and weakening levees, as well as eating crop stores.  Well, it turns out that nutria do the same things, are even bigger, and can reproduce at an astonishing rate.  A female nutria can breed again just two days after giving birth.  As a result, they do greater quantities of damage to both levees and crops because of their larger size and amazing fecundity.  But the nutria won't just eat crops.  They chew through houses and tires and pretty much any damn thing that's around.  Also, the fur industry kind of collapsed at the time anyway thanks to the rise of synthetic fabrics.  So, uh, oops.  Basically, the nutria is yet another shining example of the wisdom of introducing non-native species to a new environment.  (See also the fire ant, the mongoose in Hawaii, the cane toad/yellow crazy ant/camel/rabbit/fox/et cetera in Australia, and so on ad infinitum.)

So yay.  Also, there's something poetic about a scientist from New Jersey figuring out how to deal with a big rat. 

If ya know what I mean.

Rejected Title: 'If I Did It'

Via caliph garrett in comments, Dougie Feith blames the dog for eating his war:

Among the disclosures made by Feith in "War and Decision," scheduled for release next month by HarperCollins, is Bush's declaration, at a Dec. 18, 2002, National Security Council meeting, that "war is inevitable." The statement came weeks before U.N. weapons inspectors reported their initial findings on Iraq and months before Bush delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Feith, who says he took notes at the meeting, registered it as a "momentous comment."

[snip]

Others have criticized Feith's plan as relying too heavily on Iraqi exile politicians, including Ahmed Chalabi. Feith says that he considered Chalabi one of the most astute and democratically minded Iraqis but that he had no special brief for him. Instead, he charges that the State Department, the CIA and the military's Central Command were pathologically opposed to the exiles and to Chalabi in particular.

[snip]

In summarizing his view of what went wrong in Iraq, Feith writes that it was a mistake for the administration to rely so heavily on intelligence reports of Hussein's alleged stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons and a nuclear weapons program, not only because they turned out to be wrong but also because secret information was not necessary to understand the threat Hussein posed.

Hussein's history of aggression and disregard of U.N. resolutions, his past use of weapons of mass destruction and the fact that he was "a bloodthirsty megalomaniac" were enough, Feith maintains.

Irony. Whenever I think they've finally killed it, it rises from its grave to gnaw the Republic once more.

To say anything more than that this man should be in chains locked in a cell papered with pictures of the men, women and children his work helped to kill is to dignify him beyond his station.

A.

Oops. We Forgot.

Still in the game.

Looks like we forgot to put up a blogwhoring thread yesterday.  Don't worry.  First Draft still loves you.  Now get whoring!