First Draft

Advanced Nerdtastic Awesomeness

Oldest photo ever?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Ten Thousand Miles in the Mouth of a Graveyard: Galactica Thread

Arm and/or tattoo porn. Mmmmm.

Jacob:

Or as the Chorus Leader in Antigone puts it: "The maid shows herself passionate child of passionate sire, and knows not how to bend before troubles." (Antigone means "unbending.") And since we're talking about Kara, the Chorus of Theban Elders later says: "Still the same tempest of the soul vexes this maiden with the same fierce gusts." There are a lot of creepy old men in this episode doing creepy old things. Some -- most -- justified, but creepy nonetheless. I like Antigone because what it amounts to, basically, is one girl, just a normal girl, standing up to a chorus (and a series) of creepy old men, and telling them to fuck off. Because she knows what's right.

Spoilers within, per usual. 

The Stupid...it shakes out of her head....

.....like plates falling off a shelf in an earthquake.

Ann Althouse has an annoying schtick of complaining about liberal Madison. Today it is this observation on the approximate two dozen 911 calls made by county residents after feeling the eathquake that rumbled through our neck of the woods....

I can't imagine calling the police over that, but somehow 2 dozen of my neighbors did. What's their motivation? How do their minds work? Maybe when you live in a liberal outpost in the bleak Midwest, and the war goes on and the news media ask a candidate why he doesn't wear a flag pin, you get needy and you turn to government to find meaning when anything seems amiss.

Yeah only the DFH of  Madison would  call 911 searching for the greater meaning.....err wait:

From Indianapolis:

IMPD says they received 180 calls into their 911 dispatch call center between 5:30 and 6:30 am, a large number for that time of the morning.

From Clarksville TN:

Jones said the 911 log indicates 24 calls this morning making inquiries "about the shaking."

From Louisville:

Just after the temblor, city officials say the 911 dispatch center was overwhelmed with calls from people asking for information

From Chicago:

Chicago Fire Department Chief Joe Roccasalva said the tremors caused a "huge spike in calls" to the city's 911 center,

From  Warren County Ohio:

Frank Young, director of the Warren County Department of Emergency Services, said the 911 center received several calls from residents wondering if there had been an earthquake,

And the rest

The stupid....It burns and it's getting oooold Ann.  I wonder if we give her the medal and combat pay she so pathetically seeks for living in our fair city would she STFU?

Nah......

Your President Talks Too Much!

Today, in Washington, at America's Small Business Summit.

Brainwreck

On the other hand, it's the kind of place that you know the -- you knew the local shop person or the -- my friend, Jackie Hanks's Uncle Brutus had the local grocery store. And it was just that -- that fabric of the community was the small business owners.

Higher Price For Food And Gasoline

Workers and families are anxious on a variety of fronts -- including mortgage -- making mortgage bills and higher price for food and gasoline.

The Last I Can Remember Was He Predicted A "Soft Landing"

You know, we saw this coming. The last I can remember is talking to our team last year, and they said, there's a slowdown coming.

The Valley Girl President

Now, here in Washington that's like -- people say, that's not very much money.

Invest In New Plant!

Secondly, the stimulus package provides incentives for business to invest in new plant and equipment and new technologies.

What Somebody Has Got

And the reason why we're trying to provide incentives for businesses, both large and small, is because when you have the incentive to go purchase a piece of equipment, somebody has got to make the equipment.

She's A Manufacturing Concern -- Call'er Permac Industries!

I had the honor of meeting Darlene Miller. You may know Darlene. She's from a -- she's -- a manufacturing concern in Minnesota caller Permac Industries.

This How Incentives Works

The reason I bring up this example is this how -- this is how incentives work. Darlene was incented -- received an incentive to purchase machinery, to fill some space, to make sure she becomes more competitive.

Achieving An Achievement

She also had a pretty good achievement at -- and she received another good achievement, I understand.

Fighter Pilots Cannot Run Through Walls

And I met a guy named Tom Sawner. Now, he's an old fighter pilot, which means there's no wall he can run through.

What He's Got Him

He's a doer, an achiever, and he's got him a small business called Educational Options.

Rebellion In The Cerebellum

And one way that -- I mean, one thing Congress has got to understand is that there is -- what small business owners don't need is uncertainty.

What We Have Got In The Nation's Capital

Obviously there's a -- we've got needs in Washington, D.C.

Colombia:  More Than One Country

The Congress has passed laws in the past that enable Colombian goods to come here duty-free -- the vast majority of our products faces taxes to go into their countries.

He Signed The Trade Agreement Every Day For 500 Days

Yet after 500 days that we signed the agreement with Colombia, the one-sided trading relationship remains in place because the Congress has failed to act.

There Was Things

I explain to people, when I bought my first home in Midland there was actually things such as savings and loans, and the person that actually lent the money owned the note.

Do You Own A Businesses?

We want people owning their home -- we want people owning a businesses; we want people owning their own homes.

Medulla Ohmigodda

You can't make somebody an entrepreneur from government, but you can create an environment which encourages risk-taking, enables people to keep more of what they earn, let somebody stay more in the shop than in the courthouse, helps people help their workers.

Cerbral Vortex

And a lot of times, believe it or not, there is -- as I'm sure you know, that they all happen like at a kitchen table.

His Small Business Ruined By Blow

And sure enough, out of that simple idea and hard work -- because I understand as well as anybody how hard it is to build a small business, and it's not -- it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of focus and patient spouses, and sometimes spouses actually watching the money to make sure the other spouse doesn't blow it.

It Was His Desires

It was his desires to not only pay his own college education, but then to convert that into something that would be good for consumers -- obviously if it wasn't good for consumers he wouldn't have much of a business history -- good for the people he's employed.

Role Of The Government:  Always Pay

And our -- the role of government is to never stifle that spirit, is to encourage the spirit, reward the spirit, and always pay -- and always remind our citizens that we are a vibrant and prosperous and hopeful nation, because we are a land blessed with vibrant and hopeful people.

Friday Ferretblogging

Remedying the dearth of Puck on the blog of late. He's starting to drop his winter weight as it finally warms up around here, getting all sleek for bathing suit season.

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

Today, in Washington, at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

Loves Him Some Government Program

We know that government program can answer the call like our armies of compassion can -- but we also know that government programs can support, and must support, their work.

Dick Cheney Keeps Asking

Oftentimes people ask me, why is it that you're so focused on helping the hungry and diseased in strange parts of the world?

Brainwreck

During these -- as President I've seen some of the great wonders of compassion as a result of our Catholic citizens.

They Work Hard To Ask Money

Laura and I had the honor of visiting with the Little Sisters and, you know, I was struck by how hard they worked to ask money to care for the old and sick, so that the old and sick don't have to beg for money.

New HUD Chief

From AP:

WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen SBA Administrator Steve Preston to take over as head of the government's housing agency at a time of crisis in the industry, the White House announced on Friday.

SNIP

Preston has a background of 25 years in financial and operational leadership positions. Before joining SBA, he was executive vice president of The ServiceMaster Co., where he also served as chief financial officer. Before that, he was a senior vice president and treasurer of First Data Corp. and an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.

When Alphonso resigned I thought it wasn't due to the alleged cronyism or investigations or Congressional calls for his resignation as much as BushCo and friends wanting someone different at HUD to deal with the housing crisis. This appointment does not dissuade me of such thought.

Your President Speaks! AGAIN!

Yesterday, at the White House, during a presser with British PM Gordon Brown.

I'm Been A Pleasure

I'm -- been a pleasure to welcome a good friend to the Oval Office, and had a good discussion.

Fired Under Courage

Most thankful for the brilliance of the British helicopter crews that fired under courage and helped evacuate wounded Iraqi soldiers.

That Which I Feel

And I appreciate the fact that he went to the United Nations and made it abundantly clear that which I feel, as well, which is, you can't have elections unless you're willing to put the results out.

You Not Let The Will Of The People

What kind of election is it if you not let the will of the people be known?

Yes, It Would

And then of course we spent time on our economy -- ies. That would be two economies.

He Has Got The McCain Family Cookbook

And I'm -- Laura and I are going to cook you up a meal.

No Country For Old al Qaeda

Success in Iraq will be a significant blow to both al Qaeda and Iran's ambitions. And it's worth it, in my judgment, to succeed against al Qaeda, the very country -- the very group of people that attacked our country, and those who would like to do so again, even on a more massive scale.

Success = Victory + Success

And so, so long as I'm the President, my measure of success is victory and success.

The Global War On Articles Continues

And it's been effective -- effective program.

Brainwreck

And, you know, to say that, well, okay, it's okay to let them learn to enrich -- and assume that that program and knowledge couldn't be transferred to a program, a military program, is, in my judgment, naive.

Is All Aiming

And that is why the United States, in working with Britain and France and Germany and the United Nations Security Council, is all aiming to say to the Iranians: Verifiably suspend your program and there's a better way forward for you.

What We Got

We got a great relationship.

Cerebral Vortex

So it's -- our relationship is very special and it's -- I'm confident future Presidents will keep it that way.

If There Wasn't

Look, if there wasn't a personal relationship I wouldn't be inviting the man to a nice hamburger.

Appreciate Needs No Subject

Appreciate our special relationship with Britain, and I believe that the actions we've taken are making it stronger. We spent time talking about the terrorists and extremists.

Appreciate the fact that the Prime Minister briefed me on what the British commanders are saying about Iraq.

Appreciate the 7,900 British troops that are serving bravely in that country.

Appreciate the fact that some in the region have spoken out against violence.

Your President Speaks!

Yesterday, at the White House.

Like Laura Insisted We Did

Good people from Tennessee, who led hundreds of members of your community to switch to more energy-efficient light bulbs -- just like Laura insisted we did here at the White House.

Wow, That Is Good News!

And the good news is, Laura went over to dedicate the monument and did a fabulous job.

Hearing About An Old Guy

But today, you're tired of hearing about an old guy speak, we want to hear the stories of young people -- young people who will be the future leaders of the country, young people who have laid out a strategy as to how to protect their local communities and have done so.

We're not happy

I didn't see last night's debate but I assume these issues consuming the minds of American voters were at the forefront...right?
From WaPo:

The public's ratings of the national economy continue to sour, with assessments deteriorating faster than at any point in Washington Post-ABC News polling. Views on the Iraq war have also turned more negative, with six in 10 now rejecting the notion that the United States needs to win there to effectively battle terrorism.

The economy and the Iraq war are the top two issues on voters' minds, according to the new Post-ABC poll, and worsening opinions of both may dampen GOP hopes for the November elections.

Nine in 10 Americans now give the economy a negative rating, with a majority saying it is in "poor" shape, the most to say so in more than 15 years. And the sense that things are bad has spread swiftly. The percentage who hold a negative view of the economy is up 33 points over the past year, and the percentage who rate the economy "poor" has increased 13 points in the past two months. That is the quickest 60-day decline since The Post and ABC started asking the question, in 1985.

Views of the Iraq war have dipped as well. Now, more than six in 10 say that the conflict is not integral to the success of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. That is the most people to reject what is one of the Bush administration's central contentions and a core part of presumed GOP presidential nominee John McCain's stand on the issue.

Picture...Headline

Mkay....

I want a Jet Ski

I love John Edwards.
Last night on The Colbert Report:

RIP: Danny Federici

Sad news....from NJ.com

Danny Federici, the longest-serving member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, died Thursday afternoon at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York after a three-year battle with melanoma. He was 58.

Keyboardist Federici, a Flemington native, played his last full show with the band in Boston in November before beginning treatment. Veteran session musician Charles Giordano replaced him at subsequent shows.

Federici made a poignant final appearance with the band last month in Indianapolis, playing on eight songs, including "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," which spotlighted his atmospheric accordion playing.

Here is that performance:

Sludge study on low-income, African-American families raises ethical questions

I probably shouldn't be shocked, but I am. It's just hard to believe this shit sludge still happens, but here it is:

Three more lawmakers are seeking investigations of federally funded research in poor, black neighborhoods that resulted in sewage sludge being spread on several families' lawns in attempt to determine whether it could combat lead poisoning in children.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Elijah Cummings, both D-Md., wrote to departing Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson on Thursday asking why and how HUD picked nine Baltimore families for the study and whether they got adequate information about the potential harm. Jackson's last day in office is Friday.

"We are strong supporters of federal efforts to abate the damage caused by lead paint. Yet this study has raised serious questions about the safety of the families who participated in the study," they wrote.

SNIP

The Associated Press reported Sunday that the mix of human and industrial wastes from sewage treatment plants was spread on the lawns of nine low-income families in Baltimore and a vacant lot next to an elementary school in East St. Louis, Ill.

Researchers were trying to show whether lead in the soil from chipped paint and car exhausts would bind to the sludge.

"This article raises serious allegations that federal grants may have been used for unethical research as well as questions about the wisdom of using taxpayer dollars for these grants," Issa wrote in a letter Tuesday to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who chairs the committee.

The research conducted in 2001 and 2002 was funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Researchers said the families were assured the sludge was safe, but were not told that there have been some health concerns over heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues, chemicals and the use of sludge.

The study concluded that phosphate and iron in sludge can increase the ability of soil to trap more harmful metals, including lead, cadmium and zinc, causing the combination to pass safely through a child's body if eaten. Other researchers disputed that finding. An AP review of grant documents found no evidence of any medical follow-up.

Mikulski's letter here

More here including past controversial studies conducted by the above study's author.

Um, Ew

McCain and "Free Media:"

And finally — and perhaps most importantly — McCain will rely on free media to an unprecedented degree to get out his message in a fashion that aims to not only minimize his financial disadvantage but also drive a triangulated contrast among himself, the Democratic nominee and President Bush.

McCain advisers acknowledge they have little choice but to seek free entry into the media marketplace, as they have no chance of matching Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton in a dollar-for-dollar ad war, given that the Arizona senator’s fundraising totals pale in comparison to both his prospective opponents and the Bush-Cheney political machine.

But aides also hope they can turn necessity into virtue and argue that by facing tough questions from reporters on his bus each day and potentially even tougher ones from audience members at frequent town hall meetings, McCain will demonstrate how he’s different from two politicians who are far less accessible.

Right. I can't imagine why he'd think that strategy would pay off. Maybe he should have a barbecue, invite some reporters over, treat them like pals. That might help, too.

Seriously, this whole story has this breathless, Blanche DuBois attitude about it, the whole "Ooh, he's such a brave, strong man, running such a scary, unorthodox campaign ... can he pull it off? Tune in tomorrow to find out!" soap opera feel. Couple that with the typical "McCain will rely on the media, of which I am in no way a part, even as I report on McCain" dodge, and you have like a perfect storm of the political press. Blech.

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Blogging Journalism, Cont'd

True enough:

I'm not one of those who say "blogs aren't journalism". A blog is just a medium and a style of publishing. But a blogger is a journalist only if he or she is doing journalism -- verifying information gathered, seeking response, avoiding conflicts of interest, and otherwise following long-established rules of ethical behavior.

My problem comes when print and TV journalists sneer at political bloggers' contributions to the discourse (a discourse, by the way, which looks like it could use contributing to pretty badly) by saying, "They're not really journalists." Which OH SNAP ignores the fact that quite a lot of us realize we're not journalists, don't want to be journalists, wouldn't be journalists if you paid us (which you won't) and generally just want to be smartasses on the Internet. Stop thinking it's an insult if it doesn't even apply. You might as well try to get to me by telling me I'll never win a Grammy. Even my mom's given up on that dream.

And speaking of raising the bar, it's generally accepted practice in the blogosphere to give credit (via link, hat tip, etc) to where you found a story, as best you can. I'd like to see THAT practice adopted by mainstream journalists, so long as we're exchanging rules and regs. Mostly because it would force TV stations to quit doing rip n read from whatever the local paper came up with that day, and force larger papers to acknowledge their use of smaller ones as basically tip sheets when they're not stealing outright.

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Feith Tonight

I'll be on the radio here tonight at 6 p.m. CST, to talk about Feith's book and Special Plans, and in preparation for that, I poured a generous dose of whiskey into my coffee and listened to Feith on Hannity's show, a bit generously hosted by Spocko's Brain.

Feith essentially said -- during the occasional break in Hannity's usual schtick of "liberals don't know the history of the world, I DO!!!!" -- that Bush screwed up and trusted the CIA when it came to WMD. It was a repeat of a claim he made on CNN here:

He also went into a routine about how he never held with the idea of creating democracy in Iraq, a direct contradiction of what David Neiwert came up with in the piece we published in Special Plans about the Bush Doctrine. According to Feith, handing Iraq over to the exiles and Chalabi (he's careful not to use the name on Hannity, you'll notice) was the way to go, and "that was the view that prevailed at State, lost at the White House but won in Baghdad." In other words, don't look at Rumsfeld and me, look at Colin Powell. Yeah. Good luck with that line.

It doesn't really surprise me that Hannity doesn't ask the natural follow-up, which is, "Doug, you were at the Pentagon until August 8, 2005. By then the US had had, in your mind, the predicted disastrous occupation government in Iraq for more than a year. Yet you sat back and watched instead of quitting and speaking up then. Why?"

I suspect the answer would involve a lot of squirming, which is why the question never even occurred to Hannity.

In addition, Feith said that 9/11 focused Americans on the idea that countries could have weapons of mass destruction. At which point I turned the sound off lest the screaming scare the neighbors. As I recall, 9/11 focused Americans on anthrax and airplanes, with a sideline into how we could lay hands on some red-white-and-blue body paint and beat the shit out of Sikh cab drivers. WMDs weren't our main concern until Dick Cheney started talking about them.

I don't expect intellectual honesty from this crowd, really, but I do expect some basic understanding of what went on while they were, you know, engaged in government service. Jesus.

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Any Idiot

Michael Tomasky makes interesting points about so-called "private" fundraisers and what is said there and agreements about on- and off-the-record, but then goes into this:

Journalists relinquish rights frequently in the course of doing their work responsibly, as you well know. Citizens have the right of free speech, meaning that Joe Schmoe can stand in the courthouse square screaming "Barack Obama loves Hitler!" all day long, and the ACLU, and I, will defend his right to do so. But a journalist who wants to commit that sentence to print cannot do so without adducing some proof. Having a platform means that you have some responsibilities, and responsibilities are the opposite of rights.

So there are still some things to sort out about all this. I'd suggest, for starters, that any citizen-journalist who has made political donations be forced to list them at the bottom of every post (interestingly, Fowler also donated $250 to Fred Thompson, according to the FEC page linked to above). I'd also say that citizen-journalists ought to have the responsibility, when the circumstances merit it, of seeking follow-up comment from the other side (or, in the case above, giving Obama aides the standard chance to clarify). That's the tough part of journalism. Any idiot can run a tape recorder.

Any idiot can also figure out that the Internet is just as much subject to the law as anything else, so maybe not so much with the conflating of "guy on street corner screaming" and "blogger," 'kay? He takes what is basically the AP Stylebook and says bloggers ought to adopt it, and ... okay, but Bill Kristol first, you know? And not for nothing, but should that guy on the street corner get a little too vociferous, mean-spirited and effective, we have slander laws on the books, too. Any idiot ... forget it, the joke writes itself and that's no fun. 

I would like to suggest, just for starters, that every journalist who has ever made a political contribution be forced to list it at the end of every article. I'm sure in Tomasky's imaginary World of Journalism Factory where every reporter and every media outlet follows The Same Rules, such things Are Not Done and no journalist would ever, ever, ever contribute to a campaign. Much less fuck, date or marry someone on a campaign. Much less get so chummy with a candidate that he or she would bend the rules for that candidate. Much less report something without properly attributing it, or seeking response from the other side, or attempting basic fairness and faith to the facts of the case.

I'll give you all a minute to stop laughing. This isn't, by the by, a case of "they suck, so can we" as much as it is "they suck, so stop telling us to be like them" argument. Fact is, while there are generally loosely accepted ideas of what journalism is, largely handed down by word of mouth in frighteningly cavalier fashion from editor to reporter and teacher to student, what "the rules" entail varies wildly from one media outlet to another, and it's just as reductive and insulting to assume that all "journalists" follow them as it is to assume that all bloggers do not.

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Boils Down Like A Bunny

If there is any reason why Molly Ivors and I should not be joined in Internet matrimony ...

Look, people who left the Dems between Kennedy and Reagan did so for one reason: civil fucking rights. Blather on all you want about traditional values and welfare queens and entitlement programs, but it boils down, like a bunny, to one thing: black people should have remembered their place. The Southern Strategy worked, and not just in the South. Northern racists bought it too. I challenge Louisiana to produce as thoroughgoing  a bigot as Thers's late Uncle Dave, a man who hoarded rusty canned goods and moldering reel-to-reel tapes from the John Birch Society in his basement in Queens, guarding against the day when hordes of black people were going to come marching up Northern Boulevard in Flushing and target electrician's shops full of broken equipment. And don't get me started on cops like Father Dowd, who mistake their contact with criminals for some bizarre kind of anthropological evidence. It's a load of crap.

Word with word sauce and a side of word. And I can't agree with that without parsing out the brilliance of the Republican party operatives who figured out that yeah, on the other side of the aisle are people telling you how you can hang in and fight and be good people and not oppress anybody, but over here, it's so much cheaper to tell you to retreat into your little mental hole and just hate the people we tell you are at fault for the gnawing fear in your gut. Won't make you less afraid, but it will make you more likely to vote for us, so everybody wins.

Which gives us the past 30 years of this bullshit whereby it's always somebody else's fault, somebody's always coming to get you, and anybody telling you different is just someone else for you to hate. Which gives us Bush, and this election, and everything in between, and it's gonna keep happening until there's nothing left in our mouths but ashes.

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Caption This

(REUTERS/Jason Reed)

Yeah Yeah Yeah ... Wait, What?

It's possible I'm going crazy. It's possible. But do you see this?

The Pope said church officials were going through the seminaries that train would-be priests to make sure that those candidates have no such tendencies. “We’ll do all that is possible to have a strong discernment, because it is more important to have good priests than to have many priests.”

Those are the choices? Bunch of pedophiles, or not enough priests? What kind of idiotic veiled threat is that? Your recruitment problems, Holy Father, are not caused by having to weed out all the child molesters because it's required by law. Your recruitment problems are caused by your continued efforts to force a church that, let's face it, has never been exactly forward-thinking further back into the dark ages while rewarding those who coddle child rapists with rich villas in Italy. Your recruitment problems are caused by this and any number of other things, so maybe NOT SO MUCH with blaming the necessity of getting rid of criminals for your abandonment of your stewardship responsibilities.

Jesus.  Pun intended. 

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Lobbyist Love

I was breifly represented in Congress by the loathsome Lamar Smith until the courts nullified one of Tom DeLay's re-redistricted districts.

One of Washington's minor traditions is to name post offices after heroes, usually recently deceased. A lot of them have been named recently for service members killed in Iraq.

But Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) has taken a new approach. He's pushing to name a post office after a prominent, very-much-alive lobbyist.

And that's not all. His legislation started moving through the House on the same day the lobbyist's employer donated $5,000 to him.

I Would Not Have A Beer With John Adams

I would let Thomas Jefferson order whatever kind of ale he wanted, though. I'm just saying, Stephen Dillane is almost impossibly beautiful and my crush is getting a little out of hand.

Hunter:

Where did we get this notion that the President of the United States should be a drinking buddy? Where did we get the notion that the strongest nation on earth should be led by a folksy, easy-to-like drunk? I don't mean where did the country get this notion, I mean when did the media decide that this was a valid measure of a leader, something worth endlessly discussing, and analyzing, and tittering over? When facing down the leader of a rogue nation in a series of intense negotiations, I don't want the guy shooting pool at the corner bar, I want someone with a head for the job, for God's sake, and I don't give a rats ass if he likes buffalo wings, or bowling, or can smash an empty beer can on his head. (A point of trivia: the first President to try to smash a beer can on his head was John Quincy Adams. Unfortunately, beer cans did not exist back then, only kegs, so Adams gave himself a hell of a concussion attempting the feat.)

Yes, we all understand that, if no other information about a candidate is forthcoming, voters will attempt to divine a candidate's values, positions or general worth from whatever minor points of familiarity can be gleaned. This is human nature; this is how uninformed voters vote. But when that happens, that is a failure of our Democracy, not a strength.

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Show Me Something

They think it's for their benefit:

I am in no way unhappy with the outcome of Nuremberg, but my understanding is that most international lawyers regard them basically as show trials. I’m not sure they’re a great example to use.

[snip]

[The Nuremberg Trials] may well be the most significant action taken by the American government in the 20th to establish ourselves as defenders of the rule of law. The Bush administration has done immeasurable damage to our standing in the world by approving policies of torture, extraordinary rendition, and secret prisons - among many, many other things. McArdle’s glib dismissal of history and law is only shocking to the extent that she purports to be a libertarian. Otherwise such a passive acceptance of the abandonment of the rule of law in America is fairly indicative of what we have seen from the American press, a fact that goes a long way to explaining why the Bush administration has not been held accountable for their lawlessness.

You know, we are rapidly getting to a point where people cannot conceive of anything being done because it's right, is the truly frightening thing about all this. For years we've had these structures, these assurances, these ways of pulling ourselves back from the edge, and now we think, let's just declare "game over" and say it's time to "move on" and not worry so goddamn much about the "past" and all that, because it's just a show, really. It's just something to watch on TV. It's just something we can all look at, from the outside, from the other side of the plexiglass window, and watch, and feel things about. It doesn't really mean anything. Show trials. Jesus Marie Antoinette Christ, show trials, she says.

Because this is the end result of all our focus on how we, as a nation, fucking feel today. This is the result: people seriously advancing the argument that the Nuremberg Trials were for show, because ... what else could they be for? Justice? Mercy, even? Fuck no. The only purpose of anything is to make us feel a certain way, nothing is real, the cake is a lie, it's all just a dream Sue Ellen had and Bobby's in the shower or something. Show trials. SHOW trials.

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'Elections Cannot Inconvenience Me'

"They ratify my will or I neuter them."

It really becomes remarkable, how you can cue up the Deadwood transcripts to any given page, find something that relates to John McCain.

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Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Chimpy Is No Fan Of The First Amendment

Q Thanks. Can you just offer a little insight as to why the President would sort of part with his own tradition of not going out to Andrews to greet leaders, and do so for a religious leader, but not having done it for political leaders?

MS. PERINO: Well, obviously, as I said, it's an historic and important visit.

[snip]

Q How does the White House balance the different elements for an arrival ceremony? Is it a secular head of state arrival? Is it, in part, religious overtones, with the singing of "The Lord's Prayer"?

MS. PERINO: Well, this is a little bit different, in that the head of state is also the head of the Catholic Church that is visiting the White House. And so I think we've struck the right balance, and that it's perfectly appropriate for the White House to welcome the Pope and have one of the songs performed tomorrow by Kathleen Battle -- who we are very happy to have at the White House -- she'll be singing "The Lord's Prayer." And many people across America and across the world say that prayer in order to provide themselves comfort and confidence in getting their day started. And so we think it's perfectly appropriate.

Q Can I just follow?

MS. PERINO: No, I think I'll go over here to Mark.

Pope Ratzo Is No Fan Of Chimpy's Vanity War

Q  Last year in his Easter message, the Pope said, "Nothing positive comes from Iraq." How does the President speak to the Holy Father about that subject?

MS. PERINO: Well, they have a relationship that is based on trust and they are able to have frank conversations. I will say that while Iraq has come up in the past when the President has talked to the Pope, as I understand it, they're not prolonged conversations about it. Obviously there was a difference of opinion back in 2003 and beyond, in subsequent years. But now I think that there is an understanding that with the strategy that's working in Iraq right now, the most important thing we can do is help to solidify the situation, root it into freedom and democracy so that people of religious minorities -- I'm sorry, people of a religious faith who are minorities in their countries can practice freely and be free from persecution. And that is something that they share. I expect them to touch on that a little bit.

Q On the war, do you expect him to say, we just politely disagree, let's move on?

MS. PERINO: I don't expect any public conversation about it. But they will have a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office and it's possible that it could come up; I won't rule it out. But I don't think it will be -- I don't think it will dominate the conversation in any way.

[snip]

Q Dana, back to Iraq. I was struck by what you said, that the most important thing we can do now is to sort of -- is to basically finish and to bring about peace. And I wonder, does the -- will the President try to make that case to the Pope? In other words, even though he may have disagreed with the decision to invade Iraq, will he now try to find common ground in this way to say, look, the best thing we can do there now is --

MS. PERINO: Sheryl, I really don't think that the President is planning to spend a lot of time talking about the issues of Iraq with the Pope.

Bear Stearns CEO Remains Employed in Defiance of All Reason

Thank God he won't miss a paycheck. I was so worried.

You know, I wouldn't be so bitter about shit like this if it wasn't for that if I sucked as much at my job as this guy did at his, I'd be fired, and there wouldn't be any golden parachute, there'd just be me, and the box of my stuff they threw out the window after me.

A.

TMI, Chimpy

Holy Crap!™

In this house, President Jefferson spread the word that liberty was the right of every individual. In this house, Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark off on the mission that helped make America a continental nation. And in this house, Jefferson was known to receive guests in his bathrobe and slippers.  Laura said no. I don't have a bathrobe.

ABC Wants A Pony

High snark from ABC News.

Bush Defeats Truman

At 39 months in the doghouse, George W. Bush has surpassed Harry Truman's record as the postwar president to linger longest without majority public approval.

Bush hasn't received majority approval for his work in office in ABC News/Washington Post polls since Jan. 16, 2005 — three years and three months ago. The previous record was Truman's during his last 38 months in office.

[snip]

In the latest ABC/Post poll, just 33 percent of Americans approve of Bush's work, a point from his career-low 32 percent earlier this year. Sixty-four percent disapprove, with those who "strongly" disapprove outnumbering strong approvers by a 3-1 margin.

The president's rating has been remarkably stable — 32 or 33 percent approval in the last nine national ABC/Post polls, comprising nearly 10,000 interviews since July. Indeed, Bush hasn't exceeded 36 percent approval since November 2006.

Two Years After

They're letting Bilal Hussein go.

The U.S. military said Monday it will release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, more than two years after he was detained by U.S. Marines on suspicions of links to insurgents. The military said it has determined Hussein is not a threat and plans to free him Wednesday.

In the past week, Iraqi judicial committees dismissed all allegations against Hussein and ordered his release. The last allegations were dropped Sunday — a day after Hussein marked his second full year in custody.

The AP and Hussein, 36, have denied any improper contacts and said he was only doing his job as a journalist working in a war zone.

AP President Tom Curley expressed relief.

"In time we will celebrate Bilal's release. For now, we want him safe and united with his family. While we may never see eye to eye with the U.S. military over this case, it is time for all of us to move on," said Curley.

A statement by Multinational Forces-Iraq said Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, commander of coalition detention facilities in Iraq, signed the release order after confirming the Iraqi committee's decision to grant Hussein amnesty — a ruling that drops legal proceedings but does not assume or determine guilt or innocence.

Hussein — who had been held since April, 12, 2006 — was never brought to trial.

I don't hold out any hope, any at all, that Michelle will issue an apology. She and her band of hsyterical assclown admirers have secret e-mail, after all, proving them right, and so will go right on making their little "Rope, Tree, Journalist" cracks without fear of looking idiotic, because really, it's not like accuracy or fairness or human decency are important to anyone who signs her paychecks. It's not like she has a reputation to uphold. It's not like she has a soul to worry about losing. After two years, it's not her, being sent out into the sunlight with a pat on the shoulder and a "Hey, our bad."

Still, I find it curious. These are some of most advanced paranoids on the planet, who wake and sleep beneath their Star Wars sheets with visions of Islamofascist invasion dancing in their heads like sugarplums. These are people who see boogeymen around every corner, who think about nothing except how to be well-armed for the 28 Days Later sitch that only THEY can see coming. Why the hell don't things like this make them wonder about the karmic blowback, the roar of which I can hear from my house, surely coming our way?

Think of all the people we've imprisoned (sorry, I'm not saying "detained," it makes it sound like the waiter was slow with your fucking lunch) and all the people we've tortured and all the people we've blown into itty bitty little pieces. Think of all the people who knew those people, every single one of them, think of all their friends and family. And then think, if it was you? What would your parents want, for the people who'd done that to you? What would your friends want, your sister and brother, your spouse, your lover, your neighbor, your fucking garbage collector? What would all those people think, about the people who'd done things to you?

If you can't hate what has happened to this country because you love this country, if you can't hate it because you love the rule of law or because you love your freedoms or because you believe yourself bound to it by history and blood, maybe you can hate what has happened to this country for fearful, selfish reasons. It always amazes me that Michelle and her freakboys don't think what I think, FUCK SHIT JESUS IF THEY WEREN'T TERRORISTS WHEN WE THREW THEM IN JAIL FOR NO REASON THERE'S ONE HELL OF A FUCKING GOOD CHANCE THEY WILL BE BY THE TIME WE ADMIT WE'RE FULL OF SHIT AND LET THEM GO JESUS GOD.

A.

Keeping Costs Low

Yeah, that's what it's about.

It never fails to absolutely fucking stagger me, the shit we let insurance companies feed us and never even question. I don't mean that I automatically subscribe to the idea that everybody who works for an insurance company everywhere is out to utterly screw you. I mean that it's beyond my comprehension that during all our national wankery about "tort reform" and "prescription drug costs" nobody ever advances the fucking basic idea that maybe, just maybe, these companies make too much fucking money.

There are now two superproviders that increasingly dominate the for-profit healthcare field. One is UnitedHealth, which capped a long series of acquisitions with the 2005 purchase of Pacificare for some $8 billion. In 2006 United's health services revenues reached an astounding $64 billion, and its medical enrollment rose to about 28 million individuals.

The other giant is Wellpoint Inc., created through the blockbuster 2004 merger of Anthem Inc. and Wellpoint Health Network, formerly Blue Cross of California. Wellpoint later spent $6.5 billion to acquire WellChoice, the publicly traded parent of New York's Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. By 2006 Wellpoint controlled the Blues in 14 states, had some 34 million members and took in annual revenues of about $52 billion.

The second tier consists of Aetna (2006 revenues and members, respectively: $25 billion and 15 million), Humana ($21 billion and 11 million), Cigna ($16 billion and 9 million) and Health Net ($13 billion and 7 million).

The real problem with class warfare is the severe lack of it.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Silly Gagglers, Chimpy Never Takes Responsibility For Anything

Q Just one more on the issue you brought up initially, on worldwide food shortages. Does the President feel any responsibility himself for that, because he's been such a hard backer of ethanol? I know he's talked about different sources of ethanol, but he's also really backed corn-based ethanol, and that's blamed by a lot of people for driving up prices and costs.

MS. PERINO: I think there's a lot of different issues that go in -- there are a lot of factors that go into higher food prices or food shortages in countries that need help in order to feed their populations.

Former Senator Dog-Humper Never Heard Of John F. Kennedy?

Q  It's been suggested that the President, who has met so often with Catholic leaders and reached out so aggressively to Catholic groups, and whose social views very closely reflect Catholic Orthodoxy, is actually America's first Catholic President. What do you think of that? (Laughter.)

MS. PERINO: He's also been called America's -- or, the first Jewish President, is what the Israelis call him, too.

[snip]

Q It was actually Rick Santorum, I think, who gets credit for that. But has the President heard that suggestion before?

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Today on Athenae's Obsession with the Amazon Discussion of Douglas Feith

Damn, Gina. From a discussion called "dumbest f_cking guy on the planet:"

Semper Fi to that from a combat disabled Marine. Feith is one of the key chickenhawks behind the lies and incompetence leading to the Iraq war among many other blunders ... A disgrace.

Natch, that doesn't go over well:

I applaud your service--once a Marine, always a Marine. But that doesn't give you any more right to impugn others as "chickenhawks" and "liars." President Bush, Douglas Feith, et al., did the best that they could to achieve a rapidly-decisive victory and secure our country.

---

Give me a break! You're so filled with self-hatred and dislike for this country. Everyone else is a "chicken hawk," right? I'm sure it's a projection of your own feelings of inferiority for having never served. The Bush administration has done its best, I'm sure. It's people like you who have no sense of the progress being made and the successes we've achieved, and who will never even challenge the mindless statements and opinions being promulgated by the mainstream media. Go back and turn into NPR, ooh-and-ahh at the "sophisticated" sportscaster/journalist on MSNBC, and copulate to your newest Chomsky book.

---

Hey moron, it was George Tenet who said it was a "Slam dunk" Sadam had weapons of mass destruction. If you don't believe me, look it up in Bob Woodwards book. Oh and by the way is Tony Blair a liar, or Russian intelligence, ETC. need I go on? Stop this Leftist Propaganda. You have no facts!!!!! Go back to your Obama pep rally.

I hope Feith shows up at some point and argues with them, like Anne Rice.

I'll be on the radio Thursday evening in Urbana, Ill. talking Feith and the blogs. Information is here.

A.

Your President Speaks!

Today, at the White House.

Says Businesses Are Pissed

This administration anticipated these times. We worked with Congress to pass a pro-growth package that incensed businesses to invest; a pro-growth package that will be sending some of your taxpayers' money back to you.

There Is Constructive Things

Congress needs to modernize FHA; they need to modernize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I mean, there's constructive things Congress can do that will encourage the housing market to correct quickly by encouraging -- helping people stay in their homes.

Everything I Know About Politics I Learned From Watching Hockey

To the Crack Den's point.

A.

Heckuva Job Alphonso

There is the alleged cronyism and corruption. Then there was the photo homage to himself and the grand manner style portrait.  Today from WaPo we also learn that Alphonso Jackson "made a show" of having a chef at HUD. And he liked security....."Though all Cabinet members are entitled to security, some have eschewed the expense. Jackson sought a full-time detail." But to top it off we now learn that Alphonso was crappy at his job. (well apparent successful fealty to Bush's plans aside...crappy crafting of policy, harmful for us)

WaPo looks at how Jackson "encouraged policies that threatened to exacerbate the mortgage crisis, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former HUD officials and housing experts, and a review of numerous HUD documents and audits."

From WaPo:

In the policy arena, Jackson quickly made known his loyalty to Bush and his determination to help increase the number of U.S. homeowners by at least 5 million. Loans by FHA-approved lenders accounted for less than 10 percent of the overall market in the past five years, but its loan programs were supposed to be targeted to low- and moderate-income individuals, many of them first-time buyers.

In 2006, Jackson proposed plans to modernize the FHA lending process. Backed by the White House, his proposal would allow FHA lenders to offer loans with no down payment, eliminating the long-standing 3 percent minimum. Lenders also could increase the size of the loan to cover the median home price in high-cost areas. High-risk borrowers could qualify by agreeing to pay higher premiums.

Jackson said the goals were to encourage first-time home buyers and to help the FHA compete with the booming subprime market. In an online White House forum in 2007, he said the FHA "is undergoing a historic transformation to give homebuyers who do not qualify for prime financing a better alternative to high-cost, high-risk loan products."

But Inspector General Kenneth Donohue chided Jackson and FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery, a former White House political aide with no previous housing experience. Testifying on Capitol Hill in March 2007, Donohue agreed that the FHA needed changes to help working families, but not to mimic subprime lenders. He said some of the changes could distract the FHA from its affordable-housing mission while helping government-backed lenders reach high-end buyers.

He also expressed concern that Jackson's proposals would do nothing to detect abuse and fraud. At the time, the FHA monitored 6 to 7 percent of the loans in its portfolio.

SNIP

Jackson also issued a rule allowing FHA lenders more self-policing. Under the lender insurance rule that HUD implemented in 2006, lenders could endorse FHA loans without prior review and no longer had to submit loan paperwork to HUD. The agency's inspector general and the FBI objected, and HUD's office of general counsel registered concern because detecting fraud would be more difficult without lenders' paperwork.

Donohue warned the Senate that the rule "permits those with the potential to perpetrate fraud upon the insurance fund" to keep the evidence of a crime.

SNIP

Inside HUD, numerous staffers said, Jackson made clear that he believed overregulating and investigating mortgage lenders could harm the president's homeownership goals.

On Jan. 4, 2006, the U.S. attorney in Detroit announced what was then the largest mortgage fraud case ever filed. Based on a HUD audit, law enforcement officers found a pattern of falsified mortgage documents by ABN Amro, one of the largest FHA-approved mortgage lenders. The company agreed to pay $41 million in a civil settlement.

Jackson and Montgomery, according to three current and former government officials familiar with the matter, reacted coolly to the historic settlement. Both complained to their staffs that punishing FHA lenders could backfire if they wanted those lenders' help in increasing homeownership.

SNIP

HUD has a standing agreement to refer cases to its inspector general when it suspects mortgage fraud. But an audit by that office of one sample of recent records found that HUD did not refer more than two-thirds of the potentially fraudulent FHA mortgage loans it identified.

"If all of the regulators, including HUD, had looked specifically at mortgage fraud, looking at fair lending and fair housing in a more proactive way, the crisis might have not been as bad," Berenbaum said.

Only one thing to say...Heckuva Job Fuckmook