First Draft

Weekend Question Thread

Pets.

What do you have?

A.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Because that kind of sums up the week.

Post away.

A.

Yeah, They Could At Least Throw In The Health Care

So long as we're doing Stalinism, apparently:

I would throw in the ecstatic rightwing support for police state government powers (and I’m not talking about the fringe – the line starts at Andrew Sullivan and includes every Republican Congressperson save one) to make a larger point. On the subject of government power, the reversal was so extreme that it was like watching the GOP step out of a bodysnatcher pod. It became obvious America doesn’t have a conservative party any longer. There aren’t even that many conservatives; if it was Jews most cities couldn’t form a minyan. In the late Bush era, if you count out the fringe parties we have on the one hand reformed ‘conservatives’ whose domestic and foreign policy amounts to stalinism minus the healthcare, and on the other hand you have Democrats.

We've had about sixteen things go wrong in one week, and I was talking offline about this with some people, but what Democrats aren't grasping entirely is just how fucking fucked we are, as a country, when governed with this kind of selfish "fuck you, I got mine and you ain't getting yours" mentality. Governed by fear, governed by rage, governed by suspicion, governed by our worst instincts and darkest thoughts and most batshit worst-case scenarios. Governed by the people who, on balance, looked at the numbers and said fuck it, let's go pack this in, it's Miller time, and so what if a few more die while we chill?

A.

Fill in the blank:

Larry Craig and David Vitter co-sponsoring the Marriage Protection Amendment is like________________________________________.

Attacks in Afghanistan up 40%

CNN reported today that "the number of foreign forces in Afghanistan killed in June has reached 39, the highest monthly toll of the war."

In a Wednesday article Stars and Stripes reported that tactics used by insurgents in Afghanistan are becoming more complex and it included this:

Compared to the same time period in 2007, there has been a 40 percent increase in attacks against coalition personnel in Afghanistan since he took his post in early April, Schloesser said. [Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-101]

Insurgents attacking coalition forces have increased their use of direct-fire attacks, indirect fire attacks which employ mortars and crude rockets, and improvised explosive devices such as roadside bombs, Schloesser said.

The enemy has decreased its number of suicide attacks, Schloesser said.

Twelve percent of all attacks, Schloesser said, are cross-border forays from Pakistan’s frontier into Afghanistan by an increasingly diverse variety of groups that are using the no-man’s land as a safe haven.

Stupid Shit Friday

Simple enough, right?

Does the world ever seem absurd beyond reckoning to you?

Above, you will see an ice cube bin.  You probably have one in your freezer.  Well, I recently bought a new one, myself. 

It's an ice cube bin.  Labeled as such.  For the storage of ice cubes.  In your average department store, they're sold right next to the ice cube trays. 

If this seems a little repetitive, please just bear with me. 

When I got home, and proceeded to wash it, I peeled off the adhesive label.  And, at this time, I took a close look.  Here's what it said:

Ice Cube Bin

• Holds up to 4 trays of ice
• Freezer/top rack dishwasher safe

Wait, what?

• Freezer/top rack dishwasher safe

Huh.  Ya think?

I mean, was that really necessary?  Does anyone make non-fucking-freezer-safe ice cube bins?  Wouldn't that be like making a non-oven-safe cookie sheet?

Sometimes, I just gotta scratch my head.

Friday Ferretblogging: Troublemaking Edition

Disclaimer: I know we brought this on ourselves. We adopted big, fat, young boy ferrets, and they're made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails and they're just being big fat young boy ferrets. I'm not really angry at them. "Vermin" and "varmint" are terms of affection.

Now. I don't know what it is this week. Astrology out of whack again? Moon phase not right? Heat making the beasties as crazy as it's making me? For whatever reason, they've chosen this particular moment in time to be absolute monsters, climbing things we didn't think they could climb (how did you get up THERE?!!?), finding new places to use as a latrine (I'll just clean under the ... eww), shredding important mail (I might NEED that credit card offer if this thing with the gas prices keeps up) and generally making unholy pests out of themselves.

And after they do something like, say, pry open the door to the recycling bin and make a nest out of all the paper and plastic, they give me these looks:

Which is why when I refer to them as "crow bait," it's said with a great deal of love.

A.

Sigh

This is why it's pointless to "work with them."

Because in the end, no matter how much they pretend to be your friends, they will fuck you when it matters. They have always done this, will always do this, and since nobody really cares anyway if Republicans and Democrats are nice to each other so long as they can continue to eat, you might as well on balance not waste your time.

It's on Brownback that he's acting like a fucking asshole, don't get me wrong. But this is exactly why most people who've been relatively awake for the past eight years hear "bipartisanship" and "working across the aisle" and "ending the gridlock in Washington" and "getting things done for YOU" and hear the sound of one hand wanking Richard Cohen.

A.

Today on Athenae's Obsession with the Freepi: Vote For McCain!

The fate of Western civilization "is in the balance:"

The fate of Western Civilization is in the balance, and the very best person the republicans could find was McCain???

---

The GOP forces this moron down our throats, then we are told that the entire fate of civilization depends on us to agree with them. What a bunch of lunatics!

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No President can save western civilation, especially McCain or Obama.

---

Sounds like the promo for a WWF event.

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I could care less and I refuse to choose between the Flaming Marxist and the RINO Liberal!!! The Republican Party has cut it’s own nuts off when it gave us Conservatives the finger after 2004.

---

I remember people saying the same thing about Carter, and twice about Clinton...but we’re still here.

As an extra little treat, apparently Barack Obama was secretly born outside the US and smuggled in here as a Muslim plot. So running through the thread about how McCain sucks are demands that The Mystery Obstetrician Reveal Himself To Us:

I want the hospital records. Funny how no one has come forth claiming to have been the doctor or nurse who delivered the man.

A.

Happy Feingold Foto

For he is the sexy hotness and there can be no denying of this fact.

Photo source here.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With [Yesterday's] Gaggle

Dana Sez We Can't Outlaw Torture

Q Has the President ever considered an executive order that would ban torture specifically? There's a letter out now from a bipartisan group of former Secretaries of State, including Secretary of State George Shultz, with whom the President was a couple of weeks ago, and former Defense Secretaries and military officials saying that there should be an executive order with the force of law saying that torture is unacceptable.

MS. PERINO: Well, we certainly respect the views of George Shultz. And one thing I would point to is that we have a set of laws that have been passed during this administration, and an executive order, in fact. There was the Detainee Treatment Act, there was the Military Commissions Act, and then there was the President's executive order interpreting Common Article 3.

So we feel like we have taken steps to address that issue. And I would also point out that we face a very different enemy today than America has ever faced before. We face an enemy that respects no borders, respects no uniforms, and certainly has no regard for civilians, especially innocent women and children and the elderly. So we take his position seriously, but we do think that we have the mechanisms in place to address the issue.

Sovereignty Is A Bitch

Q After the meeting with President Talabani, how close is the U.S. and Iraq to reaching an agreement on the strategic force --

MS. PERINO: Well, they continue to work on it, and I couldn't put odds on it either way. But we continue to work on it. We think that it's critically important that we have some sort of mechanism to -- legal mechanism to make sure that our forces can operate legally there. So they had a good conversation about it, and obviously the negotiators continue to work on the issue.

Q Did they get into the details of it?

MS. PERINO: No, I don't think -- no, I don't -- the negotiators are getting into the details.

Surprised?  He Approved!

Q What was the President's reaction to the Justice Department report on improper hiring?

MS. PERINO: I said today that the President appreciated the fact that Attorney General Mukasey had already implemented all the recommendations that the Inspector General had put forth, and he expects that those should be implemented fully across the board, and that no politicization in terms of hiring practices should be allowed.

Q Was he not surprised that such a process was taking place?

MS. PERINO: Was he not surprised?

Q Was he surprised that such a process was taking place?

MS. PERINO: Well, I didn't ask if he was surprised or not. But we do know that he was thankful that General Mukasey had taken this on and had implemented the recommendations of the Inspector General.

Dana Don't Know, But It's A Good Idea!

Q Has the President ever met with a group of TV military analysts assembled by the Pentagon?

MS. PERINO: I don't know. But what -- I don't know.

Q The Pentagon released emails saying that they were seeking such a meeting -- that was in March 2006.

MS. PERINO: I think it would probably have been a good idea if they had. It would have been a good meeting.

Q What would such a meeting have --

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to speculate on a meeting that I don't remember, that I don't know it happened. I just will say I don't know, but I think it would have been a good idea had there been a meeting.

Les' War On The New York Times

Q The New York Times reported this morning from San Francisco that the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters to change the name of the prize-winning water treatment on the shoreline to, "The George W. Bush Sewage Plant." And my question: What is the White House reaction to this New York Times news report?

MS. PERINO: I just don't think it dignifies a response.

Q But do you think that The New York Times doesn't deserve an answer? Is that what you're saying?

MS. PERINO: I think your question doesn't deserve an answer. (Laughter.)

Q Wait a minute, what about The New York Times? I didn't bring it up. It was The New York Times, Dana, New York Times.

MS. PERINO: I don't think they were the first to report it.

Q Well, don't you have any comment on The New York Times?

MS. PERINO: No. Since she's not here to defend herself, I'll pass.

Know Who Your Friends Are

FDL has the FISA cloture vote tally.

We get back up. We may take a minute to lay here and kick our feet (thanks for showing up to work, senators, honestly, thanks for making it into the office, I know it can't be easy to walk with your head so far up your own colon) but in the morning, we get back up. When that's all you've got left, that's what you take. You pull me up, I'll pull you.

A.

A Recap of Today's FISA Debate

Senate Chaplain: Please deliver us from the morons and attention whores in this chamber, and rendereth your healing powers upon Norm Coleman's gopher-fur toupee, in the name of the Lord, amen.

Chris Dodd: Let's do dis.

Mitch McConnell: If you're not putting on a rabbit suit and engaging in what I think the kids today call "yiffing," you don't have anything to worry about from being wiretapped!

Chuck Grassley: The phone companies are fine, patriotic corporate citizens who bent over their desks and took it just like your mom did. BOOYAH!

Saxby Chambliss: The only people opposed to spying on Americans are tinfoil-hat wearing 9/11 truthers.

(No, really. I can't improve upon perfection. Scroll down to about 14:30.)

Orrin Hatch: We were ATTACKED! By TERRORISTS! In case you FORGOT!

Russ Feingold: Jesus, these people suck.

Chris Dodd: Word.

Ron Wyden:

The end.

A.

Tune in Next Week to See: Ungrateful Expectations, or: Thanks, But No Tanks

Look at that ungrateful little brat.

So, Little Tommy Friedman's comments are making the rounds today.  Athenae, as always, employs her laser-guided wrecking ball on this bullshit below.  But there's something I haven't seen anywhere about his comments (I'm sure it's out there, I just haven't seen it): This is a stupid fucking idea that NEVER dies. 

EVERY colonial/dominant power has bitched about the ungratefulness of the rebels/natives/colonists/poor people/insert group of people getting fucked over here. 

You hear (mostly, but not always, white) people talk about how black people in America should just shut the fuck up and be grateful that slavery existed, because, you know, even if white folks (and Arab slave traders, yes, I know) didn't spend centuries stealing every black person they could get their pasty hands on, and even if colonization never happened, Africa would be just as fucked today, so they're fucking lucky to be in America.  Of course.

The British bitched about how the American colonists were ungrateful.  In fact, I believe King George III's exact words were:  "Hey, you fucks, we fought that French and Indian War for you.  Now pony up, bitches!  What, you don't like being told to pay without getting a vote in the matter?  You ungrateful little corn-eating bastards!"

The French bitched that the Vietnamese were ungrateful for their "civilizing mission." (No shit, they really called it that.  Just in French.)  Then the Americans bitched that the Vietnamese were ungrateful for defending them against communism.  Then, when the Chinese invaded Vietnam (China invades Vietnam kind of as a historical hobby--the way barbarians would loot Rome if there was nothing better to do on a Saturday night), they bitched about the Vietnamese not being thankful for all their help against the French and the Americans.  And, of course, the Vietnamese, without any sense of irony, bitched about how ungrateful the Cambodians were when the PAVN invaded that country.

Yes, God may be cruel, but He loves Him some fucking irony.

And right-wing, left-wing, it doesn't matter.  People from anywhere on the political spectrum will make this dumb fucking argument.   "Why aren't these people happy that we're doing something for them?"

Look, assholes:  People aren't being ungrateful when they're unhappy that you invade and occupy their country.  In general.  That's especially true when the fucking standard of living actually declines after you do so, doesn't seem like it will improve, and the occupation looks indefinite.

I'm no political scientist; I possess no advanced degrees.  But this shit is as plain as day to me.  Gratitude is difficult enough in life as is.  It establishes a power differential between people that is humbling to one party.  So it's a tricky situation.  See, if you ask me to come to your house and re-paint it, I will.  But I expect some sort of acknowledgment of my time and effort; that is, gratitude.  I can't push it too far, though, because that will cause resentment.  It's a delicate arrangement, and one that well-meaning people fuck up all the time.

Now, imagine this: Unbidden, I come over to your house, knock the fuckin' thing down with a bulldozer, burn the rubble, and salt the earth, then tell you that at least you'll save on your electric bill.  You're probably not gonna be grateful there.  In fact, you'd probably shoot me where I stood. 

You ungrateful asshole.

Every Day

I love Steve Rhodes more:

I read Lewis Lazare's column today on a book called The Dumbest Generation with interest because for the last couple of years Lazare has called me up periodically to complain about how dumb young people are these days, and he usually blames the Internet.

Why he calls me, I don't know. I've never met the man.

I also don't believe today's generation is dumber than those who came before because they don't read newspapers. I think newspapers are dumber.

And I'm not sure where a Sun-Times columnist gets off complaining that the Internet is dumbing down America while the paper is running a "Which Team's Fans Are Hotter?" contest.

If I ran a major school of journalism (oh, the hilarity of imagining the curriculum) this man would be in charge of all of everything while I took trips, enjoyed faculty parties, and hung out with the kids in the student newspaper office.

A.

They're Not Like Us

Not that this is new, but HONESTLY:

He seems to think the Iraqis are sad and mad because we liberated them instead of letting them liberate themselves. It's nice that Tommy Friedman likes this happy rhetoric of liberation, though it's a bit different from the days when he was saying we invaded Iraq so our soldiers could go door to door telling Iraqis to Suck. On. This. I don't know how much our soldiers actually did this, but in any case Little Tommy Friedman can't get himself to understand that maybe Iraqis are sad and mad because we invaded and occupied their country and then hundreds of thousands of people died.

[snip]

But more than that, we may remember that many Iraqis did, in fact, fight for it. They didn't fight for it in the way Tommy Friedman imagines they should have, which I think involves having a staring contest or something. They fought for it by killing a lot of people and blowing a lot of things up.

I know it's a DFH thing to say, that people who do bad things should at least be understood, if only because you can't fight something you don't get, but come the fuck on. It's not like this is a way of behavior we've never seen before. For Friedman to pretend that this wasn't visible coming about twenty miles down the pike is unconscionably dense, even for a splendid specimen of garden implement like him.

I am really coming to dislike this right-wing meme that Iraqis simply aren't grateful enough for the glorious freedom we gave them. It's been clear since at least 2005 that that was going to be the way we got out of this war and pretended not to be the asshole: blame the people whose country we blew up for not wanting to rebuild it themselves with duct tape and baling wire in their infinite spare time, you know, the vast hours they have to spend twiddling their thumbs, in between trying to find clean water and dodging mortar fire. That's how we're going to excuse what we did, by blaming them for not liking it. "Eh, we tried, but you ungrateful bitches threw it back in our faces and then blew some stuff up like animals. Fuck you. You don't DESERVE the glory of our incoming grenades!"

Moreover, I am getting incoherent about the condescending, patronizing tone of Friedman and his "expert" columnist ilk. It's just beyond the fucking pale to look at suicide bombings and political violence as somehow "other," as something so alien we couldn't possibly, no, we would never. Christian Bale takes his shirt off a lot in Batman Begins (bear with me, here) so I watch it pretty much every time it's on whatever random cable channel is providing background just for the push-up scene, but in talking about how to wreck civilizations: "In Gotham we tried a new kind of weapon: Economics." Sad that I should have to go to a movie about a fucking comic book character for a point that should be made by the likes of our newspaper columnists. Like, say, Tom Friedman. Who is busy pointing out how much better than this we are. We fought for our freedom. We don't do suicide bombings. We don't do political violence. We're different.

Here's a clue for the golf outing set: Just because our people die of poverty and preventable disease (mostly) quietly and out of sight of elite columnists like Friedman doesn't make us a place free of political violence. Poverty is political violence. Substandard health care is political violence. And yes, drive-by shootings and systemic neglect of entire swaths of humanity referred to as "the ghetto" constitute political violence. Just because nobody's waving a flag when they die doesn't make our society any more reasonable or moral.

Walk a mile from Friedman's shiny office. Walk a mile from my house. Open your fucking eyes. We "fought" for this society, and it's full of violence, and most of it begot by the same things that cause violence anywhere. Take hundreds of desperate people, wall them off from their fellow men and women, and tell everybody to forget they exist. Let their sewer pipes rot. Shut off their heat. Ignore the holes in their streets. Skip their housing inspections, and when they call to complain, tell them there's nothing you can do. See how grateful they are for your benevolence then. See how different it looks from fucking Baghdad. We're all people. We're all the same. We do this to each other and then we dare act like we don't understand?

Friedman thinks he's standing on a pedestal here. It's a rickety stack of wooden boxes, half of them rotted, teetering this way and that, and he hears the roar of the storm coming to knock it all over and thinks it's applause. You mentally tone-deaf asshole, Tom. You ought to be ashamed.

Schmuck.

A.

Blog Pimpin'

Listen to her.  Keep these fools off yo' ass.

Hey hey, everyone!

My dear, dear friend Emily, who is also a friend of Athenae, has a blog.  It's not full of weighty stuff like politics and fuckin' FEMA and Battlestar Galactica, but it will help you to look sharper.  If you're a guy.  And, come on.  You know you could stand to dress more nicely.  I've seen what you wear.

So check her out!  She's a hell of a writer, you'll enjoy it, and, like watching Fat Albert, you just might learn something.

Her place is Fashionable Men-tions. 

Happy Obama Photo: Your New Bicycle Edition

Barack Obama wanted you to have a piggy back ride and then have some ice cream.

A.

Dodd FISA Filibuster Crack Van, Er, Speech

C-Span watch here. Fuck me blind, he's actually doing it.

Update: False alarm. Dodd gave an absolutely blistering speech, which is here:

None of our fellow Americans will have their day in court.

What they will have is a government that has sanctioned lawlessness.

Well, I refuse to accept that, Mr. President. I refuse to accept the argument that because this situation is just too delicate, too complicated, that this body is simply going to go ahead and sanction lawlessness.

We are better than that.

And if I have needed any reminder of that fact, simply look to all those who have joined this fight – my colleagues and the many, many Americans who have given me strength for this fight. Strength that comes from the passion and eloquence of citizens who don’t have to be involved, but choose to be nonetheless.

A.

Column: I Write Memos

Link:

MEMO

TO: The Democratic Party

FROM: Some woman with a Web site who happens to have been right about a bunch of stuff lately

RE: Your political strategy, such as it is

Allow me to bring something to your attention.

It no longer is 2002.

It also no longer is 2004.

Nor is it 2006.

I feel the need to remind you of the presence of an "8" on the calendar, given the recent votes of the cluck-cluck chicken club of most of you on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Also, Feingold for the win.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Appeasement!

Q Dana, is the United States considering opening an interest section in Iran? How close are we to reaching a decision on that, and why would the U.S. do that?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that Secretary Rice said it best yesterday when she said that there might be some ideas out -- floating out there, but there's nothing concrete at the moment. In regards to us reaching out and talking directly to the Iranians, President Bush goes out of his way every time he talks about the Iranian issue, which is often; he gets asked about it and he brings it up proactively himself.

[snip]

Q Is it consistent with the idea of isolating Iran to open a U.S. interest section there?

MS PERINO: I think that -- I don't know a lot about U.S. interest offices, but I know that there's -- as I read, there's one in Cuba. So I think that we've -- it's not unprecedented, and so I don't think it's inconsistent, no.

Chimpy Owes His Second Term To 9/11

Q And on another subject, the President supports John McCain as far as being the next President of the United States. But what does the President and this administration say about one of McCain's inner circle saying that a terrorist attack on this country would be a big advantage for McCain?

MS. PERINO: Again, I'm not -- I'm just not going to get into it and get the President involved in disputes between the campaigns.

Q This administration has been fighting vigorously against terror on the homeland. For him to say it's a big advantage, somebody that the President supports his campaign, I mean --

MS. PERINO: I also saw that the individual who said that apologized. And so I think I would point you to that apology.

"The Reporting I've Seen On The Ground - That I've Read From Reporters"

Q The new GAO report, critical of progress in Iraq -- what's the White House comment on that?

MS. PERINO: Well, I just think that you have to look at facts on the ground in terms of the reporting. I don't know -- I don't know what the parameters were for the GAO report. I think that from what I've read of it, it's inconsistent with the reporting on the ground that I've seen -- that I've read from reporters of the news media who were there. And certainly it doesn't -- it's not consistent with some of the facts that we have here. And I would point you to the rebuttals that the State Department and the Treasury Department provided to GAO, saying that they thought that their report was way off-base.

Progress in Iraq is undeniable. And I think one of the things that you can point to is not just the political and security gains, but certainly the economic gains that they've had, as well. And we should all be celebrating that and working towards it.

Les Screws The Pooch

Q Thank you, Dana. Two questions. In the President's real hope that we will have a presidential election that is fair to both sides, he was concerned by what The Washington Times reported that one of the two presidential campaigns sent a plane load of reporters back to Washington while this candidate, without telling them, slipped away to stay in Chicago, at which "several bureau chiefs and the Associated Press accused him of deliberate deception." And my question: Without mentioning which candidate did this, could you tell us if you have ever heard -- (laughter) -- could you tell us if you ever heard of President Bush so mistreating reporters during either of his two presidential campaigns?

MS. PERINO: I think that the reporters are going to have to take that up with the presidential nominee that you are referring to. But I think you have your facts wrong in terms of the legs of that trip.

Q The facts wrong? You reported -- that was The Washington Times.

MS. PERINO: Wrong flight, going the other way.

Your President Speaks!

Today, at the White House, following a meeting with President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines.

A Lot Of American-Americans, Too

First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there's a lot of Philippine-Americans.

And When My Room Is Cleaned

And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House.

There Is Some

I know there's some families that are hurting.

The Importance Of Desiring The Advancing Of The Moving Forwarding

We talked about our mutual desire to advance how important it is to move forward the bilateral and multilateral trade agendas.

There's Peace Available

The President has been very strong in having a carrots-and-sticks approach -- "sticks," of course, say we're not going to allow for people to terrorize our citizens; the "carrot" approach is that there's peace available.

The You-Knows

Some are wondering whether or not their loved ones will, you know, reappear. We, the American people, care about the human suffering that's taking place, and we send our prayers.

We talked about, you know, food, and I assured the President we'll continue to help.

And, you know, I'm proud of my country.

FD PSA: Beware the Blackbirds

It's that time of year again.....The Chicago Tribune has a series of photos of a red-winged blackbird attacking cyclists. They report that they become fiercely territorial during nesting season though I already knew that from past personal experience. I had one dive bomb and peck my head just below the back of my helmet back in my racing days. I didn't know what was up until I turned around to look right into its beady eyes and realized it was chasing me. A sort of Hitchcockian scene ensued as I tried to outrun it with arms flailing away. It may have been the fastest my legs (and arms) ever moved on a bicycle. After a distance it left me--shaken--and I was glad to bid it Bye Bye.

And so in that weird spirit is this Netherlands dixieland rendition of Bye Bye Blackbird...

British Airways angered by Bush visit's disruption of 40,000 passengers

From the Guardian:

British Airways has criticised Heathrow owner BAA for allowing George Bush to fly into the UK's biggest airport, forcing the cancellation of at least 69 flights and disrupting the travel plans of 40,000 passengers.

Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, said he was angry that the presidential entourage, which included two Boeing 747 jets and four helicopters, caused chaos 10 days ago as runways were closed and planes grounded. "The decision to allow President Bush and his fleet of aircraft to fly into Heathrow rather than a military base was one all of Heathrow's users could have done without," he said. "I am also angry that this was allowed."

Walsh said the disruption began two days before the president's visit on June 15 and lasted for the two days that his party stayed in the UK. Heathrow was reduced to one working runway for 30 minutes on June 15 and 16, after its other runway was closed temporarily for the arrival and departure of Air Force One.

Happy Obamas Photo

Hellooooooo nurse!

And in case you want substance with your political pr0n, here's the petition asking Obama to filibuster telecom immunity when it comes up in the Senate tomorrow.

A.

Doug Feith Takes Your Questions

Scout, who likes to raise my blood pressure as early as possible in the day, sends this over to the Doug Feith Desk here at First Draft World HQ. And I pass it along to you all. Be polite. Not because he deserves it, but because you do.

For what it's worth, here are mine:

Why did your book not address the scandal over Larry Franklin's resignation and subsequent guilty plea? Did you not feel it was important to explain why your office harbored a traitor?

If you truly felt that the Bush administration was taking the wrong tack by proposing a lengthy occupation of Iraq, as you've posited in numerous interviews, why did you not resign and speak up immediately, and try to save thousands of Iraqi and American lives?

A.

Well, I'm Back

What did I miss?  And why hasn't anyone cleaned up after all these ferrets?

Pork Invaders

People get these people away from the Internet before they hurt themselves.

A.

Today On Holden's Obsession With The Gaggle

Welcome Back, Ms. Peroxide

MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. I don't have anything to start off with, so --

Q The stock market is down, the oil prices are up. I take it that this wasn't the outcome you would have wanted from the energy summit.

Q Yes, things are going to hell in a hand basket.

MS. PERINO: Will attribute that to Bill Plante. (Laughter.) Look, look back to what we said going into the conference, which is that this is going to take a long time for us to deal with. There's no magic wand, it's not going to be a problem that we solve overnight.

[snip]

Q Wouldn't more supply in the short term help more quickly than long-term planning for oil that can't be gathered for another 10 years?

MS. PERINO: I think that the important thing to do in regards to the long-term planning is to send a signal to the market so that they know that this time the government of the United States is serious.

[snip]

So there's a long-term answer and there's a -- there's not a real good short-term answer. And we've been very explicit about that from the beginning.

Q But the short-term problem is what seems to upset people as they go to fill their cars up every day.

MS. PERINO: We absolutely are sympathetic. We understand. Many of us are consumers, too.

Dana Don't Know!

Q Yes, ma'am. Dana, back on the energy issue, you said we should not expect a short-term fix. Are you saying that in the next seven months, we shouldn't see anything really new, or any major changes before this President leaves this White House?

MS. PERINO: April, that's impossible for me to say.

Other Gaglers Hate Les

Q Thank you, Dana. Two questions. The President believes that the First Amendment, freedom of speech and the press, should not be denied to radio and television by the so-called Fairness Doctrine, doesn't he?

MS. PERINO: That's correct.

Q That's correct. Republican congressman Mike Pence of Indiana has introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act, which needs only 24 more signatures on a discharged petition to go to the House floor for a vote. And my question: Since, in the House, both of Maryland's Republicans have supported the Broadcaster Freedom Act, but all six of Maryland's Democrats have refused to do so, the President recognizes this as an indication the Democrats generally want the return of the Fairness Doctrine's on-air censorship, doesn't he?

MS. PERINO: Well, I don't know if that's necessarily the case, but it sounds like you have some lobbying work to do up on Capitol Hill, so we should dispatch you up there and see if you can get it done.

Q He's not allowed to lobby and hold a press pass at the same time, remind him. (Laughter.)

Q Thank you very much. Thank you very much, CBS. (Laughter.)

Cheney's Idea of Flowers and Candy

Oy.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — One U.S. soldier was killed and five others were wounded today in a bizarre shooting incident near the town of Salman Pak, south of Baghdad, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.

Iraqi authorities said a member of the town council, which is part of the U.S.-allied Iraqi government, carried out the shootings,

An Iraqi police captain, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the incident, said local council member Raed Hmood Ajil opened fire on the U.S. troops for unknown reasons and was killed at the scene by American forces. The account could not immediately be verified.

The U.S. military could confirm only that "initial reports indicate one Coalition forces (soldier) killed in action, five Coalition forces soldiers wounded in action and one enemy killed in action" at 1 p.m. today in the Salman Pak area.

Slow Learners

AKA, "Republikkkans".

More Americans now say that the United States is less respected in the world than it has been in the past, and a growing proportion views this as a major problem for the country. More than seven-in-ten Americans (71%) say that the United States is less respected by other countries these days, up from 65% in August 2006.

For the first time since Pew began asking this question in 2004, a majority of Americans now sees the loss of international respect for the United States as a major problem. The percentage of Americans saying the loss of international respect is a major problem has risen from 43% in 2005 to 48% in 2006 and 56% currently.

The most recent national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 21-25 among 1,505 adults, finds that majorities of Democrats (81%), independents (72%) and Republicans (60%) believe that the United States has lost global respect in recent years.

In particular, Republican opinion about international respect for America has shifted substantially over the past two years. A clear majority of Republicans (60%) now say the nation is less respected in the international community, an increase of 12 points since August 2006. Moreover, 43% of Republicans say the loss of global respect represents a major problem, compared with just 26% two years ago.

RIP: George Carlin

Damn

One of my favorites... place for your Stuff:

Obama Photo: Screw The Nixon Bagmen Edition

Because the slimy motherfuckers — Freddoso, Corsi — who came for John Kerry are coming for him. The media's favorite candidate? Seriously? When was the last time anyone gave Obama a box of donuts? Last I checked they wouldn't even let the poor guy have a waffle.

A.

His Most Awesome Responsibility

More law-breaking from the Bush Assministration.

Ten months after Congress passed a law establishing a White House coordinator for preventing nuclear terrorism, President Bush has no plans to create the high-level post any time soon, according to the National Security Council.

The provision - suggested by leading members of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - was contained in 2007 legislation designed to improve homeland defenses. Congress passed it by a wide margin, with bipartisan support.

Some congressional leaders said Bush's failure to fill the job nearly a year later marks an outright evasion of the law, and called on the president to fill the position swiftly, even though his administration has only seven months left in office.

"Congress and a range of bipartisan experts, including 9/11 commissioners, clearly judged that such a position would help strengthen the effectiveness of the administration's handling of [weapons of mass destruction] proliferation matters," the office of Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who sponsored the legislation in the Senate, said in a statement. "The Congress passed and the president signed into law this requirement."

When asked this month why the position remains unfilled, the National Security Council described it as an internal matter still under deliberation.

[snip]

The White House opposed creating the position from the start. In a January 2007 letter to Congress - six months before the law was adopted - the Bush administration wrote that the appointment of a nuclear antiterrorism chief "is unnecessary given extensive coordination and synchronization mechanisms that now exist within the executive branch," citing a 2006 strategy document that lays out the responsibilities of numerous government departments.

But in the past, Bush has tried to bypass provisions of laws he disagrees with by issuing "signing statements," documents singling out those parts of statutes that White House lawyers advised would infringe on his constitutional powers as chief of the government's executive branch. Bush has used this practice more than any prior president.

This time, however, the White House seems to be ignoring the nuclear terrorism coordinator requirement not for constitutional reasons but simply because the administration thinks it is a bad idea. It is a stance some legal scholars called an even more blatant disregard of the checks and balances on presidential power.

There's A Stunner

Look. I drove home yesterday from a picnic in a rainstorm, listening to the radio simulcast of the 60 Minutes program on this. Very instructive in some ways (seriously, of course nobody speaking Arabic would monitor this thing, actual knowledge of anything that could prove useful is a drawback in this administration), very annoying in others, in that everybody involved just seemed shocked as hell that an American propaganda channel was viewed by its audience as ... an American propaganda channel. How dare those Arab rubes not swallow the freedom we so generously feed them? How dare they be aware of the most basic facts about something? The nerve!

And as usual the "You're PAYING for this!" construct pisses me off. Not that I'm thrilled to be shelling out cash for something that doesn't work, but in the realm of Iraq War fuckups, this one hardly cracks the top ten. Get back to me about Al Hurra when we've stopped paying Halliburton.

A.

Sunday Question Post: City Mouse, Country Mouse

Where do you live? City, 'burbs, country, house, apartment, pup tent on the open road?

A.