12 steps
Bush apologists are like drunks who won't stop hanging on to the bottle until they find out that what's in the bottle is killing them. They could have a thousand bad days and nights, but they wake up every morning... or afternoon, and are willing to buy any twisted logic that says they can still drink.
12 steps to better government.
liberal french wieney
I bought a copy of The Truth, with Jokes yesterday...and got my copy signed by Al Franken. I've been listening to his show via podcast for a year now and can highly recommend his show as a few hours of entertaining news and political discussion somewhere between NPR and The Daily Show. Oh, and jokes. Funny stuff.
Which gets me to my point. During Franken's reading, he mentioned the oft quoted liberal french wieney canard. While he was signing my book, I mentioned that technically, wieners are German. Also, Germans have the exact opposite reputation that the French do. Germans have a well earned reputation for hard work, serious take charge demeanor, drinking beer, and building great cars. So how the hell did wieney become an insult meaning ineffectual?
Bernanke nominated to replace Greenspan
Bush finally makes a good choice. Bernanke is qualified, not a crony and not a wing-nut. Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
eNook
The coolest laptop desk I've seen is the eNook. Perfect for both a Bond Villain and a cat owning geek in a tiny New York apartment.
pork with a side of greed
Before adopting the $141 billion measure, 93 to 1, senators also defeated an effort to add more than $3 billion for home-heating assistance for low-income families. The proposal, by New England lawmakers who fear sky-high heating costs this winter, failed to attract the 60 votes that Senate procedures require.This is why GOP terms like small government are total bullshit. When a GOPer says small Government what he really means is Government big enough to help me but too small to help you.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was personally insulted, however. Alaska, which ranks No. 1 in per capita federal spending, was being unjustly singled out, he argued. The 37-year Senate veteran threatened to resign and "be taken out of here on a stretcher" if the Senate killed off perhaps the most egregious example of wasteful spending in the massive highway bill.Nice to know he is willing to stand on lack of principles.
Maybe someone will explain to me why this law; one which restricts the rights of the individual while empowering unelected judges isn't and example of Big Government.
french bashing
I'm getting a little sick of the French Bashing from the right wing. I've noticed the following two themes:
- When the French do something in their national interest that somehow conflicts with our interests, they are betraying us.
- When we do something that is in our national interest but conflicts with French interests, we are asserting our independence
dead iPod
Replacing a battery in an iPod Mini is a lot harder than it looks. After two years of abuse, the mini has given up the ghost.
paul krugman
George W. Bush, I once wrote, "values loyalty above expertise" and may have "a preference for advisers whose personal fortunes are almost entirely bound up with his own." And he likes to surround himself with "obsequious courtiers."
Lots of people are saying things like that these days. But those quotes are from a column published on Nov. 19, 2000.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_101405K.shtml
inherit the wind bags
I wonder if the Intelligent Design trial in Harrisburg, will be even half as good as the movie. I'm thinking that if the Dover school board just watched that movie, they wouldn't need a damn trial in the first place.
With that said, it looks like these neo-creationist are looking to redefine science to include all kinds of
tautological acrobatics.
Note to the ID folks: Making things look like science doesn't make it science.
guide to wingnut logic
Towards A Grand Unified Theory of Wingnuttia. The (not so) shocking thing about this is just how accurate it is.
Pat Tillman
War hero Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan last year, believed the US war on Iraq was "f***ing illegal" and counted Noam Chomsky among his favorite authors.
Must read story from The Nation. The right wing hasn't come up with its spin yet, so they are just claiming to know Tillman more than his Mother and war buddies.
what karl told the fbi
WASHINGTON -- Karl Rove testified for the fourth and final time Friday before the grand jury investigating whether his conversations with two reporters led to the leaking of a CIA operative's identity.From the WaPo
The White House aide spent about four and a half hours inside the federal courthouse, and left without commenting to reporters.
INDICTMENTS POSSIBLE NEXT WEEK: Fitzgerald could send out "target" letters to senior administration officials at any time, advising them that they are targets of the investigation, and bring indictments as early as next week, the lawyers said.Also from WaPo
If Rove told the FBI agents the same story that he and McClellan were telling the press, then he might have set himself up for a felony charge of lying to a federal law enforcement official. And if he lied, then he need not have been under oath to have committed a crime.From Salon
Unlike in Watergate, which was largely advanced by the press, this scandal has unfolded despite much of the press corps' efforts to avoid, demean or restrain the story until very recently. Also unlike in Watergate, major influences in the press have aligned with their sources in the administration, not with the professionals in the government acting as whistle-blowers.Also from Salon
By the way, when The Times prints something that looks like an obituary your days are numbered. Spin aside, Prosecutors have told Rove they can not guarantee that he will not be indicted over the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
fool me once, shame on you
We bring you these coincidences, reminding you, and ourselves here, that perhaps the simplest piece of wisdom in the world is called “the logical fallacy.” Just because Event “A” occurs, and then Event “B” occurs, that does not automatically mean that Event “A” caused Event “B.”
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 13 times, my head just may explode.
quote for today
Political freedom cannot exist in any land where religion controls the state, and religious freedom cannot exist in any land where the state controls religion.
-Samuel James Ervin Jr., lawyer, judge, and senator (1896-1985)
the real problem in the us
The real problem with the US political environment...not enough celebrities.
halliburton
Cheney's Halliburton Stock Options Soar to $9.2 Million.
And that is not counting the deferred salary.
unicef bombs smurfs
Any headline that includes the words bomb and smurfs needs no other explanation.
quote of the day
Dedicated to the right wingers that post anonymously to my blog.
Lower your voice and strengthen your argument.
-Lebanese proverb
Fall of the Rovean empire?
For 30 years, beginning with the Nixon presidency, advanced under Reagan, stalled with the elder Bush, a new political economy struggled to be born. The idea was pure and simple: centralization of power in the hands of the Republican Party would ensure that it never lost it again. Under George W. Bush, this new system reached its apotheosis. It is a radically novel social, political and economic formation that deserves study alongside capitalism and socialism. Neither Adam Smith nor Vladimir Lenin captures its essence, though it has far more elements of Leninist democratic-centralism than Smithian free markets. Some have referred to this model as crony capitalism; others compare the waste, extravagance and greed to the Gilded Age. Call it 21st century Republicanism.
From a great article on Salon about Rove and the end of this bleak era in American history.
While some people may insist on being cheerleaders for the GOP, the facts don't support them. The top 1% are the only ones doing better, according to the IRS. For the other 99%, wages have not kept pace with inflation. We as a nation are getter poorer while the GOP Feudalists have become wealthier. Debt is out of control. We are losing a war.
Now that Karl Rove, DeLay and Abramoff are under investigation, the movement is finally coming undone. So what comes next?
"It's not an entitlement politics," says David Axelrod, a consultant to Spitzer's 2002 re-election campaign. "It's a fairness politics, a let everyone compete on the same playing field politics."
Spitzer is part of the new progressive movement that gets past the big/small government paradigm and looks to a government that works to be FARE. Frugal, Accessible, Responsible and Efficient.
Things are starting to look good for 2006. While I expect Spitzer to be a target of the Right Wing Feudalists like Grover Norquist, I think momentium is finally on the side of the people again.
robot race
The autonomous robotic vehicles began competing Wednesday in the first of a series of qualifying rounds at the California Speedway. Half will advance to the October 8 starting line of the so-called Grand Challenge.
More about it here
christopher hitchens on imperialism
Christopher Hitchens is a right wing pundit that annoys me to no end. Not because his arguments are flawed, but because they are so well thought out and so damn convincing. Case in point
East Timor was for many years, and quite rightly, a signature cause of the Noam Chomsky "left." The near-genocide of its people is an eternal stain on Indonesia and on the Western states that were complicit or silent. Yet Bin Ladenism wants not less of this killing and repression but more. Its demand to re-establish the caliphate is a pro-imperialist demand, not an anti-imperialist one.
His argument is that the al-Qaida goal of the re-establishment of the caliphate is, at its core, imperialist in nature. This is intriguing to say the least. In addition, it does more to explain why al-Qaida support comes not from the poorest in the Arab world, but the middle class. But I am still not sure that western imperialism isn't a factor in the rise of Caliphate imperialism. Why would this be a zero-sum game? Why wouldn't western imperialism convince otherwise neutral Muslims of the need for an Islamist empire?
crouching kitty, hidden rodent
My cat Isabella is a furry little death machine.
On Saturday I was lounging on the sofa with T when she was startled by some commotion. Our cat (Izzy) sprinted across the apartment. T grabbed my arm. Her voice went up about three octaves. Something about a mouse.
By the time I figured out what was happening, Izzy was already walking back into the living room. As she past us, the trophy was there, hanging from her mouth.
As expected, T was not happy about this. I managed to calm her down a bit and had her hide in the bathroom while I played Harvey Keitel and took to the task of sanitizing the crime scene. This turned out to be a bit harder than I expected. I chased Izzy around the apartment for a bit. She was eager to hide under the bed. Behind the bookcase. Under the table. And I was very eager to keep her from doing this. Herding a cat is equal parts difficult and absurd.
My table manners; while possible below human norms, are better than your typical feline huntress. I'll spare everyone the details. It took a little work, but Izzy finally gave up, letting her prize drop to the floor. I scooped up the body, disposed of it and rescued T from exile in the bathroom.
This was not the first display of Izzy's skills I've seen. A few weeks ago T woke me up by telling me that there was a noise at the kitchen window. I put on my glasses and headed over just in time to see a squirrel trying to dig its way through our window screen, possibly drawn by the smells from a large basket of fruit and nuts on the kitchen table.
Izzy was already at the scene. Crouched. Hidden under a chair, clearly out of the squirrels view. Waiting. Sadly, she was denied a notch on her scratching post by my oafish actions in scaring away the squirrel.
I've also seen such oddities as centipede halves. The first time I saw one of those, my list of suspects was rather short. It was either Izzy pouncing on it or a tiny laser hit it in the middle causing the two parts to split off in opposite directions.
Say what you will about her, this cat earns her kibble.