I’m by no means accusing anyone of Glennuendo, but in the spirit of CD’s last epic post, we should all keep our eyes out for shit like this, in which wingnuts parrot Holocaust denialists in order to tar Obama. Say what you want about how his presidency will be a boring tour around the Lekture circuit, but if this happened on our side there would be an immediate effort to tie these bloggers to McCain (campaign contributions?) and force him to issue a public apology. The ADL would jump down his throat and it would become an albatross that would go down in history as sinking McInsane’s campaign (well, one of many.)
We don’t have to go that exact route but this shouldn’t go unnoticed because, again, the wingnuts will be nastier than ever over the next 5 months. Don’t ever forget that. Read more
After extensive audio-visual analysis and comparisons to old films archived in the labyrinthine bowels of the Mighty Corrente Building, we’re going on the record to reveal that Barack Obama’s top campaign official, David Axelrod, has been quietly replaced by Smokey the Parrot.
Judge for yourself with this footage from today’s press conference in Montana:
The Obama camp has yet to issue an official explanation, but an anonymous source assured us that the crackers and newspaper will be funded entirely by small private donors.
UPDATE: The Obama camp has blamed the odd appearance and behavior of their spokesman on a “microphone malfunction”; apparently, unable to hear the questions from the assembled reporters, David Axelrod began reading from Senator Obama’s prepared remarks for tomorrow’s scheduled rally in South Dakota. To back up their claims, Obama ‘08 cites the voice of David Gregory saying “Hello? Hello?” at 13 seconds. The veteran reporter’s questions were, unfortunately, drowned out by the chorus of kissing noises from the rest of the Washington press corps.
Read more
Barack Obama knew better than to rely on the existing infrastructure, created by the blogosphere, to fight back against the Bush administration and the media. We are too stridently partisan to be messengers of a new kind of politics. He had to step around the gatekeepers of the blogosphere, much to their chagrin. Barack Obama’s greatest accomplishment is the organization that he created. He used our tools and his own message. And he won. He could not have won any other way. And that makes him both our greatest representative, and someone who doesn’t really need us at all. All of you should go join up on his website and meet your neighbors that are supporting him, and get organized. For presidential stuff, there is no reason to use the blogosphere at all. Use Obama’s own tools.
Dear God. I’ve held back on the Obama cult accusations for a while now; many of my friends and family support him. But Booman… wtf? I don’t even know where to begin with this. It is the Borg. No, wait, it’s the Heaven’s Gate cultists leaving behind their earthly bodies to merge with the higher consciousness.
Actually, I’ve got it! It’s like in the Matrix, where the humans created the machines and then after they fought it out the machines kept the humans alive as tiny generators, feeding them the liquified remains of their brethren.
Not because they had to. Not because we even deserved it, as strident and partisan as we were. But because they’re merciful!
So, come on, everyone. Leave your individual thoughts behind. Take the blue pill and relax. Ignorance is bliss!
Bwahaha. Yes, these are important questions. I hope that some of our more accessible talking heads *cough* Ezra *cough* will be able to raise them on the air. As in:
Really, what people are asking right now is, why hasn’t McCain been able to gain traction with Democrats? Are we looking at an impotent campaign here, you know, one that’s never going to get any stronger towards November?
or
Well, McCain’s been taking criticism lately, and he hasn’t shown that he’s really strong enough to deflect any of it… is this the emergence of an impotent candidate?
or
“Say, do you think McCain takes Cialis because he’s impotent?”
You get the picture. Simple yet devastating. Can we pull it off?
Delahunt: You said if an opinion was rendered, that would insulate him from any consequences.
[Mike Mukasey, Attorney General of the United States, before the House Judiciary Committee today]: We could not investigate or prosecute somebody for acting in reliance on a justice department opinion.
…
Delahunt: If that opinion was inaccurate and in fact violated a section of US Criminal Code, that reliance is in effect an immunity from any criminal culpability.
MM: Immunity connoted culpability. [Well, is anyone culpable? -scar]
…
Delahunt: I find that a new legal doctrine. The law is the law. Read more
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign stop was interrupted Monday when two men stood in the crowd and began screaming, “Iron my shirt!” during one of her final appearances before the New Hampshire primary.
Clinton, a former first lady running to become the nation’s first female president, laughed at the seemingly sexist protest that suggested a woman’s place is doing the laundry and not running the country.
Yes… That suggestion does seem awfully sexist… [strokes chin thoughtfully]
The latest National Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran discontinued its nuclear weapons program four years ago has claimed one casualty: CNN has postponed speculative documentary “We Are Full Of Shit Were Warned — Iran Goes Nuclear.”
The two-hour spec, which was slated for Dec. 12 under the “CNN Presents” banner, was “set partially in the future,” featuring a what-if scenario as former government officials — playing fictional cabinet members — debate how to deal with the Iranian threat.
That special was “based on a different set of rules and a different set of conditions,” said CNN veep-senior exec producer Mark Nelson, noting that the surprising NIE report “changed everything.”
Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.
“I ain’t never been so scared,” says Williams.
Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn’t real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.
“I kept going to my ear yelling that I was scared. I can’t hear! I can’t hear!”
Officers were worried about their own safety because at the time it appeared Williams was refusing to obey their commands to show his hands. That’s when they shot him with a Taser.
Okay, so, I can understand what happened here. They thought they were dealing with a guy with a gun. Training, etc, etc. I’ve got one problem with this defense, though: Read more
Foes Use Obama’s Muslim Ties [sic] (Wouldn’t “scare quotes” have been appropriate here? - scar) to Fuel Rumors About Him
By Perry Bacon Jr.
In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama’s biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world.
Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama’s stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.
Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a “Muslim plant” in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year. […]
The rumors about Obama have been echoed on Internet message boards and chain e-mails.
In case you’re wondering, that last part is the one sentence in the article that could be remotely construed as reality-based. All the rest is devoted to verbatim, 1996-vintage, tenth-generation inbred wingnut chain mail about how “HILLARY OBAMA is going to force EVERYONE to become a LESBIAN! MUSLIM!”
Anyway, if you’ve heard any facts that foes of Deborah Howell (or any other WaHo employee) are using to fuel rumors about them, please feel free to post them here, or on the WaHo’s site. After all… Read more
The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove’s White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call.
Scott Bloch runs the Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity. Mr. Bloch’s agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove and other White House officials used government agencies to help re-elect Republicans in 2006.
At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.
Recently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said.
So, to recap: Karl Rove is accused of retaliating against employees and then illegally deleting the evidence. The man in charge of investigating him is accused of retaliating against employees and then deleting evidence.
Tasered in front of wife and baby? Check.
Tasered for a speeding ticket? Check.
No threat and no warning? Check.
Sarcastic approval from other cops on the scene? Check.
Police in the country are now allowed to torture speeders by the side of the highway in order to get them to comply. The only difference between this officer slugging the speeder in the stomach and putting 50,0000 volts of electricity in him is that the latter doesn’t leave any marks. The intent, the pain and the goose-stepping authoritarian message are exactly the same.
Word to the wise. Do not ever question the police, no matter whether they are violating your rights, ignoring the constitution or breaking the law. It is perfectly legal for them to torture you on the spot if you do.
I’m feeling so free I can hardly breathe. Read more
Police were called to the international arrival area of the airport at about 1:28 a.m. on Sunday after airport security officers were unable to calm the man down and his level of violence was escalating.
The man, a Caucasian in his late 30s to early 40s, was yelling in an eastern European accent, sweating profusely, throwing chairs and pounding on windows, according to police.
It’s quite clear that this was some sort of dispute that nobody was able to resolve because they had no idea what he was saying. Maybe they had his luggage? He did, in fact, throw a monitor on the ground, but he then sat quietly outside the gate in an office chair, apparently in protest. When the police arrived he threw his hands up and tried to walk away, but he was ordered to stop and he did.
When they tased Robert Dziekanski, he was surrounded by four officers, with his hands at his sides and his back to a wall.
After weeks of suggesting Democrats would temper their approach to Iraq legislation in a bid to attract more Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared abruptly Tuesday that he had no plans to do so.
The Democratic leader said he will call for a vote this month on several anti-war proposals, including one by Sen. Carl Levin that would insist President Bush end U.S. combat next summer. The proposals would be mandatory and not leave Bush wiggle room, said Reid, D-Nev.
“There (are) no goals. It’s all definite timelines,” he told reporters of the planned legislation.
(snip)
“I think they’ve decided definitely they want this to be the Senate Republicans’ war, not just Bush’s. They’re jealous,” he said with a smile.
A senior military officer said there will be no written presentation to the president on security and stability in Iraq. “There is no report. It is an assessment provided by them by testimony,” the officer said.
The only hard copy will be Gen. Petraeus’ opening statement to Congress, scheduled for Monday, along with any charts he will use in explaining the results of the troop surge in Baghdad over the past several months. Read more
I’m thinking of starting a national movement in which we dress up in Revolutionary-era garb and tar-and-feather effigies of Bush Administration officials, since you know Franklin wouldn’t have thought twice about giving that pompous gaggle of psychotics and halfwits the real thing (which, needless to say, they all so richly deserve) out in the town square. And, yes, I feel the Bushies actually deserve far harsher punishments, but that’s for the Hague to decide.
It’s surreal enough to draw attention, innocuous enough to keep me out of Gitmo (although the Powers That Be may crush my dreams of getting into dental school,) and would coincide perfectly with the Rip Van Winkle media’s recent coverage of Dick Cheney’s Double-Ply Constitution.*
Somewhere in an alternate universe, that’s what the headlines are screaming. For, you see, George Bush — like so many of our innocent yutes! — has been seduced by those jungle rhythms.
The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business. Read more
***BREAKING***
