I’m sure this may come as a shock to you, but military is hiring bloggers to work as moles, “verbally attack[ing] specific person[s] or promot[ing] a specific message.”
Wait, sorry, wrong link.
CorrenteBoldly shrill ... From the Side-by-Side Wing Chairs of The Mighty Corrente Building.
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Bush CharacterBowl me over with a featherSubmitted by scarshapedstar on Tue, 2008-04-01 11:26.I’m sure this may come as a shock to you, but military is hiring bloggers to work as moles, “verbally attack[ing] specific person[s] or promot[ing] a specific message.” Wait, sorry, wrong link. The End of the Line for the Rule of Law: McCain and ProgressivesSubmitted by chicago dyke on Wed, 2008-03-26 14:55.Good job, CHS. This is well above and beyond ’golf clap’ worthy, this is action, meaningful and real. I applaud you and those who’ve signed the list. Here’s my take. Background para: Even so, FEC Chairman David Mason sent McCain’s campaign a strongly worded letter (PDF), letting them know that even though McCain didn’t consider his word on accepting public financing binding, that the FEC was not about to let him off the legal hook. What did McCain do? He ignored the letter, secured a loan based on representations of obtaining public financing and then blew past the public financing law spending limits…and he’s still raising campaign cash, too. Quelle suprise! This is the last chance to rescue the idea that we should have “the rule of law” in this country. Either McCain is held to this standard, or he is not. I believe he will not be. I believe the FEC will do nothing. I believe the SCLM Regretting JoeSubmitted by chicago dyke on Sun, 2008-03-23 19:32.Speaking of the double-being known as Sen Lieberman-McCain: heh. When The Day endorsed Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for re-election in November 2006 it was supporting a candidate who demonstrated a history of pragmatic leadership and a willingness to seek bipartisan solutions. Typical Hypocrisy in Law Enforcement: DrugsSubmitted by chicago dyke on Wed, 2008-03-05 09:46.Notice they don’t tell you how much he got busted with…5K is a lot to cough up for a minor schedule drug bust in a not really urban area. A former Crawford County Sheriff’s deputy who served as a school DARE officer faces felony marijuana charges. And pot is endemic up there, you’d have to be a pretty busy person to get attention leading to an arrest. Anyway, people always think I’m being rhetorical when I say “the government is the drug dealer.” But I’m not. And you have to love the DARE angle- who wants to bet in addition to recruiting new street talent, there was also some Maf54 action going on? It’s par for the course for these types. Read more »
For President's Day: Some Presidential ComparisonsSubmitted by leah on Mon, 2008-02-18 18:43.What follows is a post I wrote some time ago, shortly after Bush’s 2nd Inaugural. I thought it might be worth reposting on this particular day, since it includes a comparison of both Lincoln and Truman to Bush, and seeks to discuss political rhetoric and its discontents. I also thought it might be a pleasant respite from our current obsession with the Democratic Presidential primary, as well as offering a frame for contemplating the ruin Bush’s second terms has wrecked not only on the country, but on his own likely historical reputation.
Four years ago, at the time of Bush’s 1st Inaugural Address, despite the bitterness left behind by the manner in which the 2000 presidential election was decided, despite the “winner’s” inability to find a graceful way to acknowledge the extraordinary circumstances that had brought him to the Presidency, or even an ungraceful way, swept up in the grandeur of that peaceful transfer of power without which no democratic republic can long endure, I was able to acknowledge the surprising power of some of Bush’s rhetoric, and to feel some hope that he actually meant some tiny fraction of what he was saying. Nunca mas, as they have had occasion to say in Argentina. Bush made it easy last Thursday; everything about his second inaugural address, its grandiosity, its simple-minded diction and biblical intimations, the insistent refusal to acknowledge complexity, its wildly overstated and pitifully under-defined ambitions, its ahistorical smugness, struck me as downright preposterous, which will explain my amazement at the credulity with which the speech was received; yes, there were some reservations expressed at the practical implications and applicability of such a pure statement of American idealism, but rather less comment willing to point out that the speech’s efficacy as a statement of policy could be measured in inverse proportion to its almost demented insistence that ideas exist in some ethereal space untouched by anything as gritty and unpleasant as a fact. Instead, once again we were asked to wonder at the poetic eloquence of Michael Gerson’s prose, and if we happened to be liberals, admonished not to get too picky about the fathoms-deep divide between Bush’s rhetoric and the reality of his policies, lest we peg ourselves, once again, as outside the great and grand ideas upon which our republic stands. Chris Suellentrop, for instance, writing in Slate, parses the speech to bolster his own praise for it as a wonderful piece of oratory, credits it with announcing a second Bush doctrine, (the first, preemptive war, this second, the peaceful pursuit of democracy everywhere, and nary a hint the two doctrines might contradict one another), then proceeds to question the validity of the speech’s central thesis, which strikes Chris as being as simple-minded as the formulation by “some” on the left, that 9/11 was caused by poverty, and then finishes by warning liberals — well, unlike Mr. Suellentrop, I shall let him speak for himself: Read more McLame: "I Am A Conservative"Submitted by chicago dyke on Sun, 2008-02-17 23:18.Gotdaym Liberal Fascism! Because I can’t make the oootuybbe work. Fuck Anyway, my viagra has worn off. As I wuz a saying: McLame is old, tired, and old. And tired. I’ve been saying this since 200whatever and beyond. Old. Tired. And: For more war! Wars that, incidentally- he can’t fight. Because he’s old, and tired. Anyway, war is for young men. Who pay taxes. Foggies? Democrats? Anyone willing to say $175m can be better spent against this? Bueller? »
Your Fascist SCOTUSSubmitted by chicago dyke on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:39.Southern Beale beats me to it: Just to remind everyone about what’s at stake in November, we have these pearls of wisdom from Supreme Court Justice Führerprinzip WatchSubmitted by scarshapedstar on Thu, 2008-02-07 22:02.Via Digby:
McLameSubmitted by chicago dyke on Thu, 2008-02-07 12:41.Too Funny, via Skippy. Thanks for that one, bro. Hoo, hoo, my favorite: “My neighbor had a really hot wife. Like, really hot. Then he went to Iraq and she divorced him. Now I’m worried he’ll come back…” Franks Steals Money Meant for Wounded SoldiersSubmitted by chicago dyke on Wed, 2008-01-23 13:02.From the Dept. of “Lambert Can’t be Cynical Enough,” comes this blood boiling reminder that Republicans are Scum of the very first order. There just isn’t invective strong enough for this: Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks was paid $100,000 - out of donations made to wounded veterans - for allowing his name to be used on fundraising appeals by a charity that has come under increasing scrutiny for the way it handles its money. I think that soon, we’ll find ourselves needing to come up with a new word, one that describes “domestic post-battlefield fragging.” Franks better not go into any VFW halls anytime soon. This was in “Military Times,” so word is going to get out. Asshole. Texas-Style Politics and YouSubmitted by chicago dyke on Mon, 2008-01-21 10:59.My point: this is going on all over, from the Federal gov’t to the MIC complex to diplomatic agencies. I’m posting these two pieces because it gives us a glimpse into a culture of corruption the SCLM ouston, Texas) The district attorney who defended the Texas law criminalizing homosexuality before the US Supreme Court is desperately trying to keep his job following the discovery of e-mails containing sexually explicit videos, racist jokes and what is described as torrid love notes to his executive secretary. FISA Debate UpdateSubmitted by leah on Mon, 2007-12-17 18:56.CD updating the update to reflect the latest news: Reid has pulled the bill. Well, we’re into it - a full-throated Senate debate on many of the dearest, in all senses of that word, fundamentals of constitutional government, The opening, as Lambert has suggested, was a bit confusing. Dodd gave a passionate analysis of the many strands of this new FISA legislation, meant, mainly on the Democratic side, to correct the excesses of last August’s Protect America Act, which more or less gutted the FISA court as a check on the power of the executive branch to secretly ignore the civil liberties of Americans not to be spied upon by their own government. To talk process for a moment, the thrust of Dodd’s first speech was in support of the many and profound reasons why the Senate should not proceed on the matter at hand as long as the Intelligence Committee’s version is the basis of the debate and the subsequent voting on the entire issue. In other words, he was arguing against the imposition of cloture, so that the Senate might spend time debating the merits of substituting the Judiciary Bill as the basis for debate and amendment. It didn’t look or sound to me like this was Dodd’s attempt to get a genuine filibuster going, and indeed, the vote was lopsided in favor of cloture, all Republicans voting yes, only ten Democrats voting no. This is not the end of the debate by any means, though, and from what I’ve seen thus far, do not despair that passage of the Intelligence Committee’s version of this new FISA bill is a done deal, including the extending of amnesty to those Telecoms which choose to go along with the administration. Here’s why: Read more NIE on Iran a clear Casus BelliSubmitted by Tinfoil Hat Boy on Tue, 2007-12-04 15:36.And you America doubters-in-chief thought it would stop the drumbeat to war. Watch as Bush explains it all, nice and slow for all the haters in the house:
How could it be read any other way? GWB43.com: Fox Investigating The Henhouse EditionSubmitted by scarshapedstar on Wed, 2007-11-28 11:30.Get a load of this:
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. Wait, though, it gets better! Read more Bush: "I understand the consequences [to the troops] first hand." Somebody amputated one of his limbs, and we didn't notice?Submitted by lambert on Thu, 2007-11-08 16:18.
What does Bush know “first hand” about consequences to the troops, except when he’s using them for props in a photo-op, serving them fake turkey, or prancing around a flightdeck in a jumpsuit? Read more Keystone Cops Play GWOTSubmitted by Ruth on Tue, 2007-11-06 12:17.The farcical nature of the post-911 attack on ’terrorists’ was brought out to me by Ibraham Warde, who appeared on “Foreign Exchange” this week. His account of the pursuit we tend to think of as “following the money” was so engaging, I looked up an account of the activity he had written earlier. It gives a really spectacular overview of our clownish cabal. It also points out that typically, small sums of clean money (not illegally obtained) are used to fund acts of terror Read more Do The Crime and Forget Doing the TimeSubmitted by Ruth on Sun, 2007-11-04 10:25.Crime is having a field day in the occupied White House in many ways. Business is being given the benefit of a large blind side when prosecution is neglected of crimes against the public. The author gives a bow to the war criminals’ claim that the GWOT is distracting them, but otherwise gives a pretty hard look at failure to control business crimes in “Corporate Fraud”, in today’s Dallas Morning News. Read more »
Karen Hughes' Halloween MagicSubmitted by Ruth on Wed, 2007-10-31 10:19.Personalities are something I generally avoid, but for doing a totally poor job, this appointee has got to rate high as they come. Karen Hughes is finally going to stop trashing the U.S.’s reputation by being its representatives, and applause is called for. As the croniest of cronies, this woman has embarrassed us abroad very much like the occupier of the White House has embarrassed the country everywhere and for all time. Read more »
Bunning's Hold in the Senate: Will it Work?Submitted by chicago dyke on Tue, 2007-10-30 09:04.So just one Republican is enough to hold up a bill to restore sanity to “sensitive” presidential records. The executive order, which Mr. Gonzales drafted, made it significantly harder for historians and the public to gain access to a former president’s official records, and it provided an early glimpse of two Bush White House themes: a mania for secrecy and a dangerously inflated view of presidential authority to override existing law. Read more Bush To CA: Burn, Baybee, Burn!!!!Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 2007-10-25 13:47.While Air Force 1 or Marine 1 is in the area all air traffic is grounded. So Bush flew out to the California wildfires today — meaning the helitankers and airdrop aircraft fighting the fires have to sit on the ground until AF1 clears the area on exit. Bush "Jokes" About Staying In OfficeSubmitted by Sarah on Thu, 2007-10-18 17:46. There’s a story on Wired about W’s latest quip. Remember the first one?
“If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” — Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000
"IF the President Does It, It's Not Illegal"Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 2007-10-18 14:19.cf the Frost interview with Nixon here. Ergo, Pelosi & Reid are behaving “legally”. Faith Based Hard Work on The Lies Doesn't Do ItSubmitted by Ruth on Tue, 2007-10-16 12:46.Once upon a time was there a responsible head of state? Yes. I remember when keeping the country safe wasn’t a political slogan. I remember when there were measures congress and the executive fought out with each other, but public interests were served and crimes against the public were prosecuted. Nostalgia time? In light of the Cretin in Chief’s speech yesterday in Arkansas, yeh. That’s about all we’ve got except the expectation that in October 2008 we can turn out a vote to start winning back all that’s been thrown out in the six+ years of one-party theft. Read more »
Supreme Court Considering the Omnipotence Claim of the Meddling CretinSubmitted by Ruth on Thu, 2007-10-11 10:26.The order given to the State of Texas by its former governor, now Cretin-1 in the White House, hasn’t gone down easily, if at all. As I mentioned in an earlier post about the attempts to exceed his constitutional powers, the occupier of the White House has chosen to act as if the law is for other folks. Texas’ challenge of the right of the national executive to tell the state to follow the orders of the International Court of Justice |