Info-shaman: Fevered Insight

Believe, you ignoramus

2004-11-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

John McCain says:

"I simply cannot believe that one person, acting alone, can rip off taxpayers out of billions of dollars," said McCain, who said he will keep pursuing internal Defense Department and Bush administration communications until "all the stewards of taxpayers' funds who committed wrongdoing are held accountable."

To the Right Honorable John McCain: Believe it. These are the same guys who trashed your reputation in 2000. You still do not get it. Well, RHJMcC, run for President in 2008. We'll need somebody to haul out the crack pipes and fix the plumbing.

The state of the media

2004-10-10T14:45:00.000-04:00

Somersby in The Daily Howler says:

Dickens invented characters like Okrent, as he strove to describe a world in which idle, privileged, insolent people felt unvarnished contempt for their social inferiors. Okrent strolls straight outta those novels. But make no mistake—powdered people like Daniel Okrent are now in control of American discourse. Lazy, pampered, self-indulgent and stupid, they’ve made a sick joke of your interests for years. At some point, the public will have to find ways to end their control of our discourse.

But why single out Dan Okrent?

Philly paper endorces Kerry

2004-10-10T08:56:00.000-04:00

The choice is vivid. The stakes are vast.

Our nation is threatened by jihad warriors who scoff at boundaries. It stumbles toward a fiscal ruin that will punish our children. The rules that protect our air, water and health are weaker than we know. When 45 million of our neighbors fall ill, they have no insurance card to hand to the doctor.

We boast of exporting liberty and rule of law, yet watch them erode at home. A hooded prisoner on a box has replaced a soaring lady with a lamp as the global icon of America's intentions. Our national discourse has grown peevish, choking on distortion and bile.

On Nov. 2, we can return to office the man who, since 2001, has spawned some of those ills and shown a shaky touch at healing the others.

Or we can go a new way, one alert to fresh global challenges yet rooted in the approaches that made the 1990s so productive. We can elect Democratic nominee John F. Kerry.

Dear fellow citizen, this is as important an election as any in which you've had a chance to vote.

The Inquirer's urgent, deeply felt recommendation: Cast that ballot on Nov. 2 for JOHN F. KERRY.

Four more years?

2004-09-28T11:49:00.000-04:00

Political discussion in 2004 America

2004-09-24T09:28:00.000-04:00

What's wrong with the press?

2004-09-20T08:19:00.000-04:00

David Corn explains what's wrong with the press:

On a Washington street corner, he now asked me how he had done. You have a tough job, I responded. The Bush campaign has succeeded in convincing the mainstream media that the key question is, what is Kerry's plan for Iraq? Not, say, what is Bush's plan for Iraq? If Kerry is so fortunate to win on November 2, he won't take office until January 20, and the situation in Iraq could be dramatically different. Any specific plan he tossed out now could be--and probably would be--totally irrelevant at that point. Yet Republicans and echo-chamber reporters keep asking Kerry to state precisely how he would undo Bush's mess.

"I have two young daughters at home," I said to this Kerry aide. "If one takes a glass jar and throws it on the ground of their bedroom and smashes it into thousands of pieces, I don't point my finger at the other one and say, 'Okay, what's your plan for cleaning this up.'"

OK, if you're a member of the media, you do just that!

"Fog of War"

2004-09-19T07:34:00.000-04:00

Watched the Robert McNamara documentary "Fog of War". It was not what I expected. Instead of an extended one-on-one interview, with the interviewer, McNamara's comments were interlaced with film footage of his involvement with strategic bombing during World War II, his work at Ford Motor Company, and his activities while Secretary of State.

Long ago, if I had only the one word to describe McNamara, the word was "manipulative". The film reinforced that insight. As he notes, he never answered reporters' questions, only his own. Like the girl with the curl, when his motives were pure, they were powerfully pure. And when they were bad, well....

His comments on the Tonkin Gulf resolution brought back memories of the events leading up to Iraq War II. For that and many other reasons, high school American history courses should include the film and some outside reading on Vietnam. After all, high schoolers are the ones subject to the draft.

Mission Accomplished?

2004-09-19T07:28:00.000-04:00

The British Army is to start pulling troops out of Iraq next month despite the deteriorating security situation in much of the country, The Observer has learnt.

The main British combat force in Iraq, about 5,000-strong, will be reduced by around a third by the end of October during a routine rotation of units.

The news came amid another day of mayhem in Iraq, which saw a suicide bomber kill at least 23 people and injure 53 in the northern city of Kirkuk. The victims were queueing to join Iraq's National Guard.

More than 200 people were killed last week in one of the bloodiest weeks since last year's invasion, strengthening impressions that the country is spinning out of control.

BushCo has 40+ days to fool voters or face defeat. It could be a challenge. The administration's October surprize had better be good.

Back again...sort of....

2004-09-16T09:04:00.000-04:00

I've been busy with children and publication of a 300+ page report, but I should be back with more soon.

In the meanwhile, I recommend two blogs:

Michael Berube -- a hockey playing college professor who travels near the vortex of the political storms on the right...only to escape every time.

James Wolcott -- one of the best writers on the planet. His recent column on Kitty Kelley's tour promoting her story of the Bush family included the following:

Brown at least wasn't a snitty little twit, like the CNN interviewer this morning whose name, I believe, is Heidi Hairdo. From the outset her tone was brisk, assistant district-attorneyish, and yet schoolgirlishly naive, as when she couldn't understand why anyone would be "afraid" of the Bushes and Kelley laughed in snorting disbelief, as if she had to explain the facts of life to Miss Snippy.

Heidi Hairdo, like some of the other interviewers, seem to keep up an invisible cordon sanitarire, a starchy, disdainful discomfort at having to share the set with an author so disreputable and, oh dear, tacky. This from people who fawn over every narcissistic piece of Hollywood horseflesh making the rounds to promote their latest lousy movie.

What's clear is that the news media are uncomfortable with someone investigating the arrogant and disturbing patterns of behavior in the Bush dynasty. They can't ignore Kitty Kelley, but they want to keep her in her litter box. But she's a tiny tigress, and will not be contained.

There's more where that came from! Go read.

US fatalities in Iraq didn't stop at 1000....

2004-09-16T08:56:00.000-04:00

...although news coverage has.

A poem for the times

2004-09-05T08:27:00.000-04:00

Shelley:

Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number –
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you –
Ye are many – they are few.

It's a long, long time from Labor Day to November

2004-09-05T08:22:00.000-04:00

So quit whining about the bias political polls and media coverage and do something every day to help get John Kerry elected. Talk to your family, friends and colleagues. Ask them to vote. Get them the information they need to make an informed decision. Send money to the campaign. Volunteer.

And quit whining!

Please.

That's my news team!

2004-08-31T12:16:00.000-04:00

Reactions to convention

2004-08-31T08:55:00.000-04:00

Haven't watched. Haven't listened. Commenters at dailykos, eschaton, etc. seem astounded that (a) only 9/11 and Purple Hearts get mentioned and (b) the cable networks have not included comments from Democrats. Pretty much as I expected, so why watch or listen.

Summary of Pentagon spy scandal

2004-08-31T08:52:00.000-04:00

Josh Marshall recommends this article by Warren Strobel. As Josh says, Warren's coverage of events prior to the Iraq war are now pointed to as examples of how reporting should have been done.

This is a print story for now.

What GOP delegates think of military service

2004-08-31T08:42:00.000-04:00

A summary of the Bush administration

2004-08-29T07:04:00.000-04:00

Is being a likeable guy enough to let you hold the most powerful position in the world?

And the winner is....

2004-08-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

Guess we do need to FOIA George Bush's DD214, just to make sure that he did not go AWOL.

Great cartoon (Bentsen)

2004-08-20T18:53:00.000-04:00

Shorter Kerry on the War

2004-08-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

Sometimes succinct is best.

Check those care tags on your "Made in USA" clothing

2004-08-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

Virginia is now a "battleground state"

2004-08-17T14:06:00.000-04:00

We'll be getting a Springsteen concert, I figure.

The Grey Lady has spoken

2004-08-13T08:25:00.000-04:00

A headline from today's New York Times:

Report Finds Tax Cuts Heavily Favor the Wealthy

If you knew that, you don't need to subscribe to the Times....

Dirty play

2004-08-13T08:19:00.000-04:00

According to Bob Harris:

Incidentally, while rugby is a contact sport, every player knows that tackling above the shoulders is a foul. So is leaving your feet during a tackle. Either of these is serious enough that the other team is immediately awarded a penalty kick, often directly resulting in points for the other team.

So even without throwing a punch, Bush is already well outside fair play.

Grasping an opponent by the back of the head and punching him in the face is beyond the pale -- I've watched rugby avidly for years, and I've never seen it during an open-field tackle like this, honest -- and will typically result in a player being immediately sent off.

A: Marvin

2004-08-13T08:15:00.000-04:00

Q: On Sept. 11, which child did Barbara Bush want to hug?

Thanks to President Bush for asking the question. No wonder he's struggling.

Jon Stewart at his best

2004-08-05T12:45:00.000-04:00

Why would the RNC send a hick Congressman who had never seen "The Daily Show" to be interviewed by Jon Stewart is beyond me. The results were predictable, given that Rep. Bonilla was armed with a set of talking points and nothing more. Here's one of my favorite exchanges:

STEWART: You're making this up.

(LAUGHTER)

BONILLA: No, I'm not! And they--

STEWART: Okay, I'll tell you who it is. It's actually called the National Journal. And what they do is--

BONILLA: Well, that's a magazine!

STEWART: But they're the ones that put it together.

BONILLA: Right, they actually compile all this stuff.

STEWART: Right. But is that over their career, or over just...

BONILLA: Over their career.

STEWART: But see, no!

BONILLA: But they'll do it every year as well.

STEWART: The first and fourth--

BONILLA: They do it yearly and for career.

STEWART: But you know that the-- but Edwards over his career is actually more to the right than the median Democrat, and actually Kerry is more to the right of Kennedy. So I just, you know, like you say.

BONILLA: You're right.

STEWART: You just want people to have an honest discussion. That's all that I want. I'm not Democrat, I'm not Republican, but my head, with the spinning and the responses and the things, is... I'm a sad little man.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: I just need it to get more... you know what I'm saying.

BONILLA: What can we do to make you happy?

STEWART: Not-- no more of the rapid response with the-- just to twist the thing.

(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)

New terror alert

2004-08-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

This just in:

At a press conference later today, Tom Ridge will announce additional evidence of plots to destroy Washington, DC. Apparently a search of the National Archives uncovered documents from President James Madison's administration thatthe British intend to march on Washington and burn it to the ground. Ridge will denounce Mr. Madison as another Democrat who played politics with the truth...unlike President Bush.

Look out, Swing States!

2004-08-02T10:42:00.000-04:00

Thanks to uggabugga for reminding me which states Johns Kerry and Edwards will be visiting in the coming months.

The Vatican takes us back to the 19th century

2004-08-02T09:05:00.000-04:00

The Vatican yesterday depicted what it claimed were women's characteristic traits: 'Listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting.'

In its most important statement on the role of women in almost a decade, the Roman Catholic Church said these virtues of the Virgin Mary were ones that women displayed 'with particular intensity and naturalness'.

The Pope then left for a vacation in the Papal balloon....

Edwards prepares for VP debate

2004-08-02T06:58:00.000-04:00

May the Force be with you, Johnny.

Lincoln acceptance speech

2004-07-25T08:31:00.000-04:00

Howard Reiter reports finding the following quotation from Lincoln's 1860 acceptance speech in the notes of one participant:

Later I was in the Black Hawk War. I may have never seen any action, but at least Abe Lincoln didn't dodge the draft!

I prefer this quotation from the Cooper Union speech:

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Let's hope John Kerry finds the right words.

Good advice from IBM

2004-07-25T08:24:00.000-04:00

"All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use hammer." -- IBM maintenance manual, 1975

Worked yesterday when I installed a DVD writer in a PC.

[Thanks to the Unofficial Samba How-to @ http://hr.uoregon.edu/davidrl/samba/install.html]

An affordable PDA

2004-07-21T17:21:00.000-04:00

I ordered a Dell Axim x30. It doesn't have the style of the HP, and it doesn't have a 4" VGA screen. It is about half the price, just as fast, and equipped with built-in Wifi and Bluetooth wireless networking.
Unfortunately, Intel underestimated the popularity of its new fast-PDA processors, and shipping is delayed until Aug. 5. (Wonder what Intel was thinking?)

I shall call you "the Brick"

People from Indiana are called Hoosiers

2004-07-21T17:14:00.000-04:00

...contrary to what the Republican party says. ("Indianans"????)

"It was a dark and stormy night", 2004 version

2004-07-21T17:01:00.000-04:00

The winners of the 2004 edition of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest are out, and I couldn't be more excited. What is the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest? According to its web page:

An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1834), which has been made into a movie three times, originating the expression "the pen is mightier than the sword," and phrases like "the great unwashed" and "the almighty dollar," Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that the "Peanuts" beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, "It was a dark and stormy night."

And the winner is:

She resolved to end the love affair with Ramon tonight . . . summarily, like Martha Stewart ripping the sand vein out of a shrimp's tail . . . though the term "love affair" now struck her as a ridiculous euphemism . . . not unlike "sand vein," which is after all an intestine, not a vein . . . and that tarry substance inside certainly isn't sand . . . and that brought her back to Ramon.

My favorite entry in the category of "Miscellaneous Dishonorable Mention" comes from John Brugliera of W. Lebanon, NH:

The thing that goes back and forth inside the old grandfather clock swung like a pendulum.

Do take a look and find your own favorite!

Air Traffic Controllers needed, they think

2004-07-20T08:09:00.000-04:00

Read this graf from today's NY Times article:

Of the 15,100 controllers who do the vital work of managing the skies from control towers and in vast, dim rooms with rows of radar scopes, about 7,100 will turn the mandatory retirement age of 56 by the 2012 fiscal year, and most will have the option of retiring years earlier. The F.A.A. says that means it will have to hire about 790 a year, a vast increase from current hiring levels.

Then, a couple of paragraphs down, learn that:

[s]o far, though, the agency does not even know how many controllers it will need at each tower and radar center.

Later we discover that:

[a]ccording to a June report by the federal Department of Transportation's inspector general, which audits F.A.A. operations, the hundreds of air traffic offices across the nation use different methods to calculate how many new workers they will need, leaving the F.A.A. with no clear picture of what is coming.

FDR had a solution to the FAA's problems:

These unhappy times call for the building of plans...that build from the bottom up and not from the top down....

Planning? What a novel idea!

If you want to read the full Times article, use the member name "dailykos", password "dailykos"

Lincoln: Don't cancel the elections

2004-07-17T06:05:00.000-04:00

We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.

Tough times...if you work for a living

2004-07-14T13:29:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK - Despite an improved economy, cost-conscious employers are granting workers limited pay raises this year, and plan only slightly larger increases in 2005.

advertisement
Companies are budgeting pay increases of 3.3 percent to 3.5 percent this year _ the third in a row below the 4 percent-plus level that was routine in the 1990s _ and plan raises of 3.5 percent next year, according to a pair of surveys.

The modest raises both this year and next will keep workers' pay increasing faster than the rate of inflation. But higher worker contributions for health care could eat up much of the pay gains, analysts said.

So much for that booming economy.

"Beam me up, Scotty"

2004-07-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

I need a PDA/handheld computer so that I don't forget appointments, birthdays, etc. (My memory grows worse every day.) It's a bewildering process to select a system that's right for me, even though I'm no stranger to the devices.

My history with PDAs goes way back to the beginnings. I was an "early adopter" of the original PalmPilot. While I liked it very much, the amount of information that could be stored wasn't sufficient for my needs. Moreover, while the PalmPilot's screen worked great on airplanes but poorly outdoors: I could improve my digital Yatzee scores on cross-country flights, but I couldn't pull information out of the little grey box the other times I needed it. So I quit using it 5+ years ago.

My second PDA was a used MessagePad 2100. It was an Apple Newton on steroids. Its handwriting recognition was very good, and its text-to-speech feature wowed other PDA owners. Unfortunately, linking it to my desktop calendar and email was forever a challenge. And it consumed batteries (which is not good, given its NiMH power cells cannot be replaced). So the 2100 now sits in the corner of a bedroom, charging its batteries in case I might need it again.

This time, it looks like I will be buying a Hewlett-Packard. HP handhelds run Microsoft's Mobile 2003 operating system, and I hate giving money to Microsoft. Still, I need compatibility with Windows, Wifi connectivity, and a decent web browser, and reliability. I trust HP to give me all of that, even if the price is slightly unreasonable.

On July 27, HP announces its new hx4700. The good news is that it has all that I want--a tiny VGA (640 x 480) screen, stereo sound, touch pad, WiFi, more memory than most of the computers I've owned, and a powerful processor. The bad news is the price and, as somebody noted, the fact that it "looks like a bad prop from Battlestar Galactica."

Professor Cole on W. & the terrorist threat

2004-07-14T12:26:00.000-04:00

Professor Juan Cole listens to President Bush tell voters that his administration has reduced the terrorist threat to Americans...and disagrees:

So, no, Americans are not safer, Mr. Bush. They face the threat of substantial narco-terrorism from Afghanistan. Iraq is a security nightmare that could well blow back on the American homeland. Pakistan remains a military dictatorship with a host of militant jihadi movements that had been fomented by the hardline Pakistani military intelligence. Saudi Arabia is witnessing increased al-Qaeda activity and attacks on Westerners. And the Israeli-Palestine dispute is being left to fester and poison the world.

These are not achievements to be proud of. This is a string of disasters. We are not safer. We face incredible danger because of the way the Bush administration has grossly mishandled the Middle East.

Succinctly stated.

"Dick Cheney is not a crook"

2004-07-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

Paul Waldman of gadflyer.com writes:

"Dick Cheney is not a crook." - Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC)

and adds

You can't help but think that the instant that came out of his mouth, Graham smacked his forehead and said under his breath, "Stupid, stupid..."

"The Greatest Single Event of My Life"

2004-07-12T09:39:00.000-04:00

Mr. Pink of East Lampeter, Pennsylvania tells the story of his encounter with the President of the United States.

Adam, Brendan, and I rose our banner (the More Trees, Less Bush one) and he turned to wave to our side of the road. His smile faded, and he raised his left arm in our direction. And then, George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States of America, extended his middle finger....
A ponytailed man standing next to us confirmed the event, saying, "I do believe the President of the U.S. just gave you boys the finger." We laughed probably for the next half hour, and promptly told everyone we knew. Brendan actually snapped a picture of Bushy in action, but the glare and the tint of the bus windows make it difficult to see him at all. Nonetheless, it was the best possible reaction.

We pissed George W. Bush off. We are true patriots.

Mr. Ooze provides some background on what turns out to be a most ancient gesture.

We are truly blessed to live in our country.

(Thanks to Mr. Doolittle of BadAttitudes for bringing this story to a broader audience.)

All praise to the Whiskey Bar

2004-07-11T08:17:00.000-04:00

I've been fiddling around for a couple of months with a blog. I've learned two facts from the experience: Blogging requires discipline, and it taxes your writing skills. (It also messes with your social and work activities!) So a couple of weeks ago, when Billmon over at the Whiskey Bar interrupted his pattern of publishing 2-3 times every day, I felt a bit of sadness even as I understood a bit of why his well had run dry.

Well, Billmon's back. While he's not going to be serving up comments from the audience, he promises to apply his intellect and progressive point of view where needed. If his July 10th essay about Ken Lay and the Bush dynasty, titled "Play It As It Lays" is indicative, I am very thankful that he's back.

Of course Billmon skewers the media:

Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't the fact that several of Enron's unindicted co-conspirators - like the Vice President of the United States and the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - are still on the public payroll, and apparently still involved in the cover up, count for something?

Apparently not. The coverage of Lay's little perp walk was about two-third celebrity journalism (about on par with an E Channel documentary on the life and times of Morton Downey Jr.) and one-third desultory political speculation, in which the usual pundits expressed the conventional wisdom that the explosion of corporate crime that marked the final years of the '90s bubble is now just ancient history, and thus will have little or no impact on the election....

But he gives much more to chew on.

The tentacles of influence that Lay and company managed to insert into the Bush family and the Republican Party make the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s look like a tempest in, well, a teapot.

And yet now the talking heads seek to convince us that seeing Ken Lay briefly paraded before the television cameras in handcuffs is sufficient proof that the Bushes have put the scandal behind them - and us. We're supposed to forget, I guess, about the ruined lives and the enormous economic damage left behind by Enron and its political benefactors.

Read the full essay, and you'll learn about how the press is collaborating with the GOP to convince us that since Heinz had an encounter with Lay, everyone's guilty and there's nothing to be seen here. You'll discover how the Bush family and Ken Lay have aided and abetted one another for more than 20 years...at our expense.

Welcome back, Mr. Billmon.

Marriage for poor women: the math doesn't work

2004-07-11T08:03:00.000-04:00

Barbara Ehrenreich finds the Bush administration's solution for saving poor women from poverty faulty:

It is equally unclear how marriage will cure poor women's No. 1 problem, which is poverty — unless, of course, the plan is to draft C.E.O.'s to marry recipients of T.A.N.F. (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). Left to themselves, most women end up marrying men of the same social class as their own, meaning — in the case of poverty-stricken women — blue-collar men. But that demographic group has seen a tragic decline in earnings in the last couple of decades. So I have been endeavoring to calculate just how many blue-collar men a T.A.N.F. recipient needs to marry to lift her family out of poverty.

The answer turns out to be approximately 2.3, which is, strangely enough, illegal.

Reality doesn't slow down the true believers, does it?

"Fence"

2004-07-10T07:03:00.000-04:00

The headline in today's Washington Post refers to the World Court's ruling on "Israel's fence". Here is a picture of that "fence":

Here is another picture:

dictionary.com defines "fence" as

A structure serving as an enclosure, a barrier, or a boundary, usually made of posts or stakes joined together by boards, wire, or rails.

Sure looks more like a wall to me. Like a modern version of the Berlin Wall.

Good advice is not often taken well.

2004-07-08T16:47:00.000-04:00

Ken, I hardly knew ye...

2004-07-08T13:39:00.000-04:00

The Poorman reminds us that Ken Lay has a long history with W.

Perhaps Ken has some things he wants to tell the American people.

Guess who?

2004-07-07T13:24:00.000-04:00

Raised in a "working class" family. Built a successful career as a trial lawyer. Viewed as an overachiever by some; hated by others. Served only one term in Congress. Known for his oratory.
There's some interesting parallels worth exploring between Lincoln and John Edwards.

Another reminder of Bush's OTJ training

2004-07-07T12:26:00.000-04:00

Nick Kristoff in this morning's NY Times:

Is there a risk in choosing Mr. Edwards? Sure, Mr. Kerry might drop dead. Then we'd have a very inexperienced president — again!

Ouch!

Why Edwards? Because he gets it!

2004-07-06T22:40:00.000-04:00

(From Hullabaloo, written about a year ago:)

Do you want to see a wing nut's head spin around like Linda Blair's in the Exorcist? Try comparing Bush's economic policies to socialism:

[Edwards:] "This is the most radical and dangerous economic theory to hit our shores since socialism a century ago. Like socialism, it corrupts the very nature of our democracy and our free enterprise tradition. It is not a plan to grow the American economy. It is a plan to corrupt the American economy."

Damn. That is just beautiful.

Edwards gets it. It's about changing the Left/Right paradigm and putting the Republicans off balance, without moving further to the right. This is new and it has the potential to seriously shake up the dynamic, particularly if the economy continues to sputter. This is just great -- a truly new way of coming at the Republicans, using all of their patented propaganda tags against them. It's awfully smart and I would hope that every Dem candidate keeps this in the back of his mind.

Lack of experience can be a problem

2004-07-06T21:28:00.000-04:00

In 2000, with only 6 years in political office after a series of failed business deals, George W. Bush turned to a senior GOP politician to help pick the VP candidate. Remember?

In the spring of 2000, while still serving as Halliburton's CEO, [Dick Cheney] headed George W. Bush's Vice-Presidential search committee. After reviewing Cheney's findings however, Bush surprisingly asked Cheney himself to join the Republican ticket. Cheney resigned as CEO on July 25, and put all of his corporate shares and stock options into a charitable trust.

Just shows what a lack of experience will yield....

(Thanks to Bad Attitudes and WordIQ)

Senator McCain endorsed John Edwards

2004-07-06T12:16:00.000-04:00

According to Daily Kos, Senator John McCain provided this quotation for the back cover of Edwards' book:

Atrios adds the following quotation from Senator McCain:
He's got the ambition, the talent and the brains to go very far, to be president of the United States.
-Charlotte Observer, 2/26/01

!Who's to argue!

Murdock doesn't know all....

2004-07-06T12:03:00.000-04:00

When Marshall speaks, bloggers listen....

2004-06-28T08:59:00.000-04:00

According to the Financial Times article, that business man is likely himself the forger of the documents and he has a long history of bad acts which, they say, discredit him as a source of information. That last tidbit plays a key part in the FT story because, in their words, the provider of the documents is "understood to be planning to reveal selected aspects of his story to a US television channel."

That's what the FT says.

I hear something different.

In fact, I know something different.

My colleagues and I have reported on this matter extensively, spoken to key players involved in the drama, and put together a detailed picture of what happened. And that picture looks remarkably different from this account which is out today -- specifically on the matter of the origins of those forged documents and who was involved.

I cannot begin to describe how much I would like to say more than that. And at some later point in some later post I will do my best to explain the hows and whys of why I can't. But, for the moment, I can't.

Let me, however, offer a hypothetical that might help make sense of all this.

Let's say that certain individuals or organizations are responsible for some rather unfortunate misdeeds. And let's further postulate that such hypothetical individuals or organizations find out that some folks are on to them, that a story is in the works -- perhaps more than one -- and that it's coming right at them. Those individuals or organizations -- as shorthand, let's call them 'the bad actors' -- might well start trying to fight back, trying to gin up an alternative storyline to exculpate themselves and inculpate others. If that story made its way into the news, at a minimum, it might help the bad actors muddy the waters for when the real story comes out. You can see how such a regrettable turn of events might come to pass.

This is of course only a hypothetical. But I thought it might provide a clarifying context.

More to come from Josh Marshall. Perhaps his revelation will accompany the 4th of July fireworks.

A Fahrenheit911 review

2004-06-27T19:26:00.000-04:00

Blue Lemur's review is a good one. Being a fanatic for gonzo journalism, I have to borrow Blue's leading quotation, from the great Hunter S. Thompson:

Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective Journalism—which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place. He looked so good on paper that you could almost vote for him sight unseen. He seemed so all-American, so much like Horatio Alger, that he was able to slip through the cracks of Objective Journalism. You had to get Subjective to see Nixon clearly, and the shock of recognition was often painful.
— Hunter S. Thompson, He Was a Crook

I saw the film opening day in Michigan. The theater where I saw it was packed with people of all ages. Quite a few tears were being shed by those leaving. So I'm not surprized that F911 beat "White Chicks" at the box office, even though it showed on only 850 screens.

I suspect that F911 will break $50 million, then be pulled for DVD release in September.

(And if a certain political campaign sitting on more than $100 million was smart, it would arrange to buy two million copies at discount prices. 500,000 disks would be mailed to loyal supporters as a premium to share with their families and friends. The other one-and-one-half million should be distributed door to door in key precincts of battleground states.)

Bremmer curbs power of Iraqis prior to June 30 transition

2004-06-27T13:48:00.000-04:00

The administrator has gone mad:

He suspended the death penalty, and his election law imposes a strict quota: One of every three candidates on a party's slate must be a woman.

(Cheney responds "F--- Bremmer. That's just crazy!")

Seriously, enough with the claims that the US is turning over the country to the Iraqi people June 30.

When do workers get their share, indeed!

2004-06-23T08:50:00.000-04:00

Despite recent good news on employment growth, the current economic recovery, now approaching its third year, remains the most unbalanced on record in respect to the distribution of income gains between corporate profits and labor compensation. Essentially, rapid gains in productivity have been translating into higher corporate profits without increasing the wage and salary income of American workers.

Advanced Geography

2004-06-22T09:36:00.000-04:00

I needed a cup of coffee to make sense of this diagram:

So it comes back to religion?

(For the advanced student: Is fundamentalism like magnetism? As in "likes repell"? )

(Diagram courtesy of uggabugga!)

Gas prices got you down?

2004-06-18T12:09:00.000-04:00

(Thanks to Eschaton!)

Political bumper sticker

2004-06-17T09:31:00.000-04:00

(Courtesy of patriotboy!)

"evidence free" administration?

2004-06-16T12:02:00.000-04:00

Dick Cheney:

Cheney's comments Monday echoed a January interview with National Public Radio in which he said, ''There's overwhelming evidence there was a connection between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government. I am very confident that there was an established relationship there."

David Kay:

However, a former top weapons inspector said yesterday he and other investigators have not found evidence of a Hussein-Al Qaeda link.

''At various times Al Qaeda people came through Baghdad and in some cases resided there," said David Kay, former head of the CIA's Iraq Survey Group, which searched for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism. ''But we simply did not find any evidence of extensive links with Al Qaeda, or for that matter any real links at all."

''Cheney's speech is evidence-free," Kay said. ''It is an assertion, but doesn't say why we should be believe this now."

Two questions:
1) Who should we believe?
2) When does David Kay's book get published?

Appealing for Homer Simpson's vote

2004-06-16T11:37:00.000-04:00

Apparently the same Bush Administration rules that declare batter-coated frozen potatoes to be a fresh vegetable also permit us to refer to chocolate covered cherries as fresh fruit. Of course the Reagan Administration told us that catchup is a vegetable. All we need now is for a future Republican administration to label anything with four legs as a tree and doughnuts as over-the-counter pills. Hmmmm!(Picture courtesy of http://www.briansbelly.com/halloffame/homersimpson.shtml)

Vonnegut on the state of the nation

2004-06-16T10:52:00.000-04:00

Indiana has a tradition of fiction writers. Some of what gets written is depressing stuff on depressing topics. The name of Theodore Dreiser comes to mind. So does the name of Kurt Vonnegut. His tale of surviving the fire bombing of Dresden during World War II is as anti-war as any novel of the last 50 years.

Vonnegut is now 82. He has lasted longer than your typical Hoosier author. So I guess that he's earned the right of speaking plainly...and to foresake fiction for non-fiction. Vonnegut published an essay at in these times recently. It's a megadose of life in these United States--very depressing.

A few quotations:

Dr. Vonnegut [ED: Kurt's son] said this to his doddering old dad: “Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.” So I pass that on to you. Write it down, and put it in your computer, so you can forget it....

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break....

Can I tell you the truth? I mean this isn’t like TV news, is it?
Here’s what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.
And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on.

The many moods of Richard Cheney

2004-06-14T16:02:00.000-04:00

Rising Hegemon provides a pictorial guide. I would NOT want to meet up with an ANGRY Dick Cheney:

CIA humor (found at billmon.org)

2004-06-12T10:24:00.000-04:00

Three Iraqis were travelling on a train from Baghdad to Mosul. In the same carriage were three undercover CIA operatives, masquerading as businessmen. They were complaining about the extortionate cost of their tickets.

The Iraqis laughed and told them that they were foolish to spend all that money, and that they had only purchased one ticket between them.

"How do you think you're going to get away with that?" asked one of the Americans

The Iraqi winked. "Watch, and learn." he replied.

Just then the ticket collector appeared at the end of the carriage and all three Iraqis immediately rushed to the toilet and locked themselves in. When the ticket collector got to the toilet he observed the 'Engaged' sign and rapped on the door. "Tickets please!" he called loudly. The door opened slightly and a hand reached out, clutching a ticket. The ticket collector took it and moved on.

The Iraqis returned to their seats, laughing. The CIA guys looked at each other with disbelieving glances and shook their heads.

That night, on the train back to Baghdad from Mosul, the same three CIA men and the same three Iraqis found themselves in the same carriage once again. "Well, did you save your money on this trip?" teased one of the Iraqis. "Sure did!" replied one of the Americans and waved a solitary ticket before the Iraqis. "Hey mister, you wasted your money again," laughed the Iraqi, "We don't even have one ticket between us, we're travelling for free!" The Americans were curious. "Get outta here,how do you think you're gonna manage that?" The Iraqi winked, "Just watch, and learn!"

At that moment the ticket collector appeared at the end of the carriage. The three Americans and the three Iraqis all darted to the other end, and the Americans locked themselves in one toilet while the Iraqis locked themselves in the one opposite. Then one of the Iraqis nipped out and rapped on the door of the toilet where the CIA men were hiding...

"Tickets please!"
Posted by: Helpful Spook at June 12, 2004 08:55 AM

Alternative Bush '04 sites

2004-06-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

Upset with the official Bush-Cheney '04 website becoming a Reagan shrine? Try these alternatives:
GeorgeWBush.org features a copy of George W. Bush's Yale transcript:

The Bush-Zombie Reagan '04

website reveals why Cheney won't be on the ballot much longer....

The 2004 GOP team: Behind the scenes

2004-06-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

Picture says it all, eh?

(Thanks to Steve Gilliard for the find.)

A record of Bush's (funding) hypocracy

2004-06-11T15:49:00.000-04:00

It's time consuming to track every instance when W. has praised a program then cut its federal support and funding. Fortunately, the Democrats of the House Appropriations Committee have been keeping track. There is something pathological about such behavior. Either the President isn't fully conscious and engaged...or, as some suggest, he's one cruel, manipulative SOB. (Thanks to moe blues at badattitudes.com for the link.)

Now THIS IS FUNNY!

2004-06-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

Michael Berube has found at the New Yorker the funniest description ever of W.: Bushido: The Way of the Armchair Warrior. I laughed, then I laughed some more. Every paragraph is clever. For example:

Because human beings are prone to illusion, the sounds and sights of battle—the groans of the wounded, the maimed bodies of one’s comrades—may remain in the mind for many years, like a cloud that confuses judgment. Hence, a man who has fought on the battlefield and has later risen to high office may be fearful of leading his people to war. Such weakness does not afflict the armchair warrior, who at all times is firm in his resolve.

The armchair warrior does not fear death, especially not the death of other people.

The Bushiad and the Idyossey

2004-06-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

Victor Littlebear has translated Homer's classic, updating for events from 12/2002 through 12/2003. Much of it is clever, some is very funny.
Here's an excerpt from Chapter 21, "Doing the Patriot Act":

The phone on Ashcroft’s desk blinks, incoming call,
George is on the private line. He moves
Across the room, “John Ashcroft here,” he says,
Knowing George may have misdialed,
“I know it’s you, God damn it. You think I’m stupid!”
Sly Ashcoft pulls the phone away, ears ringing.

George is in a black mood, John takes a breath.
“Yes sir, Mr. President, I’m sorry, please excuse me.”
But George’s tirade goes on, anger unspent,
“When that red phone rings it’s me. You get it?
I know who I’m calling when I’m calling, asshole!
Would you rather I send someone down?”

John bides his time, he knows George.
“Yes sir,” he says again, cool, calm, patient.
“Ok,” say’s George, I forgive you this time, don’t forget it.
Now why I called, let’s see, I know there was a reason,
Ummm, yeah, let’s see I was thinking in my head…
I can’t remember. Shit! It’s all your fault!” Phone slammed.

John sighs, crosses back to his couch,
Shakes his head, mumbles something, then
Remembers that the White House is also in his Act,
All rooms bugged, machines recording all.
Loyalty’s made easier when
Backed up with a threat.

I’m going to read Orwell again, 1984, he thinks.
I love that part about using the book to recruit subversives,
Those reading it are targeted for capture, not killed
Held in Ministries of Truth, for re-education.
What a great idea, the government seducing traitors,
And Random House pays royalties, to boot!

He makes note to get that type of project started.
First, hire a shill to write the book, sell to a publisher..
Get money put behind PR, book tour, Oprah!
Bestseller window displays flash across his mind.
Write it, sell it, track it, list buyers in a database. If
Hitler'd had computers, he’d never have burned the books.

Venus in transit

2004-06-09T08:35:00.000-04:00

Slate's Chatterbox tells of his personal experience about watching the transit. I had a six-hour meeting ahead of me that day, so I slept in.

"Pentagon Report Set Framework for Use of Torture"

2004-06-07T16:17:00.000-04:00

A comment received by Brad DeLong on the WSJ article on the importance of the Geneva Conventions and similar protections:

Here is a joke that may make you think again (it's a well-known joke that people who has lived under dictatorship appreciate):

A zebra saw a fox that was running like mad in the forecast. The zebra ran after the fox and asked why he was running like that. The fox shouted, without stopping, "Didn't you hear? The king of the forecast has given an order that all rabbits will be spayed!" The zebra was confused, "but why are you running? you are surely not a rabbit." The fox was running even faster and the zebra barely caught his answer: "by the time they figured that out, it would be too late!!"

Posted by pat at June 7, 2004 12:49 PM

Here is a guide to the Geneva Conventions.
UPDATE: You can read the Pentagon report here.

UPDATE: Aunt Nina did a great job on the Ashcroft testimony yesterday.

Iraqis Paying 5 Cents a Gallon for Gas

2004-06-07T11:36:00.000-04:00

AP reports that

Although Iraq is a major petroleum producer, the country has little capacity to refine its own gasoline. So the U.S. government pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel in neighboring countries and deliver it to Iraqi stations. A three-month supply costs American taxpayers more than $500 million, not including the cost of military escorts to fend off attacks by Iraqi insurgents.

Finally, we've found a market for those old, fuel guzzling SUVs!

A great Republican president lies in state

2004-06-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

(Do take a look at the Celebrity Morgue website. Great pictures and information.)

On Reagan's Legacy

2004-06-07T08:57:00.000-04:00

Put down the newspapers. Turn off CNN and Fox.

Read Meteor Blades's column on the left's falling over itself to find nice things to say..
Then read Juan Cole's column on Reagan as a foreign leader.
Finally, read David Corn's list of 66 things about Ronald Reagan.
UPDATE.Max of MaxSpeak.org points to a cartoon summarizing Ronald Reagan and why he was loved.

Recalling Reagan: NPR needs to get its stories straight

2004-06-07T08:37:00.000-04:00

Cokie Roberts and Nina Tottenberg needed to share notes before discussing the Reagan years on Morning Edition. Aunt Cokie: Reagan's GOP Congress made tax cuts possible. Nina: Democratic Senate made Reagan judicial appointments (including Robert Bork) impossible. Flip a coin.

==============================

By the way, Aunt Cokie sounded like she too had been travelling the highway to Big Sur this morning. Nothing like asking her to reflect: It makes me realize that the mirror is losing its luster.

Return with me to Iran-Contra....

2004-06-06T19:31:00.000-04:00

A letter appeared in the May 24th edition of the Rocky Mountain News from a Mr. Don Secord Jr. of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. I reprint it because every word is heart-felt. It seems that Mr. Secord is outraged that the Middle East isn't apologizing enough to the good ol' US of A:

Americans would like apology for atrocities

I am absolutely outraged at the never-ending talk about the apology the Iraqi people are due because a small number of Iraqi prisoners were forced to be hooded and naked in the presence of women and other men.

Where's our apology from the Iraqis who murdered, desecrated, burned and hung lifeless American bodies from a bridge while chanting anti-American slogans?

I will never forget the horrific images of dead Americans who were in that country to help rebuild their infrastructure.

Maybe we have all forgotten that 3,000 innocent lives were lost on 9/11.

Where's our apology? I'll bet every family who lost a loved one on that tragic day would trade a day of humiliation for the life of their lost son, daughter, mother, father, brother or sister in a second! I realize that the Iraqi culture finds public nudity offensive. Our culture finds the mass murder of innocents offensive as well. Where's our apology for that atrocity?

Don Secord Jr.
Highlands Ranch

Just when I thought that Don Secord was a name resigned to history, W. hires Don's former Iran-Contra attorney and his son (?) does everything in his power to ensure the U.S. gets what's coming to us.

And to Mr. Secord, if it makes you feel any better,

I'm very sorry for you.

The Reagan Election of 1980: Personal recollections

2004-06-06T17:16:00.000-04:00

How I miss the campaign of 1980, my last summer in Bloomington, Indiana. So many wonderful memories, at least until the end:

In the spring, my buddy Dave and I concluded that Reagan might just be a player at the GOP convention. We decided to take a chance and booked one of the few copies of "Bedtime for Bonzo". We would show it at the Indiana University auditorium in late July/early August as the biggest fundraiser ever for the Bloomington Film Society. The other members of the Film Society, the type of campus film group that shows obscure foreign language flicks to 30 people in dingy basements, were horrified. They accused us, much like Jack's mother, of throwing away the family fortune on a whim. Then Reagan's popularity soared, Dave and I appeared on local radio (wearing Dick Nixon and gorilla masks) to plug the event, and we had ourselves a goose that could lay golden eggs. In fact, we made enough money from the event to keep the Film Society in Goddard and Kurosawa for another 5 years!

Early that summer the Reagan campaign sent me a request for money, promising me a picture of the Gipper himself if I contributed. So I scooped 6 dollars worth of pennies into the stamped envelope, sealed it with duct tape and returned it to Reagan headquarters. I got my picture (fake autograph) and a stream of GOP mailings that lasted almost under Bush 41.

Sometime that summer, I read about the "Reagan for Shah"campaign. I contacted the folks in San Francisco and became the unoffical Indiana coordinator. Hoosiers just didn't get the humor....

Then, on the first Tuesday in November, I and 6 others in my precinct voted for John Anderson.

And on the first Wednesday in November, I vowed that I would not acknowledge the 1980 presidential election. And I didn't...for quite a years.

Those were the days!

It's Sunday! Time for a sermon

2004-06-06T08:11:00.000-04:00

Thank you, General Christian.

Truth in op-eds

2004-06-06T06:46:00.000-04:00

Bruce Bartlett's LA Times op-ed piece titled "Is the GOP Well Dry for 2008?
No heir to Bush is in sight for the next go-round." should really be titled:

Kerry last best GOP hope for stopping Hillary in 2008

Meme, meme, meme, meme, meme....

John Dean on Bush's hiring an attorney

2004-06-05T16:59:00.000-04:00

John Dean argues that the President's decision to hire a private attorney to advise him in the Plame investigation is a serious matter

It is possible that Bush is consulting Sharp only out of an excess of caution - despite the fact that he knows nothing of the leak, or of any possible coverup of the leak. But that's not likely.

On this subject, I spoke with an experienced former federal prosecutor who works in Washington, specializing in white collar criminal defense (but who does not know Sharp). That attorney told me that he is baffled by Bush's move - unless Bush has knowledge of the leak. "It would not seem that the President needs to consult personal counsel, thereby preserving the attorney-client privilege, if he has no knowledge about the leak," he told me.

I agree with Mr. Dean that it's getting very interesting.

P.S. At least three times I've heard Tim Russert state that NBC is fighting his subpoena. Dean notes that

The Fitzgerald investigation has not made friends with the Washington press corps, many of whom are being subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Those journalists with whom I have spoken say they are not willing appeared before any grand jury to reveal their sources. So this issue is headed toward a showdown. And under existing law, a journalist cannot refuse to provide information to a grand jury.

Is Russert upset because the investigators don't honor who he is or because he doesn't want to talk?

The dog ate my Taguba report

2004-06-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

Years ago, when I made copies of classified reports, I remember having to follow rules to ensure that all pages were accounted for and controlled. Apparently recent paperwork reduction rules have relieved the handlers of the Taguba report from those onerous rules.

The graduation address you don't want your children to hear

2004-06-04T13:59:00.000-04:00

"In these times" offers remarks from 81-year-old Kurt Vonnegut on the state of the world. It's not a pretty picture, but it's full of insights:

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

===================

Here’s what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.

And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on.

===================

Worth reading every word.

The Beast and Beauty

2004-06-04T13:47:00.000-04:00

More interesting than the picture is the caption:

The House's newest member, Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.) at her mock
swear-in photo op with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) Thursday.

The heavily male blog population wants to know when is the "real photo op"? And how do we airbrush out Speaker Hastert?

BTW, Rep. Herseth got her seat on the House Agriculture Committee, so her incumbency will mean something come November.

"We seem to spend more time trying to destroy John Kerry than al Qaeda..."

2004-06-04T11:16:00.000-04:00

U.S. occupation doesn't get it (chapter 89)

2004-06-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

Steve Gilliard explains why Iraqi police walked off the job in Najaf:

The U.S. adviser said no sleeping arrangements had been made for the Iraqis, they had no personal gear for their duties or changes of clothes, and they were given military rations for meals that included pork. Muslims are forbidden to eat pork.

"They were not even given a mattress to sleep on," the adviser said. "The U.S. Army really dropped the ball here."

Steve gives them all the credit in the world for not overreacting to the insults:

No, they didn't desert. They walked off in protest, which beats killing their advisors and hanging them from street lamps, which is what happened in 1857, during the Sepoy Rebellion.

Wonder what ever happened to the concept of winning hearts and minds? Just asking.

Alice in "W"onderland

2004-05-29T12:35:00.000-04:00

(Ever notice how much Dick Cheney sounds like the Mad Hatter?)

How low with Bush-Cheney '04 sink?

2004-05-29T12:32:00.000-04:00

(courtesy of the fabulous Steve Gilliard)

CYA

2004-05-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

The Washington Post article says

Former pro football player Pat Tillman was "probably" killed by friendly fire as he led his team of Army Rangers up a hill during a firefight in Afghanistan last month, the U.S. Army said Saturday.

Why the quotation marks around the the word "probably"?

Patriotboy: Setting the terrorist threat level

2004-05-29T08:34:00.000-04:00

The Legacy of I.F. Stone

2004-05-29T08:03:00.000-04:00

According to Victor Navasky, I.F. Stone was the antithesis of the modern (read New York Times) reporter:

[A]lthough he never attended presidential press conferences, cultivated no highly placed inside sources and declined to attend off-the-record briefings, time and again he scooped the most powerful press corps in the world.

His method: To scour and devour public documents, bury himself in The Congressional Record, study obscure Congressional committee hearings, debates and reports, all the time prospecting for news nuggets (which would appear as boxed paragraphs in his paper), contradictions in the official line, examples of bureaucratic and political mendacity, documentation of incursions on civil rights and liberties. He lived in the public domain. It was his habitat of necessity, because use of government sources to document his findings was also a stratagem. Who would have believed this cantankerous-if-whimsical Marxist without all the documentation?

And as he gleefully explained to a group of Swarthmore students in 1954 (I know, because I was one of them), if you didn't attend background briefings you weren't bound by the ground rules; you could debrief correspondents who did, check out what they had been told, and as often as not reveal the lies for what they were.

Sounds like some of the better bloggers, eh?

Even after he died, they still didn't quite know how to handle him. In a classic example of the sort of on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand journalism against which I.F. Stone fought all his life, the lead paragraph of his obituary in the New York Times neatly balanced his "admirers" against his "critics."

Sounds like the New York Times, doesn't it? Plus ca change,....

New York Times: Obituary

2004-05-29T07:44:00.000-04:00

From an anonymous commenter at Eschaton:

The Grey Lady, a noted pioneer of American journalism, died after a long struggle with fascism on December 12, 2000 at her home in New York, New York.

The Grey Lady was born September 18, 1851 in New York, New York, the daughter of Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones. She was an early supporter of the Republican party carrying a large black border on the day of Lincoln's death. Disgusted with the scandals in the Grant Administration, George Jones, moved his daughter the Grey Lady away from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.

In 1896, Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The Chattanooga Times, married the Grey Lady. "All the News That's Fit to Print," coined by Ochs himself became her personal motto. On December 1, 1897 the Grey Lady was formally crowned The New York Times. In 1918, she won her first Pulitzer Prize for public service in publishing the texts of dozens of official reports, documents and speeches about World War I.

On January 20, 1981 the Grey Lady moved back to the Republican party of her youth. She ignored the inauguration of Democratic President Clinton in her most recent autobiography preferring to highlight the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in. In 2000, after 8 years of peace and prosperity, she rediscovered war. September 11, 2001 changed everything. After a brief second marriage to the former Republican party, she was diagnosed with terminal fascism. She died with a broken masthead at home in her sleep.

The Grey Lady is survived by several cousins, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, the Village Voice, the New York Press, and the New York Observer as well as numerous second and third cousins all of whom still reside in the greater New York metropolitan area.

I will miss her.

Ger yer free "Keep out of Jail" cards right here

2004-05-28T07:01:00.000-04:00

With FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III by his side, Ashcroft said at a news conference two days ago that "credible intelligence, from multiple sources, indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months. . . . This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda's specific intention is to hit the U.S. hard." He added that the information has been "corroborated on a variety of levels."

Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and Bush administration rules, only the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can publicly issue threat warnings, and they must be approved in a complex interagency process involving the White House. Administration officials sympathetic to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he was not informed Ashcroft was going to characterize the threat in that way -- an assertion that Justice officials deny.

Either DHS is lying, or Justice Dept. officials are lying.

I'm betting on Justice. Remember that it kept releasing documents attacking 911 Commission co-chair Gorelick even after CEO Bush announced a truce.

Grant's Tomb, the sequel

2004-05-27T14:55:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, after touring the Cloisters, I took my children to visit the Grant Mausoleum National Memorial. At 3:30pm on a weekday, I was the 8th person to sign the guestbook that day. When Civil War veterans were alive and active, the memorial drew more than 500,000 several years. By the 1920s, however, interest in the largest American mausoleum died away. The memorial was in terrible physical shape by the 1970s. The memorial has been restored physically in recent years, but interest remains limited. (The Grant Memorial Association is trying to change that.)

I mention Grant's tomb because this weekend is the dedication on the National Mall of the World War II memorial. Many veterans will be in Washington for the event, and for some it will mark the most important day in their lives. Still, in my humble opinion, the memorial is massively out of scale and its symbolism is obscure. By 2050, I fear, it's going to be regarded as another Grant's tomb.

============

The location of Grant's memorial led to intense competition between New York and other cities. Grant had the final word on the matter.

The old Groucho Marx joke, "Who is buried in Grant's tomb? Nobody," draws on the fact that Grant and his wife are "entombed", not buried, in the memorial.

The last reunion of the Blue and Grey at Gettysburg was in 1938, 75 years after the battle. The corresponding 75th reunion of WWII vets would occur in 2020. It could happen....

============
UPDATE

Charles Krauthammer wrote a column slamming the design of the WWII memorial. What has the world come to when I'm inspired to write Mr. Krauthammer an email thanking him for his letter?

And Abner Doubleday invented baseball....

2004-05-27T13:06:00.000-04:00

A bio of the New York Times' first "public editor". We're all waiting with baited breath until Sunday, when Mr. Okrent unveils his assessment of what went wrong at the former U.S. "paper of record" with the run up to Iraq II. My betting is that he wimps out: "Mistakes were made, it'll never happen again, public shame is the worst punishment", blah, blah, blah.

Another blogger, Aaron Swartz, provides specifics on Mr. Okrent's work at the Times.

William Powers of the National Journal has a different take on Mr. Okrent:

Hmmm, writes like a dream and drives all kinds of people nuts? I say drop the every-other-week shtick—make this man go daily.

He does note, however, that

Meanwhile, outside the paper, one hears scattered complaints that he has not been tough enough, pulls punches.

Well, wait until Sunday and we can all judge together.

Roy Rogers better watch out for his pet

2004-05-27T09:02:00.000-04:00

Apparently the US military is running low on bullets. Serious problem.

"I am convinced there would not have been a war without Judy Miller," he said.

2004-05-27T06:21:00.000-04:00

The quotation is from Russ Baker, a contributor to the Nation.

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I've read about recent debates between bloggers and press representatives. There is much to criticize about Blog City. But at least many of its inhabitants maintain a sense of skepticism about what they read (if only because most of it is undisguised opinion).

Judith Miller should be able to find a new job.

2004-05-26T09:16:00.000-04:00

In March 2004 New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said that Ms. Miller is

a smart, well-sourced, industrious and fearless reporter with a keen instinct for news, and an appetite for dauntingly hard subjects."

Of course, the New York Times was not the only guilty party. Kautilyan has provided a list of more than 100 articles whose content the INC may have manipulated in 2001-2002.

Understanding Iraq (via The Simpsons)

2004-05-25T17:34:00.000-04:00

A friend suggested the other day that the Simpsons' TV episode that helps us to best understand what happened with the neocons in Iraq is "Marge versus the Monorail":

A fast-talking charmer (Phil Hartman) sells Springfield a monorail of dubious necessity and, Marge learns, highly dubious quality. Leonard Nimoy is aboard
for the maiden trip, with Homer at the controls.

Simpsons fans will remember that Homer stops the runaway monorail by lassoing a donut shaped sign while on board. Let's hope that the W. administration can find its donut. Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?

Simone Ledeen on the President's visit

2004-05-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

After you're done enjoying the rants of a 29-year-old MBA who helped run Iraq into the ground, do take a look at the rest of the site. The theme music is quite enjoyable, and there is a listing of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Just think twice about the website's advice for converting Muslims:

...ministry begins with striking up a conversation. And it is easy for a Christian in a predominantly Islamic land to strike up a conversation about Christ, Mike says, because Muslims talk about religion all the time.