First reports were that Hillary collapsed at a speaking appearance in Buffalo. Later reports indicated that she fainted, which, you have to admit, is much more lady-like.

Remember when Brig. General Kimmitt passed out during a press conference? The CNN anchor claimed he fainted, but, whatever... Military guys don't faint, they take a header... or... uh, secure a knee buckler...

Fainting is of course more masculine than, say, getting a case of the vapors, but obviously it's not as manly as eating floor.

This Is Rumor Control has this exchange:

Coulter: "Canada used to be one of our most loyal friends and vice-versa. I mean Canada sent troops to Vietnam - was Vietnam less containable and more of a threat than Saddam Hussein?"

McKeown interrupts: "Canada didn't send troops to Vietnam."

Coulter: "I don't think that's right."

McKeown: "Canada did not send troops to Vietnam."

Coulter (looking desperate): "Indochina?"

McKeown: "Uh no. Canada ...second World War of course. Korea. Yes. Vietnam No."

Coulter: "I think you're wrong."

McKeown: "No, took a pass on Vietnam."

Coulter: "I think you're wrong."

McKeown: "No, Australia was there, not Canada."

Coulter: "I think Canada sent troops."

McKeown: "No."

Coulter: "Well. I'll get back to you on that."

McKeown tags out in script:

"Coulter never got back to us -- but for the record, like Iraq, Canada sent no troops to Vietnam."

Dumbass.

Just a short clip of The Daily Show's coverage of Michael Powell quitting the FCC along with the recent SpongeBob SquarePants dust-up.

link

At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.

The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.

Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults.

link

Earlier this week it was revealed Maggie Gallagher was paid off, add syndicated columnist Mike McManus to the list.

This is still only the tip of the iceberg.

Yeah, I know, not really news... but this one seems particularly egregious.

From Media Matters:

On the "Talking Points Memo" segment of the January 25 edition of FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly declared: "[M]illions of Americans still can't come to grips with the problem [of terrorism]. According to a new Pew Research Center survey, only 17 percent of Americans who voted for [Senator] John Kerry believe military force is the best way to defeat the terrorists." In fact, according to the poll he cited, only 39 percent of all voters -- including 17 percent of Kerry voters and 66 percent of those who voted for President Bush -- agree with O'Reilly that "military force is the best way to defeat terrorism." By contrast, 51 percent of Americans responding to the same question believe instead that "relying too much on military force creates hatred that leads to more terrorism." In addition, 55 percent of all Americans agree "that good diplomacy, not military strength, is the best way to ensure peace."

Feith is out at defense- and here I was expecting Bush to give him a promotion for all the great fake intelligence he put together which allowed him to invade Iraq.

NYT:

A classified annex sent by Feith to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Oct. 27, 2003, disclosed two weeks later by the Weekly Standard, asserted in part that "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003," and concluded that "there can be no longer any serious argument about whether Saddam Hussein's Iraq worked with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda to plot against Americans."

Has he been asked about this lately?

His earlier work used to justify invading Iraq has been described as being, "meant to dazzle the eyes of the not terribly educated."

An obvious reference to Bush, am I right?

For dreaming up this fake war, Doug Feith has American blood on his hands. He'll have to live with that for the rest of his miserable life.

Update: By the way- I mentioned only American blood on his hands because I'm convinced he doesn't give two shits about the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqis he's massacred.

This is the funniest thing to air on C-Span since O'Reilly vs Franken at that book conference- Rep. Brian Baird's Bush impression starts at the 47 minute mark.

If the link doesn't work, try going to C-Span.org and look for "Hotline Post-Inaugural Comedy Show (01/20/2005)"

Special thanks to C-Span and Real Media for making something as simple as linking to a video clip a nightmare, bang up job there you fucking hacks...

Dan Froomkin:

Who Invited Him?

The new war request raises the total cost of military operations since Sept. 11, 2001, to about $280 billion.

Dana Bash reports on CNN that, apparently by coincidence, Larry Lindsey was over at the White House yesterday for some sort of meeting yesterday.

Lindsey, formerly Bush's chief economic adviser, was ousted before the war was launched in 2003 for saying it could cost as much as $200 billion.

Feingold:

On the torture issue in particular, Judge Gonzales repeatedly told us that he opposes torture and that the President has never authorized torture. Thus, he indicated, the question of whether the President acting as Commander in Chief can authorize torture has never and will never come up. I certainly hope that we can rely on those assurances, but the Founders of this nation designed a system where even the President is bound by our laws—precisely so that we wouldn't have to rely on trust alone that the President will act in accordance with them. I think this Committee, and the American people, deserved to hear whether the next Attorney General agrees that the President has the power to disobey laws as fundamental to our national character as the prohibition on torture. Judge Gonzales refused to address this question unequivocally, and that left me deeply troubled.

Mr. Chairman, Judge Gonzales has a compelling personal story, and many fine qualities as a lawyer. If he is confirmed by the Senate, there are many issues on which I hope we can work together for the good of the country. But I cannot support his nomination. Not because he is too conservative, or because I disagree with a specific policy position he has taken, but because I am not convinced that he possesses the abiding respect for the rule of law that our country needs in these difficult times in its Attorney General. I will vote No.

I think Russ Feingold is a great Senator- he's kind of a personal hero of mine. His vote for Condi Rice in the committee is a big part of what got me so riled up last week about Democratic spinelessness- he said before the hearings were over that he was leaning toward voting for her even though she'll be horrible for the country. (He didn't actually say she'd be horrible for the country, but I think looking at the last four years it's pretty clear what she has to offer.)

Well, with the Gonzales vote it seems we've found Feingold's limit. I honestly can't conceive of a legitimate reason to vote for this sack of human garbage who's done as much as anyone in this administration to tarnish our country and to spawn new enemies around the globe. It can't be stated more simply:A vote for Gonzales is a vote advocating torture. Who but Bush and his handlers could convince their legion of slack-jawed Republican Senators to vote for this sycophantic personification of everything America doesn't stand for?

Though I still disagree with his vote for Condi Rice, Feingold is clearly a decent, principled man who sticks to his guns. As we've all seen with Bush, without the first two qualities, the third just ends up being a personality defect.

If turning the United States of America into a torture-friendly nation wasn't enough to lose this guy the job of Attorney General, maybe lying to Congress while under oath will do it.

Does a disbarred lawyer have the qualifications to be AG?

(I'm really asking... the word "Attorney" is in the job title, but I'm having trouble tracking down the actual job requirements.)

More torture:

Another case involved a 73-year-old Iraqi woman who was captured by members of the Delta Force special unit and alleged that she was robbed of money and jewels before being confined for days without food or water -- all in an effort to force her to disclose the location of her husband and son. Delta Force's Task Force 20 was assigned to capture senior Iraqi officials.

She said she was also stripped and humiliated by a man who 'straddled her . . . and attempted to ride her like a horse' before hitting her with a stick and placing it in her anus. The case, which attracted the attention of senior Iraqi officials and led to an inquiry by an unnamed member of the White House staff, was closed without a conclusion.

Yep... it was just one or two bad apples on the night shift of one prison in Iraq acting on their own with the fucking White House helping with the coverup...

"In what community in America are graphic terms for genitalia decent?" said Lara Mahaney, a spokeswoman for the [Parent's Television Council].

Graphic terms like penis and vaginer? When did those become indecent?

Take a look at the stuff the Parent's Television Council thought was indecent:

One complaint involved an episode of NBC's "Friends" that aired in May 2003. In it, a female character, her husband and the husband's ex-girlfriend talk about a fertility treatment at a medical office.

A complaint over "The Simpsons," which airs on Fox, included a scene from a November 2003 episode in which students carried picket signs with the phrases "What would Jesus glue?" and "Don't cut off my pianissimo."

There's no mention of violence complaints- content that actually can be termed indecent.

These fucking mutants (including Commissioner Copps from the FCC) are angry about an ice cube on an abdomen, but they've got no problem with a two hour snuff film with all kinds of swearing in Aramaic... (okay, that last part is just a theory of mine...)

Boobies and midriffs are destroying America- what country can we invade and massacre to solve this problem?

link

Update: Jeff Jarvis has more

Includes a report from Daily Show Baghdad Bureau Chief Rob Corddry.



Torrent Link

Boy... sure would be nice if they'd roll back all those huge tax breaks for the rich to help pay for that... oh, wait... that kind of talk loses you elections, don't it?

link

link

via MiFi

Al Kamen has the scoop.

Norm's Smile, via Pandagon

Inspired by Bush's jackets for every occasion:

I called it.

Chris Hedges:

The failure of the coverage leading up to the invasion of Iraq was the failure to be wary of the powerful, the failure to listen to those who are not our own. Stories about an imminent Iraqi threat, which turned out to be false, were splattered across the pages of the nation's most prominent newspapers. There were voices, important voices, that questioned the assertions, but they were largely unheard because the media ignored them. This failure was also, and perhaps more important, a failure to honor the moral contract that journalists have with viewers and readers to be truthful, even when it means challenging conventional wisdom and ferreting out unpleasant facts.

Those who defend the prewar coverage argue that reporters are only as good as their sources. They say they reported accurately the falsehoods leaked to them by those who sought to wage war. By making such an argument they are also saying they are morally neutral, that they are little more than conduits for lies, half-truths and truths all rolled into one unintelligible message. They forget the contract.

Oh my god our president is such a spaz...

I thought this was pretty well done- Amy Poehler is hilarious.

BitTorrent Link

Eh... the torrents are sort of working... but the tracker is having some problems- I'm going to be working on it tonight. Torrents might or might not work for the next few hours... I'll update when I think it's (relatively) stable.

Update (9:30 PM): Okay... seems like it's working. Let me know if you have any problems with the torrents.

Here's the Daily Show's coverage of the inauguration, includes reports from Rob Corddry, Samantha Bee, and Stephen Colbert-



Torrent link

BlogTorrent Easy Download link

/obvious

From the April 21, 2003 issue of Time magazine:
Isn't that just precious? Dubya is a widdle soldier! Of course we need to start thinking about our economy now that the war is over!

It goes without saying that we can't trust a media this easily snowed...

Bonus- Ari Fleischer comments on the sole reason for the Iraq war in the same issue of Time:

"We have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said last week. "This is what this war was about and is about."

MMFA has the quotes:

"Hitler would be a card-carrying ACLU member. So would Stalin. Castro probably is. And so would Mao Zedong."

I'm curious what, exactly, O'Reilly believes the ACLU does- he seems to be under the impression that they're some sort of G.I. Joe style paramilitary organization.

And he complains that those damn librul groups are monitoring him... I think it's pretty obvious why- he's a fucking nut.

So anyways.... back to our regular bitching.

Good riddance. Now if we can just get rid of the rest of the commission...

link

Did you happen to read FOX News's story about Michael Moore's bodyguard who was arrested yesterday at the airport for carrying a (gasp) gun?

NEW YORK — Filmmaker Michael Moore's bodyguard was arrested for carrying an unlicensed weapon in New York's JFK airport Wednesday night.

Police took Patrick Burke, who says Moore employs him, into custody after he declared he was carrying a firearm at a ticket counter. Burke is licensed to carry a firearm in Florida and California, but not in New York. Burke was taken to Queens central booking and could potentially be charged with a felony for the incident.

Moore's 2003 Oscar-winning film "Bowling for Columbine" criticizes what Moore calls America's "culture of fear" and its obsession with guns.

link

Well... funny story... turns out he wasn't carrying a gun- it was locked up in his checked luggage. Also, it turns out it actually was licensed... oh, and the guy doesn't work for Michael Moore.

No correction has been posted to the FOX News web site, but even an anti-Michael Moore web site has been forced to admit the story is bogus.

FOX News watchers take heed- you're being lied to.

Let us know when you start implementing that whole "ending tyranny" plan. It certainly didn't start today.

Couple things-

First, I've (finally) enabled an RSS feed for OverSpun- so now I can look down my nose at those who haven't bothered with it... I'm looking at you, Drudge...

FeedDemon seems like a pretty solid choice if you're looking for a RSS reader for the PC- I've heard about some very nice Mac readers, but I can't give any advice on that end of things unfortunately.

Second I've installed Blog Torrent's torrent tracker which makes uploading torrents easier and more reliable. (Most of the tracker servers I've used for older torrents have disappeared for one reason or another.)

Please feel free to download videos and other assorted crap at

torrent.overspun.com

Some of the downloads will probably be pretty slow, since I'm seeding most of them all by myself, but they're at least operational.

Finally, there's also an option that allows anyone to upload files- I'll leave that turned on for the moment- we'll see how it goes. If you have files you want to share, feel free to use the tracker.

For further information on uploading check out BlogTorrent's site -

My web host didn't like my tracker. It go bye-bye.

Enough of my rambling- hope this is useful- let me know if you run into any problems.

Funny... Bush didn't say the word, "Iraq" in his speech... Oh wait- that's not funny... irresponsible... horrible... disgusting? Yes, but not funny in the least...

...did JibJab.com blow to get all this fawning press coverage?

Just askin'...

Here's The Daily Show's coverage of the first day of Condi Rice's confirmation hearing along with Stephen Colbert's analysis.

link

After watching this it's hard to even put into words the disgust I feel for some Democratic senators. They know that confirming Rice is a bad thing for the country, yet they're still going to vote to confirm her in the interest of harmony or something.

You're not there to be a doormat for the President- I can't believe this is something that needs to be explained to Senators, but here we are...

As Stewart put it, the new Democratic slogan seems to be "A moment of resistance, a lifetime of capitulation."

The time is now to make a stand- it's time to grow a fucking spine.

Berlin - German police have their hands full - pranksters in Berlin have been sticking miniature American flags into piles of dog poop in public parks.

The series of incidents was originally thought to be in protest against the United States-led invasion of Iraq.

But then it continued through US President George Bush's re-election.

Police say they are completely baffled by these events, which have been going on for a year.

"We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act," said police spokesperson Reiner Kuechler.

"But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red-handed."

Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth, said: "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2 000 to 3 000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time."

Legal experts say there is no law against using faeces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue. - Ananova.com

link

Senator Boxer issues a long overdue beatdown to Condi Rice over the administration's rolling justifications for the invasion of Iraq.

MS. RICE: Saddam Hussein was a threat, yes, because he was trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction. And, yes, we thought that he had stockpiles which he did not have. We had problems with the intelligence. We are all, as a collective polity of the United States, trying to deal with ways to get better intelligence.

But it wasn't just weapons of mass destruction. He was also a place -- his territory was a place where terrorists were welcomed, where he paid suicide bombers to bomb Israel, where he had used Scuds against Israel in the past.

And so we knew what his intentions were in the region; where he had attacked his neighbors before and, in fact, tried to annex Kuwait; where we had gone to war against him twice in the past. It was the total picture, Senator, not just weapons of mass destruction, that caused us to decide that, post-September 11th, it was finally time to deal with Saddam Hussein.

SEN. BOXER: Well, you should read what we voted on when we voted to support the war, which I did not, but most of my colleagues did. It was WMD, period. That was the reason and the causation for that, you know, particular vote.

But, again, I just feel you quote President Bush when it suits you but you contradicted him when he said, "Yes, Saddam could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year." You go on television nine months later and said, "Nobody ever said it was" --

MS. RICE: Senator, that was just a question of pointing out to people that there was an uncertainty. No one was saying that he would have to have a weapon within a year for it to be worth it to go to war.

SEN. BOXER: Well, if you can't admit to this mistake, I hope that you'll --

MS. RICE: Senator, we can have this discussion in any way that you would like. But I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity. Thank you very much.

One of the most corrupt human beings in existence is under the impression that she has integrity.

Isn't she just precious?

link

In case you missed it over the weekend (as I did...) here's the Washington Post's take on Gonzales:

As Mr. Gonzales confirmed at his hearing, U.S. obligations under an anti-torture convention mean that the methods at Guantanamo must be allowable under the Fifth, Eighth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution. According to the logic of the attorney general nominee, federal authorities could deprive American citizens of sleep, isolate them in cold cells while bombarding them with unpleasant noises and interrogate them 20 hours a day while the prisoners were naked and hooded, all without violating the Constitution. Senators who vote to ratify Mr. Gonzales's nomination will bear the responsibility of ratifying such views as legitimate.

Their response reminds me of when I was a kid trying to figure out what my friends got me for my birthday-

"Remote Control Car?"

"No."

"Legos?"

"No."

"Grimlock of the Dinobots?"

"...maybe."

"MASK action figures?"

"No."

From the CNN article:

Hersh also said Doug Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy, oversaw Defense Department civilians who "have been working with Israeli planners and consultants to develop and refine potential nuclear, chemical-weapons and missile targets inside Iran."

But DiRita said ties between Feith and Israel "do not exist."

The defense spokesman added, "Mr. Hersh is building on links created by the soft bigotry of some conspiracy theorists. This reflects poorly on Mr. Hersh and the 'New Yorker.' "

Heh- "soft bigotry"- I guess the neocons can't pull out the old anti-semitic card on this one as they have in the past against other (less Jewish) critics.

The Pentagon would have been served just as well by putting out a press release reading in full, "Well, what the hell does he know?" Adding, "You guys!!! You're crazy. Seriously, we won't confirm or deny anything."

link

Nope, that's not a typo. Seymour Hersh has an article in this week's New Yorker (out today) about the Bush administration's plans to conduct missile strikes and commando raids in Iran. It's their belief that the Iranian people will greet such attacks with an impromptu revolution against the government.

And it's not only Iran, according to Hersh. Here's an excerpt from CNN, reporting on the Sunday morning talk shows:

The plans are not limited to Iran, he (Hersh) said.

"The president assigned a series of findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other special forces units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as 10 nations in the Middle East and South Asia," he wrote.

Under the secret plans, the war on terrorism would be led by the Pentagon, and the power of the CIA would be reduced, Hersh wrote in his article.

"It's sort of a great victory for Donald Rumsfeld, a bureaucratic victory," Hersh told CNN.

He said: "Since the summer of 2002, he's been advocating, 'Let me run this war, not the CIA. We can do it better. We'll send our boys in. We don't have to tell their local military commanders. We don't have to tell the ambassadors. We don't have to tell the CIA station chiefs in various countries. Let's go in and work with the bad guys and see what we can find out.'"

Hersh added that the administration has chipped away at the CIA's power and that newly appointed CIA Director Porter Goss has overseen a purge of the old order.

"He's been committing sort-of ordered executions'" Hersh said. "He's been -- you know, people have been fired, they've been resigning."

The target of the housecleaning at the CIA, he said, has been intelligence analysts, some of whom are seen as "apostates -- as opposed to being true believers."

Link

The FBI failed to investigate properly charges of espionage made by a contractor who was fired "in large part" because of allegations she made against a co-worker, the Justice Inspector General concluded in a declassified report released Friday.

Linguist Sibel Edmonds claimed she was fired after six months because the FBI was protecting another translator and hiring incompetent linguists because they had friends or family at the agency.

This is basically office politics- the real story (in comparison) is buried at the end of the CNN article:

She testified in closed session to the 9/11 commission and has claimed publicly the FBI had information before the terrorist strikes that could have helped prevent the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

link

IFILM is hosting a reenactment of the Bill O'Reilly sex tape.

Warning: If you're offended by cartoon nudity DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!

(original)

Whoops...

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.

Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. "There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries."

Well Mr. Bush, you can't say they didn't warn you.

When a reporter began a question by saying Bush had cited weapons of mass destruction as his reason to remove Saddam Hussein from power but that the weapons "didn't exist," Bush kept interrupting with "Oooop!"

link

Regarding presidential inaugurations in war-time:

"President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," according to a letter from Weiner and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. "During World War I, president Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified."

link

What a great gig. I wonder how much it pays.

link

Drudge Headline:

Powell Says US Troops Will Begin Leaving Iraq This Year...

Reality:

"With the assumption of that greater burden [Iraqis taking over security operations], the burden on our troops should go down, and we should start to see our numbers going in the other direction," Powell said in an interview with National Public Radio.

"But I cannot give you a timeline as to when they'll all be home."

Yeah yeah... woulda coulda shoulda...

Check out Stephen Colbert's masterful report on the CBS document scandal- it'll really make you think.

Everyone should see this - it puts things in perspective.

Now all that's missing is the outrage.

Will the CIA get fined?

That's the first question that popped into my head after reading last Sunday's Chicago Tribune story about the ghost plane that's being used by the CIA to whisk detainees off to various "torture friendly" nations for... uh... questioning.

See, in Oregon, if you knowingly file false corporate documents it's a $1000 fine and up to six months in jail. It seems the person who filed the documents on the torture jet doesn't exist... except as an invention of the CIA.

The plane exists- here are some pictures of it.



The plane belonged to an apparent CIA front corporation called "Premiere Executive" then was sold to what is probably another CIA front named "Bayard Foreign Marketing"

It reads like an episode of Alias, except it's hard to tell if there are any good guys here. And there's hardly any Jennifer Garner. Hardly any at all.

link

There weren't any. Just as we were told by the inspectors before invading.

Dear war hawks: Told you so.

You have a lot of apologizing to do- start with Hans Blix- he was reviled for telling the truth. I'm talking ceaseless personal attacks on his character- Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly- you morons wouldn't listen. When you were proven wrong you blamed the CIA. Fuck you. The CIA wasn't there, the weapons inspectors were. Then Bush kicked them out.

We've since learned that the CIA was working against the inspectors- presumably at the instruction of the president. They were holding back suspicious sites that, if inspected, would have ruined Bush's fake justification for war. (See "A Pretext for War" for more information.)

The UN inspectors told the truth, and they suffered for it. Now it's your turn to suffer.

We can never, ever trust the criminals who got us into this again. Unfortunately we're stuck with them for four more years- let's give 'em four years of hell.

link

He's been on vacation since last month, but starting this week we're again getting the (relatively) straight shit from Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post.

Regarding a recent "interview" with Bush:

The excerpts as published suggest an unusual arrangement for an interview. Interviews, even with presidents, traditionally begin with a question; this one appears to have started with a long, rambling opening statement that consumed about 40 percent of the total verbiage. It's a time-gobbling tactic that Bush has used frequently at press conferences.

link

I didn't realize how much I stole from him until he went on vacation....

After a meeting held by Mr Allawi's campaign alliance in west Baghdad, reporters, most of whom were from the Arabic-language press, were invited upstairs where each was offered a "gift" of a $100 bill contained in an envelope.

Many of the journalists accepted the cash - about equivalent to half the starting monthly salary for a reporter at an Iraqi newspaper - and one jokingly recalled how Saddam Hussein's regime had also lavished perks on favoured reporters.

link

Wonder if any of the American reporters jokingly recalled how they were paid to promote Bush's policies...

Anybody else picturing Robert Novak sinking ever-lower in his chair as Armstrong Williams starts spilling beans to save his own ass?

I'll be watching for the signs around the neck on the day.

via

Sounds like mclusky broke up...

Damn. They were good.

In the aftermath of September 11th there was a telethon which George Clooney participated in that raised $150 million dollars.

After the telethon, Bill O'Reilly repeatedly alleged fraud and that the telethon was resistant to an investigation, presumably to be conducted by O'Reilly's falafel rubbing producers. The charges were false, of course, but many folks who promised money canceled their pledges because of O'Reilly's invented controversy.

Now Clooney is participating in a new telethon to benefit tsunami victims- and O'Reilly is promising his viewers more fraud coming from those evil Hollywood liberals.

In response, Clooney has invited O'Reilly to appear on the telethon- He's a better man than I.

If it were up to me I'd tell that miserable old doormat-hawking phone-sex-having vibrator-using windbag where he can put his loofah.

Sorry... busy day...

Things happened, and other people spouted off about them... some people even posted cool video clips.

But not me.

(Well, not so far...)

Just askin'...

...And who the hell are we to tell him no?



link

The only thing that could make this story better would be it it were Andy Rooney... now there's some old man ass everyone can agree on. Am I right?

*crickets*

Or Novak.

*crickets suddenly stop*

What I know about the Social Security situation:

1. There was a big adjustment made in 1982 which made Social Security viable for at least the next 75 years.
2. Bush's proposal will cut benefits.
3. Bush's real intention is to scrap the program.

Social Security- Love it or hate it, Democrat/Republican/Whatever- when someone lies to your face it should give you pause. George W. Bush is lying to your face.

...And why the hell not? It worked when they wanted to invade Iraq even though every sensible person knew it wasn't necessary. When it turned out to be a mistake those who knew this would happen were marginalized. So... no consequences.

Plus it's just so much easier to lie- you're not bound by any reality. Tell people they're threatened, they'll vote you in for another four years.

Right this minute Bush's people are predicting worst-case scenarios which assume that not only social security, but the entire economy will crash in a few years. Bush's numbers assume the US Government won't be able to make good on treasury bonds issued for the Social Security trust fund. No explanation is given for why this would happen, or how privatizing parts of Social Security would avoid such a disaster.

If the government stops paying off Treasury bonds Social Security will be the least of our concerns.

If you believe Social Security is in crisis, I've got some weapons of mass destruction in Iraq I could sell you... real cheap.

Shouldn't be a surprise, but it's good to see someone finally nailing these bastards.

The question remains, how much is the White House paying Hannity and Limbaugh?

This is the tip of the iceberg, my friends.

You know how everyone kind of laughs and rolls their eyes about the unprecedented secrecy of this administration?

Time to stop laughing.

Slate has a good rundown of the hearing.

Bottom line- an eighth grader has a better understanding of the balance of power than this guy does.

He's under the impression that the president can set aside laws passed by Congress if he disagrees with them. Right there he should be out of the running. Right fucking there.

But there's more. He says he's against torture, but he won't say what constitutes torture. Hacking off a limb or killing someone's family might not qualify as torture in his mind, we don't know because he wouldn't say.

This guy is dangerous, and with all the promises of level-headedness and openness he makes now, I just hope the Senators can think back to when they voted to confirm Ashcroft on his wave of promises, and how those promises all went out the window on day one.

CNN article:

In an attempt to answer his critics, attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that he will abide by international treaties if he is confirmed.

Is that a threat? Sounds like if they don't confirm him he'll continue ignoring international treaties like the Geneva convention... so trust him, if he's confirmed he'll stop approving torture and ignoring our international obligations...

I can't see why anyone with a clear head in Congress would vote to confirm this scumbag-

Gonzales believes the president is a king, rather than a component of a system of checks and balances. He's stated in leaked memos that, in effect, the President is above the law. Inherent in that belief is the idea that the President is more powerful than Congress and the Supreme Court put together.

Voting to approve Gonzales weakens Congress and the Supreme Court. It's also a vote of support for Bush's torture policies. While I still hold out hope that the vast majority of folks in our government have the decency to be against torture, I guess we'll find out the cold hard truth soon enough.

CNN's Crossfire has been canceled.

They've stopped, Jon, they've finally stopped.

Here, once again, is Jon's amazing appearance on Crossfire.

Here's the Daily Show's coverage of the tsunami.

In other news, Star Jones makes me retch.

American Government aid to Asia as a result of tsunami disaster:
$15 million $35 million $350 million

American Government aid to Florida as a result of hurricanes in 2004:
$2.8 billion

Total aid pledged for tsunami relief from all countries:
$2.3 billion

Bush should have come out, day one- $1 billion. The whole "How do we pay for it?" line Bush is laying on us of course doesn't work- pull the troops out of Iraq a few days early- that would make up the difference.

Luckily, unlike the President, the American people are incredibly generous and private donations are rolling in. It's important to demonstrate that we actually are the good guys, despite the criminal behavior of our leaders.

Drudge shocked by this:

SHOCK AFTER CNN CHIEF 'FLOOD THE ZONE' COMMENT
Tue Jan 04 2005 12:17:58 ET

Industry insiders are aghast at new CNN chief Jonathan Klein's appalling lack of sensitivity to the tsunami disaster in his ongoing media tour today.

Klein told USATODAY that CNN was "able to flood the zone immediately."

"It's jarring," said one news executive. "This guy's obsessed with associating himself with the coverage of this tragedy and he royally sticks his foot in his mouth his first time out of the gate -- could there be a worse choice of words to use after 150,000 people just died in an epic flood of waves?"

Developing...

Yet not so shocked about this:

Developing...

NYT interview with Jeanne L. Phillips, chairwoman of the 55th Presidential Inaugural Committee:

I hear one of the balls will be reserved for troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Yes, the Commander-in-Chief Ball. That is new. It will be about 2,000 servicemen and their guests. And that should be a really fun event for them.

As an alternative way of honoring them, did you or the president ever discuss canceling the nine balls and using the $40 million inaugural budget to purchase better equipment for the troops?

I think we felt like we would have a traditional set of events and we would focus on honoring the people who are serving our country right now -- not just the people in the armed forces, but also the community volunteers, the firemen, the policemen, the teachers, the people who serve at, you know, the -- well, it's called the StewPot in Dallas, people who work with the homeless.

How do any of them benefit from the inaugural balls?

I'm not sure that they do benefit from them.

Then how, exactly, are you honoring them?

Honoring service is what our theme is about.

Where does Bush's team find all these robots able to stay on message even when what they're saying no longer makes sense?

via

Letterman has a segment called "George W. Bush Joke That's Not A Joke" - We'll probably see this one tonight:

President Bush, once an unsuccessful candidate for the House, greeted the new members at the White House on Monday and made a wry reference to his own Congressional campaign. "I ran in 1978, came in second in a two-man race," Mr. Bush said.

The fact that Bush said it was lame enough, but no right-thinking human being would have thought it was amusing enough to label it "wry" and print in an article about Republicans (eventually) deciding against allowing drunken rages, whoring**, and illicit drugs in the halls of Congress...

Come on Carl- you realize people laugh at Bush's horrible attempts at jokes because they're entirely up his ass, don't you?

** The whoring I'm referring to that isn't allowed is the sexual kind- whoring of all other types continues to be a staple of daily life in Congress.

Below are excerpts from Newsweek's summation of the Kerry flop. While the thought of JK in 2008 is insane, he seems to be taking a decent approach to life as a loser. I agree that the Democratic Party needs to be rebuilt, and that issues like health care for all children and building military strength are decent ways to win a majority. I just don't think Kerry can be the flagship -- he's too unlikable. I mean really, skeet shooting?

Here are excerpts:

Kerry has become deeply fascinated by the task of rebuilding the Democratic Party from the grass roots up, say his advisers. He has hired a streetwise political organizer from Boston named John Giesser, the deputy to 2004 grass-roots organizer Michael Whouley, to run his political action committee.

And this:

In the meantime Kerry is going to play the role of opposition leader. Next week he will leave a family vacation in Idaho (he had planned to do some skiing, mountain climbing and skeet shooting) to travel to the Middle East and Iraq. When he returns, he will introduce two bills in the Senate: to provide for health insurance for every child in America and to increase the size of the U.S. military by 40,000 troops.

Reacting against conventional wisdom is nothing special (ie. Bush is popular, so let's talk about how his own party is upset with him), but in this case, I have to wonder if some Republicans really are wondering what their bitten tongues have gotten them. We're stuck in a war with no way out, we're stuck with a defense secretary who's an idiot, we're stuck with a torture scandal that won't go away, and we're stuck with a dope in charge of it all. We're stuck, we're stuck, we're stuck ... at least for the next 4 years. I think we're really getting a chance to see how bad of a candidate John Kerry was. A lot of people wanted to see Bush lose -- there just wasn't enough of an alternative to sway that needed 3 percent.

Suppose you're a country fighting a war against a noun. Along the way you start taking people you think are bad into custody. Now unfortunately the evidence you would normally use in court to convict the "bad men" either doesn't exist or the "bad men" have been handled in such a way (or, such an illegal way...) that formal prosecution is now impossible, what do you do?

Well, if you're the United States, you build a huge prison for those condemned without trial and keep them there forever. No justice necessary.

Question: If we're going to hold them forever with no charges, wouldn't it be cheaper just to gas them? I'm sure there's some documentation around on how to run an operation like this... of course, it would all have to be translated from the original German.

link

Have an unsettlingly pleasant 2005.

Too too pleasant.

(Don't blame me, I'm still drunk.)