Friday, February 27, 2004
The Poor Man's Ari
Am I the only one who thinks that poor Scott McClellan is hopelessly and helplessly unsuited for his current job? It's painful to watch him bailing out the Titanic with a shot glass.0 comments
At another stirring White House press briefing:
SCOTT McCLELLAN: What I'm telling you is that the President has always believed marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman;
Is he counting all those who got drunk and ran down to City Hall?
SCOTT McCLELLAN: that it should be an institution that is protected. And that's what the President has always made very clear.
The question that keeps going unasked at all these things is: "Protected" from WHAT? Where's the attack? Who's attacking? Who's being attacked? Anybody have any idea? Or is this just a rerun of "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!"? Except this time, they're using live legislation.
Basically, I just see a whole lot of hatred being thrown around.
Hmmmmm...protected, hunh?
So, meanwhile, this means beating your wife will remain protected.
Making her give up her career so she can fetch you beers is protected.
Parceling out just enough money to her to cover the Marshmallow Fluff supply is protected.
Insulting your wife in public is protected.
Screwing that hot new thing at the office is protected.
Getting drunk with your friends, and coming home and raping your wife while she's asleep or ill is protected.
Keeping her in the dark about your financial dealings, that's protected.
But, loving and caring for someone, and attempting to protect your legal rights as a couple in a court of law, are not.
OK, got it.
P.S. Scott, yes, do quit your day job. "I know Ari Fleischer, and sir, you are no Ari Fleischer!"
P.P.S. Anyone remember Iraq? Or the Economy? How about the World Trade Center?
Nah...Didn't think so.
posted by Gotham 2:12 AM
Fighting Terrorism Through Chemistry
Washington Post: Bush Highlights Social Issues0 comments
LOUISVILLE, Feb. 26 -- President Bush increased his emphasis on social issues, including his opposition to human cloning, in a new stump speech Thursday during his first road trip since beginning to take on the Democrats.
Seems Bush outlined his new plan for a constitutional amendment to ban marriages to clones.
To a cheering room full of Pat Robertsons, he claimed Americans "will not stand for justice of the peaces [sic] who undermine democracy by letting people marry themselves.
Unless they come from a well connected family, like mine," the president joked to the crowd.
posted by Gotham 1:16 AM
0 comments
Washington Post: Rumsfeld Cool on Bin Laden Hunt
And why is it that this man still has a job, exactly?
Seems the ol' Sell By date has sorta passed here, don't you think?
This is scary on two accounts.
First, procrastination doesn't appear to be high on the list for those three thousand office and restaurant stiffs, fire fighters and cops who were vaporized a few miles south of here a few years ago. Remember, New York City is where the Republicans will be holding their "Please Don't Throw George Out!" Party this summer. And poor ol' Donald seems pretty blase about tracking down one of the world's great mass murderers.
Second, this CAN'T be playing well at the White House.
One of the remaining re-election chances the president is clinging to these days is finally catcing bin Laden in some sort of "October surprise" and proclaiming, "See, I AM John Wayne. Ignnore all that other stuff in the papers. Just let me stay here in the White House!"
Forget being on the same page. Don't these guys even talk anymore?
posted by Gotham 12:40 AM
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Quandry
0 comments
Help me out here.
Should I be shocked to learn that President George W. Bush and Shadow President Dick Cheney both come from states with NO INCOME TAX?
posted by Gotham 5:11 PM
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Where's Waldo Osama?
Osama Bin Laden Detected in Pakistan's Northwest0 comments
AFP has this, and CNN was reporting it earlier as well.
Since Saddam's capture didn't have the expected positive impact on the upcoming elections, and with the president's poll numbers free-falling as Americans realize that he is neither "conservative" OR "compassionate," expect to see a U.S.-led multinational "full-court press" to come up with Bin-Laden.
It may be Bush's only chance at re-election.
posted by Gotham 11:22 PM
Unexpected Sullivan Kudos
Not often do I agree with Andrew Sullivan on most anything.0 comments
But this is a beautiful article.
Please read it.
But this is the best graph:
When people talk about "gay marriage," they miss the point. This isn't about gay marriage. It's about marriage. It's about family. It's about love. It isn't about religion. It's about civil marriage licenses - available to atheists as well as believers. These family values are not options for a happy and stable life. They are necessities. Putting gay relationships in some other category - civil unions, domestic partnerships, civl partnerships, whatever - may alleviate real human needs, but, by their very euphemism, by their very separateness, they actually build a wall between gay people and their own families. They put back the barrier many of us have spent a lifetime trying to erase.
Beautiful writing.
posted by Gotham 12:19 AM
Friday, February 20, 2004
"May I?" "Yes, I May."
Bush Chooses the F.D.A.'s Chief to Run Medicare and Medicaid0 comments
This stands as one of the dopier things I've seen in years.
Choosing the regulatory pal of the drug companies, and putting him in charge of the massive program which is most awash in prescription drugs.
It's Christmas morning at Pfizer and Merck.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 11:51 PM
Saturday, February 14, 2004
A Vote for Our Finest
I was coming home from an evening out with a close friend whom I had not seen for many years.0 comments
We had partaken generously at the well of libation.
We parted ways at the corner of W. 44th St. and Eighth Avenue, and off he went to take the subway home, heading downtown.
Successfully, it turns out.
After our parting, I sauntered over to the bus stop at W. 46th St. and Eighth Avneue. I stood on the curb at the bus stop and waited a full fifteen minutes for a bus to come along.
In the interim, I was turning this way and that, taking in the whole scene of an area which I used to hang in. Seeing what had changed; seeing what had stayed the same.
Along came an NYPD car, and this post-pubescent cop leaned out the window and barked at me:
"Get over by the building, put your back to the building, and NO MOVING AROUND.
I may have been feeling the grape, yes, but that was a tad over the line.
Perhaps John Ashcroft is running the NYPD these days.
posted by Gotham 1:52 AM
Friday, February 13, 2004
Volley
With the George W. Bush re-election coffers over-flowing with an obscene $150 million or more, and his poll numbers from January to February dropping much faster than Monica Lewinsky's little blue dress, I've been assuming that they'll use that windfall with a tad more creativity and style (not to mention, political effectiveness, i.e., "John Kerry intestine-ripping") than this lame-o effort from the RNC (see previous post):0 comments
Look at this Bush campaign Internet banner ad, placed on a non-political web site.
Yes, I know. RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie was only an Enron lobbyist before this, so not a whole lot can be expected of him, but they couldn't they, at least, BUY some talent? And a decent copy writer?
"...a president whose foreign policy works."
Cheeeeeeesh!
"...a president whose foreign policy works."???
Who signed off on this copy with the ad agency?
Haven't they been reading the papers?
Heads Will Roll!
Damn, just give me the money. Hell, I may well hate the man, and may feel strongly that he is the single worst president our system of government has ever produced, but I could still come up with better stuff than that!
posted by Gotham 9:08 AM
Buckle Your Seatbelts...Return Your Tray Tables...Assume the Position
Washington Post: Most Think Truth Was Stretched to Justify Iraq War0 comments
Now, they turn the dogs loose.
If you think this isn't going to make the Republicans turn purple and throw everything but the Spanish Inquisition at anything that moves around a Democrat issue, you just haven't been paying attention these last fifteen years.
Just watch. You'll be able to set your watch by it.
Anyone who is slightly to the left of Tom DeLay will now be accused of every dehumanizing flaw they can think-, dig- or dream-up.
They're falling behind, so now it gets REALLY nasty.
This administration will never relinquish the White House. Never—even if they have to destroy the country to keep it.
It begins.
posted by Gotham 12:29 AM
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Impeach Antonin Scalia!
Was the duck hunt a conflict of interest?0 comments
posted by Gotham 9:20 PM
Sunday, February 08, 2004
"Thnkin', Always Thinkin'..."
Challenger to Putin for Russian Presidency Is Missing0 comments
And don't think this hasn't given the Republican braintrust some ideas.
If you just start shooting down Democrats on the streets, or make some of the prominent ones just disappear altogether, it'll make the November elections SO MUCH more manageable.
posted by Gotham 6:52 PM
For the Democrats, An Issue on a Platter
Public Shows Doubts on Medicare Law0 comments
President George W. Bush spent two and a half years attempting to expunge from the White House (and, indeed, all government) any and all traces that Bill Clinton was actually ever president.
Recently, however, the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey ("NAESO4") reports that Bush's attempt to actually grab a page out of the Clinton playbook, and take away a Democratic issue (prescription drugs) and make it his own, doesn't seem to be working quite as planned, nor going as smoothly as this type of thing used to go for Clinton.
The NAESO4 found the American public of two basic minds on the issue of the Medicare Bill Bush just signed on December 8. Unfortunately for Bush, it seems to break down to whether someone a) knows much about the legislation, or b) doesn't know much about the legislation.
Ouch.
It would seem that voter education would be at the top ot the Democratic to-do list for 2004.
The NAES04 first asked each person surveyed for a basic Favor/Oppose vote on the legislation. Then, it followed that person's vote with the core argument from the opposite choice. The favor folks received an "Oppose" follow-up argument, and those who originally opposed received the core argument from the "Favor" camp. Then they were all asked to vote again.
While the overwhelming majority of Americans polled first approved the new bill, as soon as they heard a bit more about it, they pancaked in a heartbeat.
So, the important overall finding here is that most Americans were not paying all that much attention during the yowling debate, the intra-party strong-arming and bribing of Republican Congressmen that it took to pass it, or Bush's signing of the final bill. But, if pushed now, and made to be aware of what is involved in the new law and how it affects them, we see Americans taking a decided step backwards.
Here are some of the breakdowns of what the NAES04 found:
1,615 people were polled at the end of December 2003. The margin of error was +/- 2 points.
Overall Favor/Oppose (%):
Favor: 63 Oppose: 25 Don't Know: 12
Next, the 88% who had Favored or Opposed were given countering arguments. And here's how they ended up:
Favor: 22 Oppose: 18 Don't Know: (48 + 12 original DKs) = 60
Over 65+:
Favor: 46 Oppose: 40 Don't Know: 14
then:
Favor: 16 Oppose: 26 Don't Know: (44 + 14 original DKs) = 58
Even the 18-to-29s, who mostly have been ceded to Bush, shifted:
Favor: 73 Oppose: 14 Don't Know: 13
then:
Favor: 21 Oppose: 9 Don't Know: (57 + 13 original DKs) = 70
While a major drop in Democratic support of 46 points is not news, seeing the resulting Republican numbers plummet is:
Favor: 73 Oppose: 18 Don't Know: 9
then:
Favor: 33 Oppose: 13 Don't Know: (45 + 9 original DKs) = 54
So, to Terry McAulliffe, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and the rest of the Democratic pack:
Here is an election issue package offered to you on a silver platter, complete with champagne. Let's see where you go with it.
posted by Gotham 12:38 PM
U.S.A.: A Country Bought & Paid For
Washington Post: Bush's Fund-Raisers Look to Aid GOP0 comments
Chilling.
Now, that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have dollars overflowing the rims of their coffers, they are pointing their fund-raising machinery to all the other races in the country. On every level. Including the ones which effect your life most directly.
So, aside from your local race for Governor, Senate and House of Representative, expect a flood of checks coming into the now-happy Republican campaigns for highway commissioner, county sheriff, mayor, alderman, school boards and town/city councils.
Every town and burgh in this country will be drowning in special interest money.
God Bless America. Democrats pay cash.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 10:31 AM
Friday, February 06, 2004
Slower, Slower, You Fool, You Fool...
Productivity Cools, Jobless Claims Rise0 comments
AHHAAAAAAAA!!
Now we see the problem has been us, all along. It's still a Pogo nation.
So we're also the solution.
You want your life back, those of you "lucky" enough to actually have a job?
Then this is the only way: Slow down. Miss a few deadlines. Take a long lunch. In fact, take lunch! Take some sick days Take a long walk. Use that vacation time up! Make three gadget there instead of five. Smile a lot (that drives them nuts.) Leave at 5 pm. Say often that you feel sorry for those people who are working themselves into a thankless, early grave.
The only way for a dysfunctional workplace to exist is for the workers to become co-dependent enablers.
You wouldn't let a family member get you to hang out in bars EVERY day so they could drink themselves into an early grave, would you?
But everyone feels they need to acquiece to the demands of small and large companies, both. A silly concept on its face.
posted by Gotham 1:38 AM
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
The George Carlin Factor
CBS News: Poison Suspected In Senate0 comments
He's baaaaaaaack.
The Wallingford Wingnut seems to have resurfaced.
Or maybe it's one of his many wingnut brethren.
For, despite the propaganda-poster style of the news releases on bio-terrorism spilling out of the Bush White House, most, if not all, news accounts over the last three years point towards these bio-terror attacks coming from OUR guys. Pissed-off Americans with a chemistry set, time on their hands and a chip on their shoulder. Oklahoma City Redux.
And none of these self-styled American Bin-Ladens has ever been caught.
(Not to mention our also not finding the original Saudi version, of course.)
To be fair though, local and state law enforcement agencies have had their federal funding slashed to bits to pay for the Bush tax cuts, at a time when its been shown that agents from Justice and the DoD couldn't find twelve hookers in New Orleans or an Arab in Baghdad.
(A helpful tip to the Justice Dept. from Gotham Notes:
This is twice now that deadly compounds have been traced to the Wallingford, CT post office. Just a wild hunch here, but that might possibly be a good place to poke around in. Like I said, just a hunch.)
This new ricin report returns us to the linchpin point of the entire terror discussion. A point best articulated in the early '70s by none other than comedian George Carlin, who was trying to explain the various elements that go into the concept of Mortal Sin in Catholicism. After running through the list, his capping point, of course, was: Full Consent of the Will.
"Ya gotta WANNnnaaaaa...!" said George.
Which is exactly why we are fully and thoroughly unprepared for, and will remain fully and thoroughly vulnerable to, terror attacks.
Because terrorists "WANNnnaaaaa...!"
Period.
And, as such, they are totally unstoppable by conventional means—which are the only means we know and understand.
To give those in power their due, we are now fully prepared for wave upon wave of wild-eyed, hate-filled legions of murderers pouring across our borders, filling our skies with death and flooding through our ports, firing AK-47s indiscriminately in our cities and dropping nukes on our farmland, tossing chemicals into our water supply, killing our children and raping our women, and, god forbid, perhaps even having a negative impact on that day's Wall Street numbers.
Unfortunately, the Soviet Union no longer exists. But we ARE fully ready for them, should they ever get uppity again. And President George W. Bush's new budget request is crammed full of new Soviet-era, deficit-stuffing goodies for the generals and defense contractors.
Of course, to say that we can't afford them—and that all those military goodies are rendered totally moot and useless in the new world order of shadow terrorism, anyway—is to miss the whole point of cronyism entirely.What is a terrorist act?
An act that usually has little immediate impact in casualties or damage, but which is guaranteed to receive maximum news coverage. It is designed to create psychological damage, as it is squarely planted in the back of our brains by the 24-hour news cycle, followed by the horrific thought of, "I might be next..."
Your life as you have known it ceases to exist. (Years after 9/11, thousands of NYers still flinch when we hear an airliner flying overhead on its way into LaGuardia Airport. And there are scores of such flights daily.)Who commits such acts?
People who are fueled by what—they feel—is righteous rage. They are the aggrieved party here. This is their direct redress of grievance when they feel all other avenues are closed to them, and that their enemy is too powerful to confront directly.
If you are a poor Palestinian boy or girl, and you've seen your family, neighbors and/or village destroyed by Isreali tanks, you won't be staging a concerted Pan-Arab military offensive against Israeli territory, on your own, anytime soon. But, you can walk into a crowded cafe where people are relaxed and happy with twenty pounds of C4 strapped to your chest, smile and pull the cord, knowing that your young Isreali peers will never again congregate in public places and have fun without being afraid for their very lives.
And you know that YOU will have done that.
If you are some American "truck fleet owner" who's mad at the Highway Bill, as this CBS article mentions, and you are convinced that the entire U.S. system has let you down, or has actually gone out of its way to screw you personally, you're most likely not going to get any more than three or four of your buddies from the tavern to band together to take on the government and attack Fort Benning. You'll just have to go it alone. And once you've decided to cross that line, you've become the most dangerous man/woman in America.
Because now you "WANNnnaaaaa...!"
And no one knows who you are, what you're upset about, where you are or what you are planning. So, we can only deal with any event you create after the fact.
In these scenarios, the angry party has ALL the power. Any government is powerless to stop them directly. They can strike at any time. In any manner. From any direction. It's entirely their call. And all the King's horses and all the King's tanks are powerless to avert impending tragedy. All that we are capable of doing is responding too late. And perhaps plugging that hole for the next time. But they'll just find another. Those who hate are adaptive.
And those who hate, "WANNnnaaaaa...!"
And there really is only ONE WAY to stop them:
To make them NOT "WANNnnaaaaa...!"
And that is, simply, to make them no longer hate us.
That's it. That's the only way. End of story.
The rich irony here, of course, is that the compassionate, core human values which George W. Bush lied to us about bringing to the White House in 2000 are the very shield against terror attacks we seek. Leading with our hearts and minds, rather than with our greed, and extending the hope of safety and a better life to every corner of the world is our only real chance to live safely and securely ourselves.
Unfortunately, through the White House's politically driven actions in the Middle East, Asia and South America, and through all the ways this administration is running the domestic show from D.C., they are creating an unending breeding ground of hate—foreign and domestic—as fertile as any fetid swamp could be for mosquitoes.
And just like hungry mosquitoes, when they come out of these swamps, they "WANNnnaaaaa...!"
There is horror in these attacks, yes.
But, the real horror here is that we made these swamps, and we've done nothing to drain them.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 10:32 AM
Monday, February 02, 2004
Where's Tom?
Iranian MPs Resign En Masse in Election Dispute0 comments
This certainly appears to have Tom DeLay's fingerprints all over it.
posted by Gotham 12:40 PM
Sunday, February 01, 2004
A City Through the Ice
A very sad, and prototypical, New York Story by N. R. Kleinfield in Sunday's New York Times:0 comments
Through the Cracks, Then Through the Ice
Sometimes, it just seems as if the whole city has fallen through the ice.
posted by Gotham 1:44 PM
