Gotham Notes...

War On Terror, R.I.P.

2009-09-25T13:32:00.002-04:00

Aside from the snark of the last post, this story which we referenced earlier has an array of impacts actually, which we hope to get to, soon.

But, first and foremost, we can now clearly say that the "War On Terror" as a concept can officially be declared dead and buried. This currently is, always has been and will continue to be, a large-scale police matter—as the Bill Clinton era specialists always contended. It was the neo-con global crazies under George W. Bush/Dick Cheney, and the media conglomerates who love them, who decided to turn this into the Crusades. And got a whole lot of people killed in the process.

The Bushies and the GOP also muddied the discussion sufficiently to use their phoney "War" to create a universal atmosphere of fear in order to hide their pushing through their elitist, corporate agenda to steal all the money, all in plain sight: "Hey, look over there! Is that a terrorist??"

There is no way/has never been a way to stop a terrorist act, unless you happen to get lucky and stumble across a particular scenario that leads you to the individual. That's just luck and solid police work.

Other than that, we have too big a land mass, too many people and a long enough history of demanding open access to all this country provides that we will always be an easy target for an individual who is crazy enough to want to commit murder or mayhem—whether that individual is a U.S. citizen crazy or a foreign national crazy. You can't stop crazy, you can only hope to slow it down. Or, hope that it gives itself away in time to thwart it. And then pray for a whole lot of luck.

The whole idea of "terror" is that you lose your safety zone, that you have no idea where harm may come from. To put you on edge, so you fear everything and everyone and begin to act erratically. There is no "face" to that foe, so there is no "campaign" that can be waged successfully, as in a real war.

These guys are no different than all the murderers currently sitting in prisons across this nation—only with a demonically wackier sense of scope and size. They're individuals who have a taste for blood and a deluded sense of umbrage.

What's really the difference between Yousef Ramzi or Timothy McVey and James Earl Ray or Charlie Manson or Son of Sam?

Scope, nothing more.

And what, really, is the difference between all those men and George Bush and Dick Cheney?

Scale, nothing more.

It's Rudy!They Keep Going After Rudy!

2009-09-25T12:45:00.002-04:00

Well, hell, if that's all they want...

Maybe we should just hand Rudy over and let them have the putz, hell, WE don't want him. They can HAVE him.

Dallas Morning News: Man to be arraigned in Dallas skyscraper bombing plot

Heady police work and a staggering degree of luck saved the day in Dallas, if this report is true at all. If true, we can truly be relieved and grateful.

But I loved seeing the real nitty-gritty of this event, buried at the bottom of this story:

ABOUT FOUNTAIN PLACE
Address: 1445 Ross Ave.
Height: 60 stories
Construction: 1984-86
Architect: I.M. Pei & Partners
Major tenants:
•Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
•Bracewell & Giuliani – On March 31, 2005, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined the firm as a name partner.
•U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•Fidelity National Title Insurance Co.
•Tenet Healthcare announced in August that it planned to relocate to Fountain Place.

Looking at that list, it seems like either this guy was pissed about a home foreclosure, or he was after Rudy.

Hmmmm, let's see...

The first WTC bombing was in 1993 when Rudy was running for Mayor; the second attack in 2001 brought down Rudy's brand new Emergency Command Center/bachelor pad, which he stupidly put inside a major target; they missed him the last time (see these infamous pictures of Rudy hauling ass away from the tower to save himself, dragging along the Police and Fire Commissioners whose jobs dictated that they be back at the towers coordinating the mission, not riding shotgun with their patron, the Mayor); upon leaving City Hall, Rudy hires out as a security/terrorism maven/consultant/expert, since no one knows how to run away from a fight like Rudy.

Well..., yeah, I guess that must be it.

Say: Let's just give them Rudy and be done with this whole terrorism thing.

WTF?

2009-09-25T11:07:00.001-04:00

This story in The Daily News is just nuts!

Can the general underlying anger across the land play out in any stupider way?

10 Cherry trees downed: Vandals at root of growing problem around Queens

My lawd...

When TV's Child Stars Go Wrong...

2009-09-23T16:55:00.002-04:00

...They go Christian.

Crooks and Liars: Evangelist Kirk Cameron Plans To Distribute Darwin's Origin Of The Species With Creationist Introduction

I like the idea of printing a run of 50,000 Bibles with a 50-page introduction alerting people to the incredibly happy horseshit inside the rest of the book and handing them out freely right outside of Regent and Liberty Universities.

This woman does a perfectly good job of pointing out the flaws in Cameron's philosophical Growing Pains:

That about sums it up. Well done, miss.

Neh-Ver Miiiiiind!

2009-09-23T12:35:00.002-04:00

Just as we were thinking, "...uh..., can't get fooled again!" here comes more of the same crap—Terro-style.

Media hypes terror plot, despite the fact no one is charged with terror

Oops.

Looks like the Bush-era holdovers in Eric Holder's Justice Department are fully focused on Business-As-Usual.

Either that, or we're left assuming that folks in a Barack Obama administration are simply the same useless schnooks the George W. Bush boys were.

It's sad that we no longer can believe ANYTHING our government tells us. The loons on the Right are correct about that. It's just that their focus is a tad off the mark. But, they're closer to the truth, it seems, than they know.

Yesterday, it appeared that Holder's troops were doing the right thing—actually bringing a case before a judge instead of shipping some poor moroon off to a Black prison in Poland and touting it on FOX. That's good, we think; progress.

Ummm, but in this ABORTED TERROR PLOT case ("BE AFRAID, BUT WE SAVED YOU—THIS TIME..."), the charges filed were not for terrorism. Or terrorist acts or conspiracies. They were for lying. To an agent. Something we can assume every agent's teenage child does on an ongoing basis.

Oh.

Or perhaps the perp accidentally stepped on the agent's donut. The star's slowly dimming here...

It's looking increasingly as if this is simply a planted story to help law folks look good on a slow news day. Complete with innuendo and blind, unattributed sourcing. Which is always a great mix for Banner Headlines!

As the man once said, "Ya got nothin', copper, nothin'!"

It's true. The Feds appear to have nothing on these guys aside from photo ops of "strong law enforcement in action!"

BOR-ING! That's SOOOO Bushie. So police state.

If this is a real case, we'll assume that real charges will be filed against real suspects in a real court, leading to a real trial in front of a real jury, leading to a real conviction or acquittal.

American people memo to Law Enforcement: Please stay out of the headlines. Your job is to go about your business quietly, without grabbing TV face time. At least, please stay out of the headlines until you've got something. Until you can indict someone on serious terror-related charges, at a minimum. Actually having enough evidence to build a case that's strong enough to get a conviction for a change would be admirable. That way you'll again look like heroes and not like the usual glory-grabbing, incompetent fools.

And the Rule of Law that you swore to uphold would be maintained.

What America Looks Like

2009-09-22T15:11:00.001-04:00

Whether this is real or bogus, it's nice to see a case brought through legitimate channels.

Feds seek people in terror investigation

If this were the Bushies, they'd miss these guys altogether, find another bunch of big-talking guys in a bar and sweep the blowhards off the street into indefinite detention with great fanfare. And never try them, so the world couldn't see that there was no case, ever.

Here, in our legal system, this case will work itself out properly we hope, with the presumption of innocence for these men. If they are, in fact, guilty of anything, it will be the job of the prosecution to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

You know, just like in "America."

So, to all the Tea Bag loons and all the Republicrats, this is MY America. This is the America I want back.

The New GOP

2009-09-15T10:57:00.002-04:00

Back in the day, say..., 2007 or so, Republicans merely cheated on their wives and lovers, then made them stand next to them during the ensuing scandal's initial press conferences.

McClatchy: Prominent Kentucky GOP pol charged with murder in ex-fiancee's death

Now, they just kill them.

Wow! Who Knew???

2009-09-14T00:39:00.002-04:00

Stunning. By reading this article, I just found out there are actually a couple of Republicans still left in Congress. Wow! I thought they were extinct. I'm stunned to find a few still exist. The poor babies, what do they do all day?

GOP Sen. Snowe urged Obama to take ‘public option off the table’

Say, we could start a Republican nostalgia craze! Hey, kids, remember when Republicans had any say in anything, and had some power, and ran things? Yeah! Then, we can all take oxycontin and cheat on our wives.

GOP: An Ancient Symbol...

2009-09-14T00:31:00.000-04:00

...Meaning, "Make shit up."

ABC fights back against Tea Party protest size falsehoods

Fascism: Do It For The Children!

2009-09-12T13:27:00.002-04:00

Not-So-Great Britain continues to party like it's 1984!

Raw Story: UK readies largest ‘anti -pedophile’ database on Earth

Drag the word "child" or "children" into the conversation, and you can literally get away with the murder of the entire system of laws that great nations have thrived under for centuries.

Because, as Adolf Hitler proved in Germany, when people are afraid enough they will lose their humanity, and can easily be turned into blinded, murderous animals, who can then be easily manipulated to do the bidding of whomever feeds and stokes their fears.

It's bad enough that every Brit is now on camera almost every waking hour once they leave their home. Today, the bleak world of Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil is coming to pass. One giant Db with all of your particulars, open for any interested party to look at. Job? Housing? Life? Death? Taxes? Credit? It will all be based on your info (maybe correct; maybe not correct, who cares?) in those files.

Rot's a ruck, Charlie, as they say...

This Is A 'How,' Not 'What' Poll..

2009-08-21T19:57:00.002-04:00

OK, we return to our self-described role as Context Maven. A little 'Focus' music, maestro...

Cook Report: Dems Have Lost Control Of The Debate | TPMDC

All day, week-end, week and month, you'll be hearing, "The Dems are gonna get skunked in 2010; the Dems have lost control."

All of this is true, for the time being. What you''re not gonna hear anywhere, alas, is why.

The MSM will portray this as the plan was too big; the White House overreached; they bit off more than the American people could handle. The American people were just not ready for Barack Obama, and what he wanted to achieve.

Bullshit, in fact, is the word you're groping for there.

Context: these falling numbers are due to the American people's astonishment at the paucity of cojones on the part of the Democratic leadership and Mr. Obama.

We wanted CHANGE, in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Non-GOP fringe America is angry at Obama and the Dems right now. But not for doing too much. Rather, we're furious at them for not doing enough!!

The numbers for the Republican voters have not changed since November, nor will they ever change. There is no groundswell for rampaging hordes of mindless rabble taking us back to the 17th Century.

This clearly is the Left and the Middle who elected these guys screaming as one, "WTF????!?!?!?!?!"

Both the Left and the Middle wanted to cast the disgust of the Shrub Bush years from their mouths. Govern us again properly, we pleaded. But alas, if anything, we've become even more Beltway-bound. If that were even possible.

Maybe Obama did, but we didn't want bipartisanship. We wanted to kick some very well deserved corrupt, un-American booty. We wanted action. We got dither. We wanted leadership, since even fourth graders knew early on, Congressional Republicans had neither the votes nor the inclination to press forward. We all knew they'd kick up a ruckus and that'd be about it.

But we had the votes to say to the GOP, "you want in, we'll take you along, but if not, well, we'll see you all in four years."

We watched as you put together a Cabinet and staff of advisers who were all House- & Senate-savvy, most likely to wage the tough battles and arm-twisting that was going to be needed to pass the agenda America wanted.

But on the morning of your term, you took great pains to insist that the GOP were all well meaning Americans who had the interests of the nation at heart, and would bargain in good faith all down the line in order to get the best bills for the American people.

Every American knew that was a load of crap.

And, Mr. President, respectfully sir, they've been pissing on your shoes ever since.

The poll numbers you are seeing now are the direct result of the disaffection of many on the Left and in the Middle thinking, Hey! These aren't the guys I worked to elect!! And they're not getting it done!! Who the hell cares what the GOP thinks?!?!?

THAT is the background you see playing out in these poll numbers. Not the swill FOX and by extension CNN and NBC and all the rest will be spewing tonight and this weekend.

This is a LEFT/MIDDLE poll. The 30% on the Right still hates his Black guts, simply put. This will never change. So, if Obama was at 65% and is now down to 50+%, this means he still doesn't have the Right, he has softened in but still has the Middle, and has lost about half of the Left.

Now, all due respect to Charlie Cook and his famous political Report, all Obama needs to turn these numbers around is to finally pass the Healthcare Reform Bill WITH the Public Option, and his numbers among the Left and within the Middle shoot back up through the roof.

If Obama and Rahm (wasn't he supposed to be the roughest, toughest SOB to ever work in the West Wing???) the Milquetoast can get it together to salvage their self-esteem long enough to pass this bill all will be well.

If not, the Left and the Middle will start looking about for a new Democrat to fight the good fight.

NYU = EVIL

2009-08-21T19:01:00.003-04:00

NYU Destroys Again

Renowned Corporati farm New York University clearly works under the negotiating theory of, "Oops!"

They'll tell you anything you want to hear during negotiations, just to wrap up talks. Then, once the settlement is being implemented, they simply rely on a subtle, well placed elbow against the Ming vase, "Oops!" to re-establish what they wanted all along, and to destroy what you worked so hard to preserve in your talks.

This time, it's the beloved Provincetown Playhouse of Eugene O'Neill fame. "Sure, folks, we'll save it. At the very least, we'll save the façade for you. NO problem. Oops, we broke the façade, damn. Gotta tear it all down now."

This extends to the lesson they deliver to their well heeled student body: "Give 'em whatever they want; get them to shut up. We'll just break whatever it is later."

"Oops! Sorry we broke your building/town/country/company."

So, never negotiate with someone out of NYU. Just go for the kill. It's what they've been trained to do. Either up front—or, preferably, on the back end.

Where's Mike's 8-Point Plan Now?

2009-08-21T18:03:00.001-04:00

If, like most NYers who haven't been paying close attention to the NYC mayoralty race—since there's only one "oh-so-announced" announced candidate running, you may have missed the flurry of campaign ads that Mayor Mike Wallet, NYC's richest man, ran last Spring.

He loudly trumpeted: "I have an 8-point plan to create jobs in New York City!!"

OK. Kinda wondered where some of those points were during his eight (8) years already spent in office, but we'll walk with him for a moment on this one.

But, then we see this:

New York City jobless rate hits 9.6%—a 12-yr. high

Hmmmm, hasn't been this high since the end of Rudy's first term.

And we realize ol' Mayor Mike hasn't said anything about job creation in a very long time. Hmmm. Probably, because he can't.

I assume this is due to Bloomberg News simply not being able to accommodate any more staff.

Mike's going to simply have to buy sections of New Jersey in order to find new places for NYers to work.

Democrats to Hoyer:"We'll Have To See" About Re-election

2009-08-21T17:17:00.002-04:00

Hoyer Counters Pelosi: "We'll Have To See" About A Public Option | TPMDC

Steny Hoyer, if you can come home with a solid Healthcare Reform bill with a Public Option in your overnight bag, fine. We're here with open arms.

If not, don't bother coming home, we won't be here.

Best wishes,
Your fellow Democrats

Bang! You're foreclosed!

2009-08-21T15:04:00.007-04:00

Jesus!

The GOP chairman of Boise County, Idaho, Charles McAffee, who is also a tea-party activist and a member of the Idaho GOP Central Committee, pulled a loaded .357 Magnum on some guy while moonlighting on behalf of Wells Fargo bank. This cowboy must think he's guarding the strongbox on the Wells Fargo stagecoach.

Let's repeat that:
The GOP chairman of Boise County, Idaho, Charles McAffee, who is also a tea-party activist and a member of the Idaho GOP Central Committee, pulled a loaded .357 Magnum on some guy while moonlighting on behalf of Wells Fargo BANK.

Homeowner, 51, falls behind some on his mortgage. Looks out, sees a guy, McAffee, 33, clicking pics of his house. As you or I would, he asks McAffee just what the hell he's doing. McAffee blows him off. Homeowner gets angry; they get into an argument. McAffee pulls out a concealed .357 Magnum, points it at the homeowner. Homeowner thinks he's about to die.

GOP County Chair McAffee is reported to have thought that pulling a loaded monster killer weapon on this schmuck would "de-escalate the conflict."

Your modern Republican Party at work.

These people are going to start "de-escalating" folks to the morgue the way they are going. Then, they'll blame the victims for needing killing.

I've looked down the barrel of a handgun and, trust me, you will never focus in your life the way you do in those precious moments. It does get your attention.

This has officially gotten scary. At this rate, someone is going to get killed unless the police and FBI step in. A small army of mentally unbalanced loons on the right are now armed to the teeth and ready to defend "their America" from a whole array of psychosis-induced enemies.

This is the single greatest threat we face to the security of the United States of America. Armed insurrection by a few thousand armed crazies will turn the U.S. into an updated Night of the Living Dead, where no one is safe.

This cadre of maniacs has, at the least, the tacit approval of our corporate leaders—local and national.

So, the banking industry and your friendly neighborhood Republican Party have now joined forces to invite you to "Make. My. Day!"

"You Can Fool Some Of The People...

2009-08-20T16:15:00.004-04:00

...All of the time."

This should now—and forevermore—be known as The Favre Rule.

NY Times: Brett Favre’s Arm Takes Sales for Vikings Farther

The Vikings sold more than 3,200 season tickets in the first 24 hours after news broke Tuesday that Brett Favre was going to Minnesota.

I rest my case.

It's THEM!

2009-08-20T15:51:00.002-04:00

These are the very people who will have the biggest say in your not getting decent, affordable healthcare any time soon.

There's three of them. No, not the Republicans in the Gang of Six. There's three people in this town that Mike Enzi represents. A typical Wyoming town. If you drive to Wyoming, try to find a person. Go ahead. Find a living, breathing human being. Damned hard to do. Just how did all those horses and cows gain statehood?

Mike Enzi (R-WY) represents less people than any other Senator, maybe eight people and a few horses in all of Wyoming, but he gets to be a major player in the Gang of Six on the Senate Finance Committee that's in the process of drowning your chance at viable health coverage in the tub.

Hell, we've got as many people in our apartment as these folks have in their whole TOWN!

I don't know who they're burying in this photo, but you can rest assured that whoever it was, was 57% of Enzi's vote total last election.

So much for representative government.

Are we seeing something like, "Representation without Population!"

"...In Case Something Went Wrong"

2009-08-20T13:27:00.001-04:00

Something like this.

In this tightly knit, scary little world of Dick Cheney and his minions, public exposure is much more to be feared than any covert loss to one of their precious multitudes of enemies.

So, Cheney and the CIA lost their illegal assassination program. OK, they say, we'll lay low, then we'll go back-channel and get a black op company to do it. We'll put it in the contract that they take the fall if it fucks up.

See? Thinkin', always thinkin'.

Meyerson Goes Behind The Red Curtain

2009-08-20T12:30:00.001-04:00

Nicely done op-ed piece by Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post today.

Republican ideology has shrunk alongside its geography and demographics. Where once its view of the role of government ran the gamut from Rockefeller activism to Goldwater libertarianism, today the party largely adheres to the religiosity and the anti-statism of the white South. (In its ideological uniformity, today's GOP looks—O, the irony—more like a classic European party than an American one.)

In short, the Republican Party with which Democrats could make deals no longer exists. The GOP is too narrow; the gap between the parties, too wide. Our politics are not those of the mid-20th century, when bipartisanship was fairly common. If anything, they're more like those of the mid-19th century, before the Civil War, when North and South combined only to make a house divided against itself—a conflict resolved not by compromise, but, as Lincoln predicted, by a nation then half-slave and half-free becoming "all one thing or all the other."

Lincoln's prophecy still holds. Our current conflicts may be resolved only as the South becomes traditionally less Southern and more diverse—home to more Northern transplants and immigrants. That process was already at work in the 2008 elections, when [Barack] Obama carried Virginia, North Carolina and Florida on the strength of those demographic shifts. As that process continues—perhaps only as it continues—the course of reform in America may run more smoothly.

This White European screaming does, in fact, look ever more like the death throes of a dying culture, yowling as it succumbs to the tar pits.

If these White Europeans are to survive as the politically dominant segment of the population and the drivers of the culture, their mission is difficult and complex indeed: Just however do you turn a melting pot stew into a clear broth?

Grassley Makes Believe He Works For A Living

2009-08-20T12:01:00.003-04:00

That Grampa Chuck Grassley, he's such a kidder. I love it at Thanksgiving, when he pulls black bags of corporate cash from behind the ears of all the young kids in the room.

WAPO: Grassley Urges Scaling Back on Health-Care Reform Plan, Citing Town Hall Anger

That, of course, would be the Anger expressed by all those Red-Tie corporate types who are afraid of not getting a bonus this year, and all those truly wretched people they've duped and ginned up to scream and yell about something they have absolutely no clue about.

The hard-knuckle ancestors of these Red-Tie types used to get this rabble drunker than skunks before carting them to the polls, or stuffed cash in their pockets while telling them which lever to pull. Chuck may just be old enough to remember those days...

Maybe..., Grampa Chuck should be the first granny those "Death Panels" pull the plug on.

Dealing With The Dining Room Tables

2009-08-20T09:25:00.011-04:00

Just in case you missed Barney Frank's riposte from the other night...

Ranking right up there with "Ask not what your country can do for you..." (JFK) and "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" (FDR):

"It is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated." (Rep. Barney Frank—MA)

Thank you, Congressman Frank.

However, dear reader, I urge you to go back and look at the clip again.

Take a good look at the young woman at the mic. She's not your standard poor crone, broke, terrified, beaten by events, whipped into a frenzy by the lies of the Corporati. This woman gives every appearance of BEING the Corporati. Part of The Beltway Mob.

This version of the clip cuts off her long preamble as she sets up calmly and wisely (she assumes) her thesis that Obama = Hitler, and you of course could never support that, right? She's seems intelligent, level-headed and educated. She gives every appearance of being decidedly (upper?) middle-class. She looks for all the world exactly like every recent hire by UnitedHealthCare, Cigna, Pfizer, Blue Cross or any of the army of corporations hired by them as PR firms, lobbying outfits or influence peddlers—i.e., firms that shill (lie) for their clients for a hefty fee to influence legislators like Barney Frank to give their clients perks or better standing in upcoming bills at the expense of you, the taxpayer/consumer.

You easily can picture this young woman in a conference room with her note pad, right? So can I. Looks a bit like Ashley Judd. Very sharp visage. A go-getter; on her way up. She may have been sorting out airline and hotel reservations for her boss for the company golf outing/retreat just before heading up to Massachusetts, don't you think?

Yes, for all the world, she looks like a shill.

And yes, Congressman Frank was correct to not engage further with this young woman—since she gives every indication of being paid to stand there and combat whatever Frank says, in order to gain extra camera time and to disrupt Frank's meeting. For as long as she possibly can. Nothing personal; just business.

The Dining Room Tables will never listen, Frank is correct about that. The professional Dining Room Tables are paid to not listen. So, it's better not to waste time talking to them. Their aim is not to win, but to make you look bad. So, don't bother.

Simply pass your bill and the amateur Dining Room Tables will wind up enjoying the fruits of whatever it is you pass—as long as it's a good bill.

Then, the Professional Tables will simply be forced back to their golf games.

The Healthcare Corporati Eat Their Own

2009-08-20T08:55:00.006-04:00

Wow. Who knew those Red-Tie corporate-operative types from the corporate towers of NYC & The Beltway Mob in DC could find so many t-shirts and plaid shirts to wear to these town hall-type meetings?

Stunning, really. They must have scoured every 99-Cent Store on the East Coast. Plus, I assume they've simply wiped out L.L. Bean and Eddie Bauer.

Today's quiz: Find The Montana Resident In This Video! (Aside from Max Baucus, of course.)

Poor Max. After carrying their water on this for so long, THIS is how they repay him? By making him look like David Letterman with a really bad guest? If he's this inarticulate, and fumbles so as he speaks, however DID he get elected Senator? (Just askin'...)

"... agitators, whose sole goal was to intimidate, disrupt and not let any meaningful conversation go on."

Well said, Senator.

It'd like near to turn you into a Democrat!

Corrupting With The Stars!

2009-08-18T00:39:00.007-04:00

This is classic Tom DeLay. I know, every Tom DeLay is classic Tom DeLay, but this really is classic Tom DeLay.

Corporatist Supreme DeLay, who created the K Street system of lobbying, then elevated it to an integral part of DC governance, had a friend. A friend on Dancing With The Stars—country music star, Sara Evans.

Back in 2006, months after he'd resigned from Congress, DeLay sent out an e-mail to his supporter list, calling on them to vote in that current season of Dancing for country singer Sara Evans, who is a vocal supporter of the Republican Party, and whose husband was a GOP fundraiser and had been an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. DeLay framed this cause as part of the culture war—targeting that nasty liberal contestant Jerry Springer ...

OK. So far we have Tom DeLay being Tom DeLay.

Here's the part I love:

Evans ended up quitting the show due to a messy divorce, citing frequent adultery by her husband. (GN emphasis)

Well, THAT should win ya a GOP primary, boy. Especially in Texas. This all goes to show that you don't have to have a government job already to be a Republican Who Fucks Around. It's really quite simple. You can become a RWFA just by being friends with Republicans who have/had government jobs. Or just by trying to get a government job. Or by being married to someone who's trying to get a government job.

Of course, the GOP NEVER DISCRIMINATES! A RWFA can be a male Republican or a female Republican. There's no rules governing RWFAs. The only minimum standard applied is that you agree to be cheesy beyond human endurance, and be willing to make a complete, utter joke of yourself in public media while you're grasping for a sliver of that GOP political domination and an insider's cut of all that cold, hard, lobbying cash that's sloshing about in DC and out in the "Homeland." In the GOP's Big Tent, Republican women are certainly entitled to debase themselves in equal measure to anyone in the male contingent.

Mayor Updates His Intentions

2009-08-15T12:56:00.002-04:00

Term limits, schmerm limits. That was just a piffle. It's so yesterday.

Mayor Wallet's Freudian slip is showing once again.

The Supreme Owner of All Things Five-Borough-ish let slip in a WOR Radio interview with John Gambling that this year's mayoralty race is really intended to be an election for Mayor-for-Life.

New York, New York, it's a helluva town. And Mike Bloomberg lets us live here! How very kind of him.

Ahhh, the joys of noblesse oblige!

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48 Bible KJV

Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of Mike wasting all that money simply on a campaign he most likely would win anyway, he simply started spending it on the people of NYC, whom he claims to care so much about?

Mike is the richest man in NYC—a difficult mantle to achieve, no doubt. We plebeians can attest to that. We can also assume that it must be a bear to maintain. Mike's single, with no family. If he started a crusade on a 24/7 schedule to spend ALL of his money, he'd be hard-pressed to do so in his lifetime.

So, Mike may want to think in terms of Bill Gates, who's currently trying to shed all that extra cash he and his wife have that's clogging up the garage and basement.

We suggest to you, Mike, that instead of simply allowing those of us of the serf classes to remain on your property here as urban sharecroppers, toiling away for your greater glory and wealth, you take a real shot at buffing up your name in the history books and start spreading that cash out over the citizenry in any of a dizzying array of creative means—through major public projects, by hiring all of Brooklyn at Bloomberg News, by paying for a new school system, or, hell, just go for it—direct cash payments to every citizen. I mean, you're buying City Hall anyway, why not just go ahead and do it directly?

The rites of the class you worked so hard to enter demand it.

Well, The Going's Gotten Crazy, So...

2009-08-08T18:57:00.002-04:00

... The crazies are now getting going!

Fascism is afoot in the land.

The lunatic authoritarian White Right now looms as the greatest law and order threat to the security of the United States.

Anti-Health Care Reform Protester Encourages Physical Violence, Use Of Firearms

You now face a greater threat from some self-styled "g.i. joe" nut in your town then you do from al Qaeda. Al Qaeda doesn't have the means necessarily to cross the ocean. But this nut is already here, armed to the teeth and braying at the moon.

The basis of their tenet: If the strength of their idea isn't enough to sway you, then they'll just have to shoot you.

That's what they mean when you hear them sob, "This isn't MY AMERICA!"

During Vietnam, these are the folks who espoused the concept of "Kill for Peace" with no sense of irony.

The Madoff Reserve

2009-07-28T04:17:00.001-04:00

From Raw Story:
Eliot Spitzer: Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, an inside job’

More and more, the political hit on Eliot Spitzer smells more and more.

Support The Troops, My Ass

2009-07-28T04:03:00.000-04:00

Just heartbreaking.

George W. Bush went along when his cabinet trumped up their phony little war in Iraq.

Then we put our military population into the craziness of "battle of the bulge" type madness and stress for years on end, and drove them absolutely dog-barking mad. Many became totally homicidal, ruined human beings.

Now we unceremoniously dump them back on the streets and tell 'em, "Tough shit, kid. Good luck, see ya!"

What Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, commander of Fort Carson in Colorado said, according to AP:

"When we see a problem, we try to identify it and really learn what we can do about it. That is what we are trying to do here. There is a culture and a stigma that needs to change."

What Maj. Gen. Graham meant:

"Wow, we fucked these kids up really bad...and it's gone public. Crap! Now, we gotta come up with a way to dig ourselves outta this mess!"

Good luck, general. It will probably take larger minds than yours.

What a nightmare.

I Think We Had The Yips.

2009-07-15T11:54:00.002-04:00

"I think I had the yips." — Mike Pelfrey, May 17

I think this article just about sums up the kind of year it's been for our fabulous, furry Amazins so far.

So, since we'll be watching a fourth place team the rest of this year (and maybe next), here's my advice to Fred Wilpon and his boy on how to putter around the yard to make their family business better for us, the paying fan.

Fred, it's time to Metsticize the Mets. It's been a very interesting experiment, watching you try to twist them into some sort of Fantasy Brooklyn Dodgers team, but no, they really are the New York Mets, with their own history and legacy, stars and moments. So, it's time to lose the Wilpon White ersatz Dodger uniforms and give the fans back the original blue pinstripe Mets home unis, and drag out the Mets image that you've seemed to have stored in the utility closet ever since you bought out Nelson Doubleday's share. Go ahead, sprinkle some Mets Dust around the park. It could only help.

Two, yes, you've got a very nice stadium toy — although most of us won't be going to it, especially to watch minor league ballgames at bigger league prices. No, the bulk of your fanbase is now a TV base, just like the NFL.

Well..., I have to tell ya honestly, Mr. Wilpon, from the couch you've got yourself something totally unremarkable.

Folks used to complain about all those circular, multi-purpose stadia — of which Shea Stadium was among the first — calling them "cookie cutter." They had a point, but I was always amazed how much you could individualize a basic round, concrete bowl. Now, with the rush to build all of these "legacy" fields around the majors, baseball owners have inadvertantly done the exact same thing people blamed the old parks for. Using the same architects who designed and built the bulk of these new parks for your new field was a very bad idea. Your new park is chock full of already-used ideas from these other new fields.

With the exceptions of Camden Yards and the ballpark in Houston (whatever it's called this week), which were among the first, and that new Yankee park thing uptown, on TV these parks are just as cookie cutter as the old bowls were. With the bowls, there were always some unique visual feature of Shea, Dodger Stadium, old Busch, Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans' Field, etc. which told you immediately where you were. With all these new "old" parks, it's become obvious a fan needs to be in the stadium itself to discern what makes it unique. On TV, I can no longer tell your new field apart from ones in St. Louis, Colorado, San Francisco, Arlington or Philadelphia, or a raft of other fields which have the same general color scheme, same brick and bridgework design.

You will argue that, I'm certain. But sit and watch the film. Sit and watch 50 MLB games strictly from camera angles and you'll see the Arena Football-ness of what we've been left with. The unique features the architects tout are all above the tight camera angles needed of the play on the field. So, on TV, all these stadia look to be the same arena-esque playing field. I would guess no more than 30%-40% of the action takes the camera high enough to show you a McCovey Cove, your touted rightfield overhang or any other spiffy feature of a new park. It's increadibly boring. Boring, as in dull, as in "Who's got the remote?"

You can now change this. One downside to your new park is that it has no personality. It simply looks like any other in this new line of stadia product. Nothing there screams "Mets" when you view basic TV camera angles the way Shea always did. Whether the old, original behind-the-plate angle which showed the Queens skyline over those green walls, or the distinctive Mets Blue walls and screening and runway behind the plate from the centerfield cameras. Or the panarama cameras which showed the bullpens then either the Queens skyline or the 7 train tracks. On TV, every angle screamed "Mets, this is OUR yard."

On TV, the new field looks as person-less as the wrestling matches in old Sunnyside Arena, which was always dark, so you couldn't see it, or god-forbid, that ugly, cavernous concrete warehouse the Rays play in in Tampa.

So, forget fixing the team on the field, it doesn't really look possible this year. You can do something different with it for next year, and we'll start over.

But, right now, today, you can protect your investment by finding ways to keep us from switching the dial towards some other Must-see TV this summer. Do this by, first, scouring and studying every TV angle in your new park, and gussying up and Meticizing what the camera is looking at in every shot. Every shot should have a Mets identity, a Mets statement. Then, this will slowly become the Mets' home field, not just another cookie-cutter fad. THAT we would watch, as FANatics do, no matter what was on the field. This is Brand protection, pure and simple.

Oh, but if you COULD do anything about that boring rag-tag army you send out there every night over the next 2 1/2 mos., that would be nice. Thanks!

Sniveling Wankers On Parade

2009-07-14T12:49:00.007-04:00

I love right-wing blogs.

Is there such a thing as "Bleeding heart neo-cons"?

So over the top. Oh, such outrage, such heartache! Such, "Somebody DO SOMETHING!!!" Such, "Who will rid me of these meddlesome Liberals?!?!"

Of course, they never seem to get around to getting their hands dirty doing anything themselves. Even if they live without a pot to piss in, wankers live in Nobility-land, and know Serfs will handle the unfortunate parts.

Here's a glorious case in point.

This wanker in LA writes that he's suffered (oh, how he has suffered!) from having Liberal parents (oh! The shame! The heartache!), and that's what has led to his current emasculation (which is OK on the right as long as it's clearly the fault of Liberals):

I never met a real soldier. My family didn’t know much about the military. We fancied ourselves more artistic and sophisticated than that. As a boy, I lived in terror of the draft, afraid of my 18th birthday, when I would have to register with the Selective Service (or they’d come and get me). And all I ever heard at home was how the Vietnam War was maiming and disfiguring our beautiful young men — all for nothing.

Oh, the wankitude — it burns!

Now, however can you grow up big and strong like John Wayne and go kill those evil gooks and rip their entrails out like a hero when your parents insist on refusing to roll over and be sheep and accept the party line all through your childhood? How, ummmm..., well, just how... icky!?!!

Of course, we never underestimate a wingnut's zeal for both rolling in the ashes of — yep, you guessed it — 9/11 and spewing forth oh, such florid columns and blog posts.

On 9/11, real war roared back with a vengeance — right in our own backyard.

Umm, no amigo, you were 3,000 miles away. This was in OUR patio.

This was no channel-changer shot through a telephoto lens; this was horror, up close and personal (until the networks stopped showing the blood and falling bodies, and opted for a more “objective” bird’s eye view).

So sorry we interrupted your blood lust. But, I'd just as soon not have fellow NYers be a video game for you and your ilk. BTW, what WAS your point total that day? Hope you ran the board!

That’s when we finally saw soldiers again — as real men and women — firefighters and police officers and military personnel all working together, the best of human nature on spontaneous display, surprising and selfless. That’s when we witnessed the triumph of the flag again, without embarrassment or excuses, hoisted up as a beacon in the midst of apocalyptic chaos and sorrow.

That’s when ordinary Americans, like me, who never knew real war or much suffering, began to understand what was truly at stake.

"And so we took straight to our couches!!"

OK, now buckle up, here comes the teary part:

That’s when, for many of us, “soldier” took on a new meaning. Soldiers were no longer just toys or the pathetic pawns of a ruthless war machine; they were fellow citizens of integrity and courage, brave individuals from diverse backgrounds, willing to go places most Americans would never dream of going — often because their consciences told them to.

These were men and women who cared enough to risk everything for others, and to stand proudly for an ideal.

That, of course, would cover about half of this current volunteer Armed Forces. The remainder were there simply to get some money to cover school or because the Bush Recovery from the 1st Bush Recession (2001-2003) had passed his/her town by, so that the military was the best job they could find. These folks were just in the wrong army at the wrong time. Some others simply liked to fire big, loud guns and would later join the private mercenary armies of Blackwater, Inc. or CACI for ten times what they made in the U.S. Army.

This next is the part I adore. Now, having rhapsodized over his romanticized wingnut view of the military and the U.S.'s role in the world, he's tickled there's someone else to do the dirty work and pay any prices to be paid. Now our hero doesn't have to get his thoroughly emasculated hands dirty. Lucky him!

I never knew any soldiers. I never had to. I was always safely ensconced at home, free to live my life and pursue whatever interests I wanted. The closest I came to knowing a soldier was an NYPD cop, a friend who lost his wife in the World Trade Center attack. Despite the constant stress of his job, the long hours and bad weather and petty violence he saw on his beat — and the agony of his loss — I never once heard him say an unkind or demeaning word about anyone, of any race, or any religion.

On the contrary, I heard him say, quite matter of factly, that if he died on the job, it would be worth it, if it prevented more misery from happening. He was willing to give up his own life as part of his job. How many of us would ever consider, could ever fathom, such a commitment?

That’s a hero. That’s a soldier. And it’s no fairy tale — it comes from having a mind, a heart, and a spine.

God bless the men and women who share those attributes, and move forward everyday, knowing it could be their last. We are so grateful you really do exist.

"[Snif, snif] So that I don't have to do squat. Ahhhhh... Hey what time is American Idol on?"

This is why this whiny moron gets up my nose. All he does is fawn. Never once, in any graph of this screed does he mention actually DOING anything to support, help, comfort, fight the bureaucracy of the VA for, encourage others to give blood for, or somehow find a way to share in the sacrifice of the men and women who, for whatever reasons, are willing to risk their lives for him and others.

While this lad was angsting over Valet Parking on 9/11/2001, NYers were volunteering in record numbers, bringing whatever aid they could imagine to those doing the heavy lifting for the city and its citizenry. I hate to piss on this lad's pretty Pearl Harbor pipe dream, but it was a video game for him. This was OUR TOWN! We fought together to save, and to help those saving, our fellow NYers.

These were our boy-/girlfriends, brothers and sisters, friends, sons and daughters, spouses, neighbors, moms and dads, and colleagues who died. Wiped out because folks like this lad were too stupid or too lazy to follow the difficult lesson of his parents and question authority. Has this lad ever filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see his parents' COINTELPRO file? Or does he even know if it cost his parents anything in their lives? I seriously doubt it. Does he have any idea what it is actually like to have to comfort someone who spoke to a loved one or friend only a few hours before, and is now wandering about, stunned and frantic, clutching a picture of them, looking for ANY information as to their whereabouts, and you have to look them in the eye and help them find the courage to keep going — when you know in your heart that their loved one is gone because you've already been to every hospital in the area trying to help, and they are all practically empty — so you know everyone in the towers either got out in time and walked away, or died there. And it's not just that one person, but there's an army of thousands of NYers behind them with the same question and picture, aimlessly wandering the streets of the city hoping that SOMEONE will recognize their picture and give them some news — which doesn't exist.

This lad has only known one soldier. And that one was a cop. What a lazy, self-serving ass.

My advice to you, my comfy L.A. friend: Grow a spine, get off your ass and go do something — for someone other than your whiny, tragic little self. Anything would be a help. You want John Wayne to be your friend? Then, fine, call your Congressman and fight to improve conditions at your local VA Hospital — which is probably a pit. Wayne might like that. He might be your friend if you did that. Volunteer to read to a Marine who's now blind, or doesn't have arms to turn a page. Perhaps you might monitor your government to verify that they are doing positive things in your name, and not getting you in trouble with millions of people all over the world, who may later feel the urge to turn around and smack YOU in the face in retaliation for things you never even knew about.

Until then, please stop wanking in public.

It's so fey.

Rupert: D'oh!

2009-02-24T15:08:00.001-05:00

Classic.

Rupert Murdoch figured he could respond to this whole (for him) unfortunate, ungainly cartoon flap by easily marginalizing Al Sharpton—by continuing to portray Sharpton as a crackpot gadfly to the New York Post's white readers—as Murdoch's properties have done since the 1970s.

But with the entrance of NAACP head Julian Bond, one of the classiest and most powerful leaders within the African-American community, and a man who has earned one of the purest reputations across the breadth of America itself, this just brought the game to a whole new—and to Rupert's interests—dangerous level.

Time to jump in and take over, Rupert.

So the Chairman and mondo honcho of all things NewsCorp-ish, put his powerful foot down, tossed the Post editors' weaselly non-apology apology out the window, pushed his staff aside and proved to his worldwide minions that he, Rupert, was the big cheese when it comes to delivering the Classic, Hall of Fame-level Non-Apology Apology.

Murdoch Apologizes for Chimp Cartoon

Kinda. But not so much.

He starts off well:

“As the chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.

Last week we made a mistake," he wrote in a statement printed on Page 2 of the Post. "We ran a cartoon that offended many people."

Well played, Rupert. Very direct, yes. Very strong stuff.

But can he restrain himself? Can he maintain that dignified high level over a full editorial????

We hold our breath. Can he do it?

Umm. No.

"Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted."

D'oh!

You were soooo close, Rupert! You just can't do it, can you?

Man.

Only IF you were one of those readers who felt offended, or even insulted, we apologize. If this didn't offend or insult you, or if it even got you all kinda wet to go out and shoot down the next stimulus-writing monkey you could find, then, Hey! no prob', we're cool with that.

Rupert still hasn't learned the power of economy, because he kept going, pushing that shovel ever downward.

"I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you—without a doubt—that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such."

"It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such."

NO, Rupert. This is no simple dialog. Whether it was MEANT to be racist or not is moot. It WAS racist! This is no interpretive piffle.

What America needed to hear from you was:
"Wow. We screwed up. This had no place in our paper. I/We're sorry this happened. Heads will roll."

No reading of this can leave one with any interpretation other than that this editorial is designed to blunt and end the entire affair before Bond can follow through with his threatened NewsCorp properties boycott.

Too late, Rupert. This is simply too weak an effort. Obviously, a deliberately weak effort.

So, Gotham Notes tosses its support behind Mr. Bond and Mr. Sharpton.

Call us when you have a better apology, Rupert. A real one. And when heads have actually rolled.

BOYCOTT FOX, the New York Post and all NewsCorp properties until Rupert Murdoch
takes the full and proper action of disciplining his staff which is warranted in light
of the Post's despicable Page Six cartoon picturing the Post's racist attitude
toward African Americans in general, and Barack Obama in particular.

Sign up to add your voice with the NAACP here.

"Yes! No! I AM! I'm NOT! OK, I'll Take This!I'm Not Taking That! That's Final, Sorta..."

2009-02-22T17:28:00.007-05:00

Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal is getting cute with his approach to the economic stimulus bill.

He's using what's laughingly called the "principle" dodge.

He's loudly, publicly trashing one small provision of the stim bill (see Haley Barbour) that will give him street cred with the Loony Red State primary voter, while he's quietly grabbing as much cash as he can stuff into his shirt in order to keep his Third-World citizenry's torchlight / pitchfork processions from storming his door and running his ass out of town on a rail.

That makes him a smart, though thoroughly hypocritical, man. Perfect qualities for a presidential run, we'd say.

Unfortunately, the whole world is watching, Bobby.

Damn those Internets!!!

How Republicans Screwed Things Up So Badly

2009-02-22T16:02:00.001-05:00

Thank you, Haley Barbour, governor of the Third-World State of Mississippi.

You, dear sir, have perfectly encapsulated how the GOPers have fucked things up economically for America and, by extension, the world over the last eight years. You point perfectly to how you and what's left of your "Party" are attempting to extend this damage by insisting we maintain the very policies that allowed you to ruin things in the first place. Your only response is to stand in the way of every legitimate effort to clean up the financial and social toxic dump you have made of America.

Taxes, you say.

Taxes: The word; the concept; the vision; the money; the political stance; the revenue producer; the shared (or not shared) burden; the strategy; the obstacle; the way we pay for things we all use.

Taxes, as in All Roads Lead To Tax Cuts, and never a rise in tax rates. Ever.

Here's your quote, Mr. Barbour:

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, like [Louisiana governor Bobby] Jindal, said that he would reject the money for expanding unemployment insurance.

“There is some we will not take in Mississippi,” Governor Barbour told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “We want more jobs. You don’t get more jobs by putting an extra tax on creating jobs.”

Of course. But that's not the connection. Or the point. This item isn't about creating jobs, it's about covering those at risk. This is a total red herring on Barbour's part. Transparent crap.

No jobs are currently being created in this economy on Barbour's watch. This particular provision of the Stim does not create jobs; it expands the number of those covered by Unemployment Insurance to those not currently covered by UI if they lost their jobs. It speaks to those already employed, so that they will have a safety net when and if they are laid off, which allows them to survive, and keeps their cash flowing through local monetary channels. It also does not affect businesses unless and until they lay off workers. They don't pay out this money if they keep their staff employed. In most states—where a broader swath of jobs is covered by UI—this provision is fairly moot. But, yes, in Third-World states like Barbour's Mississippi, which have taken a narrow, punitive stance on who should be covered by their state's UI, this would mean a small outlay by local businesses whose gravy train would effectively end. But this is hardly the point.

Barbour's deliberate confusion of what is at issue here is meant to avert attention from the true issue at hand.

Demand. The stimulation of demand. By anybody; on any level; by any amount.

And that incurs spending. A lot of it.

Repeat after me, Gov. Barbour: D-E-M-A-N-D. Demand. That's what is needed. There is none now. Nothing will move again in our lifetimes until there is demand. As most economists have clearly stated, when no one else is spending a dime, the spender of last resort has to be the federal government. Who else has cash to spend? But where is the government's cash to come from? Who knows? Where did six years of Supplemental Spending Bills magically come from to pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions and occupations? Thin air?

When the demand for a business's product or service returns, inventory will disappear, production of replacement items becomes warranted and the business will hire workers to support its orders. Period. Nothing else is in play here.

I challenge Gov. Barbour to explain to us, other than by merely repeating the GOP sound bite, exactly how lower taxes on businesses would improve hiring. Hunh? How does this happen exactly—in any type of real world, other than in Grover Norquist's failed, deluded dreams? How does this happen at any time other than in an economy going full bore, when small actions can have salutary results. Yes, if an owner is weighing adding staff in a booming economy, a tax break may well bump him over the edge into action.

But currently there is no demand for anyone's products or services; inventories are glutted and everyone's cutting staff to stay afloat. How exactly would a tax break help your average businessperson add staff he or she doesn't need? And why would he or she do anything differently from consumers, who will get a tax break now and simply pay off outstanding debt or just bang it into bank accounts to help their overall solvency?

Starting midway through the 2000 campaign, no Republican in memory has offered any response to the status of a changing economy other than to propose tax cuts. Nada. The well seems shallow and dry. Huge surplus? OK, tax cuts. Bubble rumblings? OK, tax cuts. Bubble bursting? OK, tax cuts. Softening economy? OK, tax cuts. Recession? OK, tax cuts. Mild recovery? OK, tax cuts. Narrow economic boom? OK, tax cuts. Worldwide economic financial devastation? OK, tax cuts. Etc., etc., etc.

It's all you've got, Mr. Barbour. It's all you and the GOP have ever had. You've got nothing else.

Has no Republican taken an Econ 101 class in school? Republicans seem clueless about solutions to economic events aside from throwing tax cuts at them. That's not leadership, sir, that's autism.

The most laughable phrase in the English language? "Republican economist." Those who have had their hands on the tiller of financial policy? Rob Portman, Greg Mankiw, Jim Nussle, on and on it goes. Useless, the lot of them. How they have assisted the average American has never been adequately explained. How they have helped swell the upper reaches of income strata is obvious.

The time for tax cuts or resisting raising taxes is long past. It's going to be difficult for those now entrusted with righting the sinking ship to be successful; but when you sit there, continuing to punch holes below the water line, the task can appear hopeless.

So when we hear maroons like you, Gov. Barbour, spouting about killing any cure for GOP malfeasance because it would "raise taxes," we simply respond, "No shit, Sherlock. You broke it. Now, if you don't have any better idea on how to fix it, shut up and step aside. The adults have work to do, cleaning up your mess."

Coulter Attacks 'Faggots,'Then Stops By For Dinner

2009-02-21T18:31:00.002-05:00

Just stumbled upon this 2007 story about famous GOP fluffer Ann Coulter.

Rick Jacobs: Ann Coulter: On the Gay Circuit in West Hollywood

That poor, tattered little black dress. She must have been taking a night off from her constant, futile attempts to keep GOP men aroused while keeping their wandering attentions off of her 10-yr.-old competition. Now, THAT'S a hard life. No wonder she always looks so haggard.

Hanging out with gays and actual, level-headed men who are Democrats must be such the occasional relief for her.

Someone Gets It...

2009-02-21T18:04:00.000-05:00

Sadly, it's John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft is seeing no remarkable difference between George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

He's saying this like it's a good thing.

This should get everybody's attention.

And make everyone's blood run cold.

Dangerous Obama Foot-dragging

2009-02-21T17:57:00.000-05:00

Obama administration tries to kill Bush e-mail case

OK, someone, somewhere needs to get the president's ear, and inform him that, no, reducing the excessive, obscene and illegal expansion of presidential powers created by George W. Bush at Dick Cheney's knee will not be construed by anyone other than former Bushies as "a limiting of presidential powers." It will be seen—and cheered—by all Americans as an effort finally to set things right.

This nation is looking to Barack Obama, former teacher of constitutional law at the University of Chicago, to return the natural and legal relationships among the three bodies of federal government to their rightful and proper levels.

Currently, he is not doing that.

A worry that many had during Bush's reign was how successors would deal with Bush's excessive expansions. Surely, no one (other than a Bushie) would WANT to be a King, but "Hey! if I have full kingly dictatorial powers, and no one is really saying that I HAVE to give them back, why don't I keep them for a while? I'll give 'em back, I promise, but let me take 'em for a spin, let me try 'em out for a while first."

No. It's just toooooooo tempting to simply leave them there. Human beings should never be allowed to just be human. This is why we have laws to cover every conceivable aspect of human life—because human beings cannot be trusted to not be swayed, seduced and corrupted fully by all that sways, seduces and fully corrupts the human spirit.

Obama, like any of the rest of us, must be governed by law, every bit as severely as Bush should have been.

Or our democracy is doomed forever.

Dallas Housing Hit Hard Again...

2009-02-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

Bush moves to Dallas home

There goes the neighborhood.

My Favorite Story...

2009-02-21T17:13:00.001-05:00

... Of the Week:

Cornyn Gives Back (One-Fifth of) Allen Stanford's Money

Does that mean that Texas Sen. (and head of the 2010 GOP Senate Campaign) John Cornyn is only 4/5th Corrupt? Whew, that's better then.

That is better than being 100% Corrupt, how?

Not Been Paying Attention, Hunh?

2009-02-21T16:33:00.000-05:00

This is funny.

What's left of the loony right has been so busy snarling about all the efforts to fix the crap they left behind them, that they've never looked long enough to see what has been there to see.

Many on the right have bought into the echo-chamber concept that Barack Obama is some scary Leftie bomb-thrower.

Um, sorry guys, but no. He's not.

During the campaign, he started out to the right of Hillary Clinton, then only shifted left when she didn't shift quickly enough. One of his very first announcements on the campaign trail when few were listening was that re-doing Social Security was a great idea.

That, my friends, is no Leftie bomb, no matter who is doing the throwing. He caught a decent amount of flack for those comments, so he dropped the issue faster than a Non-Person in Russia.

Why the Left chose to embrace him, especially when he never set out to court the Progressive Left, rather than John Edwards, who did indeed court the Left, and whose proposals are aimed for the Left, remains a mystery.

But if our friends on the Right would calm down a bit and listen a tad more, rather than yowling at the moon so often, they'd most likely hear a lot more from Obama that's to their liking. And the adoring throngs on the Left would actually hear a bit more, like this Detainee issue, that fills them with dread.

Jindal: Death By Stimulus

2009-02-21T15:33:00.001-05:00

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal just committed career suicide by lethal rejection.

Jindal Rejects $90 Million In Recovery Funding That Would Have Benefited 25,000 Louisiana Residents

Those poor folks didn't need that money, the principle is much more important. If they die in the streets or in the swamps, no big deal. They're only serfs, anyway.

Help Save Red Curtain Children

2009-02-21T15:23:00.005-05:00

We may have been wrong about this all along. Perhaps the GOP doesn't really want full intrusion into the Web habits of Americans for political reasons. Maybe, just maybe, it's a cry for help.

Stories of the GOP during the Bush years were rife with tales of both high and low politicians and GOP functionaries, and their predilection for underage boys and girls. And of their amazing ability for getting caught at it. Especially those souls whose GOP-awarded jobs specifically were aimed at protecting children!

Perhaps, the modern GOPer just can't bring himself to click away from his favorite kiddie porn sites. And hates himself for his addiction.

So, voila!

GOP: ISPs, Wi-Fi Must Keep Logs For Police

More wackiness from behind the Loony Red Curtain: Three GOPers from Texas, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Lamar Smith and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott are desperate for help since GOPers cannot keep their hands off of their own, or their neighbor's, children.

So they want the adults in the rest of America to monitor their behavior for them, even if it means creating a police state for everybody else.

A small price to pay, mirror-looking GOPers say, if it helps keep their children safe from post-teen GOPers in good, Christian, Red Curtain towns like theirs.

These people are sick.

But, alas, free mental health services are among the first things cut in Red State budgets.

Perhaps we need to begin an Underground Railroad for Texas children to ferry them to safe havens elsewhere.

Oh. And BTW, while we're keeping America's children safe, keep the GOP's hands off of the Web. They'll just have to learn to deal with its use like everyone else. A bit of self-restraint will do them wonders.

From Behind The Loony Red Curtain

2009-02-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

Justice Department gives 'political prisoner' 3 hours to visit dying wife in hospice

Vile.

Wow.

2009-02-21T14:34:00.004-05:00

When the Going gets Unstable, the Unstable get Going.

Is there ANY Republican left today who is NOT butt-ass crazy?

No longer just a nut-job standing on the fringe of a fringe of a fringe, Alan Keyes is the voice of the modern Republican Party.

Remember, these are the people who took away your savings, sent your job overseas, stole your house, bankrupted your children's future and destroyed the American way of life—all in a tidy eight years—until you wisely took all the power away from them.

Now they want it all back again. And they clearly will continue to howl at the moon until you give it all back.

Stay strong.

Status Quo We Can Believe In

2009-02-21T14:20:00.001-05:00

Same as it ever was...

Obama continues Bush policy on detainees

Barack Obama studied, and taught, Constitutional Law in great universities. So he gets much less leeway on issues such as this than, say, George W. Bush, who studied bar stools in country clubs.

"Yesterday's announcement that the Obama administration has not even considered departing from the very same unjust and inhumane policies of his predecessor, is an ominous sign that human rights and the rule of law are simply not a priority of this administration," the International Justice Network, who is counsel in all the cases under review, said to Raw Story in a statement. "We expected more from this President when he promised that we would not trade our fundamental values for false promises of security. Unless there is a serious reconsideration of this issue at the highest levels of the Obama government, America will not be able to put this dark chapter of our history behind us."

Obama simply knows better than that.

This does not bode well.

The Party Of 'NO' ShouldJust Say 'NO'!

2009-02-21T13:11:00.007-05:00

It would make their hero, The Gipper, and Nancy soooo proud.

This has been rolling around my head for months now, although I haven't as yet said it. Bob Cesca says it better than I: Go Ahead, make your day! Turn it all down! Show them who's boss.

Therefore, I'm calling upon Sean Hannity to use his prime time television program as a platform to rally Republican politicians, cable news hacks and citizens alike to refuse delivery of not just recovery bill spending, but all so-called "socialist" government programs. Send it all back. End American socialism now! All of it.

Yes. All of it. Every bit. The GOPers and the NOPErs should absolutely stand on moral purity, and refuse every last damn cent that those evil Federales attempt to shove down their throats.

What red-blooded, real-man American doesn't already know that any fire will just burn itself out at some point? Besides, if necessary, that's why the good Lord invented buckets. Who needs police if my kids can just sling Uzis over their shoulders on their way to gym class in their private school, or if I can simply take out a Blackwater rent-a-thug contract to look after them? Real Americans are rich and/or smart enough to have heliports on their property because they don't need no stinkin' roads.

The fact that rejection of any and all monies from the stimulus bill comes from the governors of five states (Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas), four of which GOPers have long-since turned into impoverished Third-World Countries, and from the loony right-wing media sources (the fools at FOX, Rush, AEI, Cato) is emblematic of what is wrong with Republican taste makers and leadership today. The fact that three of those governors have presidential ambitions, so they can help lead the rest of the country into Third-World status, is lost on no one, especially the poor residents of those states who unfortunately are merely rats locked in some giant nobles/serfs social experiment. Ironically, no state in the Union is in more dire need of stim money than those locked tightly behind the Loony Red Curtain of the South and Alaska.

So, let these leaders cry out against "socialist" stimulus measures—just as long as they put their impoverished states where their political mouths are and turn down all stim money.

Then, we can simply sit back and watch.

Now, I don't know if folks in those Loony Red states will cotton much to seeing the rest of the country eventually go back to work and begin to enjoy the fruits of any new prosperity while they're having to eat their young just to survive. I don't know if they'd be all that partial to being left behind because their governor wants to make political points with loony fringe voters while their babies and spouses are left to die.

We may be approaching torch and pitchfork territory here. Seeing a fleshy porker like Mississippi's Haley Barbour roasting on an open spit, then parceled out to his hungry constituents may give other Loony Red leaders pause about the wisdom of their position. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mark Sanford of South Carolina probably aren't in danger of being eaten by their citizenry—but only because there really is no meat on either of their bones. But those fundraiser dinners and cocktail receptions may be just enough to fatten up Rick Perry of Texas to be dinner, he's that close. Also, now that the price of oil has fallen through the floor, cutting off most of the cash that has kept Alaskans afloat, that state's population may well begin to look hungrily at Sarah Palin's prodigious array of kinder before they start to eye their own.

Just sayin', is all.

More GOP Hard Times...

2009-02-17T15:22:00.009-05:00

During the next year or so, watch all the functionaries of the American Taliban run crying to Barack Obama, "Please help us, Barack! Has anyone noticed there's a bad economy???? I'm not as rich as I was! Is anyone paying attention??? Help us save our humble abodes!!!!!"

Mitt Romney is the latest to have the anvil of reality drop on his head, and is looking to unload two of his mansions (mansi?).

Just the little ones, mind you. Gee, what a trooper. One of those now on the market is in his former quasi-home state of Massachusetts (worth $3.5 million before the market tanked).

Another, a tiny petite cabin, a lean-to maybe, on the ski slopes of Utah is priced to move at $4 million, down from $5 million.

Maybe even Mitt couldn't stand to hang out in such a still-Red State.

In any event, showing that Mitt Still Believes In America, he's steadfastly holding onto the slightly bigger domiciles, which curiously also happen to be in states that would be heavily contested in 2012.

This one is in New Hampshire (worth $10 million), Mitt has been quoted as being thrilled to hear the sounds of the lake water through their bedroom window.

Romney also has shown the courage to hang onto their brand new digs in La Jolla, California (worth $12 million).

(click to enlarge)

Just to show he still has hope!

That all of home-owning America has hope!

What a leader that Mitt is!

Now, if that Barack guy can just bail us all out now...

The Foreclosure Cavalry Is On The Way!

2009-02-17T14:17:00.001-05:00

President Barack Obama is going to Phoenix to announce his new home-salvage plans.

Phoenix, hunh?

John McCain must be in jeopardy of losing one of those seven-to-ten houses he (OK..., Cindy) owns.

Wednesday Is The Day...

2009-02-15T12:40:00.002-05:00

...When Barack Obama's fledgling administration weighs in on the case of Congress v. Harriet Miers & Josh Bolten over the issue of "How long does Executive Privilege last, anyway? And just who does it cover, and for what purposes?"

That this has direct implications for Karl Rove and all the others who passed through the White House of George W. Bush is obvious.

Either the Obama administration agrees with the Bush administration that Executive Privilege extends to every member of an administration at all times in every matter into perpetuity, or its original purpose stands—where only direct conversations between an adviser and the sitting president on specific state topics where the president needs counsel within the term of his or her presidency are covered.

The current administration is scheduled to file an appeal brief in the case in federal court that day.

Where it lands on this issue should be a clear indication of where we are going in the next four years, as the new administration shows its hand, and intentions, clearly for the first time.

As per usual, we find out whether we are a nation of laws, or that, simply, Might makes Right.

And that Power Corrupts.

UPDATE: John Byrne of The Raw Story has further developments on where the Obama administration seems to be going with this. Karl Rove may yet get his chance to declare, "Ah dunno" repeatedly on the World Stage. We'll see on Wednesday.

Something To Keep An Eye On...

2009-02-15T12:17:00.000-05:00

...Not in order to sweep it under the rug, but in order to maintain our efforts in policing ourselves as Democrats and/or progressives—something the GOP had been pathologically incapable of doing during their orgiastic uni-party rule earlier this decade. The GOP would deny any and every possibility of malfeasance, whether the GOPer in question was caught in bed with either the proverbial dead girl or live boy.

If Rep. Jack Murtha or any other Democrat is found to be guilty of misusing his or her office, they should face the proper penalties—and if it's warranted, out they go.

Either we teach proper-thinking Republicans how its done so they can pressure their own, or we slide into the swamp with them.

The choice is as clear as it is simple.

Finally, Some Movement... And From Inside BushWorld, Surprisingly

2009-02-15T10:17:00.007-05:00

There's a bowl of hot, steaming stuff waiting for new Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., left over from some of the few decent Americans who actually existed and attempted to work within the Bush White House.

Isikoff: A Torture Report Could Spell Big Trouble For Bush Lawyers

An internal Justice Department report on the conduct of senior lawyers who approved waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics is causing anxiety among former Bush administration officials.

Side question: Shouldn't all Bush-era officials—lawyers, or not—be suffering anxiety while waiting for all the various shoes to start falling? With two-thirds of the nation already on-board with either outright prosecution or investigation-then-prosecution-if-warranted, it would seem that the swelling tide of justice is heading in the GOP's direction, despite Barack Obama's footdragging. [One would think that a new, Recession/Depression-proof industry is emerging in selling clean undies to Republican former officials.]

The fact that the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) within the Department of Justice submitted their report damning the torture memos written by former White House counsel John Yoo and [former head of the White House Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)] Jay Bybee just as the Bushies were getting ready to take one final walk out the door appears to be classic Greek-tragedy justice. "Oh, by the way, John and Jay, thanks for all your help during the Bush years, and BTW, you're screwed. Have a nice day."

Another nugget in Michael Isikoff's piece:

If Holder accepts the OPR findings, the report could be forwarded to state bar associations for possible disciplinary action.

Question: Would Boalt Hall, the law school of UC-Berkeley, still stand steadfastly by their employment of John Yoo, if that meant they were employing a law professor who'd just been disbarred? Can't see many young wannabe lawyers signing up for THAT class... Just sayin'.

I love this bit from Isikoff's story:

[Former Attorney General Michael] Mukasey, in speeches before he left, decried the second-guessing of Justice lawyers who, acting under "almost unimaginable pressure" after 9/11, offered "their best judgment of what the law required."

That Mukasey—he's such a kidder.

Of course, it can be safely assumed that the "almost unimaginable pressure" after 9/11 came directly from Vice President Dick Cheney for them to give "their best judgment of what the [VP] required."

OPR investigators focused on whether the memo's authors deliberately slanted their legal advice to provide the White House with the conclusions it wanted, according to three former Bush lawyers who asked not to be identified discussing an ongoing probe.

Another interesting tidbit we just spotted:

...according to three former Bush lawyers who asked not to be identified discussing an ongoing probe

I wonder how the Right's going to react to anonymously sourced material headed in their direction for a change. This coming, of course, after we've suffered through eight years of "according to a Senior Administration Official" and other high-level leakers among the Bushies and their toadies on the Hill and in the military running almost daily to selected pre-approved reporters to offer that day's smears and talking points.

We continue to be surprised by the number of actual professionals who got past the Bush radar, and tried to do the best job they could for the nation, while spending every workday ass-deep in Bush apparatchiks.

But the OPR probe began after Jack Goldsmith, a Bush appointee who took over OLC in 2003, protested the legal arguments made in the memos. Goldsmith resigned the following year after withdrawing the memos, and later wrote that he was "astonished" by the "deeply flawed" and "sloppily reasoned" legal analysis in the memos by Yoo and Bybee, including their assertion (challenged by many scholars) that the president could unilaterally disregard a law passed by Congress banning torture.

America thanks you, Mr. Goldsmith.

Here's The Stimulus Hit List...

2009-02-07T19:10:00.007-05:00

What got cut from the stimulus bill

More on this later.

Basically, some of it seems a bit porky perhaps, but the bulk of what got whacked looks awfully spiteful, short-sighted, inhumane and just plain stupid when you're trying to create jobs—in classic Republican style.

Almost all of the items cut would necessitate that someone be hired to make, ship, install, repair, protect or sell something. You know, jobs.

Just what the country needs. A massive jobs bill that doesn't create jobs.

I'm still kicking myself for not sending more money last fall to defeat Susan Collins.

Hey, One Can Only Hope...

2009-02-07T18:57:00.001-05:00

1 dead, 150 rescued off ice floe in Lake Erie

What a tragedy.

Any chance they left Rush Limbaugh, leader of Rich White Guy Nation, out there?

Blogger Acting Up...

2009-02-07T17:33:00.003-05:00

Blogger is acting out this afternoon, so we're not able to upload any photos at the moment.

Hang with us, we'll hopefully return to photo-land soon.

Apologies for the plain text.

Update (6:45pm):
Things are back to normal.

Putting The Twit In Twitter...

2009-02-07T17:16:00.008-05:00

Think Progress: Hoekstra leaks unauthorized intelligence information via Twitter.

Rep. Pete Hoeksra (R-MI), [above, right] the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, revealed classified intelligence information on Twitter when he reported on his “congressional trip to Iraq this weekend that was supposed to be a secret.” “Just landed in Baghdad,” messaged Hoekstra, who was part of a delegation led by John Boehner (R-OH). CQ reports, “Before the delegation left Washington, they were advised to keep the trip to themselves for security reasons.”

Then he threw in their itinerary, for good measure. Do we really want as Intel honcho in Congress someone who goes around painting a giant target on his chest—and those of the rest of the delegation—because he simply doesn't know any better?

Think Progress tosses in one of Peter's earlier insane rants at anyone who's not Peter, which appeared in the LA Times:

But every time classified national security information is leaked, our ability to gather information on those who would do us harm is eroded. … I regret that I see little sign of intolerance for unauthorized disclosures of intelligence to the media from some of my Democratic colleagues today. … We are a nation at war. Unauthorized disclosures of classified information only help terrorists and our enemies – and put American lives at risk.

Here's a ~~little~~ large sign of intolerance for unauthorized disclosures of intelligence for ya, Peter.

From now on, moron, keep your mouth shut, and stay off the electronic gear until you get your staff to both teach you how to work it, and tell you where its vulnerabilities are. Second-graders around this great country know this about Twitter—and every other gadget and social communication network.

With all due respect for the office he holds, what an asshole.

Hoekstra's yet another GOP mental-lightweight braggart who should be dragged out into the street by regular citizens and pummeled with large sticks.

These clowns were protected when they held all the levers of power, and repeatedly caught each other's backs.

But now, in a supposedly Democratic world, decent Americans cannot allow these GOP lowlifes to get away with this crap anymore.

Too Funny...

2009-02-07T16:18:00.005-05:00

Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in '03, sources tell SI

Four different sources, eh? Uh-oh.

You can just feel that wiggle room shrinking for NYC's poster boy for the Bush Tax Cuts.

Along with his testicles.

James Whitmore, R.I.P.

2009-02-07T15:18:00.015-05:00

James Whitmore, Versatile Character Actor of Flinty Integrity, Is Dead at 87

As an example to prove that the venerable New York Times can't always be relied upon to get it right, I offer their obit of the beloved actor James Whitmore, who passed yesterday.

Any paper that can print an obit of this stunning, acting Everyman, and never once mention one of his most impressive stints in film, the early creature feature THEM!, is not to be trusted.

At a time when films in the Sci-Fi genre were little more than a bad script, cardboard sets and props and really atrocious performances, THEM! collected all the proper adult elements—focusing on talent and film experience as criteria.

Written by Ted Sherdeman—whose credits in the '50s and '60s included Scandal Sheet; The Eddie Cantor Story; St. Louis Blues; The Big Show, along with the war films, Breakthrough; Retreat, Hell!; Away All Boats and Hell To Eternity. THEM! was directed and produced by long-time Hollywood veterans Gordon Douglas and David Weisbart, respectively. The eerie music was written by film score icon Bronislau Kaper, of Green Dolphin Street fame. The gorgeous B&W photography was shot by film pioneer Sid Hickox, who came to THEM! having already lensed To Have And Have Not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, White Heat, Along The Great Divide and Distant Drums, among over 150 assignments starting in 1916.

Whitmore, already an Oscar-nominee, played the strong, heroic good-guy cop, within a steller lead cast that included a young, pre-Gunsmoke James Arness as the romantic lead and the estimable Edmund Gwenn—towards the end of his storied career—as the sage scientist who alone grasps the import of those strange, deadly goings-on in the Arizona desert.

Ahead of its time, THEM! also casts the female lead, played by Joan Weldon, as a serious, trained scientist who's more intent on solving the riddle of the radioactive impact of nuclear testing than responding to Arness' goofy romantic advances. Indeed, they portrayed a woman in "the girl part."

Staying consistent, this team assembled a superb supporting cast of character actors, both young and old—and mostly uncredited—which included such as Fess Parker, John Bernadino, Richard Deacon, Leonard Nimoy, William Schallert, Dub Taylor and, especially, Olin Howland's indelible near-star turn as the alcoholic rummy who actually came face-to-face with the deadly, mutated ants early on and survived.

All of this firepower combined to create a high-level exploration of the impact of an already increasingly out-of-control military-industrial complex in a brand new—and thoroughly not yet understood—nuclear age. The fact that they chose a mutated-creepy crawly flick as a frame to present these questions and warnings, served to entertain their audiences while scaring the bejeesus out of them, both psychologically and politically.

A stunning film. It changed the discussion on our nuclear prospects; it changed the science-fiction genre utterly. Career-wise, it served as a spring board for some of those involved, while providing a fitting cap for the careers of others.

The fact that The New York Times would miss all this is stunning. Like the ants, it's kinda big.

The fact that this is one of Gotham's favorite films of all time, and the piece that introduced us to Whitmore and made us a fan forever, is, of course, self-evident.

Thank you for all the amazing and always human-scale work, Mr. Whitmore.

We fear your type of performer will not pass our way anytime soon.

You will be sorely missed.

Addendum, Supe Edition

2009-02-02T11:42:00.008-05:00

A few other impressions from last night's great Super Bowl brawl in Tampa that I was too tired to remember to put into the last post.

***Whose bright idea within the NFL leadership was it to leave poor, frail, 65-yr-old NY Jets icon Joe Willie Namath on his own with no support to get through that long, ungainly scrum of ecstatic, frantic 300-pound Steeler behemoths, while trying desperately to get the Vince Lombardi championship trophy to the post-game podium? I know he was laughing a lot, but it still looked like he was yelling, "Ow, not the knees! Ow, not the hips! Please, not the knees!" Joe Willie must have thought he was playing again against those old Oakland Raider teams that beat him up so badly. It should take him at least until Sunday to recover and be ready to go again. Although which Sunday, and in what year, is open to question. Scary moment, actually. The happy players seemed on the verge of spinning out of control.

***Ummmm, it's a performer's ego thing, I know. And this is VERY touchy. But someone close to Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band needs to have coffee with the Boss and gently let him know that, at 59 years of age, it might be time to drop the keys of a couple of his songs down a half step or a step, so that he can still sing them. They could use the same great arrangements, same great feel. There just wouldn't be notes he can't get to anymore. It's a natural part of the aging process for every singer. The adoring crowds will never know. It was a fabulous show, but it was interesting that he wasn't close to being able to sing "Born To Run" from eons ago. But as soon as he shifted into the title tune of his new album (which he's obviously written recently for his voice as it stands now), he fell right into pitch and could hit every note comfortably. At a lower key, it still proved to be a great tune. BTR was just sad. On the other hand, he looks great for 59, and those knee bends and knee slides from back when he was 29, were just inhuman at his age—although I have a hunch that America can do without him sliding his aging crotch into the camera. I do believe that with everything else he's been blessed with, though, he's simply a freak of nature. Perhaps Bruce will be the Satchel Paige of rock & roll. So, you run, Bruce. Or limp. But just do it in tune.

***If NBC was going to promo the beejeesus out of their upcoming halftime 3-D experiment throughout the entire first half, was it asking too much for them to tell viewers just tuning in, either where to get these glasses or that it was too late to grab one, so go get a sandwich?

***It also looks as if The 3rd Bush Family Recession has now dragged even the Super Bowl into its sink hole. Even the sports guys are jumping into the economic reporting pool, since it's impossible now to ignore all the money that is just not being spent—even on splashy, obscene All-American testimonials to Wretched Excess, like the Super Bowl. This does not bode well. I may not have been a Barack Obama fan early on. But now we're all Obama fans on this bus. We have no choice. Also, logic dictates that there's a nice, comfy ice flow somewhere with Rush Limbaugh's name on it.

***In stark contrast to the gutless, classless Steeler posturing after their victory, here's Arizona's quarterback Kurt Warner after the game, speaking in defeat:

"They won this game. We didn't lose it," Warner said. "They are world champs."

Classy.

To all of Pittsburgh: This is how the Game is played.

Random Thoughts On Super Bowl XXXJRQOIII

2009-02-02T00:46:00.007-05:00

For you sports fans out there...

Just a few things that have crossed my mind tonight.

***I blissfully missed every second of the overly saturated Pre-Super Bowl coverage. Because I just didn't care, obviously.

***Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a well- and hard-fought game. And to the Arizona Cardinals on an heroic effort that unfortunately fell just short—you were truly valiant.

***Out of the what seems like hundreds of Super Bowl games that have been played, IMHO this one is in the top ten. Close, exciting throughout, not the dull, lop-sided, anticlimactic blowouts most of them have been.

***John Madden is still the best there is at what he does.

***The Steelers—to a man—produced one of the most classless, amateurish post-game celebrations I've seen to date: From Dan Rooney, the owner, on down through the coach, Mike Timlin, to Santonio Holmes, the MVP receiver and on through to the star QB, Ben Roethlisberger, this is the first post-championship game award ceremony I've ever seen in any sport where the victors never—not once—showed the sportsmanship and the simple good taste and breeding to acknowledge and tip their hats to the losing team. This usually starts with the owner. But not once did these gloating Rust Belt warriors offer what respect they had for their worthy opponent, note how valiantly their opponent fought, say the Cardinals gave them "all we could handle," etc., etc., along with any other cliché proper for these occasions. So, obviously it wasn't true; they had no respect for Arizona. It was all-Steelers; all-the-time on that podium: How great they were; how much they loved each other and were proud of each other. All of those are fine, after a quick hat tip. After such an incredibly close game, that they had every right to have lost, against an opponent who wasn't supposed to even be on the same field with them and was only 2:31 from snatching this game away, this snub was incredibly bush, and ten times worse than what Joe Torre has caught crap for all week from the sports world. Torre's was just lousy judgement; this was bush, and unprofessional.

***Even the coverage caught the fever. The Arizona coach was caught for a moment after the game for a few, understandably depressed words. The next sight we got of anyone from this valiant team on either NBC or ESPN was QB Kurt Warner at the 12:09 am mark.

***I want to applaud Steeler linebacker James Harrison on his amazing TD run. I was gassed just watching him.

***Kudos to the Cardinals on that play, for not having any of 11 guys on the field—each of which we can assume is in shape and capable of catching the big load of James Harrison—be able to catch the lumbering, 280-odd pound load during his fateful rumble down the length of the field. I don't get that no one could tackle him over the course of 100 yards, as slowly as he was running or, at least, push him and his protectors out of bounds.

***Harrison, later in the game, however, proved to be a punk and a goon, forfeiting any good will aimed at him from his classic run when he was spotted repeatedly belting a Cardinal player in the back with a closed fist when the play was away from them, the play was over and the Arizona player was down on his knees on the ground, and helpless. John Madden called it correctly—Harrison should have been ejected immediately. That he wasn't is disgusting. What horrible officiating throughout the game.

***My favorite commercials were two: the Get A Dog one at the beginning (mostly for the elderly lady chasing her ostrich out the door, calling "Bruno, come back here!" as the bird is chasing the mailman. The second is the CareerBuilder ad towards the end, where you got to identify with sitting next to "that guy." Both for content and execution, this was my favorite. Very, very funny.

Career Most Thoroughly Shredded and Trashed During The Super Bowl:

***John Turturro—for those insipid, worst-commercial-ever-made Heineken ads. Stupid, pompous and lame with the absolute worst script I've ever seen in a commercial, dating all the way from early B&W TV. Then, John mumbles half the rotten text, until it's gibberish, then keeps a straight face while saying your beer (?) is a SWORD (???). WTF, may I ask? The only real problem John faces aside from obviously being broke enough in this recession to sign on to appear in this piece of crap, is that THIS IS A SUPER BOWL AD!!!!! As such it will only be seen by, what? ... a few BILLION people worldwide? "No reason to worry, John; no one will ever know, it'll just be shown locally..." I guess John is about to add the kindly, old "Helen Hayes" parts in his films now, because his storied career is toast. The only upside possible in this crap is a good payday for the Village Vanguard, which acts as the set for this thing, with fully visible logo, awning text, and bandstand. That'll help the venerable joint stay open for a while longer, we can assume.

***Do you think Calvin Pace is rethinking that contract he signed with the Jets, jumping from the Arizona Cardinals this year?

***J-E-T-S! J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! ... oh..., never mind...

Next year in Jerusalem, as they say.

The Rich Guy's Tax:

2009-02-01T16:22:00.014-05:00

The Sales Tax.

Now, this is a tax a rich guy can really get behind and support.

From the mid-Sixties, when this aberration first appeared in state budgets around the country, it's been a favorite of personally well heeled and connected governors for raising a ton of cash from the populace quickly.

Since then, it's been an unbearable hammer on people of weak to moderate means. It simply is the most regressive tax we Americans pay. Poor people and those who consider themselves to be "OK," foot the bulk of the bill. The affluent and mega-rich never even feel the pin prick.

And of course—in a time of short-fall created by the rich trying to be richer, aided and abetted by the greed of those grasping to climb up to "rich"—the richest mayor in America decides that the poor and the remaining vestige of middle-class folk must pay to repair the catastrophe his peers have saddled us with.

Bloomberg calls for job cuts & sales tax hike

As we've said before, it's hard enough to watch billionaire Michael Bloomberg cavalierly lopping off of the city payroll thousands of jobs that, even in lush times, max out at what passes for subsistence wages for an expensive locale like NYC. Mayor Wallet says: Take that $40,000 job, and shove it!

But then for him to propose ravaging these people further by raising the most onerous tax on the books—the Sales Tax—from 8.375% to 8.75% is unconscionable.

Doesn't sound like a lot, does it? Hey, what's 0.375% among friends, hunh? It raises that bunch of cash quickly, and doesn't hurt anyone particularly hard, does it, right?

Wrong.

Example

Take a mythical Alex Smith, the cop, the fireman, the teacher, the functionary in City Hall, making $40,000-$60,000 a year.

Compare him to the very alive Alex Rodriguez, the Yankee, the rich guy, the model of massive NYC money, making $25,000,000 a year. Yes, that's $25 million a year.

Let's go shopping!

Alex-@-40K needs a suit (for his kid's christening or Bar Mitsvah, whatever), so let's say he decides to splurge on a good one (how many suits do most guys buy these days, after all?) and spends $500 on a suit. The sales tax on that suit currently comes to $41.87, for a total cost to Alex-@-40K of $541.87. (What else Alex-@-40K could use that $41.87 on is for another discussion.)

Alex-@-25M wants another suit for his closet, since he's in the public eye often, and needs to look good for business reasons. So, he spends $6,000 on a beautiful suit that makes him look and feel like a million bucks, which is a number he can certainly understand. The sales tax on this suit comes to $502.50, bringing the total paid to $6,502.50.

The first, easy thought—and one the rich pols who push this tax point out—is that Alex-@-25M's $502.50 is so much higher than Alex-@-40K's paltry and affordable $41.87, that the system MUST, by definition, be fair to all, both high- and low-estate. Richer folk can afford a higher sales tax hit on the expensive luxury items they buy; the simple folk pay a much lower amount since they buy cheaper crap, um, items—so it must be fair.

Mayor Wallet proposes a sales tax hike from 8.375% to 8.75%. So, the same principle should hold, right? The rich pay much more; the rest pay more, but less?

Not so fast. Let's look at some numbers...

Under Bloomberg's new budget, Alex-@-40K's tax on his $500 suit rises $1.88 to $43.75. Alex-@-25M's bite jumps $22.50 to $525.00.

Let's look at impact.

Alex-@-40K's $1.88 comprises .00376% of his $40,000 salary (much higher, obviously, if he's among the laid off on unemployment).

Alex-@-25M's $22.50 amounts to .00009% of his $25,000,000 salary (a guaranteed contract, so they pay him whether he works or sits home).

So, Alex-@-40K ends up receiving 42X the negative impact on his income from Bloomberg's increase than sexy, rich A-Rod-@-25M endures.

This is nothing new. It has been always thus: The rich of the city slide all of the downside of city living onto others while they fully enjoy the benefits of the urban landscape.

But this isn't onerous simply because of the unfair bite to the incomes of a city full of Alex-@-40Ks. It goes directly to the buying power of the general populace of an entire city. And here's where the short-sightedness comes in. This hurts businesses across the board, and directly deducts from the economic lifeblood of Gotham.

The extra bite of the sales tax, and increases thereof, digs into the finite total that any of the Alex-@-40Ks of the city can afford to spend. These are the "kitchen table" Americans you hear pols bloviating about and pandering to recently. These are the people sitting at the kitchen table, scratching their heads, swallowing hard, staring at the numbers in front of them as if they'll change somehow, wondering who they'll put off this month to get themselves to next month.

This sales tax rise alone may mean someone may or may not make a purchase at all, or scale back the level of item they purchase. At some point, Alex-@-40K thinks hard about that $500 suit; maybe he grabs one at $200 on sale, and hopes he can get by with it for a while, as the city's engine loses $300. Or maybe he doesn't buy the suit at all, throws the money on his rent or mortgage payment and dry cleans his sports jacket. The city ends up $500 poorer—multiplied by every transaction all day long that 7.5 million people out of a city of 8 million people don't end up making, or end up downgrading. Serious change, that.

Further, the Alex-@-25Ms of this city spend more that $22.50 to whiten their teeth in the morning. Whether any particular drop in the ocean is $502.50 or $525.00, it's still a drop in the ocean.

Now..., again, a plan.

Close every conceivable loophole in the tax code. Then by raising Alex-@-25M's taxes to a level commensurate to the impact of what Alex-@-40K pays to the city (and state and feds), that budget deficit closes to a small enough number so that just a few of Mayor Wallet's richest friends, those whom he bumps into at all of the city's fine charity balls, can simply write a check or two, and the city would be fine. [As an addendum, the Mayor could/should really get his pen warmed up, as well.]

In a crisis, NYers band together like nowhere else in the world. At least, most of us do. This time, that civic responsibility is going to have to include those city residents who "have someone on my staff who handles all that for me."

Then, we would have a city we can all be proud of.

Only In New York, Honey...

2009-01-30T15:54:00.004-05:00

... Do you get to witness a billionaire firing someone making $30 grand a year, because of "some difficult times."

Mayor Bloomberg paints grim economic picture for New York City 2009 budget

The city as it stands has only 4 options left it:

Tax the rich
Tax the rich
Tax the rich
Michael Bloomberg fronts us a billion

Other than that, who knows?

Why Rudy Was Such A Rotten Mayor

2009-01-30T15:24:00.003-05:00

Giuliani: Corporate plums help keep NYC afloat

A sad, and embarrassing truth.

Rudy Giuliani was a prime mover in establishing this arrangement. Upon becoming Mayor, he found a trend and turned it into a full-blown dependency, which we're still trying to recover from.

Rudy killed everything "small." Loved everything "big." Starved the independent arts scene in favor of the institutional arts world. Fostered the explosion of commercial rents so that small businesses died every day, opened the door to gigantic chains and mega-everything (based outside of the city) which ate up all the space, driving rents and prices through the roof for the mom-&-pop stores and the residents of the city. Large development, pushing billions of dollars through the corporate/financial system = good; any type of moderate-to-affordable plan for average folks in the city = bad.

Rudy cut the financial industry every break he could think of, and they contributed handsomely. He helped them turn a city awash in cash into a financial spa.

Thank you, Rudy.

Now, shut up and go away.

When It Rains...

2009-01-30T14:21:00.002-05:00

...It Erupts.

Things aren't tough enough for the country right now, right?

Redoubt's past points to likely eruption soon

Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano could erupt within weeks, days

One grace note, here. This will certainly give us a view into how competent or incompetent Sarah Palin is with basic crisis governance.

If her main flaw was experience (other than all those bat-shit crazy views), then here's some on-the-job-training.

Some Good News Amid The Gloom...

2009-01-30T13:53:00.001-05:00

President Barack Obama establishes a middle-class task force lead by VP Joe Biden.

Now, we're talkin'.

My Lord, Almighty...

2009-01-29T21:55:00.010-05:00

Michael Bloomberg's gonna chop 23,000 heads tomorrow.

That's 23,000 jobs. Poof.

A great many NYC residents fervently hope that Mayor Wallet's name is at the top of that list.

Update:
We're here for you Mr. Mayor. So here are a couple of ideas. There are always one or two avenues available which you aren't mentioning.

The first is getting both the Mets and the Yankees to forego the bond issues they each just got, which we can't afford. Plus, ask them to return all the money the city plunked into those limestone and brick playgrounds, and pony up their own money or financing if they can find any. It's not like there will be NYers with any money left, who'll be willing go to the New Stadium or to Sub-Prime Field just to be gouged at every turn. MLB priced out the average baseball fan long before the economy tanked, so they really should be jake with this.

The other idea?

"That, which shall never be mentioned."

Taxes.

Big ones. For rich people. Starting with yourself. Mr. Mayor, as a billionaire who will easily drop $60 million to $100 million on your campaign to retain the use of Gracie Mansion, you obviously could pay taxes out the wazoo and still not see a dent in your daily lifestyle. At your wealth level? You'll never miss it. Nor will any of your Ultra-Mega-Stupid Rich friends and peers who will always call this city home.

That fireman who loses his job? He'll miss it. Along with the home he loses.

One thing is always true about New York City: There is always money to be had here. It may drop or rise considerably, but there will always be cash flowing through the streets here, and plenty of people who are here to rake it up, and stuff it in their pockets. This town is the world's center for Big Money. While thousands may soon start dying in the streets, there will still be plenty of folks both already here or heading here who are looking for that next big gala event, or new exclusive restaurant or shop, that next world-trotting getaway or exciting real estate venture. This town moves and shakes, so will always be THE magnet for movers and shakers.

That's great; that's as it should be. Now, tax them. Heavily. It's time they paid their fair share, anyway.

We're sure they'll want to do their fair share. Civic pride, and all that.

I know. Fat chance.

What makes one truly "elite" is the uncanny ability to whine until hoarse about their burdens being too heavy while dripping in privilege.

But you can do this, Mayor Wallet. They'll listen to you. You are best situated—as one of them, a peer, a mingler—to ease their transition into becoming fully paying members of society. Not Society; society. It'll be a whole new, fascinating world for them. Even better than Volunteering.

Do it for the city you profess to love and want to lead.

Start at the top. EEK! Close every loophole. Ouch! Then, a good 10% rise in income tax rates for every income over $1 million should get the ball rolling. Someone could even hold a Get The Ball Rolling Ball or Cotillion! Perhaps, a 5% bump would be appropriate for those of tighter means of only, say, over $500,000.

Then, create wealth and asset taxes for those who are just so friggin' rich that they haven't had to work in two or more generations—just so we don't miss anybody. Once this thing starts, none of these folks will want to be left behind. It'll obviously become the next "Thing"!

Anyone who bitches about any of this, of course, can simply forego using any city services, period, you can argue. That should prove a huge savings to the city, not having to offer police protection or fire response to those who are too rich to pay taxes. They most likely have friendly relations with Blackwater, in any event, so should be covered. We wouldn't have to pick up their garbage, either. Or fix the pothole in front of their townhouse. Or provide any other city service.

This is looking like a clear Win/Win here for all of us, Mr. Mayor.

You're welcome, sir; no problem. Every NYer wants to do their part.

A Dick Is A Dick Is A Dick...

2009-01-29T21:19:00.002-05:00

Dick Armey was Tom DeLay before there was a Tom DeLay.

The fact that Armey lost his head yet again, and shot his sizeable mouth off against Joan Walsh of Salon on Chris Matthew's Hardball show last night should come as no great shock. Tweety, of course, rolled right along and tried to ignore it. It's his show; it was his job to blunt Armey's crap.

The fact that The New York Times' Bob Herbert stopped a later segment to call Armey on the carpet for his sexist and condescending crap is to be applauded. That it took Herbert's overt action to embarrass Tweety into finally admitting that the Armey rant was out of line was shameful.

It's a good thing that Matthews tossed aside that pipe dream of his of running for Senate in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure where he would have found any woman who would vote for him.

Rice 'Angry' Over Bush Race Charge

2009-01-29T20:40:00.003-05:00

Man, this woman knows how to stoke a grudge. It's only taken her 3 1/2 years to get around to doing what she couldn't believe no one was doing.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told hosts of ABC's The View Thursday that she was angry with critics who charged that President [George W.] Bush didn't help victims of [Hurricane] Katrina because they were black.

"What really did make me angry was the implication that some people made that somehow President Bush allowed this to happen because these people were black," Rice said. "And for somebody to say that about the President of the United States, a President of the United States who I know well and a President of the United States who is my friend, I was appalled and I couldn't believe people didn't challenge it."

"Well, that was probably wrong," The View's Joy Behar responded.

Rice said, "Oh, absolutely."

OK. Agreed.

Sorry.

It was because they were poor.

It's A Start...

2009-01-29T20:08:00.005-05:00

But Mr. President,
if you want to wear the cape,
earn the cape!

Obama blasts "shameful" Wall Street bonuses

President Barack Obama furiously slammed Wall Street titans who took multi-billion dollar bonuses while taxpayers bailed out their industry as "shameful" and guilty of acute "irresponsibility."

How about "theft"?

Obama, anger rippling his usually calm countenance, said bosses of big finance firms must sacrifice along with other Americans, as the country tries to dig itself out of a deep economic hole.

OK..., but how about putting your Justice Department where your mouth is, Mr. President?

The president's ire was sparked when he read a newspaper article detailing the 18.4 billion dollars in bonuses racked up by Wall Street firms last year, even as stock markets plunged and the economy slumped towards a recession.

You're a little late to the party, Mr. President, but welcome, we'll certainly take it.

Yoo Is Just Too Stupid...

2009-01-29T19:12:00.005-05:00

... To Breathe.

Egad.

I do believe that war criminal John Yoo must have read The Lord Of The Flies in his youth, and thought it was a field manual. He comes so close to being exactly the animal he would have us all descend to in a new screed that was published today.

It's astonishing that this man is a) still free of incarceration / institutionalization, and b) still teaching in the law school at UC Berkeley!

Nice overview article in The Raw Story on Yoo's self-serving piece in today's The Wall Street Journal.

I know that you're not shocked that only Rupert Murdoch would see fit to waste both ink and computer bytes to print claptrap like Yoo's snooze.

Raw Story: Yoo: Bush okayed torture to outwit defense lawyers

Man, have you noticed how much time George W. Bush is spending under the bus this week?

Yesterday, it was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:

While unpopular former President George W. Bush may have hurt Republicans in recent elections, voters have not rejected Republican policies, McConnell said.

Today, it's Yoo driving over the former Oval Office Big Chair sitter:

the civilian law-enforcement system cannot prevent terrorist attacks. What is needed are the tools to gain vital intelligence, which is why, under President George W. Bush, the CIA could hold and interrogate high-value al Qaeda leaders. On the advice of his intelligence advisers, the president could have authorized coercive interrogation methods like those used by Israel and Great Britain in their antiterrorism campaigns. (He could even authorize waterboarding, which he did three times in the years after 9/11.)

Thump-thump. "Owwww." See ya, George...

So, in some perverse two-fer, Yoo is both blaming it all on Bush, since he, of course, is pure as the driven snow, and tarring Barack Obama for not following his, Yoo's, letters—to the letter?

Mr. Obama is returning America to the failed law enforcement approach to fighting terrorism that prevailed before Sept. 11, 2001.

Actually, no, John, that was the correct way to go, all along. It is a police action. Just as attacking any conspiracy, like the Mafia or the Bush administration, is a police and judicial action. Turn off 24, John. Start watching Law And Order: Find the perps, catch the perps, try the perps, jail the perps = safe neighborhood.

Since there is no "War On Terror," and never was, this is the proper course of action. You have a few radical leaders who have gathered and armed their small-to-large followings. You track down the leaders, decapitate the group, then round up the followers. That's how this works. And that is actually how Bill Clinton's administration was handling it, to reasonably good success. They knew this process stands more akin to Gen. Jack Pershing's chasing through Mexico after Pancho Villa than any full military "war" mobilization—as is proved by the abject failure of the Bushies to gain any type of military advantage anywhere they've been and the extreme animosity gathered around the globe by their anvil-handed attack of problems, rather than the flyswatter approach that's routinely called for.

Actually, as you read the Yoo piece you find yourself punctuating every sentence with, "Uhh, no. That's not true."

Which makes it a really good way to make sure all your systems are fully functioning. Especially if you're sitting in one of his classes at Boalt Hall at Berkeley.

But here's the greatest head-smacking quote from Yoo's piece:

The question Mr. Obama should have asked right after the inaugural parade was: What will happen after we capture the next Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or Abu Zubaydah? Instead, he took action without a meeting of his full national security staff, and without a legal review of all the policy options available to meet the threats facing our country.

And without the blessing and advice of every crackpot Neo-Con war criminal working today.

Brother, that John!

Man, Yoo so crazy!

More Of Your Bush Tax Dollars At Work

2009-01-29T12:25:00.006-05:00

Nope. Sorry.

There is no "we're looking forward, not backwards" possible for the Barack Obama administration when there is such extreme levels of filth, and moral, legal and political depravity still festering like open sewers from the George W. Bush era.

Watch ABC's video report, then hold your tongue—or your stomach—if you can.

ABC News: CIA Station Chief in Algeria Accused of Rapes

[Andrew Warren,] the CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

With gay and straight GOP gropings and pawings so rampant throughout our government over the last eight years, Hey! Why not throw in a little date rape among our CIA station chiefs? "Ya horny? Dude! This is a "slam dunk!"

Was there ANYONE—up and down the governmental food chain during the Bush 43 reign—who did NOT abuse the power of their office? Now, that is a needle in the haystack.

Remember, if you and I do not demand that the Obama forces and this Democratically held Congress investigate and prosecute every known case of lawbreaking among the Bushies, then you and I personally condone those acts.

There's just no getting around it.

We get no Gestapo defense.

We are what we do. Not what we say we are.

Update:

According to the affidavit, the two women "reported the allegations in this affidavit independently of each other."
The affidavit says the first victim says she was raped by Warren in Sept. 2007 after being invited to a party at Warren's residence by U.S. embassy employees.
She told a State Department investigator that after Warren prepared a mixed drink of cola and whiskey, she felt a "violent onset of nausea" and Warren said she should spend the night at his home.
When she woke up the next morning, according to the affidavit, "she was lying on a bed, completely nude, with no memory of how she had been undressed." She said she realized "she recently had engaged in sexual intercourse, though she had no memory of having intercourse."
According to the affidavit, a second alleged victim told a similar story, saying Warren met her at the U.S. embassy and invited her for a "tour of his home" where she said he prepared an apple martini for her "out of her sight."
The second victim said she suddenly felt faint and went to the bathroom where "V2 [victim 2] could see and hear, but she could not move," the affidavit says.
She told investigators Warren "was attempting to remove V2's her pants." The affidavit states, "Warren continued to undress V2, and told her she would feel better after a bath."

Alleged Rape Victims Tell Their Stories to Investigators

The alleged victim said she remembers being in Warren's bed and asking him to stop, but that "Warren made a statement to the effect of 'nobody stays in my expensive sheets with clothes on.'" She told investigators "as she slipped in and out of consciousness she had conscious images of Warren penetrating her vagina repeatedly with his penis."
The second victim told investigators she sent Warren a text message accusing him of abusing her and he replied, "I am sorry," the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, when Warren was interviewed by Diplomatic Security investigators, he claimed he had "engaged in consensual sexual intercourse" and admitted there were photographs of the two women on his personal laptop. He would not consent to a search or seizure of the computer, leading investigators to seek the warrant.
According to the affidavit, a search of Warren's residence in Algiers turned up Valium and Xanax and a handbook on the investigation of sexual assaults.
The affidavit says toxicologists at the FBI laboratory say Xanax and Valium are among the drugs "commonly used to facilitate sexual assault."

"I am sorry."?!

From someone of authority, who actually researched "investigation of sexual assaults"?

Scum.

Is this what we've been reduced to as a nation?

Just Trying To Help...

2009-01-29T11:43:00.001-05:00

Here's some Cheap Stimulus we might try. Americans should like that.

And it's "Trickle Down," too, so we'd even get quick GOP buy-in.

If they simply indicted every political appointment from the George Bush years (either Bush era is OK, it's mostly the same people, anyway)—en masse—and forced them to "lawyer up," the ripple effect from all those law firms having to hire so many more staff to cope, thereby stimulating purchases for all those luxury items and new homes, creating all that new manufacturing, boosting employment, etc., etc. You can see the benefits here...

Hell, we'd fix the economy, and keep the Preserve The Constitution forces happy at the same time.

According to documents obtained by the Washington Post, the Interior Department ignored scientific findings when deciding to limit water flows in the Grand Canyon in order to optimize generation of electric power.

That's OK. It's what Bushies do; it's in their DNA. In GOPer World, cash flow ALWAYS trumps water flow.

Here's where it gets interesting. If our new administration of Barack Obama were to send clear messages to the personnel of every agency, saying, in effect, "the coast is clear," they'd need to set up ropes and barriers around the Justice Department building to handle the crush from the crowd of whistleblowers.

A memo written by the superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park [Steve Martin [sic]] suggests that the department produced a flawed environmental assessment in order to defend itself in a lawsuit from an environmental group. The reduced flow of water was harmful for endangered fish species and risked eroding the canyon's beaches.

Yes, Superintendent Martin is charging his bosses, the Interior Department folks, with falsifying evidence and obstruction of justice in federal court. That would be a good day's work for your typical Bush agency types. How they found the time for all that falsifying during days filled with sex with oil company employees and bribe-taking from Jack Abramoff is simply stunning. That's true workflow management.

My.

Sometimes, it seems your core Republican type breaks three laws before he or she even gets up in the morning.

It seems new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is going to be a mighty busy boy.

And that IM link between Salazar and Attorney General Eric Holder may simply crash from overuse.

Another GOPer Flips...

2009-01-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

TPMMuckraker: Another Member of Team Abramoff Charged

And it looks like he's in the process of cutting a deal. I believe you can hear this lad clearing his throat, and getting ready to start in with the ol' do-re-mi.

Hmmm, what's that they say about no honor among thieves?

The Fredo Factor

2009-01-28T12:57:00.012-05:00

It's good when the perps buttress one's argument about the need to de-perp-ify the place.

NYTimes: Alberto Gonzales, the Sequel

Alberto Gonzales, long referred to as "Fredo Corleone" to George W. Bush's "Michael Corleone," has again proven the exact argument made here in Gotham yesterday. While Barack Obama, furthering the aims of the power elite, urges us all to "move forward" and sweep the last eight years under the rug, Gonzales pops up to clearly prove why our nation faces such peril in Obama's mythical "forward" time.

Just as with every zombie/vampire movie, these creatures WILL NEVER go away. They only bide their time until they grab the reins again, mess up the landscape, dispatch our loved ones and take everything they can. As any horror film fan knows, there is never an end, only a pause. Before the closing credits roll, you know the sequel is in the works. Fright fans will tell you that these foul creatures can only be stopped with something extreme—stakes through hearts, bullets in the brain, cutting off their heads, etc. Otherwise, like the single-minded minions of the GOP power elite, up they pop, refreshed and hungry, to re-tool their marketing strategy, wipe their feet on the rule of law and take back what they believe to be rightfully theirs. Again and again. Into infinity.

Where does the cycle end? Did this crowd not show us clearly during Watergate in the '70s exactly what lengths they would go to? But, we let it slide. Big mistake. Did these same players not prove to us again during Iran-Contra in the '80s that they were out for theirs, and theirs alone, and the rest of us be damned? Again, we let it slide. Again, a big mistake. When 2000 arrived, did we actually think that this exact same team had repented and had totally rehabilitated itself? The hundreds of thousands of souls who have rudely perished since January 20, 2001 and the greatest Treasury of the known world that has been totally and systematically plundered prove differently.

In an interview with National Public Radio this week, Mr. Gonzales attacked President Obama’s choice for attorney general, Eric Holder, for saying that waterboarding is torture. To hear Mr. Gonzales tell it, Mr. Holder was in the wrong—not the lawyers like Mr. Gonzales who tortured the law to justify torture, or the former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who approved its use, or the interrogators who actually subjected detainees to waterboarding and other inhumane and illegal interrogation techniques.

Making a “blanket pronouncement like that,” Mr. Gonzales warned, might affect “the morale and dedication” of intelligence officials. He said agents at the Central Intelligence Agency “no longer have any interest in doing anything controversial.”

What a terrifying statement. Again, it's not even that he feels he is getting away with anything. It becomes horrifyingly clear that this is how Mr. Gonzales and most of his associates think, and what they believe. There is your Monstrosity.

If Fredo, who has every reason to save his own skin, is taking an early and complete jump into the black waters of the Revisionist History pool, what hope can we ever have that the skilled pros in that outfit would ever turn over new leaves?

Know that their leaders are not upset or embarrassed about anything Gonzales is saying—it's the Party line, and keeps their version of events in the media and in America's living rooms. This way, they can simply call a press conference, refresh the sound bite and be back in business within the hour. They'd certainly pull the plug on Fredo, if they wished to.

As for reports that the illegal eavesdropping program had prompted threats of a mass resignation by top Justice officials, Mr. Gonzales dismissed that with an airy “lawyers often disagree about important legal issues.”

Mr. Gonzales said he was not worried about being prosecuted for his actions because he was “acting in good faith” and—yes—following orders. [GN emphasis]

That smug self-assurance should be another powerful reminder to the White House of the need for an unsparing review of all of Mr. Bush’s policies on torture, wiretapping and executive power. Only by learning the details of those disastrous decisions can the nation hope to undo the damage and make sure these mistakes are not repeated.

So, you see they're fully prepared to assault us with the Gestapo Defense. As necessary, at least until the rise of the next Reich.

It's seemed that MSNBC has been the only media source keeping this story alive, other than the blogosphere, but now that The New York Times is on it, other media outposts may pick up this issue, adding to the groundswell, forcing Obama to act.

We can only pray.

Obama Crossroads: Saint or Sinner?

2009-01-27T17:06:00.012-05:00

We've reached an early demarcation line in the sandy ground sitting beneath the Obama era. And surprisingly quickly, too, I believe.

Jonathan Turley, a Constitutional scholar often seen on MSNBC, clearly states that Barack Obama is in jeopardy of legally becoming an "accessory" to war crimes if no one from the George W. Bush years faces prosecution. At the same time, officials in the UN are making serious noises about the need for the Obama administration to hold the criminal behavior of the Bush administration to account. This is an issue that is growing very fast.

The concept of holding an American administration to account for the murderous or fully unconstitutional machinations of its members is unprecedented in the annals of U.S. history. But, as much as most of Institutional America wants to sweep these horrors perpetrated in our name under the rug, events and the will of the American people may not allow that to happen. This issue is gaining momentum almost daily. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was against Impeachment, but oddly seems to think prosecution is just fine. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) seemed to sign on this weekend.

Forcing Obama directly into a position he apparently seems to want to avoid at all costs. Except he can't. He keeps urging the country to "look forward" to some shining city of "Hope" on a hill, but the American public seemingly can't get enough of both Bush and Dick Cheney and everyone connected to them. Aside from wingnut blogger Michele Malkin and her kind, Americans seem hellbent on seeing this through to the final conclusion.

And, yes. This is a very Big Thing.

The entire Obama legacy may well be determined by his actions on this one issue in his first month in office.

No pressure, mind you...

The question we must soberly begin to consider as he sets to cleaning up the premises after the eight-year-long Bush frat party (complete with murderous hazing on a global scale), is this:

"How Status Is Our Quo?"

We can safely assume the Obama team will clean up the Bush mess: clean out the pool, pulling the toupees out of the filters and bras out of the drains; repair the holes in the walls; throw out all the empties (as in, banks); and pull the Lexus out of the front hallway where someone drove it a few years back and most likely cut off Rush Limbaugh's oxycontin supply. Sure, Obama'll fix the economy kinda-sorta, he'll develop counseling programs for all those underage boys and girls pawed and groped by GOP officials locally and in DC and re-order the mechanisms of government back to their purpose of actually governing, and return to the nation all of the basic and cosmetic functioning of daily federal life.

But what of the larger issue? The seismic, core financial demographic shift that has plagued our nation for decades now: The jetstream funneling all wealth upwards, fueling the return of John Edwards' Two Americas—not so much "rich and poor" this time, but rather "nobles and serfs." What really will we be watching happen these next four years? Who will Barack Obama be answering to in the next four years?

The first clear signal of where Obama will be going on this now stands upon this issue which rests upon the bedrock of this nation—its laws and judical system.

Simply put: Are we a nation of laws, or are we not?

That's very clear and unambiguous. Obama even taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago for a bit, so he can't "misunderestimate." He knows. Laws were broken. People died. Money was stolen. All on a grand, theatrical scale.

In The United States of America, perpetrators are brought to the bar, assumed to be innocent, then prosecuted. If convicted (and I'm not exactly sure who a jury of the former president's "peers" would be in this scenario—John Howard? Hugo Chavez?), logically, they would then face sentence—perhaps, even a harsh one. Perhaps, a capital one.

As with any community, if you do not stand up to crime and extinguish it by punishment, it comes back. Often, more deadly than before. Vermin always return—unless they know it's safer if they don't.

The Powers That Be want this all to go away. Obama wants to "move forward." The American people just want their country back.

Which way will Obama go?

And when he decides, what will We The People do?

The entire future of the Obama administration rests squarely on what course he follows on the issue of both war crime and federal statute criminal prosecutions. There's certainly plenty of both. Certainly, he can always sweat the small stuff, or not. But he can't run away from this big one. As they say, the jury is still out.

At what point does America's shout of "Yes, We can!" turn into "Yes, You'd better!"

Buckle up, folks, we're in for a bumpy ride.

Peter Beinart Gets Paid??

2009-01-17T19:15:00.003-05:00

Wow.

I just read the stupidest article I've seen in many years. And that's saying something.

Peter Beinart - Admit It: The Surge Worked - washingtonpost.com

"It's no longer a close call: President Bush was right about the surge."

No, he was not, Peter.

Not even close.

What we've all needed, obviously, is a immature, establishment weiner making crap up about how Shrub is supposed to be given props for "The Surge," while he's in the process of being kicked to the curb. Because somehow "the Surge worked"?

Well, no it didn't, Petey. One, the mission of the "surge" was never military. So, no military victory was possible. It was a political gambit. It was to quell the violence in Bahgdad just long enough for the Iraqi government to cut whatever political deals it had to cut with its various internal components in order to establish itself as a long-term, forward-looking, consensus-driven and, mostly, effective governmental entity.

Ummm, sorry. Alas, the thoroughly corrupt Iraqi government is a shambles of back-biting, self-interest and tribal bickering, threatening to blow apart at any moment. If anything, it's in worse shape than before "the surge."

So, there's "Surge Failure" No. 1.

The increased military presence did not, by all reports, account for the decrease in violence that you, the Neo-cons and hawks on the Right and the right wing of the Democratic party point to in knee-jerk fashion. That honor would go to the combination of Moqtada al-Sadr placing his Shiite troops under wraps for the time being (which Peter mentions) with the OK from Iran, and mostly the Good Ol' U.S. Treasury paying vast sums to the Sunnis, formerly known as Insurgents, to be on our side while the checks keep coming (which Peter does NOT mention). While the Sunnis were taken out of play, Bush's favorite, "Al Qaida in Iraq," an impromptu local group having nothing to do with the "Al Qaida" we know (Shrub just really likes the name), had support and its flow of oxygen taken away.

So things calmed down.

Just like with any Band-Aid over a profusely bleeding wound, which "the surge" truly is, as soon as we take the pressure off for a second, BOOM! Blood everywhere...

So, to hold that up as a beacon of Shrub's military savvy is just plain dumb.

Politically, Bush took the path of most resistance. He endured an avalanche of scorn, and now he has been vindicated. He was not only right; he was courageous.

Bush had the entire country on his ass to end the war. His party had just been pummeled in the off-year election. Americans were angry. It was a gambit. It didn't work. Not as intended, or sold. But it bought Bush time; it gave him another focus to talk about instead of that mob outside his house with torches and pitchforks. Yes, on those terms it was successful. But for the war itself? Not so much.

It's time for Democrats to say so.

Oh, really? I love being pontificated to by an Establishment snot.

Here's some icing for the proverbial rhetorical cake:

Older liberals remember the Persian Gulf War, which most congressional Democrats opposed and most congressional Republicans supported—and the Republicans were proven right.

How's that, bub? You mean the time we attacked Iraq after George H.W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein (one of Dad's thousand points of light, perhaps?) the green light to attack Kuwait, followed by the massacre of hundreds of fleeing Iraqi soldiers hauling ass in terror across barren land—to the point where conscience-striken U.S. pilots were refusing to fly anymore because they just couldn't kill that many human beings and stay sane? THAT Persian Gulf War?

Again, as usual, we on the Left were right on that one, Petey.

They also remember the welfare reform debate of the mid-1990s, when prominent liberals predicted disaster, and disaster didn't happen.

Where do you get this crap, Peter? No, no one predicted disaster—that's just Elitist Urban Legend. What we did correctly predict was individual suffering and hardship—the type I assume you'd never know about, Peter—as women and their children were summarily bounced Republican-style, into the streets without any assistance, with no training and no available jobs. What the liberals you taint were saying at the time, was that this measure was Draconian without any new supply of jobs that offered a decent working wage waiting for them, either immediately or after a short period of training. No one said there'd be disaster—just a lot of innocent women and children forced to endure deprivation and hardship as they slowly came up to speed with low paying jobs—just so that A) rich Republicans could feel good about themselves, and B) so Bill Clinton could co-opt a core GOP issue and take full credit for it, just to piss off the Newt Gingrich-led majority. On that count, it worked splendidly.

Younger liberals, by contrast, have had no such chastening experiences.

It burns...it burns...

Watching the Bush administration flit from disaster to disaster, they have grown increasingly dismissive of conservatives in the process. They consume partisan media, where Republican malevolence is taken for granted. They laugh along with the "Colbert Report," the whole premise of which is that conservatives are bombastic, chauvinistic and dumb.

Ummm, they are bombastic, chauvinistic and dumb, Peter.

They have never had the ideologically humbling experience of watching the people whose politics they loathe be proven right.

I gotta tell ya, Peter. I keep looking, and I keep looking, and I just can't seem to find any times since the late '60s when what you refer to as "conservatives" have been proven right about anything.

I look and I look, and, nope, just can't find it.

But your close contains perhaps the silliest sentence of the 21st Century, again, no mean feat.

Being proven right too many times is dangerous. It breeds intellectual arrogance and complacency.

If you merely claim to be right and have the power to back it up, as the Bush administration has done for eight years, yes, you'd slam right into that wall of arrogance and complacency. "Intellectual" has never entered into things with this group.

However, if you've been PROVEN right repeatedly, you know by definition that you are on the correct path, because you've overcome challenges to your thesis, and should continue. To do otherwise is sheer folly.

Man oh man.

Really, Peter, you get PAID for this stuff?

Bush Throws Fundies A Bone; Screws Most Americans

2009-01-17T17:20:00.000-05:00

This is truly one of the most vile things the crazies in the radical Right got Shrub to shove through on his way out the door.

Lawsuits Filed Over Rule That Lets Health Workers Deny Care

Extremely Stupid Quote Dept.:

"The regulation is important, because we increasingly are seeing discrimination against health-care personnel who hold religious beliefs having to do with abortion and contraception," said David Stevens, chief executive of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. "Unless these conscience rights are protected, people are going to be driven out of health care."

No shit, Sherlock! As well they should be.

Just as the military isn't jake with members who cannot ethically agree to kill people—forgive me, but that's the job! If you can't do the job, get out. Do something else. No one will think less of you. Just leave. Everyone here needs to be on the same page. Neither of these professions can allow people to freelance and cherry pick what they will and will not do. These are professions where you take whatever comes at you, because you're needed. The job is the job. As long as it remains legal.

But that doesn't suit the anti-American fundie Right. The entire house must be redesigned and totally rebuilt to accommodate their wanting to shift their chair a tad at the table.

Each person retains their right to choose if they wish to follow the dictates of that profession. But no one has the right to re-mold their profession to suit their individualistic moral compass.

If you don't like kids, don't go into day care. If you're terrified of flying, don't become a pilot. If you can't swim, don't apply for a scuba job.

Simple.

If you can't handle all aspects of legal healthcare, don't go into healthcare. Sounds like the clergy or motivational speaking is more your line, in that case. If you've had nursing training but oppose abortion, fine. That's your right. But don't take a nursing job. You can still use your skills as a midwife, or conservative anti-abortion counselor.

You can always take a job as a nurse in a building that's clearly marked as a "Right-Wing Loon Anti-Abortion Hospital." That, at least, would be clear. But if it simply says, "Hospital," we're going to be coming to your for our abortions. That's the law.

As soon as you hang up a shingle as a healthcare provider or pharmacist, you're bound to provide healthcare and/or all legal drugs. Even if you can avoid participating, at the very least refer the patient to someone who can assist them. Health's first creed: Do no harm.

Otherwise, get out and find another line of work.

Period.

Everybody Hates George

2009-01-17T10:59:00.001-05:00

Bush's Final Approval Rating: 22 Percent—Lowest Final Approval Rating Ever

Georgie Porgie...

[George W.] Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll showing Mr. Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent.

Seventy-three percent say they disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has handled his job as president over the last eight years.

Mr. Bush's final approval rating is the lowest final rating for an outgoing president since Gallup began asking about presidential approval more than 70 years ago.

23% thumbs up; 73% thumbs down. My oh my.

It's been funny over the years, listening to apologists from the Right, who claimed that Dems or lefties "simply hated" Bush. They were "haters." Bush was good, and golden, and pure.

Right. Ummm, no, that makes them feel better, of course, but that's not true.

Here at Gotham Notes, we pride ourselves on being basically Blue On Blue, about as far to the Left as most folks go. But even with that, we still initially gave Shrub the benefit of the doubt that he wouldn't be as bad as his father or other greedy, corporate Republicans, etc. He hadn't been on the national scene at all, so he had no commonly known track record by which to wish him ill. Seemed like a decent enough man. Basically, we believed the bullshit. Warily, but we believed it.

Then we saw the folks he was surrounding himself with during the 2000 primary season, and became frightened. Sure enough, upon being handed the Oval Office he jumped into the arms of the Neo-Cons like they were a mosh pit at a concert. Then, off he and they went to wage a campaign of terror, murder, corruption, malfeasance, greed, illegality and destruction of the Constitution and the American Way of Life, unseen in the annals of U.S. History.

To which he receives a rating number of 23% as a parting gift. Which, of course, is waaaaaay better than the gallows, where he may still eventually wind up.

So, to the apologists we say,
"We never did hate George Bush because we 'just hated George Bush.' No, George Bush taught us to hate George Bush through every action he took and those he did not take while president. This was never a reflex action.

George W. Bush made us hate George W. Bush."

Just Too Dopey...

2009-01-17T02:05:00.000-05:00

Inflation slows to half-century low in 2008: Reuters

Ummmm, deflation will do that to you.

Last GOP Warriors Refuse to Leave Their Caves

2009-01-17T02:00:00.000-05:00

These are the last.

Bush-appointed U.S. attorneys refuse to leave Justice Dept.

The real crazies. They refuse to admit that the war is over. They can't admit that the GOP failed in its attempt to rule the world. These are the true believers.

And just as with the last of the Japanese soldiers in the caves of Iwo Jima in WWII, we may be forced to get the flamethrowers and simply burn them out.

These two women are doggedly hanging on to their missions to wipe Democrats off of the face of the earth. And to that end they are more than prepared to force Barack Obama or Jeffrey Holder to fire them, since they refuse to join their politically appointed comrades and simply resign, which is the decades-long protocol. They're fully prepared to attempt to seize the "Victim" low ground and whine for every TV camera that they can grab onto about how shabbily they've been treated by the Obama government. And how he doesn't care about "Due Process," etc., etc.

Ms. Buchanan may simply be dogged and misguided. But Ms. Martin had best bring some of those law books home with her, because she's going down hard. She has been a major player, along with Karl Rove and others, in the shoddy misappropriation of justice in the conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

When this hits a legitimate court, she's toast.

Burned toast.

It's What We Do

2009-01-17T00:53:00.008-05:00

NTSB investigators on scene to probe Hudson River plane crash, speak to hero pilot Chesley Sullenber

Someone from the Left Coast wrote me this morning, saying we must be very proud of our city today.

The quick answer is Yes. And not really. You see, it's what we do. The larger answer is that we are always proud of the people of New York, because this is what we expect from our fellow Gothamites.

Here's what I wrote to the Angeleno:

"Again, as I say, thank god that it happened in NYC, if it had to happen at all. No matter the emergency, this is how we as a people here tend to act. There is no better place to be on earth, when you're in trouble.

As one ferry company manager is quoted, referring to his heroic crews, 'We don't think—we do.' That pretty much sums up NYers, overall. We deal. Then we figure it all out.

One bit that may not be clear to folks around the country: the plane landed somewhere between 44th-48th Sts. But the cops didn't drag it down to the Battery, as some picture captions claim. The tide was really strong, and it carried the plane and the boats further downtown, even while the rescue was underway—so they all had to deal with the strong tides as well. That part was really scary. There was one video I saw that had a static location, looking past a building, and you could see the plane and all the boats flying past the building from right to left (down river) at a rapid speed. Actually, they were lucky to grab the plane securely before it floated right out into the harbor towards the ocean."

Plus, it was 20 degrees. And the water was MAYBE 40 degrees.

Good luck finding those engines.

In the many years we've called Gotham home, we been in all manner of accidents and difficult scenarios.

One constant has always been—whether we were the ones in trouble or among the passersby who jumped in to help—we've never seen a moment where someone, or a train, or the city itself was in trouble, where complete strangers didn't just jump right in. When you're in a place where my building alone houses more people than live in many towns in America, you realize quickly that we, indeed, are all in this together. We live or sink as one.

It's what makes New York, New York.

Broadway, the museums and the Mets? Those are all just gravy.

Why Limbaugh (HEARTS) Palin

2008-12-20T14:28:00.001-05:00

Maybe Rush Limbaugh was hoping to be Sarah Palin's Drug Czar after she poisoned John McCain's food, and grabbed the Big Chair.

Palin's future in-law's arrest was oxycontin-related

Oxycontin? Yippee! Now, THIS is something Rush can REALLY get behind!

It's always handy to have a connection in the President's family.

Dem Watch

2008-12-19T22:03:00.001-05:00

If you thought left blogosphere oversight would end with the Republican ass-kicking of 2008, think again.

Queens Councilman Is Charged With Assault

The major difference between rank and file Democrats and the merely rank bloggers of the right is that the wingnuts will always defend Republican officeholders as keepers of some glorified flame, regardless of what heinous crime a pol has committed. In their canon, the Right, and the GOP are ALWAYS right and OK, and Dems and anything that sniffs of being towards the Left is ALWAYS wrong and bad.

GOPer Uber Alles.

Hundreds upon hundreds of GOP functionaries have been disclosed as crooks, pedophiles, corrupted vermin, or reprobates of various nefarious stripes. Invariably, wingnuts took to their keyboards to defend the pol and attack those who dug into the ooze and brought the facts to light. They'd then attack the left blogosphere for writing about any widening investigation.

Democrats, on the other hand, don't like corruption one whit. Rep. Jefferson (D-LA) found that out when his overwhelmingly Democratic district threw him out on his ass.

Now that we are the party at the wheel, we need to watch our members for any taint of GOP-esque behavior.

Case in point: new NYC arresttee Hiram Monserrate of Jackson Heights, Queens, NY. Soon to be formerly of the NYC City Council and maybe (if he doesn't run into further trouble) soon to be the NYS Senator from Jackson Heights, Queens, NY.

This lad has gone quickly from Dem turncoat, before he even walks into the Senate chamber, to going Mike Tyson on his girlfriend.

At this point, he looks like scum. But, currently he's OUR scum, and as opposed to the rubberstamp Red Neckties of the GOP, we intend to keep an extremely sharp eye on our members. It's bad enough that you cannot find a vertebrae anywhere in most Democratic caucuses. We, collectively, will not stand for active, overt assholedness.

Bush Shares Bittersweet Memories

2008-12-18T19:50:00.001-05:00

Ahhhhh, such memories...

"My..., just like it was yesterday...

The Supreme Court made me president.

I killed a whole lotta people.

Made my friends a whole lotta money.

Got rid of a lot of that dopey Constitution.

Then, poof, you look around, and it's all over. Finished.

Man, that was fast.

I wanna do over."

Rudy's Baaaaaack!

2008-12-18T13:23:00.000-05:00

Some demons you just can't kill. Rudy on the radio?

This will give me an opportunity to drag out and dust off my Rudy Giuliani Voodoo Doll.

Catch the video at the bottom at the story. Rudy hasn't changed a bit from this, other than the facelift. Pencil in any other topic you'd like, and this is exactly how Rudy will deal with the State or the country if we ever let this madman near the reins of power again on any level.

Honest dissent? "Oh, you're simply unstable, and you should see a psychiatrist, because I can't help you."

Don't like my tax plan? "I don't know what to tell you, you're deranged, and you should see a psychiatrist, because I can't help you."

It's always amazing how Rudy truly embraces those big concepts—like the fact that there's a world that exists just on the other side of his skin.

But look at the upside to Rudy being on the radio—lots and lots of eternal clips like this one, to use against him in any election he's foolish enough to enter.

As soon as he puts that exploratory committee together, yum, all Rudy clips, all the time...

The Kill-The-Competition Scorecard

2008-12-11T16:08:00.009-05:00

Just so you can keep track.

CNBC recently created a list of states, Senators and car plants. Now, you can tell who's looking out for America—and who's speaking up for foreign interests, at great cost to the interests of the U.S.

Gotham Notes posts them here (Right-To-Work states in bold). (While, yes, some U.S. plants sit in R-T-W states and a handful of alien plants sit in Unionized states, the majority of each still rest with their respective groupings):

CNBC | 20 Nov 2008 | 02:23 PM ET

As Capitol Hill wrestles with a bailout of the Big Three Detroit automakers, CNBC decided to look into the Senate representation of the U.S. automotive manufacturing base. What follows is a state-by-state compilation of auto plants:

Alabama - Jeff Sessions (R), Richard C. Shelby (R)
- Montgomery – Hyundai
- Tuscaloosa – Mercedes Benz
- Lincoln – Honda
- Huntsville - Toyota

Delaware – Joe Biden (D) Thomas Carper (D)
- Wilmington - GM

Georgia - Saxby Chambliss (R), Johnny Isakson (R)
- Doraville - GM

Illinois – Richard Durbin (D); Barack Obama's former seat.
- Chicago – Ford, Lincoln, Mercury
- Belvedere – Chrysler

Indiana - Evan Bayh (D), Richard Lugar (R)
- Roanoke – Chevy/GMC
- Indianapolis – GM, powertrain, metal
- Bedford – GM, powertrain
- Marion – GM, metal
- Princeton - Toyota

Kansas – Sam Brownback (R), Pat Roberts (R)
- Fairfax – GM

Kentucky - Jim Bunning (R), Mitch McConnell (R)
- Louisville – Ford Mercury
- Bowling Green – Chevy/Cadillac
- Georgetown – Toyota

Louisiana – Mary Landrieu (D), David Vitter (R)
- Shreveport - GM

Maryland - Benjamin Cardin (D), Barbara Mikulski (D)
- White Marsh – GM, powertrain

Michigan – Carl Levin (D), Debbie Stabenow (D)
- Sterling Heights – Ford, axels
- Woodhaven – Ford
- Dearborn - Ford
- Wayne – Ford
- Romeo – Ford, engine
- Detroit – Buick/Cadillac
- Flint – GM
- Bay City – GM, engine parts
- Livonia – GM, powertrain
- Pontiac- Chevy/GMC
- Orion – Pontiac
- Lansing – Cadillac, GMC/Saturn
- Warren - Chrysler

Minnesota – Norm Coleman (R), Amy Klobuchar (D)
- St. Paul - Ford, Mazda

Mississippi - Thad Cochran (R), Roger Wicker (R)
- Blue Spring - Toyota (opens 2010)
- Canton - Nissan

Missouri - Christopher Bond (R), Claire McCaskill (D)
- Kansas City, - Ford, Mazda, Mercury
- Wentzville – GM
- Fenton - Chrysler

Nevada – John Ensign (R), Harry Reid (D)
- Las Vegas - Shelby

New York – Hillary Clinton (D), Charles Schumer (D)
- Massena – GM, powertrain
- Tonawanda – GM, powertrain

Ohio – Sherrod Brown (D), George Voinovich (R)
- Brook Park – Ford, engines
- Avon Lake – Ford
- Marysville – Honda
- Toledo – GM Powertrain
- Lordstown – Chevy/Pontiac
- Mansfield – GM metal
- Moraine – GM
- Parma – GM metal
- Anna – Honda, engines
- East Liberty – Honda
- Russells Point – Honda, transmissions
- Twinsburg - Chrylser

Pennsylvania - Robert Casey (D), Arlen Specter (R)
- Pittsburgh – GM metal

South Carolina – Jim DeMint (R), Graham Lindsey (R)
- Spartanburg – BMW

Tennessee – Lamar Alexander (R), Bob Corker (R)
- Smyrna - Nissan
- Spring Hill – Saturn
- Decherd – Nissan

Texas – John Cornyn (R), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R)
- Arlington – GM
- San Antonio - Toyota

Virginia - John Warner (R), Jim Webb (D)
- Fredericksburg – GM, powertrain

Wisconsin – Russell Feingold (D), Herb Kohl (D)
- Janesville – GM
- Kenosha – Chrysler

Now, when you see Sen. XXX bloviating on FOX or CNBC about sending the Big 3 down the tubes, just to kill the United Auto Workers, check here to see whose axe they're grinding.

Update 1/16/09:
The actual need, now that George W. Bush stuck the poison pill of a No Strike provision for the UAW in the automakers bailout, is to turn right around and throw every effort into unionizing those wretched souls stuck working for sub-standard wages and little to no benefits in the foreign car plants hiding throughout the South. They've turned the American South into a Third-world country with cheap labor, so it's time to support the Southern worker, and allow him and her to step into a decent life in the 21st Century.

Until then, boycott all non-union foreign cars.

Buy American!

The GOP Will Happily Destroy America, Just To Get Their Way

2008-12-11T14:04:00.006-05:00

This is about union-busting.

It is about nothing other THAN union-busting.

In this video, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), does the bidding of the alien car makers, even if it spells the destruction of what's left of the U.S. economy. (Could only find a link. If I can add the video directly later, I will.—GN)

Simply put, the GOP just does not care about causing damage, AS LONG AS THEY GET THEIRS. In this case, theirs is defined as the two-headed dog of wiping out labor unions and helping out the non-union manufacturers who've nestled into their anti-worker states.

Yes, Americans nationwide have bail-out fatigue.

Yes, the Bush White House and this current, heavily GOP-influenced Congress have screwed up the necessary moves that have needed to be made.

Granted.

But, the destruction of the U.S. auto makers will serve no useful purpose other than to assist the financial and competitive position of the alien car makers from Japan, Germany, the UK and Korea that have been sliding auto plants into the U.S.

On their way out the door after getting their asses soundly kicked and their tenets roundly repudiated in November, the Me-First Party is making a concerted last effort to destroy every vestige of American labor unions they can get away with—EVEN IF DOING SO DESTROYS THE VERY COUNTRY THEY SWORE AN OATH TO DEFEND. Even if it throws millions of Americans onto the street with no prospects.

Let's be very clear, here. The GOP talking points on the Big 3 loan package have—from the very beginning—been aimed at destroying The United Auto Workers union, and forcing the U.S. auto makers to shred and renounce all of their contracts with the UAW.

This has been a well orchestrated campaign, right from Mitt Romney's first whining about the UAW at the outset of the auto makers' woes this go-'round.

Later, they gave us the bogus "$70/hr." slime, which still shows up in papers around the country and on cable, even though it's been debunked as self-serving crap, time and again.

Once again, just so we are all clear:

The average UAW worker makes $29/hr.; the alien car makers in right-to-work states pay $26/hr., on average. Too close; no slime possible there.

Even the benefits are almost comparable. Hmmm, still not slime-worthy.

No, it's in the legacy charges of pensions and health care for retirees that the slime-meisters come up with the payments that allow them to distort their arguments, and sell them as gospel. The alien car makers in the South simply are too new to have any appreciable number of retirees—plus, they weren't around in the era of pensions, so they don't carry much in the way of retirement costs. If you'll recall, that was the main idea behind the creation of the 401k and IRAs—to be able to shift the cost of retirement away from corporations (to reward lifelong loyalty) and onto the workers themselves (every man, woman and child for their own damned self, bub). Sweet.

The new plants in the South have little-to-no retiree/pension costs. Detroit has massive retiree costs, since they were the engine that created Middle Class America after WWII, with all those pensions and health costs of "the Greatest Generation" and their children, the pre- and early Boomers, still on the books.

As they have tried consistently since Republicans under Newt Gingrich and later George W. Bush came to power, the GOP would happily throw your parents and grandparents out into the streets to starve and to die. It's in their DNA.

Additionally, press accounts consistently neglect to insert the fact that every GOP Senator you see grabbing air time on this issue is from A RIGHT-TO-WORK STATE, where they've effectively killed union participation, and have heavy support from alien car makers in direct competition with Detroit. Right-to-work companies are free to abuse and underpay their workers with impunity.

Take a look at this, from something called the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation (which we assume is only too happy to help you protect your right to be abused in the workplace):

I love the Forced-Unionism State line. They forgot to include "Evil." These folks are a hoot.

Does anything about the pattern of the color of the states jump out at you?

How about...

Pretty striking, no? Same pattern. Swap a few states in either direction, and they're the same.

Republican-held states have destroyed collective bargaining in their territories, allowing businesses to act in any anti-worker ways they so choose. If a worker objects, he or she stands alone. Just the way the company wants it. It's called "business-friendly."

States behind the Red Curtain also tend to reside at the lower reaches of education rankings, so the GOP happily keeps its constituents ignorant and pliable. Since they have no great supply of natural resources to interest corporations, these state leaders must offer a third-world-level workforce, who have been indoctrinated in the idea that unions are bad and evil and will abuse your right to be a rugged individual. Who cares if you're only making 60 cents on the dollar, if you can "be your own man, dammit"?

So, now that the GOP is being booted out the door nationally and has had to claw desperately to hold onto seats even in their own territories, this is their last opportunity to do favors for the alien car makers who have become such major players in these right-to-work states.

Kill General Motors; make Toyota and Mazda happy. Kill Ford; make Volkswagon or BMW happy.

Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), John Ensign, Mitch McConnell (R-KY, which isn't r-t-w, but that's not stopping HIM!), David (Hooker-boy) Vitter (R-LA) and Larry (Widestance) Craig (R-ID) and others, are all only too happy to keep their bona fides intact with these European and Asian corporations in order to keep the campaign donation largess flowing. Each of these men have tackled any reporter and cameraman within 20 yards of them, to ensure their camera time as they seek to send the U.S. over an economic cliff, simply to aid a contributor.

There is a term used to describe supporting and doing the bidding of foreign interests over the economic and security interests of the United States of America—especially, when it's done for money.

That word?

Treason.

Shaping Up Sub-Prime

2008-12-03T11:51:00.003-05:00

No, not that sub-prime, the Mets' sub-prime.

Sub-Prime Field.

What the Mets laughingly refer to as Citi Field.

Citi Field Starting to Look Like a Real Ballpark

It is still called Citi Field, by the way. Even though Citigroup, which in 2006 agreed to pay the Mets $400 million over 20 years for naming rights and signage, needed a government bailout worth billions, its senior VP of global community relations, Eric Eve, and the Mets’ chief operating officer, Jeff Wilpon [the owner's son], said Tuesday there are no plans to change the name of the new stadium.

Here's my favorite part:

Wilpon added that he wasn’t concerned about any public backlash regarding the organization’s relationship with Citigroup.

Fat chance, Jeffie boy!

Not when you need to be Mayor Wallet (above), or to mortgage your house to buy tickets for a family of four. Unfortunately, Citibank isn't alone in not giving out mortgages or loans to anybody these days. "Four tickets down the first base line, please," just isn't going to unthaw that ol' credit freeze. Tough luck all around, bub.

So, let's see, you can't afford the seats and spiffy whizzbangs in the Wilpon family's new Sub-Prime Field tribute to Daddy Wilpon's beloved, departed Brooklyn Dodgers. And you also can't get a loan to afford those high prices in Sub-Prime.

Hmmm. Here's an upbeat vision, looking down the road of a long season: Once the citizens of Gotham turn on New York City's red-tie Corporati (who've both messed up the finances of this country AND grabbed all the decent seats at Shea and now at Sub-Prime), drag them into the streets, and then beat them soundly with clubs, a growing number of seats should go begging at Sub-Prime Field. Then, the wise Wilpons will drop their prices to merely exorbitant levels to lure folks back into their park. Perhaps entree would then be possible, even without a loan perhaps.

Then, all New Yorkers might actually see what the new park looks like.

Until then, that's why God created television.

And why Wilpon, no fool he, started his own channel.

Well, THAT Explains It, Then...

2008-12-02T13:04:00.002-05:00

I know...

You, just like I have, have always wondered:

Just WHO WERE those folks who made up that 20% in George W. Bush's 20% approval rating?

This may help explain:

1 in 5 young Americans has personality disorder

It certainly explains that years' long oddity of there being a "young republicans club." Who knew?

Ahhh, the wonders of science.

The Bush Legacy II

2008-11-20T15:21:00.005-05:00

George W. Bush:

Nothing. Is. Ever. Our. Fault. Or. Responsibility.

Ever.

This sad tale is a Two-for-One Shot of Bush-led ugly. And of what America has been reduced to in GeorgeBushWorld.

If their Commander-In-Chief can tell lies, and happily tell jokes and dance around and cover his ass, and make everything everybody else's fault, why shouldn't the entire Officer and Noncom Corps of the U.S. Military do the same? You follow your leader, period. Right?

This seems to cover friendly fire situations, as well.

With possible negligent homicide, dereliction of duty or assault charges hanging in the air, and facing possible jail time, certain demotion or separation from service penalties—depending on the outcome of any judicial review that might have taken place if things were reported correctly at the time—the command structure overseeing the friendly fire attack that befell 2nd Platoon in Ramadi, Anbar Provence, Iraq, in Dec. 2006, had every motive in the world to lie out their asses and simply say, too bad, kids, you're already dead, my getting screwed won't bring you back now.

This horrific saga appears before us now in Two Acts:

First, here is last month's original report, released on October 14, 2008 by Salon's Mark Benjamin (who should easily walk away with a Pulitzer for his effort to get this story out):

Salon: Friendly fire in Iraq—and a cover up

WARNING: Whether reading the story above, or watching Benjamin's video evidence of the events below, be prepared to have your heart broken. And your fury unleashed. [This video is an edited 12 minutes; Benjamin offers this, plus a full, unedited 52-minute version on the Salon site.]

It is important to note that these events may well have been fully and totally accidental—stemming from mis-identification of the men in "building #2" in the heat of a confusing and terrifying full fire fight. If these events had been allowed a full judicial hearing, it's possible we may have been left with two dead soldiers, and a tank crew and any number of possible commanders who would be haunted by this for the rest of their lives, but who may not actually have been criminally negligent. If so, it might well have been chalked up to: That's warfare. That is the risk you take when you enlist. Shit happens, and so on.

But, no. Even in the chaos, while trying to get the info of his wounded and dead to HQ over his radio, the Sergeant was being told the Official Story of what had just happened. Even if no one there saw that at all, THAT is what happened. Got it? There was NO tank shell, OK? Two insurgent rockets came from two entirely different directions and, as Tinkerbelle guided them, just happened to land together at the EXACT SAME SPOT at the EXACT SAME SECOND on the roof of "building #2" and blew up a number of GIs, killing two. OK? Got it? THIS IS THE STORY. And we're sticking to it.

All official records following the incident follow the Tinkerbelle theory.

Now, here's where Act I turns truly ugly. In expert Bush/Cheney fashion, the lies told to the mother of Pfc. Mark Nelson of Philadelphia about her son's death explain why Americans no longer believe a frickin' thing anyone in Bush's government tells us, about anything, at any time.

But, of course, you knew it wouldn't end there.

As Richard Nixon found out, it's never the crime, it's the cover-up that really fucks people up. And, like any poison, it spreads.

Now, in today's Salon, we have this:

Salon: New friendly fire cover up: Army shreds files on dead soldiers

So disgusting.

On the day the Benjamin piece appeared in Salon last month, 2nd Platoon's battalion commanders met at Fort Carson, Colorado, to discuss Benjamin's exposé. They basically agreed to panic. Their first reaction, as with any criminal conspiracy, is to go through the ranks, fruitlessly attempting to ferret out the rat who talked to the press.

Gosh! And no one copped to it. I'm amazed!

Later that day, coincidentally mind you, all the files containing any and all info on the two soldiers killed by U.S. tank fire in Ramadi on Dec. 6, 2006 (along with those of anyone with similar names, just to be sure) were pulled from the base's files, boxed up and slated for destruction.

They're now covering up the cover up. The scenario which proves the Nixon point.

Now, there is a clear number of noncoms and officers who can be targeted in the original cover-up. But, now two years later, back on the platoon's base in Colorado, any number of additional officers and noncoms who were not privy to the initial cover up, some of whom may have had no idea the original events ever occurred, are trying to step in and help out their comrades who were involved on the battlefield but who are now long removed from that unit. So now they, themselves, are implicated in malfeasance. And at risk of prosecution.

As we said above, "like any poison, it spreads."

As one of the soldiers who were ordered to shred the evidence realized that night:

"People go to jail for this kind of shit."

Also, as with most people who go to jail on merit, it's usually one thoughtless moment or gesture that trips them up, and exposes them to prosecution.

With this second cover up, Gotham wonders who had the bright idea to assign three soldiers to perform the actual shredding that night—two of whom were on-site during the original friendly fire incident, were friends of the two killed Americans and were eyewitnesses to events there. Or, even worse in terms of exposing the ineptitude of command forces in George Bush's Army today, why did no one who wanted these explosive, incriminating files to disappear think of the simple step of assuring that no witness connected with the original crime was assigned to the file shredding.

It's mind-boggling that no one had this simple thought:

Assigning two soldiers who were eyewitnesses to the original events—and who, along with the rest of the platoon, had been bullied and ordered into accepting an official cover up that ran counter to the facts of their friends' deaths as they knew them—to destroy the evidence that would confirm for the world the horror that these men had lived with for two years, might conceivably pose a problem.

And yes, the "people go to jail" quote came from one of the eyewitnesses as he realized what they'd bee instructed to do.

I'm not certain these commanders are the people I'd want ordering around men with large guns. Or tanks.

Aside from the fools at the very top who should stand to account before a World Court for all of this mess, this entire affair is heart wrenching in the extreme. A Greek Tragedy for our time.

But everyone here is simply following Bush's lead.

Nothing. Is. Ever. Our. Fault. Or. Responsibility.

Ever.

Pass it on.

Oh My...

2008-11-05T02:02:00.002-05:00

The World Reacts

Here We Go...

2008-11-04T19:13:00.004-05:00

Well, this is it, boys and girls. The Votes are beginning to be tallied.

How furiously do you think the GOP minions are getting these votes flipped and/or rerouted through their favorite GOP vote-cleaning shop in Tennessee?

So, do we go for the champagne or the torches?

You knew some kind of fix was in when you saw the stories about the Ohio police forces gearing up for riots.

That can only mean one thing...

Web Censorship Spreading Like A Virus

2008-11-02T21:10:00.002-05:00

ALERT!

Now, the Brits are the latest to want a little censorship on the Web.

Your Bush Administration At Work

2008-11-02T21:03:00.000-05:00

This is what they do in the George W. Bush administration.

They corrupt every principle of governance, and stand it on its head, in order to wrest and control power for its own sake. For as tight a closed circle of privileged people as it possibly can.

Homeland Security may have outed Obama's aunt

Can ANYONE please school me on ANYTHING the minions of Dick Cheney and Bush have done in eight years that was actually aimed at improving the lot of the average American? Anything?

Plus, is Bush actually trying to reach a 15% Approval Rating before Tuesday's election?

The Credit Card Party

2008-11-02T20:47:00.000-05:00

From Stephi at ABC:
GOP goes further into hock to avoid clean sweep

Going into debt is all anyone in the modern Republican Party knows how to do. They did it to the country; they're doing it to the Party; has anyone checked any balance sheets of people hanging out at the Country Club lately? The Country Club may want to start charging its fees and dues in cash. It's not too clear just how solvent its members might be.

What If?

2008-11-02T20:28:00.000-05:00

Since 2000, people have been tracking the Republican misuse and abuse of the voting system (i.e., actual "Voting Fraud"), both with paper and electronic ballots, and through the actions of state political operatives who have climbed into positions of power over the running of the elections in various states.

With a story like this one:
Documents reveal how Republican Ohio SoS Blackwell routed 2004 voting data through servers that hosted illegal external Bush Administration email accounts—it brings to mind the ever-nagging question that confronts us today.

"If Barack Obama's apparent lead across the country disappeared on election day, and scores of counties that were solidly Democratic 'flipped' and showed up as Republican by late Tuesday, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?"

Would you question it, oppose it, sue everyone in sight? Would you heat up the tar and gather the feathers? Would you heap vengeance on anyone wearing a red tie? Would you take to the street with torches and pitchforks?

Or would you just hang your head and say, "Gee, willikers, those darn bastards stole another one from us."

At what point do you rise in righteous anger and take back your country?

Hmmmmmm?

Embarrassing

2008-11-02T18:56:00.004-05:00

Frankly, Sen. John McCain, we found your appearance on Saturday Night Live last night, very painful to watch.

Poking fun at oneself is a topnotch political quality, but would have been set up better earlier in the campaign when the campaign had vitality, when it was still defining its story, and could control its image. Then, the skits would assist your campaign in defining its message.

To have it come on the last desperate weekend of the campaign, when you're struggling to push the boulder up the mountainside, leaves you with only the conventional unflattering picture of the moment. This, of course, does nothing but reinforce the negative image at a time when you dearly need every moment of the day to shine a positive light on your quickly sinking ship.

The idea of joking about the Titanic while water is lapping at the ship's conning tower only reinforces the idea that you're bereft of ideas on how to fix your immediate crisis. And proves that you're not very fast on your feet, Mr. McCain. It's rather akin to if Michael Dukakis had started laughing about those "wacky" tanks on the last weekend in 1988.

It's not clear how the message that you're broke enough to only afford air time on the QVC channel hurts Barack Obama. It says nothing about him; it says you're underfunded and cannot compete, whether you are or not. You end up looking like one of those whiners that your financial guru Phil Gramm complained about. Gramm may be your long-time friend, Senator, but he's made it clear, he's got no room for whiners.

Then, allowing Tina Fey to insert an aside to the camera about how your running mate has already written this election off and is already pushing PALIN 2012 tee shirts, is something that your staff should have put the kibbosh on by midweek at the latest. You're already having enough trouble with the revolt by Palin forces trampling on your message in the mainstream press, without having comedy shows place that idea in concrete in the public's mind.

I'm afraid, Senator, last night's stint on SNL only proved that, while you may be adept at comedy, your campaign may border on being a joke.

Geesh! Clinton Only Pardoned ACouple Of Creeps On The Way Out...

2008-10-29T00:05:00.002-04:00

George W. Bush, on the other hand, has the capability of disembowling the entire country as he leaves—if he, in fact, does leave. Which, of course, is in doubt.

In Final Days, Bush Bypasses Laws on Privacy and Hiring Discrimination

Alert! Australia To Censor Internet Use

2008-10-28T23:42:00.004-04:00

IMPORTANT READ!

Now, THIS is scary.

Herald Sun: Australia to implement mandatory Internet censorship

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the Internet under plans put forward by the [Australian] Federal Government.
The government has declared it will not let Internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.

This, even after Bush's pal Howard was defeated as Aussie PM recently.

Keep an eye on this being pushed here in the States, as well.

You have religious right whack jobs joining with political power brokers and corrupt politicians using Mom and Apple Pie to slide us all down their disgusting slippery slope. In Australia, these bastards used child porn as their straw man. Who the hell wouldn't be for stopping kiddie porn? So, you get instant non-challenging support. Plus, if you complain and challenge them, they attack you for being FOR kiddie porn. They're slick. And sick. They should each and all rot in hell.

The Australian Christian Lobby, however, has welcomed the proposals.

Managing director Jim Wallace said the measures were needed.

"The need to prevent access to illegal hard-core material and child pornography must be placed above the industry's desire for unfettered access," Mr Wallace said.

No it doesn't. That's pure bullshit.

Enforce laws against child porn. The rest you leave alone.

As with everything else with these people, it's about power. Power's really the only thing they know how to truly monetize.

A Stretch, Perhaps...

2008-10-28T23:07:00.002-04:00

...But you get the point.

From Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys:

A hat tip to Jody S.

Lieberman: Can I Come Home, Now?

2008-10-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

Now, THIS is the Joe Lieberman we know so well!

Rock Swing The Vote

2008-10-28T01:50:00.004-04:00

Classic.

Gotham says: Amy London explains it all for you.

Dems Fighting Back Against GOP'sVoter Disenfranchisement Efforts

2008-10-28T01:42:00.003-04:00

The Dems seem prepared this time around.

A combination of sanity and maturity in Florida and a good ol' fashioned, sue-their-asses-off mentality everywhere else, have the Dems poised to drag every Republican who seeks to deny an American the right to vote through every court in the land. Not to mention all the publicity shone on the fool fronting the GOP's effort in any given state.

More reports here.

And here.

And here as well.

Not to mention more of them here.

But you've got to keep your eyes open at all times. Because every year, Republicans come up with crap like this—and we've simply got to be willing to drag them into court in every state and federal district in the Union.

Remember, the Bushies HATE being in court. It's where they have to 'fess up.