Saturday, November 24, 2007

From The New York Times, about Richard Perle:

Mr. Perle knows no such shame.

And this has nothing to do with him being completely wrong about everything regarding Iraq (and, now, Iran), it’s about how much he likes shopping at Costco.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/24/07 at 02:34 PM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Presented without comment:

While expressing hopes that the situation would not lead to military action against Iran, [Richard Perle] warned that this might be needed if other tactics failed to prevent the country developing nuclear arms.

And Mr Perle, a former assistant Secretary of Defence to President Reagan, predicted that such a move would have an unexpected level of both international and domestic support.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/21/07 at 11:39 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Ugh.  I can’t believe we’re still going through this shit.

From The New York Times:

In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.

At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”

By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”

[...]

The proposed sanctions would hurt the team’s playing members financially. “I earn my living from bridge, and a substantial part of that from being hired to compete in high-level competitions,” Debbie Rosenberg, a team member, said. “So being barred would directly affect much of my ability to earn a living.”

[...]

It calls for a one-year suspension from federation events, including the World Bridge Olympiad next year in Beijing; a one-year probation after that suspension; 200 hours of community service “that furthers the interests of organized bridge”; and an apology drafted by the federation’s lawyer.

It would also require them to write a statement telling “who broached the idea of displaying the sign, when the idea was adopted, etc.”

Alan Falk, a lawyer for the federation, wrote the four team members on Nov. 6, “I am instructed to press for greater sanction against anyone who rejects this compromise offer.”

Greenberg said she decided to put up the sign in response to questions from players from other countries about U.S. interrogation techniques, the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues.

“There was a lot of anti-Bush feeling, questioning of our Iraq policy and about torture,” Greenberg said. “I can’t tell you it was an overwhelming amount, but there were several specific comments, and there wasn’t the same warmth you usually feel at these events.”

Rosenberg said the team members intended the sign as a personal statement that demonstrated American values and noted that it was held up at the same time some team members were singing along to “The Star-Spangled Banner” and waving small American flags.

Read it all (or via this non-subscription IHT link).

More from Jon Swift:

I always thought that people who play Bridge, a needlessly complicated card game, were harmless enough, though they certainly could be making better use of their time. But I had no idea that that the world of competitive Bridge was a hotbed of anti-American feeling.

(Hat tip to TBogg)

MORE: A wingnut weighs in with the twisted logic that you should never protest in a place where protests aren’t allowed.  Or at least you shouldn’t protest about anything expect how you’re upset that you can’t protest there. Or something like that. And, surprise surprise, just like TBogg predicted, Malkin is on the case, though she really should have pinched my post title.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/14/07 at 09:12 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Lying, corrupt, anti-American pig Ahmad Chalabi has weaseled his way back into power in Iraq:

Chalabi’s caravan hurtles through the streets of Baghdad at speeds of up to 100 mph. It is an awesome show of force. There are perhaps 20 vehicles in the convoy, many of them armored trucks bristling with armed guards. The trucks block traffic at intersections so Chalabi’s white Suburban can barrel through; then the trucks race past the convoy to block the next intersection.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/13/07 at 08:09 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Go check out ortho_bob’s excellent and snarkeriffic analysis of the nuttersphere’s latest circle jerk. I also like that his blog, gravity begins at home, is as scattered as Rumproast, so I’m rolling a link to it over to the right while the ever-prickly toilet brush and its squeaky-clean friend Comet taunt me.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/08/07 at 05:14 PM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

The nutters sure do love their images.  And, I’m sorry, but it’s just not a very good photograph (the composition sucks).

Expect a few days of eye-popping howls of “why are the leftards and the MSM ignoring this!?!?” into the echo chamber until the mongerloids stumble upon some other quaint justification for this horribly mismanaged, $800 billion War in Error. My taxpayers’ chicken chili will have a longer shelf life than this photo. Enjoy it while it lasts, warhumpers.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/08/07 at 08:52 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Pat Robertson has endorsed a serial adulterer for the Republican presidential nomination. Praise the load.

The Atlantic Monthly‘s Marc Ambinder sums up the reason for this nicely:

Both Giuliani and Robertson share an apocalyptic worldview about the clash with [radical] Islam; for Robertson, it is religious and based in biblical prophecy. For Giuliani, it is secular—but given his 9/11 experiences, just as personal.

Evangelical Christians cite the war on terror as their chief policy concern, and it is not that surprising that Giuliani, who is more identified with an aggressive prosecution of that war than any other candidate, is doing well among evangelicals. It’s not that they ignore his views on social issues; it’s that they see the war on terror like he does: black-and-white, good-versus-evil, a struggle for the soul of civilization.

Plus, there’s the fact that born agains really, really, really hate Mormons.

* I’m having fun with words!

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/07/07 at 10:48 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for Fred Thompson:

“Fred will never rush to war because Fred doesn’t rush to anything.”

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/06/07 at 04:58 PM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Friday, November 02, 2007

On Wednesday I missed this editorial by a former master instructor and chief of training at the U.S. Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, but this ‘graph sums up my feelings on waterboarding nicely:

Is there a place for the waterboard? Yes. It must go back to the realm of training our operatives, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines - to prepare for its uncontrolled use by our future enemies. Brutal interrogation, flash murder and extreme humiliation of Americans may now be guaranteed because we have mindlessly, but happily, broken the seal on the Pandora’s box of indignity, cruelty and hatred in the name of protecting America.

Read it all.  (via Beltway Confidential)

MORE: Ugh.  Waterboarding is just another day at the pool.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/02/07 at 12:42 PM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Check out raging neoconman Norman “Please Bomb Something” Podhoretz, Rudy Giuliani’s Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, debating Fareed Zakaria about Iran on PBS.

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/02/07 at 11:24 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

From The NY Times:

“Cheney’s Law” is an exemplary exercise in synthesis that displays a reserved tone and still manages to feel like a riveting political thriller as it diagrams the ways in which the vice president’s vision was often so seamlessly assimilated.

If you missed Frontline’s excellent documentary last night, “Cheney’s Law,” you can now watch it online. Highly recommended.

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/17/07 at 06:44 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

From Talking Points Memo (via Lawyers, Guns & Money):

I know I’ve said before that Romney’s profound and almost incalculable phoniness is a terrifying prospect to behold in a possible president. But the danger of phoniness, aesthetic or otherwise, cannot hold a candle to the truly catastrophic foreign policy Giuliani would likely pursue if he got anywhere near the Oval Office. Watching him campaign it’s pretty clear that the guy has no real sense that posturing and pandering to ethnic paranoia in New York City simply isn’t the same as running a national foreign policy. The people he’s coalescing around himself as his foreign policy advisors are the ones who are going to help him learn as he goes. And they are simply the most dangerous, deranged and deluded folks you can find in American political and foreign policy circles today. It’s really not an exaggeration. Scrape the bottom of the “Global War on Terror” Islamofascism nutbasket and you find they’ve pretty much all signed on as Rudy advisors.

And LG&M links to an article called “Giuliani’s War Cabinet” from The American Prospect that provides a good overview of Rudy’s potentially disastrous foreign policy team and highlights a spot-on quote from Jim Henley:

You will not enjoy a day of peace so long as Rudy has anything to say about it. Peace is something we will “achieve” in the distant future when the lion has been clubbed senseless with the lamb.

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/16/07 at 01:43 PM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Renaldo & the Loaf—“Songs For Swinging Larvae”

• STOP PICKING ON THE WARMONGER: Poor little Norman “Bomb Iran” Podhoretz, Giuliani’s Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, had his ex-neighbors light a bag of dog poop on his doorstep. More here.
  
• SUBHEMIANS: Our pal Rob from FREEblowjobs has a new, very funny piece up at Neil Pollack’s Offsprung.
  
• FARTING WITH LUV: While you’re at Rob’s place, check out this bizarre music “video” he found.  And here’s an off-the-hook “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” mash-up we found that incorporates some of that video, along with footage of the amazing John Daker.
  
• MY NAME IS JOHN DAKER: Speaking of John Daker, here’s a Daker remix that entertained us because we’re functionally retarded.
  
• GORED: TBogg, who has been on fire lately, perfectly skewers the nutters’ obsession with demonizing Al Gore in two simple paragraphs.
• DOWD AND OUT: Stephen Colbert does a guest editorial in Maureen Dowd’s spot while she follows John Edwards around looking for cum jokes to tumble out of his pockets.
• PELOSI’S STUPIDITY: Yes, I’m a lefty but, first and foremost, I’m a realist.  For that reason, I agree with Condi Rice and John Boehner (yes, you read that right) regarding the Congressional resolution that’s pissing off Turkey.  If Turkey invades northern Iraq, the Democrats are going to pay dearly for this, regardless of how much the DOD would be way more responsible for looking the other way when it came to the PKK. What a fucking mess. More here (2nd link via Eschaton).
  
• CHALK ONE UP FOR MY SILLY NEIGHBORHOOD: “A 6-year-old Park Slope girl is facing a $300 fine from the city for doing what city kids have been doing for decades: drawing a pretty picture with common sidewalk chalk.”
  

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/14/07 at 10:21 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Saturday, October 13, 2007

From the Washington Post

A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week.
Details about the alleged NSA program have been redacted from the documents, but Nacchio’s lawyer said last year that the NSA had approached the company about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans’ phone records.

In the court filings disclosed this week, Nacchio suggests that Qwest’s refusal to take part in that program led the government to cancel a separate, lucrative contract with the NSA in retribution. He is using the allegation to try to show why his stock sale should not have been considered improper.

[...]

Nacchio’s account, which places the NSA proposal at a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests that the Bush administration was seeking to enlist telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main impetus for its warrantless surveillance efforts.

So I guess now we have to change the wingnuts’ all-purpose dismissive phrase to “(he or she) has a pre-2/27 mindset”? Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, does it?

(via Hullabaloo)

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/13/07 at 06:38 PM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

We are so fucked if Rudy Giuliani is elected president. Don’t think it’s too crazy of an idea to have the eternally wrongheaded and repellent Richard Perle serve as our next Secretary of Defense.

From Newsweek:

Neocons can’t help but slink around Washington, D.C. The Iraq War has given the neoconservatives—who favor the assertive use of American power abroad to spread American values—something of a bad name, and several of the Republican candidates seem less than eager to hire them as advisers. But Rudy Giuliani apparently never got that memo.

Read the whole thing.

And, after this article came out, Rudy added even more neocons to his foreign policy team, including the extremely creepy Michael Rubin and David “Axis of Evil” Frum.

MORE: Rudy’s Right Hands

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/13/07 at 09:14 AM
Trackbacks (0) • Permalink