From Holden: The NYTimes won’t come right out and say that Little Scottie or Rudy G. are liars… In June 2000, two months before Bernard B. Kerik was appointed police commissioner, New York City’s top investigative agency learned that he had a social relationship with the owner of a New Jersey construction company suspected of having business ties to organized crime figures, city documents show. The city’s Department of Investigation took two days of testimony from Frank DiTommaso, the owner of the company, Interstate Industrial Corporation. It also formally interviewed Mr. Kerik himself. Though it is not clear what he … Continue reading Burned by Bernie

Because I’ve spent the past two days resisting the almost biological urge for wrapping, trimming, festively adorning every last inch of everything with ribbons and candles and elves dressed up as snowmen dressed up as Santa, and overdosing on Andy Williams, and because the happy has been MIA lately: Good King Wenceslas looked out On the feast of Stephen When the snow lay round about Deep and crisp and even Softly shone the moon that night Though the frost was cruel When a poor man came in sight Gathering winter fuel. Hither, page, and stand by me If thou know’st … Continue reading A Bloggy Christmas Carol

Time to submit your nominations for the 2004 Koufax Awards; the only awards that really matter, in the words of a winner (Atrios.) nominate away! Continue reading Koufax Awards

link. “Ho ho ho! Merry Kwanzaa!” says Santa. “It’s me, the Kwanzaa Fairy, here to bring you delicious egg nog and Kwanzaa presents, if you’ll just open the door!” “Yeeeees! Delicious Kwanzaa!” says Giblets.,/p> “Wait just a second,” says me. “How do we know you’re the REAL Kwanzaa Fairy and not somebody else? Tell us something only the Kwanzaa Fairy would know.” “Yeah,” says Giblets. “Like why do we celebrate Kwanzaa?” “To celebrate the day when…baby Kwanzaa was born?” says Santa. “No, that’s wrong and a lie!” says me. “Baby Kwanzaa was most likely born in early September in the … Continue reading Fafnir and Giblets get a visit from St. Nick

From Holden: The word for today is forward: MR. McCLELLAN: David, I think Commissioner Kerik has addressed this matter. Our focus now is on moving forward to name a new nominee as quickly as possible. That’s where the President is focused right now. MR. McCLELLAN: This was a matter, in terms of his nomination, this matter relating to the nanny came to his attention more clearly last week and he indicated he should have brought it to our attention sooner. This matter is now an issue that is closed, as far as we’re concerned. We’re looking forward on who the … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: This is likely to tip the election in Democrat Christine Gregoire’s favor. The election director in Seattle’s King County said Monday that hundreds of absentee ballots were mistakenly rejected in the heavily Democratic stronghold — enough to swing the close governor’s race to Democrat Christine Gregoire. A statewide hand recount is under way across Washington state after Republican Dino Rossi came out ahead of Gregoire by just 42 votes out of 2.9 million cast. [snip] King County Elections Director Dean Logan said he will ask the county Canvass Board on Wednesday to amend the results of the Nov. … Continue reading Washington Recount Finds Hundreds of Improperly-Rejected Ballots

From Holden: Via Talk Radio News Service, here’s an audio segment of today’s gaggle in which Little Scottie is at his monotone best as he dances around the Bernie Kerik fiasco. Audio link. Continue reading Holden’s Audio Obsession

From Holden: Didn’t we just re-take this town, losing hundreds of Marines in the process? American warplanes pounded Fallujah with missiles Sunday as insurgents fought running battles with coalition forces in the volatile western Iraqi city. The U.S. military said two troops died in separate incidents. [snip] Fallujah, the scene of a weeklong U.S.-led offensive last month to uproot insurgents based in the city, erupted in more violence Sunday, starting with American and Iraqi forces clashing with guerrillas in several suburbs and ending with U.S. airstrikes on suspected insurgent hideouts. Fallujah resident Abdullah Ahmed said the fighting started after U.S. … Continue reading Losing Fallujah Becoming a Habit

From Holden: December 10, 2004 MR. MCCLELLAN: We have full confidence in his integrity and we are confident that he will take the appropriate steps necessary to make sure that there are no conflicts there [regarding Kerik’s ties to Taser International]. Link. Yep, that’s republican integrity for you. An abandoned child in Korea, “gifts” from the mob, unpaid taxes, two mistresses. I love their moral values. Continue reading Scottie Hearts Hearted Bernie

From Holden: “White House officials are defensive about the vetting process. . . . But some administration officials acknowledge that the president’s predilections work against a careful review. Bush hates leaks and enjoys popping surprise announcements on the press. He liked the idea of Kerik — the self-made tough guy — and he dismissed as gossip or press carping newspaper stories about Kerik’s bending the rules.” Link. Does anyone doubt that it was the Chimpster himself who chose Bernie Kerik to head the Department of Fatherland Security, and then rushed to name him publicly before a propper vetting process could … Continue reading Bernard Who?

link here. A painting in an exhibition that drew thousands to the Chelsea Market for its opening was abruptly taken down over the weekend after the Market’s managers complained about a portrait of Bush painted by Christoper Savido, 23, from Pittsburgh. The portrait is made up of tiny pictures of chimpanzees. “When we hung the show on Wednesday, we were asked to take down the Bush piece,” said Bucky Turco, the show’s organizer. “I agreed, but said that I thought it makes a strong addition and that I would rehang it for the opening.” During the opening on Thursday, the … Continue reading Degenerate Art

From Holden: “Yeah, I did her.” And her, and her, and… Link. Continue reading Republican Values

From Holden: President Bush (news – web sites) left, with first lady Laura Bush, second left, and host Dr. Phil McGraw, back left to right, and his wife Robin McGraw and performers Vanessa Williams, Ruben Studdard, LeAnn Rimes, and Jojo, during the taping of the annual Christmas in Washington concert, at the National Building Museum, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2004, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Wait a minute, isn’t Jojo the preznit’s stage name? Continue reading It’s Beginning to Smell A Lot Like Christmas

From Holden: First it was Ahnold pushing stem cell research in California. Now Texas’ senior senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson is calling for state-funded stem cell research in Texas. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Friday that state leaders should work with Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature to develop a stem cell research policy that keeps Texas from being “left in the dust by California.” Hutchison, a potential 2006 Republican primary challenger to Perry, referred to a landmark $3 billion initiative to fund stem cell research passed by California voters in November. [snip] Hutchison said the research could help cure cancer … Continue reading GOP Stars Running Away from Bush on Stem Cells

link here. Media Matters reports that Pat Robertson called Kwanzaa “an absolute fraud” during a December 6 broadcast of the 700 Club. He said it was “made up by some hippie-types on the West Coast,” and had nothing whatsoever to do with African history.</p. Kwanzaa is celebrated in African and around the world. It was founded in 1966, by Maulana Karenga, a professor and chair of black studies at California State, Long Beach. Prof. Karenga based the celebration on African history. It is rooted in the first harvest celebrations in Africa. To be clear about this, let me say that … Continue reading Action Alert – Pat Robertson

From Holden: The Rumsfeld Doctrine does not reward resourcefulness. At a time when some U.S. troops in Iraq are complaining they have to scrounge for equipment, six Ohio-based reservists were court-martialed for taking army vehicles abandoned in Kuwait by other units so they could carry out their own unit’s mission to Iraq. [snip] Members of the 656th Transportation Company based in Springfield, west of Columbus, said they needed the equipment to deliver fuel that was needed by U.S. forces in Iraq for everything from helicopters to tanks. The reservists took two tractor-trailers and stripped parts from a five-ton truck that … Continue reading The Rumsfeld Doctrine: Part I

From Holden: Rummy can’t honestly say he was unaware of the shortage of armored Humvees in Iraq, since a wounded National Guardsman brought it to his attention way back in October 2003. [Brandon] Sandrell contends he raised the armor issue with Rumsfeld at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, when Sandrell was recovering from shrapnel wounds that nearly severed his left arm. ”He (Rumsfeld) was making his rounds and thanking me for my service, and he asked me, ‘What do you guys need over there, what are you lacking?’ I told him we needed up-armored Humvees,” said Sandrell, who … Continue reading The Rumsfeld Doctrine: Part II

From Holden: Three British soldiers who were run over by a U.S. Army tank convoy in Iraq are suing: Three British soldiers, seriously hurt after claiming a US tank convoy ran them off a road in Iraq, have spoken for the first time about the incident. Cpl Jane McLaughlan, Staff Sgt James Rogerson and Cpl Stephen Smith, were left with horrific injuries when their Land Rover crashed in May 2003. They are suing the US Army for £1.2m in the first action of its kind involving coalition allies in the Iraq war. [snip] The US Army claims no record of … Continue reading Coalition of the Trial Lawyers

Ezra’s almost there: The Republican Party, to beat John Kerry, settled on a line of attack. And they settled on it totally and completely. So no matter who went on television, no matter when they got there, no matter how little contact they had with the campaign, no matter how incompetent they were as a spokesmen, no matter what the subject was, they knew exactly what to say about John Kerry. He was a flip-flopper. Inconsistent. Unclear, unprincipled, untrustworthy, unpredictable. And by the end of the campaign, they’d repeated it enough to shake the electorate’s faith in Kerry’s ability to … Continue reading Telling A Story

The real reason Bernard Kerik dropped out? Those mean, nasty, tricksy Democrats would have been rude to him during his hearings. Mr. Kerik said on Saturday that he believed he could have made it through the confirmation process, but decided that the process would be a burden to the administration. “It would have been messy, ugly and an embarrassment to President Bush, so I withdrew my name,” he said. What a load of crap. You know, the thing that continually disappoints me about this administration is how it refuses to use the power it has. They dicked around on the … Continue reading Department of Fearing The Conquered

Wangari Maathai, winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace, is an environmental activist in Africa, who links peace to environmentalism. Maathai was chosen for her role in founding the Green Belt Movement, which has sought to empower women, improve the environment, and fight corruption and deforestation in Africa. “Today, we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening our life support system,” Ms. Maathai told the audience in Oslo. She warned that the world remained under attack from disease, deforestation, and war. “In the course of history, there comes … Continue reading “That Time is Now.”

Dick kicked some Stupid Republican Ass yesterday. A. Continue reading Happy Democrat Photo: Dick Durbin

Um. Yeah. Joy to the world. God bless America. All that. You have a plastic reindeer strapped, trussed in fact, to the front of your van. With strings of lights binding him. Around the neck and feet. Did you dress him in the field or will the taxidermist do that for you? And the lawn? Where the reindeer leaps joyfully in front of Santa? RIGHT in front of Santa? Out FROM the front of Santa, if you get what I’m saying? By all means, if you’re working out some kind of childhood trauma crossed with Santa/Rudolph fan fiction in giant … Continue reading A Note To My Neighbors

From Holden: All good gaggles begin with the words, “And with that, I’ll be glad to go to your questions. Helen.” Q I asked you the other day and didn’t get an answer and I’ll ask you again, do we follow the Geneva Conventions at Guantanamo? MR. McCLELLAN: The President has already answered that question. We’ve answered that question on numerous occasions, Helen. The President’s most solemn obligation is to protect the American people, and in terms of — in terms of Guantanamo, it’s related to the war on terrorism that we’re fighting. We’re fighting a different kind of war … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Specially trained Langoor monkeys and their handlers prepare to take positions on the roof of South Block before the arrival and honour guard ceremony for the U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in New Delhi December 9, 2004. The large monkeys are used to keep the peace and quiet by preventing noisy, smaller and more aggressive monkeys from running around the grounds of India’s government buildings during VIP visits. Picture taken December 9, 2004. REUTERS/Larry Downing Link. All together now: It’s a good thing that Rumsfeld did not bring the preznit with him on this trip. Continue reading Not Really a Caption Contest

From Holden: So, what’s up with the Bush twins now that daddy has a job for four more years? Has Jenna started that teaching job at a Harlem charter school yet? Has NotJenna started her internship in the pediatric AIDS program at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine? Nope. But they will co-host a youth concert at the most expensive inaugaral celebration in history. Priorities during wartime, you know. Which reminds me of a joke. Turn the clock back five years, when the twins were still in high school contemplating their options for college. JENNA: Hey, what college are you goin’ … Continue reading What’s Up With The Bush Twins?

From Holden: An item of interest courtesy of Dan Froomkin: Alberto Gonzales’ stepson is a “consultant” in the porn industry: Until he abruptly quit last month – around the time that President Bush nominated his stepfather, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, to be U.S. attorney general – Web designer Jared Freeze worked as a consultant for notorious pornographer Larry Flynt. A knowledgeable source told Lowdown that the twentysomething Freeze – a child from the previous marriage of Gonzales’ wife, Rebecca – left Flynt’s employ at the urging of Gonzales, who was said to be worried that the Hustler magazine connection … Continue reading Do the Hustle!

From Holden: The Bush administration actually found someone at the Department of Fatherland Security who was independent and competent. So of course he had to go. Clark Ervin made himself very unpopular by issuing a series of stinging reports on security programs that he said had failed, officials he called inept, and fraud that he suspected. His year-end report, out today, alleges that millions of dollars have been wasted or are unaccounted for by the department. “There isn’t a concern about the importance of spending every single dollar to the maximum effect of the core mission of the department,” Ervin … Continue reading Toadies Only

From Holden: Russia reserves the right to be as fucked up as the U.S. of A. Russia reserves the right to carry out preventive strikes with conventional weaponry on terror bases anywhere they are found in the world, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying Friday. “We do not rule out the possibility of carrying out preventive strikes on terrorist bases at any location in the world,” Ivanov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying in an address to Russian military-diplomatic officials here. “Russia,” he said, “is far from being the only country to announce its readiness to … Continue reading Monkey See…