From Holden: Somebody is tired of making “happy-face” for the camera. He might even be giving us the finger here, it’s hard to tell. Continue reading Not Quite a Caption Contest

From Holden: Looks like a few GOP thugs want to outlaw man-dates. Senate supporters of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage said Monday they intend to press for passage in the new Congress, brushing aside mixed signals from the White House on the issue’s importance at the start of President Bush’s second term. “Who’s to say whether we have enough votes or not,” said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., noting that the new two-year Congress has just begun. He said he expects GOP leaders to call for a vote before the 2006 elections and added, “I think it would be foolhardy … Continue reading Revive the Hate Amendment? Bring It On!

From Holden: Each year nominations for the Razzies are released just before the Oscar nominations in order to recognize the horrid in cinema. This year, along with Ben and JLo, Mary-kate and Ashley, and Hillary Duff Dear Leader and his Crew snagged four nominations: Worst Actor – George W. Bush in “Fahrenheit 9/11” Worst Screen Couple – George W. Bush and either Condoleezza Rice or his pet goat in “Fahrenheit 9/11″ Worst Supporting Actor – Donald Rumsfeld in “Fahrenheit 9/11″ Worst Supporting Actress – Condoleezza Rice in “Fahrenheit 9/11″ Continue reading Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld Nominated for Razzies

From Holden: I almost lost my lunch while at luch today when I saw MSNBC is planning all-day coverage of the election in Iraq this coming Sunday. They are calling their special coverage “Democracy Comes to Iraq”. I’m wondering how they will know that Democracy has Come to Iraq holed up in their hotel rooms. No one seriously believes that any Western reporters will be out and about that day. And when Democracy Comes to Iraq, where will it land? South of Baghdad, insurgents dynamited a polling station near Hilla in the predominantly Shiite province of Babil, police said. Attackers … Continue reading Democracy Comes to Iraq

From Holden: The Supreme Court rejects South Carolina’s “Choose Life” license plates. The Supreme Court declined Monday to consider whether states may offer license plates with anti-abortion messages, leaving lower courts divided over whether the programs in a dozen states unconstitutionally restrict dissenting views. Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling that said South Carolina’s license plates, which bear the slogan “Choose Life,” violate the First Amendment because abortion rights supporters weren’t given a similar forum to express their beliefs. The high court’s move means that South Carolina will either have to eliminate the specialty plates or begin … Continue reading Plate Tectonics

From Holden: Hugo rocks! Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds up a U.S. dollar bill while challenging U.S. President George W. Bush (news – web sites) to take a wager on which president will remain in power longer, during a rally outside of the Miraflores Presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005. Chavez said ‘I challenge you to a bet Mr. Bush, one dollar, who will last longer? You in the White House or me in Miraflores?’, who has repeatedly accused the United States of conspiring to oust him. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Continue reading My Money Is On Hugo

From Holden: Central banks are shifting reserves away from the US and towards the eurozone in a move that looks set to deepen the Bush administration’s difficulties in financing its ballooning current account deficit. And this is going to help me find My Bush Boom HOW?!?!? Link. Continue reading Smells Like a Meltdown

From Holden: Researchers at Yale and Columbia rank the U.S. at number 45 out of 146 countries in the 2005 Index of Environmental Sustainability… [W]hich ranks countries on their success at tasks like maintaining or improving air and water quality, maximizing biodiversity and cooperating with other countries “to manage common environmental problems.” Japan, most West European countries, Botswana and the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan were ranked higher than the old U.S. of A. Link. Continue reading We’re Number 45!!!

From Holden: In a case of a horrible situation made worse by a grandstanding politician, the Supreme Court refuses to reinstate Jeb Bush’s attempt to intervene in a private medical decision. The Supreme Court refused Monday to reinstate a Florida law passed to keep a severely brain-damaged woman hooked to a feeding tube, clearing the way for it to be removed. The Florida Supreme Court had struck down the law last fall, and the justices were the last hope for state leaders who defended the law in a bitter long running dispute over the fate of Terri Schiavo. [snip] The … Continue reading Supreme Court Rejects Jebbie’s Law

From Holden: Watch the video. Continue reading Nixon vs. Bush

From Holden: Via Matthew Yglesias, Kathryn Jean Lopez shoots from The Corner and misses: DEMS-ARE-NOT-SELF-AWARE FILES [KJL] Robert Byrd delays the confirmation of the first black secretary of State. Didn’t think that one through, did you? Two hours later she discovers that she “left out a word or two” and revises the post. DEMS-ARE-NOT-SELF-AWARE FILES [KJL] Robert Byrd delays the confirmation of the first black [female] secretary of State [from the south]. Didn’t think that one through, did you? She would have been better off deleting the post entirely. Whether it was haste or stupidity that resulted in the orignal … Continue reading Do They Call Her K-Lo Because of Her Huge Butt?

From Holden: Rice’s quick move to the State Department was so widely expected that department employees had been told to get ready for a welcome session at the building last Friday. The greeting was to take place in the same mezzanine area where the president’s first secretary of state, Colin Powell, bade farewell to employees last Wednesday. Link. Continue reading Cue Nelson Muntz

From Holden: Many have forgotten Moqtada al Sadr, the fiery young cleric, the “thug” that the U.S. military swore it would kill last spring. It has been assumed Sadr and U.S. forces entered into a truce last summer that he would support the coming elections in Iraq. That assumption would be wrong. “They must hear that the Iraqi people will always demand their rights, even if we give our lives!” the preacher declared. Behind him, slogans put up on a concrete blast wall echoed the protesters’ pleas. “We don’t want elections,” one read. “We want electricity.” The protest in Baghdad … Continue reading The Wildcard

link here. Values of Torture: How far are we willing to push prisoners? I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it!” –Col. Nathan Jessep, A Few Good Men The famous courtroom outburst from Jack Nicholson in the film A Few Good Men is a classic defense of “ends-justify-the-means” morality. The fictional Jessep, on military trial for complicity in a soldier’s beating death, argues that the society that counts on the security he … Continue reading Values of Torture

“Torture Takes A Holiday” The latest chapter unfolding in Texas during that pre-inaugural week in January was broadcast on the evening news almost exclusively in brief, mechanical summary, when it was broadcast at all. But it’s not as if it lacked drama; it was “Judgment at Nuremberg” turned upside down. Specialist Graner’s defense lawyer, Guy Womack, explained it this way in his closing courtroom statement: “In Nuremberg, it was the generals being prosecuted. We were going after the order-givers. Here the government is going after the order-takers.” As T. R. Reid reported in The Washington Post, the trial’s judge, Col. … Continue reading Rich

Ripley, in comments at Eschaton, linked to this article. I know nothing about the source, so take it as you will. I like the story, so I’m passing it along. Rumsfeld scraps Munich visit over war probe 21 January 2005 MUNICH�-�United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has cancelled a planned visit to Munich. Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy he will not take part at the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik said. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights filed a complaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor’s Office against Rumsfeld … Continue reading Rumsfeld won’t attend Munich conference

<img src="http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2005-01/15961096.jpg&quot; / Yeah. Is this all you got? A. Continue reading Chicago To Snow: Bring It, Bitch

The nice thing about being stuck in an airport, at least one with free wireless access, was getting caught up on my reading. And all I have to say about this is yeah, what Frank said: So why aren’t our Senators and Representatives taking every single opportunity they have to deconstruct the lies and distortions constantly put forth by the Republicans and the Bush administration? Why isn’t every Democrat speech in the Senate and House peppered with direct attacks on those lies? Certainly here in my little corner of the universe there’s not a lot I can do. My audience … Continue reading Answer Every Lie

This is just a short notice that I’m going to be leaving town Monday, January 24. I’ll be back on the following Monday. I doubt anyone will be able to tell that I’m gone – Holden and Athenae will be here. I hope all of you have a wonderful week. Continue reading I’ll Be Gone

From Holden: Via Tom Paine, David Batstone fits the “Salvadoran Option” piece within the larger puzzle. The Pentagon’s affinity for a “Salvadoran Option” in Iraq appears consistent with its broader shift to promote a strong state security apparatus internationally in the fight against terrorism. In a summit of Latin American defense ministers held in Quito, Ecuador, in late 2004, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld unveiled his campaign to reverse nearly two decades of military reform in Latin America. Though the summit went largely unreported in the U.S. media, we may look back at it in years to come as a significant … Continue reading Death Squad Puzzle

From Holden: Looks like a slap fight has developed between former Bushboy favorite Ahmed Chalabi and Iraq’s Interim Defence Minister. Iraqi interim Defence Minister, Hazim al-Shalan has said he will have Ahmed Chalabi, head of Iraqi National Congress (INC), arrested before the 30 January elections after Chalabi ”defamed” him, it was reported Friday. Chalabi had earlier accused Shalan of stealing large sums of money and transferring them to a bank in Lebanon. “I will take legal action against Chalabi and have him arrested after the (Eid al-Adha) feast,” Shalan told the London-based Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat. Shalan said that he … Continue reading When Theives Fall Out

From Holden: In an article about blogger ethics the Associated Press somehow manages to get their facts right! When Jerome Armstrong began consulting for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, he thought the ethical thing to do was to suspend the Web journal where he opined on politics. [snip] While Armstrong suspended his blog, a partner in his political consulting firm, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, kept his going and instead posted a disclosure about the payment. The Dean campaign had paid the pair $3,000 a month for technical consulting services. Others saw no need to disclose at all. In South Dakota, blogger Jon … Continue reading The AssPress* Gets It Right!

From Holden: Will wonders never cease? Righties are upset that major U.S. media outlets are ignoring a negative story about Dear Leader’s management of the War on Iraq! Sherrie Gossett, Associate Editor of Accuracy in Media’s The AIM Report, has ’em all wadded up today in The Conservative Voice over the “Mainstream Media’s” failure to cover the U.S. military’s use of women in combat in Iraq. Doing the job of the media, Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness (CMR) broke a significant scoop. Donnelly had obtained information, including official briefing documents, indicating that the Pentagon is moving to … Continue reading Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Sherrie

From Holden: One wonders what our economy will look like in four years. U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped for the first time in three months in early January as stock prices fell and oil prices crept up, a report today showed. The University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index for the month decreased to 95.8 from 97.1 in December, as expectations for the future dimmed. A measure of present conditions, tied closest to spending, rose to a four-year high. [snip] The median forecast of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for the Michigan index to rise to 97.5. Forecasts … Continue reading Coronation of George the Lesser Dampens Consumer Confidence, Bush Boom

From Holden: Reaction to Georgie’s latest assault on the English Language was mostly negative. The New York Times seemed to like Bush’s second inaugural address the most, while admitting that it was not a speech for the ages the Times claimed that ” its universal intent suited the day.” The Washington Post’s analysis was firmly rooted in reality, contrasting Bush’s paean to freedom with his more notorious and dictatorial partners in the War on Terra and concluding that if Chimpy doesn’t do a complete 180 in his foreign policy “his promise of ‘the greatest achievements in the history of freedom’ … Continue reading Inaugural Address Reaction

From Holden: From Andrew: Why does history repeat itself? It seems that on the heel of President Bush’s second term in office, that American politics has not only found a way to perpetuate the mistakes of the past, but is actually taking a hard look at the aftermath of past mistakes and using them as means to create new mistakes both diplomatically, and ethically. Could it be that there are no mistakes…Only agendas? Here is a quick look at former President Richard Nixon’s and current President George W. Bush’s presidency in a cinematic presentation that shows how the current Bush … Continue reading Nixon vs. Bush

From Holden: Via The Stakeholder we hear that the Tom DeLay-orchestrated illegal mid-decade gerrymandering of Texas’ congressional districts is back in court today. A three-judge federal panel will get another crack at Texas redistricting as it tries to draw the line on partisanship in the mapping process. The panel will hear oral arguments in Dallas today after the U-S Supreme Court remanded the case in October for the three judges’ review. Last year, judges ruled constitutional the map that sent a Republican majority from Texas to the U-S House for the first time since Reconstruction. Whatever the judges decide this … Continue reading Illegal Redistricting of Texas Back In Court

From Holden: The WaPo fact-checks Chimpy’s inaugural blurtings. President Bush’s soaring rhetoric yesterday that the United States will promote the growth of democratic movements and institutions worldwide is at odds with the administration’s increasingly close relations with repressive governments in every corner of the world. Some of the administration’s allies in the war against terrorism — including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan — are ranked by the State Department as among the worst human rights abusers. The president has proudly proclaimed his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin while remaining largely silent about Putin’s dismantling of democratic institutions in … Continue reading Actions Far Louder Than His Words

From Holden: The rapidly-growing insurgency is threatening to burst U.S. prisons in Iraq at the seams. Major U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq are nearing capacity, with the number of suspected insurgents in custody on Thursday at the highest level since March, according to detention officials. The U.S. military has about 7,900 so-called security detainees — people suspected of participating in the insurgency or otherwise threatening Iraq’s security — at its three primary holding facilities in Iraq, officials said. In addition, releases have been suspended until after Jan. 30, when Iraqis are to elect a National Assembly. Military officials said the … Continue reading The Behinder We Get