From Holden: Someone told a funny joke in today’s gaggle. Q Looking ahead to the trip to Florida tomorrow, tell us what aspect of the President’s agenda he wants to pick out and highlight during the visit? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, tomorrow, the President — and the last couple of days, the President has been focusing on education, because education is fundamental to our long-term, sustained economic growth and job creation. [snip] Q Since we’re not going to see you tomorrow, can I ask to look a little bit — MR. McCLELLAN: You’re not going on the trip? Q No. Well, … Continue reading Gaggle Extra: That Whacky Press Corps

From Holden: Rummy: “Pardon me, Mr. President, I seem to have a little Abu Gas.” Bush: “Well, I was planning to pardon you in December 2008.” Continue reading An Afternoon Caption Contest

From Holden: My buddy skippy leads us to Oliver Willis (a guy who I would probably call “my buddy” also if I knew him as I do skippy) who has the goods on the Department of Education official who arranged the contract with Armstrong Williams. I’ll let Oliver tell it. Janet D. Scott is the “Contract Specialist” in the Dept. of Education who put together the deal (pdf) with Armstrong Williams. Her office number is 202-708-7947. Ask her where our $240,000 is, who told her to make the payment, and who else is getting paid off. I’d be interested to … Continue reading Drop a Dime on Janet

From Holden: Welcome to America, Ali G. Did I mention that satire confuses us? British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen escaped a near-riot at an American rodeo while filming his satirical “Da Ali G Show.” According to a report in the RoanokeTimes, a man who was introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan — in reality a Cohen character named Borat — appeared at the rodeo over the weekend after organizers agreed to have him sing the national anthem. After telling the crowd he supported America’s war on terrorism, he said, “I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, … Continue reading I Bet It Was the Garbled Version of The Star-Spangled Banner That Pissed

From Holden: Looks like Britain’s Prince Harry is trying to out-stupid the Bush twins. Britain’s Prince Harry came under intense pressure to make a public apology after being pictured in Nazi military outfit just a fortnight before the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. “Harry the Nazi” cried The Sun, the nation’s top selling tabloid, alongside an exclusive front-page photo of a slouching Harry, 20, cigarette and beer in hand, dressed in a clearly recognisable khaki uniform of Rommel’s Afrika Korps complete with red swastika armband. The photo was snapped last weekend at a “native and colonial” fancy dress … Continue reading Oh, That Harry

From Holden: Little Scottie McClellan, yesterday: Charles Duelfer came to the White House in December; the President took that opportunity to thank him for all the work that he had done. The two discussed how Saddam Hussein’s regime retained the intent and capability to produce weapons of mass destruction, and they also discussed how he was systematically gaming the system to undermine the sanctions that were in place, so that once those sanctions were eliminated — which was something he was trying to do through the U.N. oil-for-food program — then he could begin his weapons programs once again. And … Continue reading Oil for Food

From Holden: Today Tom Friedman reminds us that he has been writing about the Middle East for 25 years, and based on his quarter-century of experience he offers us this expert opionion: I totally disagree with those who argue that the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections should be postponed. Their main argument is that an Iraqi election that ensconces the Shiite majority in power, without any participation of the Sunni minority, will sow the seeds of civil war. That is probably true – but we are already in a civil war in Iraq. That civil war was started by the Sunni … Continue reading Like Failing the Fifth Grade – 25 Times in a Row

From Holden: Yes, My Bush Boom is a lot like those Iraqi WMDs – except the wingers have yet to claim that My Bush Boom was spirited away to Syria. In the week ending Jan. 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 367,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 357,000. The 4-week moving average was 344,000, an increase of 12,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 331,250. Let’s see, the number of new jobless individuals for the week ending Dec. 29th was 321,000 (scroll down). The number for the week ending … Continue reading Charles Duelfer Couldn’t Find My Bush Boom Either

From Holden: When the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly (96-2) to re-affirm the illegality of the use of torture we all thought it was a bit silly – no, pathetic that such an action was necessary. As it turns out, the ban on torture was stripped from the legislation after a meeting between senior administration officials and a group of congressional leaders that included Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Jane Harman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Rep. Peter Hoekstra. At the urging of the White House, Congressional leaders scrapped a legislative measure last month that would have imposed new restrictions on the use of … Continue reading Congress Acquiesces to Bush’s Insistence on Torture

From Holden: The Bushies are sending their folks out to tell the media on background that the January 30 election in Iraq is really not that important, paricularly in terms of who actually votes and whether all facets of Iraqi society are represented. I guess it depends on how you define democracy. “I would . . . really encourage people not to focus on numbers, which in themselves don’t have any meaning, but to look on the outcome and to look at the government that will be the product of these elections,” a senior administration official said, speaking on the … Continue reading And the Backpedaling Continues

Robert has a post up about security, the illusion of it, and the difference between those. I realized, reading his words, how much we see this in the private sphere as well as the public one; endless TV news reports about baby products that actually can kill your children, don’t eat this or that or you’ll get cancer. Gated communities, security systems, houses with attached garages in front and privacy fences in back, blocks where you go for days without seeing your neighbors and then wonder why you’re so lonely. It’s very quiet in your safe little house with your … Continue reading Security

From Holden: Of course they were, Bush himself issued an executive order authorizing torture, while Donald Rumsfeld authorized specific torture techniques. Now the orders are coming out in court. The military police at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq received direct orders from at least three interrogators to treat detainees harshly in the weeks leading up to the night that a group of soldiers put naked and hooded prisoners in sexually humiliating positions and photographed them, one of the police soldiers involved testified in a military court here today. The orders started with instructions to leave detainees naked, force them to … Continue reading Following Orders at Abu Ghraib

From Holden: Here’s one more tid-bit from today’s gaggle, a great question about Social Security: Q And secondly, Scott, on the Social Security privatization — the President has said he would be very concerned in making sure that funds in the private accounts were not at risk for the people who wanted to place them there, but — and he took the example of placing them in U.S. Treasury bonds. Now, the Social Security funds are already being placed in Treasury bonds. Why should the private accounts make a difference, unless people are allowed to put them in the stock … Continue reading Obsession Extra – Sound as a Dollar

From Holden: Bucket after bucket of grease ran of Little Scottie today as he was grilled mercilessly about those pesky, nonexistent Iraqi WMD. Q The fact that the Iraq Survey Group has now folded up its field operations, can you explain to us if there is any sense of embarrassment or lack of comfort about the fact that after two years of looking, these people found nothing that the President and others assured us they would find? MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President already talked about this last October in response to the comprehensive report that was released by Charles … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: That’s the word according to the wingnuts. Kid Rock, the vulgar rock-rapper who initially had been lined up to headline the youth concert next week as part of the inauguration festivities for President Bush, will not be apppearing after all. “He’s not performing,” a spokesman for the Presidential Inauguration Committee confirmed for WND. However, I’m afraid I have to add two more names to the list: Hillary Duff JoJo Continue reading Kid Rock Off Holden’s Shit List?

From Holden: Chimpy: “Have you read that book about the goat?” Continue reading Today’s Caption Contest

From Holden: Now that the myth of Saddam’s horrible WMD has been completely entombed can we also lay to rest the flypaper meme? At times, the Iraqis and foreign Muslim militants seem to be competing. Media reports and Web statements have speculated that a Saudi carried out the December 21 suicide bombing of a U.S. mess tent in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed 22 people. But Ansar al-Sunnah, the homegrown group that took responsibility for that deadliest of attacks on a U.S. target in Iraq, named the bomber as Abu Omar of Mosul, a nom de guerre … Continue reading Flypaper No More

From Holden: This should generate a ripple in the force. The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal judges have been improperly adding time to criminals’ sentences, a decision that puts in doubt longtime sentencing rules. The court, on a 5-4 vote, said that its ruling last June that juries — not judges — should consider factors that can add years to defendants’ prison sentences applies as well to the 17-year-old federal guideline system. While they did not completely throw out the federal guidelines, the justices held that juries must be more involved in sentencing. No mention was made on this … Continue reading SCOTUS Upsets Federal Sentencing Guidelines

From Holden: They may not be up Moss-esque yet, but the insurgency in Iraq seems to be learning from us. Departing from fiery Islamic slogans, Iraqi guerrillas have launched a propaganda campaign with an English-language video urging U.S. troops to lay down their weapons and seek refuge in mosques and homes. The video, narrated in fluent English by what sounded like an Iraqi educated in the United States or Britain, also mocked the U.S. president’s challenge to rebels in the early days of the insurgency to ‘bring it on’. “George W. Bush; you have asked us to ‘bring it on’. … Continue reading The Insurgency Shoots the Moon

From Holden: We already know that Travis County DA Ronnie Earle made deals with two of the corporation (Sears, Roebuck and Co. and DCS Inc.) indicted along with three of Tom DeLay’s cronies for illegal campaign contributions and money laundering. Now it looks like he’s flipped the six remaining corporations (Williams Companies Inc., Bacardi USA, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, Questerra Corp. and Westar Energy Inc.) under indictment as well. The negotiations could underscore a painstaking strategy by investigators to pit defendants in the case against one another. Prosecutors hope to learn specific … Continue reading More Progress in Texas

From Holden: Outgoing Commerce Secretary and long-time Bush sphincter buddy Don Evans got an ear full in China yesterday. “Judging from the view of friends and judging from the achievements of your work, I should say that 70 percent of what you have done has been pretty good,” said Commerce Minister Bo Xilai. A visibly uncomfortable Evans responded with surprise. “Oh, hey, that’s almost flunking,” he said. “That’s almost failure.” Later, Evans told The Associated Press that Bo meant the comment as praise. “You know, his answer to me was that Deng Xiaoping only gave himself a grade of 70 … Continue reading Little Trouble in Big China

Today’s Action, courtesy of Care2 is to contact the FDA and insist that they allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill.  The FDA has until next Thursday, January 20 to decide to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning- after pill, Plan B®.  The FDA has already found such medication to be safe and effective, and the FDA’s own advisors overwhelmingly recommended approving the application. Yet,on May 6, 2004 the FDA caved in to right-wing pressure and denied the application. Will the FDA do the right thing this time and help women prevent unintended pregnancy? Or will politics prevail again? Your voice matters. You … Continue reading Action Alert – The FDA & Plan B™

From Holden: In October the Bush administration set an all time record trade deficit of $56 billion. November’s trade deficit of $60.3 billion shattered that mark. America’s trade deficit soared to an all-time high of $60.3 billion in November, reflecting record levels for imports of everything from oil and consumer goods to farm products, the government reported Wednesday. The Commerce Department said the November deficit was up 7.7 percent from an imbalance of $56 billion in October, which had been the previous monthly record. The new record caught private economists by surprise. They had been forecasting a slight narrowing in … Continue reading I’m Willing To Trade My Bush Boom For A Decomcratic Boom To Be Named Later

From Holden: The search for WMD in Iraq (remember that?) is officially over. The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein. The top CIA weapons hunter is home, and analysts are back at Langley. In interviews, officials who served with the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) said the violence in Iraq, coupled with a lack of new information, led them to fold up the effort shortly before Christmas. Four months after Charles A. Duelfer, who led the weapons hunt in 2004, … Continue reading The Quiet Death of the Casus Belli

After watching this, I just have to say, to all the moral-values voting, Bush-supporting people out there who equate decent and patriotic behavior with hating gay people: FUCK YOU. Ray’s bags may be packed for Iraq, but there’s work to be done here at home before this soldier boy reports for duty. Interior Design Ray’s apartment is practically a blank slate, and the few items he has are hardly childproof. With Carson along, he and Thom select a table with kid-friendly rounded corners and a bright red couch. Back at the apartment, the transformation is astounding. White walls and “bleh” … Continue reading Unselfishness

this comes by way of ItAffectsYou.org: This past Sunday, the Eastside Women’s Health Clinic in Washington State was set on fire. Among other health services, the clinic provides abortions and so been picketed for twenty years by those opposed to reproductive rights. The investigating agencies have all agreed it was arson, yet amazingly after only a few days and before any suspects are named, they are dismissing it as a “random act.” The FBI has even withdrawn from the investigation. thanks to up2date, the commenter at Atrios’ house who provided the link. Continue reading Women’s Clinic in Washington Firebombed, FBI says “Ho Hum”

From Holden: Man, that Bush is a slow learner. After getting badly burned the last time he chose one of Rudy’s sphincter buddies for Secretary of Fatherland Security you’d think he would know better. And you would be wrong. U.S. Attorney Rudolf Giuliani stands with his prosecutors, from left to right, John Savarese, Michael Chertoff, lead prosecutor, and Gil Childers on Jan. 13, 1987 in New York. Link. The preznit pointed out when he announced he had selected his man that Chertoff has been confirmed by the Senate three times. Is it possible that Bush is assuming that Chertoff has … Continue reading Bush Picks Another Giuliani Man

From Holden: I think I may be experiencing Les Kinsolving withdrawl, as I have not found his questions in the gaggle for several days now. Oh, well, let’s get on with today’s obsession and the needling of Little Scottie. Q The President made a point of saying that Judge Chertoff has been confirmed three times. Why did he make that point? MR. McCLELLAN: He’s someone who, like I said, enjoys wide respect from Democrats and Republicans alike, particularly on the Hill. He is someone who has a lot of experience and brings a lot of talent to this position. And … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Wingers are pissed about Kid Rock’s prominent role in the coronation. Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign For Children And Families, expressed outrage that the often raunchy Rock was asked to take part in the inauguration: “I just read Kid Rock’s sexually explicit lyrics and feel ashamed and dirty for even looking at his songs. If this sex-crazed animal, whose favorite word is the F-word, is allowed to sing at Bush’s inauguration this will send a clear message to pro-family Americans that the Republican Party has taken them for a ride and ditched them in the gutter.” Thomasson added, … Continue reading “Republican Party Has Taken Them for a Ride”

From Holden: Wingers are pissed about Kid Rock’s prominent role in the coronation. Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign For Children And Families, expressed outrage that the often raunchy Rock was asked to take part in the inauguration: “I just read Kid Rock’s sexually explicit lyrics and feel ashamed and dirty for even looking at his songs. If this sex-crazed animal, whose favorite word is the F-word, is allowed to sing at Bush’s inauguration this will send a clear message to pro-family Americans that the Republican Party has taken them for a ride and ditched them in the gutter.” Thomasson added, … Continue reading ”Republican Party Has Taken Them for a Ride”