From Holden: Chimpy’s democracy crusade is not catching on in the Middle East according to a recent survey conducted by the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Peace and Development Studies programme. …President George W. Bush’s efforts to persuade the Arab world that Washington promotes democratic reform in their countries has made hardly a dent in the views of the vast majority of Arabs, with the exception of Christians in Lebanon, according to the poll’s designer, AAI president, James Zogby. Besides Lebanon, the survey was carried out in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “In Egypt and … Continue reading Survey Sez

So here’s what happened. Something got severely fucked (Jack Terminal assures me this is the technical term) during our chinchilla transfer and for a while there I wasn’t getting notifications of those of you who used the donations link to the right there. Thing’s supposed to e-mail me every time somebody puts a penny in the First Draft cup, but the chinchilla in charge of that part of the operation was either drunk, or asleep, and sent no-emails. He’s been appointed head of FEMA, though, so everything should be fine from now on. I’ve attempted to go back through my … Continue reading A Belated Thank You

Scout’s right. This looks like a joke. E-mail us political trivia questions and we’ll toss the quiz to Sam Donaldson during his daily appearances on ABC News Now. Questions can involve any aspect of presidential trivia, dating from 1950 to the present. But it’s not. So go on, come up with your own questions for Sam and you could get a free hat. Here’s a few of mine: 1. How many times has George W. Bush been arrested? 2. Who was responsible for admitting a cockheaded manwhore (tm Aravosis) to the White House press corps, in which position said uncleared, … Continue reading Stump Sam

From Holden: Just a quick hit to catch up on the gaggle today, in which an enterprising reporter who asks why soldiers who are banned from participating in partisan political activities are being used as props in Chimpy’s attacks on Democrats. Q Scott, this is going back a little bit, but we’ve received some complaints from soldiers, both former and current, about the Tobyhanna speech and the Elmendorf, Alaska speech. They cite their own regulations that say U.S. soldiers cannot participate in partisan political activity. But when the President attacked Democrats, they are — they feel like they were put … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Good for Steve Kelley. The Steve Kelley for Gov. campaign office in Duluth says it won’t take down a sign in its window that keeps a running tally of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The sign has stirred up some hard feelings because it’s right next door to the military recruiting station in downtown Duluth. The commander of the station says the sign is troubling for some of his recruiters, including one who recently returned from Iraq. He says his recruiters already have to endure the anti-war protesters who gather outside the office every Monday. Continue reading Signs of Our Times

From Holden: Britain’s Law Lords indulge in a none-too-subtle dig at Chimpy’s torture fetish. Thrusting itself into the middle of a stormy international debate, Britain’s highest court declared today that evidence obtained through torture – no matter who had done the torturing – was not admissible in British courts. It also said that Britain had a “positive obligation” to uphold anti-torture principles abroad as well as at home. “The issue is one of constitutional principle, whether evidence obtained by torturing another human being may lawfully be admitted against a party to proceedings in a British court, irrespective of where, or … Continue reading Those Soft On Terror Law Lords

From Holden: Inclement weather lead to a power outage which in turn lead to a delay in yesterday’s gaggle obsession. Which is a shame, because it was a nice one. Click the link to see Scottie twist himself in knots over the question of whether or not we are fighting an insurgency in Iraq. For this edition of Holden’s Obsession, I give you the fabulous Helen Thomas. Read in delight as Helen ties the Assministration’s incompetence in Iraq to Chimpy’s Big Oil buddies. Q Scott, in the Iraq’s reconstruction costs, how much of that should be paid for by Iraq … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the [Yesterday’s] Gaggle

From Tena: I never thought I’d live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. You think it hasn’t? Then why is it that people are being prevented from saying it in polite society for fear that it will offend? Schools are being forced to replace “Christmas vacation” with “winter break” in their printed schedules. At Macy’s, the word is verboten even though they’ve made untold millions of dollars from their sympathetic portrayal in the Christmas classic, “Miracle on 34th Street.” Carols, even instrumental versions, are banned in certain places. A major postal delivery service has not … Continue reading Help! The Jewy Jews are murdering Christmas!!!!!

Aaron, you’re killing me. You’re just killing me: Hit-hungry NBC has recruited some heavy firepower for its comeback bid, beating out CBS to land the new series from Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme. Peacock made a 13-episode promise to Warner Bros. TV — and agreed to a near-record license fee — in order to snag the project from the minds behind first four seasons of NBC’s “The West Wing.” Dubbed “Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip,” Sorkin and Schlamme’s latest collaboration is an hourlong drama set behind the scenes at a long-running Los Angeles-based sketch-comedy show not unlike “Saturday Night … Continue reading Peddling Heartbreak and Redemption

From The Daily Southtown, which covers the town where Ballut lived: The two men were accused of running the Chicago cell of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization and linked to the deaths of hundreds during more than a decade’s worth of suicide bombings in Israel. Ballut and Fariz allegedly helped funnel money raised here to Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in Florida and ultimately to operatives abroad. [snip] According to the 121-page indictment of the Al-Arian group, Ballut met in 1991 in Chicago with the so-called “Blind Sheik,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was … Continue reading More on Ballut

From Holden: There’s a great deal of room for argument over just which blog is the best, but it certainly is not Michelle Malkin’s daily racist rant. Go vote, people. Continue reading Best Blog?

From Holden: Quite good, actually. Continue reading Cole on Dean and Bush

From Holden: South Korea, which happens to have the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in Iraq after the US and Britain, will reduce it’s force of 3,200 troops by one third by June 2006 and will have them all out by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Japan will pull its 600-man contingent out when Britain and Australia pull out of the area where the Japanese troops are stationed next May. Does Chimpy think the South Korean, Japanese, British and Australian timetables are demoralizing their troops and giving hope to the insurgency? Continue reading That’s The Way The Coalition Crumbles

From Holden: Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice was forced into a contradiction of Bush Assministration policy on torture yesterday… ”As a matter of U.S. policy,” Rice said the United Nations Convention against Torture ”extends to U.S. personnel wherever they are, whether they are in the U.S. or outside the U.S.” The U.N. treaty also prohibits treatment that doesn’t meet the legal definition of torture, including many practices that human rights organizations say were used routinely at the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Bush administration has previously said the ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment did … Continue reading Miserable Failure

Al-Arian, others acquitted of some terrorism charges. TAMPA, Fla., Dec 6 (Reuters) – A federal jury on Tuesday cleared a former Florida professor of some terrorism-related charges but failed to reach a verdict on others in a case likely to be seen as a stiff blow to the U.S. government’s attempts to prosecute terrorism suspects. The jury, delivering verdicts six months to the day after the trial started, acquitted Sami al-Arian of conspiracy to murder and maim, several counts of providing material support to a terrorist group and obstruction of justice. But it deadlocked on nine other counts, including some … Continue reading Like A Boulder Rolling Down A Hill

From Holden: Let’s begin today’s gaggle with the age-old question, what’s Big Time Dick up to these days? Q In the Vice President’s speech this morning, he said — and this was in the context of the war in Iraq — he said, “We weren’t in Iraq on September the 11th, and the terrorists hit us anyway.” Why does the Vice President continue to give the impression that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was connected with the September the 11th attacks, when the President has conceded that they were not, and the 9/11 Commission conceded they were not? MR. McCLELLAN: I don’t … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: The gaggly goodness begins with president’s conflicting statements on rendition. Q Back in March, the President said, when asked about rendition, “We seek assurances that nobody will be tortured when we render a person back to their home country.” Today he said, “We do not render to countries that torture.” That sounds like a change. MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think he was referring to what we have previously said, which was, we have an obligation not to render people to countries if we believe they’re going to be tortured. And in some instances we seek further assurances to … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle: Rendition Edition

From Holden: Via Froomkin: Twins Watch Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts write in The Washington Post that the First Twins were spotted “dining at Dino in Cleveland Park Saturday night.” Just last week, the New York Post spotted Barbara Bush “snapping up a pair of Beja Boots for $300 at the Terra Plana shop on Elizabeth Street.” But wait. According to a recent Associated Press story about their dad getting summoned for jury duty in Crawford, State District Judge Ralph Strother told reporters that “one of Bush’s twin daughters, Barbara, received a jury summons for his court a month ago. … Continue reading NotJenna Shirks Her Civic Duty

From Holden: German Chancellor Angela Merkel thought she had received an apology from Condi Rice for the US’s false imprisonment of a German citizen. But once Rice left Germany her spokesslug denied that Rice had admitted to a mistake. [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel told a joint news conference with Rice in Berlin that the United States had acknowledged it made a mistake in the case of Khaled el-Masri, who says he was flown to Afghanistan by U.S. agents and jailed for five months last year before being freed. “I’m pleased to say that we spoke about the individual case, which … Continue reading That Silly Woman, What Was She Thinking?

From Holden: Chimpy consented to a few questions today at the end of a photo-op with the World Health Organization Director-General. Interestingly, both the Chimpster and the White House staffer(s) who prepared the transcript for the web never referred to the World Health Organization Director-General by his full name, he is only identified as Dr. Lee. His full name is Lee Jong-wook. I suppose that was too difficult a name for Chimpy to pronounce, but why wasn’t Dr. Lee identified in full in the transcript? Is Lee Jong-wook too furrin-sounding for the White House? Anyway, on with the questions. Gaze … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

The 80th person to sign up on Bill’s list! When the list reaches a hundred, I’ll send it in to Fux News. Let’s give Bill a happy holiday gift. A. Continue reading Congratulations, Montag!

From Holden: The Bush Assministration’s embrace of the status quo in Azerbaijan draws a sharp rebuke from the Council of Europe and Azerbaijani opposision leaders. The Council of Europe (CoE) has rebuked Washington for its support of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev’s regime despite serious allegations of fraud in recent parliamentary elections. Speaking at a press conference on Friday night, a high-level delegation from the CoE rebuked not only President Aliev and other government authorities, but had harsh words for US President George Bush. Their criticism of Bush was in response to the US embassy in Baku issuing a press release … Continue reading Freedom’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose

From Holden: The CIA scrambled to move its secret gulag from Eastern Europe to North Africa days prior to the launch of Condi’s charm offensive. Two CIA secret prisons were operating in Eastern Europe until last month when they were shut down following Human Rights Watch reports of their existence in Poland and Romania. Current and former CIA officers speaking to ABC News on the condition of confidentiality say the United States scrambled to get all the suspects off European soil before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived there today. The officers say 11 top al Qaeda suspects have now … Continue reading The Portable Gulag

From Holden: What, no speechifying from Tom DeLay? No pidgeon English Corner posts from K-Lo? No video diagnosis from “Dr.” Bill Frist, or late night flights back to Washington for George Bush? The state of Massachusets wishes to pull the plug on a little girl in a persistent vegetative state. Won’t those who fought a crusade for Teri Schiavo side with the step-father, who helped beat this little girl into her currect condition, and fightto keep her alive? Where are the fundie hospice picketers when you need them? Eleven-year-old Haleigh Poutre was taken to the hospital three months ago with … Continue reading Paging Randall Terry

Love love love love crazy love: LONDON – Gay couples began registering for civil partnerships at town halls across Britain on Monday as a law took effect giving them many of the same legal rights as married heterosexuals. Although the law stops short of allowing same-sex couples to marry, many said they were still eager to claim the benefits and official recognition of their relationships — for which some have waited decades. The Times of London marked the day by publishing notices of “gay marriages” for the first time. “We’re absolutely delighted,” said 80-year-old John Walton, registering in London with … Continue reading Hail Britannia

From Holden: It’s another in-flight gaggle today as Chimpy tries to change the subject to the economy. The press corps displayed greater interest in Condi’s charm offensive. Q This morning, Rice talked at Andrews — I don’t know if you know what she said. MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. [snip] Q — that the intelligence agency is getting some information from a small number of dangerous detainees that have prevented terrorist attacks, both in Europe and in the United States. Can you shed any more light on that? Can you give us any more detail on that? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Dang. The Pentagon says Rummy is lying as the words leave his lips. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld laid blame today for the possible placement by the military of news articles in the Iraqi press on the contractor who ran the program. [snip] “Some people in the military signed a contract with a private contractor, and the private contactor is alleged to have written accurate stories, but paid someone in the media in Iraq to carry the story,” Mr. Rumsfeld said. “That’s an allegation. I don’t know if it’s true yet.” He added that an important question … Continue reading His Lips Are Moving

From Holden: REUTERS/Larry Downing Continue reading Bend Over and Cough, America

From Holden: Pakistan sez George Bush is not the perfect leader. Looks lke the Lincoln Group has been busy. The Federal of Education has excised a poem from a new English textbook for intermediate classes that enumerated qualities of an ideal leader that could have been attributed to US President George Bush. Written by an anonymous poet, each verse of the poem has an opening letter which when put together in descending order read PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH. Fearing a public backlash, the Ministry of Education has directed the Federal Board authorities to immediately withdraw the poem from the book. … Continue reading A Massive Typo?

From Holden: Wow. 437 CIA rendition flights over or through a single country, albeit one with several key US military installations. Something tells me Condi’s latest charm offensive (or was that “offensive charm”?) isn’t going to win over the Germans. Germany has a list of more than 400 overflights and landings by planes suspected of being used by the CIA, part of the information it hopes U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will clarify on her visit here, a government spokesman said Monday. Ulrich Wilhelm confirmed a weekend report in Der Spiegel magazine that the list — drawn up by … Continue reading 437 Torture Flights