YEAAARRRGH! A. Continue reading Happy Howard Photo

Commuter talk. Thoughts from a small town turned city turned suburban turned city girl. Mr. A and I became a one-car family about three years ago. Before that, we lived in one suburb and both commuted to other, separate suburbs. I was reporting, and my job required me to have a car and at times I lived in the damn thing. He pretty much drove to work, ran errands, and drove home. But when we moved back to civilization, to a ‘hood of bike paths and parking restrictions, and I got ticket after ticket for forgetting to move my stupid … Continue reading Car Talk

From Holden: ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas snagged an interview with Chimpy on his way outta Dodge. American Disaster Preparedness: Slightly Better than “Woefull” ELIZABETH VARGAS: A congressional report assessed the U.S. reaction as “woefully unprepared” not only for a natural disaster now but for a terrorist attack, the state of readiness right now of the United States. Setting aside future improvements that you plan, today do you agree with that assessment, that the United States is “woefully unprepared” for another natural disaster or attack? PRESIDENT BUSH: I agree that we didn’t do as good a job as we could have done … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Holden: You could use this header for every Goldberg post: I WAS WRONG [Jonah Goldberg] I should at least admit that my prediction that Cheney would ultimately receive a bump in the polls from the hunting accident mania hasn’t panned out. Still, he remains my favorite politician in the GOP leadership. Posted at 12:31 PM Meanwhile, The Derb thinks that cultrual diversity is a form of rape. Continue reading The Default Jonah Post

From Holden: Via Dan Froomkin we learn a few more details about the latest CBS News poll. In the January Times/CBS News poll, 83 percent of Republicans approved of the way he was handling his job; in the latest poll 72 percent approve. Approval among self-identified conservatives also dropped to 52 percent, from 62 percent. Continue reading Saddle Me Up A Conservative Pony

From Holden: What’s this? A stirring of investigative journalism at the New York Times? The New York Times sued the U.S. Defense Department on Monday demanding that it hand over documents about the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program. The Times wants a list of documents including all internal memos and e-mails about the program of monitoring phone calls without court approval. It also seeks the names of the people or groups identified by it. Continue reading Judy Doesn’t Work There Anymore

From Holden: Chimpy graciously accepted a few questions after his photo-op with Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi this morning. Compare and conmtrast the two world leader’s responses to this question regarding the civil war in Iraq and the possibility of withdrawing military forces. The Question: Q Mr. President, there was some more sectarian violence today in Iraq. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands, killed since the bombing of the mosque. Do you fear an all-out civil war? And will the events of Iraq of the last few days affect prospects for a U.S. draw-down? And to the Prime Minister, do you … Continue reading Your Presidnet Speaks!

From Holden: I can’t wait to play with my Dick Cheney Action Figure complete with shotgun, scowl and “retractable-spike kick shoes” – just like the pair 007 villain Rosa Klebb sported in “From Russia with Love”, according to the <a href="NY Post. Continue reading Beats The Hell Out Of The Harry Whittington Inaction Figure I Got Last Week

From Holden: …it focuses on Bush’s torture fetish. Of course, it would better if they would mention that “the top” is indeed the president. ONE OF THE most shocking photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq shows a grinning guard giving a thumbs-up sign over the bruised corpse of an Iraqi detainee. Subsequent investigation showed that the deceased prisoner, an Iraqi named Manadel al-Jamadi, died of asphyxiation on Nov. 4, 2003: He was tortured to death by Navy SEAL and CIA interrogators who took turns punching and kicking him, then handcuffed his arms behind his back and shackled them … Continue reading Whenever I Give Up on the Washington Post’s Lead Editorial…

From Holden: If ID can’t make it in Utah, then it’s dead. In a defeat for critics of Darwin, the Utah House of Representatives on Monday voted down a bill intended to challenge the theory of evolution in high school science classes. The bill had been viewed nationally, by people on each side of the science education debate, as an important proposal because Utah is such a conservative state, with a Legislature dominated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But the bill died on a 46-to-28 vote in the Republican-controlled House after being amended by … Continue reading Intelligent Design’s Death Rattle

Scout’s first couple posts are up. A. Continue reading ‘There Is Not Much Known Here’

From Holden: Today’s gaggle included many port sell-out questions, but this is one of the best in my mind. Because if Chimpy has already decided to go forward with the deal then this entire 45-day review thingy is nothing but a scam. Q On the ports, under the 45-day review that you’re now going to start, the way the law is written, it’s up to the President to be the final arbiter of this, the committee then reports to him. Since the President has already expressed his views on this deal — and you’ve just reiterated those today — can … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Jim the Crazy Liberal picks up on the latest from the AP: Citing broad gaps in U.S. intelligence, the Coast Guard cautioned the Bush administration that it was unable to determine whether a United Arab Emirates-owned company might support terrorist operations, a Senate panel said Monday. Continue reading The Coast Guard Said No, Too

From Holden: Poor Little Scottie, even his mom is bucking the Bush line these days. “Our roads, our bridges, our seaports, our airports and our border crossings are vital to our economy and prime targets for terrorists,” said Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas comptroller, couching it in home-state terms but jumping on the political bandwagon opposing the ports deal. “Why take the chance and let a private or public foreign operation control vital Texas infrastructure and property?” Via Froomkin. Continue reading Scottie’s Mom Says No To UAE Port Deal

From Holden: The Bush Economy is an equal opportunity fucker, isn’t it. In the race to get ahead economically, America’s young workers are falling behind. A new survey shows that median incomes fell for householders under 45, even as they rose for older ones, between 2001 and 2004. Income fell 8 percent, adjusted for inflation, for those under 35 and 9 percent for those aged 35 to 44. The numbers add new weight to longstanding concerns about whether younger generations of Americans will achieve living standards that are better – or at least equal to – those of their parents. Continue reading Screw The Young, Too

From Holden: Dear Leader, to our nation’s governors. I’m — this is historic times, and I know you know that. Continue reading Brain Fart of the Day

From Holden: Via the Daily Muck, Tom DeLay’s likely November opponent, Nick Lampson, has raised more money and has more cash in the bank than the indicted former House Majority Leader. The reasons for DeLay’s cash-crunch? He has trouble raising money because he is viewed as a crook, and he can’t hold onto the money he has raised because he has to pay his lawyers. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, is trailing his potential Democratic opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson, in fundraising and cash in the bank, according to new financial reports that covered the first six weeks of the … Continue reading Poor Tom DeLay

From Holden: Where would we be without our bubbles? Sales of new homes fell for the second time in three months in January, providing further evidence that the nation’s five-year housing boom is slowing. The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units last month. That was a bigger drop than analysts had been expecting and provided support to the view that the housing market, after setting sales records for five straight years, is slowing under the impact of rising mortgage rates. Continue reading The Housing Bubble Goes The Way Of My Bush Boom

Tbogg hurt the widdle wingnut’s feelings. The comments to his response to Tbogg’s post (which I referenced here) are truly priceless. This is my favorite: I’ve spent 17 months in Iraq, working for the CPA in 03-04 and on reconstruction contracts for a couple of tours since. I probably am a “liberal” by your definition, and a retired reserve officer. I’m in Iraq now, Green Zone Baghdad. I was listening to mortar fire yesterday afternoon. They (Sunnis? Ba’athists? someone else?) were shelling the neighborhood of one of my Iraqi co-workers, I later learned. I’m waiting for him to come into … Continue reading Flaming Shot of Ouzo

From Holden: Chimpy is on the road again. President Bush is planning a two-day wind sprint across India this week, when he will meet with political leaders, chat up high-tech millionaires and give a speech at a 16th-century fort. But to the consternation of the Indians, he will not see the country’s most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, a decision that Mr. Bush said was made by an omnipotent scheduler. [snip] “I’ll be the president, we’ve got the scheduler being the scheduler,” [Bush said]. [snip] Mr. Bush has never been a sightseer, and his planned two days in India and … Continue reading Incurious George Goes to India

From Holden: Stephen Hadley, the current National Security Advisor who took the blame for sixteen of the lies in Chimpy’s 2003 State of the Union address and is up to his eyeballs in the criminal conspiracy to reveal Valerie Plame’s status as a covert CIA agent participated in a press briefing late Friday regarding Chimpy’s upcoming trip to India and Pakistan. Regarding the decision to turn over 21 US ports to the Emirate of Dubai, Hadley revealed that the Assministration’s decisoin is final and the 45-day review requested by DPW is just for show. Q I need to ask about … Continue reading Our Man Hadley

From Holden: It was just over two weeks ago the National Guard Association dedicated a bust to the man who destroyed the Guard. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies. [snip] The governors said they would present their concerns to President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Monday. In a preview of their message, all 50 governors signed a letter to the president opposing any cuts in the size of the National … Continue reading Bush Destroys The Guard

Someone, give me something here. Someone, human, divine, give me words to rail against this because I see it, I read it, I look, and I don’t even have the breath to gasp at the casual savagery of it: If we’re looking at an Islamic civil war, then vast numbers of good people will die, from Libya to Oman. Luckily, they won’t have to be our people. In the very worst-case scenario, the Middle East could blow up – and we could bug out, pronto. “This is the good news?” you ask. Yes, and I’ll explain why. Our people. Tbogg … Continue reading Our People

Flea’s running a contest: disgusting meals you love anyway. The prize is truly awesome. Go. Read. Gag. Enter. A. Continue reading Sunday Night Fun

From Tena: raq’s death squads: On the brink of civil war Most of the corpses in Baghdad’s mortuary show signs of torture and execution. And the Interior Ministry is being blamed. By Andrew Buncombe and Patrick Cockburn Published: 26 February 2006 Hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior, the United Nations’ outgoing human rights chief in Iraq has revealed. John Pace, who left Baghdad two weeks ago, told The Independent on Sunday that up to three-quarters of the corpses stacked in … Continue reading How late it was, how late

I admit. I think about the abortion issue as little as I can. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m deathly sick of abortion being the barometer by which we judge all servants in all branches of government. I think it’s a poor test of governing skills and it’s criminally shortsighted to base one’s assessment of a person’s fitness to govern, ie to do a job that encompasses national security and tax policy, on whether they’re willing to sentimentalize infants. We’re not hiring National Doctors in our elections, no matter what Bill Frist thinks. There need to be far, far more queries … Continue reading What You Wish For

Go read Thers. The problem I had with the DaVinci Code was the same problem I had with The Passion of the Christ. It SUCKED. The fanfiction term for the lead character is a Mary Sue (or, since the character is male, Marty Stu): a blatant self-insert. C’mon. Tweedy professorial type who nonetheless gets all the chicks with his dashing derring-do? Yawn. Forget the revelations-that-aren’t. It’s amateurishly written, and its being viewed as anything other than one of a slew of cheap thrillers is a triumph of marketing, not literature. As I told my Catholic mother one day when I … Continue reading Selling The Controversy

Go lookit this. Mike goes on a bender. Somebody called me a commie after this column ran. Mom would be so proud. You can’t vote in the Koufax Awards yet, but you can go read all the nominees for “Most Humorous Post” and spend your day cleaning coffee off the monitor. A. Continue reading Saturday Reading List

What the frack, only two episodes left? This show is too short. Spoilers within.

Continue reading “Love In The Asylum: Galactica Thread”