Getting better all the time. With the Islamic holy month of Ramadan under way, insurgent attacks in Iraq have risen in the past two weeks, particularly in Baghdad, a U.S. military commander said Wednesday. “This has been a tough week,” Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. “This week’s suicide attacks were at their highest level of any given week.” About half of those attacks targeted security forces, Caldwell said. He said around 50 percent of car bombings were suicide strikes, blaming “terrorists” and “illegal armed groups” for attacks during Ramadan, which began Saturday. But Caldwell said murders and executions were the … Continue reading The Teachers Who Taught Me Weren’t Cool

I know, I know, it’s the Wall Street Journal, I shouldn’t take it seriously. But it’s theWall Street Journal, I need to be able to take it seriously, and the fact that I can’t is aproblem: In an administration that prides itself on viewing the world in black and white, White House press secretary Tony Snow is injecting a lot of color. Five months into the job, the former Fox News pundit is using his wardrobe to communicate that he’s not the stereotypical press secretary. [snip] Mr. Snow mixes things up, with colors that often seem to reflect the administration’s … Continue reading Pink Shirts

Oh, my.Little Scottie Rasmussen has some bad news for our Dear Katherine in his latest poll on the Florida Senate Race. Sen. Bill Nelson (D): 56% Rep. Katherine Harris (R): 34% You think that’s bad? Wait until you hear this. Nelson is viewed favorably by 54% of all voters, Harris by just 39%.Harris is in a rare category of candidates who are viewed unfavorably by a majority of the state’s Likely Voters. Overall, 52% percent view her unfavorably, including 38% with a very unfavorable opinion. Ouch! Continue reading Your Wednesday Afternoon Republican Juggernaut Update

My, my, my. Looks like thebinge drinking started early at Harris campaign headquarters. Looking for a good, stiff drink in downtown Sarasota? Try U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris’ office. It’s one of the stops offered up by the Google Maps Web site (maps.google.com) when searching for “drinks” in the area. Startling? Sure. Tempting? Possibly. But off the mark just a hair. The mapping site grabbed the congresswoman’s office from a June 2005 press release posted on the Web, a release describing both a Sarasota Chamber of Commerce function with “complimentary drinks” and a separate Harris-led business seminar. Continue reading Your Wednesday Morning Republican Juggernaut Update

Banned from Air Force 1? That’s gotta hurt. People involved in Florida politics say they’ve never seen anything like it: Deep in her campaign for U.S. Senate, Katherine Harris, is all but shunned by her party. On President Bush’s recent trip, she was pointedly avoided and was not invited to travel to another GOP event with the president on Air Force One. Continue reading Your Tuesday Morning Republican Juggernaut Update

Today, withUnocal Employee of the Month Hamid Karzai. Who Was The Killer Now? After all, just yesterday, Taliban gunmen assassinated Safia Ama Jan — cold-blooded kill — she got killed in cold blood. Was Stopped Being Gathered Now, you know what’s interesting about the NIE — it was a intelligence report done last April. As I understand, the conclusions — the evidence on the conclusions reached was stopped being gathered on February — at the end of February. Experience With Good Product You know, I think it’s a bad habit for our government to declassify every time there’s a leak, … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

Just what is it thatAdam Nagourney is trying to tell us here? Nagourney observed that [RNC Chair Ken] Mehlman’s usual “bouncy confidence” was missing when they discussed the fall elections. But Mehlman tells Nagourney: “I’m not flipping out.” Nagourney relates: “His White House colleagues and friends poke fun at his obsession with order and measurement, at his daily spreadsheet of to-do lists.” He quotes Karl Rove on Mehlman: “He’s anal-retentive, man!” Continue reading Did Karl Rove Lose his Watch?

Others have covered Pony Blow’s claim yesterday that Chimpy has been saying “all along” that the war in Iraq has made America less safe. There’s not much one can do with such a jaw-dropping assertion. And that doesn’t leave me much to obsess on from such ashort gaggle other than Blow’s attempt to spin Republican reluctance to be seen with the president. Q Tony, how do you justify five events where the public has no idea what the President is saying, what the pitch is, who he’s meeting with — in some cases, how much money is raised — MR. … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with [Yesterday’s] Gaggle

“Bloggers aren’t going to be kingmakers even though no bloggers actually said they were and most don’t want to be, but looking like I can explode myths with the awesome power of my eyebrows is way more fun than actually writing about politics OR blogging. RAWK!” In other words, who pissed in Perry Bacon’s cornflakes? Jesus. It’s been like two years now, I’ve been reading one whiny pussy piece after another about how bloggers are unruly and need to be feared, but also they suck, because they can’t do anything, yet they’re all-powerful, so we need to beware of them, … Continue reading ‘A Dual-Masturbation Show In Active Development’

Browsing around FUH2.com and related links today, including about 400 bumper stickers with variations on the “drivin’ a hummer? sorry ’bout your dick” theme so popular with me after this backwards-baseball-cap-wearing dipshit in a bright yellow Hummer cut me off on the freeway on Saturday, I ran across what has got to be the ultimateresponse to the idiots who drive these things: A. Continue reading FUH2

If someone is selling you something and won’t tell you honestly what it costs, you’re being sold a bunch of shit. A. Continue reading The Past Six Years In One Sentence

Jesus only has 82 friends? Come on, MySpace denizens. At least jack him up past 100. Incidentally, the comments to that page are precious: hey man. I loved you in that movie. I didn’t get the whole shit about the computer world though. A. Continue reading Weak

Is theHeartland trending Democratic? A new poll being released today shows rural voters in battleground states and congressional districts are up for grabs in November’s election. That could be bad news for Republicans. The nation’s rural voters are conflicted: While President Bush is more popular with them than he is among all Americans, it’s still not a great rating, and rural voters tend to agree with Democrats on the need to get out of Iraq. They also believe economic growth in the country is uneven. [snip] “Rural is in play,” said Dee Davis, the president of the Center for Rural … Continue reading We Might Have To Start Calling Them “Bluenecks”

Sirens magazine did a wedding issue, and asked me to write something aboutmarriage equality: On a more personal note, not a single one of San Francisco’s or Massachusetts’ weddings marred my wedded bliss one bit. I was more upset by those using my marriage as an excuse to deny others their right to equal protection under the law. San Francisco’s weddings made me remember my own wedding day, and the wedding days of some dear friends: thrown petals, good wishes, sufficient champagne, a bridesmaid snogging one of the groomsmen. They made me happier to be married, the joy of those … Continue reading A Royal Bed By A Garret Window

Man, it should not be too difficult to rouse opposition tothis bill. In the bill, rape is narrowly defined as forced or coerced genital or anal penetration. It utterly leaves out other acts, as well as the notion that sex without consent is also rape, as defined by numerous state laws and federal law. That is the more likely case in a prison, where a helpless inmate would be unlikely to resist the sexual overtures of a guard or interrogator. The section on sexual abuse requires that the act include physical contact. Thus it might not include ordering a terrified … Continue reading The McCain Rapist Protection Act of 2006

Wunnerful. The U.S. needs roughly 3,000 more Iraqi forces to join the battle in Baghdad, but requests for the troops have not been met because Iraqi soldiers are reluctant to leave their home regions, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad said Friday. —– Continue reading How Can We Stand Down If They Won’t Stand Up?

Katherine Harris’ statement yesterday that she can’t give confessed felon Bob Ney’s money back or give it to charity seems to beno longer operative. U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris’ staff is considering whether to give away years-old campaign donations connected to a congressman who has admitted to federal corruption charges, her campaign spokeswoman said Friday. Harris, a Sarasota Republican running against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, got $6,000 from U.S. Rep. Bob Ney’s political action committee, American Liberty PAC, when she ran for Congress in 2002 and 2004. [snip] Harris told The Miami Herald on Thursday that she can’t return or … Continue reading Juggernaut Update

Chimpy isburning through the regular Army with little regard to the consequences. Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become so severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use of the National Guard to provide enough troops for overseas deployments. [snip] The question of how to sustain the high level of forces abroad became more acute this week as General John P. Abizaid, the senior American commander in the Middle East, said that the number of troops in Iraq, currently at more than 140,000, could not be expected to drop … Continue reading Fodder Shortage

Tragedy. Now the death toll is 9/11 times two. U.S. military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now match those of the most devastating terrorist attack in America’s history, the trigger for what came next. Add casualties from chasing terrorists elsewhere in the world, and the total has passed the Sept. 11 figure. The latest milestone for a country at war comes without commemoration. It also may well come without the precision of knowing who is the 2,973rd man or woman of arms to die in conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, or just when it happens. The terrorist attacks killed 2,973 … Continue reading Bush Finally Matches Osama