Month: April 2008

Terrorism6 Comments

A Certain Satisfaction

File this under “God, I wish it was still April Fool’s Day so I could write this off as a joke.” Doug Feith and the torture memo: It comes just as the Justice Department has released a declassified memo from 2003 that outlined the legal justification for military interrogators to employ harsh interrogation techniques. That memo laid out the administration’s view that members of al Qaeda and the Taliban were not protected by the Geneva Conventions. [snip] Feith confirms that the logic of the law was not followed with respect to Geneva, rather it deliberately created a legal black hole … Continue reading A Certain Satisfaction

Uncategorized2 Comments

Beck is an idiot…again

Glenn Beckcondemning MSNBC regarding Wal-Mart dropping a law suit against brain damaged employee: Well, what are the principles? The principles are right is right, wrong is wrong. No matter how much I need it, no matter how hard it is for me, no matter how much it sucks, it’s not right. My word is my bond. I made an agreement. I didn’t see it in there. … This is blackmail. And yet Wal-Mart folds. You don’t deal with terrorists? Really? You just did. You just dealt with economic blackmailers. …But then — and I don’t even put it on the … Continue reading Beck is an idiot…again

Economy5 Comments

New Jobless Claims Breach The 400k Mark

I don’t recall ever seeing a weeklynew jobless number breaking the 400,000 mark before. In the week ending March 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 407,000, an increase of 38,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 369,000. The 4-week moving average was 374,500, an increase of 15,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 358,750. I bet the Republikkkans are overjoyed to have chosen a presumptive nominee who admits he knows nothing about the economy. Continue reading New Jobless Claims Breach The 400k Mark

War in Iraq2 Comments

Heckuva Job Dept.

Way to go, Chimpy. Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years. In a stark assessment a week before Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is to testify on the war’s progress, Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said that the heavy deployments are inflicting “incredible stress” on soldiers and families and that they pose … Continue reading Heckuva Job Dept.

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood6 Comments

Terrible News

Ashley Morris has passed away, according to his family. News, I’m sure, as it becomes available, but for now … just stunned. Ashley was just over here at my house for dinner a couple of weeks ago, filling up the house with laughter and noise and reminding me not to take any crap from anybody I didn’t think was worth my time. The things he wrote are going to ring in my head for a long while, his passion and anger and joy and his love, above all, for his wonderful city. Deepest condolences to those who knew and loved … Continue reading Terrible News

Uncategorized4 Comments

‘I’m just calling to refill my prescription for my ANTI-PSYCHOTICS, that’s all’

Allison Hantschel

The havoc wreaked by telephone services: Side rant on automated attendants. If I key in my phone number, I’m annoyed when I have to key it in again, and then say it to whoever answers. Worse, some attendants won’t LET me key in information. I have to SAY it. Since they’re only available during business hours, I have to call from at work. Since I work at the customer’s site, I have no privacy. And these automated attendants get more and more creative about the stuff they want you to say out loud in a crowded room. I imagine some … Continue reading ‘I’m just calling to refill my prescription for my ANTI-PSYCHOTICS, that’s all’

Uncategorized

He Ain’t Goin Nowhere

FromThe Swamp at the Baltimore Sun: Here’s a switch. A press release in which a high-ranking Bush Administration official claims he’ not leaving. FEMA Administrator David Paulison this afternoon put out a strongly worded declaration that, contrary to media reports, he’s not not going anywhere. That passes for news in the last year of a lame duck presidency generously sprinkled with top level boards and commissions lacking enough members for quorums and by a rush for the exits among senior officials. (See yesterday’sannounced departure of embattled HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson.) Moving on is a fact of transitions, he said, but … Continue reading He Ain’t Goin Nowhere

Your President Speaks2 Comments

Your President Speaks!

Today, inBucharest, Romania. I Say Tomahto This week, our Alliance must also decide how to respond to the requests by Georgia and Ukraine to participate in NATO’s Membership Action Plan. These two nations inspired the world with their Rose and Orange Revolutions — and now they’re working to consolidate their democratic gains and cement their independence. Welcoming them into the MATO [sic] — into the Membership Action Plan would send a signal to their citizens that if they continue on the path to democracy and reform they will be welcomed into the institutions of Europe. Rhyme Time Afghanistan is the … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood5 Comments

New Orleans City Council Vote

In a 7-0 vote the New Orleans City Council just approved of the demolition of the Lafitte housing project. Link when available (I’m watching the live feed of the council meeting) UPDATE: There is another vote to come. FromNola.com where you can find updates… The City Council is about to vote over whether to grant demolition permits for the four largest public housing developments in New Orleans, blessing HANO’s plans to destroy 4,534 units total at B.W. Cooper, Lafitte, C.J. Peete and St. Bernard. Each council member is making a statement. So far, Shelley Midura, Stacy Head and Cynthia Hedge-Morrell … Continue reading New Orleans City Council Vote

Your President Speaks4 Comments

Your President Speaks! AGAIN!

Today, inNeptun, Romania. Intentions To Intend Summits are for opportunities for people to make clear their intentions about how they intend to support this very important mission. To Help Succeed But in this case, it’s in our interest to help succeed because we don’t want an enemy that has been known to attack people — nations in our Alliance to be able to develop safe haven again, to be able to use a launching pad like Afghanistan to plot, plan and attack. What Our Allies Have Got And our allies have got to understand it’s hard. The President Is Worth … Continue reading Your President Speaks! AGAIN!

Uncategorized1 Comment

Well deserved!

Congratulations to Oyster ————————————————————————– UPDATE–Another Recognition: And Edward Poundgets some well deserved recognition for all the heavy lifting he did alone on the Alphonso Jackson investigation before the big guys jumped in…verry late near the end: Typical D.C. scandal cycle, you might assume.  But this time, for those who looked, there was something different. While the Philadelphia story may have been the attention-grabbing final nail in Jackson’s coffin, the basic carpentry was quietly done months before. InOctober, November, andDecember, Edward Pound, an investigative reporter atThe National Journal, produced a three-part series revealing that HUD’s inspector general was investigating allegations that … Continue reading Well deserved!

Political Crack4 Comments

“Conga Line of Suckholes”*

Dana Milbank writing in today’sWaPo: Bush may be a loathed figure in much of the world, but one group owes him a debt of gratitude: the many opposition leaders who came to power after Bush-friendly ruling parties were voted out. Howard took his place alongside Jose Maria Aznar of Spain (whose party was dumped in 2004), Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi (tossed out in 2006), and Britain’s Tony Blair (stepped aside in favor of a Bush-skeptical understudy in 2007). Ruling parties in Poland and Japan also paid for their leaders’ friendships with Bush with big defeats. Bush’s pariah status has turned his … Continue reading “Conga Line of Suckholes”*

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood9 Comments

We Sit Up In Our Storm And Drink A Toast To The Slim Chance

This caught my eye a week or so back: Right now Marcy and I are listening to Naomi Klein talk about how the Left was ready for The Great Depression and responded with the New Deal, while we’re not prepared with a progressive response to the economic crisis that seems to be looming. At EschaCon last weekend, it was said (by whom exactly, I cannot recall right now) that we really needed to come up with a large public works project of some sort to give jobs to the nation during the Depression coming at us like an out-of-control Pinto … Continue reading We Sit Up In Our Storm And Drink A Toast To The Slim Chance

Geek Cred1 Comment

We Make The News: Book Edition

The UW-Madison news service gives the book a nice plug: It is the stories of the students, the fights and the successes of the Cardinal that lent her subject material for her new book “It Doesn’t End With Us,” about the legacy of the Daily Cardinal at UW-Madison. “The Cardinal legacy is really two-fold. It lies in the journalism, like the ground-breaking stories,” Hantschel says. “It also lies in the journalists. The Cardinal is an educational system. The work never really stops; it ripples out from the Cardinal and affects ordinary people.” “It Doesn’t End With Us” gives readers not … Continue reading We Make The News: Book Edition

So Called Liberal Media6 Comments

The Silent Killer (Of Journalism)*

*Title and appropriate LOLcat via Matt. My remarks at the panel on journalism can basically be boiled down to “never ascribe to bias what laziness and stupidity will adequately explain.” What I meant by laziness and stupidity is the tendency, all across the board, to embrace the easy narrative. The easy narrative in the form of cheap sentimentality, as in stories about how to explain school shootings to your children, or stories about how 9/11 made you love your family and go back to church. The easy narrative in the form of exploitation of fear. Matt and I spent some … Continue reading The Silent Killer (Of Journalism)*

Economy3 Comments

Tremendous News For Republikkkans

They must be so proud that their presumptive nominee knows very little about theeconomy. The U.S. lost jobs for a third month in March and manufacturing contracted at the fastest pace in five years, signs the economy continues to turn down, economists said before reports this week. Payrolls probably shrank by 50,000, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the Labor Department’s April 4 report. The last time the economy lost jobs for at least three consecutive months coincided with the start of the Iraq War in 2003. “The economy has slipped into a recession,” … Continue reading Tremendous News For Republikkkans

Jude, Of Interest3 Comments

I’ve Had Enough


That’s it.

I’ve had all I can stand of the Obama/Clinton struggle.

I can’t take any more accusations of racism or sexism, any more dirty tricks, any more triangulation.

These people are as transparent as Saran Wrap, and, like Democrats everywhere, will say or do anything to get elected. They have no vital center, no core principles that will guide them through difficult times. Neither one of them deserves my vote.

Clearly, there is only one option left for progressives.

We need a Ralph Nader/John McCain ticket. 

You can’t go wrong with the anti-corporate zeal of Nader combined with the straight-shooting, principled McCain.
Oh, I know what you’re saying. And I have a response for you after the jump.

Continue reading “I’ve Had Enough”

Political Crack6 Comments

294 More Days of W

But the stupid pundits will be with us forever: The Democratic primary is starting to look like World War I. The origins of the dispute are forgotten. Pennsylvania is the Somme. No chance, though, that the Clintons, who lead the imperial armies, will consent to paying reparations at the Treaty of Denver. The most striking resemblance to the Great War has been the campaign-worker body-count. They’re strewn all over the battlefield. Geraldine Ferraro (killed for bringing up if Obama weren’t black), Samantha Power (Hillary’s a “monster”), the intrepid if foolhardy Rev. Wright (multiple offenses), James Hagee (Catholics as the “anti-Christ”), … Continue reading 294 More Days of W

Your President Speaks2 Comments

Your President Speaks!

Today, inKyiv, Ukraine. No Flowers And Candy? Just because there was a bunch of, you know, Soviet-era flags in the street yesterday doesn’t — you shouldn’t read anything into that. Brain Wreck And so, therefore, one should — but you ought to take more than my stop — more from my stop than just a — trying to send a signal on NATO. NSA Wiretapping/Alphonso Jackson/Cheney’s “So?” The key, of course, is to have government that’s open, government that’s transparent, government that’s non-corrupt, government that actually listens to the voices of the people as it makes laws, which is what’s … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

War in Iraq1 Comment

Surge

Another sign ofsucces. Violent civilian deaths in Iraq have climbed to their highest level since mid-2007, Iraqi government figures showed on Tuesday, due to a spike in violence between Iraq security forces and Mehdi Army fighters. A total of 923 civilians died violently in March, up 31 percent from February and the deadliest month since August 2007, according to figures released by Iraq’s interior, defence and health ministries. [snip] The latest Iraqi data showed 102 police officers and 54 soldiers were killed, compared with 65 and 20 respectively in February, and that 641 insurgents had been killed and 2 509 … Continue reading Surge