Ann Coulter Go 'Boom'

You know I was only vaguely aware that Ann Coulter had said something ridiculous this week because, well, everything she says is ridiculous so I just tune her right out (no pun intended), but bless her little black ♥ she just couldn't be upstaged by Pat "I Clearly Don't Understand the New Testament" Robertson this week.

What did she do? She repeated her assertion (originally made in her 'column' on Aug. 10th) that New Yorkers cowards and said that they would just surrender to terrorists if they showed up in New York.

Why does anyone give this woman a platform? Oh wait, she did this on FOX and all 'real Americans' know that New Yorkers are liberals who get what they deserve since they clearly don't get how September 11th "changed this country."

Gold Star Mom

Cindy Sheehan on Bill Maher. Watch for yourselves.

The General to some...

"Wes" to others... Kos has some commentary on Wes Clark's recent statements and they're pretty positive...

Must See TV: Stewart vs. Hitchens

Once again Jon Stewart proves that (a) the "media elite" doesn't get the parody and (b) he's the only political commentator in America worth a damn. You must watch to see him clearly articulate his (and, I believe, our) frustration with the criminal incompetence of the Bush Administration in the prosecution of the war in either Iraq or Afghanistan and Bush's inability to treat us like Adults. Must See TV.

Democrats: sad but true?

Over at Hullabaloo, Digby tells this old joke in terms of the current Democratic party:

"Howard and Joe are facing the firing squad. The executioner comes forward to place the blindfold on them. Howard disdainfully and proudly refuses, tearing the thing from his face. Joe turns to him and pleads: "Please Howard, don't make trouble!"

That sounds about right...

The Truth? Bush Co. Can't Handle The Truth... Ever

It doesn't seem to matter what it refers to, the Bush Administration just can't seem to handle "the Truth" - that is anything that interferes with their narrative. Evidence and data are just dangerous to these folks:

Black, Hispanic and white motorists are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched, handcuffed, arrested and subjected to force or the threat of it, a Justice Department study has found.

[snip]

The bureau's director, Lawrence A. Greenfeld, appointed by President Bush in 2001, wanted to publicize the racial disparities, but his superiors disagreed, a BJS employee said Wednesday. No release was issued.

Greenfeld has told his staff that he is being moved to a new job following the dispute, according to this employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to reporters.

[snip]

"When someone in law enforcement who is willing to speak the truth about racial profiling gets demoted for it, that's absolutely chilling," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. "To manage any problem, we must first measure it."

Yes, "chilling" is one word for it.

Walter Reed

So they're closing Walter Reed... that's just not right. See while everyone remembers the World Trade Center collapsing on Sept. 11th, I remember smoke rising over Arlington and not being able to get into DC because someone had rammed a plane into the Pentagon. If there's another incident, everyone knows DC is a major target and Walter Reed would be absolutely necessary to handle casualties. So much for 'national security.'

Anyways, I want to mark this with a few words from HPI friend Michael Penn and his new single "Walter Reed" (available on iTunes!)...

I count the cases piled up high for the 1:15
For platform and for passerby it's the same routine
I'm ranting while I'm raving,
there's nothing here worth saving
Tell me know, what more do you need?

Take me to Walter Reed tonight,
Baby, I've lost the will for fighting over everything
Well there's a few things I gotta say,
and make no mistake, I'm mad...
'cause every good thing I've had abandoned me.

All I want to do is hide
It's graduation day and everything I've learned inside
didn't seem to pay.
I've had my fill of palm trees
and lighting up Grauman's Chinese

Tell me now, what more do you need?
Take me to Walter Reed tonight,
Baby, I've lost the will for fighting over everything
Well there's a few things I gotta say,
and make no mistake, I'm mad...
'cause every good thing I've had abandoned me.
A sad and lonesome me.

I'm the walking wounded and I'd say it to your face
but I can't find my place,
So tell me now, what more do you need?
Take me to Walter Reed tonight,
Baby, I've lost the will for fighting over everything
Well there's a few things I gotta say,
and make no mistake, I'm mad...
'cause every good thing I've had abandoned me.
A sad and lonesome me.

So there you go...

Speechless

You know, I had come around to the position that Bush isn't stupid or ignorant, just sort of... I don't know, just not a critical thinker. But this, THIS exchange from Editor & Publisher leaves me speechless:

Meeting briefly with reporters Monday aboard Air Force One, Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman subbing for Scott McClellan, said that President Bush believes that those who want the U.S. to begin to change course in Iraq do not want America to win the overall "war on terror."

Duffy spoke on a day when a surprisingly large antiwar protest met the president during his stay in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he addressed a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.

Speaking to reporters, Duffy said that Bush "can understand that people don't share his view that we must win the war on terror, and we cannot retreat and cut and run from terrorists, but he just has a different view. He believes it would be a fundamental mistake right now for us to cut and run in the face of terrorism, because if we've learned anything, especially from the 9/11 Commission Report, it is that to continue to retreat after the Cole, after Beirut and Somalia is to only empower terrorists and to give them more recruiting tools as they try to identify ways to harm Americans.

"So he believes that people have a fundamental right to express their views. That's one of the reasons we're fighting this war on terrorism, to protect our fundamental rights. But at the same time, he disagrees strongly."

Uh, Bush himself is solely responsible for the 'front' of the "war on terror" being in Iraq: it wasn't before and Sadam wasn't a threat. Bush created that. He's the poster boy for Islamic extremism. But to say that those of us who don't support this war somehow want to lose the war on terrorism is... astounding.

No, I don't want to lose the "war on terror" but these folks have proven themselves criminally incompetent to plan & execute any aspect of this war. No, I want to win the "war on terror," but we aren't going to with the current administration and that much is clear.

This Space For Rent?

Well it looks like someone at the Pentagon is working overtime to figure out how to "build support" for the troops:

Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

This is, of course, just in case family & friends happen to forget where their loved ones gave their lives I suppose?

The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

That was so last century when wars didn't have cool "slogan-like" names. Today's wars have to be EXTREME to appeal to the kids! That's just marketing 101.

Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the tombstones. That hasn't always happened.

Because families just don't get it.

Like that silly flip-flopper Cindy Sheehan.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval.

"I was a little taken aback," Robert McCaffrey said, describing his reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick's tombstone. "They certainly didn't ask my wife; they didn't ask me." He said Patrick's widow told him she had not been asked either.

"In one way, I feel it's taking advantage to a small degree," McCaffrey said. "Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact."

How do you know that Patrick didn't want to be there? Who are you? His father? Ask Michele Malkin, she'll tell you: he probably wanted to be there just like Casey Sheehan. Why do these people hate America so much?

The owner of the company that has been making gravestones for Arlington and other national cemeteries for nearly two decades is uncomfortable, too.

"It just seems a little brazen that that's put on stones," said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. "It seems like it might be connected to politics."

Uh oh. I think Jeff can say goodbye to that particular contract!

Lots more comedy in the article. Read for yourself.

WWJA? (Who Would Jesus Assassinate?)

"Dear Lord,

Could you please put your "followers" (supposed) back on their meds? Or maybe just bring about this whole 'rapture' thing so we can get on with our lives because it is getting a little crazy here.

Thanks!"

Pat Robertson actually calls for the assassination of Hugo Chavez!

You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.

WTF?!? I, for one, would REALLY like to know what version of the Bible this guy follows because my New Testament is full of Love, Forgiveness, turning the other cheek, Charity, and all that other "liberal" stuff... Why does this man have a forum??

Shameless Exploitation

Hilarious.

Bush's Lousy Analogy

This is for the truly history minded out there (Nick?) but it just goes to illustrate the rhetoric Bush Co. & their surrogates throw around comparing Philadelphia 1787 to Baghdad 2005 to get the 'merican public to feel good about Iraq.

The rhetoric:

President Bush picked up on the theme, in nearly identical terms, in a speech just last May: "The American Revolution was followed by years of chaos. … Our first effort at a governing charter, the Articles of Confederation, failed miserably. It took several years before we finally adopted our Constitution and inaugurated our first President. … No nation in history has made the transition from tyranny to a free society without setbacks and false starts."

In other words, so this argument goes, the United States of America took 11 years to go from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution; therefore, don't be surprised that Iraq is still writhing a mere two years after the fall of Saddam—or that the delegates to its constitutional convention are experiencing difficulties.

I love that: "a mere 2 years"... hey look, 'merica was promised a self-paying cake-walk, free from historic ethnic/religious tensions complete with flowers and Iraqi chocolate, not 'writhing.' I never once heard anything about 'writhing.'

Suffice to say 'The Analogy' is less than perfect, but the rest of the article will illuminate it a bit more...