In Memoriam

The year-ago date was actually yesterday, but yesterday was a family day for me as I spent time with my wife. I don't think Paul would have minded.

The loss of Paul Wellstone, Great American Citizen, and his wife and daughter was such a senseless, tragic loss. More so because the national media (including this asshole in particular) chose to lie about his memorial service as an excuse to inject wingnut politics where there was no reason to.

This was, for many people, the first time we realised the depth these lying liars would sink to -- smearing a man who was killed tragically and painting his supporters as un-American. Then we saw this and got even sicker. From Paul Wellstone's memorial rose The Angry Liberal, a phoenix that I believe is going to a) elect Howard Dean president, b) show the door to the Republican spend-and-debt Congress, and c) Send Shrub and his wingnut cohorts back to Texas with a drubbing at the polls that will make even his run-out-of-town-on-a-rail father's margin of defeat look good. You heard it hear first.

Reality Bites ... Rummy!

So the truth will out after all.

"The United States has no yardstick for measuring progress" in its war on terrorism, and "is in for a long stay" in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Are we winning or losing the war on terrorism? ..."

... asks Donald Rumsfeld.

Yes, you read that right. When he's not busy lying like a dog about how great everything is when he's on camera, he's writing memos to the State Dept. that paint a rather ... um, un-Fox-News-like picture of the situation. One might even call it ... bearing some passing resemblance to reality.

The important thing about this memo is not that it was leaked (as Rummy will try to make out tomorrow) or that it embarrasses him by contradicting his own public positions on the war. The important thing about this memo is that it shows that the wingnuts are not crazy ... they know perfectly well that their ideas and theories do not work.

But they insist on going ahead anyway. Despite the lives lost. Despite the bankrupting of the country. Despite the damage to our infrastructure and international reputation. Despite the increased risk of our safety as a nation. How is this different than the terrorists who accomplished nothing at all in their favour when they attacked New York and Washington?

Answer: it isn't. The terrorists and the wingnuts are really just the same thing: enemies of America.

President Gas

Hey, how many people remember that Psychedelic Furs song? Show of hands?? :)

Anyway, Buzzflash has the 4-1-1 on President Lying Shithead with a quote-by-quote dissection of what Bush says versus what actually happens. We haven't had this big a disconnect between the Chief Executive and friggin' reality since Reagan's Alzheimer's really took hold (end of his first term, contrary to popular myth), or Nixon thought he could beat impeachment. Sheesh.

Props to Blunted On Reality for pointing me that way, and for inventing the phrase "Google props," which means "congratulations on finding a way to combine hot-topic terms in a manner that raises your hit rate."

I'll give you an example: Did you see Wynona Ryder get naked at Bike Week in Daytona? She was all into her iPod and iTunes for Windows and stuff, so I decided to visit Rush Limbaugh in rehab and slip him a little Oxy-Contin that I got from Gregg Easterbrook to help him out. It only cost me 50 cent.

The above is total nonsense, but it is heavy with the key words that will draw casual Google searchers like flies to cow poop. Google props to me. :)

Bush War Lies #32

You know it's bad when even Colin Powell has to lie. His own staff told him the exact opposite of what he told the United Nations (and us). They said Iraq posed no thread to either the US or Iraq's neighbours.

Greg Thielmann, the person responsible for analyzing the Iraqi weapons threat for Colin Powell, says the Secretary of State misinformed Americans during his speech at the U.N. last winter.

And this isn't some wild-eyed liberal newspaper reporting this (as if those things actually existed) ... this is 60 Minutes II.

The money quote: "the decision to go to war was made first and then the intelligence was interpreted to fit that conclusion."

Thanks to fellow Blogspotter Atrios for the links and spotlighting of this story.

What a bunch of lying liars.

Bush War Lies #31

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? We went almost three weeks without catching George Bush in a bald-faced lie about the war. You know why? Because he's been letting others do the lying for him for a while, particularly Dick "Now Completely Out of Touch With Reality ... or Even the Administration Line" Cheney and Condi "I Said Rummy Was In the Loop But I Lied" Rice. Poor Rummy ... he doesn't get a chance to lie as much anymore. That's gotta hurt.

Remember those fake letters from "soldiers" claiming that everything was great in Iraq, the people welcome them with open arms etc? The ones that showed up with identical copy in at least a dozen newspapers? The ones that turned out to be written by one "colonel" who then "persuaded" his men to sign it?

Oops, says Tom Tomorrow, turns out that's not true either. USA Today reports that the officer who's going to take the fall on this sent out 500 identical letters, some of which were signed without the soldiers' cooperation.

How ... interesting ... that this "innocent PR campaign" should show up just as Bush is mounting his own PR campaign to deny reality in Iraq. How coincidental.

WHAT Liberal Media?

Get out your chest-high wading pants, the bullshit runs as thick as country music in this profile of Poor, Poor Pitiful Rush on MSNBC-via-Newsweek story. Boo hoo hoo.

I don't have time to disseminate the entire article for you, but be aware of the following key concepts:

1. Rush is addicted to "prescription pain medication." No he's not, he's a junkie seeking a high. He has never had a legal prescription for this stuff himself, and there's no evidence that he ever had pain problems. In fact, he's been quoted on his show numerous times saying that there's nothing wrong with him physically.

2. Notice how often the writer (ass-licking Evan Thomas) refers back to Rush's childhood or to his "kinder, gentler" side that nobody has ever actually seen. We're now supposed to believe that blowhard asshole Rush is just an act. I'll bet the millions of "dittoheads" (which, incidentally, translates into "ignorant white trash" in more than 17 languages!) who parrot his claptrap religiously will be pleased to discover they were fooled by an "entertainer." Can't wait for Baba Wawa to sit Rush and wife down for a "heart-to-heart chat."

3. Apparently it is perfectly okay to be an arrogant, misinformed, malicious asshole and hypocrite ... if you're a Republican. Then, when you are inevitably outed as a two-faced drunk/gambler/adulterer/drug addict/whichever, you can duck into the old liberal standby "all I need is rehab, I'm not like those other drug addicts who broke the law." And your zombie-like followers will just go along with this.

When you read the article, substitute the words "Bill" and "Clinton" for "Rush" and "Limbaugh" and see if you think the article reads the same. Puh-lease.

Update: Some smart feller at the St. Louis Dispatch beat us to the punch.

4. Again, I ask anyone (anyone) reading this: if it came out at your workplace that you had a huge drug habit and had lied and hidden it, while simultaneously breaking many laws to do so, would you have a job tomorrow? Would you have your freedom tomorrow? Yeah, I didn't think so.

The Conservative Lifestyle

This summary courtesy of Andrew Milner:

Bill Bennett=addicted gambler.

Dr. Laura=negligent daughter.

Michael Savage=homophobic blowhard.

Bill O'Reilly=unstable and litigious.

Rush Limbaugh=dope fiend.

What a terrific 12 months we've had.


(to which Chas would add: George Bush=lying traitor.)

Rush Limbaugh

Liar. Hypocrite. Junkie. Criminal.

Why is this man not under arrest? Why does he still have a job?

Could any of us do what Rush has done and get off scott-free?

Please write whichever one of your redneck AM stations in your local area carries the "Junkie Rush" show and urge them to cancel it. Here in Orlando, that would be WFLA 970. Contact their advertisers and their program director Tom Benson and ask them why they are supporting an admitted junkie and criminal. You can call him at 407-916-7800 if you prefer.

While you're at it, please call the State Attorney of Palm Beach county, Barry E. Krischer, at 561-355-7100, and ask him if he will prosecute you if you buy and abuse illegal drugs, and force others to break the law to get drugs for you. If so, then why the hell hasn't he arrested Rush Limbaugh?

Update: I called and discovered that Barry is taking public comments in written form at this address: Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry E. Krischer, 401 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach FL 33401. This is probably the best way to contact him since you get to say whatever you want and he can't hang up. :)

Republicans = Insane

No, I'm not talking about the shmoe reading this who may or may not have voted Republican a few times in his life. I'm not talking about the mainstream rank-and-file Republicans who are in it mainly because they like the idea of smaller government, less gov't intrusion, balanced budgets and lower taxes.

(hang on a minute -- why are those people still Republican in light of the evidence that the Party no longer has any interest at all in those goals? Is there really no place else for those people to go?)

I'm talking about the Republican Party as embodied by the RNC and their candidates and elected officials. Most of them are certifiably insane.

Don't believe me? Jump over to Calpundit and have a look at the Texas Republican Platform of 2000, which is reprinted there (the 2002 version is almost identical, btw).

Note that it calls for, among other things:
1. Abortion to be outlawed in all circumstances.
2. Homosexuality to be outlawed in all circumstances. Further, homosexuals would not have the right to associate in any fashion with children -- even their own.
3. Social Security to be abolished.
4. The Federal Reserve and the federal income tax to be abolished.
5. Christianity (and exclusively Christianity) to be taught in our public schools.
6. The Supreme Court should be barred from deciding anything about religion, abortion, or anything else regarding the Bill of Rights. Congress should be free to make any law it wishes on those topics.
7. The minimum wage should be abolished.
8. We should invade Panama and take back the canal by force.
9. The United States should leave the United Nations.
10. All Republican candidates must swear a loyalty oath to this set of principles.

Then come back here and use the comments and try to make the case that the wingnut branch of the party a) hasn't taken over and b) aren't mentally ill. I dare ya.

I've decided on my Halloween costume. I'm going to wear a tinfoil hat, stuff a cigar in my mouth and a pillow down my shirt and go out as The Inevitable Republican Majority. I will tell people to shut up, imprison those that disagree with me and steal candy while explaining that I'm "fair and balanced."

That should scare the bejeezus out of everybody.

Regarding the Recall

I look forward to finally having Republicans shut the hell up about Clinton, since they have now elected someone uncontestedly worse in every area they claim to abhor about our former president. Congratulations, Republicans ... you are now officially the Party of Sleazebags and Hypocrites.

Must ... Save ... THE BRAIN!!

I ... urg ... the pain ... blacking ... out ... hurts ... so bad ...

Bush Pens Poem for First Lady

(Very Little) Comment Needed

Well what do you know ... what network you watch does make a difference! Get a load of how much smarter PBS newswatchers are than the rest of the population:

Via Atrios.

Breaking News: Rush is an Idiot

I suppose the moral of the story here is "never leave your comfort zone," but I'm quite amazed to discover that people are just now finding out that Rush Limbaugh is a racist idiot. And now he's had to resign from ESPN. Boo hoo.

It's not like he's just suddenly become that way. When he first came on the scene, I was working for a company that insisted we listen to his show (they found him funny). He has said things about Mexicans and black people that would have gotten anybody else fired from any other job long ago.

Oh, and did I mention that he's a drug abuser as well?

I can't wait to see how "compassionate" the right will suddenly become when one of their own turns out to be a hypocrite (again).