2006 archive

Not sure of the purpose of this, but it sure looks like a metaphor for the reasoning of the far right wing.

Here.

I recommend this post to everyone who blogs, even occasionally, on politics and the polity, wherever on the spectrum of the political rainbow you might fall:

I generally re-post what’s already out there, and then add some short commentary or snark to it. Yeah, perhaps it’s not news, but this isn’t your site either. This is my site and I’ll say, expectedly, whatever I want.

Yet sometimes the echo chamber itself becomes a very dangerous thing and in fact, this was made quite obvious over the weekend with the right-wing outrage over a Travel section piece in the NYT regarding the location of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney’s retreat homes, I guess, in St. Michael’s, MD. The right seized on the article as if it were a threat to the security and safety of Donald Rumsfeld, and furthermore, a deliberate attempt by the NYT to put their lives in jeopardy.

(snip)

And so when it became known that the photographer had gotten Rumsfeld’s permission, it made no difference. And then when it was later confirmed with Rumsfeld’s office permission was given, as well as with the Secret Service that the article posed no threat, it made little difference.

(snip)

Given the fact that it has now been confirmed that the story in the NYT was not, never was, and never will be a threat to the safety of Rumsfeld and/or Cheney, I have to wonder – with all the attention the Right put into pushing this story, riling up the freaks into writing all about this non-story, how many people, notwithstanding Rumsfeld and Cheney, but employees of the Times, the photographer who had permission to take the photograph of Rummy’s house, as well as the children who some suggested should be hung as bait for sexual predators, they may have very possibly put at risk themselves.

I received this in my email this morning. I have Googled it and can find no evidence that it is copyright. If anyone can show me that it is, please let me know, so I can take this down or provide a proper link.

Update: Opie has been kind enough to let me know that this is an updated version of a Clinton-era satire. Regardless of whom it’s directed at, it’s a damned good piece of satire. See the note at the end.

Dear Friends and Relatives:

Thank you.
George W. Bush Monument Committee
P. S. The Committee has raised $1.35 so far.

Note (added July 5, 2006): Opie’s post led me to think about the differences between Bill Clinton’s lying and George Bush’s lying.

Bill Clinton lied about personal misconduct. I believe that there are two reasons the Republican Party’s impeachment attempt never gained traction with the American public:

Clinton’s personal life, as strange as it may have been, was not seen as affecting his public decisions as a steward of the nation, and

Persons looked at the situation and said to themselves, “He had an affair; who the heck wouldn’t lie about that!”

In contrast, George Bush’s lies are part of his public life. He lies continually, reflexively, almost habitually, everytime he gets a chance, but not about his personal life–rather, he lies about what he is doing to undermine, circumvent, and otherwise destroy the very Constitution that he swore to uphold–and note that his oath of office is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, not to provide for the physical safety of the citizens of the United States of America, for, without the Constitution, the citizenry is lost.

God help us all.

From the New York Times (follow this link to Raw Story to see the full article).

The terrorist tracking unit, known inside the spy agency as “Alec station,” was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned to other offices within the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone of sorts for the agency, which created the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name (Note: This means the CIA knew he was important, even as the current Federal Administration ignored warnings about him before the World Trade Center attack–ed.) and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring bin Laden to justice “dead or alive.”

He ain’t caught, and the Administration’s actions speak louder than words, at least to those who haven’t stuffed their ears.

I always preferred the wines of Rothschild:

A French court on Tuesday convicted respected wine exporter Georges Duboeuf Wines of fraud after one of its wineries mixed a variety of grapes in its Beaujolais.

The court in Villefranche-sur-Saone in southeast France fined the vintner 30,000 euros ($38,370) — well below the 150,000 euros ($192,000) the prosecutor had requested.

While the small quantity of impure Beaujolais wine never made it to market, prosecutors were pushing for big fines to ensure that such practices don’t spread in the struggling French wine industry.

From the Annenberg Institute:

The conservative Free Enterprise Fund (FEF) continues to push for permanent repeal of the federal estate tax with one of the most blatantly false advertising campaigns we’ve seen this year.

One recent TV ad repeats an utterly untrue claim that the estate tax can “rip away 55 per cent of what you save for loved ones.” In fact, the tax takes zero per cent from all but a very few. Even multimillionaires pay an average effective tax rate estimated currently at less than 22 per cent of their estates.

The ads are particularly nasty in their tone as well. One portrays Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington as a carrion bird, saying “she voted with the vultures” to oppose consideration of estate-tax repeal. Another attacks Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas for supposedly going back on a promise to support repeal, saying “Pryor is a liar.” Actually, Pryor is on record opposing total repeal, though a statement on his website can easily be read to imply the opposite.

Follow the link for the full, dispassionate analysis of this campaign to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.

On the other hand, go here to read about an equally scurrilous ad from proponents of a different side of this issue.

While cruising the Christina today, we got a glimpses of the Kalmar Nyckel, which was open for tours and cruises in celebration of Independence Day. Here she is approaching the I-495 bridge headed downstream to the Delaware River.

And here is the Half Moon, a full-sized replica of Henry Hudson’s ship, also in town for the festivities.

Note that both of these ships, both the same size as the originals, which brought settlers and explorers to the New World, are only slightly larger than a Chevy Tahoe.

Food for the ear:

Commentator Judy Muller makes this point about tyranny: “Once it pulls up a chair and makes itself at home, it develops an enormous appetite.” It’s part of our ongoing series of commentaries on civil rights and national security.

On liberty:

We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all
men are created equal and independent, that from that equal
creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among
which are the preservation of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.
– Thomas Jefferson, 1743 – 1826

The country shall be independent, and we will be satisfied
with nothing short of it.
– Samuel Adams, 1722 – 1803

It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it
shall be my dying sentiment, independence now and
independence forever.
– Daniel Webster, eulogy for John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson, 2 August 1826

It’s easy to be independent when you’ve got money. But to be
independent when you haven’t got a thing, that’s the Lord’s test.
– Mahalia Jackson

Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.
– Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, 1880 – 1954

Mad, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.
– Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, 1881 – 1906

Monica Yant Kinney, who covers New Jersey for the local rag, turned a felicitous combination of phrases about Governor Corzine’s stand in today’s column:

. . . I’m not a gambler, but if this impasse lasts the rest of the week, my money is on Corzine’s getting the win.

This one’s coming down to strength of convictions, and Corzine is convinced he’s right.

(snip)

The business world he knows and loves wouldn’t tolerate the nonsense that led to the government shutdown.

The political world he’s inhabiting these days revels in it.

We’ll test it out tomorrow.

Excerpt from a story in Editor and Publisher. Follow the link to read the whole thing:

ANDREA MITCHELL: Bill, does the press have an obligation to print or not in this case? And were they giving away state secrets?

WILLIAM SAFIRE: Look, I don’t speak for the Times. I’ve been in the Times for 30 years disagreeing with Times editorial policy right down the line. On this one, I think they did the right thing. Here we are on Independence Day weekend, 230 years ago, celebrating what was the resistance to a king who said “We’re going to hang you for treason.” And here we have a Long Island congressman, happens to be named King, who’s saying “treason” and “put these reporters in jail.”

I think there’s a big fundamental thing going on here now, and across the board, of “get the press, get the media.” And, look, I used to write speeches for Spiro Agnew, I’m hip to this stuff, and, and I can say that it gives you a blip, it gives you a chance to get on the offensive against the, the darned media. But in the long view of history, it’s a big mistake.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) shut down the state government Saturday after a deadline to adopt a new balanced budget expired, bringing road construction projects to a halt and furloughing tens of thousands of state employees indefinitely.

Which leads to two questions:

Will anyone notice? and (the question from my friend whose daughter lives in New York City)

Does that mean there won’t be any tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike?

All joking aside, I tip my hat to Corzine. He’s beholden to no one, has no further political ambition, and is calling the bluff of the legislature, which, like Congress, is afraid to step up to the plate and–er–legislate for the good of the state and of its citizens.

New Jersey has been pursuing the same spend-and-spend policies as the current Federal Administration, but it does not have the luxury of being able to keep printing money as long as the supplies of paper hold out.

Mr. Corzine may go down in flames after this, but I honor him for expecting the state government to, well golly gosh gee, Batman, govern.

Consider what activates people these days:

Suppose, just for grins, there was talk radio 230 years ago and Sean Hannity was a drive-time host. What national outrages would have burned up his phone lines? Surely these:

The King was “depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury.”

The King was “imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.”

The King has “plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.”

Now those were big-league issues. For the complete list, consult the Declaration of Independence.

Last week, in contrast, the congressional descendants of the Founding Fathers were up to their lapel pins in the grave challenge posed by … flag-burning. Sen. John D. Rockefeller 4th (D., W.Va.), a cosponsor of a constitutional amendment to ban such desecration, called it “the first step to truly protect our flag.” Without it, apparently, the terrorists win.

Our nation has become obsessed with arcane and marginal frights. Whereas the Founders worried about getting stopped by a Redcoat patrol and hung, their successors fret that some Sixties holdout will light up Old Glory.

No, the whole column is not about flag-burning–that’s just one example. The entire column is about how important stuff (like the Bill of Rights, for example) is getting lost in a mass of noise about, you will pardon my expression, stupid shit inconsequential, but headline-grabbing, side issues.

While the current Federal Administration disregards the Constitution of the United States of America in its every act.

(Boy, I love reading the AP wire!) If they didn’t deserve to be arrested for pot, they deserved to be arrested for stupid:

A pair of pot smokers picked the wrong day to use the drive-thru window at a KFC restaurant in Buffalo. Two men in their 20s pulled up to the restaurant’s window and asked for the Wednesday special.

Meanwhile, a couple of narcotics detectives were inside ordering their food. That’s when a cloud of marijuana smoke wafted into the restaurant. The detectives then spotted the two men smoking what one of the cops called “the biggest marijuana cigar your ever saw.”

Our energy woes would be cured:

It’s long been the milk that pays, but now the Audets have figured out how to make the manure pay as well. They’re using it — actually, the methane that comes from it — to generate electricity.

With the help of their power company, Central Vermont Public Service Corp., the Audets have devised a way to extract the methane from the manure and pipe it to a generator.

From today’s local rag:

Drivers who talk on cell phones may be just as dangerous as those who drink.

That’s the sobering conclusion of a study published yesterday by University of Utah researchers who monitored 40 men and women on a driving simulator.

The story is pretty–er–sobering.

Those who would lightly dismiss the tactics used to “interrogate” persons held in U. S. hands would do well to listen to this.

I would especially recommend today’s interview:

Former Army interrogator Tony Lagouranis talks with Steve Inskeep about the tactics he used on Iraqi detainees, such as isolating them for weeks at a time. Lagouranis says that, overall, very little intelligence was gained through stressful interrogation tactics.

Especially chilling is Mr. Laguouranis’s description of how he gradually lost touch with his own standards of conduct.

The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions are unconstitutional.

In a 5-3 decision, the court said the trials were not authorized under U.S. law or the Geneva Conventions. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion in the case, called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. recused himself from the case.

[Basso Profundo Mode On]Criswell predicts[Basso Profundo Mode Off]–well, actually, I predict–the current Federal Administration will attempt to find some twisted interpretation of the commander-in-chief’s powers to justify ignoring this ruling, because, after all, as they so frequently remind us, we are at war.