August, 2007 archive

As I was working at home today, I also listened to Diane Rehm’s regular Friday news roundup. Even the panelest from the Moonie Washington Times couldn’t find anything positive to say about Gonzo.

TPM Muckraker collects Gonzo’s top lies.

Another hypocrite, that is.

You know, it’s one thing to say you like the days of wine and roses, and then to live for them. Say, for instance, no one could ever accuse Hef of being a hypocrite.

(Then again [I’m not implying cause and effect here–well, yeah, actually, I am], Hef is not a Republican.)

It’s quite another to say you hate the days of wine and roses, then throw back a bottle and start arranging the flowers.

Tim Droogsma, a former press secretary to a U.S. senator and a Minnesota governor, was arrested Tuesday in a midafternoon prostitution sting on St. Paul’s East Side.

He allegedly arranged a deal for sex from an undercover officer through Craig’s List, police spokesman Tom Walsh said Wednesday.

Go over to Susie’s place to see the full story.

Nothing to add.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden is preparing to don his National Guard uniform and head to Iraq next year, potentially leaving the state Department of Justice in someone else’s hands for 12 months.

At a campaign stop in Iowa Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, Beau’s father, noted that his son’s unit — the 261st Signal Brigade — has been placed on alert for an Iraq deployment sometime next year.

The brigade specializes in setting up communications and Biden serves as a captain and a Judge Advocate General’s Corp officer — a military lawyer.

Steve has a great post over at ASZ on family values.

(I have edited this post. Though I believe every word of what I initially wrote, I decided that the language was somewhat intemperate.)

I talked earlier of how absurd Bill O’Reilly’s accusations that DailyKOS is somehow a hate site, especially in contrast with his own language and behavior toward those with whom he disagrees. (It is, though, characteristic of members of the far right to attack people, rather than ideas, as the Current Federal Administration has demonstrated that their ideas lead to massive failure of governance.)

Watch here as here as Stephen Colbert incisively investigates O’Reilly’s charges by daring to brave an interview with the mysterious and shadowy Kos himself.

War forever.

Will Bunch.

Unfortunately, given the track record of the persons in question, this is all-too-believable.

Forget the so-called September deadline. It was never a “deadline.”

Talking about September way back in May was just a way for Congress and the Administration to avoid facing the truth.

Instead of being any kind of decision point, September will instead be Bushie lies and stonewalling, as usual (emphasis added):

Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

(snip)

The senior administration official said the process had created “uncomfortable positions” for the White House because of debates over what constitutes “satisfactory progress.”

During internal White House discussion of a July interim report, some officials urged the administration to claim progress in policy areas such as legislation to divvy up Iraq’s oil revenue, even though no final agreement had been reached. Others argued that such assertions would be disingenuous.

“There were some in the drafting of the report that said, ‘Well, we can claim progress,’ ” the administration official said. “There were others who said: ‘Wait a second. Sure we can claim progress, but it’s not credible to . . . just neglect the fact that it’s had no effect on the ground.’ “

Consider the track record. Which set of “officials” is likely to win that one?

Via Dan Froomkin.

The other day, I got another one of those ridiculous “surveys” from the RNC (funny, with all the political junk mail I get, they are the only outfit that indulges in such transparent fact-bending.

Here is a typical question (I’m doing this from memory, so it’s not an exact quote, but it will give you a flavor for their questions and, through them, the twisted view of the world they represent:

Do you favor the Republican Party’s efforts to keep the Democrat (sic) Party from selling the United States to brown Islamic terrorist Mexican illegal immigrants in return for a rusted out 1994 Isuza pickup and three half-eaten tacos?

Yes

No

No Opinion

Soooooo,

I checked all the right answers, as opposed to the “Right” answers, and mailed it back.

It was a business reply envelope.

At least that’s a few pennies they won’t be able to devote to undermining the Constituion, making the rich richer and the poor poorer, and betraying the ideals of the Founders.

Pine View Farm, in fact, the entire site, was down yesterday because of a DNS problem.

If you are reading this, the problem is fixed. Otherwise, otherwise.

Well, yeah, I guess some us are. The Republican Party still exists. But that’s beside the point.

Anyway, I’m watching television (almost always a mistake) and an AmbienCR ad comes on.

It shows someone sleeping while a big AmbienCR pill floats in the air above her.

Then the the top layer of the pill dissolves into starlike particles that cascade over the the sleeping person, presumably knocking her unconscious so she sleeps longer.

And the word “Animation” appears on the screen.

What kind of bozo wouldn’t realize this was animated?

No, never mind, I don’t want to know.

I’m already cynical enough.

Addendum, Later That Same Evening:

Steve at ASZ.

John Cole at Balloon Juice.

Dick Polman, with eye-witness evidence.

TBogg.

Tomorrow, Tangier Restaurant, 18th and Lombard, Philadelphia, just one block north of South Street.

Try the fish and chips or the bacon cheeseburger.

Don’t know yet whether I’ll be there, but you can make it.

Via Upyernoz.

I mentioned earlier that my attempt to purchase health insurance for my son was fruitless because, well, he might need health insurance.

Check out this post from Susie.

The Fat Cats are crying for help.

All that phony paper is not even good enough to paper a wall.

And I have just one question:

Why shouldn’t the persons behind this mortgage scam just be allowed to lose all their money?

It’s their scam, not mine.

Well, two questions.

Why the hell should we bail out the scam artists?

Oh, yeah. I remember now. No one is accountable if they have money.

It just the rest of us who have to pay.

Addendum, 8/11/07:

Third thought: Of course, these are the same folks who believe in unfettered capitalism as long as they are raping the polity making money, but are the first to come running to the Guv’mint to bail them out when they have to face the consequences of their own bad decisions.

No, not Congress.

The sensor.

Second Son had problems with the engine in his truck surging.

With a little bit of googling, I narrowed it down to the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor and a dirty air filter as the probable suspects, so I cleaned them, then I drove to the truck for two hours today with no problems.

With my luck, I’ll get a phone call from him later tonight when he’s broken down on the side of the road . . . (fortunately, I got him his own AAA card).

Then, again, even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.

(Actually, I consider this a minor triumph. I understand carburetors, but, when I look at a fuel injector, I’m like the lady in the old AAMCO commercial who, when she looked under the hood, saw a only a bunch of “dark greasy shapes.”

I guess this was before he believed in torture.