The Roundup (take 2)

For some reason, my browser shut down while I was 2/3 through so I am gonna try and redo this. And it's even funnier because I started the first post by saying how much was going on with the NCAAs and my baseball draft and a trip to Chicago and something else that I really didn't need to retype this whole thing again.

But, as the great Whitesnake once said, "here I go again"...

If you wanna hear some real cool music, check out Keller Williams. And if you can download stuff, then download this show with String Cheese Incident from Bonnaroo (Freeker by the Speaker and Kidney in a Cooler are 2 to listen to, and there is an acoustic Hells Bells).

Good for you, Leban. The Dolphins finally got a good QB again. Let's hope that he stays away from the "love boats". And what is up with the Vikings giving up a top QB and a top WR in back to back years for nothing?

Tell me again about how they aren't spying on americans in america? Or that it isn't for their political beliefs...

Which reminds me--please sign this. You know it is unconstitutional, and it certainly is worse than a blowjob, no matter how ugly Monica Lewinsky was or whether you like cigars.

All I can say is "who the fuck cares???"

Say it ain't so!!! Chef quits South Park.

Oh, remember how Iran was supposed to be providing bombs to the "insurgency"? Well, guess what--Bush and Rummy lied (again).

Check out my buddy Sherm's Xanga site. And tell that bastard he owes me $10!!!

Sad that Edgar has checked out but at least the guy from Rudy made amends for being such a jackass.

Oh, and UConn over UCLA. Sorry to Jen who went to Nova. Go Big East.

Chimpy's legacy: why is this even up for debate?

With all that has gone on over the past few years, and even moreso over the past few months, how is it that I can still see a front page headline in a somewhat reasonable paper (USA Today) that reads: Conflict Will Define Bush's Role in History?

Now granted, the article isn't really the most flattering, and didn't totally make me throw up in my mouth, but still, I just don't see how ANYONE can say anything that would even seem to indicate that the verdict isn't completely in on this miserable failure of a presidency.

In fact, historians even weighed in back in mid 2004, and it was pretty ugly even then. And that was before we all knew about the Plame leak investigation, Republican felon Jack Abramoff and his merry band of criminals, the Social Security debacle, civil war in Iraq, "Brownie", incompetence losing an American city, unconstitutional wiretapping of Americans and countless other clusterfucks over the past 2 years.

So, where does USA Today even get off making comparisons like this:

Bush's allies compare him to Harry Truman, unpopular during much of his tenure but highly regarded in retrospect.

Or this one to our first President and great Revolutionary War hero:

Bush seems to be thinking about the history books, too. When conservative commentator Fred Barnes interviewed the president last summer for his book Rebel-in-Chief, Bush noted he had read three new books analyzing the first president's place in history. "He said, 'Even after 200 years, they're still reassessing George Washington,' " Barnes recalls. " 'What will they say about me?' "

Now, correct me if I am wrong here, but wasn't Truman's motto "The Buck Stops Here" as opposed to Chimpy's motto of "what me, worry" or "the buck stops there"? And as far as I can tell, George Washington didn't go AWOL when he was needed. In fact, the only similarities I can find are that they are both named George and have a "W" as one of their other initials. And I am pretty sure that neither Washington nor Truman was all for the trampling of personal rights and freedoms.

And even if we ignore all of the fuckups, crimes and lies that don't relate to Iraq, how can anyone still think that the jury is out on Bush's legacy when we already know the following:

• Gulf War I veterans were against invading Iraq;
• Chimpy wanted to invade Iraq before he was even elected;
• Poppa Bush was against invading Iraq as far back as 1991;
• Warnings back in 2004 about a civil war in Iraq were ignored;
• Oh yeah, how could I forget the manufactured intelligence that even the UK had reservations about?
• Even lackey Bremer said that more troops were needed;
• That illegal chemical weapons like depeleted uranium and white phosphorus were used;
• Our own soldiers don't have the proper equipment;
• Innocent people were tortured.

And that was just off the top of my head. Now let's see some other little tidbits too:

Bush's job-approval rating in the USA TODAY Poll has declined in almost perfect tandem with falling support for the war. In the new poll, his standing sank to a record low, 36%.

That erosion and the focus on the war have cost him political clout on other fronts, from creating health savings accounts to facing congressional opposition to the Dubai ports deal.

The financial bill for the war — now running nearly $6 billion a month — has limited the administration's options on seeking more tax cuts and cutting the deficit.

When the war began, 69% of those surveyed said the United States was "certain" to win in Iraq; an additional 25% said victory was likely. No more: In the new poll, four in 10 predict the United States is likely or certain to lose.

So, we have an administration that repeatedly cut taxes on the very wealthy in a time of "war", pretty much bankrupted the country, encouraged policies that greatly favored corporate cronies including the pharmaceutical, insurance, coal, oil and gas industries, ignored the declining education standards in the US, gutted environmental regulations, trampled on the Bill of Rights, divided this country in a way we haven't seen in decades, "won" 2 elections by shady (at best) methods, repeatedly and willfully violated the Constitution, and lied to Congress, the American people and the world about pretty much everything.

And on the biggest defining theme of this administration (Iraq), we already know so many damning and horrific things.

Remind me again why people are still debating the legacy of this mis-Administration. It seems that 2 words sum it all up, no matter which way you look at it.

Miserable failure.

The Roundup: mini-sports edition

Hat tip to Thrax for filling me in on the latest Islander mishap. At least we don't think this was caused by Mad Mike.

G'Town got hosed with a 7 seed. But I think I'm gonna be on the UConn bandwagon. Which will be interesting since the lovely wife went to 'Nova, even though the Cats have a tough bracket....I can see UCLA surprising and Tennessee crashing.

There was so much trading going on at the NHL trading deadline that it surpassed even my biggest fantasy sports housecleanings.

I never thought that anyone could screw the Knicks up worse than Layden. Now we get the Curse of the Isiah (scroll down to Knicks news).

So sad. The host of Press Your Luck just died in a plane crash. I guess the whammys finally caught up to him....

Once again, fuck Duke

OK, Reddick is a fine 3 point shooter. And yes, they are a very good team. But just remember - my Hoyas beat their asses earlier in the season. Of course, they get the #1 overall seeding even though there are at least 4 teams that are better than they are, including 2 from the Big East.

They won't win.

Again.

Let everyone get on the Duke bandwagon and tear up their pools as soon as they lose in the Elite 8 or the Sweet 16. I'll laugh my ass off, just as I do every year. Because out of all the rules I have about picking the tourney, I have 1 rule that I ALWAYS stick with.

Don't pick Duke to win. Sure, they may win every now and again, but way more often than not, they don't win. How many people pick Duke to win EVERY Fucking (with a capital F) year? And you know what else? When Duke happens to wins it all, there are only 75% of the other people in the poll that also picked Duke.

So, I never pick Duke. And I have won at least 5 pools outright in the last 16 years and have come in the money a few more times (including the HUGE win by UCLA in the 90s). I don't know much else about this year's brackets yet, but I can tell you this.

Duke won't win. And I will have a better chance to win because of that.

And how many former Duke players are NBA stars? I count one (Brand), and countless letdowns (Laettner), whoopsies (Hurley and that guy from a few years ago) and many many overrated NBA scrubs.

So, fuck Duke.

(oh, and don't ever pick Arizona to win more than 1 game, 2 TOPS. This has worked like a charm).

Wolf Blitzer: jackass

For the last few holdouts that still think that CNN is capable of being objective, or for those of you who still think that the bearded doofus isn't a petty hack that is intent on scoring points while ignoring the larger and more pressing issues, as well as the high crimes being committed by the Republicans in charge, look no further than yesterday's interview with Howard Dean.

And for the record, Dean, as usual, came across as well spoken, firm, credible and wouldn't play into the distractions or games that Wolf tried to rope him into.

I nearly had to turn off the interview, because of the arrogance, sneering questioning, constant interrupting and baiting of Dean.

Just a few examples of how one of the leaders of a party that is

• Trying to get back into power,
• Has been the only ones to come out with a call for plans to withdraw from Iraq,
• Is raising more money than pretty much ever before,
• Putting in an infrastructure to challenge Republicans where they haven't been challenged before,
• Has come out with calls for a nationalized form of health care coverage and security for our people in their hometowns,
• Has been pushing for investigations into crimes committed in this country's name and most importantly,
• Doesn't control the legislative agenda or the corporate right wing controlled media

gets the brush off and is forced to answer asinine questions about why people don't think they have a plan or defend "breaks in the party alliance" while their efforts are mocked and minimalized.

BLITZER: You just heard the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, say that this has been a good day in trying to form a new government of national unity in Iraq. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll asked if Democrats in Congress have a clear plan for Iraq. Seventy percent said they do not have a clear plan. Only 24 percent said they have a plan. The Democrats seem to be all over the place.

OK - can anyone tell me what the republican plan is for Iraq, other than continue to lie, cover up, ignore and distort reality while keeping our troops in harms way with no goal, no armor and no measures of success? I guess "stay the course" is good enough when huge percentages of the population think that a civil war will, if not already, break out. Or that over 70% of our troops in Iraq are calling for a withdrawal this year.

At least Dean didn't back away from that, indicating that there was a Democratic-originated resolution that passed in the Senate making 2006 a "transition year".

But Wolf wasn't done showing his idiocy.

On the 2006 elections and the issues. Wolfie seems to be of the "head up his own ass" camp when Dean dared to mention all of the lies that we have heard these past few months alone:

DEAN: I think big issues will be security, the desire for a change, and honesty and openness in government. I think we win on all three of those. I think the people of this country have lost confidence in the president's ability to defend us, principally because he hasn't been very truthful with the American people.

BLITZER: And specifically on which he hasn't been truthful, are you saying he lied to the American people?

DEAN: I'm saying that he misled us not just on Iraq and not just on Katrina, but he misled us on issues -- for example, how much the drug benefit for Medicare was going to cost and then what a mess that was going to be; misled us on the fact that he said he was going to fire anyone who leaked information, and Karl Rove still has a security clearance today.

You know, this is not an administration that's been terribly truthful to the American people -- and I think the American people realize that now.

So what we offer is real reform. You can see the Republicans in the Senate have now backed off any kind of lobbying reform. Well, we still think that you houldn't take private jet flights, you shouldn't take free lunches -- and we ought to change the conference committee routine so you can't stick things, like the Republicans stuck in before Christmas, $20 billion giveaways to HMOs and oil companies.

Those are fundamental ethics reforms that ought to be made. I don't care if the Abramoff scandals have faded into the background because of all this other business; we need to make those changes. We need real openness and honesty in government again.

That leads to a discussion on taking back Congress in November, including Dean referencing Newt's strategy in 1994 - while disagreeing with the policies. And while Dean lays out the important items that Dems want to focus on for 2006, all Wolfie cares about is what snazzy name they are going to call it:

DEAN: Give a consistent message about what Democrats want: honesty and openness in government, American jobs that will stay in America using energy independence as a new industry to create those jobs, a strong national defense based on telling the truth to the American people and our soldiers. Those are the kinds of things where we can really make difference -- health care...

BLITZER: It sounds, Governor...

DEAN: ... a health care system that works for everybody. Those things we've all agreed on -- governors, senators, congressmen, mayors have all agreed on those things.

BLITZER: It sounds like you want to have a contract for America the way that Newt Gingrich had his contract for America?

DEAN: Well, if we do, we certainly won't call it that. But there are some fundamental things...

BLITZER: Well, what are you guys thinking of calling it?

DEAN: Who knows? I mean, we haven't got to an agreement on that. I'm actually meeting with the leadership again this week to have further discussions. But the agenda is very clear. Again: honesty and openness, security, jobs, health care, education, and retirement security.

And we wonder why the perception is that there is no plan. All these ideas laid out, and instead of talking about the issues, the importance of these issues or how the Republicans have dropped the ball or don't care about regular Americans, or reiterating that these are issues that are important, and all Wolf wants to know how shiny the packaging will be.

More "lowlights":

Regarding the fundraising success that Dean has spearheaded:

BLITZER: But the Republicans still have a lot more money.

Regarding the "rift" between Ickes/Clinton and Dean on infrastructure:

BLITZER: So is Harold Ickes wrong?

DEAN: I would disagree with Harold. He's a friend of mine, but I wouldn't agree with him on this one.

BLITZER: So they're just basically wasting money. They could use the DNC for their purposes.

DEAN: I wouldn't say he was wasting money. He may want to do this for his own purpose, but it won't basically help candidates. They have to rely on hard money. It can't help federal candidates.

BLITZER: Is Hillary Clinton too liberal to win the presidency?

Wow. Rapid fire vomiting of nonsense by Wolf that would make Tweety proud.

And lastly, I'll leave you with an exchange about November and making the issue of trying to right this country after everything that has gone wrong, ignored or just plain fucked up something more like a game than what is really at stake here:

BLITZER: I've spoken to a lot of Democrats, and you speak to a lot more than I do. They are really sensing that they could win in this November, given all the problems the Republicans have had, the president, the White House, Katrina, Iraq, Scooter Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, the vice president shooting his friend in the face in that hunting accident, the warrantless wiretaps, the Dubai ports deal.

So much negative stuff for the Republicans. If the Democrats don't take advantage of this, as one person said to me, there's going to be all hell to pay.

DEAN: Well, first of all, I'd prefer not to look at it as taking advantage of Republican weaknesses. After all, what's really at stake here is the future of the country. This country's become much weaker under President Bush, not just security and the outsourcing of our ports operations and all that, but the deficits. We're about to vote next week on a new debt ceiling. I think the Democrats are going to vote no. And thank God. Somebody has to be fiscally responsible in this country. And the Republicans have lost the mantle of fiscal responsibility.

Democrats are the only party in the last 40 years who have run a surplus under Bill Clinton. We've got to return us to the basics, return this country to the basics, where we're focused. You know, the president talks about homeland security. Well, homeland security means hometown security. And the Republicans have forgotten about ordinary people in the streets of America.

This is PRECISELY why Dean is doing, to take a phrase from Dear Leader, a "heckuva job". Pointing out the obvious to the oblivious. Standing firm. Calling bullshit on the lies and crimes. Articulating as specific a plan as he can at this point. Talking about the failures of the Republican controlled Congress and Executive Branch.

Too bad he has to tell it to a blowhard pompous ass like Blitzer.

The Roundup: Sunday AM Edition

Remember the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner? Well, turns out that he wasn't a criminal at all. Boy does this make me wanna put on that "patriotic" Lee Greenwood song and turn the volume all the way up....(hat tip to remove office at Daily Kos)

Caught the Allman's last night at the Beacon. A solid show, and Frampton came alive as special guest. Seriously. He was really and unexpectedly good.

....and THIS GUY is a United States Senator - now that is a scary thought. Full article here.

Tell me again how we are "being made safer"?

This is just another reason why Feingold should be our next President. He has been as consistent as can be, a true progressive, doesn't grandstand, has been WAY ahead of the curve on just about everything, and even voted to confirm some of Bush's more questionable and controversial appointments. One of the only true good ones in Washington.

It's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack.....finally!!

George Will inadvertantly disproves conservatism

In this past week's Newsweek, George Will writes a column about a state tax credit/interstate commerce case that the Supreme Court is hearing. Now, to me the case is nothing new, as I am a state tax consultant and have been following the case for a couple of years now (not closely, mind you but it effects some people that I work with).

At the heart of the matter, as Will describes:

In 1998, Ohio granted DaimlerChrysler substantial tax benefits—all states offer similar incentives—to expand a Jeep assembly plant in Toledo rather than moving operations to Michigan. A federal appeals court disapproved the deal, ruling that it unconstitutionally interfered with interstate commerce by favoring companies expanding in one state. The case was brought to court by some Ohio and Michigan taxpayers who said—correctly, but irrelevantly as regards [to] the Constitution—that such state policies shift tax burdens from businesses to individuals.

Now, to my colleagues, this means that if the SCOTUS deems this type of state tax credit unconstitutional because it violates the commerce clause, they are essentially out of a job This is due to the fact that most state tax credits for businesses, including those for making investments, building new facilities, hiring new employees in that state, just to name a few would then be eliminated. And while it would make it less attractive for businesses to relocate or expand in a particular state, it does not necessarily mean that the businesses would expand in the state they currently are in, or would create the same or similar jobs in the state they are currently in.

However, if it is found that the taxpayers have a case that they can sue on, then Will (in my mind correctly) states that many issues will arise between the states with respect to their environmental laws, tax laws, and other regulations that have an effect on interstate commerce. Whether there will be numerous suits arising from this is hardly a guarantee either. But it is an interesting issue, at least to me.

And then Will hits right on the core problem with conservatism with his next comments:

Does the Supreme Court really want to inundate itself with cases requiring it to make thousands of rulings about which state laws and actions do and do not violate some standard—which the court has yet to devise—for permissible state actions that affect commercial practices? Does Ralph Nader, who favors the taxpayers' suit, really want states' differences in environmental and other policies, with their different impacts on commerce, to become constitutionally problematic?

Well, actually, some liberals do want that: They think it would prevent what they consider a "race to the bottom" and conservatives consider a "race to rationality" — competition between the states to reduce taxes and other costs borne by businesses.

That really is it right there. Conservatives think it is rational to have states compete to reduce business taxes, thereby shifting the state tax burdens from businesses to individuals. And we saw during the Reagan/Bush 41 years and now for the past 5 years is the following formula:

Favoring business and corporate rights over individuals +
Major focus on military +
Shifting tax burden to individuals =
Fucked taxpayers and terrible economy.

Then Will goes on to compare this to other types of "entrepreneurial federalism" and gives examples of Nevada and other states lowering the residency rules for marriage and divorce, or legalizing gambling. But the end result of that was not higher taxes for individuals at the expense of businesses (Nevada doesn't even have a personal income tax).

But that isn't the point. Nor is it the point that the Ohio taxpayers that sued in this case are correct, even if irrelevant to the Constitution (at least not with respect to conservatism). The point is, as Will points out, conservatism is for having states compete to give corporations the benefit of tax breaks at the expense of individuals.

And favoring businesses or corporations over individuals is precisely the problem with conservatism.

Thanks, George.

Doonesbury bitchslaps Bu$hCo fundies on science

As much as many of us may have seen it coming, and as much as it isn't surprising in the good old "Unintelligent Sheeple of America" , I still shake my head at how far into public consciousness, popular discourse and discussion the following terms have made it:

"intelligent design", "family values", "Clear Skies Initiative", "No Child Left Behind", "faith-based initiatives", "culture of life", "pro-family"....well you get the picture.

And in waiting for the tide to turn as most of Murka wakes from its 5 year slumber, we know we always have a friend in Garry Trudeau.

Link to strip is here since it is too big for this page.

Sheer brilliance.

I mean, it's always nice to see things like this published. And it always gives me a smile to see something like this printed - in a Utah paper nonetheless. Oh, and we can't forget how something like this will help in 2008 when McCain has to explain this:

he has endorsed teaching intelligent design alongside evolution

Or seeing this about little Ricky and these idiots voted off the school board.

Although Doonesbury has traditionally pulled no punches, I can't really remember a time when it called bullshit and layed the smack down on an entire segment of the population, or an entire movement. Certainly Trudeau has never been shy about the president or other politicians, or their policies and decisions. But the White House Situational Science Advisor perfectly captures the cronyism, the lies, the changing of scientific study results, the silencing of critics or just flat-out distorting of science.

Sadly, we are the ones suffering the consequences of this collosal clusterfuck of an administration, but it is nice to be reminded that we were right in calling bullshit and that another few baby steps have been taken forward towards taking back our country.

Let us only hope that Eleanor Clift is right with her comments.

Fucking Hoyas

How the hell do you leave McNamara open for that 3 at the end? And how could you not manage the clock for the last 5 possessions of the game? And how the hell do you blow a 15 point lead to a team that played overtime yesterday and was coming off a win over the #1 team in the country?

And this was the first loss EVER in the Big East tourney to a team that played OT the night before.

Disgusting. Chokers. Worse than the I am used to seeing with the Seahawks (before this season).

They still get a 5 or 6 seed in my opinion. But what a way to choke.

The Roundup

This can't be good at all. Biggest. Oil. Spill. Ever.

LET'S GO HOYAS!!!! A trip to the Big East finals is on the line....

Tell me the one again about them only spying on the "evil terrah-ists".

The Secretary of the Interior has just resigned. Nothing wrong with a republican Cabinet member being linked to Republican felon Jack Abramoff, right? Still only a Republican scandal.

Guess how many Iraqi civilians were killed since this illegal invasion started? Give up....well noone else knows.

They have a mercy rule in the World Baseball Classic? too funny. do they have "do-overs" too?

This is too funny. All in the name of, um, safety....

Hat tip to my lovely wife Jen for being way ahead of the curve on this.

Hee hee....

About that, um, "American company" in the port deal

Am I surprised that this port deal didn't go down with Dubai Ports World taking over? Not at all.

Could I guess that this was another Bu$hCo smokescreen to get more money to Halliburton in a "bait and switch"? Sure. They did it with Harriet Miers and ScAlito for the Supreme Court. But this time it was more of a "watch those fuckers bail out and give the port deal to Halliburton" thought.

Well, guess what--according to Norm Ornstein, a longtime congressional watcher with the American Enterprise Insititute for Public Policy Research on last nights PBS News Hour, guess who is one of the only "American companies" with the experience to run port security?

Yup, Dick Cheney's very own Halliburton.

Not that Dick has any problem with being unethical, or a war criminal for that matter, or a looter of the treasury with the no bid contracts to Halliburton that overcharged the US Government (and We the People) by hundreds of millions in Iraq, and that is only what we already know about.

But according to Ornstein:

And while a number of Republicans breathed a sigh of relief that, at least in the short run, they have averted a disaster, and some were saying publicly, well, it's fine now, many, privately, were almost as cautious as Democrats.

And it's partly because of that first scenario that Simon mentioned. In fact, what Dubai Ports had offered earlier, what the administration had been talking about, was having a kind of separate U.S. entity. That wasn't acceptable to Congress.

If this is done now through the backdoor, where D.P. has any role at all, Congress is going to go ballistic, and it's going to be a disaster, I think, for the administration.

They have got a dilemma now, because there simply aren't American companies that have the know-how and the breadth to do this. Interestingly, and perhaps ironically, what I had heard earlier in the day, as they were looking at those that have the -- the kind of resources, Halliburton was a name that came up. And Democrats, I'm sure, are saying, please, God, let that happen.

And what is the response from the fine upstanding people at Halliburton? Not us? Nothing to see here. Move along. These thoughts are just absurd:

Melissa Norcross, a spokeswoman for the controversial U.S. company once headed by Vice President Cheney, called suggestions circulating on the Hill that they might take over "false and baseless."

Yeah, sure. Because Halliburton has such a fine upstanding track record in Iraq, we should believe them to tell the truth.

What's next, selling exclusive broadcasting rights to Halliburton TV network?

The Roundup

Props to The Termite at Daily Kos for this story that you HAVE to read to believe. Dr. Evil, meet our president....

Mad Mike Milbury leaves a lit bag of dogshit on the Isles' doorstep on his way out.

GO HOYAS - Big East Semis and a 4 or 5 seed in the NCAA tourney.

Happy 62'nd bday, dad. Hope there are many more!!!

The FBI is now admitting to illegal wiretapping. Constitution...what Constitution?

Look what conservatives are saying about Dear Leader...

Who would have thunk that Tweety himself wasn't a total ass-kissing shill?

What's wrong with "being angry"?

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

A new theme seems to be emerging. First they ignored. Then they mocked. Now they are scared, so they pull out the attack card.

Lieberman's campaign manager calls Ned Lamont "angry". Gore is accused of being "angry". Newsweek is even reporting that the GOP is calling Hillary and other Democrats "too angry". And interestingly enough, many of us on dKos say that the Dems aren't angry enough at all, but that is an issue for another day.

Even funnier is that the National Republican Senatorial Committee is calling Daily Kos a "far left wing hate filled site".

Do they think this is a good idea? Are they THAT clueless as to the utter destruction they have wreaked across this once-proud country as well as many areas in all corners of the world?

So, they may call us angry. Let 'em. We may be angry. But guess what? The masses are getting angry too. Real fucking angry. Angry like this. And angry like this. And this, this, this, and this.

And you know what else? We SHOULD be angry.

Angry that we were lied into a war that had no post-"Shock and Awe" plan. That record deficits and debt exist where just 6 years ago we were actually in a surplus. That environmental laws and regulation on industry was eroded, leading to accelerated global warming, lack of safety for mines, and devastating earthquakes, mudslides, hurricanes and tsunami. That innocent people (or anyone for that matter) are tortured, or permitted to be tortured or secretly sent to another country to be tortured - all in our name.

Angry that they ignored the 2001 PDB about Bin Laden striking in the US. That Bush started to plan the Iraq war right after 9/11. Or that he wanted to invade long before that. That the Project for a New American Century is ignored by the MSM. That they let North Korea build a nuclear weapons program. That they let billions of dollars get wasted and lost in Iraq. That our educational standards and scores have decreased compared to other nations. That science is ignored and the bible is taken as the supreme law of the land. That they are in bed with those who make voting machines with no paper trail and spotty (at best) record of working correctly.

Angry that a bankruptcy bill was passed that favors the credit card companies at the expense of We the People. That "tort reform" legislation was passed that favors insurance companies at the expense of We the People. That "Medicare reform" was passed that favored the drug companies at the expense of the elderly. That cronyism led to unqualified people at all important positions. THAT THEIR INCOMPETENCE LOST AN AMERICAN CITY!!!

Angry that they play the fear and race card every chance they get. That they used illegal chemical weapons including depleted uranium and white phosphorus on innocent people. That they are all fucking corrupt. That they damage national security by outing a covert CIA operative and her front company that was investigating and tracking WMDs and Iran. That they allow for illegal and unconstitutional wiretapping of US citizens. That they detain innocent people indefinitely without due process. That they throw you in jail for exercising your first amendment rights.

Angry that they suck at the teat of a radical right wing ultra hypocritical religious cult to erode basic human rights. Terri Schiavo. Bill Frist's insider trading. "Intelligent Design". Duke Cunningham. Republican felon Jack Abramoff and his ties to Delay, Bush, Newt, Reagan, Ralph Reed, Bob Ney and Ken Mehlman. Coingate in Ohio. "Culture of life". Angry that they have turned their backs on the working class, the poor, the elderly and the sick.

So, let them paint Dems as "angry". Let them call us angry. They stole our country, and we should be angry. It's their monster they created. Let them deal with the consequences.

Profiles in Douchebaggery

Next time you see some parent being overly, um, attentive to their child prodigy in the area of sports, don't just think about Todd Marinovich or the Williams sisters. This jackass has them all beat - by a longshot.

Christophe Fauviau, who had already complained many times to the French Tennis League, whom he accused of not paying enough attention to his daughter Valentine's "enormous potential" is on trial for drugging his son's and his daughter's opponents, leading to the death of one such opponent.

According to the article:

Fauviau, 46, is accused of spiking the water bottles of his children's opponents 27 times in tournaments from 2000 to 2003, using Temesta, which can cause drowsiness. The opponents complained to investigators of weakness, dizziness, nausea or fainting. Several were hospitalized.

In July 2003, Fauviau's son, Maxime, defeated Lagardere, who complained of fatigue after the match and slept for two hours. While driving home later, Lagardere crashed his car and was killed, and police believe he fell asleep at the wheel. Toxicology tests showed traces of Temesta in his system, allegedly delivered by Fauviau.

Just lovely.

The Roundup

RIP to Kirby Puckett. A sad story for one of baseball's greater players, and certainly one of the 80's best Strat-o-matic players....

Dear Leader's latest approval numbers are in Nixon territory now. We can expect another terror warning any day now.

Looks like Chris "Tweety" Matthews has a hard on for Boehner (how can I resist that one?)

Um, Mr. Bonds - do you think that noone suspected anything when your head doubled in size and your arms suddenly tripled in size AFTER reaching the age of 35?

Big East Conference Tourney starts today. Go Hoyas!!!

This is just creepy.

Looks like the GOP is just peachy with wiping their ass with the 4th Amendment.

And on the flip side, it looks like the states are taking the lead on pressing for impeachment.

Winning Pakistani hearts and minds: 1 school at a time

A few months back, I wrote about a 60 Minutes story about 13 NYC paramedics that volunteered to help out a Pakistani community after the devastating earthquake last year and how one of them said:

We can inoculate an entire valley, if we're lucky, against radical Islam," says Muth. "And it's so simple. I'm just a paramedic. It's just a bandage. It's not a $100 million dollar ad campaign from Madison Avenue. It's not, you know, it's not complicated. Could something work better to change somebody's mind? I can't think of anything."

Well, in the midst of all of the horrific news and fuckups that have been going on, another "feel good" story has emerged about one individual who founded the Central Asia Institute, which has built 55 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan, changing the residents' views of Americans.

The story actually began back in 1993, and is outlined in Greg Mortenson's book, Three Cups of Tea.

In 1993, Greg Mortenson became very ill when climbing Mt. K2, the world's second tallest mountain, in the Himalayas. As he recovered for seven weeks in the small Pakistani village of Korphe, he was so touched by their kindness he received he vowed to return to build their fist school. This led to the founding of the Central Asia Institute, which has built 55 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mortenson tells his story in "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations… One School at a Time," which he wrote along with journalist David Oliver Relin, and everything he went through to acheive his goal of bringing education to a place rampant with Anti-Americanism.

Much like the 60 Minutes story from last November, the story focuses on efforts by an American who, well, is just acting like a real human being. Or that "compassionate" human being that Dear Leader pretends to be. It just shows how bad our image is around the world, especially in this region of the world, as well as how one person's actions can change hundreds or even thousands of people's views of what us Real Americans are all about. The ABC article has an excerpt from the book and is a long but worth the time read. However, I have included a few snippets below from Mortensen's co-author, David Oliver Relin:

I listened to hundreds of Mortenson's allies and enemies. And in the interest of security and/or privacy I've changed a very few names and locations.

Together, as we sorted through thousands of slides, reviewed a decade's worth of documents and videos, recorded hundreds of hours of interviews, and traveled to visit with the people who are central to this unlikeliest of narratives, we brought this book to life.

And as I found in Pakistan, Mortenson's Central Asia Institute does, irrefutably, have the results. In a part of the world where Americans are, at best, misunderstood, and more often feared and loathed, this soft-spoken, six-foot-four former mountaineer from Montana has put together a string of improbable successes. Though he would never say so himself, he has single-handedly changed the lives of tens of thousands of children, and independently won more hearts and minds than all the official American propaganda flooding the region.

So this is a confession: Rather than simply reporting on his progress, I want to see Greg Mortenson succeed. I wish him success because he is fighting the war on terror the way I think it should be conducted. Slamming over the so-called Karakoram "Highway" in his old Land Cruiser, taking great personal risks to seed the region that gave birth to the Taliban with schools, Mortenson goes to war with the root causes of terror every time he offers a student a chance to receive a balanced education, rather than attend an extremist madrassa.

So how much goodwill did Condi's Middle East tour or the millions given to Karen Hughes for her "we really don't suck as bad as you think even though we bomb you, lie to the world and invade your countries" propoganda-fest? Who says that one person can't make a difference? Especially since there has to be a lot of these "one person" stories to counteract the total disaster created by those who are the official faces and names that represent We the People.

NOLA levees being rebuilt with substandard materials

This is just getting ridiculous. Not too long ago, we heard from Chertoff that the Gulf Coast is not going to be ready to deal with the upcoming hurricane season. Then we see that yes, both Bush and Chertoff WERE warned about the potential for utter destruction from Katrina.

So why am I not surprised when I see this:

[f]indings from two teams of independent experts said the [Army] corps [of Engineers] is taking shortcuts and using substandard materials, leaving large sections of the system substantially weaker than before the hurricane.

Of course, everything is just A-OK in Bushland, if you ask him.

You know, more and more, this Administration seems to be running things according to one of my favorite Simpsons story lines, the "Max Power way" of doing things. For those who are unaware with the episode where Homer changes his name to Max Power (which he got off a hair dryer), there is this exchange between Homer and Bart:

Max Power: Kids, there's three ways to do things. The right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way!
Bart: Isn't that the wrong way?
Max Power: Yes, but faster!

That about sums it up for this mis-administration. Doing things the wrong way, but faster. But don't worry, Bush was "assured" that the independent reports, issued by engineers on a National Science Foundation-funded panel and by a Louisiana team appointed to monitor the rebuilding were incorrect, despite this little bit of news by Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, head of the Army Corps:

Strock said the Corps had yet to see the findings or information on where the teams took their samples. He suggested the monitors may have been testing the wrong soil. He said the Corps is trucking in clay from Mississippi to rebuild the system because the local soil does not meet quality standards.

Strock acknowledged that the levees will not be able to protect low-lying areas in the event of another Katrina-like storm this year.

Pretty impressive to be so dismissive of the independent reports (and do I need to point out how often the independent reports have proven to be more on point than the reports by the administration itself?) yet never have read the reports. But I guess when all you promise is that the levees will be rebuilt to the same height as before Katrina, then it doesn't matter if you use concrete, bubble-wrap, duct tape or the actual materials that you would need to build them right.

The Army Corps of Engineers seems likely to fulfill a promise by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans's toppled flood walls to their original, pre-Katrina height by June 1, but two teams of independent experts monitoring the $1.6 billion reconstruction project say large sections of the rebuilt levee system will be substantially weaker than before the hurricane hit.

These experts say the Corps, racing to rebuild 169 miles of levees destroyed or damaged by Katrina, is taking shortcuts to compress what is usually a years-long construction process into a few weeks. They say that weak, substandard materials are being used in some levee walls, citing lab tests as evidence. And they say the Corps is deferring repairs to flood walls that survived Katrina but suffered structural damage that could cause them to topple in a future storm.

Do I hear more criminal negligence? Certainly we can expect the typical passing of the buck and lemme guess, we should also blame the people that live in the Gulf Coast for picking a place to live that is below sea level.

"The people of New Orleans need to get back to at least the level of hurricane protection we had before Katrina," Corps spokesman Jim Taylor said. "We were authorized to do that, and do it quickly. It's up to Congress to decide to take it to a higher level."

But Ivor van Heerden, a Louisiana State University engineering professor and leader of a state-appointed team of experts investigating the failure of the levee system during Katrina, charged that "the government is trying to reate a sense of security that doesn't exist."

"What we have today," he added, "is a compromised levee system that failed during a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane. Absolutely nowhere are the levees ready to stand up to the same kind of test."

But wait, it gets worse. The funding still has to be requested in order to do cruical tasks, and the most vulnerable spots and areas that should have been addressed still are being ignored by the Army Corps of Engineers:

The Corps said several steps that could help the levee system survive a major hurricane will have to wait until next year. For example, systematic testing for weak soils beneath the levees will not be completed until 2007. Two of the most devastating flood wall breaches during Katrina have been blamed in part on weak, peatlike soils beneath the walls' foundations.

In addition, a plan to line the bases of certain critical levees with a protective layer of rock or concrete -- a process known as "armoring" -- is not expected to begin until summer, and then only if Congress provides additional money. Levee armoring significantly lowers the risk that a levee will collapse when it is overtopped by floodwaters.

A recent report by a prestigious panel of the American Society of Civil Engineers described the lack of armoring in New Orleans's levees as a "fundamental flaw" that demands urgent attention. The same report also faulted the Corps for making predictions about the system's safety before the agency officially determined what caused the levees to fail in the first place.

Just another "what the fuck" moment in the continuing saga of the Max Power administration. Doing the wrong thing, but faster.

Fantasy sports corner - why closers suck

While I am on a conference call now, and since I finished my bit of talking, I figured that I would lay out a quick rant about drafting closers. I just had my first of 3 drafts yesterday, and thought it went real well.

I won't get into who I took where, but every year I am amazed at how people spend, er, waste their 3rd - 5th picks on guys like Rivera, Nathan, Gagne, Lidge, Wagner, etc. First of all, at least 2/3 of the closers going into the season either get hurt, lose their job, or have someone else come out of nowhere to take away a few saves. Plus, you have guys that just won the job and are getting WAY too much press. Look no further than Mike Adams or Guillermo Mota from last year. And while guys like Jenks may be real good, you never know if a guy can hold up for a full season. Or whether a manager will shuttle closers in and out throughout the season either.

So what does this mean? Well, I can take guys like Utley, Jeter, Carlos Zambrano, Pat Burrell and Andy Pettitte (which I did yesterday) while the above closers are taken. And then I can take Hoffman, Izzy and Dempster (not to mention 2 other closers as fliers) in the 8th round and later. So I still get my saves - which some still don't get is only one category and hardly worth wasting a high round pick on.

But I'll see it happen every year, and gladly get 2 or 3 closers in the middle rounds and watch the wire for others.

The Roundup

I don't know how often I will do this, or when I will do this, but I think that a random collection of things happening may be a good thing to post.

For starters, me and other Seahawk fans can rest easy as MVP Shaun Alexander has re-upped with Seattle. Yes, 8 years is a lot, but if you have a 2-4 year window to make the Super Bowl in the NFL, you take it and deal with the mess of a contract in later years.

New poll numbers are out for Bu$hCo, and they don't look pretty. No matter how you look at them.

Not that I caught any of the Oscars, but apparently Jon Stewart was still his old self.

Thoughts and prayers for Kirby Puckett, one of the all time Strat-O-Matic (and MLB) greats.

One week to go before March Madness is in full swing. Looking for another Big East champ.

Looks like Baron von Mustache is up to his old diplomacy tricks regarding Iran. Good thing he is our face to the world at the UN.

And lastly, in a mix of sports-meets-politics, it looks like there is now a criminal probe into Pat Tillman's death. Nothing more to say there.

60 Minutes blows the lid off Afghan torture deaths

Cross posted to and recommended at Daily Kos


Things just got a bit worse for Dear Leader, Herr Rumsfeld, Abu Gonzalez and their band of torturers. In what is shaping up to be a weekly smackdown of this mis-administration's policies and crimes, 60 Minutes had a hard-hitting story about the torture deaths of two innocent Afghani men by US troops.

Although this story got some exposure when it first broke a little over a year ago, you can bet that middle 'Murka and a great many war veterans just got a bit more pissed off at what is going on around the world in our name. It looks like the lid on this pressure cooker is getting that much closer to blowing right off.

The bonus was an interview with Lawrence Wilkerson, who has been a huge critic of these policies and ripped Herr Rummy a new one in stellar fashion.

But look at these quotes from the story:

The prisoners were found hanging from chains in their isolation cells. They had been beaten; one of them was "pulpified," according to the medical examiner.

And that was in the opening statement.

Habibullah and Dilawar were found dead in their cells, hanging from their chains. The military medical examiner says Dilawar’s legs were pulpified. Both autopsy reports were marked "homicide." But the Army spokesman in Afghanistan told the media that both men had died of natural causes. Medical experts say that Dilawar’s injuries were so severe that, if he had lived, both his legs would have required amputation.

What did the soldiers think of these two supposed "terrorists" and what they did to deserve imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture and death?

Even worse, one soldier testified that most of the interrogators thought Dilawar had been arrested only because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had come to believe he was just a cab driver.

But the most damning exchanges came from two interviews. One with the "low level bad apple" who was court marshalled and the other was with Wilkerson. First, Willie Brand sets the tone by spelling out the torture:

Both of them were locked in isolation cells with hoods over their heads and their arms shackled to the ceiling.

Their shackled hands, according to Brand, were at about eye level. The point of chaining them to the ceiling, Brand says, was to keep the detainees awake by not letting them lie down and sleep.

Interrogators wanted the prisoners softened up.

Asked what the longest period of time Brand saw a detainee chained like that, Brand says, "Probably about two days."

"Two days? Without a break?" Pelley asked.

"Without a break," Brand replied.

Brand says something else was thought to be acceptable in the prison: a brutal way of controlling prisoners – a knee to the common peroneal nerve in the leg, a strike with so much force behind it that the prisoner would lose muscle control and collapse in pain.

It wasn't only Willie Brand. A confidential report by the Army’s criminal investigation division accuses dozens of soldiers of abuse, including "slamming [a prisoner] into walls [and a] table," "forcing water into his mouth until he could not breathe," giving "kicks to the groin" and once, according to the report, a soldier "threatened to rape a male detainee." Soldiers even earned nicknames including "King of Torture" and "Knee of Death."

Wilkerson throws out a few gems himself, describing Colin Powell's rage, and pinning the entire condoning of torture on Rummy. According to Wilkerson:

The Secretary of State, who devoted much of his life to the Army, was enraged. As the Abu Ghraib torture scandal was breaking, Wilkerson says his boss snapped up the phone and called Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

It’s Wilkerson’s opinion that the Army chose to ignore Geneva when it issued new rules for interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"That essentially says to the troops at the bottom of the rung that you have a new game," Wilkerson says. "You can use the methods that aren’t in accordance with Geneva. You can use methods that are other than when you’ve been taught, trained and told you could use. That, that is an invitation, a license to go beyond that, especially when you’re also putting on them tremendous pressure to produce intelligence."

Guess who had no comment. But the buck passing just continues. Everyone says that their superiors knew what was going on. And every superior who was interviewed claims to have never seen any of this. And Medals of Freedom will be given to all.

See, here's the thing - there is nothing new developing in this case. It hit the news nearly a year ago. But, just as we are seeing with many other crimes and illegal activities coming to light, this too is FINALLY being made into the big deal that it should be made into.

And a LOT of people watch 60 Minutes. Especially when they need to kill an hour before the Oscars.