It seems a bit silly to have a separate Question of the Day, when we’ve got the Virtual Pub hopping, so from now on, I’ll just combine them on Friday nights.
Belly up to the bar and place your drink orders. As always, drinks are on the house and McEwan’s is on tap. I’ll be popping in and out, so help yourself to whatever you find if I’m not behind the bar.
The QotD, as it must be in any pub worth its salt, is: What’s on your mind? Celebrating? Drowning your woes? Got a good story to share? Let’s have it.
The Virtual Pub is Open (and QotD)
Daily Round-up
Litbrit: On defending Italy
Spudsy: Iraq gets uglier and uglier
Shakes: Why I’ll never be in Congress
Shamanic: Exceptionalism and the environment
Shakes: 12 steps to cure your feminism!
Shakes: Grooms for Life
Shakes: Fox host wants Office of Censorship
Shakes: Al Gore in Rolling Stone
Shakes: Frist is a fucking genius
Shakes: Stevens is, too!
Shakes: Frag hag wannabe
Shakes: En garde!
Shakes: Caption this photo
Spudsy: President Pander McBackdown
Litbrit: Italy!
Spudsy: More on the frag hag wannabe
Shakes: Eddie Izzard blogging
Random Eddie Izzard Blogging
There must've been a Death Star canteen, yeah? There must've been a cafeteria downstairs, in between battles, where Darth Vader could just chill and go down:
Darth Vader: "I will have the penne al'arrabiata."
Canteen Worker: "You'll need a tray."
DV: "Do you know who I am?"
CW: "Do you know who I am?"
DV: "This is not a game of who the fuck are you. For I am Vader, Darth Vader, Lord Vader. I can kill you with a single thought."
CW: "Well, you'll still need a tray."
DV: "No, I will not need a tray. I do not need a tray to kill you. I can kill you without a tray, with the power of the Force, which is strong within me. Even though I could kill you with a tray if I so wished. For I would hack at your neck with the thin bit until the blood flowed across the canteen floor."
CW: "No, the food is hot. You'll need a tray to put the food on."
DV: "Oh, I see the food is hot. I'm sorry. I did not realize. Hahahaha...Oh...tray for the....yes. I thought you were challenging me for the fight to the death."
CW: "A fight to the death? This a canteen, I work here."
DV: "Yes, but I am Vader. I am Lord Vader. Everyone challenges me to a fight to the death. Lord Vader? Darth Vader, I'm Darth Vader. Sir Lord Vader? Sir Lord Darth Vader? Lord Darth Sir Lord, Lord Vader of Cheem? Sir Lord Baron Von Vader Ham? The Death Star. I run the Death Star."
CW: "What's the Death Star?"
DV: "This is the Death Star! You're in the Death Star! I run this star!"
CW: "This is a star?"
DV: "This is a fucking star! I run it! I'm your boss."
CW: "You're Mr. Stevens?"
DV: "No, I'm...Who is Mr. Stevens?"
CW: "He's Head of Catering."
DV: "I'm not Head of Catering! I am Vader, I can kill catering with a thought."
CW: "Wha?"
DV: "I can kill you all! I can kill me with a thought! Just...fine, I'll get a tray! Fuck it! This one's wet, and this one's wet and this one's wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. Did you dry these in a rainforest? Why, with the power of the Death Star do we not have a tray that is fucking dry? I do not... No, no, no! I was here first!"
Other guy: "You have to form a queue if you want food. Can I have uh....Ooo, penne al'arrabiata. That'd be very nice."
DV: "No, no, no! Do you know who I am?"
CW: "That's Jeff Vader that is!"
DV: "I am not Jeff Vader, I am Darth Vader."
OG "What? Jeff Vader runs the Death Star?"
DV: "No, Jeff....No, I run the Death Star."
OG: "You Jeff Vader?"
DV: "No, I'm Darth Vader."
OG: "Are you his brother? Could you get his autograph?"
DV: "I can't get his....No, I'm Jeff...Alright, I'm Jeff Vader! I'm Jeff Vader!"
OG: "Could I have your autograph?"
DV: "No, fuck off or I'll kill you with a tray! Give me penne al'arrabiata or you shall die! And you and everyone in this canteen! Death by tray it shall be!"
CW: "Do you want peas with that?"
DV: "Peas! You don't have peas! You can't put in right in...you can't put...it doens't work with penne! Unless you push 'em up the penne tubes and then it'd be weird! Oh alright! Put some peas in."
Whoa.
To expand on Shakes' earlier post, Melanie Morgan is fucking nuts. Greg Sargent of The American Prospect got in a little email "discussion" with her over the New York Times brouhaha. First, she had this to say, regarding Bill Keller:
"If he were to be tried and convicted of treason, yes, I would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber."Then, it got worse.
After emailing her for confirmation of the quote -- which she granted -- I sent her this extended description of the horrors of dying in a gas chamber, and asked the following: "Given that definition of the gas chamber, Is it really true that you'd countenance the above-described lengthy and excrutiatingly painful death for Bill Keller for printing that story?"Ho...lee... shit. These people are completely insane. She's not just regurgitating Republican talking points, she's turned into Grendel's mother.
Here's the emailed reply from Morgan, in full knowledge that it was on the record:Let me answer your question with a question. If, by leaking classified information that resulted in the deaths of American soldiers -- let's just say that a terrorist purchased all the ingredients necessary for an IED and detonated against a convoy of 18, 19 and 20- something Marines, killing them -- do you honestly think I would give a rat's rear-end how the editor who leaked that information dies? Do you think I actually CARE if he or she goes slowly, banging away on the prison bars or is extinguished immediately? The answer is NO. I DO NOT CARE.
However, the best solution that I can think of to deal with any newspaper editor, whether it's from the NY Times, LAT, WaPo, or the Wall Street Journal who is responsible for leaking national security classified information, is to be locked in a steel cage with the family members of slain troop members who would happily deliver the ultimate punishment of death. And then sent to the hottest corner of hell. (Emphasis added.)
And again, I feel it has to be said... "leaking" information that the President himself has been announcing to the media since 9/11 is treason worthy of a horrible execution... but sending soldiers to die over a lie is just fine?
I'm living in a cuckoo clock.
(Jaw-dropped cross-post.)
Luca il Magnifico
Below-the-fold Spoiler Alert!
Viva Italia! The Azzuri have been called all sorts of nasty names; they've been accused of being defensive players that can't score goals.
All I can say is: 3-0, Tomasi nel dubbio.
Hey mambo, mambo Italiano...
President Pander McBackdown
Remember when Bush said this, regarding the immigration issue?
Tonight, I want to speak directly to members of the House and the Senate: An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive, because all elements of this problem must be addressed together, or none of them will be solved at all.
Well, in a move that should suprise absolutely no one, Bush is backing down from his position.
[I]n recent days, senators and the White House have dropped hints that they are willing to move closer to the House’s position - perhaps by agreeing to a two-phase plan that would begin with construction of triple-layer walls, deployment of surveillance aircraft and other means of tightening the border with Mexico. When those measures are fully funded and operational - a process that could take as much as two years - debate on some version of the Senate’s broader proposals would begin. […]More at the link.
Also this week, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) met with Bush and Vice President Cheney to discuss his proposal for a guest worker program that would roll out only after the government certifies that the border is secure. “The president listened intently,” Pence told reporters. “He told me that he was intrigued with my proposal.”
So, even when he has support for reform, he allows himself to be bullied by the far Right "base." So much for a path to citizenship. And again... what about the other borders?
Caption This Photo
President Bush teases with first lady Laura Bush under the
belly of Air Force One... (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
(Thanks, Holley.)
OMFSM!
You’ve got to read this post by Mark at Chez Lark, who has had his (and probably all of our) worst fear confirmed: That many of the assmonkeys in the Senate debating the issue of Net Neutrality have no frigging clue what they’re talking about.
Enter Republican Senator Ted Stevens:
I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?Well, it takes a long time to send a whole internet, Mr. Senator.
Bill “Good Ideaz” Frist hits another one out of the park.
"The threat from Iran is only going to grow in the years ahead. We need to take steps now to prepare to deal with that threat," Frist, R-Tenn., said in a letter to the president.In case you missed the upshot (no pun intended) of Frist’s missive, basically he wants to build a European missile-defense site. He believes: “The time has come to revive and reinvigorate discussions with allies in Europe that have previously expressed interest in hosting these interceptors at a third site on their territory.”
…"As Iran continues to make progress in deploying its Shahab 3 missiles and developing new, longer range missiles, while simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons, the ability to shoot down Iranian warheads in flight becomes increasingly critical to our national security," Frist said.
Previously…as in, prior to the GOP turning America into the crazy kid that no one wants to play with because he blows up frogs with firecrackers.
Which, btw, our president actually used to do.
Frankly, I’m nowhere near convinced that successfully protecting ourselves from Iran is dependent on sticking a missile-defense system (have those things even been proven to work?) in Europe, but let’s say for shits and giggles that it did. That would create one more line item we can add to the Why You Shouldn’t Constantly Piss Off Your Allies List.
#7,982: Because you might want to put a weapons defense system in their backyard someday.
Al Gore in Rolling Stone
Here.
Bush is insulated -- his staff smiles a lot and only gives him the news that he wants to hear. Unfortunately, they still have this delusion that they create their own reality. As George Orwell wrote, we human beings are capable of convincing ourselves of something that's not true long after the accumulated evidence would convince any reasonable person that it's wrong. And when leaders persist in that error, sooner or later they have a collision with reality, often on a battlefield. That, in essence, is exactly what happened in Iraq. But we have to keep that from happening with the climate crisis. Because by the time the worst consequences begin to unfold, it would be too late.It’s a good interview. (Thanks, Angelos.)
You can’t make this shit up.
Fox host Brian Kilmeade suggests “the U.S. government should ‘put up the Office of Censorship’ to screen news reports to determine whether they ‘hurt the country’ or are of ‘news value.’”
Why, oh why, is my blog starting to look like The Onion when I’m writing about real things?!
Some days the anti-feminists just make it too easy.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll day it again: MensNewsDaily just keeps giving and giving. (Remember the fart button?)
Today, we are treated to Grooms For Life, or as Vanessa at Feministing (who gets the hat tip) says, “The pro-life prince has arrived.”
Is there a way to radically decrease abortions without asking the government to do it? Adoption is often suggested here and that is a good alternative but I think there is another as well.Now don’t start protesting Denise Noe’s spectacular idea just yet. She knows there are going to be objections. Two, in fact.
Marriage. I am not talking just about a return to the “shotgun marriage”; rather, I think an offer of marriage from a man who is not the father but will assume all the traditional responsibilities of fatherhood would be accepted by many unmarried pregnant women…
Grooms For Life could be facilitated on a practical basis by computerized matching of pro-life single men with unmarried pregnant women interested in carrying to term.
1. “Such couples would not be in love, so what chance would their marriages have of succeeding?” Don’t worry, Denise has got that all worked out. First of all, there are arranged marriages in lots of societies, so quitcher bitchin’, you spoiled American shits. Secondly, “Pro-life marriages would have major advantages over other unions: the men would know they have done a good deed in saving a baby from abortion and, thus, keenly look forward to the birth; the women would respect the moral sincerity of their new husbands.” This is an excellent point. When Mr. Shakes and I got married, he only had the happiness of marrying a woman he loved without the added benefit of the ego-boost that comes with rescuing someone from certain despair. And I had no idea whether he was morally sincere or not. Four years into our marriage, with no pregnancy in sight, I’m still not certain. It’s a delicate precipice we hang on, people.
2. “A second objection is that if men offer to marry pregnant women to insure the baby’s birth, women will deliberately get pregnant in order to nab a pro-life hubby.” That is a big concern, all right. But Denise swiftly knocks this one down, too. “Most women are quite rational people…” (here I thought, Yes! We’re actually heading into pro-choice territory here! but then I read the rest of the sentence) “and will realize that the number of Grooms For Life will not exceed the demand for them. Additionally, most women are pro-choice and, therefore, will have no incentive to abandon their current practice (whether celibacy, lesbianism, or contraception) in hopes of marrying a pro-lifer.” I’ll leave you to parse that one out in comments.
Personally, I can think of a few other objections to this proposal, but I’m going to go ahead and assume they’d be evident to anyone with a functioning brain. Instead, I’ll just leave with you with Denise’s vision of our Grooms for Life-filled future:
[F]emale pro-lifers and married men could spend their time recruiting bachelors to their cause so that the screaming demonstrators outside abortion clinics would soon be replaced by swains in bow ties, holding rings and serenading the pregnant women.
Wow. Utopia.
Friday Blogrollin'
Lloydletta's Nooz and Comments
Dohiyi Mir
Hughes for America
Puffs and White China Dogs
The Daily Background
Silly Humans
Mike’s Neighborhood
As always, if you're not on Ye Massive Blogroll, don't be afraid to point me your way in comments!
I Love the Internets
There’s just so much amazing stuff on there on the internets these days. Like, for example, Carey Roberts’ Twelve-Step Feminist Cure.
Mr. Roberts is very concerned with the “condition” of feminism, which he explains is “chronic, progressive, and highly contagious. With my own eyes I’ve seen bright, caring women fall under the sway of its deceptive allure. They soon begin to speak and act like someone possessed.” You see, feminism has the nasty habit of driving women to radical acts like “refus[ing] to use lip-stick or brush their hair.” He even links to a picture of Andrea Dworkin, “high-priestess” of feminism, to point out that she “doesn’t appear particularly liberated or enlightened. In fact she looks downright miserable.” As opposed to, you know, him, I guess.
So, this foxy chappy has decided that what “we” need is “a massive de-programming effort to help the millions of Gender Studies grads who now endure lives of resentment and barren solitude. They urgently need a helping hand — what will we do? The solution is a 12-step self-help program — you guessed it: Feminists Anonymous.”
As you can imagine, being one of the women who has fallen victim to the horrors of feminism, which Mr. Roberts describes as “loss of sense of humor, self-centeredness, and a decreasing ability to perceive reality accurately…paranoia, hysteria, and intense anger,” and what I would describe as “viewing myself as a fully equal human being with an obligation to assert my right to be so,” I was very interested in going through the twelve steps to rid myself of the insidious, life-ruining grip of feminism.
Step One: “We admitted we were powerless over feminism — that our lives had become bitter, lonely, and meaningless.”
Hmm. Well, I can admit I’m “powerless over feminism.” I mean, it existed before I was born and will probably exist after I die, and I doubt anything I’d do would change that. So, looks like I’m off to a good start! That next bit is trickier, though. My life isn’t bitter, lonely, or meaningless. In fact, even though I’m unemployed, totally broke, and never wear lipstick, my life is nonetheless filled with lots of interesting intellectual pursuits, an optimism about the future, a happy marriage, and a wealth of wonderful friendships. I sort of feel like I’d be trashing all that to say my life is for shit, so I guess I’ll just have to skip over that one for now.
Step Two: “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
Ouch. So, first I have to admit I’m insane. I certainly don’t feel insane. Lucidity—check. Ability to differentiate between real and unreal—check. No voices in my head—check. Looks like I’ll have to come back to this one, too.
Step Three: “We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. (That’s right, Him. Now’s the time to get rid of that Wiccan broomstick stashed in your closet.)”
Hey—I never got a Wiccan broomstick! My Feminist Welcome Basket only came with a block of tofu, a tin language police badge, and a copy of Body Hair Beautiful. Damn it! I totally got screwed.
Step Four: “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. (Hint: Humility is the first step in the path to self-awareness.)”
Now I’m confused. This was also Step Four in the Feminist Introductory course.
Step Five: “We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
Um…Jesus? I don’t wear lipstick. I’m sorry. (That one was a total home run!)
Step Six: “We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character — despite the self-professed good intentions of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem.”
I’m ready, God. I’m waiting… Still waiting… drums fingers Yup, still waiting… Okay, God isn’t paying any attention to me. I still feel as though I should get equal pay for equal work and have the last word on my own bodily autonomy. I’ll come back to this one when God’s done fixing Africa.
Step Seven: “We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”
That sounds a lot like Step Six. But that’s probably just my feminism talking. I’m sure I’ll understand the nuance once the evils of feminism have been scourged from my being. You know, after Step Twelve.
Step Eight: “We made a list of all men and women we had harmed, living and unborn, and became willing to make amends to them. (Practice saying, “I’m sorry” in front of the mirror each morning.)”
Maybe it’s because I never got my Wiccan broomstick, but I’m starting to think that I’m not a real feminist or something. Because I’ve been apologizing to people I hurt for, like, my whole life. I always thought it was because that’s what decent people do, but I guess it’s just because I never got my broomstick. Come to think of it, most of the feminists I know apologize if they hurt someone. I’m going to have to check their closets.
Step Nine: “We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would be impossible, or would injure them or others.”
See, now this sounds a lot like Step Eight. Oh, wait. I see. Step Eight was about becoming willing to make amends, and this one is about actually doing it. I see. Now that practicing in the mirror thing makes more sense.
Step Ten: “We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. (If you haven’t already taken your name off the Feminist Majority alert list, do it now.)”
Wow. There are a lot of steps about admitting how wrong I’ve been. It seems like it would be a lot simpler if Mr. Roberts just made one step suggesting I flagellate myself—one snap of the whip for every evil feminist thought I’d ever had, or something. Maybe he could offer a little brand I could sink into my flesh for each day I haven’t worn lipstick.
Step Eleven: “We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”
Fuck, you know, I’m starting to think I need to do some twelve step program for atheism first, if this whole ridding-myself-of-feminism thing is ever going to work.
Step Twelve: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to feminists, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
scrolls back up … Um, what message? What principles? As far as I can tell, I’m basically supposed to tell everyone my life is total rubbish because I’m a feminist (which isn’t true), apologize to people if I do something wrong by them (which I already do), and give my life over to God—who, per Mr. Roberts’ explanation of how feminism controls every aspect of my life, seems to simply be a male replacement for doing all my thinking for me. Oh, and start wearing lipstick.
Color me a hopeless case. I’m still a darn feminist.
And I want my broom!
(Hat tip to Punkass Marc, who’s got his own great post on Roberts’ 12-steppin’.)
Goldberg on Exceptionalism and the Environment
Jonah Goldberg writes a smart one-off that actually deserves a thoughtful answer (this doesn't happen as often as it could):
I loathe the sort of commentary stories like this generate. It's all about how America contributes more greenhouse gasses than other countries. Okay, guilty as charged. It's not like these greenhouse gasses don't have a context. The American economy sustains the planet, pulls millions out of poverty, keeps the sea channels open, develops most of the medical breakthroughs, provides most of the funding for international institutions (including the finger-waggers at the UN's environmental divisions), offers the best higher education to the world's leaders, and generally provides a blanket of security for much of the planet. I could go on, but you get the point.These are not insignificant contributions that he raises, but they also miss the point of the larger discussion of environmental stewardship, namely, "it's the economy, stupid". As developing economies like India and China step to the front in an increasingly expensive energy market, they will benefit from developments that address that.
Here's one example of cutting edge technology that is great both for energy alternatives and the environment, that's headed to Europe because of the incentives to be both there. Changing World Technologies is a thermal conversion company founded by Brian Appel that currently operates a plant in Carthage, Missouri that uses a high-pressure, high-temperature process to convert the cast-offs from a local Butterball packaging plant into, yes, oil.
Chemistry was not the only challenge. Since 2004, the federal government has subsidized biodiesel, usually made from soybeans, at $1 a gallon. It gave Appel zero for the fuel he produced from turkey guts. "It was hard to believe that a competitor could walk away with a dollar a gallon while we were excluded," Appel says. In August that hole was plugged: The fuel Appel makes, known officially as renewable diesel, received a subsidy of $1 per gallon from the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which took effect in January. That boosted the company's income by $42 a barrel, allowing a slim profit of $4 a barrel.Because the process is thought to be capable of neutralizing the prions that remain after disposing of animals infected with Mad Cow Disease, as well as addressing global warming issues, much of Europe is fully on board.
Appel offers no apologies for needing government largesse to make money. "All oil, even fossil-fuel oil, gets government subsidies in the form of tax breaks and other incentives," he says, citing a 1998 study by the International Center for Technology Assessment showing that unsubsidized conventional gasoline would cost consumers $15 a gallon. "Before we got this, I had the only oil in the world that didn't get a subsidy."
The transatlantic lovefest is no wonder. In Ireland, plant operators would get an astronomical $50 per ton to haul slaughterhouse waste away, another $30 per ton in carbon dioxide emissions-reduction credits, a guaranteed price of up to $92 per barrel, and a 20-year price guarantee. "In a 500-ton-per-day plant, our production costs would be under $30 a barrel, and we could sell for about $100 a barrel," Appel says. "It's just amazing."So he's off to Europe where the money is for an alternative energy solution that might also be the solution to America's trash problems, and at least changes the carbon equation by drawing it from renewable sources instead of the sheiks of Saudi Arabia.
For another example, look at how Japanese auto makers have run away with the hybrid car market. The vision for such innovation wasn't here in America. Does that give anyone else pause?
What Goldberg should be asking is how much more America could benefit in the long term from confronting these issues with new technologies and subsidies to keep them here. Why can't we be the engine of the global economy and the leader of the new wave of sustainable development in the world? It may be the only way that we can continue to be the world's premiere economy.
People like Goldberg love to paint this discussion as some kind of holy war between pro- and anti-business factions, but as always, it will be visionary entrepreneurs who identify, fund, and market the solutions to these intractable problems. It isn't that such innovation doesn't exist in America, but that in a time of uber-politicization and division, America is ideologically resistant to those solutions. Goldberg has a big megaphone. Rather than using it to whine about what people might say about the problems, he should use it to encourage smart approaches to solve them--many of which already exist.
Could Congress suck any harder?
As a follow-up to Spudsy’s post last Thursday, the renewal of the Voting Rights Act is still being held up by Republicans—who are now not just complaining about bilingual ballots, but also moaning about “whether hearings should examine the impact of this week's Supreme Court ruling on Texas redistricting.” Key parts of the Act will expire next year if Congress doesn’t act to renew it.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said Congress would return to the matter after a weeklong July 4 recess. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said party members were "holding our fire and patiently waiting for the Republicans to work out their politics."What a swell idea! This is why I’m not a member of Congress—because if I were, I’d do something completely insane like stick my ugly mug in front of every camera I could find to inform the American public that the GOP is trying to make political hay out of something as fundamental as the right to vote, grabbing at any straw they can find to try to undermine the renewal of legislation that (ostensibly) guarantees fair elections. I’d probably also go batshit crazy and use that opportunity to attach the GOP’s contempt of voting rights to Speaker Hastert’s refusal to bring to a vote Congressman Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, even though it has 192 co-sponsors. That’s just how crazy I am.
But “patiently waiting for the Republicans to work out their politics” sounds like a much better idea.
WTF????
U.S. Troops Accused of Killing Iraq Family
BEIJI, Iraq - Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday.Good lord.
The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of raping.
[...]
There is no indication what led soldiers to this home. The investigation just cracked open. We're just beginning to dig into the details."
However, a U.S. official close to the investigation said at least one of the soldiers, all assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment, has admitted his role and has been arrested. Two soldiers from the same regiment were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah.
On Defending Italy
Bravo Alessandro, and well said:
(ANSA) - Duisburg, June 28 - Injured Italy stopper Alessandro Nesta hit back Wednesday at offensive jibes a German weekly published following the Azzurri's last-gasp World Cup win over Australia .
On Tuesday the online version of Der Spiegel featured a supposedly humorous opinion piece that described Italian men as "greasy", "parasitic", "cheats" and "mummy's boys" .
"We are a people of hard-workers," responded Nesta .
"Italians have taken their fashion and food all over the world. They criticize us for the way we are, but then they want to dress and eat like us".
[.....]
The AC Milan star, considered the world's best defender by many, also rejected criticism of the way Italy are performing in Germany 2006 .
"If everyone attacks us, it means they fear us," the 30-year-old continued. "We are indifferent to these things; the words are carried away by the wind. It has become fashionable to attack Italian soccer, but we are playing more offensively at this World Cup than usual". Nesta confirmed that a groin injury which flared up during Italy's 2-0 group-phase win over the Czech Republic will keep him out of Friday's quarter-final with the Ukraine of former club-mate Andriy Shevchenko .
"You have to be 100% to contain him," he explained. "You have to make the least possible number of mistakes. "He has no weak spots and you can't let him go for the whole 90 minutes" .
But Nesta promised that he "will do everything to be in the semi-final", if Italy go through.
Crossposted in the land of fans and crossed fingers.
Question of the Day
Do you believe in ghosts (or spirits, or whatever your preferred term)? Does your belief or lack of belief in ghosts correlate with religious belief? Ever had any experiences with ghosts, or something awfully strange you can't explain in that general area?
My answers are no, no, and yes. One of my aunts was much older than her husband (my dad's brother). She'd had a previous husband who died, and she and my uncle both believed he haunted their house. We'd be sitting in the living room downstairs, and it would sound like there was someone stomping back and forth across the floor upstairs, even though no one was up there. My aunt would yell up to him, "Knock it off! You're bein' agitatin'!" and then it would stop. I always found it rather amusing, and completely unexplainable.
Daily Round-up
Litbrit: SCOTUS on Gitmo
Shakes: Illegal, but gratifying
Waveflux: Stop Taylor Hicks!
Shakes: Mario Madness
Misty: Harry Potter and the Half-Brained Dumbass
Shakes: Berkeley takes impeachment to the ballot
Shakes: Beer and evolution
Shakes: Stolen VA laptop recovered
Shakes: I gotta white flag for ya…
Shakes: Matthews wants to wrastle
Shakes: Gore on The Daily Show
Shakes: Rebranding “pro-choice”
Shakes: Kathy Griffin in Iraq
Tart: Damn you, Daniel Powter!
Waveflux: Message to Lefties
Shakes: Has the tide turned on the internets?
Shakes: Amy Sedaris rulezzz
Shakes: Too warm to worry about climate change?
Shakes: Caption this photo
Shakes: O’Reilly weeps for Rushbo
O’Reilly Cries for Rush
Such an outpouring of sympathy touches the cockles of my hardened heart:
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is coming to the defense of his radio competitor Rush Limbaugh, claiming authorities in Palm Beach County, Fla., are "out to get" the conservative talk-show host, and are maliciously targeting him for prosecution.He then dabbed at his alligator tears with a monogrammed hankie and reminded al-Qaida they should blow up San Francisco.
"He is an American," O'Reilly said of Limbaugh last night on "The O'Reilly Factor," "and I believe powerful people in his home county are trying unjustly to harm him."
O'Reilly noted it was unusual authorities checked the shaving kits of people flying on private planes...Really? That’s interesting. See, I’m one of the dirty-faced rabble who have to fly on commercial airliners, and everything down to my manicure kit gets checked, so I only assumed that people who were flying in from outside the country, even on private planes, would be subject to the same rules. But hey—my mistake. I forgot that being rich meant you couldn’t possibly be a terrorist.
Or does that rule only apply to rich white guys?
I mean, I kind of dig the logic. Why would bellicose, bloviating fucks like O'Reilly or Limbaugh want to do anything to destroy perhaps the only country in the world where their insolent, antipathetic, avaricious asses could make millions of dollars disgorging bucketfuls of mindless mendacity day after day? Smart guys like that don't rip up their meal tickets. Nonetheless, I still find it curious that it's "unusual" for the belongings of "people flying on private planes" to be checked by authorities—and rather ironic that anyone who's made a bloody mint shilling for an administration who would strip us of every last shred of privacy would moan about being subjected to the same security measures as the rest of us.
The Air Conditioning Conundrum
Fascinating piece by Brad Plumer:
So would Americans have to use a good deal less A/C and learn to suffer through the heat if we wanted to convert to renewable energy, lower our carbon emissions, and have any hope of staving off global warming? Cox thinks so…This is something I haven’t much considered before, aside from our personal use of air conditioning. We try to use it as little as possible. In Chicagoland summers, that’s not easy, but we try to make do as often as humanly possible with open windows, box fans, and ceiling fans. I regularly suffer with heat edema, prickly heat, and severe water retention in high temperatures, but I really try to forego the A/C as much as I can. I find, though, that when we have guests over in the summer, they have a much lower tolerance for it than we do the later it gets in the season, so we usually have to put on the air.
Another problem is that a large part of our economy likely depends quite heavily on air conditioning, especially in warmer parts of the country. … And without air conditioning, worker productivity would plummet during the hotter months (long summer vacations, of course, are out of the question—that's crazy socialist talk). Fun little dilemma we have here...
Check out Brad’s post at least, if not also the two-piece article at AlterNet by Stan Cox to which he’s responding. I’d be interested to hear some thoughts on this issue.
I 
Amy Sedaris
Great interview with Amy Sedaris in The Onion:
The A.V. Club: Would you ever play a pretty character?You can read the whole thing here. Hat tip to Matt at After School Snack.
Amy Sedaris: If she was ugly and, like, made to be pretty. Like if you got up close and could see pockmarks. It's just more fun for me to play more character-driven things. Like, if it was a pretty girl, then I would find some way to make her ugly. [Laughs.] Because that's just more interesting to me.
What’s that cool breeze I feel?
Something’s definitely in the air:
An odd thing seems to have happened to mighty right-wing talking head media juggernaut. They are still talking, but fewer people seem to be listening — at least on the Internet.What did they find out? During the last three months, AnnCoulter.com is down 10%. Fox News down 13%. RushLimbaugh.com down 18%. The Drudge Report down 21%. Townhall.com down 24%. Washington Times’ website down 27%. And BillOreilly.com down 40%.
Alexa.com, which is owned and operated by Amazon.com, tracks online usage for all Web sites, large and small. … At U.S. Politics Today, we thought it might be interesting to see how the right-wing media machine was doing. Not well, it turns out.
Could it be that Internet users are getting tired of political sites in general? Maybe so. But http://moveon.org is up 13 percent in the same period.Delicious! thought I. But I’ve always got to do my own research. So I headed over to make sure there was no cherry-picking going on. What did I find?
Focus on the Family down 18%. Free Republic down 19%. Hugh Hewitt down 21%. World Net Daily down 23%. Michelle Malkin down 30%. The Weekly Standard down 37%. Pajamas Media down 39%.
Raw Story up 6%. Center for American Progress up 12%. Crooks and Liars up 17%. Think Progress up 41%.
I’ve no doubt I’ve forgotten some notable examples that might be exceptions to this trend (although I will assure you I did not find a single right-wing blog whose traffic went up that I deliberately left out), and regular old blogs all seem to be down a bit. Eschaton is down 16%. Daily Kos is down 10%. Shakes is down 8%. But even there, the right-wing blogs look to be doing worse. Little Green Footballs down 19%. Volokh Conspiracy down 28%. Powerline down 33%.
Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. But maybe it does.
Related: Keith Olbermann rips O'Reilly a new asshole over their respective TV ratings.
Message to liberals, lefties, progressives, what have you
The current fundraising quarter for political candidates comes to an end tomorrow. Time to donate even a little love to a candidate of your choice. Come on - they'd do it for you.
(This plea is cross-posted...)
I Hate You Because Your Mediocre Pop Song is Catchy.
Daniel Powter, I can't stop myself from humming along to "Bad Day." You bastard.
You had a bad day...these lyrics are hackneyed...listen for the predictable bridge wherein I take it down a half-step...ooh, there it is...
Kathy Griffin in Iraq
As I've mentioned before, I love Kathy Griffin. The past two episodes of her show My Life on the D-List have followed her from L.A. to Kuwait, then Tikrit, then Baghdad, where she went to put on comedy shows for the troops. Along the way, she visited injured soldiers and spent the night in one of Saddam's palaces; during her stay, there were incoming rockets, and she had to do the first part of her show in the dark for security reasons. Below is a clip from the first of the two episodes. The best part is at the end, when the soldiers talk about what it meant for them to have her there. It's a really amazing thing people do, who go over there to entertain our troops. If you have the opportunity to catch these two episodes in re-runs, I recommend watching them. And, if you're like me, and you regularly break into sobs watching anything that has to do with the war, keep the tissues handy.
Let’s Get Creative
I've said it before, I'll say it again -- and now Rachel Joy Larris at TomPaine.com says there's a renewed call, too: The "pro-choice" movement needs a better name. Larris reports that Al Quinlan, a pollster who has been working with opponents of the abortion ban in South Dakota, says that "'choice' carries a meaning that works against us."Lynn points out that “choice” is not only insufficient because choosing to get an abortion is simply not the same as choosing what outfit to wear to work each day, but also because it evokes for too many people the image of “a bunch of affluent women choosing among an array of options… When it comes to the rights we’re fighting for, after all, so many women have next to no choice at all.”
There’s more at the link, but it boils down to this: Is there a better name for what we generally call “pro-choice”?
I tend to favor “reproductive rights,” which, to my mind, encompasses everything from the right to comprehensive sex education to emergency contraception to abortion to the decision not to have children at all. It’s not very catchy, though, I guess. Got any ideas?
More Gore
Al Gore on The Daily Show. I watched it last night—and then I moaned endlessly about how different things could have been…as per usual.
Matthews: Unleashed! (part 2)
Here’s video of Chris Matthews’ insane appearance on The Colbert Report that I was talking about yesterday.
Bush: “Knuckle Under! Knuckle Under!”
Under the nifty headline Bush Sharpens His Attack on Democrats, the WaPo reports that Bush has resurrected his accusation that anyone who doesn’t want to “stay the course” as defined by his awesome band of warmongers is “waving the white flag of surrender.”
"There's a group in the opposition party who are willing to retreat before the mission is done," he said. "They're willing to wave the white flag of surrender. And if they succeed, the United States will be worse off, and the world will be worse off."When Dan Bartlett was challenged last week to identify a Democrat who was “waving the white flag of surrender,” he couldn’t do it, but, as we all know, reality is very low priority for the Bush administration.
Bush's tone has turned tougher as he appears at more political events. At a Washington fundraiser this month, he said it was important that lawmakers "not wave the white flag of surrender" without asserting that any of them were actually doing so. In his appearance in this St. Louis suburb, he said directly that some Democrats want to surrender, adopting the more cutting approach of his senior political adviser, Karl Rove.
Maybe they’re just confused by the battalion of white flag waving protestors I’ve dispatched to follow Bush around everywhere he goes ever since he first uttered his ridiculous statement earlier this month. If that’s the case, they ought to look a little closer at the flags.
Stolen VA Laptop Recovered
FBI says the personal data up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel contained on the laptop was not accessed, but “more tests” are planned.
It was turned in by someone who is not considered a suspect.
Beer and Evolution
Check out this Guinness advert. Absolutely brilliant!
These adverts, of course, only run in Britain, where things like evolution—and Guinness being a fundamental part of life—aren’t up for debate.
Is there anything more pathetic than the thought that this commercial, if run in the States, would probably elicit a boycott care of the fundies, but the beer ad I saw last night in which a woman "hustles" free drinks for her brother and his mate using her feminine wiles against stupidly horny men, doesn't even raise most eyebrows?
(Via Mark at Cosmic Variance.)
UPDATE: Speaking of evolution...
Berkeley Takes Impeachment to the Ballot
Berkeley will be the first city in the US to put a vote for impeachment on the ballot.
With overwhelming support from Berkeley residents, the Berkeley City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night to be the first jurisdiction in the United States to let the public vote for the president's impeachment…Considering that if they get other local cities to follow suit, they could get a couple million votes for impeachment in the Bay Area alone, it’s a good plan. Let the people speak directly to the issue, since no one else—including the Democrats—wants to touch it with a 10-foot pole.
Voters will be asked to vote yes or no on a measure that will read, "Shall the City of Berkeley call upon the United States House of Representatives to initiate proceedings for the impeachment and removal from office of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney, call upon the California State Legislature to submit a Resolution in support of impeachment to the United States House of Representatives, and establish a Temporary Task Force on Impeachment?"
The measure is strictly advisory, but the city hopes it sparks a national debate on the presidency and the Constitution.
(Thank to Ang for passing that along.)
Harry Potter and the Half-Brained Dumbass
Back in April I wrote about a Georgia woman who believes what The Onion said about Harry Potter and decided that she wanted them banned from the public schools. In May, the school board came unanimously down on the side of Harry with one member then noting:
"Our students do understand the difference between fact and fiction. Let's let those who want to read the Harry Potter books have the opportunity to do so."
At the time, Ms. Mallory had not made up her mind about appealing the decision to the state of Georgia. Well, now she has:
LAWRENCEVILLE - Just when it seemed Harry Potter had fought and won his latest battle, he will be facing yet another a series of challenges. And this time, it will be at the state level.
Laura Mallory, a Loganville mother of four, is appealing the Gwinnett Board of Education's unanimous decision to keep the best-selling books on school shelves.
Her appeal will continue the debate that began when Mallory filed complaints against each of the six books, writing that they included "evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells and teaching children all of this."
*Ahem* It is important to remember that Ms. Mallory has not even read the books because they are "too long" for her. She got her info from "christian message boards and Harry Potter fan sites". Yep, that's right. Christian message boards and fan sites. Fabulous.
Anyway, the Gwinnett County Public Schools superintendent now has 10 days to file the BoE meeting transcripts and the evidence they used to the state. After that, the Georgia DoE will determine Harry's fate in Gwinnett.
All because one dumbass who hasn't even read the books wants to ban them. Ms. Mallory doesn't want to give everyone else the option that she chose to exercise--just not read them--no she wants to control the choices of other people based on her supernatural beliefs. Disgusting arrogance from a willfully ignorant individual. How surprising. Gah, as I said before: I hate it when mouth-breathing fuckwits try to make the rest of the planet as offensively stupid as they are.
Hilarious
Spudsy (showing our ages rather precisely) just passed this along to me with the note, "Sure, we're headed towards the Apocalypse, the planet is dying, people hate anyone different now more than ever, and Republicans still control everything. But at least there's stuff like this!" Too true. Enjoy!
(Per the description, this was performed as part of a college talent show.)
"Taylor Hicks must be stopped"
"Pos-si-bil-i-ties!"
There's a thread on the P-D's Cards Talk forum whose sentiment is close to my heart. The heavily-run Ford commercial featuring Hicks on an American Idol-type stage, whirling and shouting and gesticulating to beat the band, has quickly become the most irritating ad in recent memory. It would be bad enough if the commercial appeared infrequently; as it is, you just can't get away from it. And the rapidity with which the self-styled "Soul Patrol" singer began cashing in on his new-found celebrity doesn't help. When Hicks shouts "I get what I want," surely he's talking about the generous paycheck Ford gave him for his trouble. Nothing wrong with getting paid, but couldn't Hicks have waited a few months at least before he started shilling?
Of course, Hicks and his commercial do have their admirers:
Reviewing the Ford commercial and the song "Possibilities" written for the promotion, Hicks does a dynamic job, believably belting out the tune. Interestingly, there is some on-line buzz being generated for the song to be recorded outside the bounds of the Ford pitch.I'm proud to [be] watching the Soul Patrollman ride his wave of destiny.
It's interesting all right, watching ubiquitous commerical fodder become artistic (nominally) product.
Urgh.
(Cross-posted for the public good...)
Knuckled Under
As Paul noted in his QotD, I have no love whatsoever for John McCain. He is the arch evil villain Huggy McClingman to my Zoologica, and should he get the GOP nomination in 2008, the written history of the ensuing battle will be worthy of no less than Homer himself.
But in terms of an antipathy from which I can draw little humor about its depths and causes, no one, but no one, is worse than Dubya. He is, truly, peerless in his capacity to send me into a red-faced, fist-clenching fury that even nearly two solid years of blog rants has not managed to assuage. In the best moments, I am only riddled with hopeless despair, as opposed to wanting to put my fist through the nearest wall.
The majority of my ire’s source is, of course, his policies, which are catastrophic—the ultimate realization of every extremist conservative wet dream, marching destructively across the American landscape and annihilating in their path any and all remnant of progressive policy or thought. And then there’s the other thing that fuels my indignant discontent, the flipside of that now-familiar canard about what a great drinking buddy Bush would be—I just don’t like the guy.
Yesterday, I read an excerpt of the much-discussed new Ron Suskind book, The One Percent Doctrine, at Drum’s place that perfectly encapsulated what it is I despise about the president. The scene is Harvard Business School, 1975. Bush is captain of his class' basketball team, which is playing the Class of '76 team.The game was tight. The other team's captain, Gary Engle...went up for a shot. Bush slugged him — an elbow to the mouth, knocking him to the parquet. "What the hell are you doing?" Engle remembers saying. "What, you want to get into a fistfight and both of us end up in the fucking emergency room?" Bush just smiled.
He truly enjoys getting people to knuckle under.
Moments later, at the other end of the court, Engle went up high for a rebound and felt someone chop his legs out from under him. Bush again. Engle jumped up and threw the ball in Bush's face. The two went at it until two teams of future business leaders leapt on their captains, pulling them apart. Engle, angry and vexed by what had happened, began wondering why the hell Bush would have done what he did. He lost his composure, and his team lost its leader.
A few years later, Engle...bumped into Jeb Bush....Engle, a Republican contributor, had thought from time to time about his game against George. Nothing like that had happened to him before or since. This was his chance to get a little insight about it. He told the story. Jeb kind of laughed, Engle recalled. "In Texas, they call guys like George 'a hard case.' It wasn't easy being his brother, either. He truly enjoys getting people to knuckle under."
Drum comments, “This, apparently, is the real Bush Doctrine: America's goal is to get the rest of the world to knuckle under to us, one dimwitted action at a time.” Clearly, that’s right—but it’s also incomplete. The Bush doctrine is to get the rest of the world to knuckle under to America, and America to knuckle under to him.
He found his way into office because the SCOTUS knuckled under to him. He’s enjoyed unprecedented favorable coverage in the face of disaster because the media knuckled under to him. His administration acts outside the law with no accountability because Congress knuckled under to him. And those who don’t submit willingly to the threat of an elbow jab get that elbow in the mouth. What progressive, war dissenter, Republican who refuses to toe the party line—any person who disagrees with him in any measure—has not felt the crunch of bone against his or her jaw as Bush or one of his army of operatives lands the perfect shot with a mendacious smear, denied access, or an accusation of treason?
And worst of all, he enjoys it.
He always has. Illegal, but gratifying. Kind of like leaking the identity of a covert CIA operative. Or penning in signing statements and claiming executive privilege to ignore the law. Or going after Saddam on the basis of cherry-picked intelligence, delivered to a fear-paralyzed populace while asserting hopes that war is avoidable, even as it the plan is already in motion. He knows it’s wrong, but it feels so right.
Those of us who refuse to knuckle under gaze out at a country we no longer recognize through swollen and blackened eyes. We feel beat up— tired and weak to our very bones. Some days I swear I’d rather plunge a dull butter knife into my temple than write one more word documenting their endless stream of bullshit, even though I’ve no delusions about the importance of my individual action; it doesn’t mean a whole lot in the scheme of things. But I’ll be goddamned if I knuckle under for Bush and his thugs. I’ll never give them the satisfaction. And that means something to me.
Supreme Court: Bush Went Too Far at Gitmo
BREAKING
The Supreme Court has just ruled that President Bush went too far in creating war tribunals and denying so-called detainees access to the U.S. courts (bolds mine):
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in creating military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion, which said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and the Geneva Convention.
The case, one of the most significant involving presidential war powers cases since World War II, was brought by Guantanamo prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was a driver for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush established special war crimes tribunals for trying prisoners held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Of about 450 prisoners at Guantanamo, only Hamdan and nine others face charges before a tribunal. Human rights groups have criticized the tribunals, formally called military commissions, for being fundamentally unfair.
The Big Gavel falls, and the pendulum of politics begins its swing away from the far reaches of absurdity where it has hovered for too many years. May it never revisit those frightening places.
Crossposted at The Last Duchess
Question of the Day
We all know that Shakespeare's Sister has had... ahem... a few things to say about her arch-nemesis, John McCain, AKA Senator Huggy McClingman. (Here is one of my favorites.) And it should come as no surprise to any regular readers of this blog that Michelle Malkin is #1 on "Paul the Spud's Top 10 Most Loathed List." (For example, I got a little upset at here here.)
So, the Question of the Day is: Who is the bane of your existence?
It doesn't have to be a Conservative or a batshit crazy wingnut. They can be a Democrat, a Progressive, a Republican... or someone like Laura Ingraham, the Human Nasal Passage.
Who really gets the bile boiling for you?
Daily Round-up
Spudsy: What’s the matter?!
Spudsy: CLENIS!!!
Shakes: Chris Matthews is nuts
Shakes: I’ll give ya “disgraceful”
Waveflux: Pass the turd polish
Shakes: A tale of two pictures
Shakes: Slowmerica
Spudsy: Lieberman scores an awesome endorsement
Shakes: Creepy peeper
Shamanic: Harder out there for a pimp?
Shakes: $1,000,000,000,000
Waveflux: Comparative religiopolitics
Shakes: Cheers!
Shakes: Paper trails NOW
Shakes: Katrina continues to devastate
Shakes: Dobson calls the dogs
Shakes: Sue Bush?
Shakes: Quote of the Day
Shakes: Caption this photo
Quote of the Day
"You have to be interested in politics these days. If you're not, you're a completely lost individual. Whereas, years ago, politics seemed to be this thing that was secluded for a minority of intellectuals, these days you can't get away with that argument; you have to be attuned to what's happening, there's so much at stake. There's absolutely no excuse for people who aren't politically aware." — Morrissey, November 1983
Hmm
Specter is considering filing legislation that would allow the United States Congress to sue President Bush over the use of signing statements. The legislation would be required as the Supreme Court ruled that Congress lacks standing to sue the president over passed legislation back when several members sued President Clinton over the bi-partisan line-item veto power.I’m not sure I like the idea of Congress having the right to sue the president, and I’m certain that I’d prefer Specter to exhaust existing measures—like censure—before passing legislation to sue the president. It seems impossible to me that he’ll be able to drum up more support for suing Bush than he could for censuring him for misuse of signing statements, but maybe I’m wrong. What do you think?
Dobson’s Dog-Whistle
First of all, I can’t even imagine why CNN would give the cyberspace to this homobigot retrofuck to air his asinine rantings in the first place, though considering he uses the opportunity to rail against CNN for their part in promulgating the radical homosexual agenda, I can only presume they’re motivated by some sort of deeply entrenched, masochistic shame about the merest perception of “liberal bias,” and a belief that flagellation-by-proxy will relieve them of their burden.
Anyhoo…
Dr. Dobson spends the majority of his column citing a bunch of meaningless statistics about state percentages of support for gay marriage—meaningless because the Family Marriage Amendment’s failure does not mean that gay marriage will suddenly become legal across the country, and meaningless because many of the Senators who voted against it did so not because they support gay marriage, or because they “don't give a hoot about the traditional family,” but because they do not support codifying discrimination into the Constitution or addressing marriage at the federal level.
Then he whines about activist judges for a bit, including those appointed by Clinton, who he conveniently fails to note was responsible for the Defense of Marriage Act passing on his watch. Then there’s the requisite caterwauling about “liberal judges and activists … destroy[ing] this 5,000-year-old institution, which was designed by the Creator, Himself.”
And here’s the best part: “So where does the issue go from here? Time will tell. It took William Wilberforce more than 30 years to bring about an end to Britain's slave trade in the 1800s. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of a protracted victory.”
Yes, that’s right. Evangelical Christian leader James Dobson just compared legalizing gay marriage to slave-trading.
I suspect the lunacy of that comment needs no commentary…but why do you suppose Dobson chose to reference the end of the British slave trade instead of the more obvious example of American slavery? An obvious explanation is that none too few Americans of any color would take exception to our horrendous history of slavery being invoked in such a manner, but perhaps fewer will balk at the British reference. Another possibility falls under the old dog-whistle theory—he’s giving a shout-out to the evangelicals that only they can hear.
William Wilberforce was white (unlike some prominent American abolitionists one might name, like Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass), and he was also an Evangelical Christian who managed to successfully convince the House of Commons to require missionary work a condition of the British East India Company's 1813 renewed charter. In other words, to do business, they had to agree to “introduc[e] Christian light into India.”
To you or me, mentioning this rather obscure British patrician in passing might just seem weird. To Dobson’s devotees, however, it becomes a message that white evangelicals must continue their struggle to blur the line separating church and state—and, more nefariously, a message to politicians that if they want to stay in business, they’d better play by Dobson’s rules.
Impassionately urging his congregants to “vote their consciences,” because, if they do, “there could be some new faces in the Congress soon,” and invoking the name of a man who successfully made policy and commerce contingent upon religious indoctrination, Dobson has made his point very clearly to those whose ears are trained to hear his dog-whistle. And CNN opened its doors to give this extremist conservative bully the opportunity to threaten D.C.
(Thanks to Mr. Shakes for passing that one along.)
Katrina still devastating NOLA…
…whether we pay attention or not.
According to the coroner's office in New Orleans, the city's suicide rate nearly tripled in the months after Katrina. A suicide rate of nine per 100,000 residents jumped to almost 27 per 100,000 residents.
…The New Orleans police department operates a "crisis unit" that helps people who need to be protected from harming themselves. Sgt. Ben Glaudi, the man who started the unit 24 years ago, says there has been a dramatic increase in the rate of people who need to be helped.
Image from a Chicago Tribune slide show of photographs from New Orleans’ lower 9th ward taken by Pete Souza nine months after Katrina. You can view this very moving slide show here.
Claire has some information on helping restock NOLA’s libraries. I’m highlighting that in particular, even though there are still many more ways to help, because although of course there is a continuing need for donations, for tangible items, for money, surely lifting spirits in New Orleans is dependent on breathing life, slowly but surely, back into its culture, too.
Now can we do something about it?!
The WaPo reports that cybersecurity experts staged a mock election “determine what it would take to hack a U.S. election,” and came to the alarming (but totally unsurprising to anyone who’s been paying attention) conclusion that “it would take only one person, with a sophisticated technical knowledge and timely access to the software that runs the voting machines, to change the outcome.”
Got that? One person could change the outcome of an entire election.
Most of the gaping security flaws, found in all three major electronic voting systems used in the US—which are quickly replacing older methods thanks to “billions of dollars of support from the federal government”—could “be overcome by auditing printed voting records to spot irregularities.” But in spite of the federal government’s financial generosity to increase the use of these vulnerable machines, they’ve shown little interest in mandating a verifiable paper trail.
Except for Rep. Rush Holt, (D-NJ).
Now, finally, some Republicans are starting to take notice. Republican Reps. Tom Cole (OK) and Thomas M. Davis III (VA), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, have decided to join Holt “in calling for a law that would set strict requirements for electronic voting machines.” Someone less generous than I might suggest that Cole and Davis only started getting itchy when the polls started showing that Dems had a real possibility of taking the House this November, but I’ll give these two fine gentlemen the benefit of the doubt. Ahem.
Get it done, you Beltway wankers.
Glug
LOL:
England fans are drinking Germany dry.Sie sind nur glücklich, dass Schottland zu furchtbar war, zu konkurrieren. Or, as we say at Shakes Manor, Yoo’re joost looky that Scootland was too shite to coompete!
Breweries warned that beer could run out before the final due to demand.
In Nuremberg fans drank 1.2 millions pints of beer during the Trinidad game reports The Sun. Stuttgart landlords said an extra 900,000 pints were sunk last weekend as 60,000 fans celebrated England's win over Ecuador. In Cologne - where England drew with Sweden - pubs ran out of bottles and barrels.
Comparative religiopolitics
As a guide for the perplexed regarding Barack Obama's clumsy evangelical outreach, we present this teaching moment in comparative religiopolitics:
It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase 'under God'...
It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase 'Allahu Akbar'...
Different? How, exactly? Discuss.
Bonus question: Why is it that Dems like Obama and Howard Dean are unable to talk about religious values without insulting or undermining their own base? Ten minutes, then pencils down.
(Cross-posted.)
$1,000,000,000,000
One trillion dollars. That’s what the Iraq war is shaping up to cost by 2010, as calculated by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Richard Cranium at the All Spin Zone has the lowdown.
And Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) takes us for a ride in the wayback machine. (Please note that the first lying piece of shit on the list is now my bloody governor. Sob.)
Wednesday Blogwhoring
The password is: conflagration.
Recommended…
Think Progress: Your tax dollars are being used to fund a misinformation campaign about Al Gore’s movie.
Agitprop: The Understander
Pam: The House Republican American Values Agenda
d r i f t g l a s s: Govern…or shut the fuck up
Echidne: A Biblical justification for ending women’s suffrage
And Happy Blogiversary to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Nachos!
Siccing the IRS on Sex Traffickers
Charles Grassley has an interesting approach to fighting sex trafficking in America: tax pimps and prostitutes. According to CNN, Grassley's proposal would require pimps to 'register' all prostitutes in their employ, and the punishment for not having a W-2 for a prostitute would be up to 10 years in prison.
It's an interesting approach. I'm vaguely familiar with some similiar taxation approaches to drug dealers out west, and the results have yielded some interesting court findings.
For instance, in 1994 SCOTUS found that in the case of Montana's drug taxation scheme, the taxes themselves were punitive and were a form of double jeopardy. While this is unlikely to be an issue with Grassley's proposal, Justice Stevens said this in the majority opinion:
Taxes imposed upon illegal activities are fundamentally different from taxes with a pure revenue raising purpose that are imposed despite their adverse effect onthe taxed activity. But they differ as well from mixed motive taxes that governments impose both to deter a disfavored activity and to raise money. By imposing cigarette taxes, for example, a government wants to discourage smoking. But because the product's benefits--such as creating employment, satisfying consumer demand, and providing tax revenues--are regarded as outweighing the harm, that government will allow the manufacture, sale, and use of cigarettes as long as the manufacturers, sellers, and smokers pay high taxes that reduce consumption and increase government revenue. These justifications vanish when the taxed activity is completely forbidden, for the legitimate revenue raising purpose that might support such a tax could be equally well served by increasing the fine imposed upon conviction.It'll be interesting to see whether this becomes law and what its effects are. In some parts of the country, sex workers are well organized and have articulate activists lobbying for protections and recognition. Giving them W-2s and proof that they're paying the same taxes that every legal worker in America pays would change that dialogue pretty dramatically, I think.
Disturbing
Remember earlier this month, I posted that a judge had been shot in Reno? At the time, I noted having “found some very angry fathers’ rights advocates who were complaining that he ran on a platform promising to uphold fathers’ rights, but has let them down.”
Well, the guy who’s been charged with the shooting, Darren Mack—who also killed his estranged wife earlier the same day—does indeed appear to be a disgruntled fathers’ rights advocate who is angry about “the crimes that divorce industry are inflicting on mostly men thoughtout [sic] this country.” And he may have been monitoring Trish Wilson’s site while he was on the lam. Trish, as I’ve mentioned before, writes regularly about the ugly side of the fathers’ rights movement.
Now, That's an Endorsement!
Well done, Lieberman. You're Michelle Malkin's favorite Democrat. Congratulations; I'm sure you're very proud.
Energy Dome tip to Crooks and Liars. Fortunately, you can watch the Malkin clip via YouTube without having to go to her vile site. As much as I loathe Malkin, you may want to check it out... the incredibly amateurish "report" is worth a chuckle.
Behind the Times
In America: We’re still arguing about gays serving in the military and gay marriage.
In Spain: “Two gay privates in Spain's Air Force will marry this summer the ETA news agency reported on Tuesday. The wedding will be the first same-sex marriage for the country's military.”
Sigh.
A Tale of Two Pictures
The body of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, arrived at the Brownsville airport Monday in a solemn ceremony broken only by the sobs of his young widow. Eighteen-year-old Christina Menchaca of Big Spring, Texas received her husband’s body shortly after noon, surrounded by family, her little boy, and Rev. Carlos Villarreal. They watched as 11 members of the 101st Screaming Eagles Military Funeral Detachment team provided full honors as they carried the varnished brown coffin from a chartered Falcon jet to a waiting hearse… “By coming here I am showing my respect,” said Frank Garza, a former soldier. Even though he doesn’t know Menchaca’s family, Garza’s nephew, who is currently assigned to Border Patrol duty, will be driving in from Arizona for the funeral.
President Bush jogs with Army Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, 23, from Eugene, Ore., who lost both legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Tuesday, June 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)… “The president met the soldier on a New Year's Day visit to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where Bagge had been recuperating from his injuries for months. Bagge, now 23 and a native of Eugene, Ore., was in a convoy hit by roadside bombs a year ago in the remote Iraq desert south of Kirkuk… He told Bush during their January visit that he wanted to run with him.”
To be clear, I believe that President Bush did a good thing by honoring his promise to a severely injured soldier that he’d go on a run with him someday. I genuinely don’t think he did it cynically; that there was also PR value to it is something for which I cannot fault the president—that’s the nature of any good deed any president does.
But here’s my problem. He did it on the same day that the body of a soldier who had been kidnapped, brutally tortured, and killed arrived home, in his “home state,” as it happens. As veteran Garza notes, above, he attended the procession because, “By coming here I am showing my respect.” People who didn’t know Menchaca showed up to honor a fallen soldier. Two thousand people went to the wake. They will go to his funeral. None of them are among the people responsible for sending him to the war in which he died.
And, you know, I find any excuses rooted in “security issues” a bit flimsy, considering that our soldiers must live day in and day out in fear for their lives.
I believe President Bush honored Sgt. Bagge by spending time with him. And I believe he should do more to honor the soldiers who will no longer run, with him or anyone else, ever again, too.
"More slowly than hoped"
We've been waiting to hear some official assessment of the progress of the two-week old security crackdown in Baghdad. We finally get one, and it's not a ray of sunshine:
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said the overwhelming security operation launched two weeks ago to rein in violence in Baghdad was moving more slowly than hoped."It's going to take some time. We do not see an upward trend. We … see a slight decrease but not of the degree we would like to see at this point," he said at a news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
The numbers bear out Caldwell's measured words. One hundred and fifty-four civilians and military personnel were reported killed in Baghdad over the two-week period of the security initiative, based on news reports compiled by the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. This does indeed mark a decrease from the 190 civilians and military slain over the previous thirteen days in June. Any downward trend in the slaughter rate is good news, but it is tempered by the fact that it took a combined 75,000 Iraqi and American troops to effect it - a massive application of force that cannot be extended indefinitely. In the wake of the elimination of terror kingpin Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the military had doubtless hoped to make great inroads quickly against the insurgency. As the numbers bear out, that hasn't happened.
(Dutifully cross-posted...)
You’ve got to be kidding me.
House Republican leaders are expected to introduce a resolution today condemning The New York Times for publishing a story last week that exposed government monitoring of banking records.Would that the Republicans, including President “Disgraceful” himself, were half as concerned about the outing of a covert CIA operative working on weapons proliferation, or going to war on
The resolution is expected to condemn the leak and publication of classified documents, said one Republican aide with knowledge of the impending legislation.
The resolution comes as Republicans from the president on down condemn media organizations for reporting on the secret government program that tracked financial records overseas through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), an international banking cooperative.
…President Bush criticized the reports during a press event Monday, calling the disclosure “disgraceful” and a “great harm” to national security.
Matthews: Unleashed!
Did anyone else watch The Colbert Report last night? Chris Matthews was Stephen’s guest, and he was an utter lunatic. At first, he seemed as though he would be more reasonable than usual…and then everything went pear-shaped. He got stuck on one of his maniacal “HA!”s, and did it like 10 times in a row, which sort of sounded vaguely like laughter, but also like machine gun fire through a thick block of gelatin.
Then he completely lost the plot and put Colbert in a headlock. It was all meant to seem like fun and games, but I couldn’t get over my impression that Matthews looked like a giant Rockem Sockem Robot that had come loose from its mooring, swallowed a bucket of PCP, and gone on a rampage.
Howsabout some wrastlin', girly-man?
Yeah, Great. How Topical of You.
The Limbaugh/Viagra thing is annoying me, for multiple reasons. It's not just the Clinton jokes that are so fucking old, they should be taken out back and shot like Old Yeller:
Limbaugh joked about the search on his radio show Tuesday, saying Customs officials didn't believe him when he said he got the pills at the Clinton Library and he was told they were blue M&Ms.Ho, ho ho! As Stewie says, "...any 'Titanic' jokes you want to throw at me too, as long as we're hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity?"
There's also this:
He later added, chuckling: "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."As if this whole thing wasn't icky enough, he's got to up the "completely disgusting" ante by forcing us all to imagine him making the twin-backed beast. But here's the thing that really pisses me off:
Limbaugh's lawyer, Roy Black, said the prescription was written in his doctor's name "for privacy purposes." The conservative radio host was released without being charged and investigators confiscated the Viagra, which treats erectile dysfunction.First off, I call "complete bullshit." You see, there's this little thing called HIPAA, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It's got this little Privacy Rule. Basically, it keeps all of your medical information between you and your health care provider. I worked at a pharmacy... if there was one thing that was hammered into our heads, it was that you do not compromise the privacy of a patient under HIPAA; you'll get spanked. Big time.
So, no one would know about Limbaugh's viagra other than his doctor, and his pharmacist. If he's really that paranoid that he's lying awake at night imagining his pharmacist snickering over his hardon pill, he's got problems that viagra and/or oxycontin aren't going to help. And if he's that worried about anyone finding out, why sneak it around in his luggage, where it's probably going to be found, and as we're all seeing, become national news, due to the fact that he's been busted for prescription fraud before?
He either did this intentionally, hoping it would give him a popularity boost, or he's really that fucking stupid, or he was just desperate to find another reason to drag out that stupid Clinton joke.
Oh, and one final thing: It was said during the oxycontin mess, but it bears repeating. If Limbaugh was just Joe Average, he wouldn't be on the radio after getting busted. Again.
And what the fuck was he doing running around the Dominican Republic with a three-hour hardon, anyway? I think you'd better reel in those Clinton jokes, Rush... Clinton's obviously not the only frisky boy at the table.
(All bolds mine. I apologize in advance for mentioning Rush with a hardon. The cross-post made me do it.)
