A little Friday outrage, courtesy of your secretary of state:
Heckled during a visit to Washington's closest ally, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday the United States has made thousands of mistakes but is pursuing worthy goals in Iraq.
"I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them I'm sure," Rice said at a foreign policy gathering, but history will judge whether the larger aims and decisions were correct.
Also:
"I'm quite certain that there are going to be dissertations written about the mistakes of the Bush administration, and I will probably even oversee some of them when I go back to Stanford," Rice said.
Shorter Condi: "I'll be all snug and sinecured in an ivory tower by the time you finish counting all the dead. Oh, I'm sure."
(It's a cross-post puzzle...)
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And check out these two SUV ads before GM realizes what's going on and they're taken down.
And feel free to make your own.
Hee, hee.
(Energy Dome tip to my buddy Grendel72.)
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Some things I might have written about if I hadn’t been almost dead…
Should men be called feminists? (I think they should be.)
My dinner with Napoli (Nancy rules.)
Heritage Conforms to Type
That Racism Thang
Also, note that Feministing has moved. Update your blogrolls!
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So much for Obama. Seriously, what could be the point of this?
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama rallied Connecticut Democrats at their annual dinner Thursday night, throwing his support behind mentor and Senate colleague Joe Lieberman…
Some at Thursday's dinner said that while they were pleased with Lieberman's success in bringing Obama to Connecticut, they still consider Lieberman uncomfortably tolerant of the Bush administration.
Obama wasted little time getting to that point, calling it the "elephant in the room" but praising Lieberman's intellect, character and qualifications.
"The fact of the matter is, I know some in the party have differences with Joe. I'm going to go ahead and say it," Obama told the 1,700-plus party members who gathered in a ballroom at the Connecticut Convention Center for the $175-per-head fundraiser.
"I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf," he said.
The “elephant” in the room is right.
I’m not sure what good it does Barack Obama to support Lieberman, nor the Democratic Party to support Lieberman anymore, when
he’s more interested in supporting the Bush administration and conservative bullshit like
hospital conscience clauses. The only one who benefits is Joe Lieberman, and, frankly, he doesn’t deserve it.
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Shakes recently posted about a couple fish bearing Arabic inscriptions. Apparently that is how god shows up in common items in the Muslim sphere:
A cockerel in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan has saved itself from the pot after crowing what its owner claimed was "Allah", the Arabic word for God.
The two-year-old rooster was set to be turned into chicken soup after its owner, Ibragim Ismatullayev, found it to be extremely aggressive.
However, Mr Ismatullayev has said that as he put the knife to the cockerel's neck, the bird "screamed" and, on hearing this, his five-year-old son said "dad, it's saying 'Allah, Allah'."
[insert impolite cock joke here]
Anyway, animals calling for Allah isn't a new thing:
Firdevs Robinson, editor of the BBC's Central Asian service, said that stories of this sort quite frequently came out of Central Asia.
She told BBC World Service's Reporting Religion programme that a lion in Azerbaijan was said to have roared the word "Allah" every time the call to prayer was issued.
What I find amusing and interesting are the differences in 'revelation' between the religions. Burnt cheese and plaster vs. a roaring lion and 'screaming' cock.
(if you tilt it, squint your eyes, and dim the lights...it looks like a cross-post)
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Some were guessed right away; some left you stumped. Cookies and juice for everyone!
1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers- (The original, natch.) This seemed to be the one that everyone knew immediately. It's just one of those classic lines from 50's sci-fi, along with "Keep watching the skies!" (By the way, if you've never read the book, I highly recommend it.)
2. All About Eve- Also quoted in the extremely bizarre Dr. Caligari from the 80's.
3. Blood Feast- Have you ever had.... an Egyptian Feast?? If you can handle a little gore... well, okay, a lot of gore (although some of it does look pretty fake), rent this puppy and laugh yourself sick. You haven't seen bad acting until you've seen this movie. The brilliant Liz has an excellent review over at her b-movie site, And You Call Yourself a Scientist! Also highly recommended.
4. The Abominable Dr. Phibes- I think I have to have at least one Vincent Price movie in each of these.
5. The Leech Woman- Nastiest. Husband. Evah!
6. Female Trouble- Starring the one and only Divine, pictured above. In this film, her philosophy is "Crime is Beauty." She also "has sex with herself," playing a woman and a man in the same scene. (!) I was very tempted to use the "Nice girls don't wear cha-cha heels, Dawn!" line, but I figured that would be too easy. Right?
7. Reefer Madness- "Play it faster! Play it faster!"
8. The Omen- You've got to see this one, just to hear Richard Burton say "Eeeeeeeeevil!"
9. Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer- Boris Karloff as the killer. Big surprise, huh? I thought that this one was the most difficult/obscure one on the list.
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?- I don't know if this qualifies as a "cult" film (well, I think it does), but I just love that line.
Well Shakers, did you enjoy this? Should I continue to cross-post this game over here?
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Study: Praying Won't Affect Heart Patients
NEW YORK - In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.
Researchers emphasized that their work can't address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another's behalf. The study can only look for an effect from prayers offered as part of the research, they said.
They also said they had no explanation for the higher complication rate in patients who knew they were being prayed for, in comparison to patients who only knew it was possible prayers were being said for them.
Zuh?Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at the Duke University Medical Center, who didn't take part in the study, said the results didn't surprise him.
"There are no scientific grounds to expect a result and there are no real theological grounds to expect a result either," he said. "There is no god in either the Christian, Jewish or Moslem scriptures that can be constrained to the point that they can be predicted."
Within the Christian tradition, God would be expected to be concerned with a person's eternal salvation, he said, and "why would God change his plans for a particular person just because they're in a research study?"
Science, he said, "is not designed to study the supernatural."
Okay, I happen to be taking a course in research at the moment, so this caught my eye. And the one thing that leapt to my mind was "Who in the world
paid for this?" (Yeah, I know, the Templeton Foundation. I can only assume that the people holding the purse strings over there are a bunch of knuckleheads.)
What exactly is the purpose of this study? I mean, I can understand trying a study to test and see if
knowing that someone is praying for you will have a positive effect on your recovery... but that to me would be more of a psychological study. This... this just seems to be a weird attempt to "test prayer." Either that, or it's a pointlessly expensive way to make the intelligent design bozos look ridiculous.
I mean, come on guys... haven't you got the True Believers in enough of a snit lately?
To anyone from the Templeton Foundation that may be reading this: I have an excellent idea for a study. I'd like to see if quitting my job and being paid by you to play video games and read books all day will have any affect on my hair growth. Ru$h an e-mail me$$age to me if you're intere$ted in di$cu$$ing thi$.
(From my heart and from my hand, why don't people understand my cross-posts?)
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(Cross-posted, because after my hiatus, I doubt anyone will be playing over in Spudville!) Leave your guesses in comments! Remember, every time you cheat with the IMDB, God kills a cute baby duck.
1. "They're here! They're here already! You're next! You're next!!
2. "You're maudlin and full of self pity. You're magnificent!"
3. "Well, Frank... this looks like one of those long, hard ones!"
4. Sgt.: "Well I have discovered they all have one thing in common."
Inspector: "If you say they've all died mysteriously I'll bloody kill you!"
5. "It's interesting to watch a "bottle baby" defend her weakness. One thing I can say for you, your approach is always different. Today, it's complete submission. I can't even get a rise out of you. You know, I think I like you better when you're sloppy drunk and violent. That's the real you, and that's the one I like, the one that hates me and gives me a chance to hate back."
6. Wink: "I'm getting a hard-on! Beauty always gives me a hard-on!"
Donna: "Aim it the other way then, Wink. You know how I detest organs. Beauty has absolutely nothing to do with that WORD, that THING you have hanging there like an obscene pickle. Spare me your anatomy."
7. "Failing this, the next tragedy may be that of your daughter's... or your son's... or yours... or yours...(points directly into camera) or yours!
8. "Wrong? What could be wrong with our child, Robert? We're the beautiful people, aren't we?" (No, it's not Barbara Bush)
9. "You're going to commit suicide if it's the last thing you do!"
10. "Yeah, check the probate! You know, my Uncle Thumper, he had a problem with his probate... and he had to take these biiiig pills, and drink lots of water!"
"Not prostate, you idiot, probate!!"
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If the United States or Israel take preemptive military action against Iran's nuclear research facilities, how much do you think it will then cost you to buy a gallon of gas at the pump?
I'm guessing we could get up to $8 easily, and that's if Iran doesn't decide to close the spigot.
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But I'm close.
Mr. Shakes now believes we have cholera. I'm thinking ebola, because since I haven't eaten anything in almost two days, it can only be my own liquified liver I'm puking up at this point.
Either that, or a small alien will burst out of my gut any moment. If it happens, I'll try to get pictures. It should make a great "Caption This Photo."
Until then, I'm going back to bed. I never thought it was possible to sleep for almost 36 solid hours and still need more sleep, but, apparently, it is.
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Journalist Released Unharmed in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - American reporter Jill Carroll was set free Thursday, nearly three months after she was kidnapped in a bloody ambush that killed her translator. She said she had been treated well.
Carroll, 28, was dropped off near the Iraqi Islamic Party offices. She walked inside, and people there called American officials, Iraqi police said.
"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Carroll said in a brief interview on Baghdad television.
Her family thanked "the generous people around the world who worked officially or unofficially" to gain her freedom. No details were given about the circumstances surrounding her release. The U.S. ambassador said there was no ransom paid by the American embassy, but his remarks left open the question of whether "arrangements" were made by others.
Excellent. The other part of this story that really fills me with hope is that at no time was Carroll tortured or abused. Of course, you could always argue that keeping someone against their will is torture enough... but I'd much rather have that than "frat pranks" like waterboarding or being attacked by dogs.
The previously unknown Revenge Brigades claimed responsibility. Even though the group threatened twice in videotapes to kill Carroll, she said, "They never hit me. They never even threatened to hit me."
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that Carroll underwent a medical checkup at the American hospital in the Green Zone.
During the TV interview, Carroll wore a light green Islamic headscarf and a gray Arabic robe.
"I'm just happy to be free. I want to be with my family," she was heard to say under the Arabic voiceover.
Carroll said she was kept in a furnished room with a window and a shower, but she did not know where she was.
"I felt I was not free. It was difficult because I didn't know what would happen to me," she said.
She said she was allowed to watch TV once and read a newspaper once.
Asked about the circumstances of her release, she said, "They just came to me and said we're going. They didn't tell me what was going on."
Treated humanely by her captors. What is this world coming to?
I'm sure Rove and his team of spinning elves will somehow mutate this story into a tale of daring rescue wherein Dubya himself dives out of a helicopter with nothing but a bowie knife clenched between his teeth to single-handedly rescue Carroll by... oh... sometime this afternoon.
In the meantime, welcome home, Jill. A spot of sanity in this war is something we all need at this point.
UPDATE: The Wingnuts have begun shrieking
"Stockholm Syndrome!" You'd think these scumbags would be a little more happy to hear about some of the "good news from Iraq" that they've been whining about.
Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry... "good news" that matches their twisted agenda.
My mistake.
(Energy Dome tip to
The Green Knight.)
(Good morning, cross-post, the earth says hello!)
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Which will probably be whittled and whittled away to a slap on the wrist. I'm still kinda flabbergasted... actual jail time? Wowzers.
MIAMI - Once high-flying lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six years in prison for fraud in the 2000 purchase of a fleet of gambling boats, but he will remain free for at least three months to assist in a corruption investigation involving Congress and the Bush administration.
U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck imposed identical sentences of five years and 10 months on Abramoff and Adam Kidan, his former partner in the ill-fated purchase of SunCruz Casinos in 2000. It was the minimum sentence recommended under federal guidelines.
Huck agreed to postpone prison reporting dates for both men to allow them to continue cooperating in an investigation of the broad Washington corruption scandal and also a probe into the 2001 killing in Fort Lauderdale of former SunCruz owner Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Both deny having any role in the death.
The minimum sentence. Gee, what a shock.
(Tip 'o the Energy Dome to Talk Left.)
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George Bush and his cronies know the drill: when things aren't going well, blame the last guy in power. So after years of practice faulting the previous officeholder regarding American woes ranging from the economy to national defense, Bush now has no trouble taking a similar tack when it comes to Iraq:
President Bush said Wednesday that Saddam Hussein, not continued U.S. involvement in Iraq, is responsible for ongoing sectarian violence that is threatening the formation of a democratic government. [...]
Bush said that Saddam was a tyrant and used violence to exacerbate sectarian divisions to keep himself in power, and that as a result, deep tensions persist to this day.
Of course, this is the same war president who couldn't see the danger of those same festering "sectarian divisions"
from a hundred miles away:
He predicted it "was unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" - an opinion with which Mr Blair agreed.
So much for
this cover story.
Forget foresight: In conveniently forgetting his culpability in not seeing sectarian danger in Iraq, Bush demonstrates that he doesn't even have 20/20 hindsight.
(Mmmm. Hot
cross-post buns.)
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Favorite lyricist of all time?
You know who mine is. See anything here.
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RNC Memo Warns GOPers Not To Distance Themselves From Bush
Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen, in a memo written for RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, warns that if members of Congress try to drive a wedge between themselves and Pres. Bush, it'd be akin to adding weight to an anchor. GOPers are "W Brand Republicans" whether they like it or not.
Whether they like it or not?! You’ve got to be kidding me. They’ve gleefully hitched themselves to his bandwagon for the past five bloody years! It’s not as though they’ve been futilely resisting his utter decimation of traditional conservative principles—they are
the majority party who has been aiding and abetting his criminal enterprise every step of the way. And now that whatever stupor enthralled American voters, and made voting for Captain Incompetence seem like a good idea, is wearing off, the MeToos want to moan about how they don’t want to be “W Brand Republicans” anymore? Tough titties!
The President is seen universally as the face of the Republican Party… President Bush drives our image and will do so until we have real national front-runners for the '08 nomination. Attacking the President is counter productive for all Republicans, not just the candidates launching the attacks. If he drops, we all drop.
In other words, you’re stuck with him. As well you should be.
Wrap your arms around your deadweight of a party anchor and sink into the muck with him, you pricks.
Glug, glug, glug…Via
Memeorandum.
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(And not support parental notification restrictions.)
Father of the Year:
A 55-year-old Lawrenceville man has been charged with raping and impregnating his 16-year-old daughter, and with raping his 19-year-old mentally disabled stepdaughter…
The matter became a case for the Special Victims Unit of the Gwinnett Police Department after Connelly's estranged wife took their 16-year-old daughter to a hospital. After tests confirmed the girl's pregnancy, she stated that she had been sexually assaulted by her father, according to GPD spokesman Cpl. Darren Moloney.
The investigation revealed that Connelly may have also molested his stepdaughter and that the abuse had been going on for several years, Moloney said. In 2002, Connelly was charged with battery, but Moloney said the disposition of that charge was not available.
The 19-year-old is not pregnant, but she is both mentally and physically disabled.
Please note this scenario does not meet the parameters for abortion as laid out by infamous South Dakota legislator
Bill Napoli, who would support the termination of the incestuous pregnancy only if the 16-year-old had been “brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated.” Since the abuse had been going on for several years, the girl probably wasn’t a virgin, and doesn’t appear to have been “savaged” or “sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it.” She may be religious, and is definitely impregnated, but having the bad luck of carrying
her father’s spawn instead of an unknown but brutal rapist, she doesn’t deserve access to an abortion, should she want it. Luckily, she lives in Georgia, where women are still vaguely autonomous creatures and Bill Napoli isn’t in charge of determining what’s best for their bodies and lives.
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A woman in Georgia was pulled over and ticketed for having a bumper sticker on her car that read I'm Tired Of All The BUSH—. Except, you know, there wasn’t a dash.
The officer "said DeKalb had an ordinance about lewd decals and wrote me a ticket" for $100, said Grier, an oncology nurse at Emory University Hospital who lives in Athens.
Grier said she thanked the officer — and vowed to see him in court.
"This is all about free speech," Grier said in a telephone interview Monday. "The officer pulled me over because he didn't agree with my politics. That's what this is about, not whether I support Bush, not because of the war in Iraq, but about my right to free speech."
…Grier, 47, the mother of four grown sons, is due in Recorder's Court on April 18. She has not removed the bumper sticker in question, or six other mostly politically oriented decals on her car. "I used to think that one person could not make a difference," said Grier. "Now I'm beginning to think one person can, and should. We shouldn't be afraid to stand up for what we believe in."
Denise Grier, I present you with the Shakespeare’s Sister Golden Balls Award.
Your Guy Fawkes mask is in the mail.
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The Bespectacled One has beat CNN for the first time in the much sought-after 25-54 demographic.
"This marks MSNBC's first quarterly primetime victory over CNN in the demo in almost five years (2Q01 MSNBC Investigates beat CNN at 8 p.m. ET)," MSNBC's press release said today.
K.O.’s ratings are up 41%. O’Reilly the Scumsucker is still in the lead, but his viewership in the same demo is down 24%. Wah wah wah.
Networks take note. There’s a market for liberals.
Via
Crooks & Liars.
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President Bush, today, after a meeting with his Cabinet:
We talked about a war on terror that requires all of us involved in government to respond and to protect America and help spread freedom…
Tomorrow I'm going to deliver a third in a series of speeches about the situation in Iraq. During Saddam Hussein's brutal rule he exploited the ethnic and religious diversity of Iraq by setting communities against one another. And now the terrorists and former regime elements are doing the same -- they're trying to set off a civil war through acts of sectarian violence.
Sorry—which country is he talking about? What leader? Who is it that exploits ethnic and religious diversity by setting communities against one another? The extensions of whose regime are trying to set off a civil war rooted in religious differences?
Go on and give your speech about the escalating violence in Iraq, while you continue to ignore the signs that we’re on the same road to hell here at home, while prominent members of your own party sign up to give keynote addresses at conferences like “The War on Christians.” Your selective apathy toward radical factions that serve your agenda continues to be, as has it ever been, a splendid idea. Wanker.
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