Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

How stupid are these people?

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

The lights are all blinking red.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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Archives for 2005

No Kidding

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You didn’t have to be clairvoyant to see this coming:

The playwright Harold Pinter turned his Nobel Prize acceptance speech Wednesday into a furious protest of American foreign policy, saying that the U.S. not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but also “supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship” in the past 50 years.

“The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them,” Pinter said. “You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.”

***

But while drama represents “the search for truth,” Pinter said, politics works against truth, surrounding citizens with “a vast tapestry of lies” spun by politicians eager to cling to power.

Pinter attacked American foreign policy since World War II, saying that while the crimes of the Soviet Union had been well documented, those of the United States had not.

“I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road,” he said. “Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be, but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self-love.”

Pinter said it is the duty of the writer to hold self-image up to scrutiny, and the duty of citizens “to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.”

Seriously, is there a conscious human being on the planet who didn’t realize the moment he had won his award he was going to use the speech as an opportunity to bash the United States? Is there one person out there who is that naive? The Nobel Committee sure knew what they were buying.

At this point, after Jimmy Carter and some of their other nominations in the fields outside of hard science, an argument could be made that bashing the US is just quid pro quo for receiving the award.

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Because There is Not Enough Stupid In the World

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Apparently the world is running low on stupid, so Tony Pierce (aka ‘he who still thinks it is cool and original to not capitalize’) has decided to pitch in:

now im not saying that Charles Johnson and Roger L. Simon are in bed with the Bush Administration, or the Instapundit. those guys are fair and balanced. any time the Republicans make horrible mistakes, the first people to point them out are Little Green Footballs and Professor Reynolds.

but i am saying that in light of the latest example of Propaganda from Above – Pajamas Media is starting to look fishier and fishier.

Johnson and Reynolds ran super tight ships at LGF and Instapundit.com – why is Pajamas Media such a clusterfuck of sloppiness and confusion? Could it be that its a reflection of their donors: BushCo? Could it be because Johnson et al have long-term guaranteed contracts that has nothing to do with ad revenue, but instead has to do with keeping the Administration happy with pro-Bush coverage, that they simply dont care about the details of their goofy site – just keep it rolling and keep it Right.

And why did Tim Blair bail out once he came to America and saw OSM/Pajamas up close. Did he see the puppet strings and piss his pants?

That is right. You caught us. Paid shills for the Bush administration. Or is it the JOOS we work for?

And with that, back to my shameless promotion of the administration. Oh yeah. I haven’t written a positive thing about this administration since… well… probably around Terri Schiavo.

dumber… than… a… bag… of… hammers…

*** Update ***

Just go read Joe Katzman, and in particular this rebuttal to the horse manure Tony is spreading.

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Plame Update

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Fitzgerald is back in front of a Grand Jury:

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald appeared this morning to present information to a new grand jury in the CIA leak investigation.

Fitzgerald has been probing for two years what role senior Bush administration officials have played in leaking a CIA operative name to the media in 2003.

Today’s appearance was the first time that Fitzgerald has gone back to a grand jury since the Oct. 28 indictment of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff.

At that time, the original grand jury probing the case expired.

With the new grand jury, Fitzgerald continues to consider charges against Karl Rove, White House deputy chief of staff, who failed to reveal to the FBI and the grand jury in the early days of the investigation that he had provided information about CIA analyst Valerie Plame to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

What does it all mean?

Beats the hell out of me. But I thought you all would be interested.

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Threatening Passenger Killed by Air Marshal

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I have been out of the loop all afternoon working on other things, so this is breaking news for me:

A passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday on a jetway to an American Airlines plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said. Authorities did not immediately say whether any bomb was found.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said the dead man was a 44-year-old U.S. citizen. It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal had shot at anyone, he said.

According to a witness, the man frantically ran down the aisle of the Boeing 757 and his wife explained that he was mentally ill and had not taken his medication.

We shall see how this turns out. My initial instinct is to defend the air marshal (as a good young Republican fascist, that is the instinctive response- fealty to authority), but it would just be horrible if this was just a mentally ill man (although I still would instinctively defend the air marshal).

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Casey to the Buccos

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I am excited about this:

The Cincinnati Reds reached a preliminary agreement Tuesday night to trade first baseman Sean Casey to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left-hander Dave Williams, a deal that addresses each team’s biggest need.

The deal is subject to players passing physicals, an official on a team involved in the trade said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the swap had not been finalized.

Casey, a three-time All-Star and career .305 hitter who is among the most popular players on the Reds, batted .312 last year with nine homers and 58 RBI. A year earlier, he matched his career high of 99 RBI and hit 24 homers, one shy of his best.

The 31-year-old Casey was acquired by Cincinnati from Cleveland in March 1998 and has spent his entire major-league career with the Reds except for six games with the Indians in 1997. He is owed $8.5 million next season and the Reds may pick up part of the contract, the official said.

Having grown up in suburban Pittsburgh, Casey hit the first home run at PNC Park, an 8-2 Cincinnati win in April 2001. He went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer, two-run double and five RBI in that game. He has 10 homers and 52 RBI in 99 career games against Pittsburgh.

How much will this help the horrible Buccos? I don’t know, but I like a Pittsburgh guy coming home to play for his hometown team.

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Why ‘Moral Authority’ Matters, Lesson #27836736

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Via Donklephant, this gem–

BAGHDAD — An unnamed woman, her face shielded behind a curtain and her voice masked, gave a harrowing account today of torture and sexual abuse at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s security forces during the trial of the former Iraqi leader.

“They forced me to take off my clothes,” said the woman, referred to only as Witness A by the court. “They kept my legs up. They handcuffed me and started beating me with cables. It wasn’t just one guard, it was many guards.”

And here’s what Saddam’s attorneys said to respond to the victim’s story:

Defense attorneys also attempted to score political points against the U.S., the trial’s principle international backer.

“I agree that things in Abu Ghraib were, until recently, bad, but did they use dogs on you? Did they take photographs?” asked one defense attorney, attempting to raise the issue of U.S. prisoner abuse at the prison.

“No,” she replied.

First, it should be noted that this defense will be rejected, as the misdeeds of Americans are hardly relevant when discussing the past atrocities of Saddam Hussein. In a murder trial, it makes little difference if the defense brings up the fact that OTHER people murder.

Second, it should be pointed out that like Saddam, the soldiers who did this did face their day in court. I still think that this administration managed to blame all of this on a few low-level soldiers, rather than taking responsibility for why this really happened, but Lyddie England is in jail- as Saddam should be (if he is not executed).

However, this stings. Notwithstanding the firm belief by some that John McCain is a charlatan and a fool, this is precisely why his torture amendment (and it looks increasingly like McCain will win) should be passed and implemented.

Read Donklephant’s entire take, which would seem to suggest that according to WH standards, this woman who testified against Saddam wasn’t really tortured. She just experienced some ‘harsh’ interrogation techniques.

*** Update ***

Victor Davis Hanson–

So we might as well admit that by foreswearing the use of torture, we will probably be at a disadvantage in obtaining key information and perhaps endanger American lives here at home. (And, ironically, those who now allege that we are too rough will no doubt decry “faulty intelligence” and “incompetence” should there be another terrorist attack on an American city.) Our restraint will not ensure any better treatment for our own captured soldiers. Nor will our allies or the United Nations appreciate American forbearance. The terrorists themselves will probably treat our magnanimity with disdain, as if we were weak rather than good.

But all that is precisely the risk we must take in supporting the McCain amendment — because it is a public reaffirmation of our country’s ideals. The United States can win this global war without employing torture. That we will not resort to what comes so naturally to Islamic terrorists also defines the nobility of our cause, reminding us that we need not and will not become anything like our enemies.

The reason ‘they’ torture- they are evil and do not care about human life or humanity in general. The same reason we are fighting them, in other words.

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