And I am serious.
The more I learn about this administration, and how they have perverted EVERY single system of governance they have touched, the happier I am that Chuck Schumer and Ted Kennedy and Pat Leahy are going to give it to the GOP right and proper. From today’s WaPo profile about young Ms. Goodling:
When a college intern in the Justice Department whined that all he was doing was filing and answering phones, Monica M. Goodling took him aside. If he wanted to do “substantive work,” she told him, he was going to have to prove himself first.
The intern walked out of the office in a huff, and when he returned an hour later, Goodling took him aside again. “You’re fired,” she said.
“Some people in the office thought: ‘Wow! That was tough,’ ” said Mark Corallo, her former boss in Justice’s Office of Public Affairs, who recalled the incident. “But I thought, ‘Good for her.’ ”
Part of a generation of young religious conservatives who swept into the federal government after the election of President Bush in 2000, Goodling displayed unblinking devotion to the administration and expected others to do the same. When she started at Justice, “no job was too small for her,” and as she moved rapidly up the ranks, none “was too large,” Corallo said.
***To her detractors, Goodling was an enforcer of political loyalty who was not squeamish about firings — of interns or of senior officials.
“She forced many very talented, career people out of main Justice so she could replace them with junior people that were either loyal to the administration or would score her some points,” said a former career Justice official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
And so it is with EVERY department, every agency, every office this administration has touched. Fierce partisans, religious right radicals, and party loyalists have replaced the people who actually know things and care about things, to the detriment of the national good. Agencies no longer exist to do public works, or, in this case, to administer justice, they exist to keep Republicans elected, and the loyalists are in place and will say and do whatever they have to to keep it that way. When they get caught lying, they lie some more and hope the press will get distracted by a dead bimbo or a missing kid. In the off-chance the sophomoric pack of brats that is the national press catches (and yes, I am linking Duncan Black for the first time without calling him an asshole) a hint of a real story, they will simply lie to Congressional committees and catch amnesia.
And the rot is deep. Jim Henley is right (and not just because he invoked my name):
It will take a whole new cadre of Republicans to turn the party into something that deserves to be trusted with a meaningful share of American power. Those people don’t really exist yet. Put it this way: to the extent that they exist now, the “real Republicans” vituperate them and drive them off. You can see the dynamic whenever a formerly “reliable” blogger like John Cole or Der Commissar sets the Kool-Aid cup down and begins describing the jungle compound as it actually looks. You see it in the loathing for Chuck Hagel, who was all talk and no kissing until just this week. Behind George Bush is Alberto Gonzales. Behind Alberto Gonzales is John Yoo. Behind John Yoo are a dozen functionaries who think like him but whose names we don’t even know. In front of them all is a clown show of jesters and justifiers.
It’s a rotten bunch, and it’s a rotten bunch that has found every soft spot in the structure of American Constitutionalism and poked it out. It is pleased to have done so and, as the Stiftung explains, does not to this day question its rightness. What has to happen is thoroughly repudiating them and their works. A notoriously fickle electorate has to keep them at bay. An obviously venal opposition has to rebuild the cage of laws around itself rather than running joyously rampant. I don’t like our chances, honestly. If you want to maximize them, it means turning to Eve Tushnet’s maxim: “Politicians mostly do what they think they have to do.” We have to make them think they have to shore up what passed for delimited power if they want to keep their phony-baloney jobs.
It isn’t just a bad apple, as the whole barrel has gone bad. NASA, the FDA, Justice, FEMA, or, this week, the Department of the Interior and the GSA. Hell, do I even need to list them all? I am terrified to think what we will learn has been done with the IRS, and God only knows what is going on at Homeland Security. It is almost as if after years of accusing the Clinton administration of being the most crooked administration ever, they decided to experiment and see if they could be worse than their claims. Their success has been unparalleled in modern political history.
So let’s all hear it for Waxman, Leahy, Schumer, Kennedy, and all the other partisan attack dogs on the side of the Democrats. I don’t for one minute share their political beliefs, and I still think Schumer would run over a handicapped kid to get in front of a microphone, but I sure as hell am glad they are in office. The hacks and the partisans and the phonies and the frauds are in charge, they are deeply entrenched, and it is going to take a bunker buster to root ’em out.
This whole corrupt, incompetent, faith-based, crony-worshipping group of frauds needs to be decimated. The Republican party needs to be razed and built back up from the ground. All I can say to Chuck Schumer is:
“Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.”
numbskull
I appreciate your sentiments, but you chose a poor example with the college intern firing.
jenniebee
More from DOJ:
John Cole
The point of the quoted text was not the firing of the intern, but the absolute fealty to the party and to Bush (which, let’s face it, is one and the same to these folks- Bush is the party and vice versa), which is the SOLE basis for her meteoric rise in Justice.
Rusty Shackleford
Why is telling the truth and treating others with respect so hard for the Christian woman?
cleek
couldn’t agree more. the Dems have their own issues, but i don’t fear that they’re out to turn the entire federal govt into a giant propaganda and patronage machine.
yes, i sure there are people who feel 180deg the opposite. they’re deluded.
Pb
Who are you, and what have you done to John Cole?! Seriously, if I had told you two or three years ago that you’d be saying this, you probably would have shot me in the face (or the verbal equivalent). :)
Chad N. Freude
No-brainer. Changing the world is far more important than behaving morally or ethically. Although I don’t remember exactly where in the Bible it says the end justifies any and all means.
ThymeZone
Great post, John. Now you know why some of us ranted like banshees a couple years ago about the Potatohead Government and the damage it was doing far and wide.
Now we are seeing the result of electing people who have an agenda that is not congruent with the interests of the people and the country, but only congruent with their own grasp on power.
Hopefully, we’ve turned the corner, and this insurgency of corporate and religious interests is losing its grip on power. Hopefully, I say, although we have a ways to go.
And of course, once the Dems topple this regime of asshats, then we have to be vigilant for the day when they start doing the same shit.
grumpy realist
When did Republicans turn into the Party Where Reality Takes A Back Seat To Faith?
Or were they always this contemptuous of competence?
Walker
We already heard that back in June from David Johnston. This administration has been cutting back on the audits of wealthy Americans so that they can cheat with a higher rate of success.
ThymeZone
In a shameless act of self-promotion, I am bringing this post over to this thread where it seems more at home.
——–//
Okay kids, current-affairs time!
Been reading the ongoing saga of the pet food contamination story today?
Here’s my question: Wheat gluten is a pretty common basic processed-food ingredient. It is one of many that could end up in pet food, or in your canned chili or soup or any number of processed foods.
The food supply is a maze of interconnected large factory operations and transport.
Somehow, in this case, toxic chemicals (still being discovered, apparently) found their way into wheat gluten and/or other entry points in the ingredient chain, and have caused hundreds, probably thousands, of pet deaths so far.
What is preventing this from happening to the human food chain? How easy would it be for a terrorist, such as Timothy McVeigh, to slip some rat poison or melamine into an ingredient bound for a soup manufacturing plant?
How much “homeland security” do you think we have?
If we wanted some, who would get it for us? THE FUCKING POTATOHEAD GOVERNMENT?
Cuss, and discuss
Chad N. Freude
I know it’s hard to believe, but these guys all seem to me to be at least partly motivated by a a sense of justice, belief in the Constitution as a valid document, a belief in the right of citizens to be left alone (that used to be called “Conservatism”). Even Ted Kennedy. Yes, they’re all politicians and they do political favors, defer to their donors, manipulate constituencies, [insert your favorite political sin here]. But politicians are like dogs. While they all piss on the carpet, some will greet you with tail wagging while others will rip your throat out. Which pols are which dogs is left as an exercise for the reader.
ThymeZone
I vote for the Minature Chihuahuas.
Jeff Miller
Best. Ballon-Juice Post. Ever.
Tsulagi
Hey, don’t be so tough on Monica Goodling. She’s a graduate of the Messiah College and Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School. She’s a big swinging vagina in the Lord’s Legal Corps fighters. (Sorry, mom) Only natural she’d be a rising star in this admin. God choose Bush. Known truth.
mrmobi
Kudos, John, well said. You sure have changed since I first visited here three years ago. I’m also very happy to see the congress do its’ job, at long last.
What we have here is, I believe, an abortive attempt at establishing theocracy in the different departments of government, and in secret. How many department heads begin the days’ work with a prayer session, as John Ashcroft did?
Congress should shine a light on this, and expose these creatures for the incompetent ideologues that they are.
This is not the America I was taught about in school. We are better than this.
Chad N. Freude
This is an artifact of the industrialization of all human activity. It’s not just the food supply. How dependent has the economy become on high-speed high-tech, and how resistant are our computer systems and networks to subversion? How dependent are we on petroleum-based commercial transport, and how secure is our fuel supply from hostile manipulation? There is no higher goal in this country than ever-increasing efficiency of large-scale production and distribution of goods (for the optimization of both profit and consumer prices), and no lower priority than making sure that the benefits of such efficiency can be protected and maintained.
Bubblegum Tate
Exactly. The question this raises, then, is if Bushbots seriously can’t understand why this is a bad thing, or if they just don’t care. I’ve seen ample evidence for both.
Chad N. Freude
Looks a little like Waxman.
mrmobi
Oh, my god, that’s a strange image. It burns!!!!
Mr Furious
John, your transformation is complete. You’re a beautiful butterfly!
Richard 23
That’s very inspiring. And judging from the reaction here, quite accurate.
Chad N. Freude
But this doesn’t prevent her from being a dick.
Bubblegum Tate
Exactly. And God hasn’t told Bush to stop being a complete fuckup in everything he does, ipso facto Q.E.D. cogito ergo sum Bush is carrying out God’s plan perfectly. Are you damn libruls trying to say that you know better than God? Huh? Is that it?
Bruce in Alta California
I always knew things were bad with this administration. I just did not know and am shocked at the extent to which they have corrupted all levels of government. Every day is a new revelation.
Brown shirts indeed.
Zifnab
I’m not even bothered by that. Sure its cliche-ish and cultish and it annoys me, but welcome to life. What bothers is the idea that the same guys who run these prayer sessions get to spend their time asking God how to rig the government against the opposing political party using taxpayer mulla (not to be confused with mullah).
“Let’s all pray” isn’t the problem. “Let’s all run good men and women out of office cause they’re not in our Bibles For Bush club is the problem.” Christianity just gives these guys a trapping to hide under while they plot very unChristian-like things.
Chad N. Freude
I must be denser than I thought. This is the most cryptic remark of the week.
Moll Slanders
Was this just stupidity, or does Bush just not care how bad this looks?
via WAPO (behind subscription wall).
Jake
I’m sure all of this is very familiar… To historians who study failed monarchies. The only difference is that instead of a peerage for arse kissing you get a high-paying job.
MikeF
The Christian Right is Neither.
jill
This is exactly why the Coalition Authority in Iraq was an utter failure because the administration chose to fill nearly every postition with Heritage foundation nimrods who were 24 years old who cared more about out-lawing abortion than they cared about building a government and competent security forces.
mrmobi
That is correct, Moll.
Punchy
You guys won’t believe me, but: I just saw John Cole and Jane Hamsher tongue-checking each other’s dental work last nite in Morgantown.
Still awaiting the forecast for Hell, A non-Mexican Jesus to show up in my Sunday mass, and evidence of porcine feathers…but appears the impossible has indeed happened.
Myrtle Parker
John, will you please stop beating around the bush and tell us what you _really_ think?
Thanks.
Chad N. Freude
Zifnab, I could not disagree more. The idea of demanding religious ceremonies in the office is insulting to staff members with different beliefs and/or modes of expressing them, not to mention dividing the staff into righteous us and non-righteous them. Unless of course everyone one on the staff sings from the same hymn book, so to speak, so it is acceptable only if we exclude from employment anyone who isn’t — you know, like us.
jg
Just rremember we are where we are because Al Gore said he invented the internet and because of purple heart band aids. We will still be here in 2 years because Obama attended a madrassa and because Hillary’s voice makes ears bleed and because Edwards hair is too nicely groomed. It doesn’t matter wha
jg
Just rremember we are where we are because Al Gore said he invented the internet and because of purple heart band aids. We will still be here in 2 years because Obama attended a madrassa and because Hillary’s voice makes ears bleed and because Edwards hair is too nicely groomed. It doesn’t matter wha
Face
Another Ted Haggard reference…
jg
Just rremember we are where we are because Al Gore said he invented the internet and because of purple heart band aids. We will still be here in 2 years because Obama attended a madrassa and because Hillary’s voice makes ears bleed and because Edwards hair is too nicely groomed. It doesn’t matter what a republican stands for, it only matterres that hes not a democrat.
Moll Slanders
Didn’t I read somewhere about presidential briefings starting with prayers?
mrmobi
jg, I also hate this editor. And it’s demislamunofascist, not Democrat.
Zifnab
That’s a fact of life, though. In my office we’ve got Republicans and Democrats, athletes and non-athletes, IT guys and Programmers, Employees and Management. Even the devote and the non-devote. These divisions happen all the time.
But the Loyal Bushies aren’t using their prayer time to pray, they’re using it to plot. They’re not engaging in religion anymore, just another side of partisan bickering.
Myrtle Parker
John, you better sit down. Here is some more:
Get that! She changed the range to 1.8 miles so it wouldn’t extend to California where her husband had a ranch! Isn’t that nifty!!
jg
Sorry, my work pc has issues. For some reason it thought it was april 30 and all my april meeting reminders started popping up on screen. During the storm I look over at the BJ page and theres a screen telling me I just posted a duplicate comment.
Anywat modern politics sucks.
jill
I don’t find John’s post remarkable. It would have remarkable if he had come to this conclusion 3 years ago when Bush was running for re-election. This is voters’ remorse which set into this country’s republicans about January 2005. What a shame to have wasted a vote on such a disasterous man when all of the evidence was just as convincing then as it is now.
Chad N. Freude
Yes, but religious division is different. I doubt that the programmers will ever descend with swords on the IT guys, the non-athletes will sack and burn the athletes’ locker rooms, the management will stretch the employees on the rack (well, maybe not that one), or any of the other category pairs engaging in other colorful expressions of religious difference.
Krista
Hope you used a coaster. I guess that Kool-Aid leaves one hell of a ring.
I agree. I’ve worked with some very religious people, and have often had some very interesting theological debates with them over lunch. And if they want to pray for better 3rd quarter results, then hey – whatever works, right? But it’s very, very, very different when the BOSS is starting off each workday by leading a prayer session, then that creates a certain culture in the office. Immediately, those who do not share the boss’ religious beliefs feel like if they do not participate, then they will fall out of favour. Having religious coworkers is fine. Having a boss who brings his/her own religion into the workplace – that’s not fine. My former boss evidently became a hard-core Baptist not long after I left, and evidently ends all of his interoffice mails with Bible verses. I’m glad I’m not there anymore — he’s a great guy, but that would have made me incredibly uncomfortable.
Chad N. Freude
And this kind of science worked so well for Lysenko in the Soviet Union!
Although I don’t think he had a ranch in California.
Richard 23
The fabled eloquence of the left.
Zifnab
I’ve seen three UT fans chasing a guy in an A&M jersey down a street spraying him with shaving cream, although that’s a bit extreme.
But if you’ve got a problem with prayer-groups in the office, you’re going to be knocking heads with religios quite a bit. Cutting them down just builds on that religious persecution and burns bridges. That’s my experience at least.
Regardless, the point is that these guys aren’t engaging in religion to begin with, so its a moot point. When Tom DeLay and company got together for their AA meetings, they didn’t discuss alcohol recovery either.
Chad N. Freude
The right never makes typographical errors. They are all perfect typists from birth. That’s how you can tell left from right.
Chad N. Freude
That’s true, but Galileo had a similar problem and he did OK. At least they didn’t kill him.
BTW, note that I did not correct your inadvertent manifestation of the fabled eloquence of the left.
RSA
As might have been expected, Corallo has a history of his own. From the link:
If I were looking for someone to vouch for me, I wouldn’t pick someone on Rove’s PR team. Not that Goodling had any choice, and not that she isn’t a pea from the same pod, of course. Just another example of the ideological nepotism running through the government. DOJ flack to Rove flack? Little more than a change in title and salary.
John Cole
Weird. I hold up both hands extending my thumb and my forefinger, and the one that makes an “L” is the left. That is how I can tell.
In all seriousness, I had a guy in my platoon who was actually very bright, but could not tell left from right and that is how he had to do it.
Richard 23
If someone can’t bring themselves to pray, they probably don’t belong in government. Being part of the team is an important factor. Who’s team are you on? America’s team or the other team?
I wouldn’t trust someone who couldn’t pray. All of our Presidents have been Christians. I would hope that those who work for him are too. If they don’t work for Him, who do they work for?
mrmobi
Maybe not, but given the tendency of the RRR (rabid religious right) to take a mile when offered an inch, where the fuck do you draw the line? You know what I mean. If Christianists get abortion outlawed, don’t you think contraception will be next?
I would be apalled if one of my customers suggested we begin a meeting with a prayer. It’s beyond insensitive. I have muslim customers, jewish customers. What kind of dolt enters a room and suggests a prayer in that situation?
I’ve said before that I don’t begrudge anyone their faith, but I reserve the right to be pissed off if they try to stuff it down my atheist throat.
Krista
Funny, that. I don’t trust people who pray openly but act like assholes behind closed doors.
Bubblegum Tate
Her.
Blondie
Jeez John, I truly appreciate the sentiment, but you also might consider cutting down on the caffiene a bit. we don’t want you doing harm to yourself or anything. my guess is that there is a lot of puss left to squeeze out of the giant boil on the ass of democracy that this administration has become.
Dave
A-fuckin-men John.
Chad N. Freude
And here I thought all along that Richard the Third wasn’t spoofing. Another illusion shattered.
But if you’re serious, Richard, shouldn’t you be campaigning to remove that satanic no-religious-test thing from the Constitution?
Punchy
I call shenanigans on this statement. Mutually exclusive and all that jazz.
It’s akin to saying “oh, she was smokin’ hot in that size 36 dress”, or “I only buy quality cars…take a lookie at my new Ford”, or even “I value education and detest incest, and that’s why we’re moving to Mississippi”.
mrmobi
This has been a translation from Mr. Subliminal.
Ted
That’s fine. I don’t trust bible-thumpers.
And by the way, non-religious people work for humanity. Not a sky fairy.
Perry Como
Boy Scout Troop Leaders can fly?!
Chad N. Freude
And the one that makes a Right-angle-the other-way is the right. Excellent mnemonic device.
Does anyone here remember an old Judy Garland musical where she played a dancer who had to wear a garter on her left leg to remember which leg was which?
And you know for certain that this isn’t some non-intelligence-related neuro-bio thing?
Richard 23
There you go again, Ted. God isn’t gay.
Chad N. Freude
Late-Breaking Thought:
John, how do you remember not to hold your hands palms up?
mrmobi
There you go again, Ted. God isn’t gay.
mrmobi
Sorry, I hate this editor, I really do.
God has sex? This puts things in a completely different light. Sex with God must be awesome. Where can I join up?
mrmobi
John, correct me if I’m wrong, but to identify the letter “L,” don’t you have to be able to tell left from right?
cd6
Yeah but Clinton did it too.
Barry
John Cole: ” I am terrified to think what we will learn has been done with the IRS, and God only knows what is going on at Homeland Security.”
Homeland Security is the place where the administration would have had the most opportunity to wreak havoc. It was the product of a *huge* reorganization, which would have required lots of appointments of managers. It’d have been child’s play to hide lots of very bad appointments in that large cloud of activity.
“It is almost as if after years of accusing the Clinton administration of being the most crooked administration ever, they decided to experiment and see if they could be worse than their claims. Their success has been unparalleled in modern political history.”
There’s one reliable rule about these people: anything they accuse others of doing is something that they’re already doing themselves, and usually 10 times as much as their accusations claim.
Chad N. Freude
All of them do. Ask any Greek or Roman.
Jonathan
In all seriousness, I had a guy in my platoon who was actually very bright, but could not tell left from right and that is how he had to do it.
My mother in law has two masters degrees and is a very sophisticated and accomplished artist, she can’t tell left from right either.
It’s funny when she and her husband are driving somewhere, she drives and he’s the navigator. He never says left or right, just “your side” or “my side”.
Krista
Yeah, that works well in a car. It doesn’t work so well in a canoe. It’s quite frustrating when Himself is sitting behind me, navigating, and prefers to use “This side” or “the other side” instead of left or right. He’s lucky I haven’t yet thrown him into the drink.
Tsulagi
Yep.
In this US Attorney thing admin officials have admitted attorneys were kept or fired based on a loyalty index and how aggressively they pursued the president’s “initiatives.” Loyalty defined as speak no evil about a retard and actions of his corrupt admin and initiatives defined as how to keep them in power.
And they express surprise that anyone sees anything wrong with that. Because that has been the standard applied in every agency, every department, every office. From cabinet heads on down to receptionists.
Competence? Dedication to doing your job well? Doesn’t enter into the equation. As McNulty said in an email, he hadn’t even looked into the district performance of one of the attorneys that was fired.
Yes, the U.S. government has been a shining model of democracy for Iraq and that region. Make sure you have incompetent, corrupt retards at the top that see your country’s Constitution and laws don’t apply to a wartime leader, and a majority party that will say anything, do anything to remain in power, and enrich those that make it happen. No wonder Cheney sees “enormous successes” in Iraq. He’s a proud daddy.
Tsulagi
So that guy must have been all fucked up when he did that in front of a mirror.
Let me guess, he was the driver for your tank?
zmulls
Holy cow. My eyes are burning from reading this post.
I appreciate the honesty and passion more than I can say, but also, I have to say that I had always wondered what it would look like to watch someone’s head explode.
Chris
A-fuggin-Men.
John, you speak for the disease-free sensible everywhere. The bogey liberal under the bed can’t keep the lipstick on this pig anymore.
BTW, just how gay (not lame, but, you know, so homoerotic that Lance Armstrong, the Village People, and the film 300 makes him ache in a way he can’t pin down) is fucking Chris Matthews in that Atrios link?
From admiring Bush in a uniform, to this shit about 5 o’clock shadows and truck drivers, the guy is looking for a Daddy harder than Andrew Sullivan on the dancefloor at 2 am.
We have a post-modern presidency, and an extremely PoMo press court who, amazingly, haven’t realized that 6 years of a guy that can play the part with the right lighting, they want another actor who looks right.
Fucking Chumps. Matthews should hit the booze again.
Chad N. Freude
Incontrovertible. But could we find a new metaphor?
Krista
It’s not just one slice – the whole loaf has gone moldy.
Zifnab
Galileo was seeking to prove and expand Copernician Theory. And I don’t remember Galileo complaining because people prayed at him so much as he complained about them throwing him under house arrest for a decade or so.
“A moment of silence” has been a happy middle ground for devote Christians and secular humanists for over a generation. I’m not saying “Let’s all pray” is a step in the right direction, but it’s not to far off base.
Regardless, the point is that Republicans aren’t praying in their prayer meetings any more than the guy asking for your money on the All God Channel is preaching to you. They weren’t trying to live a good Christian life, they were trying to rig elections. Religion doesn’t even enter in to the equation at that point.
Chad N. Freude
I’ve never been able to stomach the guy (no double entendre there, no sir), but all the blogopress this has been getting has me kind of interested in watching his show with my Dr. Freud (not Freude) glasses on.
ThymeZone
Somewhere in Colorado, there’s a Boy Scout troop that needs a new leader.
Perry Como
Liberace gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Rusty Shackleford
I do not trust “Born-Again” Christians. Personally, I think it may be one of the oldest cons there is. And if you happen to be a Born-Again Christian, yeah, that’s right, I just called you a con-artist. There’s a reason why you’re “born again”.
Jake
Lydexics of the World Untie!
All snark aside, left/right confusion is a symptom of dyslexia.
Right/wrong confusion is a symptom of too much Kool-Aid (TM) guzzling.
Chad N. Freude
Galileo was imprisoned/house-arrested challenging official orthodoxy (is that redundant?). Not prayer at the office, but certainly ostracism for nonconformance.
Chad N. Freude
Should have been “arrested for challenging.” Damned eloquence of the left.
Krista
According to that Masson’s blog trackback, John has “been busily littering the Road to Damascus with scales from his eyes.”
Poetic, but slightly gruesome-sounding.
Chad N. Freude
At least he won’t be weighed in them and found wanting anymore.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
Great post, John.
Mikef
Homeland Security is the most troubling to me, because they were created by this administration. There were no professionals to be purged.
Moll Slanders
It is, trust me when I say this.
My Truth Hurts
Glenn Greenwald touched on this yesterday. Interesting read
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/03/29/brooks/index.html
cd6
In terms of “what happened at the IRS” didn’t we already know that they laid off a large percentage of the people whose job it was to go after the wealthy tax dodgers?
I seem to remember reading about that on BJ even.
pharniel
Matthew 6
1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:1 to 6:6 bitches.
open a meeting with prayer? fuck you you anti-christ worshiping cuntsucklers.
Chad N. Freude
He does, because he’s a member of the inner circle.
Aside from letting large contracts for dubious technologies, DHS doesn’t seem to be terribly worried about seaports, cyber infrastructure, refineries, nuclear power plants, or anything else that can’t be handled in a long airport line of passengers. I suppose that they don’t have to be concerned about domestic security here as long as we’re fighting them over there.
Rome Again
They ignore Matthew, they follow the epistle of John.
Chad N. Freude
Meticulously observed by the DOJ.
ThymeZone
This is going to be hard for Darrell to accept.
He thought he and God were going steady.
Chad N. Freude
The Sanjaya of the blog. No matter how bad he gets, we keep letting him come back.
Rome Again
There are a lot of people in this world under that misguided impression. God doesn’t really acknowledge those who don’t study.
Perry Como
Only because it’s fun to laugh at him.
Perry Como
So the Fish and Wildlife hack that was mentioned above sent internal government documents to an MMORPG buddy for review. WoW.
Rome Again
Hmmm, messed up my link. Dang it!
Study!
Mary
Great. Now I’m envisioning Darrell with a ponyhawk.
::plucks out eyes for offending me::
mrmobi
That link to Greenwald and thence to Brooks is interesting.
I believe Mr. Brooks (not Albert or Mel) has a jump on the creation of a “newspeak” dictionary here.
Isn’t “security leads to freedom” like “freedom is slavery” in its’ way?
A final, completely non-germain fact is that Albert Brooks’ actual last name is… say it with me, “Einstein.” Yes, his real name is Albert Einstein. And his brother is Super Dave Osborne.
This has been another edition of “Facts you didn’t give a shit to ever know.”
Jake
Rumor has it that this is the same reason JC voted for Bush in 2004.
OCSteve
It’s painful to say, but I find myself agreeing with you more every day John.
I’d officially change my party affiliation to Independent just to remove the stigma, but Maryland is looking at moving their primary to February. In the unlikely event that a decent R candidate floats to the top of the cesspool I want to be able to vote for him – or at least vote against the worst of them.
Chris
Holy Fugg, whoever said that about no professionals at Homeland Security to fire, that sent a chill right down my spine.
But then I laughed about that Fish and Wildlife broad/videogamer. I suppose using avatars is one way to save on consultant fees.
As for the IRS, if you dig you’ll see that recently, they outsourced the writing of large parts of the tax code to the very same firms that help very rich people shelter big dollars.
That’s one way to do it.
ps, and no, there’s not anything wrong with it. Which is why Andrew Sullivan should take Chris Matthews out dancing next saturday night. In fact, with that 5 o’clock shadow quip, maybe Chris Matthews is into the Bear scene too.
Chris
As for the republican party (and, i hate to admit it, i not only once identified but worked for one R Senator a long long time ago), John is on to something.
Sometimes, you have to let a prarie fire burn it all down so it can grow back new and disease-free. Its nature taking care of itself.
Perry Como
Someone in the Muckracker comments summed it up thusly:
If you find this incredibly funny (as I do), you are a geek.
Jake
Ummm. Rome Again, what the fuck is that?
Tulkinghorn
But… if G-d is straight, and G-d is not a G-dess, then only girls get to have sex with G-d? Boy I feel like a second-class citizen, and I am not even G-y.
chopper
what if you find it incredibly sad?
then again, look at me; i made an algol joke a few days ago.
“i’ll trade it for that +3 vorpal blade and a ‘bag of holding'”
canuckistani
You won’t trust me. I am an atheist, and I pray to no one. I don’t work for Him. I don’t work for anyone. Why do you assume that if I’m not a Christian, I must be a Satanist?
Zifnab
Hahaha~!! Damnit.
RandyH
…And thank god for Henry Waxman, too. He’s the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee – and the only chairman of any committee that can issue all the subpoenas he wants without committee votes. Just his signature is all it takes. This authority was assigned to that committee chairman position during the endless investigations of Bill Clinton to make the process move smoother. But since the Republicans were so sure that they would never lose power in the House, they never took the authority away.
And Henry’s on a roll. I believe it’s him that opened up the Interior Department and GSA corruption. He’s just getting started. The people of Santa Monica should be very proud.
Rome Again
You’ll never know unless you click on it. LMAO
Tulkinghorn
Who says all presidents have been Christians? Could it be the same evangelical propagandists who in other contexts declare Catholics, deists, speculative freemasons, and unitarians to not be Christians?
Yes! And you, Dick23, are one of the exoterically bamboozled, hoi polloi sheeple they feed this bullshit pop theology to, as they know it is false yet easily employed for manipulating the stupid yet pious, and they are laughing all the way to the bank!
Sucker!
Rome Again
Yeah, I saw that too, but after arguing that line so many times, it just gets so boring. They never get it. It reminds me of the number of times I confronted those pro-ten commandments on the courthouse steps guys and asked them how a statue of the ten commandments wasn’t itself an idol that the commandments themselves say shouldn’t be worshipped? They just couldn’t ever figure it out. I gave up.
Chad N. Freude
Don’t forget West LA.
DokeyKong
“She forced many very talented, career people out of main Justice so she could replace them with junior people that were either loyal to the administration or would score her some points,”
The Soviet union had these types, they were called commissars.
Steve
What I wonder is if someday I will find myself making the mirror-image version of this post.
Tulkinghorn
I long for the destruction of the Republican Party, but if that happens your prediction will be spot-on. I would gladly settle for a new conservative party with a scruple or two and a shred of intellectual honesty.
::waiting for godot::
demimondian
If not you, then a younger and painfully wiser person of the same general political outlook.
ThymeZone
Post this of version image-mirror the making myself find will I someday if is wonder I what.
GFMO!
Jake
I did and I say again: WTF?
ThymeZone
It’s from here, via DKos.
I can’t even comment, what can be said?
Rome Again
TZ, this is not news, this is what those energy meetings with Mr. Cheney were all about… the plans were already drawn up a long time ago. Occam’s Hatchet did a diary on it a couple of months ago. It was awesome. He had maps and documents stating who was going to get which quadrants, and everything.
Rome Again
You didn’t spend much time finding out. I sat and read that website for months. I still do go back and refresh my memory from time to time.
Here, I’ll help you a little more…
This is the best starting point.
ThymeZone
True, but read the whole thing, as they say. Bush has slipped this past the Congress and the American people and the Iraqi people because the thing is carefully crafted to fly under the radar. People in our Congress don’t even know they voted for this monstrosity.
Don’t we get it? Fights over things like Alberto Gonzales are just diversions to keep people from paying attention to what is really going on here.
These fuckers are stealing billions of barrels of oil in broad daylight and right in front of the rightful owners.
ThymeZone
Just to dot the “i” ….
This is exactly what Saddam Hussein was doing for 25 years. In retrospect, his method was a lot cleaner and a lot cheaper than ours is.
Is the world better off without Saddam? Well, we sure as hell know that Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, BP/Amoco, and Royal Dutch/Shell are fucking better off.
ThymeZone
J. Higgins, “Three Days of the Condor”
See, these fuckers think that they are doing us a favor by starting a war and stealing oil for us. They really do think that the end justifies the means.
Rome Again
Come on, we’ve known this all along. I realize it, and you realize it… I’m sure several of us know that this has been a diversion all along, but without a way to actually prosecute these bastards, there’s really not a lot we can do. We’re the American people, they don’t listen to us, remember?
Some in Congress chose to look the other way. Others were simply too naive, I guess. Of course, this is what happens when you put a bunch of oil men at the helm of the most powerful nation on earth. Whoddathunkit?
Rome Again
Was there any doubt?
ThymeZone
We’ve theorized it, but I never saw the actual smoking gun complete with the owner’s manual and the disassembly instructions before. This is just breathtaking.
They are slipping this stuff into law before anyone figures out what it really is. The extent of the deception and duplicity is just breathtaking.
Rome Again
By the way, TZ, here’s the diary from Occams Hatchet on the subject, written back in December.
Some of the maps that were on the diary are now no longer showing, but he linked to them and the links as far as I know are still there.
Rome Again
Yeah, and… why is this any different than the Patriot Act or half a dozen other nasty things they slipped through Congress?
I guess I just don’t share your level of surprise.
ThymeZone
I’m easily surprised.
Rome Again
I would have thought differently, considering how versed you are in understanding what these guys have done (you verbalize everything they’ve done so much better than I can that I assume you understand it as well or better than I). How can I possibly be less surprised than you?
ThymeZone
I’m just crazed.
Pb
Wow. And greetings, OCSteve!
ThymeZone
Wow, thank you, but I think you overstate the case!
You verbalize quite nicely yourself.
Baby Jane
This may have been brought up already, but if not, meet Tim Griffin.
MikeF
I am not surprised, just saddened. Because there are a lot of people in this country who would probably support it if they knew, since they will not want to give up their lifestyles so easily.
Rome Again
Well, everyone knows that shopping and materialism, and owning big gas guzzlers is what life was always supposed to be about, right? Right? He who dies with the most (luxurious) toys, and all that…
Rome Again
Wrong, TZ, the comparison is hardly close. If I am a flame on a candle, you’re the 50k megawatt bulb shining so brightly you turn night into day.
Dreggas
I read that entire thing and I must say I am impressed and it does open up a lot of questions while at the same time clearing up a few things, especially the whole Morning star thing. I can’t say I agree with all of it with regard to the authors specific admonition against MALE homosexual acts but there is a lot there to make one think.
ThymeZone
I think my head just melted.
Rome Again
TZ, this is the comparison…
If I’m the candle…. you’re this:
It looks like this.
Understand?
Rome Again
Thank you Dreggas. I don’t agree with absolutely everything he says either (he’s a crazy old man and even goes by a website that incorporates the crazy old man theme – he’s a hoot actually), but there IS a lot there to think about, huh?
ThymeZone
I’m such a hothead!
Dreggas
Given my love for history I even question some of the “Laws” laid down back then such as even the killing of homosexuals or even the command to be circumcized in the former you had a clear case of the pressing need to continue reproducing to keep your tribe etc. alive, in the latter hygiene was lacking and it would have been a good practice to undertake since it would have prevented infections. Same goes for eating pork. One observes pigs rolling in the mud (they don’t sweat and this cools them down) mud is unclean therefore the animal must be unclean. Add to that the fact that since pigs of the day would scrounge for food they were more likely to get parasites that could be given to humans and thus the “don’t eat pork” commandment is born.
Punchy
Just do us the small favor of throwing your vote away…ya know…vote for John McCant or Sam “I’m a cracker, but my last name makes me sound otherwise” Brownback.
ThymeZone
The disease is still killing people today.
Slide
An infrequent visitor to Balloon Juice these days but wow, very impressed by your post John. You have it exactly right. This has nothing to do with ideology, with liberal or conservative. This has to do with good and bad, right and wrong. The people in power have one objective and one objective only – to stay in power, to increase their power, and to use this power to their own personal advantage. When history looks back at this period of time it is not going to be very kind. Nixon looks like a good government reformer next to this crop of scumbags that have disgraced the Constitution and imperiled our nation.
Dreggas
Oh I understand it is, not saying the disease isn’t still around but I would wager it was more prevalent back then.
ThymeZone
Why do Catholics hate Jesus (not my yard man)?
Tax Analyst
Great Post, John! I just read it and don’t have time to read the…let’s see “163” comments before mine, but I have the feeling you’ve been seeing a lot “Way to Go’s” and “Thanks, John”…I can’t think of anything more to add to what you said, so…Way to go, Thank you, John.
Pooh
Typically generous of you OCS. I will say that for myself, and many, many many members of “Teh Left” – it’s not a huge desire for socialism, and massively redistributionairy policies and so on that drive our opposition and contempt, it’s the continued, open and notorious disrespect and disregard for reality, and things that work, and for any standard of honest discussion which turn us into hyper-partisans. I mean, it’s been done to death, but how could you really be comfortable following/supporting someone with this outlook:
The whole ethos is Ready! Fire! AIM! Is there anything in your experience to lead you to believe that this is a wise approach to things?
And combine this just-not-giving-a-shit, with the obvious venality of, at the least, many of the enablers and hangers on, and how can you support this?
The answer of course is the apocryphal slow-boiled frog – many of the general policy outcomes appeal to you, so you can say “well the Dems would be worse.” And without a stern shock to your system (be it Katrina, or Schiavo, or NSA-gate or USA-gate, or the Iraqi CF) these dribs and drabs of unfortunate news simply won’t be enough to overcome.
Rome Again
::sigh:: No, you’re very illuminating.
ThymeZone
Well, that pyramid thing you linked to did look a lot like the “illuminati” symbol on the back of the dollar bill ….
Why do I suddenly feel like singing “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer?”
Rome Again
The Confectionary Christ? “My Sweet Lord”? Oh, that’s simply scrumptious!
ThymeZone
I know.
I have said this: “Christ, this is good chocolate.”
But never this: “Chocolate … this is good Christ.”
After reading the story, I am convinced that the whole …er, flap …. was about the lack of a loincloth.
Imagine, Jesus with a penis! Shocking!
Rome Again
Because you shine in dark places and light up the world around you? Just hazarding a guess.
ThymeZone
I thought it was just because I had a red nose.
It does come in handy at the movie theater, though.
And for reading maps at night in the car.
Rome Again
Don’t forget the kool-aid. We need to find a way to cut off the supply.
Tax Analyst
Aw…I like you guys, too…But anyway, how many times can one hear “well, the Dems would be worse” in the midst of all this criminally idiotic bullshit before your head just fucking explodes? It’s just too monumentally insane to even reply to…I mean, where to start? You can’t…and anyway, when you hear this you have to know the speaker is just way too deeply invested in believing the crap…there’s no point in trying to discuss it…”Dems” = “worse” has been ingrained in that person’s excuse for a brain and it ain’t changing anytime soon.
Rome Again
Methinks Rush Limbaugh had something to do with that.
Randolph Fritz
Matthew 6:5. (“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.”)
Damnit, folks, read your holy Book.
Rome Again
They never do, they only remember John 3:16, that’s all they think they need. They disregard all other scripture. Only atheists and those who have learned to see through the lies of Christians through reading that book actually know the scripture you mention and try to either live it themselves or at least expect believers to.
Tax Analyst
Rome, I think you’re onto something there. Well, gotta go…
jake
I thought at first the creator was schizophrenic but he’s too organized, and amusing. Sorry, the Bible is interesting and I do encourage folks to read it if only to gain an excellent weapon in arguments with fundies (I see people have been discussing “Don’t pray in public, jackass”) but this guy has some axe to grind and it makes my eyes cross.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
Spoken like a true lobster-lover. Burn in Hell, you crab-crunching perverts!
Zifnab
I think that age of American history is slowly coming to an end. When people say “Yeah, sure Bush is bad. But he’s better than Kerry or Gore would have been.” it becomes harder and harder to justify that statement. Just speaking it conjures up the question of, “How? How could it possibly be worse?” And that’s a damn difficult question to answer.
CaseyL
Anyone saying “Gore or Kerry would have been even worse” is not reachable.
It’s not just the Bushists we need to abandon forever; it’s the 28% bitter-enders. Stop listening to them, stop appealing for their votes and support; don’t even bother trying to engage them in discussion.
They’ve shown their true colors, too.
And let me tell you, it depresses me that about one-third of our adult population wants Bushist-style government.
Darrell
This is what I love about “principled” truth teller John Cole and his minions of giggling groupies. A biased subjective profile of ONE administration official is all they need paint the entire administration.. hence Cole’s drama queen exaggerations on “EVERY” department and agency. Who says this Monica Goodling was only enforcing blind loyalty rather than doing what was right? Oh yeah, the WP hit piece said so, a piece with unnamed sources and no substantiation. What a solid basis to use when going off another unhinged rant.
Does anyone doubt for a second that the Clinton administration did not have more than its share of Ward Churchill-like little Eichmanns running different departments? What defines John Cole and his followers as drooling loons, is their repeated tendency to 1) take one unsubstatiated example and run with it extrapolating to the extreme. This is just another deviation of White Phosporous II, but this time with ‘I’ve seem the light’ John Cole leading the charge and 2) dishonestly pretending that assigning hardcore partisans to administration positions “suddenly” occurred under George Bush
Did you hear William Jefferson is still sitting on a house committee seat while under criminal investigation?
Darrell
Chuck Schumer on Bill Maher’s Real Time: “There are some, you know there are some anti-Semites in this country, but most of them would vote Republican anyway.”
Tsk, tsk Chuckie, Dems are the party with leaders which include ‘hymietown’ Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and the party who so embraced luminaries such as Michael Moore
“But Republicans are worse”(TM)
Frank
Meet the new Darrel, same as the old Darrel.
You really need to re-read those samples Darrel, people notice major changes in style here. Most Balloon Juice readers are more familiar with Darrel’s style than John Cole’s.
Darrell
Mindless non-response. What a surprise.
Zifnab
The center can’t hold on that group without a strong, authoritarian central figure to cling on. When Bush leaves office, his little cult will shatter like porcilan hitting pavement, and all that will remain is a shattered faction of “We hate Democrat!” wingers. Frankly, a bunch of fringe loons throwing rotten vegetables and Limbaughing the conversation doesn’t even need to work against the Democrats. It just discredits their opposition.
If the 28%ers want power, they’re going to need to either swallow their pride and rejoin the mainstream or hole up in their last bastions of backward thinking – the dirt farms and hell-holes of the deep south – and chant “State’s Rights!” hoping the federal government will leave them alone.
Two more election cycles like ’06 and it’ll just be shades of Blue running for office anywhere that matters (which isn’t necessarily all a good thing, as the Lieber-wing of the Democratic Party is nothing to sneeze at).
Republicans will get to hang back in the wilderness until they clean house and regain their credibility.
Darrell
Let’s see, Al Gore has since running for the Presidency had at least two unhinged speeches ranting over Republican Nazi “brownshirts”, and has firmly placed himself in the environmental extremist camp.. But since there is ‘no controlling legal authority’…
And we have John Kerry telling us how our troops in Iraq are terrorizing innocents in the dark of the night, and called our troops a bunch of uneducated morons.
But keep telling yourselves “Republicans are worse” ™
Zifnab
I agree, Darrell.
Cheney is more of a Red Shirt.
That said, you never answered my question from the previous thread. How is it that rich people benefit less from paying taxes than poor people, when 45% of our budget goes to paying interest on the debt and military spending?
Darrell
I’m trying to understand just how stupid you are, so bear with me please. Are you actually suggesting the paying more interest on our national debt is somehow “benefitting” rich people? Please elaborate your rationale for such a belief.. listening to your explanation will be like watching a car wreck, ugly as hell, but you still find that you have to look
John S.
I see The Darrell is here, reporting for duty.
Enjoy the Saturday, folks. Preferably outdoors.
Rome Again
An axe to grind? Perhaps you may think so if you feel Christianity should be given every opportunity to appear to be the way to find God. He thinks differently, and while I don’t agree with everything he says, he does make quite a lot of rather good points.
Your cross-eyedness is only your conditioning to believe that Christianity is nothing but love and goodness when, if you really study the principles behind the Christian religion, it is no such thing. We were fed lies as children, and no mind wants to accept it at first, not even mine.
It is theft of a god from a more ancient religion, where the more ancient religion must be both moved down in stature, and lied to about the true intentions of the replacing religion. Look up “Replacement Theology”.
jake
Nice. Where’s God Hates People who Wear Cotton and Wool at the Same Time? Granted, rules against eating scavengers made good sense (especially wild pigs = vicious four-legged buzzards) but it always struck me as odd that someone felt the need to attribute that one to God. Why not just say: “Oi! Do not eat of the things that will eat anything lest thee wishes to puke out thy guts and die. And eels, ‘cos eels doth creep us out.”
This is where I go when I feel the need for a little salvation.
Tsulagi
Hey, show some compassion. He of the bottomless asshole is just lashing out because his battle buddy and amor, Matt Sanchez, is going down. And not on him. He’d just put the rings on layaway.
Punchy
I do. I strongly doubt it.
Punchy
(rim
jobshot)Tim F.
I don’t think that you guys are taking Darrell seriously enough. No matter what a Republican does Democrats are, always have been and always will be worse. If Republicans prove to be unexpectedly heinous, that just means that Democrats have some untapped well of heinousness that we didn’t know about. Or else their known heinous acts must be even more heinous than we already thought.
Defining B(x) as the badness function relative to political party X:
B( d) > B( r)
Only crazy people can challenge my indisputable proof. Since John has the temerity to challenge it, John must be crazy. QED.
Zifnab
I’m suggesting that paying the debt at all – which we could conceivably default on if we so choose – maintains the strength of the dollar. By choosing to pay the debt and maintain the dollar we benefit not the poor, who don’t have any money to begin with, but the rich, who live off their accumulated wealth and investments which the US Dollar supports. Paying the debt does absolutely nothing for people living below the poverty line. It does everything for the richest of the rich, because without paying the debt their money is worthless.
jake
OK all you spoofers, take notes. This is how good spoof should be done. RA manages to best Scout Master Darrell’s “I can read minds,” schtick and Jonathan’s Painfully Ernest act without once resorting to obscenity.
[applause]
Zifnab
Brilliant! You should get this published.
Tim F.
Here is a perfect opportunity for Darrell to demonstrate his ironclad reasoning. Clinton appointees spent half of their time in DC under hostile questioning by the Republican Congress. If any of them ran their departments like our loopy GOP friends then one can be absolutely certain that the record exists for everyone to see.
Since B( d) > B( r) must always be true in all cases, I have no doubt that the voluminous data out there will vindicate Darrell’s eminently provable (and disprovable) declaration.
jake
Oh ho.
Translation: Please forgive me sweetheart. Those 50 other guys meant nothing to me!
I’m not even going to bother with “My past is behind me.”
Darrell
First, are you suggesting that the US should not pay its debt?.. that the US should default?
And explain how a strong dollar would benefit the rich. I use the phrase “would benefit” because the dollar has been quite weak for years now, plummetting against most major currencies. But I’m sure an informed person like yourself already knew that, right Zifnab?
Zifnab
All this time I thought Adolf Eichmann was actually employed by Clinton for much of his first term in office.
Darrell
And here is what that virtuous group had to “say” under questioning:
Zifnab
I’m suggesting that the reason the US does not default on its debt is because this would devalue the US Currency. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m suggesting that keeping the value of US Currency is most valuable to those who have the most of it.
And I’m suggesting that a strong US Dollar makes foreign imports cheap and increases the value of US commodities overseas, which improves our trade deficit. Who does cheap foreign imports and high-valued trades benefit most? The people doing all the importing and trading. Namely, the rich.
Darrell
Ah yes, John Cole the courageous truth teller.. More like John Cole takes one or two examples and uses it to dishonestly mischaracterize the entire Republical party. Unprincipled as hell? You bet. That’s what you and others have in common with him.
Rome Again
Darrell, they were being questioned on hings such as an intern givng the president a blow-job for Christ’s sake… get real.
When you can prove that Republicans were really concerned about fraud in the white house, you have my attention. Why, if Clinton was as bad as you say he was, did Republicans concern themselves with a fucking blowjob?
Darrell
Our dollar has been extraordinarily weak over the past several years, and the rich have prospered greatly over that time period as noted on this very blog.
A strong US dollar makes imports less expensive but it makes our exports MORE expensive and less competitive. Tell us more Zifnab about how paying our national debt is such a bad thing.. that only helps the “rich”. You are truly and extreme moonbat leftists. I can only hope that mainstream voters get exposed to the likes of you before the next election.
tBone
Wow. Darrell hits the spoof trifecta by working “Clinton did it too!”, Ward Churchill (Mainstream Democrat!), and “little Eichmanns” into a single sentence. Well done, Senator. Well done indeed.
tBone
Damn, no sooner do I congratulate you than you start phoning it in again.
Sometimes I think about tweaking the pie filter to output “Shout it from the rooftops, moonbats! Speak truth to power so we can all see just how extreme you really are!”, but there’s really no point.
Darrell
No, government inefficiencies and partisan appointments never occurred until George Bush was elected.
Tsulagi
I hear you. Bravo. Now if he put just a little more effort into it saying something like this…
Then the little fucker would be the keynote speaker at next year’s CPAC.
John Cole
Why do you even respond to Darrell? He is obviously just trolling you. Just ignore him.
It works for me.
CaseyL
Banning him would work even better, since too many people can’t resist the temptation to poke him with a stick.
Tim F.
In other words you have precisely zero evidence that federal departments were as mismanaged under Clinton as they clearly are under Bush. Yet, somehow, B( d) > B( r) because it just has to. It’s a universal law! Inviolate!
That is your logic, right? You want to assert without evidence and then stamp your feet and throw rude names when people decline to take you seriously. I haven’t seen this much maturity since Mayr Kate and Ashley hit puberty.
Tim F.
Jeebus, how long does it take to sift through the archives at LuciferAnne? Even I’m sure there must have been one Michael Brown somewhere in the Clinton admin. Filegate? There has to be something you can cite.
whatsleft
Today my 12-year-old son asked me, out of the blue, whether the President is corrupt. At first, I said that while the President is horribly ignorant, stupid and stubborn, I did not think he was actually corrupt. Upon further questioning from my son, I said that the President’s concern with advancing the interests of keeping Republicans in power to the detriment of the whole American population was in fact corrupt.
And then I went to Balloon Juice and saw the latest from JC. Thanks for the vindication!
Bubblegum Tate
Wait, Michael Moore is an anti-Semite? I thought he was just fat and slobbish.
Zifnab
Liar. You’ve totally feed the Darrell under the bridge at least three or four times in the past month. I’m not going to look up the links for that, because I am totally lazy and may in fact be a bit full of it myself. But my non-supported claim still stands until you disprove my negative.
Darrell
Oh no, there couldn’t be corruption in the “most ethical administration ever”. Isn’t that what Clinton told us?
I think the administration that gave us Janet Reno because she was a woman who had no scandals, was definitely committed to bringing us the best and the brightest.
And if they failed a drug or background test? No problem as long as they were loyal to the Clinton administration
Now that’s an administration that puts excellence above partisanship, right?
Pb
All the records were shipped to Syria along with the WMDs Clinton sold Saddam and then destroyed by Sandy Berger.
jake
Fixed.
grumpy realist
I guess the US will have to learn the hard way that Stupidity Hurts.
But what do you expect from a gaggle of Favorite Son flunkies who have never had to be competent at anything in their entire lives?
Most Americans don’t want to admit that Good Intentions does not imply Competence. Or that people who claim Good Intentions might be lying. Or that simply claiming a belief in Jeeezus proves absolutely nothing.
Elmer Gantry meets Napoleon III. Sigh.
Zifnab
I never said paying the debt was “bad”, I merely responded to your assertion that the poor benefit more than the rich from government taxes. Paying the debt is just one example by which the rich benefit signficantly more than their poor counterparts. Because the rich benefit more, I don’t see why they shouldn’t pay more.
And you’ll have to link me to where you discovered that the US Dollar became “extraordinarily weak”. It’s weaker than the Euro, but I can’t think of another currency currently stronger than the dollar.
John Cole
Sure, I respond sometimes, but much of the time I just ignore him. Other times I refer to him while responding to others, much like two adults discuss a child in their presence but never directly engage the child.
Perry Como
This is not true. Why do you think Rudy is polling so well among the base?
Tim F.
So far we have childish behavior and one example that hardly rises to the level of the weakest of the Bush offenses. You It will take more effort than that if you want me to keep feeding you.
Darrell
Except that you have not demonstrated that paying the debt benefits the rich more than the poor.
Perry Como
I’m curious how this applies to the Texas Youth Commission and the current DoJ.
Dave_Violence
Not true. No evidence. Nada. It’s not how government hireings work.
Darrell
British Pound and Canadian Dollar to name just a couple. You’ll see similar patterns of the dollar plummetting against the Australian Dollar and the Euro. Excluding those countries which tie their currency to the US dollar, the dollar has dropped significant in relation to pretty much all the world’s major currencies except for Japan, and even there, the dollar isn’t as strong as it was 5 years ago.
Chad N. Freude
I hope I’m not violating a rule (which I will have no recollection of having done) by copying one of my posts from another thread.
Old stuff:
Clinton did it! Clinton did it too! Clinton did it first!
And I suppose Clinton did it better, too. What is the relevance of the Clinton-did-it canard/meme/T-shirt slogan? Whether Clinton did it or not, Bush is doing it NOW!
“Clinton did it” is not a justification, excuse, reason, license, or absolution for the Bush administration. OK, Clinton did it. How come Bush isn’t better than Clinton?
New stuff:
Okay, the Clinton administration had some number of misfeasers and malfeasers, and they corrupted the process of government in unspeakable ways, leaving the Bush administration to face the horrors of a budget surplus, a military prepared for defense instead of occupation, intact cities, and uncensored scientific reports. What has any of that to do with the policies and activities of the Bush administration? Do bad acts of a prior administration legitimize bad acts of the current administration? I don’t think so. “But he got to do it” is not a defense and does not excuse the acts of the Bush administration.
Back to you, Darrell.
Rome Again
If there was, I wasn’t aware of it, all I heard about was a blowjob and a blue dress.
Perhaps if you guys were serious about getting rid of “government inefficiences and partisan appointments” you should have focused on THAT instead of a fucking marital indescretion?
Zifnab
Gerry Studds!
Chad N. Freude
Fixed.
Darrell
Well, we saw from Enron, Worldcom and the tech bubble what those surpluses were made of, huh?… but what the hell are you talking about how the slashing of the military budget under Clinton prepared the military for defense instead of occupation?
Perry Como
Damn Clinton and his Democrat congress.
Chad N. Freude
I had the impression that prior to defending ourselves in Iraq our military was prepared to wage war in two theaters at once without exhausting the National Guard. Perhaps I was mistaken.
Did you read the entire post? Did you think that the military reference was the point of the post? For clarification, please read following:
“Clinton did it” is not a justification, excuse, reason, license, or absolution for the Bush administration. OK, Clinton did it. How come Bush isn’t better than Clinton?
…
What has [the Clinton administration’s sins] to do with the policies and activities of the Bush administration? Do bad acts of a prior administration legitimize bad acts of the current administration? I don’t think so. “But he got to do it” is not a defense and does not excuse the acts of the Bush administration.
Chad N. Freude
I think it would be nice if responders (and you know who you are) would respond to the point being made rather than seize upon a perceived error off in the margins. John, could you make that a rule?
Perry Como
Tu quoque, bitches!
Rome Again
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do?
Chad N. Freude
Sorry, it’s not clear to me why this comment is attached to the better than Clinton question. My whole rant was against the tu-quoque-ing of Team Darrell, but this seems to imply that you think I’m the one engaging in it.
Darrell
Only to illustrate that politically partisan appointments did not “suddenly” begin when George Bush was elected. As for the topic of this thread, I see a biased, unsubstantiated hit piece on Monica Goodling based on unnamed sources.
Maybe she’s a hack who makes bad decision or maybe she’s doing the right thing. But there is certainly not enough information in that article to say. But that lack of evidence never stops the leftards on this site from going apeshit, pretending that partisan appointments never existed before Bush. It’s nuts. But many of you here are clinically insane.
Tax Analyst
Dr. Darrell sez: “But many of you here are clinically insane.”
Wow! All the kettles have just been called “black” by the pot.
Well, I’m amazed, though I really shouldn’t be.
Chad N. Freude
Well, they probably began in the US when George Washington was elected.
A major point in the Goodling rant-fest is the record of cronyism and political faith testing by the administration, which lends credence to the accusations. Before you launch the response missile, think about Michael Brown, the 24-year-old Iraq stock market expert, Julie Macdonald, Harriet Miers’s nomination to the Supreme Court, etc., etc., and so forth.
Chad N. Freude
He studied under Bill Frist and is therefore able to diagnose clinical disorders over the internet.
Punchy
Pretty sure it’s the former.
Darrell
I see less of it in the Bush administration than under Clinton. Remember, he appointed Janet Reno because he wanted to hire a woman, and the other candidates had potential scandals hanging. And then the Clinton administratin appointed this guy as head of White House security and this guy to the highest levels of the Justice Dept. Oh, and Sandy Berger as National security advisor.
For these reasons and others, I just don’t see an equivalence in the Bush administration when compared to the outright political hackery and corruption in appointments. Note how the Clinton’s disregarded failed drug and background checks in their white house staff because they were loyal. Please make the case that “Bush is worse”
VidaLoca
Darrell you’re nothing if not tenacious. Well, OK, predictable too.
Maybe the fact that she’s the liason between the White House and the DoJ, maybe the fact that she’s declined to testify before a congressional investigation into her work for the DoJ because such testimony could expose her to legal sanctions, would lead one to wonder whether she’s more than a “hack” who made a “bad decision”.
Darrell
But I thought you leftists were the ones telling us how the terrorists are innocent until proven guilty. Guess those same standards don’t apply when coming to judgement on Bush administration officials, huh?
Not only is Goodling standing on solid legal ground in not testifying, who can blame her for not wanting to appear before Leahy’s Salem trials where no matter what the facts adn evidence, guilt is predetermined?
Tax Analyst
Darrell – Defender of the “Over-Dog”…
Well, I’m moved. Hey, Darrell, why don’t you take up a collection here for Goodling’s defense expenses?
Chad N. Freude
This is where we differ. I see a lot of it under Bush, and I think the consequences are far worse than under Clinton. But it’s really pointless to play a game of “Yeah? Well your guy did this, so there.” The country is not well-served by comparing bad behavior scores.
There is a need to find out if there have been serious misdeeds (including violations of the Hatch Act) by the current administration. I would certainly like to know if my suspicions of the Bush crowd can be borne out. And yes, the push for investigations is partisan, but no more partisan than the previous congress’s refusal to investigate anything.
VidaLoca
Doesn’t matter what she wants. If she’s served with a subpoena she has to appear or face contempt charges. That’s the way it works.
Of course she has the right to claim 5th amendment protection. In doing so however, she’s refusing to assist the government in prosecuting her for criminal behavior which, by taking the 5th amendment protection, she implies exists. To that extent the presumption of her innocence is compromised. The government would still have to prove her guilty of some offense before any action could be taken against her.
Darrell
Top Bush administration officials convicted of criminal actions like those under Clinton? Not even close. We have a trumped up charge perjury on Scooter Libby on Bush’s watch versus Clinton, which had felony fraud on Clinton’s Attorney General Hubbell (21 months in prison) and NSA Sandy Berger stealing and destroying with little scissors national security documents.
Again, where is the equivalence? Given the unhinged rants on this thread, it’s an entirely fair question.
Chad N. Freude
This is a facile remark. Suspected terrorists should not be punished until they’ve been tried and found guilty, and they should not be held for trial unless there is some evidence that they actually are terrorists, and whatever punishment they receive should be proportionate to their acts.
RSA
Right; the stakes have been higher under Bush. For example, no one would argue that Michael Brown was an improvement on James Lee Witt at FEMA, or that political litmus tests were a good idea for staffing the Coalition Provisional Authority:
When the AG’s former chief of staff says that performance can’t be separated from politics, this is a problem. Competence comes first, and this hasn’t happened with Bush. As the saying goes, first-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people. We’ll have to add another clause for George Bush.
Chad N. Freude
There has only been one trial so far. Are you assuming that there won’t be others? Are you assuming that if there are future trials, they’ll result in acquittals?
The jury apparently differs with you on that.
Sandy Berger’s demonstration of his idiocy occurred after the Clinton administration ended. In his case, the administration was guilty of employing a person who would eventually commit a crime, but it didn’t happen while he was in the administration.
Chad N. Freude
A pathetic plea for help. How does one create an extra blank line/carriage return at the end of a post?
Darrell
Except that the litmus tests RSA cites were proven to be lies excerpted from the author’s book. For example:
Except that Simone did not manage any budget as claimed by Chandrasekaran. Oh my. Furthermore, she had an extensive background experience in accounting as well as an MBA. The WaPo, using weasel words admits the article was in error. Furthermore, O’Beirne wasn’t in charge of staffing the Coalition Provisional Authority and he didn’t have a “staff” of his own as alleged. The hit piece is a pile of lies. But it fits so well with the leftist narrative!
No surprise you halfwits keep repeating these lies. Because in your echo chambers, if it “feels” true, that’s all that matters.
Darrell
Juror calls on Bush to pardon Libby
Again, no comparison between Libby’s “crimes” and Webb Hubbell, Clinton’s AG convicted and sentenced to criminal fraud, or Sandy Berger, Clinton’s National Security Advisor in charge of foreign policy.
“But Republicans are worse”
Zifnab
Horray! It’s the “we found crooks in your administration so you can’t bust the crooks in our administration” game!
What I find deliciously ironic in all the Republican whining is that they call Democratic investigations trumped up and superfluous, then point to all the Democrats who were investigated years ago saying the Democrats broke the law too. So… were the Republican invesigations as trumped up as the Democratic investigations? Or are the Republicans trying to cover up the same crimes they say former Democrats committed – effectively saying they have immunity to the laws they prosecuted Democrats under?
It’s all very confusing because the criteria for legitimate inqury and investigation changes as fast as Gonezo’s press briefing answers.
I wonder if there’s any rhyme or reasoning to Republican excuses or whether they just throw darts at a board to decide how they’ll explain away their misdeeds?
(Bushie 1:”Dude, you hit ‘Pleasure of the President’, like, five times already. Maybe we should try something else?”
Bushie 2:”WE MUST OBEY THE BOARD!” *Smack*)
Darrell
Except that US attorneys are political appointees who have ALWAYS been selected with political purposes in mind, and fired for political reasons. It’s NEVER been any different in any previous administration.. not when Clinton fired all 93 US attorneys, a number of whom were in the middle of investigating criminal fraud on the part of Dems at the time, not before Clinton and no different now under Bush.
What’s breathtaking is the dishonesty of virtually the entire left now pretending that politics has never before Bush been paramount in such hirings and firings.
RSA
I can’t seem to find any information contrary to this claim:
Does O’Beirne deny this happened? That’s the litmus test issue.
Chad N. Freude
According to the article, O’Bierne was
It doesn’t say he was “in charge of” anything.
He had an “office in the Pentagon”. I assume that somebody worked for him asking questions, as alleged in the article. Political administrative appointees generally have people under them doing the actual work. This strikes me as a trivial quibble rather than identifying a lie.
The article is fairly lengthy and makes a lot of … allegations, but the Post only issued one correction. Why do you conclude that
Darrell
Can you find 1 source besides proven liar Chandrasekaran who says that O’Beirne even had a staff?
RSA
Here’s something from ABC:
Chad N. Freude
Why did they not acquit him? My understanding is that they felt sorry for his taking the fall for bigger fish (ohmigod, hideous mixed metaphor), but they did believe that he lied under oath.
OK, let’s compare it to grounds for impeachment
Darrell: It’s worse for a president to lie than a staffer.
Chad: Is it worse for a president to lie about sex than a staffer to lie about a CIA agent?
Do you really think that no crimes more serious than Libby’s will be uncovered?
Chad N. Freude
Why is this significant? It’s a long article with a lot of stuff in it. This is a quibble. (But I repeat myself.)
Chad N. Freude
Do you know of any other false or erroneous statements in his book?
Perry Como
Is the threshold for calling someone a liar now based on if they make a mistake with their facts? If so, Gonzales, NBush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. are liars.
Darrell
Because that article is repeatedly cited by leftists, and the article is full of lies.
O’Beirne says he wasn’t even in charge of staffing the CPA. This article seems to support him further.
Given that leftists have repeated so often these charges which appear to be based on lies, you would think that someone would have checked to confirm whether O’Beirne was even in charge of staffing CPA positions, which it seems he wasn’t.
Darrell
That they knowingly advance lies.
RSA
You may have missed the ABC link above. Here’s more from that page:
Chad N. Freude
I have a problem with the epithet level here, but that’s just me.
I don’t think we have any way do determine whether Chandrasekaran was telling a deliberate lie, but it’s hard for me to imagine anyone saying “I’ll say his staff asked questions and the fools will never know he had no staff! Mwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
demimondian
Except that “Simone” did *not* have an “extensive background” in accounting; she was, in fact, a “newly minted M.B.A.” at the time she was appointed, and had no work experience *at all* in accounting in the field, much less experience with accounting for large organizations.
Oh, and her relevant experience? She’d helped found a cooking school.
Chad N. Freude
Another lie, no doubt. How can you lead if you don’t have a staff to follow?
Darrell
I read it. It was pure unsustantiated allegations made by Frederick Smith. He doesn’t offer a shred of proof or evidence to back up his allegations, and O’Beirne denies it in the National Review writeup. Where is his evidence?
Let me go out on a limb and guess that Frederick Smith is career State Dept.
Darrell
He lied about her background, and she claims he never even called her to verify it. He also lied when he said she was “managing” the budget which she wasn’t. She was executing it. It’s like saying a payroll administrator “manages” budget instead of simply issuing checks.
Chandrasekaran trumped up these lies, because they meshed so well with his narrative of “daughter of prominent neocon”. Why else do it? He knew exactly what he was doing.
Sen. Joe McCarthy
Well, goddam. That proves it. “Career State Dept.”. Nest of traitors, every one. Why does the State Dept. hate America?
Darrell
Actually, the truth is somewhere in between. Simone defends herself on this blog . She writes
She volunteered for risky work at low pay in Iraq and is smeared for it, including the leftist filth who regularly post here at BJ. Seems her initial job was lower level, and she worked her way into payroll administrator through hard work and performance. A far cry from “managing” the budget as the WaPo article falsely claimed.
Darrell
Sure it’s hilarious if you assume out of partisan blindness that Chandrasekaran was telling the truth about O’Beirne’s “staff”.
RSA
That is pretty funny, but not the way Simone thinks.
whatsleft
Doh! I see now where I made my mistake I should have told my son that “yes, the President is corrupt, but Clinton was just as bad, if not worse”. Oh wait, at age 12 he already knows that that’s a juvenile and worthless attempt at a defense.
Chad N. Freude
I may be missing something, but Ponnuru’s blog posting at the NR Corner does not attribute the assertions about O’Bierne to O’Bierne or anyone else. He just asserts without
I don’t think anyone is going to persuade anyone about O’Bierne’s role or lack of role.
“I don’t think…” was in reference to O’Bierne, not the management whiz kid. Please pay attention.
Chad N. Freude
Darell, the evil laugh was an imaginary attribution to Chandrasekaran. You don’t appear to read my postings with as much attention as you give to Ponnoru’s. Oh, wait, maybe you do.
Chad N. Freude
Lest there be more misconstruction of my attitude, (pay attention now), I don’t think any of the
debateargumentmud-slinging screaming match about political malfeasance in staffing the CPA is the least bit funny.demimondian
Yes, Darrell, I’ve read the NRO puff piece. She was completely unqualified to hold one of the *six* assistant administrator positions in Baghdad, precisely because any one of them could easily rise to administering the budget — and good for you for acknowledging that she did, in fact, wind up administering it, even though, yes, she was not hired for that position.
When people who were clearly qualified for that kind of job were turned down, and freshly minted MBA’s with no relevant work experience are hired because they use the heritage Foundation web site…c’mon, dude. We all know the stink. It’s fine when you’re hiring interns — and, yes, the White house does vette people’s party affiliation when it hires them as interns — it isn’t fine when you’re hiring money people.
Darrell
Except that the WaPo piece claimed that she managed the budget when she only administered it. Simone claims the WaPo NEVER contacted her to learn what specifically her job responsibilities were or to learn what her qualifications were. A dishonest as hell hit piece. If you had a shred of honesty you would admit that.
Darrell
No evidence of that. You’re simply making that up. You’re lying.
demimondian
Sorry, Darrell, that’s a distinction without a difference *in this circumstance* — if she had remained assistant administrator, it would matter, but, once the admin left, she was managing the whole affair.
Like I said, we all know the stink, and you and I are both money people enough to know that if we saw that happen in a company we were thinking of doing early investment in, we’d run like scared skunks. I know the smell of nepotism, you know the smell of nepotism…this was nepotism. Was the WaPo piece entirely fair? It doesn’t seem so to me. Was she a nepotistic hire all the same? Yes, she was.
Darrell
Except that the allegations of Bush “corruption” on this thread amount to nothing more than hiring and promoting a religious conservative female who was targeted in a WaPo hit piece.
Darrell
Where the hell did you read that? You’re lying again. An administrator metes out payment. It is largely a clerical position. A funding manager makes the decision where and to whom those checks go to, a completely different responsibility level. There is no indication that she was next in line to manage funding.
Again, you simply made it up because the real facts don’t support your extreme position.
Darrell
Explain for us then, if it was nepotism, why was her job such a low paid, dangerous job? She volunteered out of patriotism and was smeared for it. She was qualified for the job she was hired for, and hired off the Pentagon website. No evidence other than baseless speculation that her dad pulled strings for her “cherry” job.
Again, this was a low paid, dangerous, thankless job.
demimondian
Oh! I see. Do you think Ledeen was hired as an administrative assistant? She wasn’t; she was hired as an assistant administrator, someone who manages a large part of a division.
If so, then I’ve dealt with assistant administrators in government agencies. They’re not low paid clerical employees. You’re conflating a very senior position (an assistant director, GS-15, level position) with that of an “administrative assistant”, a GS-9 or GS-10 clerical position.
Perry Como
Wait, is this Michael Ledeen’s offspring? If so, he should have just gotten her a job selling arms to the Iranians.
demimondian
Yup. That’s the one.
whatsleft
Wow D, way to blindingly miss THE WHOLE POINT of that post. Come back and play when you’ve mastered Reading Comprehension. Your response is the kind of thing I get from one of my SLD 3rd-graders, who also has serious behavior issues due to being a drug baby.
Tulkinghorn
You get a GS-15 job with a bare MBA? Killer! Some finance classes and a few management case studies and you get to plan the budget for a country of 30 million. Well, the proof is in the pudding…
demimondian
Only if your resume is on file with the Heritage Foundation.
Darrell
I’ve asked you for citations to back up these claims regarding her job description and you have been unable to provide any such detail. The reason of course, is because you are making it up. You are lying. How else to explain it?
Darrell
Hey, if you read it on the internet it must be true!
Darrell
Such a “substantive” reply.. I addressed the crux of the post directly, as well as the tangential topics raised by the leftist halfwits here. If you don’t like some of my responses, then address them specifically.. as broadbrush denunciation like you used is the oldest trick on the internet for revealing yourself as “I got nothing“
demimondian
I didn’t think it was necessary to add anything beyond my own experience? But, since you’re unwilling to actually check your own assertions, I’ll recommend this Google query. If you’re puzzled by the “ES” designation on the NASA pages, ES positions are not acocunted on the general service scale — they make much, much more money.
Darrell, you lost this round. Be a man, admit it, and move on.
whatsleft
I’ll speak s-l-o-w-l-y. The whole point is found in:
“yes, the President is corrupt, but Clinton was just as bad, if not worse”. Oh wait, at age 12 he already knows that that’s a juvenile and worthless attempt at a defense.”
Darrell
Demi, please cite where Simone was given a GS-15 starting salary as you claimed above? Either that, or be a man and admit you simply pulled that “fact” out of your ass.. as usual
Darrell
Except that the topic of this thread, as I pointed out above, was an unsourced, unsubstantiated WaPo hit piece on Monica Goodling… and is not evidence of Bush “corruption”
Thereby establishing you as a halfwit
demimondian
OK, so you’ve gone into “Darrell in denial” mode. You’ve lost, but you can’t possibly admit it, so you’re calling people names.
For the rest of you, titles in the Federal Government are standardized. An assistant administrator is a GS-15 anywhere.
RSA
It’s kind of funny how these threads bog down into meaningless trivia: “There’s no evidence that Simone Ledeen was ever a GS-15, and thus I have proved that hackery and corruption in the Bush administration are no more than the wet dreams of all you lying leftist scum!”
demimondian
In a very real sense, Darrell’s insistence on focusing on minutia weakens his arguments. That’s why he is forced to fall back on insult — if someone simply responded by saying “would that change the underlying claim?”, that person would immediately get called names. It’s his one effective jackalope.
In this case, there’s a solid argument that the WaPo description of Ledeen’s role wasn’t completely fair, and the whole stench of corruption in that article arises from the claim that she was wholly incompetent for the job for which she was hired, much less for a full administrator’s position. So, there’s a reasonable need to do the research to understand the claim’s validity or lack thereof. For my own peace of mind, I spent a little while looking to see if there was any substance to the critique, or if it was just more noise.
Now I’m stopping — the claim is sound, and continuing to engage with Darrell is a waste of keystrokes. Ledeen’s piece in NR was a tissue of distortions and deception, and that’s all that’s necessary.
vetiver
Define “low paid,” Darrell. AFAICT, no one has come up with a salary figure.
As for dangerous — Ms. Ledeen “volunteered” during the cakewalk era. Y’know, those heady days when we’d be there six months, tops. And there’d be boulevards named after GWBush. And the chief danger would be adult-onset diabetes from consuming all the sweets thrown at us?
If Ms. Ledeen really, really wanted to volunteer for a low-paying, dangerous job in Iraq, she could’ve enlisted. Still could, as a matter of fact.
So could you.
whatsleft
Darrell, you need to apologize to me. Your failure to read my posts and their context is what led to your misunderstanding.
Under no circumstances can I be characterized as a “halfwit” Your discourtesy to me is egregious and undeserved.
Until I receive your apology, consider any further discourse between us terminated with prejudice.
mrmobi
Darrell needs to apologize to everyone here, not just you, “whatsleft.”
He comes in here, after 170 or so posts and start up with a stream of invective against anyone who dares disagree with him. It’s sad, really.
I call him Gruppenfuhrer, the German for General, because he advocates for the use of torture (the President’s call, John Yoo says, and Darrell agrees), the incineration of children (if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time) and the creation of “camps.” If that isn’t a Nazi, then George Orwell is spinning like a fucking top in his grave.
I’m guessing in school he was a bully, probably related to fear of being homosexual. We’ve all met people like Darrell, I suppose, it’s just that, given a choice, we would not normally associate with him. It’s demeaning and degrading.
This has been the first in a a series of public service dime-store diagnoses of trolls.
Darrell
For what, you arrogant prick? You come onto this thread calling me learning disabled, while making stupidass broadbrush accusations you can’t support, and when challenged to respond, you reveal yourself to be an idiot. And then get your wittle feelings hurt when I dare to respond. Pathetic
Oh my