Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo
Archives for May 2007
How To Argue Like a Hack
Dean Barnett demonstrates:
Ron Paul – Do you know that this Robert Taft-idolizing crackpot is Andrew Sullivan’s latest heartthrob? Andrew’s bitterly disappointed that Republicans aren’t giving Paul a chance. I’m convinced that if Andrew familiarized himself with Paul’s background, his disappointment would be mitigated. On the bright side, Wendell Goler asked Paul for three programs he would cut. Talk about serving a heaping helping of red meat to a libertarian. (For what it’s worth, Paul is actually right about the Department of Homeland Security; that monstrosity is a living breathing emblem of all that’s wrong with our government.) The good news is that Paul was such an embarrassment tonight, he may not be invited to the next debate. As Captain Picard might say, make it so.
Why not just call Sullivan a fag, you hack? You and Hugh deserve each other.
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New category. I am tired of sorting out partisan stupidity. Let’s just start calling them what they are, regardless of political affiliation.
*** Update ***
What is it about Ron Paul that has Dean Barnett and Hugh Hewitt scared to death?
The Worst Job In The World- Captain Edward John Smith’s Replacement
I seriously hope he at least gets a star out of this:
President Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute yesterday to serve as a new White House “war czar” overseeing the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, choosing a low-key soldier who privately expressed skepticism about sending more troops to Iraq during last winter’s strategy review.
In the newly created position, Lute will coordinate often disjointed military and civilian operations and manage the Washington side of the same troop increase he resisted before Bush announced the plan in January. Bush hopes an empowered aide working in the White House and answering directly to him will be able to cut through bureaucracy that has hindered efforts in Iraq.
Imagine someone begs you to take the helm of the Titantic as it is halfway under, and you get an idea of what this guy has in store for him.
The Worst Job In The World- Captain Edward John Smith’s ReplacementPost + Comments (40)
Debate Open Thread
I didn’t watch.
RIP, Jerry Falwell
I won’t miss him:
The Rev. Jerry Falwell has died, a Liberty University executive said Tuesday. He was 73.
Earlier, the executive said Falwell was hospitalized in “gravely serious” condition after being found unconscious in his office.
Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Falwell’s Liberty University, said Falwell was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but “he has a history of heart challenges.”
“I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast,” Godwin said. “He went to his office, I went to mine and they found him unresponsive.”
I have a number of nasty things I would like to say about this fellow and the damage I think he has done to our discourse and our politics, but now is not the time. A man is dead, let’s keep it respectable here and in the comments.
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Culture of Corruption
The Politico profiles the GOP culture of corruption:
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner took his job last year with a pledge to cleanse his party’s scandal-stained reputation on Capitol Hill. In recent weeks, Boehner has been getting an unpleasant education in how hard that turns out to be.
When Reps. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) became the subjects of FBI raids, Boehner pushed them to give up their committee assignments. But party operatives said Doolittle and Renzi are not facing pressure to resign from the House for now — in part because the House GOP campaign committee does not want the expense of competing to keep their seats in a special election.
And Boehner is coming under fire from his own members over the decision to replace Doolittle on the House Appropriations Committee with Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.). Calvert himself is facing ethics scrutiny over a land deal in his Southern California district.
The Calvert decision underscores the complexity of Boehner’s task, as he tries simultaneously to clean house and keep peace within his own caucus. The California delegation was insistent that the coveted Appropriations seat go to one of their own, following long-standing custom. But the move has upset other GOP members and some conservative bloggers, who fear that Calvert’s alleged problems will feed the party’s reputation for corruption.
“If only John Boehner the Republican leader would act like John Boehner the leadership candidate, the Republican Conference would be in a much stronger position,” said a House Republican aide who works for a lawmaker upset with Boehner’s move. “Decisions like the Calvert appointment cripple our party’s ability to be associated with reform, and until our leadership changes direction, they are leading this conference even further into the political abyss.”
If the GOP ever wants my support, when it is exposed that one of their own is corrupt, they will begin to turn on them with the same ruthlessness they reserve for people named Clinton. As it is, I see no reason to support the Republicans in 2008 until they have rooted out all the slime. besides, Democratic rule hasn’t been that bad. We are going on 5 months in and I still have not had my forced abortion.
SSDD
1st Lt. Andrew J. Bacevich, 27, of Walpole, Mass., died May 13 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat patrol operations in Salah Ad Din Province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
1st Lt. A.J. Bacevich is the son for retired Col. A. J. Bacevich, my old CO when I was stationed with the 11th Cav in Germany. Young AJ was, undoubtedly, one of the young 8-9 year olds running around the base when I was stationed there.
And now he is dead, dead in a war that has gone on for far too long for no real reason and with nothing to show for it. And he is one of many.
Much more here.