Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Everybody saw this coming.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Not all heroes wear capes.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

This fight is for everything.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

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Archives for June 2007

Adios, Nifong

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And don’t let the door hit you in the ass:

Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, announced Friday that he would resign, as he faces disciplinary charges for his handling of a sexual assault prosecution against three former Duke University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent.

Speaking in a barely audible voice in testimony before a disciplinary hearing panel, Mr. Nifong apologized to the players, their families and the North Carolina justice system.

His resignation came as a surprise on the fourth day of a hearing by the North Carolina State Bar, which has charged him with “systematic abuse of prosecutorial discretion” for withholding evidence and making improper pretrial statements.

“It has become increasingly apparent, during the course of this week, in some ways that it might not have been before, that my presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice,” Mr. Nifong said.

Joseph B. Cheshire, a lawyer for one of the three former players, said of Mr. Nifong’s promise to resign: “I believe it is a cynical political attempt to save his law license. His apology is far too late.”

Is there anyone who doesn’t think his resignation is anything more than a cynical ploy to save his law license?

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Jail For Scooter

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Judge Walton orders I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to go directly to jail pending appeals. More when stories hit the wire.

***Update***

Washington Post:

The federal judge presiding over the trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby today ordered Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff to report to prison within weeks to begin serving a 30-month sentence for lying to federal investigators about his role in disclosing a covert CIA officer’s identity to the media.

Walton will let Scooter self-report, which means that Libby won’t have to frog march if he doesn’t want to. Oh well.

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Peak Oil

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Things like this make me very uneasy:

BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, published yesterday, appears to show that the world still has enough “proven” reserves to provide 40 years of consumption at current rates. The assessment, based on officially reported figures, has once again pushed back the estimate of when the world will run dry.

However, scientists led by the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, say that global production of oil is set to peak in the next four years before entering a steepening decline which will have massive consequences for the world economy and the way that we live our lives.

According to “peak oil” theory our consumption of oil will catch, then outstrip our discovery of new reserves and we will begin to deplete known reserves.

Colin Campbell, the head of the depletion centre, said: “It’s quite a simple theory and one that any beer drinker understands. The glass starts full and ends empty and the faster you drink it the quicker it’s gone.”

Despite the obvious problems that will be caused when an oil-dependent world runs out of oil, the bloody wars that will no doubt spring up for control of remaining resources should also be considered.

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The Real Danger From Dem Pullout Plans?

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An email from a friend who works with the military:

Just had an interesting conversation with a fellow who just returned from the theater and I mentioned my theory about the Prez going nucular about the supplemental funding resolution and its pullout dates because he was going to pull a lot of troops out next summer (the same timeframe) and claim it was because of “success.” He busted out laughing saying “of course that’s why” and its openly spoken of by the troops and leadership in Iraq.

He said KBR (Halliburton) has already started closing things down, cutting back the nice to haves, and letting go all their non-American employees (mostly eastern European guys). Clearly they’ve gotten the word to scale things way back.

Our side needs to be prepared to counter the propaganda that will be driving this. I know it’s politics as usual, but the soldiers who die in the meantime are pawns and should not be forgotten in the calculation. The military leadership, while always biased to conservatism, is particular craven in its failure to speak the truth and in its collusion in this charade.

The soldiers are generally not stupid, but many still feel somehow that they are fighting for American freedoms. It’s that loyalty and patriotism that is tapped by the venal jerks on the neo-con right and exploited. I am not ashamed of the soldiers or my former career as an officer, just the generals and culture that have become hypocritical and duplicitous in the un-American and undemocratic times we find ourselves.

You can put an “X” on your calendar next summer when “success” miraculously happens in Iraq.

Although plenty of reasons exist to feel cynical about any withdrawal talk, some very real limitations exist on how much longer we can keep lots of American troops in Iraq. The new (improved!) fifteen-month tours are an obvious sign of desperation, the National Guard commitments are unsustainable and ongoing stories about sailors and airmen training for street combat suggest how ridiculously overcommitted we have become. Safe withdrawal takes time and careful planning to keep it from turning it into a rout, wait too long that window will close.

I suppose we should feel marginally grateful for signs that our leaders are just hacks who play politics with American lives, repeatedly, rather than the reality-denying loons that they themselves insist they are.

***

One ancillary thought. Assuming that this accurately reflects Bushie thinking, do you suppose they bothered to clue in Joe Lieberman?

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