Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You cannot shame the shameless.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

He really is that stupid.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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85Comments

  3. 3.

    Conservatively Liberal

    I have to say that I am glad Obama is running. I keep hearing about how young he is, over and over again. Since he is 46 and I am 48, I feel like a kid again.

    I am going to go play with our son’s Legos! ;)

  5. 5.

    zzyzx

    …so if you’re looking for something else Obama transcends, rock star feuds is a new one. Compared to getting Bobby and Phil to agree on something these days, the mid-east is trivial.

  8. 8.

    Chris Johnson

    http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/01/1912220

    I’m taking a break to eat but I’ve been chasing this story like a nut.

    Basically, a bunch of fiber optic undersea cables have been cut, which has arguably knocked Iran off the internet as of right now. Also right now, some areas of Florida are also black and totally off the net- areas where you’ll find CENTCOM and SOCOM. SOCOM is Special Ops.

    I’m suggesting something is going on right now.

    The main theory I’m looking at is: Cheney is trying to provoke an attack by Iran on our carriers in the gulf that he can claim was a first strike. He’s willing to bomb them without Congressional approval to do it, in hopes that the hysteria can be harnessed like another 9/11. It’s all for political gain and to further his attempts to harass Islamist countries.

    This is not to say that bombing will actually happen, because he needs someone in the military to obey him in order to do that. My guess is that there is much arguing right now in Tampa. I think he got his way as far as getting the cables cut, the carriers moved into target range for Sunburn missiles, and even got SOCOM isolated from the internet by pulling the plug on the router at VortecHosting, but when it came to actually flying out to Iran with bombs, the mil-brass balked.

    As they should because if that was the plan, he’s trading several CARRIERS for political gain, and that’s crazy.

    If we suddenly hear news about how Iran launched an unprovoked attack on our carriers, sinking them, and therefore martial law/total war/whatever, well- know that we happened to be nuking them at the time. It would be nukes because I think Cheney has tried to get nukes operational before- that story about the mysterious movement of nukes without orders, that screams Cheney all over.

    Be alert, and if anyone is able to get communications into Iran so we can hear if anything’s happening there- or for that matter if things are unusual in Tampa around CENTCOM- it would be good to hear about it.

  9. 9.

    cleek

    Michael and Tim and Tom are all AWOL.

    you can’t prove it. the memos were forged.

    Dan Rather!Dan Rather!Dan Rather!Dan Rather!Dan Rather!

  11. 11.

    tBone

    Breathe, Chris. While the third cut cable does raise all sorts of unsettling questions, it’s a little early to go all Oliver Stone on this story.

    Personally, I think it’s just as likely that Comcast has opened a Middle Eastern branch.

  12. 12.

    Jake

    I think he got his way as far as getting the cables cut, the carriers moved into target range for Sunburn missiles, and even got SOCOM isolated from the internet by pulling the plug on the router at VortecHosting, but when it came to actually flying out to Iran with bombs, the mil-brass balked.

    So Dick Cthcheney got some person or persons unknown in the military to cut Inet in Tampa. Why? Who knows.

    He also got his mystery men to cut Inet communications to Iran. I assume he also cut phone service and stuck tape over every last surveillance sat. aimed at the area. Then the Ancient Sleeper got carriers to move up close enough to play exploding horseshoes.

    So, he can lead the military that far but when he started shouting Fire at will! they said “Oops, I just remembered the Veep isn’t allowed to play Commander guy.”

    Je.Sus. Christ.

  13. 13.

    grumpy realist

    What it means is a whole BUNCH of sharks decided to eat the transponders….

    I find it hard to believe that internet is totally out, however. What happened to the back-up satellite links?

  14. 14.

    borehole

    Grunpy, you sure you want to use the word “shark?” It has certain connotations, y’know.

    Sorry. That last thread fried my cortex.

  15. 15.

    Chris Johnson

    It’s not, of course. But it looks a lot like someone would like it to be, just for Iran. (and Tampa!)

    It would be interesting if the Florida router being out was just an accident. Miami is still online. It’s just that for this ‘internet traffic report’, according to them, Florida is totally dead, and the router they’re looking at is near Tampa.

  16. 16.

    Chris Johnson

    Hey Jake, look on the bright side. If we wake up the next morning and we’re under martial law with all of our carriers in the Gulf sunk, then we know the Veep can play whatever he wants! :P

  17. 17.

    JWW

    To TBone,

    Your Comment
    tBone Says:

    If anyone of them were combat arms they could decipher my non-english writing.

    I have friends who are/were combat arms, and none of them mentioned that becoming fluent in Gibberish was part of their MOS. Must be one of those things they don’t feel comfortable sharing with civvie pukes.

    I say no, you have no friends in combat arms, you just know people who are or were such. That is what puts you outside the loop. The gibberish as you call it, is actually termed as jargon. You couldn’t have any idea what is meant by such talking points.

    I did not call you a puke, but I guess you may represent one. By your own choice of course. I have friends in many different professional areas, I do not pretend to understand all they speak of. I have several sister and I don’t pretend to be a female.

    I would guess you having friends of a certain profession makes you equal in terms of language as they are. After all you know them!

  18. 18.

    myiq2xu

    What it means is a whole BUNCH of sharks decided to eat the transponders….

    I find it hard to believe that internet is totally out, however. What happened to the back-up satellite links?

    My admittedly non-tech understanding is that the intertoobs are designed kinda like a neural net.

    When the direct line goes down (from a cut cable in this instance) the local servers shunt things to alternative routes.

    It would cause slowdowns but not a blackout unless there was only one single line for all traffic.

  20. 20.

    The Other Steve

    I have friends who are/were combat arms, and none of them mentioned that becoming fluent in Gibberish was part of their MOS. Must be one of those things they don’t feel comfortable sharing with civvie pukes.

    Speaking of gibberish. Wasn’t JWW sent back to Uncle Jimbo with a note from the teacher?

  22. 22.

    The Other Steve

    My admittedly non-tech understanding is that the intertoobs are designed kinda like a neural net.

    When the direct line goes down (from a cut cable in this instance) the local servers shunt things to alternative routes.

    It would cause slowdowns but not a blackout unless there was only one single line for all traffic.

    That theory looks good on paper.

  23. 23.

    maxbaer (not the original)

    Cheney is trying to provoke an attack by Iran on our carriers in the gulf that he can claim was a first strike. He’s willing to bomb them without Congressional approval to do it, in hopes that the hysteria can be harnessed like another 9/11.

    Who the fuck got him another war for his birthday?

  25. 25.

    Jake

    I have several sister and I don’t pretend to be a female.

    I have photos that prove you’re a liar.

  27. 27.

    myiq2xu

    That theory looks good on paper.

    If you’re gonna disagree, why not explain?

    How would a single cut cable line black out all of Iran’s internet traffic from the rest of the world, not to mention phone, satellite and radio?

  28. 28.

    The Other Steve

    Basically, a bunch of fiber optic undersea cables have been cut, which has arguably knocked Iran off the internet as of right now.

    Something smells fishy.

    Oh, wait, sorry, that was my wire cutters. I need to clean ’em.

  30. 30.

    The Other Steve

    If you’re gonna disagree, why not explain?

    How would a single cut cable line black out all of Iran’s internet traffic from the rest of the world, not to mention phone, satellite and radio?

    :-)

    You can reroute the internet, but it’ done manually. A neural net would automatically reroute. Yeah, that’s the way it supposedly was designed, but in real life it’s fragile.

    That, and it’s all run by Comcast, and they are Craptastic.

  32. 32.

    The Other Steve

    Rumor has it, Osama is hiding down on the Bush ranch in Texas.

    This is why Bush periodically goes down there to clear brush. He’s trying to find his hiding spot.

  35. 35.

    Krista

    By your own choice of course. I have friends in many different professional areas, I do not pretend to understand all they speak of.

    I’m betting they’re just pretending to understand you, though. Goodness knows none of us here understand what the hell you’re on about half of the time.

  36. 36.

    myiq2xu

    Is that an exclamation of joy or satisfaction?

    Joyous satisfaction?

    Guilty surprise?

    Incredulous intoxication?

  37. 37.

    Krista

    Well I’m actually Psycheout.

    And I’m Jen. And TZ. Or is TZ me?

    TZ, whose turn is it to be real this week?

  42. 42.

    empty

    Guys. This very easy to check. Just type in a an iranian url. If you can get there they are connected.
    And they are. Here is the University of Tehran.

  43. 43.

    Chris Johnson

    It’s not a single cable. It’s three major internet backbones laid hundreds of miles apart, all cut in just a couple days.

    WTF is still a very fair question to ask :)

  44. 44.

    incontrolados

    Thanks, empty. Whoosh, that saved me from asking embarrassing questions of my Iranian students on Monday about whether they could send an email.
    thanks again.

  45. 45.

    myiq2xu

    Guys. This very easy to check. Just type in a an iranian url. If you can get there they are connected.
    And they are. Here is the University of Tehran.

    Okay, now the NSA will be hauling empty off to Gitmo tonight, along with anyone else that tried to contact the Islamofascists in Persia.

  47. 47.

    Chris Johnson

    Slashdot found that one, empty. One guy was like, way to go, the whole country is on one tiny little shred of bandwidth and you just slashdotted it ;)

    It’s the internet, it’s SUPPOSED to find some way around. It would be more impressive if anyone did manage to knock Iran totally off the net and it worked. There’s still three cut cables to explain (“one really QUICK drunken seaman dragging a big anchor!”)

  48. 48.

    empty

    Okay, now the NSA will be hauling empty off to Gitmo tonight, along with anyone else that tried to contact the Islamofascists in Persia.

    I hear they serve chicken. Or is it fish on fridays?

  49. 49.

    myiq2xu

    Fron USA Today:

    3rd Internet cable reported cut in Mideast
    A third undersea Internet cable has been reported severed in the Mideast, this one at the opposite end of the Arabian Peninsula.

    Indian network operator FLAG Telecom, which owns the cable, said the fiber-optic cable was cut United Arab Emirates and Oman, about 35 miles off Dubai. A repair ship is on its way and should arrive Tuesday. It’s expected to take a week to fix.

    Net traffic in the region and India was severely disrupted Tuesday when two other cable were cut off Egypt, apparently by a ship’s anchor. No word on what damaged the cable off Dubai.

    The story doesn’t mention Iran.

  50. 50.

    myiq2xu

    I hear they serve chicken. Or is it fish on fridays?

    Ask for a cell with a view of the bay. I hear they’re nicer than the others.

  51. 51.

    demimondian

    Three undersea cables in a week? That’s a pretty hard thing to manage. I’ve got worse though: one of the BPA’s backbone bundles on the West coast was off for quite a while last month…apparently shot by a hunter. Now, if you need evidence that Cthcheney is out to get fiber optic links, “shot by a hunter” has to rank way up there…

  52. 52.

    Corn B. Hash

    Florida’s off the internet? Shit, nobody told me. Guess I’m downing a jeroboam of straight cough syrup and hittin’ the hay.

  53. 53.

    JWW

    I must say, you guys are sooo funny.

    Your ignorance is totally excusable, your arrogance is not. You pride yourselves in the only ability you have, you display no respect for that of others.

    For those who decided it was a good time for a comment. I was responding to one of the many blocked posts by your mentor, JOHN. He’s my hero!

    If you need a reference to such posts, just ask.

  55. 55.

    myiq2xu

    Ruh-roh!

    Da Pony has revived Harry and Louise for an attack ad on guess what?

    Hillary’s health care plan.

    Will he leave no right-wing meme unturned in his “win at all cost” campaign?

  57. 57.

    myiq2xu

    Your ignorance is totally excusable, your arrogance is not. You pride yourselves in the only ability you have, you display no respect for that of others.

    That statement is almost . . .cogent.

    For those who decided it was a good time for a comment. I was responding to one of the many blocked posts by your mentor, JOHN. He’s my hero!

    John blocks his own posts? That’s a level of secrecy thay even Dick “burn before reading” Cheney would admire.

    JWW – Just Wanted to Wank

  59. 59.

    Jake

    You know the world is fairly fucked up when a country run by repressive assholes falls out of the intertubes and normally rational people think “OMG, it must be Cthcheney!”

    America: We’ve got the biggest Dick in the world!

  60. 60.

    LiberalTarian

    omG!!!

    lol. sorry, i was just last week telling an undergrad that yes, GW Bush had set up the mechanism to declare martial law and she said, “no way, no possible way, too many people are too on to Bush to let that happen …”

    so, forgive me if i am just credulous enough to worry about Chris what’s-his-banana’s flare.

    DO NOT IMAGINE THESE PEOPLE CAN BE TRUSTED.

    Better to go freakazoid suspicious and make sure they don’t do anything STUPID than imagine they wouldn’t of their own accord. Cuz baby, don’t put anything past these guys.

    Remember how we thought they outed Plame to get even with Wilson, when in fact it looks like they were shutting down her cover company?

    do do do do [a la twilight zone].

    wait … there’s a knock at my door. brb.

    ;)

  61. 61.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    Will he leave no right-wing meme unturned in his “win at all cost” campaign?

    Is the mailer misleading or factually incorrect? No. Based on those facts I don’t see how it could be repeating a right-wing meme.

    I saw the M.U.P. today. If he gets the nomination I would recommend Saint McCain not be on the same stage with him.

    And I will repeat that I am an official, unabashed fanboi. Hell, I want to have his babies.

  62. 62.

    Geoduck

    There’s still three cut cables to explain

    Anyone ever read Wyndham’s novel The Kraken Wakes? It offers the only reasonible explanation..

  68. 68.

    empty

    I am not Jen, or anyone else. I am just TZ. I don’t have the time or inclination to write other personas.

    Thank god. A bearded Jen would be weird.

  72. 72.

    tBone

    Now, if you need evidence that Cthcheney is out to get fiber optic links, “shot by a hunter” has to rank way up there…

    There’s a fatal flaw in your reasoning: namely, that Cheney can hit what he’s aiming at. If he were trying to shoot fiber optic links, a nearby whale or sturgeon would have received a severe case of lead peppering instead.

    The gibberish as you call it, is actually termed as jargon. You couldn’t have any idea what is meant by such talking points.

    Not after it’s gone through your patented JWW Syntactic Shred-o-Matic, no.

    I would guess you having friends of a certain profession makes you equal in terms of language as they are. After all you know them!

    I can recognize when someone is speaking English, even if I’m unfamiliar with some of the terminology. Why do I have so much trouble following your posts, then? It’s a mystery.

  73. 73.

    LiberalTarian

    I would be willing to play in a beer thread. My favorite beer currently is Fischer’s, a French Lager. And, it comes in a spiffy bottle that has a cool re-stoppable top.

  74. 74.

    Jake

    Anyone ever read Wyndham’s novel The Kraken Wakes? It offers the only reason[a]ble explanation..

    The bad news: The Apocalypse is on. The really bad news: The TalEvangicals didn’t get Raptured.

    I can recognize when someone is speaking English, even if I’m unfamiliar with some of the terminology. Why do I have so much trouble following your posts, then? It’s a mystery.

    English is one thing Old High Loony is another.

  75. 75.

    TheFountainHead

    Ninerdave Says:
    combat arms
    I’m arms fury/myself. Thinking of respecing to prot.

    By far the only post in this thread worth reading or considering responding to.

    I’m full resto myself.

  76. 76.

    Chris Johnson

    Whoa, someone on Slashdot just nailed it. I didn’t know about this but it explains everything.

    Iran was about to go public with the Iranian Oil Bourse. Look it up. Basically a formal agreement to do business in Euros or whatever people wanted- and NOT dollars.

    If they do that, Monday’s gonna be REAL interesting economically, and the dollar is seriously screwed.

  77. 77.

    Cain

    Iran was about to go public with the Iranian Oil Bourse. Look it up. Basically a formal agreement to do business in Euros or whatever people wanted- and NOT dollars.

    I don’t see how breaking Internet would stop them from announcing. I mean, they have foreign reporters in Tehran don’t they? Just announce it… internet or not, that’s how they are going to do businesses.

    cain

  78. 78.

    Jake

    Iran was about to go public with the Iranian Oil Bourse. Look it up.

    I went to look up the Iranian Oil Bourse but all I got were these lousy conspiracy nut ramblings.

  79. 79.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Flipping through the channels and I tripped across Faux Nooz. I stopped for a second as they had a pic of Hillary on the screen, and I wanted to hear what they were foaming at the mouth about now.

    They were comparing her statement about the reasoning behind her vote for the AUMF, noting that what she claimed was not the truth. They played the clip of Hillary (after the vote for AUMF) and it is very clear that she knew what she was voting for.

    I looked up the part they played, and it says:

    This is a very difficult vote. This is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make — any vote that may lead to war should be hard — but I cast it with conviction.

    And perhaps my decision is influenced by my eight years of experience on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House watching my husband deal with serious challenges to our nation. I want this President, or any future President, to be in the strongest possible position to lead our country in the United Nations or in war. Secondly, I want to insure that Saddam Hussein makes no mistake about our national unity and for our support for the President’s efforts to wage America’s war against terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. And thirdly, I want the men and women in our Armed Forces to know that if they should be called upon to act against Iraq, our country will stand resolutely behind them.

    IMO, I think it is clear that she knew exactly what she was voting for. That she tries to excuse her tactical vote says all I need to hear on the matter.

    Simple Question: Did she vote to give Bush authorization to use military force?

    Simple Answer: Yes.

    But when she is asked this question, her answer takes forever and by the time she wraps it up you realize that the answer is a bunch of political doubletalk. Ask her if she regrets her vote, and she shifts into the next gear and rambles off some more political mumbo-jumbo.

    I have a lot of gripes about her, but this one is the big one for me. She is supposed to be accountable to the people. When someone screws up in my life, I want answers. And an apology if necessary.

    She thinks she is above this. That we should just let her slide on this and everything will be ok.

    Barack may have a Magical Unity Pony that his supporters are gathering around, but Hillary’s supporters are eating Magical Mushrooms.

    Or maybe they are doing some Magical Toad.

  80. 80.

    skip

    Hilary’s rational should have been obvious.

    Triple amputee Max Cleland lost his election because he objected to ONE legislative version of war funding (on technical reasons) . The GOP said that proved he was pals with Bin Laden. I ‘d look forward to reading someoone explaining to me how that was anything short of downright despicable.

    So she gave GWB “authority” (as would have the huge amajority of the skillfully duped nation at the time).

    But all what many voted for was affording the President leverage for hard ball negotiations.

    And even those who were voting for war were endosing the Ken Adelman two-week cakewalk war, not John MCain’s 100 year blood-letting.
    That is, after all, what even Cheney was selling a the the time.

    The GOP is giving “bait & switch” new meaning. War against different people, for bogus reason, at unfathomable cost.

  81. 81.

    ThymeZone

    Simple Question: Did she vote to give Bush authorization to use military force?

    I agree that she did … and didn’t.

    The dirty little secret here is that AUMF is a dodge, an organized wink at the Constitution. The whole rationale for the maneuver is that the world now is too dangerous and too unpredictable to expect the president to have time to come to Congress to get a declaration of war, so we have to go through this grotesque charade in order to provide cover for all the participants and give the president “authority” to do, you know, what he needs to do.

    The whole thing is a lie, a kabuki which is aimed at bamboozling the citizens and basically nullifying the Constitution.

    That said, let’s look again at what Clinton was doing. She was, technically, doing what she said she was doing, which is “authorizing” the use of force, but without actually asking for it. The magic part of this is that the authorization presumes …. supposedly, requires …. that the president will only use this authorization as a last resort, and of course, use it correctly.

    The bottom line for me here, and I have said this before, is that we are faulting congress for putting us in this position …. just as we now, today, fault congress — right here on these pages for example — for not getting us out of it. Well, ha ha ha ha, the joke is on you, folks. This country has become a bellicose country willing to go outside of its own most basic law in order to wage war, and it has done so because the citizens demanded it.

    The reason why people in Washington go through these charades is because we insist that they do. We created the government of shoot first and ask questions later. We wanted the “AUMF” concept, to give US cover for being too scared to stand up for our own Constitution.

    Thus, if you really want “change,” you have to change at the voter level. You have to vote for a government that goes back to the Constitution. That hasn’t happened. 2006 was not that vote, it was not a mandate for that level of change, no matter what bullshit you read on blogs and in editorials.

    When the people send an unambiguous, clear mandate to Washington to reverse the erosion of Constitutional constraints and require formal declaration of war, and require a full and open debate and understanding of the facts and the risks, and hold the government immediately accountable, then you might see change. Until then, you won’t.

  82. 82.

    Punchy

    Be alert, and if anyone is able to get communications into Iran so we can hear if anything’s happening there- or for that matter if things are unusual in Tampa around CENTCOM- it would be good to hear about it.

    That makes for a great fiction movie, Chris.

  83. 83.

    empty

    Thus, if you really want “change,” you have to change at the voter level. You have to vote for a government that goes back to the Constitution. That hasn’t happened. 2006 was not that vote, it was not a mandate for that level of change, no matter what bullshit you read on blogs and in editorials.

    When the people send an unambiguous, clear mandate to Washington to reverse the erosion of Constitutional constraints and require formal declaration of war, and require a full and open debate and understanding of the facts and the risks, and hold the government immediately accountable, then you might see change. Until then, you won’t.

    I think I am going to frame this.

  84. 84.

    Conservatively Liberal

    So TZ, what you are saying is that she did give permission but she did not expect it to be used the way it was? Sorry, no sale at this end. The collective ‘we’ who were demanding war did not include me or many others who were saying just the opposite.

    Hillary’s decision was tactical/political, and it did not pan out. Kind of like a recent diary at Kos about a member there who was asking Hillary for help in stopping a coal fired cement plant to be put in the Hudson Valley in NY. She was asked to help stop it, and she initially acted like she would. Then she went AWOL on the issue. The plant was eventually stopped, but not with any help from Hillary. Then when the people who brought the plan to a stop got together to celebrate their victory, a video of Hillary was shown with her congratulating everyone for their accomplishment. But she worded it in a way to give herself credit for helping the groups involved, yet she did absolutely nothing. Gotta keep the donors impressed!

    Hillary’s press secretary said that ‘she is neither for or against the plant’. That sure clears it up!

    Hillary is a crafty politician, pure and simple. She does not do what she thinks is right, she does what she thinks is politically expedient.

    Yes, lots of politicians are like this, but this one wants us to elect her to lead the country. Well, to lead you have to make decisions. Hard decisions. As a Senator, she triangulates. As president, I have a feeling she will do whatever she wants to do, and to hell with what anyone thinks about it. Once you are the president, you don’t have to answer to people (GWB showed that in spades), people answer to you.

    I don’t trust Hillary to make the right decisions. Plain and simple.

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