Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Come on, man.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

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

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

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

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The willow is too close to the house.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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Archives for April 2009

What Is At Stake

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Frank Rich puts it on the table:

Five years after the Abu Ghraib revelations, we must acknowledge that our government methodically authorized torture and lied about it. But we also must contemplate the possibility that it did so not just out of a sincere, if criminally misguided, desire to “protect” us but also to promote an unnecessary and catastrophic war. Instead of saving us from “another 9/11,” torture was a tool in the campaign to falsify and exploit 9/11 so that fearful Americans would be bamboozled into a mission that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. The lying about Iraq remains the original sin from which flows much of the Bush White House’s illegality.

BTW, something I was wondering. Didn’t one of the detainees we tortured claim to have been injected with drugs. Was that Padilla? Has that ever been verified? Were there any memos mentioning using pharmaceuticals?

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Swine Flu

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It looks like this is heating up:

Tests show that eight students at a Queens high school are likely to have contracted the human swine flu virus that has struck Mexico and a small number of other people in the United States, health officials in New York City said yesterday.

The students were among about 100 at St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows who became sick in the last few days, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City’s health commissioner.

“All the cases were mild, no child was hospitalized, no child was seriously ill,” Dr. Frieden said.

Cross your fingers.

And seriously, what is next? Locusts? Rivers of blood? Enough already.

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Saturday Night Open Thread

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The benefit dinner was fun- it was like a WV wedding with raffle tickets and fewer drunks, complete with fried chicken, rigatoni, green beans and a really painful performance of the Electric Slide. Hopefully they will make some good money.

I suppose at some point I should talk about politics, but I’m not really in the mood. Kinda sunburned and tired, and not all motivated to talk about things. I will say this, though- I watched Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann last night for the first time in a long while, and I can fully appreciate why some Republicans might think the outrage over torture is little more than a partisan witch hunt. The smugness and giggling and parade of indignant partisans from those two was overwhelming. After watching those two, I completely understand why some might think this is “prosecuting political differences.” It isn’t that I disagree with them on the facts, it is their almost gleeful tone. It was really off-putting.

In sports, the Pens sent the thuggish Flyers and their drunken reprobate fans home- the Flyers might play better hockey if they try to score instead of just skating around the ice trying to board or trip the opposing team, and Gary Bettman should get the idiots who run the sound for the Flyers to stop them from drumming up chants directed at specific players. Scumbags. The Steelers picked a man named Ziggy, meaning our long line of draft day funny names continues. Finally, Pat White went in the second round to the Dolphins, much higher than I thought he would go. Good for him.

Decided against The Wrestler, will be reading Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side and vegging. What is on your minds tonight?

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A Business Idea

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Here is an idea for a new business. I, like many other people my age, have only a cell phone. There simply is no reason for me to have a land line, so a cell phone with unlimited long distance covers all of my needs.

Here is the problem- I lose my cell phone in my apartment/car. Frequently.

I would pay cash money for a company that I could visit on the internet, pay them two bucks or some small fee via credit card, and input my cell phone number so they can call me and I can find the damned phone.

There you go, innovators. I just gave you a million dollar idea.

*** Update ***

Already been done. That will be all.

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NFL Draft Open Thread

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I’m already exhausted. I’ve cleaned, worked out, then walked a couple miles, then went and played with homeless animals for a couple hours. I think a nap is in order, and then it is time to find out who will help the Steelers win their seventh Super Bowl.

Also, Pens and Flyers tonight, and around here, the local animal shelter is having their annual fund-raising dinner (tickets are only 25 bucks, so I am off to that). I’ll probably post something later on tonight. Think I might go catch Earth, or if not, I’ll rent the Wrestler.

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That Time of the Year

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I was driving some cat food out to Animal Friends when I saw this on the side of the road, immediately did a U-turn, went back, and took a picture for all the ex-pat West Virginians out there:

Only in West by God Virginia. For those who have no clue what a ramp is, here is the wikipedia entry. I’ll let some of the commenters fill in their own personal ramps stories.

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Memo To Jay Bybee: We Don’t Remember George Wallace For Recanting

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File this under legacy maintenance.

Five years along in his new life as a federal judge, Bybee gathered the lawyers and their dates for a reunion, telling them he was proud of the legal work they had together produced.

And then, according to two of his guests, Bybee added that he wished he could say the same about his previous position.

[…] “I’ve heard him express regret at the contents of the memo,” said a fellow legal scholar and longtime friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity…

Wait. Strike that post title. Comparing this indirect, self-pitying mea culpa to George Wallace is an insult to George Wallace. When Wallace changed his mind he publicly apologized. Wallace dedicated his last term of governor to correcting his earlier mistakes. Unless Bybee plans to dish more thoroughly in the future, this Friday night bombshell deserves to be filed with other empty political non-apology apologies.

Let’s start with the last line above. Bybee “express[es] regret at the contents of the memo.” The contents of the memo should reflect Bybee’s thinking. Does that imply that he regrets what he was thinking at the time? The comment makes more sense if Bybee regrets letting someone else dictate the contents of the memo to him. That is a moment of professional weakness that a sensible person would regret. Naturally that would indict Bybee (for legal malpractice, among other things) rather than exonerate him, but John Amato has hints that this might be the case. Otherwise Bybee should explain what about his inner thought process he finds regrettable.

You might wonder whether Bybee’s non-apology could get any weaker. Oh yes it can.

Says the same friend,

“I’ve heard him express regret that the memo was misused.”

Every interrogator in the US government looked to Bybee’s memo for guidance on what they could and couldn’t do to helpless prisoners. It is not clear how such a document could be misused. If the US grabbed an innocent muslim off the street, locked him in a box with spiders, starved him, froze him, beat his head against walls, shackled him to the ceiling and left him standing for more than a week without sleep then Bybee’s little note would serve exactly the purpose for which it was written.

Nobody with the brains to earn a law degree* could possibly believe that a binding legal opinion authorizing torture by government interrogators would not lead to torture by government interrogators. Bybee feels legitimately anxious because the act of writing his memo, whose legal impact guaranteed abuses that followed it, was perhaps the greatest crime of all.

Maybe Bybee regrets the agents who went farther than his torture guidelines allowed, but that doesn’t make sense either. Those interrogators did not ‘abuse’ the memos; they exceeded their legal guidelines. Ashcroft or Gonzales could have prosecuted them if either of the two did not use their soul to store oily rags. I am not even sure how a series of memos that permissive could be abused. Did they waterboard Jane Harman?

If Jay Bybee regrets what he authorized then he can cooperate with the investigations to come. Until then I will cry a little tear for how uncomfortable he must feel at cocktail parties. I bet it feels like torture.

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(*) Regent grads excepted.

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