Nutjobs Ranting About Politics.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by bilmore
Some of us wanted to stop the slaughter of millions earlier, but had to argue with you about yellowcake.

If there'd been any political support for invading a country which did not threaten us to "stop the slaughter of millions,"* we wouldn't have had to hear about bogus yellowcake sales.

And where were you and the GOP when Hussein was using chemical weapons on the Kurds? It took a GOP president for you guys to find this humanitarian streak.

* Nice agitprop.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
I think we do. We just look at that concern, pay a bit more attention to context, and realize that the concern is somewhat - not totally, but somewhat - overblown.

Remember that part of the context involves cries of quagmire, deterioration, popular uprising, swinging opinion, lack of resolve, and poor execution from day one. I don't remember a week when the sky wasn't falling, in some people's minds. This is a significant blip. I think we make it over this blip fairly quickly. Problem is, you only have forty-some days to make it an insurmountable one. If there was no election coming up, I think we would be hearing far less doomsday talk. Bush made it clear long ago that this will be a long undertaking, requiring significant resolve and expense and work. Kerry has to make it into chaos right now, and so he claims that Bush has failed to fix things on a timetable that Bush explicitly disavowed long ago.

2 to what ShapeShifter said. If we're simply wrong because we're "not reading Iraq news," please direct me to what Iraq news I should be reading that will bring me to the conclusion you describe.

If it can help interpret the NIE (describing likely Iraq scenarios by end of 2005 ranging from the lovely political and security stability of Lebanon to us being in the middle of a civil war), that'd be handy too.

If today's news of people being kidnapped in one of Baghdad's "secured," residential neighborhoods, which has had the effect of scaring the shit out of every foreign journalist, ambassador and professional not holed up in the Green Zone is part of the small blip you describe, that'd be helpful also.

I am unconvinced that the vast majority of worldwide news media output is really the result of a bunch of whiners who have been complaining since day one or who are plotting their coverage in light of the apocalyptic needs of the Kerry campaign.

But I could be wrong.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Gattigap
scaring the shit out of every foreign journalist, ambassador and professional not holed up in the Green Zone

Via Andrew Sullivan, the Financial Times reports the Green Zone is no longer secure:

• US military officers in Baghdad have warned they cannot guarantee the security of the perimeter around the Green Zone, the headquarters of the Iraqi government and home to the US and British embassies, according to security company employees.
  At a briefing earlier this month, a high-ranking US officer in charge of the zone's perimeter said he had insufficient soldiers to prevent intruders penetrating the compound's defences.
  The US major said it was possible weapons or explosives had already been stashed in the zone, and warned people to move in pairs for their own safety. The Green Zone, in Baghdad's centre, is one of the most fortified US installations in Iraq. Until now, militants have not been able to penetrate it.

[sgtclub]

Kerry has an interesting op-ed in the WSJ. Short on specifics and appears to be somewhat contradictory (surprise, surprise), but some interesting ideas.

[Gattigap]

I haven't thought of one to top Wonkette's yet: "Kerry, reunited with the teddy bear he rescued from a hail of enemy bullets on the Bay Hap River. The bear will tour swing states on Kerry's behalf in October."

Well, perhaps that's followed by: "In related news, media outlets have been contacted by a 527 by the name of Bears for Truth, announcing a forthcoming series of commercials, a book, a documentary, and memorabilia (yes, bears) alleging that on the date of the alleged incident, Bear was actually back in Saigon, getting reamed by Vietnamese prostitutes and smoking a doobie the size of the Mekong Delta."

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Gattigap

"In Squawtuck, Iowa, Kerry and running mate John Edwards reunite on the campaign trial for the first time since the Democratic National Convention. Edwards is believed to have been campaign in abandoned coal mines in the intervening weeks."

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
... my seminal posts.

Ewww.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Gattigap

Before we talk about my voting record, I'd like you all to meet Checkers . . .

(Okay, you have to be a certain minimum age to get this one . . .)

[Gattigap]

In the one of the two debates dedicated to domestic policy, I dearly hope that someone will ask the candidates about this new bill working its way through the House, and if he, as president, would sign it.

What do you think Bush would say? Do we think that he'll be somber in agreeing to sign it and appease his "base", or will he have a redux of the creepy moment in the 2000 debates when he discussed executing a man on death row and smiled?

In Congress and states nationwide, anti-abortion activists are broadening efforts to support hospitals, doctors and pharmacists who - citing moral grounds - want to opt out of services linked to abortion and emergency contraception.

A little-noticed provision cleared the House of Representatives last week that would prohibit local, state or federal authorities from requiring any institution or health care professional to provide abortions, pay for them, or make abortion-related referrals, even in cases of rape or medical emergency.

In Mississippi, a bill became law in July that admirers and critics consider the nation's most sweeping "conscience clause." It allows all types of health care workers and facilities to refuse performing virtually any service they object to on moral or religious grounds.

And in states across the country, anti-abortion organizations and a group called Pharmacists for Life are encouraging pharmacists to refuse to distribute emergency contraceptives, which they consider a potential form of abortion.

.....

Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, was fired by Kmart in 1996 for refusing to dispense a birth-control drug. She believes momentum now favors her movement.

...

Brauer, who lives in Lawrence, Ind., and works at a drugstore in Ohio, hopes more states will emulate Mississippi, South Dakota and Arkansas by specifying that pharmacists, as well as doctors, have the right to withhold services on moral grounds. She does not believe there should be any obligation to refer rebuffed customers to another pharmacist who would fill their prescription.

"Forced referral is stupid," she said. "If we're not going to kill a human being, we're not going to help the customer go do it somewhere else."

AP

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
... my seminal posts.

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Ewww.

You don't know the half of it. I was going to make the observation that the receipt of countless unrequited lovenote PMs hardly an "archive" makes, but whatever.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Watching her try to be funny is like watching old people fuck.

You've watched old people fuck?

FYI - I've never even tried to be funny here.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

• My name is Robert Strong, and I am indeed a college professor. I am not, however, the Robert Strong who spoke to CBS. I never met Killian, I never lived in Texas, and I never served in that state's Air National Guard. But on the Internet none of this matters.
  
  Ever since the 60 Minutes broadcast, I have been getting angry e-mails from Bush supporters who are sure that I am a key player in a vast left-wing conspiracy bent on diminishing the president's not extraordinary record of military service.
  
  How did I become the enemy du jour of all those spiteful Republicans? I guess it has something to do with Google. Last week, if you typed the words Professor Robert Strong in the popular search engine, a webpage that happens to be about me appeared at the top of the list. For those who have been filling my e-mail inbox with vicious vitriol, that was apparently evidence enough. CBS says that its Bush-bashing documents have been authenticated by Strong; Google tells everyone on the Internet that I am Professor Strong. That's it. I am guilty as Googled.
  
  At first, I found all of this a bit funny. Here I was in the midst of my 15 minutes of fame, and it was just a case of mistaken identity. But the more e-mails I read, the less amused I became. The meat they contain is more raw and distasteful than any spam I have ever encountered.
  
  Who are these people? They obviously have the time to find my e-mail address but lack the courtesy to inquire whether I am the person they heard about on television. They are unhappy about what they saw. But how does that get them to the conclusion that I am a ''liar,'' the ''biggest dirty trickster since Watergate'' and ``a paid agent of George Soros''?

Miami Herald

[Gattigap]

Yaser Hamdi, the Taliban Terrorist Fuckhead and American citizen so dangerous that he was detained indefinitely without the right to counsel, or much else, was ... um .... just released as a free man.

The first U.S. government-declared "enemy combatant" in the war on terror will soon be released from a military prison in South Carolina under an agreement that will allow him to fly home to Saudi Arabia as a free man, administration officials tell NEWSWEEK.

The agreement to free Yaser Esam Hamdi represents a stunning reversal for the Bush administration, which argued for more than two years that the former Taliban fighter was potentially so dangerous that he had to be detained indefinitely in solitary confinement with no access to counsel and no right to trial.

But in a landmark ruling last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that Hamdi, an American citizen, be allowed to consult with his lawyer and challenge the basis for his imprisonment. This pushed the case back into federal court and forced the Justice Department to mount a hasty retreat.

Man. Is that gonna hurt the DOJ prosecution stats, or what?

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Yaser Hamdi, the Taliban Terrorist Fuckhead and American citizen so dangerous that he was detained indefinitely without the right to counsel, or much else, was ... um .... just released as a free man.



Man. Is that gonna hurt the DOJ prosecution stats, or what?

Yeah, I'm sure his Saudi brothers will treat him like a King. That guy might want to have his head welded to his body before he gets on that plane.

[Say_hello_for_me]

So I ran out at 5:15 today to get a chocolate milk shake from Burger King. On the way back, I noticed that the rush-hour traffic jam at the nearest traffic light in this boomtown was 3 full blocks long. Geezus, that's a pain in the butt. But its the longest traffic jam I've seen in the area in years that wasn't caused by an accident or some other misfortune. A-course, I've been working way past 5:15 since God knows when, so traffic jams may have been regularly happening for months.

Oh, and every time I go for a chocolate milkshake at Burger King, they are always "out" of them. Yeah, right. Smells like chocolate is in such high demand that Burger King can't obtain any for its shakes. Anyone need a job? Not Me decide to make good on her vow to take a second and third job?


On a more political note, I got a desperate letter from Thune yesterday saying he's "even" with Daschle in the polls... please send money. But that asbestos compromise from Daschle smacks of true desperation to me. I think he's thinking:

1.) Maybe R's and the anti-trial-lawyer people will lay off 'til the election if we just thrown them this bone; or

2.) Holy fuck, we better let these guys have what we bargained em down to so far, cuz in a few months our projections are that they won't have to bargain with us for anything and will take what they want.

I can't help but think (with the asbestos at least), that its more of #2. This could be a very interesting two months in Congress, if the Democrats feel like they are going to lose their filibuster.

In theory, it would be great to take that away from them for a week or two (i.e., tort reform and asbestos reform), but man do I ever not like the prospect of not having a blocking force in Congress for two or four years.

So name your democrats boys. Uncy Hello's breaking open the wallet for anyone who ain't gonna get us all killed.

Hello