Endless Summer

We'll be out of Iraq before Bush finishes any of these.

A new low for the Wall Street Journal (the news side).

p.s. -- The biggest news in the article is that Jeff Jarvis goes to a pricey resort and then wastes his time there writing his shitty blog. And makes his 14-year old kid pay for half of the internet connection. (Maybe Jarvis didn't check the facts before slandering the members of the 9/11 Commission because he's too fucking cheap to bother with accuracy.)

p.p.s. -- If the Jarvisian track record holds, Jeff will accuse me of disclosing the private location of his family, putting their lives at risk.

Found Comedy

I'm not up to speed on all this YouTube stuff, but if you've got some time to kill, follow this link to some unintentional comedy. It's the funniest thing you'll watch all year.

(But this is pretty funny too!)

Great Moments In Ignorance

It's coming up on the one year anniversary of the date Jeff Jarvis blamed the 9/11 Commission for Hurricane Katrina:

The 9/11 Commission bears some responsibility for the disaster that American disaster relief has become.... [Para.] But there was no deliberation after the commission issues its report and browbeat Washington into doing what they said. So Washington did. And FEMA is a mess. And New Orleans is a mess.

...

I've been trying to find how exactly FEMA's reorganization plan came: Were the details laid out by the commission or by Congress? Doesn't matter, really.

How did Jarvis respond to the news that FEMA's reorganization predated the 9/11 Commission Report by more than a year? Like this:

"It's at moments like these that I feel ashamed for my 'profession.' They call this news? They call this journalism? It's not the voyeurism that's most offensive. It's the stupidity."

Oh, wait... that was Jar Jar on the media coverage of Jon Benet Ramsey.

What Jarvis actually did was piss and moan about how rude people were for pointing out his incompetence, and deleted those comments from his blog (and lied about the reason). And then went on being a superior pompous blowhard with nothing to say.

Why is Jarvis such an ignorant ass? Doesn't matter, really.

Boobs, Not Bongs

Taxpayer-subsidized pornographer Ken Starr is an enemy of free speech.

Anyone surprised?

Mickey Kaus Has Hair, Up To A Point

In his desperation to locate reports supporting Bush and the Endless War Against Iraq, Mickey Kaus stoops to quoting a nameless e-mailer who claims to be a Marine:

"I don't want to paint any overly rosy picture of things here as I never have indulged in that practice before, but we have control everywhere now (up to a point)."

The "up to a point" qualifier is particularly telling, as it echoes the famous line spoken by the toadies of Lord Copper in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop. When Copper, a London newspaper magnate, asked his yes men to agree with his ridiculously false statements, they responded with qualified agreement -- "up to a point, Lord Copper" -- rather than tell their boss he was fucking nuts. (One imagines that Kaus perfected that art himself at The New Republic.)

Of course, Kaus doesn't seem particularly interested in the outcome in Iraq, let alone the fate of the Iraqi people; he just uses the e-mail message to flog his fantasy that the news media is anti-GOP. And Kaus has forgotten Lord Donnie's Copper's most important marching orders:

"Remember that the Patriots are in the right and are going to win. The Beast stands by them foursquare. But they must win quickly. The British public has no interest in a war which drags on indecisively. A few sharp victories, some conspicuous acts of personal bravery on the Patriot side and a colourful entry into the capital. That is The Beast policy for the war."

Mind Fucked

So fifth-rate columnist Andy Sully has dipped a tiny toe into the ocean of righteous skepticism about the Bush War on Terror and the accuracy of reports on the alleged airline bombing plot.

I'm not impressed.

Five days ago, Sullivan, writing about one of the men arrested, but not charged, in same alleged plot, proudly articulated bigotry that George Allen would give his right nut to duplicate:

There is something terribly sick within the Muslim mind at this moment in history. It is Nietzsche's ressentiment, but with God re-attached. We should indeed fear these people for the hideous carnage they can wreak for the sake of their God. But we should never let our fear overwhelm our contempt for them - their sickness, their evil, their petty insecurities, their inability to live meaningful lives and their attempt to assuage this by murdering others in God's name. Yes, they evil [sic]. But they are also pathetic, miserable excuses for human beings.

At this moment in history there are hundreds of millions of Muslims living peaceful lives, doing good works and doing the same things, good and bad, that non-Muslims do. Millions of them are Americans. These people do not share a mind with Muslims who are violent, nor are they sick, evil or violent. A small but significant number of them have been victims of hideous carnage we brought upon them for sake of fuck all.

And don't get me started on Sully's weak and weaselly defense of his hatred, in which he lumps together pedophile priests and their victims as common members of another group of sick fucks.

Sullivan is a classic populist bigot: creating an enemy -- Muslims -- and targeting them to draw a paycheck through his shitty blog.

Mohawk My Ass

George Allen (R-KKK) is a true Reagan Republican:

RICHMOND, Va. -- Sen. George Allen apologized Tuesday for remarks that offended a man of Indian descent who was tracking the Republican's re-election campaign for Democratic challenger Jim Webb.

...

On Monday, Allen spokesman Dick Wadhams said the name "Macaca" was a variation of "Mohawk," the nickname Allen campaign staffers gave Sidarth for his partially cropped haircut. Allen, however, said Tuesday that he made up the name himself.

Allen has been accused of racial insensitivity before. He wore a Confederate flag pin in his high school yearbook photo, used to keep a Confederate flag in his living room, a noose in his law office and a picture of Confederate troops in his governor's office, but has said he has grown since then.

Grown as a raving bigot, yes.

And once he gets his ass kicked by James Webb, he can put his talents to their best and highest use: rightwing blogger.

Over at NewsBusters, Dan "the Klan" Riehl claims that Sidarth got what he deserved for training a video camera on Allen during a public speech. The fraud of "free speech" Republicans exposed once again. (Sorry, no link to the bigot.)

Blowing Smoky

Howard Kurtz was at his most putztacular on Sunday's Reliable Sources. Kurtz is on vacation from his Post column, and I think feels more free to push his agenda when he doesn't have to hear from readers via his Post chat the following day. (Correction: As gimmeabreak points out in comments, Kurtz held an online chat today. It appears from his comments, however, that he is still on vacation from his column for another couple of weeks.)

Bob Somerby already has debunked Howie's laughable claim that the Joe-loving Beltway press has spurned Holy Joe. However, I haven't seen anyone comment on Kurtz's loving embrace of Charles "Smoky" Johnson, proprietor of a bulletin board for genocide enthusiasts:

KURTZ: All right. Charles Johnson, I don't think there's any question that liberal bloggers played a significant role in Lieberman's defeat. I mean, you had Markos Moulitsas, better known as Daily Kos, actually appearing in an ad for Ned Lamont, the man who defeated Lieberman.

What did you think do you make of the tone of much of the liberal commentary in the attacks on Lieberman?

CHARLES JOHNSON, LITTLEGREENBIGOTS.COM: Well, I was very appalled by the tone, actually. There was quite a bit of real nastiness directed at Joe Lieberman in this campaign.

For example, an image was posted on Arianna's site of Lieberman in minstrel black face. And there was also some sort of homophobic images posted on Markos Moulitsas's site. So yes, I think the overall tone was very negative, very nasty.

This is not just throwing Johnson a softball. By asking Johnson about blogger civility, the Putz is deliberately misleading viewers who don't know Johnson is the ringmaster of a hate site.

As an avid follower of blogs, the Putz surely can't claim he was aware of Johnson's promotion of bigotry, since it was documented in the Putz's own paper.

Howie also left unchallenged Johnson's claim that "if you notice, a lot of the people who voted for Lieberman are now experiencing a sort of a sticker shock and sort of wondering whether they did the right thing." It's clear that the racist douchebag meant to say "Lamont" instead of "Lieberman," but Howie neither asked Johnson to clarify nor called him on a claim that Johnson clearly pulled out of his ass. If you want to talk about media dishonesty, Howie, you don't call upon a liar without calling him on his bullshit.

Comedy = Near Tragedy + Time / 24-Hour News Cycle

"This is the second aviation bomb threat this week. The in-flight movie on my return trip was Mission Impossible III."

"Paul Greengrass and Oliver Stone are teaming up for a new Hollywood thriller based on actual events. It's called Shakes On A Plane."

"Rush Limbaugh was once again detained at the Palm Beach Airport for carrying contraband on his return flight from the Dominican Republic. In his defense, Rush claimed, 'That's not hair gel.'"

The staff of The Jimmy Kimmel Show can contact me at the address to the right.

Team Connecticut

Joementum is now Joe Dirt Nap:

"Tomorrow is a brand new day and tomorrow we launch a new campaign to unite the people of Connecticut - Team Connecticut - Democrats, Republicans and Independents so we can go forward together to solve our most serious problems together. That is what this campaign will be about.

"And let me say to the people outside of Connecticut, if you are disappointed with the ugly tone of our politics, if you are fed up with the nasty partisanship in Washington, then I ask for your help, too. You can go to my Web site, joe2006.com - when it is unhacked - to send me your ideas about how we can build this new politics of unity and purpose. Come to Connecticut to help, and don't hesitate to send a campaign contribution."

Joe Lieberman (NPR-Conn.) just launched his Team Connecticut website, and already it's been hacked!

I hear Katherine Harris has a bunch of former campaign staffers looking for jobs, Joe.

The Wedding Singer

Marty Peretz is thinking of starting his own blog. He hasn't learned the software (or, as he calls it, "how to post a Plank"), so he's been having Frank Foer and the boys type up his late-night rants for him. Marty's thinking of calling it "The Spine."

See the title above for my alternative suggestion.

Thank You, Guest Bloggers

I want to thank all of the guest bloggers for keeping hope alive during my vacation. Personal thanks will follow.

I've been on a lo-news diet for the past couple of weeks and, even worse, haven't read a blog (or been on the 'net) in weeks. (For those curious about my trip, here's a hint:

"In August 2001, a University of Tennessee law professor named Glenn H. Reynolds, the author of the popular, libertarian-leaning blog InstaPundit, and pro-gun activist Dave Kopel wrote an article for National Review Online complaining that the upcoming conference was stacked with anti-gun people....

"In continuing online debates over gun issues, Reynolds and Kopel have refused to identify the anonymous source. However, Tim Lambert, a computer scientist in Australia who maintains an anti-Lott blog, has said on his blog that Levitt told him he was nearly certain that Lott was the source.")

By the way, if you tried to e-mail me at my fastmail address, my account got filled up by July 28. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Breaking:

11 Egyptian Students Disappear After Arriving in NYC:

11 of 17 male Egyptian students bound for an English language and culture program never showed up in Montana, where the program is being held. They flew in to Kennedy airport on July 29th, and the FBI only issued an announcement on August 5th. The 11 range in age from 17 to 21, and all had valid student visas.

It is hoped the students are looking for work in NYC, but nobody really knows. The FBI bulletin states, "At the present time there are no known associations to any terrorist groups. Approach with caution."

Sneaks in, looks around and posts!

Lamont Ahead in Wins Connecticut Democratic Senatorial Primary: (Updated)

New York Times photo

The results are:

Lamont 51.9%
Lieberman 48.1%
98% of precints reporting; Lieberman concedes.

Results and photo courtesy of the treasonous NewYorkTimes.com, who had a robust results counter on their front page. 'Out-of-staters' crashed the Connecticut Secretary of State's site earlier this evening, according to the Secretary, Susan Bysiewicz.

Other commentary can be found on MyDD.com, which has been overwhelmed with hits all day, but keeps battling back (unlike Lieberman's site). Also try FireDogLake and MyLeftNutmeg.


Scurries away!

Shorter David Broder: "Let's blame 'gridlock' and overlook Republican majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress."

Shorter Lanny Davis: "Let's pretend I don't know blog comments from blog posts and that I don't know the difference between condemning McCarthyist tactics and using them myself."

I have been deeply, deeply negligent in my duties as a guest blogger.* Thus, in my last chance to post in this legendary realm, I offer you...

a haiku that, for no reason whatsoever, imagines sen. lieberman on Wednesday morning

the ragged man cries,
"why am I such a loser?"
summer, a cruel month.

Welcome home, Roger.

*Sporty, FP, Steve M. and Ahab -- all marvelous multi-taskers -- have not.

Checks email again. Sneaks into Blogger and looks around. No sign of Roger. No sign of the other guest bloggers. And then...

The Power of Misinformation: Increasing Number Believe Iraq Had WMD's:

I'm revisiting this article because it shows that, for most of America, the Bush-league Administration's apparent campaign of misinformation is working all too well.

Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003?

Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq.

People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull.

The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.

Despite this, a Harris Poll released July 21 found that a full 50 percent of U.S. respondents - up from 36 percent last year - said they believe Iraq did have the forbidden arms when U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, an attack whose stated purpose was elimination of supposed WMD. Other polls also have found an enduring American faith in the WMD story. [emphasis mine]

Just so we are all on the same page - all the chemical weapons found in Iraq have been old and degraded ordinance. The looming threats of mass destruction described by Bush-league Administration officials in 2002 and 2003 simply did not and do not exist.

Now, it would be good if we found ways to let everybody else know!


Thanks again, Roger!

JUST ONE LAST BLOG; AFTER THIS I'LL QUIT, I SWEAR....

Last weekend I went to Krakow, Poland, and visited Auschwitz, which, as you can imagine, was quite a sobering experience (and I just hate having my buzz harshed). One strange fact was brought to my attention, however. In the camp all prisoners' uniforms had a triangle whose color signified what they were imprisoned for. Yellow were Jews, red were political prisoners, pink were gays (no comment), and purple were for Jehovah's Witnesses. I of course thought it rather strange that the JW's should be singled out and given their own color, so I asked our rather taciturn guide why the Witnesses in particular were persecuted. She didn't know but she said there were only about 400 there in Auschwitz (.0025% of the population).

Why the JW's and not, for example the Mormons whom I consider just as annoying*? My mind grasped for explanations: did one of them knock on Goering's door too early one weekend morning? Did the Reich have an extra 400 purple triangles to give away to some lucky group?

Of course, Wikipedia came to my rescue. It turns out the Witnesses, disparagingly called Ernste Bibelforscher (Earnest Bible Students) refused to swear allegiance to Hitler or to serve in the military. In fact, the Witnesses in pre-war Germany were often linked with Communist movements, which runs counter to their current conservative image here in the States. In addition, they were persecuted in the US and other countries for refusing to serve in the military (in Canada were interned in camps along with political dissidents and people of Japanese and Chinese descent). Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that they are allowed to be exempt from military service, and their children also don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance! (Don't let the LGF wingnts find that out, or they'll start in on the JWs as well.)

So, I got to give the Witnesses their props. The next time one of them knocks at my door I will tell them how much I respect their nonviolent stance and regret their bethren who died in the camps. Then I'll sic my dog on them.

*I was raised a Mormon, so I am particularly attuned to them. I can spot them a mile away, although of course in most circumstances that is not difficult.