|link| Posted 4:07 PM by Brian Linse
Meet Johnny Friendly

Proving that snark is sometimes the most efficient, as well as the most entertaining way to report and comment on the tragi-comic antics of the Dick and George Show, "Johnny Friendly" of the I Can't Wait to Vote blog is my new, most-looked-forward-to blog read every day.

Go get you some cool buttons while you're there:

Who is Johnny Friendly? I'm not sure, but there is certainly a familiar ring to the style. Could it be a certain famously "moderate", "centrist", "independent" liberal who has been driven to harsh rhetoric and booze by the freakshow that is the Bush Administration...?

|link| Posted 12:34 AM by Brian Linse
Tucker Max

The infamous Tucker Max is back after a long and arduous site rebuild. For my first post on Max click here. The links in the old post won't work, but check out his latest story, The Austin Road Trip.

Warning: Not for the faint of heart...

|link| Posted 5:22 AM by Brian Linse
It's Edwards!

CNN is reporting that Kerry's VP will be Sen. John Edwards.

Praise Jeebus! I think we really have a chance now. Sen. Edwards may be part of the stodgy Hill establishment, but he projects a sense of freshness and energy that the Kerry campaign has been lacking. Edwards also has tremendous intellect, and a natural talent for the stump speech. Cheney is going to look pathetic going up against this guy in debates.

Here's hoping for President Edwards in 2012!

New York Times

WaPo

UPDATE: For those not on the Kerry mailing list, here is the e-mail that arrived at 8:39am Eastern:

Dear Brian,

In just a few minutes, I will announce that Senator John Edwards will join me as my running-mate on the Democratic ticket as a candidate for vice president of the United States. Teresa and I could not be more excited that John and Elizabeth Edwards will be our partners in our journey to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.

You are the heart and soul of our campaign. You've shattered records and expectations every step of the way. Every time someone said you couldn't do it, you proved them wrong. Because of your incredible grassroots energy and commitment, I wanted to make the first official announcement of my decision to you -- more than one million online supporters at johnkerry.com.

I want you to know why I'm excited about running for president with John Edwards by my side. John understands and defends the values of America. He has shown courage and conviction as a champion for middle class Americans and those struggling to reach the middle class. In the Senate, he worked to reform our intelligence, to combat bioterrorism, and keep our military strong. John reaches across party lines and speaks to the heart of America -- hope and optimism. Throughout his own campaign for President, John spoke about the great divide in this country -- the "Two Americas" -- that exist between those who are doing well today and those that are struggling to make it from day to day. And I am so proud that we're going to build one America together.

In the next 120 days and in the administration that follows, John Edwards and I will be fighting for the America we love. We'll be fighting to give the middle class a voice by providing good paying jobs and affordable health care. We'll be fighting to make America energy independent. We'll be fighting to build a strong military and lead strong alliances, so young Americans are never put in harm's way because we insisted on going it alone.

I can't tell you how proud I am to have John Edwards on my team, or how eager I am for the day this fall when he stands up for our vision and goes toe-to-toe with Dick Cheney.

This is the most important election of our lifetime, and a defining moment in our history. With you by our side every day of this campaign, John and I will lead the most spirited presidential campaign America has ever seen and fight to lead our nation in a new and better direction.

Thank you,

John Kerry

Just heard the annoucement on NPR. They played Van Halen's "Right Now" after Kerry spoke! Damn! Danny Goldberg must be smiling.

The Kerry/Edwards Campaign site is now updated.

|link| Posted 2:11 PM by Brian Linse
The End Of An Era: Brando Is Dead at 80

The greatest actor of all time, Marlon Brando died yesterday at the age of 80.

I had recently gone through all of the Godfather films again, this time listening to the commentary tracks and viewing the additional material provided in the boxed DVD set. Quite an experience. But it will no doubt be an altogether different experience next time with the knowledge that Brando is gone.

Even though the first two films were already getting up there in age, there was still the sense that they were part of contemporary cinema. This was due, of course, to many factors that included contributions from many artists from Pacino to Gordon Willis and the madman Coppola himself, but Brando's Don Corleone in the first film was always the iconic anchor of the whole experience.

Things will never be the same, and I'm feeling just a little bit older today.

BBC report on tributes.

Daily Variety report (subscription required).

Brando's credits at IMDb.

David Edelstein at Slate.

NPR features.

UPDATE: Digby has some personal reflections on Brando's career.

|link| Posted 6:12 AM by Brian Linse
WTF?

When I read this post by Eugene Volokh, I thought it was a not-funny joke and stopped reading after a few graphs. Now, after reading this post at Crooked Timber, I find out that Volokh was serious!

Now that's funny...

UPDATE: Jim Henley isn't laughing.

|link| Posted 12:25 AM by Brian Linse
AWOL: Final Analysis

David Neiwert, who has done great work on the George Bush AWOL story, points us to the work of Paul Lukasiak, which in my opinion settles the AWOL question once and for all.

|link| Posted 5:54 PM by Brian Linse
Feeding The Monkey

Via Atrios, I find today's absolute must-read: Matt Taibbi's Shoveling Coal for Satan in the New York Press. Here's a taste re press criticism of Michael Moore (with special scorn for vaporous windbag Chris Hitchens):

I've been around journalists my entire life, since I was a little kid, and I haven't met more than five in three-plus decades who wouldn't literally shit from shame before daring to say that their job had anything to do with truth or informing the public. Everyone in the commercial media, and that includes Hitchens, knows what his real job is: feeding the monkey. We are professional space-fillers, frivolously tossing content-pebbles in an ever-widening canyon of demand, cranking out one silly pack-mule after another for toothpaste and sneaker ads to ride on straight into the brains of the stupefied public. [...]

I'm off on this tangent because I'm enraged by the numerous attempts at verbose, pseudoliterary, "nuanced" criticism of Moore this week by the learned priests of our business. (And no, I'm not overlooking this newspaper.) Michael Moore may be an ass, and impossible to like as a public figure, and a little loose with the facts, and greedy, and a shameless panderer. But he wouldn't be necessary if even one percent of the rest of us had any balls at all.

If even one reporter had stood up during a pre-Iraq Bush press conference last year and shouted, "Bullshit!" it might have made a difference. [...]

Hitchens in his piece accuses Moore of errors by omission: How come he isn't writing about the CNN producers who every day show us gung-ho Army desert rats instead of legless malcontents in the early stages of a lifelong morphine addiction?

Yeah, well, we don't write about those people, because they're just doing their jobs, whatever that means. For some reason, we in the media can forgive that. We just can't forgive it when someone does our jobs for us.

As the saying goes, "read the whole thing". You'll be glad you did.

|link| Posted 2:32 PM by Brian Linse
CIA Finally Gets It Right

So says Richard Clarke in his WaPo review of Imperial Hubris. And if you haven't already done so, Clarke's own book, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror is a must read. I finished it last night and recommend it highly. Clarke wears his bias on his sleeve, yet even through that filter the information from a central eyewitness inside the White House on 9/11, and inside the government's counter terror bureaucracy for two decades is essential to an understanding of our fight against Islamist terror.

|link| Posted 2:30 PM by Brian Linse
Ashcroft v. ACLU II

Looks like Justice Thomas' porn habit has finally paid off in a good, 5 - 4 decision.

|link| Posted 7:48 PM by Brian Linse
Correct, Instantman!

For the first time in awhile, I'm agreeing 100% with Glenn Reynolds. The issue is comments sections on blogs, and I would only add that anyone who really must comment can always send an e-mail. If that's too much work, then as our eloquent VP says, "Go fuck yourself".

There are many old favorite blogs that I seldom read now because they have been hijacked by comments. Even if you don't venture into the comment section, the content is too often pulled away from the blogger's personal ideas toward whatever is blowing up the skirts of the comment readership.

TUESDAY UPDATE: Billmon's Whiskey Bar has noticed it's comment feature has begun to suffer the inevitable "comment rot", and has decided to return to comment-less status. I look forward to more of Billmon's energy being channeled into his posts.

|link| Posted 3:17 PM by Brian Linse
Bush Loses, Due Process Wins

Just in time to step all over what I'm sure the Bush Administration hoped would be a rare positive news cycle with the surprise hand-over of Iraqi sovereignty, the boys and girls over at SCOTUS have handed them a big defeat.

The news is everywhere, and analysis is popping up by the minute, but here are a few places to go to help make sense of it all:

Talk Left has a link to the NACDL press release.

Eugene Volokh & Co. have multiple posts, of course, so start scrolling.

SCOTUSblog, likewise, with some good analysis.

Legal Theory Blog has a comprehensive roundup for the serious SCOTUS geeks, as well as lots of blog and media links.

Michael Froomkin has Part I of his analysis up.

UPDATE: If you've done some reading on these cases today, you know that there was a surprising opinion from Scalia, and a really scary one from SCOTUS dunce Thomas. Brad DeLong noticed, and states:

Let me say that, after reading Hamdi, the idea that Clarence Thomas might not always be a sock puppet for Scalia fills me with terror and dread.

I'd never thought of it that way, but he is right. At least Fat Tony is brilliant in his own twisted way. Thomas is too stupid to even realize the message of his lone 9-1 dissent. You know how there's always that one guy in a group debate that just doesn't get it?

Donnie: "I am the Walrus. I am the Walrus."

Walter: "V.I. Lenin, Donnie!"

- The Big Lebowski

|link| Posted 2:27 AM by Brian Linse
Flypaper Anyone?

Well, it seems that even though an "operational" connection between Iraq and al Qaeda didn't exist before the war it certainly exists now.

The insurgents, thought to be made up of allied Shiite and Sunni fighters, proclaimed their loyalty to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the suspected mastermind of dozens of suicide attacks in Iraq and two recent beheadings.

But hey, maybe this is just what the Bush Administration wants! That's right, it's the venerable Flypaper Theory!

Let's forget for a moment that this idiotic concept denies centuries of experience about how terror cells work, presuming that terrorists are just like so many 5 year-olds playing soccer and will actually follow the "ball" that we have kicked into Iraq...

I wonder how the hundreds of innocent, dead Iraqis and their grieving families caught in the crossfire feel about this strategy.

The one cold, hard, and undeniable fact that we must all now accept is that whether through a colossal fuckup or a purposeful strategy, the United States has brought al Qaeda to Iraq.

Anyone remember how Osama and al Qaeda got started? Wait, I remember, they flypapered it over to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, and the United States helped them out with some training and weapons. Back then, bin Laden called them the Afghanistan Services Bureau, but the organization and ideology that began there soon became what we now know as al Qaeda.

The irony of the whole thing is now beyond tragic.

Related: BBC profile of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

|link| Posted 11:44 PM by Brian Linse
Mo Lefties Mo Lefties

86 new blogs listed over at The Lefty Directory. Go Check 'em out!

|link| Posted 2:35 PM by Brian Linse
Ronald Reagan

Former president Ronald Reagan has died at the age of 93.

From Michael Totten: I don't want the man's picture on my money or his head on Mt. Rushmore. But he did some good in this world and for that I thank him.

From Sgt. Stryker: The President I grew up under, and the last Republican President that was worth a damn, died today.

From Josh Marshall: And there he goes, like a candle, long only barely burning, finally being snuffed out. A revered, popular president hasn't died in America for more than thirty years -- Harry Truman's death in 1972 is probably the last such similar event.

Other links:

The Washington Post's Lou Cannon. [via: TPM]

Daily Variety (subscription required)

"Reagan's Liberal Legacy" by Joshua Green. [via: political Animal]

Senator John Kerry's statement.

Slate's Timothy Noah.

And for my own personal comment? I can say that after 3 years of GW Bush I have a newfound appreciation of what a great leader president Reagan was. He absolutely believed in his convictions, and perhaps more than any president of the modern era, he governed from those convictions above politics.

That I never shared a single one of his convictions is no reason to be in denial about the fact that Ronald Reagan loved his country and did all in his power to serve the nation and its citizens. May he rest in peace.

|link| Posted 2:53 AM by Brian Linse
Archibald Cox and Sam Dash: RIP

Two important figures from the Watergate era have died. Former Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, died at the age of 92, and Chief Counsel for the Senate Watergate committee, Sam Dash, has died at the age of 79.

For the youngsters out there, the reason that Sam Dash may sound more familiar is that he was the ethics adviser to Ken Starr's Clinton Whitewater investigation who resigned in protest over Starr's tactics and lack of objectivity.

These were two great men who were gallant public servants. Their lives and service should stand as a reminder to us all of how things should be. Read the above obits, and then scan the news for the latest from the Bush Administration.

If Cox and Dash could've stuck around a bit longer, perhaps they would have had more government work in the near future...

|link| Posted 6:41 PM by Brian Linse
It's Matt Welch Day at ANBD

As regular readers of this blog know, Matt Welch is my favorite writer in the Blogosphere, my favorite writer in professional journalism, and a personal hero due to his ability to persuade a smart and sexy French girl named Emmanuelle to be his bride.

With a little metronome practice he'd be a hella-great guitar player too...

Welch has been working overtime lately, and you can read the results over at Reason Online where he posts a classic, wilting response to Michael Barone's recent idiotic tripe, as well as a very important piece on the failure of journalists to defend the First Amendment. Read them both, then go over to Normblog for a pithy little Q&A; with Matt.

|link| Posted 5:23 PM by Brian Linse
Scare Tactics and More Lies From Ashcroft

I'm sure this surprises no one:

In warning Americans to brace for a possible attack, Ashcroft cited what he called “credible intelligence from multiple sources,” saying that “just after New Year's, al-Qaida announced openly that preparations for an attack on the United States were 70 percent complete.… After the March 11 attack in Madrid, Spain, an al-Qaida spokesman announced that 90 percent of the arrangements for an attack in the United States were complete.”

But terrorism experts tell NBC News there's no evidence a credible al-Qaida spokesman ever said that, and the claims actually were made by a largely discredited group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, known for putting propaganda on the Internet.

THREAT LEVEL = Bullshit Brown

Tie this in with the propaganda that the Justice Department is feeding to their willing press sheep like CNN's Kelli Arena, and it is clear that the administration is trying to scare the public into voting for Bush.

|link| Posted 2:45 PM by Brian Linse
More John Lott Nonsense

Tim Lambert is still on Lott watch, citing and debunking the trickle of bullshit that those still gullible enough to believe in Lott's junk science will publish. The latest is, not surprisingly, from Fox News.

I guess we should take it as progress that only a few wingnut gun freaks (you know, the kind that superimpose range targets over photos of human beings)have linked the story in a positive light... So far...

I remember the days when Instantman would have linked it within seconds of it being posted.

|link| Posted 1:56 PM by Brian Linse
Who's Driving The Boat?

Calpundit Kevin Drum has the answer in THE PRAETORIAN PRESIDENCY.

|link| Posted 7:42 PM by Brian Linse
Mitt Romney, Meet Jim Crow

Kevin Drum cites the latest in offensive behavior on the Gay Marriage issue. This time it comes from Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. These guys really have no shame...

|link| Posted 7:28 PM by Brian Linse
Plame Game Heats Up

CNN is reporting that journalists are being subpoenaed in the Valerie Plame spy leak case.

Former federal prosecutors told CNN that investigators are required to exhaust other possible leads before resorting to questioning journalists, so that issuing subpoenas is a signal that the investigation is in its final stages.

Time Inc. and NBC News are all "blah blah blah" about resisting the subpoenas, but with or without their help, it looks like the investigation may go into the indictment stage before November.

What was our commander-in-chief doing today? Falling off his bicycle.

|link| Posted 7:07 PM by Brian Linse
Moore Gets Palme d'Or

Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's controversial documentary, won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes International Film Festival.

Say what you will about Moore, he certainly knows his enemies:

Mr. Moore noted that four of the nine jurors were American: Mr. Tarantino, Kathleen Turner, the director Jerry Schatzberg, and the Haitian-born novelist Edwidge Danticat. "I fully expect the Fox News Channel and other right-wing media to portray this as an award from the French," Mr. Moore said. Only one juror, the actress Emanuelle Béart, is a French citizen.

I'd say it's another win for Harvey Weinstein and Miramax, and another loss for Disney and Mr. Eisner. Regardless, it will guarantee the film's domestic theatrical release in very short order. In other words, Bush & Co. will have to deal with the controversy before the November election.

|link| Posted 6:14 PM by Brian Linse
The Joe Bob Briggs POV

From Joe Bob's Week-in-Review May 8th:

"President Bush said it was unrealistic to expect Palestinian statehood by 2005 because the region is too unstable, thereby backing off the pre-arranged date and infuriating Arab leaders. Asked about his other deadline, June 30th, the day of Iraqi statehood, he said that he sees no problem with that one, that place is totally under control."

|link| Posted 1:11 PM by Brian Linse
When Heroes Fail Us

Tony Pierce is bummed over his blog hero Glenn Reynolds' choices lately.

And after today's stunningly bizarre post, I'm afraid I'd have to agree that the big guy has really lost his way this time.

It's that last paragraph of the post, an unfortunate "another update" addition, that really leaves one wondering:

ANOTHER UPDATE: And here's a question: Freedom of the press, as it exists today (and didn't exist, really, until the 1960s) is unlikely to survive if a majority -- or even a large and angry minority -- of Americans comes to conclude that the press is untrustworthy and unpatriotic. How far are we from that point?

Leave aside the presumed intentional rhetorical nuances, designed, I suppose, to ride the fence between concern and advocacy. Let's just look at the constitutional approach: If the issue in question were the second amendment, would Glenn still consider the "freedom" in question to be potentially so fluid? And is he asserting that the first amendment press rights at issue were not "real" until they were addressed by the USSC after 1960?

If that is the case, then Glenn's beloved 2A rights are not real as I write this, having never been blessed by a USSC decision to clarify them. So color me one reader who is hoping that this is a momentary lapse in the synapse, too many bong hits, or just a too-clever attempt to toss more red meat to the wingnut contingent checking in at Instantman's place. Because, if it's not one of these things, then it's a really scary bit of junior fascism. [via Atrios]

UPDATE: Digby weighs in on this, too.

|link| Posted 12:55 PM by Brian Linse
Republican Noise

Click on the cover to order David Brock's new book:

And don't forget to check in regularly at his new website, Media Matters for America.

|link| Posted 12:20 AM by Brian Linse
Elvin Jones 1927 - 2004

Yesterday was a really bad day.

On the heels of the news that Tony Randall has died comes the sad news that one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, Elvin Jones, died yesterday at the age of 76.

If you don't know who Elvin was, the NYT Obit has it all.

Like Miles Davis, Elvin Jones was usually referred to by his first name only. There was only one Elvin in jazz that mattered.

I had the great pleasure of seeing him play live only once, about 8 years ago, when the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine blew through LA. I have never seen anyone beat the living shit out of his drums the way Elvin did. It was truly amazing to witness.

Elvin used to sometimes nail his bass drum to the stage so it wouldn't get away from him, and there's a story that one time it came loose during a solo, but Elvin kept playing while his diminutive wife tried to nail it back down as it bounced across the stage.

Must have Elvin includes: John Coltrane's My Favorite Things; one of the most important recordings in the entire history of jazz, Coltrane's A Love Supreme; and one of my personal favorites because of the fierce version of Impressions, Trident, by McCoy Tyner.

The NYT reports that Elvin was gigging up until a few weeks ago. I wish I'd caught him live a few more times. Recordings are great, but in the case of Elvin, there just aren't words to describe the impact of hearing him in person.

|link| Posted 7:12 PM by Brian Linse
Goodbye Felix

The great Tony Randall died yesterday at the age of 84. For anyone 10 years either side of 40, the re-runs of TV's The Odd Couple are a wonderful part of our fond memories of the tube at its best.

Tributes will be easy to find within a few hours so I won't bother linking. But of all the wonderful things that will be said about Mr. Randall I'll add this: How many celebrities could frequently appear on idiotic game shows, be witty and entertaining, and still walk away with their dignity?

Only Tony Randall.

|link| Posted 7:06 PM by Brian Linse
Bad Dude Down

This site was down for a couple of days due to domain registration problems... you know, the I forgot to renew my domain kinda domain problems.

My apologies for the downtime. I promise it won't happen again for at least two years.

|link| Posted 3:41 PM by Brian Linse
Send Capo To Maine

James Capozzola of Rittenhouse Review fame is seeking help to finance a trip to Maine to help Mary Beth Williams of Wampum in her campaign to win a seat in the Maine legislature. Go help one blogger help another blogger get elected to public office!

|link| Posted 3:15 PM by Brian Linse
Support Atrios' Eschaton

Atrios is running a Pledge Week to raise funds in support of his blogging. Go donate whatever you can.

|link| Posted 1:59 PM by Brian Linse
Latest Hersh on Abu Ghraib

Don't miss Seymour Hersh's latest installment on Abu Ghraib in The New Yorker.

|link| Posted 12:37 PM by Brian Linse
Come On, Guys...

Lord knows I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, nor am I even a junior-level internet-savy dude. But there is a notion cropping up amongst guys who really should know better that the popularity of search engine queries for the Nick Berg beheading video demonstrates a disconnect and/or bias in mainstream news coverage that is still focused on the Abu Ghraib torture story. I'm beginning to feel smarter and internet-hip by comparison.

Here's Rand Simberg, Glenn Reynolds, and Robert Clayton Dean, to cite just a few.

Come on, guys...

Do you really want to judge the intellectual curiosity of the public based on search engine results? Ok, here's Google's 10 most popular queries for the year 2003:

1. Britany Spears

2. Harry Potter

3. Matrix

4. Shakira

5. David Beckham

6. 50 Cent

7. Iraq

8. Lord Of The Rings

9. Kobe Bryant

10. Tour de France

That's right, in 2003 more people used Google to search for information on 50 Cent than on Iraq. And while Iraq registered #1 for "news searches", the top ten was filled out by Laci Petersen, Kobe, Bertrand Cantat, RIAA, Jessica Lynch, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Smart, Korea, and Dixie Chicks.

Now consider the fact that while pictures of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib have been widely published, the horrific images of the Berg video have not. Stills from the video, pre-beheading, have been published, but the creepy pervs, sickos, dweebs and , uh, bicycle riders that clearly drive search engine rankings want to see the gore. Is anyone surprised?

I can't wait to see what these guys say if and when video of the prison torture becomes available on the net and subsequently jumps to the top of the query list.

And as to the assertion that the Nick Berg story would help Bush? Um, I don't think so...

UPDATE: Tbogg is on this, too.

MO' UPDATE: Bush better hope the Berg story goes away. Don't miss Mark Kleiman on why our "War President" didn't, when he had the chance, eliminate the man who killed Berg.

|link| Posted 2:34 PM by Brian Linse
Brock on Majority Report

David Brock of the new Media Matters for America will be on Garofalo and Seder's Majority Report today. It airs at 8pm on radio, but if you want to catch it on East Coast time it streams the net at 5pm here on the Left Coast.