Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 12/07/07

Another week. More preposterousness to report.

Iran...blah blah blah...World War III...blah blah blah...I choke on pretzels...blah blah blah...Haven't we heard all of this before? I mean, seriously, did some jack-wad, hump-brained pundits really need to have actual evidence President Bush was lying about Iran to know he was--how do you say it--lying about Iran!

This is the guy who inspired the warning label "don't operate heavy nations while intoxicated." If a tree fell in the woods, and nobody heard it, he'd use it as an excuse to log the entire forest for some peace and quiet.

So who cares what he knew and when he knew it. Don't let him use ignorance as his defense. He lied. He was always going to lie. He either planned to lie or was too stupid not to lie and either way, it doesn't change what this man stands for one bit. He has already shown he'll play chicken with soldiers' lives to win at politics, so really what won't he do to get his way?

Bomb the hell out people and foment civil war based upon a lie? Done that. Nuke 'em? He's publicly comtemplated that. Soon, the only weapon left he may possess will be threatening to make other nations watch his mother disrobe after a trip to the all-you-can-eat buffet at Dennys, by using those A Clockwork Orange eye clamps.

You may not know whether waterboarding is torture barely-installed AG Mukasey, but we can all agree that the Naked Barb scenario would most certainly violate the Geneva Conventions.

Regardless, the people of Iran came out in the streets to support the United States after 9/11. None other than Senator Chuck Hagel pointed that out the other day. It is very simple. If Congress needs to come out right now and say that unless it is in direct defense of the nation, if he attacks without their overt authorization impeachment proceedings will begin immediately. It will be high time (and no, I'm not talking about your personal life up until the age of 40, Georgie).

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Now to calm the mood, I bring you a nice film, put together by the fine folks at Brave New Films, who kindly employ me. It is on the obscene levels of wealth that inhabit the top of the income ladder right now. And it's funny. Do watch if you can.

Read More......

You can take the girl out of Paris...

Our Paris-based co-blogger Chris and his wife Joelle are visiting this weekend. While Chris was busy working, Joelle and I caught up at the local diner. Joelle is half French and half American. You'd never know she was either because she blends in perfectly in each country, and is completely bilingual. Except when she orders food. Like in this case, she was dying for pancakes. You just can't get good pancakes in Paris. So she got a stack of three. Then the waitress asked if she wanted a side of something with that, and she said "yes, mashed potatoes." With gravy? "Absolutely!"

There's an expression you hear among American expats if you spend much time abroad. "Not quite right." It's usually used when foreigners try to copy American food or culture and get really close, but still, there's something you can't put your finger on that's not quite right. Pancakes with mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. All very American, but as an ensemble? :-) Read More......

Germans poised to ban Scientology

Is Scientology a cult, and does it matter even if it is? Does Germany's unique history give it license to take harsher action against perceived cults than what we might do in the states? Will I be getting a midnight knock at my door for even asking naughty questions about the Scientologists? Read More......

Suicide bomber hits American-supported Sunnis

There are slightly conflicting reports about the suicide bomber who killed at least 15 people and wounded 30+ north of Baghdad earlier today (not sure if bomber was male or female, not sure of the allegiance, etc). But the striking thing to me is not the specifics of the attack, but the casual way news reports are describing the target of the attack: former insurgents now working with Americans.

For the millionth time, the greatest threat to a stable (or at least stabilizing) Iraq is the Sunni anti-government insurgency. So-called al Qaeda in Iraq is an accelerant to the violence, but it doesn't have nearly the impact ascribed to it by US government and military officials. Just weeks ago, the US was claiming that AQI was wiped out, and surely when locals stop tolerating the foreigners in their midst, AQI will be driven out. But instead of recognizing this and pushing for political reconciliation between the Shia government and dissatisfied Sunnis, we've allied with the insurgents -- again, the main problem for stability -- against a more minor threat to the country.

After years of rhetoric about how the nationalistic Iraqi insurgents were really terrorists, and how no one could negotiate -- much less work with! -- terrorists, the "former insurgents" (now that they've temporarily shifted focus, I suppose) are now our buddies. The lack of critical analysis of a shift in strategy so sudden and drastic it could cause whiplash is really amazing. And round and round it goes. Read More......

Rudy's girlfriend got NYPD protection far earlier then revealed

Wow. It was good to be Rudy and Judy -- having an affair paid for by the taxpayers of NYC. Rudy's then-mistress was receiving NYPD protection way earlier than Rudy's people ever admitted -- and way before the affair was public:

Judith Nathan got taxpayer-funded chauffeur services from the NYPD earlier than previously disclosed - even before her affair with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani was revealed, witnesses and sources tell the Daily News.

"It went on for months before the affair was public," said Lee Degenstein, 52, a retired Smith Barney vice president who formerly lived at 200 E. 94th St., Nathan's old building.

"It was going on longer than anybody thought," added Degenstein, who, along with others in the neighborhood, said they often saw Nathan hopping into unmarked NYPD cars in early 2000, before the affair was revealed that May.

When pressed by The News Thursday, aides to the Republican presidential hopeful conceded that Nathan got police protection "sporadically" before December 2000 - the previously acknowledged beginning of her taxpayer-funded detail.

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Reuters: Omaha massacre unlikely to alter gun laws

From Reuters:

Once again there has been a mass shooting in the United States, this time in a Nebraska shopping mall. Once again there is no national outcry for gun control.

A 19-year-old man shot and killed eight people and then himself in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday with a semi-automatic AK-47 that police say he stole from his stepfather.

Leading presidential candidates for the November 2008 U.S. election issued statements expressing sorrow and support for the victims. None called for tighter gun laws, which are traditionally left to state and local authorities.

That's because we no longer have any gun control groups in America. Just like we don't have any real groups on any progressive issues. Practically every organization in every progressive movement is worthless at this point. The malaise we feel when thinking of how much the Dems in Congress tick us off is a symptom of something much larger. It's not just the gays, it's not just the guns, it's not just the pro-choicers, it's not just the enviros. Every liberal movement has dropped the ball, and we see it in the enviros who have failed to capitalize effectively on global warming (face it, they got lucky that Al Gore is around and the weather is so screwy, where are the established groups? Polar bears are drowning, have been for years, where was the effective campaign on that PR God-send?). And gun groups - geez, how many schools and malls have to be shot up before a gun control group figures out that they have an opportunity to finally do something about their issues?

Whether it's the Dems debating Iraq, or the progressive non-profits on any issue just sitting back and doing nothing, our movement across the board stinks. It's not just the Ds in Congress, it's not just the gun control groups. It's our entire movement. It's made up of people who have long since forgotten how to fight back. Read More......

Election update podcast

In episode 5 of our new podcast, Joe and I discuss: the latest polls and how they're showing increasing trouble for Hillary, even in South Carolina; Obama's rise in the polls and this weekend's Oprahpalooza on his behalf; Huckabee's implosion over the rape/murder scandal; Giuliani's use of city money to enable his extra-marital affairs (and then how he may have skirted the law by trying to hide it); and Pinocchio's, I mean Romney's, ongoing effort to be a real Christian.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here, you can subscribe to the podcast's RSS feed here, or you can just listen to the file directly here (it's an mp3). And you can listen to any of our old shows via the iTunes link or the Feedburner link above. And thanks to Nick the Greek and his partner David for our new podcast logo, above. Read More......

Who should we believe? Cheney or Petraeus

Earlier this week, in an interview with the Politico, Dick Cheney basically declared victory in Iraq -- again. In that coded way in which he speaks, Cheney made it sound like it's all over but the clean up.

Yet, the commander on the ground in Iraq, who, as we know is venerated by the Bush administration, threw cold water on Cheney's puffery:

“There’s nobody in uniform who is doing victory dances in the end zone,” Gen Petraeus said at Camp Victory, Baghdad, before meeting Robert Gates, US defence secretary.

Petraeus also sang the praises of Al-Sadr according to the Washington Post. Al Sadr has cloes ties to Cheney's sworn enemy Iran. And, earlier this year, Cheney told Chris Wallace that the U.S. was prepared to go into Sadr City after Al-Sadr:

WALLACE: Let me ask you a specific question about that. If U.S. forces want to go into Sadr City and take on Muqtada al-Sadr, can you pledge to the American people we'll do that regardless of what Maliki says?

CHENEY: I believe we'll be able to do whatever we need to do in order to get a handle on the security situation there, and Prime Minister Maliki will be directly involved in it.

This is just as much his program as it is ours. He's the one, ultimately, who has to perform, in terms of the capabilities of Iraqi forces.

So I think we do have the right understanding. Time will tell. We'll have to wait and see what happens here.

Why is Petraeus openly challenging Cheney? And, what are the ramifications for the General? Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Last week, we saw a major scandal for Rudy Giuliani - the one where he was using taxpayer dollars to conduct an extramarital affair, then hiding the payments in the NYC budget.

This week, we saw the re-emergence of the horrible scandal for Mike Huckabee -- the one where he actively worked to free convicted rapist Wayne Dumond who went on to rape and murder again. All week, Huckabee has been lying about his role.

Neither of those scandals are over for those candidates. Not by a long shot.

On, the Dem. side, no scandal. It is, however, the big Oprah weekend for Obama.

What else? Read More......