Back from "Kong"

I liked it a lot.

Granted, it's a bit of a Jurassic Park meets Superman (the original TV show) meets Brokeback Mountain, but it was really good. It's long as hell, 3 hours, but I didn't really notice. The acting was great, the lead actress was really good, no clue who she is, and Kong was amazing. Special effects rock. I didn't appreciate the sequences that reminded me of Jurassic Park - they're very well done, VERY well done, but still, I've seen that movie already, thanks.

Anyway, I thought it was an EXCELLENT film, a keeper. See it.

PS It can be a bit gory and violent and borders on a really scary horror flick at times, just FYI. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

How many times has George Bush violated your 4th Amendment constitutional rights today? Read the rest of this post...

I'm heading out to see Kong

I have a massive headache after an hour of playing with the Powerbook. Jesus, this is worse than my first week at law school. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Starting up the Mac now. Read the rest of this post...

Norah O'Donnell are YOU a Republican?

Enough already.

It's sloppy biased journalists who got us into this debacle in Iraq, who let Bush and Cheney lie to the country repeatedly, without a single challenge. Now they're accusing critics of this entirely botched war on terror of being Democrats - i.e., that's code for being an Osama-loving soft-on-defense knee-jerk fag-loving liberal.

This is MSNBC's O'Donnell interviewing a former CIA agent who is critical of Bush's non-existent hunt for Osama:

O'DONNELL: So, Gary, you say that you knew where Osama bin Laden was and the president says he was in a cave with a door on it.

BERNTSEN: Well, let me say this. We tracked bin Laden with our reporting from Kabul, down to Nangarhar Province, into Jalalbad, down into the mountains. We had a steady stream. But, you know, every once in a while you get a report that says he's off, you know, in left field.

Here at this place or that place, but when you get a line of reporting, a stream of it, and we're marking it on a map, we can see consistently, you know, which way he's moving and from multiple sources. And then, of course, we were listening to his voice on an unencrypted radio.

O'DONNELL: Can I ask you, Gary, are you a Democrat?

BERNTSEN: No, I'm a Republican. And I'm a loyal supporter of the president and I think the president is doing a good job in the fight on terrorism.

What kind of a question is that?

And Norah, next time you interview a mom who's murdered her three young children, be sure to ask her "are you a Republican?" Read the rest of this post...

Is there a good smaller blog you think we should know about?

I did this once before and got a great response, so I'm doing it again.

In the comments, please post a link to a blog that you think we should all know about, and tell us a little about the blog, why you like it, etc.

Obviously, I'm not looking for suggestions to go visit Atrios and DKos, but rather, mention a blog that you think a lot of us might not know about and should. Last time this was a great way to generate some traffic for a lot of lesser-known blogs and at the same time fill us in on what other good stuff is out there.

Thanks, JOHN Read the rest of this post...

New ACLU ads

Ad 1:



Ad 2:



(Hat tip to Bring It On) Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Go ahead. Just say it. Read the rest of this post...

The Lying GOPers

Atrios asks: When will reporters learn that Republicans lie? This time, it's about DeLay again. He didn't win in the Texas court after all. Just that his press guy said he did.

A thought for the MSM: Just because a Republican says it, doesn't make it true. That holds for Bush, Rove, DeLay, their press flacks...all of them. Read the rest of this post...

Bush wants his swagger back

And the Washington Post was obviously spoon fed "background" material on just how that's happening. Funny, how Dan Bartlett is the hero of this saga -- and Karl Rove doesn't come off so well. Makes one wonder who gave the Post such great spin:

President Bush shifted his rhetoric on Iraq in recent weeks after an intense debate among advisers about how to pull out of his political free fall, with senior adviser Karl Rove urging a campaign-style attack on critics while younger aides pushed for more candor about setbacks in the war, according to Republican strategists.

The result was a hybrid of the two approaches as Bush lashed out at war opponents in Congress, then turned to a humbler assessment of events on the ground in Iraq that included admissions about how some of his expectations had been frustrated. The formula helped Bush regain his political footing as record-low poll numbers began to rebound. Now his team is rethinking its approach to his second term in hopes of salvaging it.

The Iraq push culminated the rockiest political year of this presidency, which included the demise of signature domestic priorities, the indictment of the vice president's top aide, the collapse of a Supreme Court nomination, a fumbled response to a natural disaster and a rising death toll in an increasingly unpopular war. It was not until Bush opened a fresh campaign to reassure the public on Iraq that he regained some traction.

This article is also based on the Post believing it's own polling about the President's approval rating. While the Post poll had Bush rising eight points to 47%, it was the outlier. Most of the other polls, which Mystery Pollster has compiled, kept the President in the high 30s/low 40s. But, hey, they're the Post. Read the rest of this post...

SBA study confirms previous AP study regarding 9/11 loans

Many companies receiving the special loans to help businesses that were negatively impacted by 9/11 did not know their loans were related to the special September 11 fund, but why would they since the issue was rarely raised during the loan process? The SBA's Inspector General report says that 85% of the loans handed out failed to document that the recipients were impacted by 9/11. Meanwhile, many NY businesses that had legitimate claims either received considerably less money than expected or nothing at all.

Why bother creating a special loan fund if that is only window dressing and an excuse for handing out cash? Uh huh, the GOP is the party of fiscal conservatives whereas the Democrats are big spenders, handing out cash to everyone who asks. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

I'm heading to bed soon Read the rest of this post...