And by the way, AMERICAblog will be temporarily moving its global empire (that'd be my laptop computer) to Paris for most of August

You may have noticed that Chris in Paris has been gone for a few days. That's because he and his lovely wife are on vacation for the next 3+ weeks (ah, the French). They needed a cat-sitter for their wonderful two kitties (who bear somewhat of a resemblance to Atrios cat-children), so I volunteered.

I'll continue blogging from their apartment, and writing for RADAR, and trying to scrape up more clients, etc. etc. etc., but as DC is just so dead in August (the town pretty much empties out and politics grinds to a stand still, and it's hotter than hell), it seemed like a great opportunity, so I'm taking it.

I'll still have wi-fi access in Chris' apartment, so nothing much should change from your end, other than you'll probably get more than a few Paris Photo-blogging posts. And, of course, as is my tradition, as soon as I leave all hell will probably break loose either here at home or in the country I'm visiting.

Seriously, I'm like the typhoid Mary of travel disasters. I was in the Aleutian Islands during the Russian coup (which was a real bitch since, at the time, I was a foreign policy adviser to a US Senator and, well, there's not a lot of news in the Aleutian Islands (pretty, though)), I was in Chicago for Christmas when Romania and other governments were overthrown in 1989 or so (and didn't have CNN, so I was briefing the boss from what I read in the Chicago Trib!), went to Indonesia right before the terrorist attacks a few years back, to Cote d'Ivoire right before its coup, to Morocco several years back right before its terrorist attacks, to London ON THE DAY of its recent terrorist attacks, and on and on and on - you get the picture.

The lesson here? If you really hate someone, buy me a ticket to their homeland.

Anyway, I'm very excited. I do love France, and it's not very often you get an opportunity to visit another country for an extended period of time at a pretty low cost (my plane ticket was pretty much the only cost, since I can work from there, have the apartment for free, etc). So I consider myself lucky. I'm also looking forward to seeing Chris' adorable cats Nasdaq and Sushi - who were kind of bitchy at first, but now like me - and rest assured there will be some Friday Cat-blogging in all of your future.

Anyway, I don't leave until Sunday evening, so I'll be posting tomorrow. And if I can get my Vonage phone to work in Paris, that will be way cool (since now I have my cell phone unlocked too!)

A bientot :-)

JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Bush's Uzbek dictator friend evicts US from airbase

Yeah, sucking up to those dictators who oppress their people has been a really great strategy, hasn't it? Read the rest of this post...

Co-founder of lead ex-gay group says it's all bunk

This is a big deal as this man was one of THE men who founded the entire "ex-gay" movement thirty years ago. Read the rest of this post...

Putting photos next to your comments

Apparently here is how you do it. Seems to be the latest big thing. If anyone knows of any better sites for doing this, suggest away. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Just bought a Vonage phone. With the rebate, the phone came to, oh, carry the one, um - NOTHING. It's a $50 or so box with a $50 or so rebate, and the monthly service is $25 when I pay $70 to Verizon.

Kiss Verizon goodbye. Buh bye. And they appear to have the 911 problem solved as well.

Buh bye. Read the rest of this post...

She's crazy

Apropos of the absolute nutjob Republican woman running for the US House seat in Ohio this Tuesday, I put together the following video.

I hope you like it. (850k download)

Read the rest of this post...

MSM Buries Fact Bush Ignored Military Leaders, Endangered Troops

We find out that Bush bluntly ignored the advice of every branch of the military. In the strongest terms, the army, navy, air force and marines all denounced the use of extraordinary force during interrogations (what granola-eating wimps refer to as torture). Yep, every branch of the military argued that the case for torture was legally suspect at best, went against our country's core values and would put our troops in unnecessary danger. And it probably wouldn't do any good anyway.

Bush dismissed their advice with a wave of his hand and did it anyway. Why did Bush ignore his top military leaders? Why did he put our troops in harm's way whenever one of ours gets captured by an enemy? What are his reasons for dismissing the military advice of his top commanders?

But where did the story of Bush's dismissive lack of concern for our troops get buried? On page 21 of the New York Times. Read the rest of this post...

Ohio GOP US House candidate using dead soldier's memorial for her political campaign

Yikes. When asked about Democratic House candidate Paul Hackett's obviously experience with the Iraq question, he served as a US soldier in Iraq, his Republican opponent, Jean Scmidt, responded that she just got back from a memorial for a local soldier who died.

Huh? Well with THAT kind of experience she should be an expert on the war pretty soon since the deaths keep going.

He served in Iraq and she just got back from a memorial for a soldier killed in Iraq. Yeah, sounds like pretty comparable experience to me. Not to mention, I'm not sure I like the idea of some political candidate going to some dead soldier's memorial 3 days before the election - sounds more than a bit crass to me.

Not to mention, craaaaaaazzzzyyyyyy. Check out about three and a half minutes into this interview - she kind of starts to lose her cool in a kooky way. Also, she's one big GOP talking point, no substance whatsoever. With regards to Iraq, she thinks it's all going real well. "The best defense is a good offense," is what she'd tell President Bush about the war. Uh huh.

Oh, check out 6:40 into the video, she loses it again. What a fraking witch. Oh my! Gee, tightly strung much? Then she gets on a roll and just doesn't stop even for air, she gets more and more and more wound up. Oh my God, what a nut! Read the rest of this post...

IRA Turns Back On Terror

This is from a few days ago, but still good news, though the proof is in the pudding. Obviously, Bush's invasion of Iraq is directly responsible for this -- if he hadn't lied to the American people and gotten bogged down in the Middle East, how would the IRA have known to renounce terror...or rather extremism? Bush's invasion will also be credited with bringing the shuttle safely home and with ending the heat wave smothering the east coast these last few days. Read the rest of this post...

Tax Cuts For The Super Rich

USA Today has a very good editorial spelling out why the "death tax," aka a big fat tax break for the already super-wealthy, is absurd at any time, much less when we're fighting massive deficits and the draining cost of war in Iraq. Some highlights:

Just 1% of estates paid any estate tax in 2003, according to the IRS. Three quarters of the money raised from the tax comes from estates of more than $5 million....

Of the more than 18,000 estates paying the tax last year, just 340 consist primarily of a single farm or small business....

The Senate measure, which is still being negotiated, would tax inherited wealth of millions of dollars at a lower rate than what a teacher pays on a $70,000 annual salary. It would also give inherited wealth a more privileged status than money made from hard work or putting capital at risk....

The measure would cost the treasury about $196 billion over the next decade. That would require other taxpayers to make up the difference or add yet more debt to be paid off by future generations.

Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Sup? Read the rest of this post...

26 Dead, 30 Wounded In Latest Iraqi Attack

Yep, things are going great so no wonder Bush is talking about setting deadlines and pulling them out in the spring of 2006 (rright before midterm elections, mind you) as long as things don't get worse. Does Bush really think things COULD get worse? Read the rest of this post...

This Lame Duck Can Still Peck Away

Bush is supposed to be a lame duck...but he's sure accomplishing a lot. First he passed that bankruptcy bill that makes the average American debilitated by illness or the loss of a job that much more likely to be buried under debt.

And this week he scored a string of successes:

Bush passed CAFTA

Bush passed a bill shielding gun manufacturers from lawsuits, a prospect they've been salivating over for years.

Bush passed a transportation bill filled with pork to help the midterm elections

Bush passed an energy bill filled with pork that does little or nothing to help us lower our dependence on foreign oil, lets multinationals pollute the water and will trigger a massive wave of mergers in the utilities, with little understanding of what that means to the average consumer, though you can bet it means higher bills

Bush passed a bill to increase funding for veterans' health care -- Bush's top people at the VA insisted they wouldn't need more money (even though they failed to consider that WAR would cause a flood of injured soldiers) and of course they fell dramatically short, while still denying a problem. Congress stepped in and delivered the money. Bush deserves no credit but will surely tout this as another example of how he cares for the troops.

And renewal of the Patriot Act -- this is as close as Bush came to defeat, since he only got 98% of what he wanted here.

For a lame duck, Bush sure has been quacking a lot. Read the rest of this post...