Open thread

By the way, Blogger is melting down this evening, thus the problems coming to the site. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Orchid Blogging

A bee's-eye view of a cattleya orchid. Not one of mine, I kill catts. This was taken at the US Botanic Gardens a few weeks ago.

Not much more to add. Gorgeous flowers. I kill 'em. End of story.

Enjoy. JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Chris Matthews says gays and liberals may have torched churches in Alabama

Why? Because he can.

Yes, out of thin air Chris Matthews suggested tonight on his TV show Hardball that liberals, and specifically gays, may be responsible for a series of terrible church burnings in Alabama last night? Ah yes, that massive population of liberal gays who live in central Alabama, gotta keep an eye on those well-known troublemakers.

The man really never ceases to amaze. And since MSNBC doesn't think Matthews needs to apologize for his recent "fag joke," it's no surprise that he's now labeling liberals and gays as terrorists (he labeled us all terrorists two weeks ago as well, and we didn't get an apology for that either).

How do you spell MSNBC? F-O-X.

Read the text of what he said here, and check out the left hand column and email and call every single advertiser that is sponsoring this hate: Verizon, Pearle Vision, Office Depot, Bayer Aspirin, Intuit and Toyota. See the video here.

UPDATE: I didn't realize that Matthews also went down this path at the beginning of the Hardball broadcast as well. Here's what he asked the pastor of one of the churches.

MATTHEWS: Tell me about what you think may have, is there any hint as to what's behind this, all these churches getting torched last night?... Is there any issue within the Baptist affiliation, any issues that have caused a lot of anger, any reason why a person would not like the positions taken by your churches?

In court, Chris, we call that leading the witness.

Pathetic.

But even more pathetic are the advertisers who insist on sponsoring this garbage. Stay tuned for next week's actions against these sponsors, that's when things are going to get real creative and fun. Read the rest of this post...

Bush administration now weighing in on cartoon controversy in Europe

Bush has finally found an issue he's an expert on.

The United States backed Muslims on Friday against European newspapers that printed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a move that could help America's battered image in the Islamic world.

Inserting itself into a dispute that has become a lightning rod for anti-European sentiment across the Muslim world, the United States sided with Muslims outraged that the publications put press freedom over respect for religion.

"These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in answer to a question.

Getting beyond the bizarreness of the entire episode, there is a certain consistency here. Apparently Bush doesn't like Muslims in real life or cartoons. Read the rest of this post...

Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 02/03/06

Another week. More preposterousness to report.Well those cagey Republicans decided to go and choose themselves a new leader this week, this time preferably going with one who doesn’t snap to attention whenever Das Deutschlandlied is played and won’t soon be welding license plates with Jim Traficant until lights out. So to clean themselves of the “taint” they have acquired from treating our laws and customs like a 14 year old girl alone with R. Kelly, the GOP went with… Ohio Rep. Jim Boehner, a man whose name looks suspiciously like he has a pistol in his pocket or is very happy to see you.

Rep. Boehner, a man who gets campaign contributions to rip off students for the private student loan industry and used to hand out tobacco checks on the floor of the House to corral votes, benefited from the fact that it takes a DeLayean effort to crack the inner circle of corruption in today’s Legs Diamond version of the GOP. As much of an all around douche as he is, Boehner still just couldn’t quite match up to “acting” Majority Leader and paragon of family values Roy Blunt, who had an affair with a Phillip Morris lobbyist, left his wife of 30 years for said lobbyist, tried to sneak Phillip Morris legislation into a Homeland Security Bill, has a son who lobbies for Phillip Morris and another son who became Governor of Missouri with the help of Phillip Morris.

Let’s face it, this is the guy who could have literally “smoked bin Laden out of his cave.”

Of course the other big news this week is that Judge Alito is now on the Supreme Court. For life. And is worth approximately 11% of any decision regarding whether the Bush Administration can insert a metallic chip in your skull to determine whether you’re even contemplated making an international phone call to someone living in a foreign country like Phoenix or Milwaukee. Although some Democrats did try and mount a filibuster to stop his confirmation, which still has Alito’s wife crying.

Speaking of the Supreme Court, Ann Coulter apparently devised a way to watch television around her Adam’s apple and take a page from The Pelican Brief this past week. Showing that trademark wit that has landed her many a man after dark all the way through a brunch at Denny’s, she publicly mulled over the merits of assassinating Justice Stephens. Our sardonically funny Ann thought it might be humorous if he somehow swallowed rat poison. Now I would recommend that Ann do the same, but we all know that her meals all come surging back up through her system like GOP talking points through Tim Russert’s gargantuan oral cavity, so why waste perfectly good rat poison. That was just a joke for the media by the way.

Finally there was our Supreme Leader’s gifted oration known as the State of the Union. Apparently, we’re not going to Mars anymore. We haven’t polluted this planet quite enough to leave just yet. We are, however, getting off the oil addiction that made Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and pretty much everyone they know rich by not conserving, not changing fuel-efficiency standards and not putting any real money into alternative fuels. We do any of that, and the Saudi Princes said they will no longer hold George’s hand during their skipping breaks on the ranch.

The Bush Administration did achieve one important thing, however. They threw Cindy Sheehan out of the Capitol, illegally, for wearing a T-shirt they didn’t like. It was apparently critical of Bush’s favorite TV show, Survivor: Mosul. He loves that show, where he gets to watch as troops, who only wanted a way to pay for college, go fight a war he lied about — without body armor — while his good friends Ken Lay, Tom DeLay, Tom Noe, David Safavian, Mike Scanlon, Jack Abramoff and Randy “Duke” Cunningham get unlimited tax cuts for defense lawyers and dainty French commodes. Read the rest of this post...

GOP Intelligence Committee Chair: Prez has constitutional right to spy on Americans

Great, then let's just repeal all the laws outlawing domestic spying - since they're per se unconstitutional and void - and let him have at it.

Though I do have to wonder about the original intent of the framers regarding the president's authority to use spy satellites and super computers to eavesdrop on telephones and email. I must have missed those passages of the Constitution in Con Law 1 and 2.

Oh that's right, activist judges are fine so long as they're taking our rights away.

PS Extra bonus at the bottom of the article, read how Cheney is simply horrified at the "enormous damage" the NYT caused American security by reporting on the fact that our government was illegally spying on innocent Americans.

First off, if Osama didn't know we were tapping phone calls, he's an idiot. Not to mention, Bush told us he was only trying to eavesdrop on phone calls known Al Qaeda members were making to Americans - again, something all of us would have assumed they were trying to do. So what exactly is the news here? What exactly did the NYT tell Osama that he didn't already know?

Second, it's funny that Cheney was never very concerned with the enormous damage his chief of staff did to national security by outing a CIA agent whose specialty was weapons of mass destruction. Read the rest of this post...

The million dollar hug...

You'll recall I told you last night about Ciro Rodriguez, running for Congress from Texas. Well it seems his challenger's hug of George Bush during the State of Union has been causing him loads of problems. The problem? The incumbent is a Democrat, but has this nasty penchant for voting Republican and sucking up to our illustrious president, as he did at the State of the Union. The result? A fundraising boon for Ciro. Read more about it here.

Make sure you give Ciro some love. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Afternoon Open Thread

$440 billion builds a lot of schools, feeds a lot of hungry kids, fixes roads, and maybe builds a real U.S. border. Thanks for spending it in Iraq George - great priorities!

Consider this an open thread. Read the rest of this post...

Murray Waas asks if Bush was briefed on Wilson's trip to Niger

Now that we know Scooter Libby's trial date -- January 8, 2007 -- there's been a new round of interest in the media about the CIA leak scandal. Lots of information will flow from Scooter's trial.

Fresh off a National Journal piece that examines Dick Cheney's role in the scandal, Murray Waas has identified very important information involving the role of Bush and what he knew. And, we've learned that if Murray Waas thinks something like this happened, it probably did:

Did President Bush personally receive information during his morning intelligence briefings about Joe Wilson's mission to Niger? Court filings in the CIA leak case appear to indicate that may well might have been the case.

The key passage found in a letter from Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to Scooter's lawyers reads:

In response to our requests, we have received a very discrete amount of material relating to PDBs. We have provided to Mr. Libby and his counsel (or are in the process of providing such documents consistent with the process of a declassification review) copies of any pages in our possession reflecting discussions of Joseph Wilson, Valerie Wilson and/or Wilson's trip to Niger contained in (or written on) copies of the President's Daily Brief (PDB) in the redacted form in which we received them.

This scandal just keeps brewing. And, it looks more and more like the President and Vice President were very involved. This White House -- which trumpets their national security credentials -- undermined national security by outing an undercover operative. One of the main offenders, Karl Rove, is not only still a top adviser to Bush, he still has top security clearance. Rove said he wants to make national security the top political issue in 2006. Fine, then let's make Rove's actions a big part of that political debate. That's what he'd do.

Hat tip to the Federation of American Scientist's Program on Government Secrecy for posting the letters -- and so much of the other written material on this subject. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

So, who do you think will be the first Republican noise machine member to claim that the Curious George ad is all a Hollywood plot against Bush? And will they blame the Jews in Hollwyood or the gays? Talk amongst yourselves. Read the rest of this post...

Honest to God poster for "Curious George" the movie

I kid you not.



Major kudos to Will Bunch for catching this. And check out the Curious George movie home page, not much better.

I WANT THAT T-SHIRT. Anybody got any connections? Size medium :-) (I'd take a copy of that poster too.) Read the rest of this post...

Bush needs another $120 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan

The Bush fiscal agenda -- Keep cutting taxes for the wealthy. Keep cutting programs for the poor, children and students. Keep spending vast amounts of money on wars that were supposed to be over quickly:

The Bush administration said Thursday that it would seek about $120 billion in additional financing to pay for continuing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through 2006.

The request shows that the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has remained at virtually the same level for several years, despite hopes that a large number of the American troops may leave Iraq by the end of the year.

And there is still nothing resembling a victory strategy or exit strategy coming from Bush.

Wonder if he included any money for body armor... Read the rest of this post...

GOP thinks Boehner is their ethics savior

That's what AP is reporting anyway:

Republicans are counting on their new House leader, John Boehner, to help defuse an ethics scandal as the clock ticks toward November congressional elections.

They need to think again. Think Progress gets the ball rolling by taking a close look at Boehner's dealings with the student loan crowd:

Newly-elected House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner’s (R-OH) close relationship with the private student loan company Sallie Mae came “under scrutiny by the news media and some lawmakers” during his race to replace Tom DeLay, and for good reason.

Sallie Mae and other loan companies have generously donated to him. In return, the former chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce “shepherded through Congress student-loan legislation that will affect Sallie Mae’s bottom line and offered assurances that he will protect such lenders’ interests."

That's what we get from the House GOP. More leaders beholden to industries that screw consumers...in this case students. This just demonstrates how corrupt the House GOP caucus is -- they actually believe that Boehner can help them on ethics. Read the rest of this post...

NYPD caught spying on... NYPD

And they're suing. This is gonna be good. Read the rest of this post...

"This administration is all politics and no policy"

Paul Krugman opines brilliantly today on the complete lack of policy from the Bush Administration on issues ranging from Iraq to energy to Katrina to the drug plan. Titled "State of Delusion," this is a very good column...and it sucks that Krugman is blocked by Times Select. But here's the finale:

There's a common theme underlying the botched reconstruction of Iraq, the botched response to Katrina (which Mr. Bush never mentioned), the botched drug program, and the nonexistent energy program.

John DiIulio, the former White House head of faith-based policy, explained it more than three years ago. He told the reporter Ron Suskind how this administration operates: "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. ... I heard many, many staff discussions but not three meaningful, substantive policy discussions. There were no actual policy white papers on domestic issues."

In other words, this administration is all politics and no policy. It knows how to attain power, but has no idea how to govern. That's why the administration was caught unaware when Katrina hit, and why it was totally unprepared for the predictable problems with its drug plan. It's why Mr. Bush announced an energy plan with no substance behind it. And it's why the state of the union — the thing itself, not the speech — is so grim.

Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Start threading the news. Read the rest of this post...