Media Bytes - Little Queenie Edition

By Libby

Song in my head. This was actually sort of my theme song once. I've been a patron of local bands most of my life. I've forgotten the name of the group that I hung out with at college, but they made this my song. Whenever I showed up, they would play it and dedicate it to me. I was 17 then. I liked that.

But of all the many bands that benefited from my largess, Young at Heart remains one of my all time favorites. I wanted to do this movie, but didn't have the resources to pull it off. I'm glad someone finally got around to it.

But moving on and looking to the future, Take the pledge. Let's make 08 Coulter free.

On the other hand, who can get enough of Elizabeth Kucinich? She comes across as so authentic and sweet.

I don't remember if I already posted this. It's so old I forgot what it's about. Voter fraud I think. Uncounted.

And this might be a repeat also, but in case you missed it, it's an amazing collection of old photos. [via]

This digital abstract art is definitely new. I liked the stuff but it's probably not for everybody.

And finally, maybe I'm the last one to know that Dick Cavett has a blog. I always loved that guy. I can remember when he had a late afternoon talk show. I used to watch it after school. Bonus link, the funniest interview with Dick and Eddie Murphy.

Happy New Year. Hoping for a peaceful and prosperous 08 for you all.

Excess Hoggage - Waiting on a Friend Edition

By Libby

Song in my head. Be patient, the music starts before the video.

I've been decidedly unprolific so I don't have much for this edition. This guy was probably looking for a friend when the Ohio cops played a dirty trick on him.

I've been pretty amazed at the reaction to Bloomberg's pretense at becoming a 'unity' candidate. That of course is ridiculous but I've been pondering on how bi-partisan became a dirty word. I think I'm going to have to revisit that theme.

The way I see it, there's nothing wrong with a good bi-partisan project.

I called this the day the NYT died, but really I think they commited suicide with this hire.

I was a little encouraged to see some people predicting Dodd could do better than expected. I hope it's true but I don't think I'm going to hold my breath waiting for it. Too bad though, because I do like him better than the others in many ways.

This is worth a click for the pic. Not every day you see Jesus toting a gun.

And finally, we're having a Whiskey Caucus at Newshoggers. We've made our predictions on the Iowa results. Feel free to leave your picks in comments there or here.

Huckabee comes out

By Capt. Fogg

Mike Huckabee is almost a gift to those of us engaged in cynical bloggery. Face it, we need a respite from the horrors of an ever crazier and more nuclear world, and nattering about the differences between most candidates has gone on so long that many of us no longer care about any perceived differences between them.

It's less so with Mike. The main result of the weight loss he seems to feel has cosmic significance is that he's now limber enough to put one or more feet in his mouth without hardly trying. Even though his stunning conflation of Benazir Bhutto's assassination and Mexican immigration left many of his supporters open-mouthed at his illogic and his pathetic attempt to put every bit of news into that Procrustean bed of illegal immigration, he keeps doing it. If that asteroid hits Mars in late January, I'm sure we'll hear about the need to build an even higher wall along the wild and scenic Rio Grande.

The Huckster's latest attempt to appeal to the unlettered aired yesterday on Meet the Press. Homosexuality, said Mike, is a choice.

"We may have certain tendencies, but [we choose] how we behave and how we carry out our behavior,"

he said to Russert. "Very interesting," Henry Gibson Arte Johnson used to say, "but stupid." Stupid indeed, unless this is Huckabee's attempt to admit the secret homosexual tendencies so common amongst his peers. If one has to choose which gender to be interested in, one might rightly be able to say it's a choice, but most of us never had to think much about it, our natures having been formed in utero at the latest. Most people have heard the "it's a choice" argument disemboweled long enough ago to be embarrassed to hear their candidate endorse it.

I don't know how many more of his supporters will head for the gang plank after this latest revelation of idiocy, but although the press continues to wave flags for him and invent opportunities to use the name Reagan in conjunction with his, he can't have many left. Telling us that he believes we are all sinners, he doesn't seem to realize that by calling homosexuality a sin, his argument cancels itself out, but all kidding aside, Mike Huckabee is an idiot who attempts to make other idiots feel good about their idiocy so they'll vote for him.

Cross posted from Human Voices

RIAA runs amok

By Libby

Back in the dark ages when I was young, musicians used to make vinyl albums. If you only wanted one song, you could buy a 45, which for you young folks who might not remember, was a little vinyl disk that required an insert so you could play it on your Hi-Fi. The first 45 I bought was Roses are Red by Bobby Vinton. The second was the Beatles, I Want to Hold Your Hand but I bought it for the B-side, This Boy.

Eventually, technology evolved to enable you to record from the albums to tape and this was good. Rarely does anyone love every song on an album and this allowed the listener to assemble compilations of their favorite songs. The industry whined about copyrights then too, but they didn't sue anyone since you still had to buy the album to get the songs and besides there was no practical way to track who was trading cassettes with their friends.

Now the latest technology allows the listener to download music without ever visiting a record store and share it much more widely. It also allows the record companies to track who is doing the sharing. I'll admit, I do have a little sympathy for the recording companies. To some extent, file sharing with hundreds or thousands of strangers starts to resemble stealing and the industry should be able to protect its product, but this is definitely a step that goes too far.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

This is such a greedy and stupid move. The industry needs to realize that it can't have complete control over its product once its sold, especially when their product isn't all that great anymore. Just as in every media format, the music industry has consolidated to the point where creativity is stifled and only a handful of artificially assembled groups get promoted. Most of them aren't really that good.

More and more musicians, in response to being shut out or otherwise exploited by the big labels, are taking their work directly to the public via the internet. Many give their work away for free to promote their tours. It's a model consumers have responded to positively. The recording industry could take a lesson here and adapt their own business model because if it continues to try to criminalize its remaining consumer base by threatening them with draconian rules of use, that base is likely to disappear altogether.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Honor roll

By Libby

I'm still recovering from human contact overload today. In the last three years I've spent the bulk of my time alone in front of a computer. It was a big adjustment at first. I went from interacting with dozens of people every day to virtual solitude, pretty much overnight. But you get used to it, so spending two and half days in a total gabfest with my sis and the family kind of wore me out. The non-stop conversation was fun, but a little overwhelming.

Anyway, I'm settling back into my little quiet routine and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Newshoggers was honored with a Monkeyfister award and we're in the company of some esteemed bloggers on that list. How clever of me to have associated with such fine blogging partners that I can ride their coattails to acclaim.

Equally thrilling, or perhaps a little more so, since I was singled out on my own for this honor, Jon Swift included me in his 2007 roundup of best blog posts. I was expecting this one, since he asked us to pick our own but nonetheless it's gratifying to see my name up there with such a stellar collection of really great bloggers, including of course, Jon Swift himself who happens to be the best satirist in the business.

I can imagine how long it took to put that one together. Recalling the one time I hosted a Carnival of the Vanities, I can tell you this was truly a Herculean effort. Thanks so much for putting this post together and including my humble little blog Jon.

Who shot Benazir?

By Capt. Fogg

The short video clip of Benazir Bhutto's last moments shown over and over again on CNN last night does not reveal the exact cause of her death, but two observations are unavoidable: someone was firing a semi-automatic pistol at her from less than 5 feet away and the security personnel, presumably her own bodyguards, riding on the back of the vehicle, took no action other than to duck.

There are reports that police abandoned their posts shortly before the shots and the explosion and although the official story is that she had no bullet wounds, a top aide to Bhutto who helped prepare her body for burial says she clearly showed bullet wounds to the head. Could the shooter have missed three times at point blank range?

Of course the official explanation evokes the al Qaeda bogeyman, but that's just what Musharraf, eager to keep those billions flowing in and himself in power would say if he were somehow complicit. Can this, as a reader commented on Human Voices yesterday, be a false flag operation?

"We in effect helped -- helped -- precipitate this dynamic that led to her tragic assassination,"

said John Bolton, former ambassador to the UN on Fox News Thursday. I find myself in agreement. Having urged Bhutto to return to Pakistan and seek power, may have been another bloody consequence to the Neocon doctrine of creating democracy by toppling dictators. I don't know what will arise out of the current chaos, but history suggests many unsavory possibilities other than a quick return to calm and a restoration of democracy.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Home for the holidays

Splashing through Peggy Noonan's mudpuddle is as deep into the news as I'm going to get tonight. Molly the over grown puppy is much more fun to think about.

I'm blessed with a wonderful family. It was a great trip. It felt like this. It's good to spend time with those you love and who love you back unequivocally.

Two plus two equals a 17 foot wall

By Capt. Fogg

“We ought to have an immediate, very clear monitoring of our borders and particularly to make sure if there’s any unusual activity of Pakistanis coming into the country.”

Said Mike Huckabee here in Florida last night. He repeated the theme today in Iowa:

“When I say single them out I am making the observation that we have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities except those immediately south of the border,”

The fact that this isn't close to being true is less amazing than the sheer irrationality of his non-sequiturs.

“The fact is that the immigration issue is not so much about people coming to pick lettuce or make beds, it’s about someone coming with a shoulder-fired missile,”

Sure, it is, only it hasn't happened nor has it been made more likely by an assassination in Pakistan any more than the assassination of President Kennedy made it more likely for Texans to sneak into Mexico carrying rockets. The fact that the Huckster thinks Afghanistan is east of Pakistan and confuses migrant fruit pickers with Islamic extremists from Waziristan, is only a small part of the evidence that the man has no idea what he is talking about but has a strong feeling that vague mumblings in an ominous tone will allow him to latch on to the Xenophobic and Nativist gravy train. That's just what we need to represent the United States' interests in the world; a dishonest idiot who thinks Jesus wants him in power and will do the thinking for him. Come to think of it, that's what we have been saddled with for these last seven years of bad luck, and that's what we customarily vote for.


Cross posted from Human Voices

Fred's funds run out

By Libby

The Politico is reporting that the Thompson campaign has run out of money and won't be airing any TV ads in Iowa. Fred will now be forced to rely on his personality and his bus tour to win over the Iowa voters. Considering the previous reviews of Fred's on the road performance, one might think this is not going to be a winning strategy.

Hard to believe that only a few short months ago Fred was being touted as the savior of the party. It would appear his campaign was simply never able to overcome the loss of momentum caused by his long tease on testing the waters in the beginning and his on the stump style just didn't ignite the necessary enthusiasm needed to fire up his supporters.

But he does have a few left. There's a fundraising blogburst going on even as you read this. Unfortunately for them, I think, like the campaign itself, it will be to little, too late.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

A little light magic

By Libby

I'm visiting my sister for a couple of days and I just can't deal with politics at the moment. The world appears to have gone crazy while I was sleeping. I'd rather tell you about this most amazing light show my sis took me to last night, at Tanglewood Park.

The first Festival of Lights in 1992 was a 1.5 mile route with only twenty five displays. Today the route has grown to just under 4 miles with one hundred eighty displays, of which seventy are animated.

The show is so large they have to start erecting the displays in August to get them ready for the annual November opening. It was so long and the animated displays were so psychedelic, I swear I felt like I was a having an acid flashback. I couldn't find any video but the Tanglewood site a slide show of most of the displays. [scroll down at link]

My personal favorites were the tunnel of falling snowflakes, the fire breathing dragon in the lake, the elves shooting off the fireworks and the golfer that drives a golf ball that looks like it's going to hit your car. The stills really don't do them justice though. I'd recommend anyone who lives nearby to actually take the drive through to get the full effect. It was well worth the nine bucks per car and the money goes to charity. [graphic via]

Alas Bhutto

By Capt. Fogg

I wonder if Pakistanis are saying "God, I love freedom" today. I wonder when the idiot in chief will realize that elections in a country without stability or where stability exists only in the iron grip of a dictator, don't by themselves make a democracy.

I have no idea what the future holds for Pakistan and I have little idea what the growing chaos will mean for the US, that country's biggest supporter. I have no idea whether the most radical elements in the tribal areas will gain an advantage, or whether that country will long remain an ally, but I suspect that the upcoming elections are not landmarks on the long and tortuous path to modernity for Pakistan.

The only thing I am sure of is that our administration has no idea about how to promote liberal democracy here or abroad nor how to create the security and stability that such a condition needs in order to thrive. I'm convinced that no country so saturated with religious passion can be the host for freedom or achieve the reasonableness freedom requires.

I mourn not only Benazir Bhutto this morning, but for liberty and for peace.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Go forth and read

By Libby

A few quick links to what I'm reading while I'm waiting for my ride.

New Hampshire has apparently figured out that Romney is a phony. Big deal. I've known that for many years now.

It's still hard for me to believe the 'conservatives' hate Huckabee so much. He's the epitome of their base. If I was a fundie, I'd be rather offended that they're working so hard to discredit him based on his religious creds. The GOP may well find they lose the evangelists if they win the war against Huck.

Juan Cole busts the top ten myths about Iraq. It's so obvious that the surge didn't accomplish a single one of its stated goals. How the hell does the White House succeed in painting a little less failure as a step forward? It's a sideways movement at best.

I'm not supporting Hillary but I found this whole fixation on the ugly photo that Drudge initally posted really unfair. You expect it from Sludge but does the WaPo really have to invent an excuse to run it again? I mean if the press is going to fixate on this stupid minutia, then the piece should have run unflattering photos of every candidate. Let's face it, nobody takes a perfect photo every blessed time.

Krugman says we progressives are fighting the wrong battle. He suggests we focus on GOP ideology instead of Bush. I don't really see why we can't do both.

The Christmas continuum

By Libby

I'm soon off to see my sister for a couple of days. She's due to arrive to pick me up any minute now. She assures me that they have wifi though, so I'm taking the laptop and expect to be posting later today.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Meanwhile if you're jonesing for politics, go over to Newshoggers, The Reaction, or my Detroit News blog. I've got some posts up there and my stellar co-bloggers are posting up a storm today. Links at the top of the sidebar.

Blackwater Christmas - not just a dream

By Capt. Fogg

I don't know what the spectators at the Armed Forces Bowl this New Years Eve will think when they see Blackwater mercenaries parachuting into the stadium as they did December 1st during halftime at the Sand Diego State/BYU game. Indeed, what will the Air Force team think when they see that those aren't our guys in the black uniforms? Are they staging an armed takeover or just displaying the awesome power of a private military?

I'm sorry to contradict Reagan the Great, but when someone shows up to help, I prefer that it would be someone from the legitimate government rather than armed representatives from a country without borders, or laws or accountability. I don't think it will be long, for instance, before the Bushists privatize the "War on Drugs" by giving license to companies like Blackwater to do all the things we won't allow the government to do ( like start a war in Columbia or Mexico or pour water up your nose or worse) and make no mistake, Blackwater has the vehicles, the helicopters, the ships and the intelligence division to allow them to accomplish most any mission, foreign or domestic, our next rogue president might consider to be too touchy to approach in a legal fashion.


If the next rogue president should be Mitt Romney, we can be assured that Blackwater head, Cofer Black, his chief adviser on counterterrorism, will have a lot to say about military affairs and military conduct and indeed he already has had. Romney's decision not to comment on torture was made with the advice of Black. Of course I'm sure Cofer Black's private army will be happy to accept more and better no-bid contracts from whichever idiot the American people choose to make things worse.

As Jeremy Scahill writes in The Nation,

"the Government is in the midst of the most radical privatization in history, and companies like Blackwater are becoming ever more deeply embedded in the war apparatus. Until this system is brought down, the world's the limit for Blackwater Worldwide. . ."

And what are the chances that this profitable enterprise will be brought down now that they have moved beyond the borders of brutal occupation and commercial espionage into retail sales of everything from 9mm pistols to baby clothes? Is the future a kind and degree of fascism unimaginable even in the Europe of the 1930's and 40's? Why not? With the country rallying behind thugs and idiots in blue pinstripes, what chance does freedom have?

Cross posted from Human Voices

Christmas in Blogtopia

By Libby

I have to run off to do the family thing so I'll leave you with some links to some holiday cheer, some more cheery than others.

Cernig muses on Christmas from the pagan POV.

Mike Bogle finds his inner elf.

Kevin Hayden lines up the Christmas music to follow his extensive humorous riff on the meaning of Christmas.

Over the Brilliant place, jurassic discovers what happens when Santa is outsourced.

ExPat Brian doesn't really want to think about it, but does anyway.

My pal GTL has the ultimate Christmas You Tube.

Go to the Heretik for the photoshop and the message

PoP at Morning Martini has a double.

Nolo wishes for the same thing every year but he never gets it.

Carl is thinking of the Graces

Skippy has a gorgeous Christmas letter from Jesus.

Xsociate rounds up the links I missed.

Steve finds a video you won't see anywhere else.

Vleeptron ponders the Christmas star.

Hart has an amusing original Christmas story.

Just go see Kathy for the cutest Christmas pix.

Michael Linn Jones has the most gorgeous true Christmas story.

Callimachus posts a whole set of fun photos. I love family albums.

Oh, and don't give up yet on that present from Larry Flynt. I think it will be worth waiting for.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

For those of you like me, who didn't get snow for Christmas, here's a little bit of the white stuff to make your holiday bright thanks to my dear friend, John W. Farrell. And I have a charming Christmas story about the kindness of strangers.

I ordered a gift on-line from a company I had never dealt with before that was supposed to come yesterday by priority mail. I had gone down to meet the mailman to spare him the walk up the stairs but the package didn't arrive as promised. I was bummed. That was my most important gift and I needed it for today. But what can you do?

Last night at about 7:30 I was startled by a knock on the door. I don't customarily get unexpected visitors. It was the mailman. He said he had noticed when he finished his run that the package was at the PO. He made a special trip back here on his own time to give it to me. Now that is the true spirit of Christmas and the best present I've received in a long time. It restored my faith in the goodness of my fellow man.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Media Bytes - Christmas edition

By Libby

Song in my head.


This is my favorite Christmas song. I've loved it all my life but every time I hear it now, it reminds me of my dear departed friend and former employer Ronnie Sarazin. Ron owned the BayState Hotel where I bartended. He was grouchy, irrascible old SOB but he had a hidden sentimental side a mile wide. He always made sure that the jukebox guy had this song in the rotation with the rest of the Christmas music and on Christmas Eve he would pump in ten bucks and play it over and over. I guess he loved it too. I loved him for that. May he rest in peace.

This was amusing. Twas the Night Before Spitmas and O'Reilly was there, spreading his bile without a care.

Some of these made me laugh out loud. A charming year end review of silly newsbreaks from the New Yorker.

I may have posted this many months ago, but David D just found it and posted it to the listserv. I still like it. Geometric arts.


And this was especially moving. A new website pushing back against the propaganda and trying to prevent the bombing of Iran. Photo Activists for Peace. Check out the galleries, they're gorgeous and speak volumes about what Iran is really like. It looks a whole lot more peaceful and happy than Iraq. Heck it looks more peaceful than America. I'll tell you that. And if you like the photos, read Williams Wedin's article about the project. It's an eyeopener.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and a joyous celebration of life to those who mark this time in other ways. Peace be with you all.

All I want for Christmas is a real liberal media

By Libby

It wouldn't be nearly as irritating to listen to the wingnuts whine about the liberal media, if we actually had one. And it's not even just the fringers. Otherwise intelligent people somehow hold on to a belief in this mythical entity as a child clings to Santa. It's beyond me to understand how any thinking adult couldn't grasp the facts and draw the obvious conclusion.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will sell eight U.S. television stations to private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for about $1.1 billion.

This being the same Rupert Murdoch who owns several rightwing rags in every major metro area of the entire planet. But what is Oak Hill?

Oak Hill Capital Partners traces its roots to Robert M. Bass, one of the four brothers who founded Bass Brothers Enterprises in Fort Worth, Texas.

And just who is this Texas tycoon?

Robert Muse Bass is a Texas billionaire worth approximately $5.46 billion as of 2006.

Bass was born into an extremely wealthy family with an uncle, Sid Richardson, worth $810 million. He and his three brothers Lee, Ed, and Sid Bass all attended Yale University, where they solidified their moneyed and political connections. Ed Bass was a classmate and personal friend of George W. Bush, and the brothers, especially Lee Bass, helped Bush financially both before and throughout his political career. Working together with his brothers as Bass Brothers Enterprises and independently, Robert Bass made many lucrative investments through his own firm, the Robert M. Bass Group, later Keystone Inc. Most recently, in 2004 he started Aerion Corp to develop supersonic corporate jets, which is the beneficiary of lucrative Federal DARPA contracts.

The guys who own the media are hard core Republicans who support the White House agenda. Does anyone truly think they're interested in advancing liberal causes?

There's a reason the people know more about Paris Hilton's crotch than they do about what the White House is doing and these guys are it.

Bush plans diplomatic disaster tour

By Libby

This has got to be the most idiotic idea ever to emanate from the White House. I suspect Bush may have thought it up himself.

President George W. Bush's diplomatic passport will acquire a slew of new country stamps during his final year in office as he tries to rebuild the U.S.'s international standing and create a foreign-policy legacy beyond Iraq.

The president plans trips to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America, which would make 2008 his busiest year abroad. While his major domestic initiatives may get stalled by a Democratic majority in Congress and the gridlock caused by election-year politics, he still has an opportunity to exert his influence overseas.

``When it comes to foreign policy, he's not a lame duck; he can do a lot,'' said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, who served as director of policy planning at the State Department until June 2003.

Forget about lame duck. The man is just a plain lamebrain. I can't think of anything worse than our preznit-wit plying his dis-plomacy from one end of the globe to the other. In seven years he hasn't managed to make it through a single state visit without commiting a major social gaffe. Face it, he's a arrogant bastard and nobody likes him. They only entertain him because they have to. I can't think of a better way for him ruin our international relations and leave the White House as an worldwide laughingstock.

Of course, on the bright side, everyone knows he's theorectically going to leave office in a year. After eight years of dealing with our hapless Blunderer-in-Chief, any new president is going to be seen as an improvement.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Harry Reid honors another Republican hold

By Libby

This story seems to have slipped through the cracks. Last April the House cleared a bill that would restore President Reagan's former executive order requiring most presidential records to be released 12 years after a president left office. The companion bill has been languishing ever since in the Senate, due to a hold by a Republican Senator. It looked the Senate would finally address the issue last week but it snagged again when it hit the floor.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., recently lifted his hold on legislation that would overturn President Bush’s 2001 executive order giving presidents and former presidents the authority to indefinitely halt the release of their White House records.

But just as supporters sought a floor vote, the bill was derailed for a second time by another senator placing a hold, Democratic senate aides said.

Only this time, no one is sure who has invoked the parlimentary maneuver to stall the bill.

Laughably, Joe Lieberman has vowed to smoke the secret Senator out. Why should he have to?

One can't fail to remember Harry Reid had no trouble ignoring Dodd's hold on the FISA bill. Reid has already broken the tradition of honor on these holds, so I see no reason that he couldn't have brought the bill forward anyway. Surely, Mr. Reid believes the American people have a ownership interest in the records and as taxpayers should be able to access them within a reasonable interval of time.

The sad song of Narinder Singh

By Capt. Fogg

Of course it isn't only Icelanders that are treated like subhumans by the United States, the stories of offenses against decency in this cowardly and subjugated country are endless. Thanks again to Crankyboy for pointing out the Village Voice article about Narinder Singh, whose life was ruined by ICE because they suspected that his marriage lacked passion.

Singh was held without charges for five and a half years during which he suffered in solitary, was deprived of everything basic to life but food and water and was beaten and shuttled around from one jail to another like lost luggage. Dare I even mention due process?

Returning from his mother's funeral in India shortly after 9/11/01 he fell into the hands of immigration officials who seem to have the right to do do anything to anybody without accountability, oversight or explanation. Singh never got one. Some uniformed functionary decided to find out whether the marriage was arranged in order for him to get a green card. When he was released without explanation, his wife had had to sell everything, he had lost his drivers license, his business and everything else but his wife.

We all lost something too: the right to be differentiated from other paranoid tyrannies.

Cross posted from Human voices

Culture Shock

By Libby

So, I'm looking for something Christmasy to watch on TV and I'm watching the listings station, where they always have some neverending industry gossip show going on. They were running down the top ten transexual characters in a TV series...

They have trannys on television shows now? I had no idea.

Free market thinkers, thinking again

By Libby

Krugman

Of course, now that it has all gone bad, people with ties to the financial industry are rethinking their belief in the perfection of free markets. Mr. Greenspan has come out in favor of, yes, a government bailout. “Cash is available,” he says — meaning taxpayer money — “and we should use that in larger amounts, as is necessary, to solve the problems of the stress of this.”

Given the role of conservative ideology in the mortgage disaster, it’s puzzling that Democrats haven’t been more aggressive about making the disaster an issue for the 2008 election. They should be: It’s hard to imagine a more graphic demonstration of what’s wrong with their opponents’ economic beliefs.

Good advice. Too bad the Dems are unlikely to take it. [via]

Media Bytes - Stealing Liberally Edition

By Libby

All my best links come from Avedon.

The FCC sellout on media consolidation. Watch it and weep.

I also really miss Bill Hicks.

Out damn spot, our very own Lady MacBeth of the Beltway.

And something to amuse for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Hours of interviews with cultural icons, living and dead.

The Queen joins the always-on generation

By Libby

Who says you can't teach an old royal new tricks? Urged on by her tech savvy progeny, The Queen of England now has her own YouTube channel. She just posted a video of her first televised Christmas message to the masses, wherein she expressed wonder at the new technology of the day that allowed her to appear on a box in her subjects' living rooms.

I don't know much about the royal family and have no idea why they feel the need to reach out to the people in this particular manner. A YouTube account hardly seems to fit the image of the very formal, upper crust of British society, but I love that she's willing to embrace the latest technology in order to mash it up with the masses. Makes her seem more accessible. I suppose that's the point.

Now if she also starts blogging, I'll be really impressed.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Christmas spirits

By Libby

Office Christmas parties aren't quite what they used to be in the US, but in the UK they take the tradition seriously. So seriously that the local hospitals send out special mobile units to pick the drunks up off the sidewalks. There's been some rumblings among the nannies about toning down the festivities for fear of lawsuits but the Brits aren't having any of it. This has to be the ultimate quote on the subject.

"Projectile vomiting is our birthright." ~commentator on "Comment is free"

This may have been the genesis of the old carol, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

Happy Solstice

It's the longest night of the year. The pagans will be lighting their fires to hold back the dark. Tomorrow the sun starts winning again.

It's my favorite holiday of all in this season of celebrations.

Excess Hoggage - Five to One Edition

By Libby

Song in my head. Well, my two hour shopping excursion, turned into a six hour ordeal so I pretty much fell into bed when I got home.

So I'm blogging at Newshoggers this morning where I give you the gory details and ponder what this shopping season says about the state of the economy.

Otherwise I have a mixed bag. I discovered an easy path to reconciliation in Iraq.

The CCC brings new meaning to the phrase Onward Christian Soldiers.

My friends show up in the strangest places.

I have another brilliant idea to solve our governmental breakdown. It's simple really. Eliminate earmarks.

I wish I had found this video when the Beauchamp mob was beating up on that poor soldier. It may not have helped his case, but it surely pointed out that bad stuff happens in war zones.

Another GOP rat jumps from the sinking ship.

The Dems are trying to shelve Byrd. I'd agree it's time to do so and they should get rid of Reid while they're at it.

When we're looking at what's wrong with our health care system, don't blame the doctors. It's really not their fault. They're as much a victim of the insurance companies as any of us are.

And finally, I was pretty outraged that an Italian court would force a child to change his name. I was surprised to find out in the comment section, that this is not uncommon in other countries. Who knew?

Media Bytes - Silver Bells Edition

By Libby

Song in my head. I'm not going to be able to focus until I finish the last bit of Christmas shopping so I'm off for a couple of hours and here's some bytes I've been collecting to amuse you while I'm out.

The latest evidence that Republicans, really just can't sing. The 12 days of Christmas.

Best Christmas trailer mashup. It's a Blunderful Life.

I'd rather get coal in my stocking, than find Blackwater under my trees.

I'm all for decorations, but I think Windshields for Huckabee is probably illegal.

I think this interview with Kos probably helped derail the FISA bill that cheered up our Christmas spirits.

Defy Scrooge and take the web back.

I just liked this a lot. I could be good for you.

Holiday light show set to the music of TransSiberian, an amazingly undernoticed group.

If I had a quarter for every time I walked down Pleasant Street when it looked like this, I'd be rich. Three years ago those would have been my footprints.

Peace quote of the day. Our president thinks he's Jesus.

Not Christmasy, but would make a good Christmas present.

They say this video was made in 1955. I'm not sure about that but it's a nice version of White Christmas by the Drifters.

[hat tips to Anita Brown, Avedon, Lester and Irma]

War profiteers

By Libby

I'm having a hard time getting going today. I didn't sleep well. I had a really weird dream about being on a tour bus on some island with Atrios that kept waking me up every time he hollered at me. Then when I fell back to sleep, the dream would start over again. Weird. Meanwhile, I've been reading for hours this morning but nothing is particularly inspiring me. So while I gather my wits, I'm going to send to Cernig who had a couple of posts yesterday that shouldn't be missed.

He flags a BBC special report that asks "are defense contracts an invitation to abuse?" As he succinctly answers, "Yes. Short answer to a dumb question."
With appropriations for defense contracts amounting close to $800 billion, one can assume fraud and political payola are a given. More disturbing though, is the list of political contributions that the defense industry has made in this season. Of the top 20 recipients, the top four are Democrats and the Dems hold half the list altogether. As Cernig aptly notes, why would anyone think we can trust politicians on either side to clean up the corruption they benefit so greatly from, much less stop perpetrating wars?

On a different note Cernig notes the emerging meme on the fringenut side of the fence that we are 'winning' in Iraq at long last and they're thumping their chests about being right all along that invading Iraq was the best idea ever. For myself, I've been willing to let them claim victory in the hope that it would mean we could all agree to get the hell out of Baghdad, but that doesn't really seem to be the end game they're shooting for. I'm not sure they even know what they want, except never to have to admit they were wrong -- about anything.

And they were surely wrong. Cernig runs down the list of what they said and what really happened. It's a long one but the only reasonable conclusion is they can crow all they want, but the mess in Mesopotamia is not now, and never will be, a victory for anything or anyone except the defense industry that made a fortune from it and our clueless president who apparently will get away with eight years of completely criminal conduct under its cover.

Invasion of the Viking Women

By Capt. Fogg

A couple of readers* urged me to blog about this story yesterday, but it's one of those things that is so depressing, so horrifying and so disgusting to someone who once loved the United States that it's really hard to do anything but let you read about it yourself and weep. It seems like we're not only to suspect anyone sounding vaguely Islamic of harboring dreams of invading and conquering or subverting the US, but our new Immigration and Customs Enforcement people are worried about an invasion of Viking Women.

I've talked to Europeans who used to maintain vacation homes in the US and have sold them because of the outrageous harassment they get every time they enter the country, including fingerprinting and examination of financial records. I read recently the story of two English entrepreneurs who wanted to bring some capital and open a business here and essentially were thrown out by ICE with no reason given and I've read about people who because of visa irregularities have been held incommunicado and without charges for years without knowing why.

No, I'm not talking about "enemy combatants" I'm talking about tourists like Eva Ósk Arnardóttir, an Icelandic woman who overstayed her visa in 1995 and went home three weeks late. She's been back without any problems, but this time she's discovered the new America, the America of secret prisons, of jack-booted officers and dungeons where ordinary and harmless people are chained and shackled and interrogated and terrorized and poked and probed and intimidated and held without charges or benefit of legal help.

*My thanks to Crankyboy and Swampcracker

Psst... did you hear the one about Krugman?

By Libby

I know posting has been erratic. I've been totally tied up with family and Christmas stuff for the last couple of days and until the solstice, I'm just a mess in the evenings. I get the SAD thing every year when the light fails and I generally pretty much do nothing but sleep during this week of the year. But only one more day to go and the sun will be winning again. That always sparks me up.

Meanwhile, I'm off to see the family again for the afternoon, so I'll leave you with this amusing item. It appears there's a rumor going around that Paul Krugman's son is secretly working for Hillary Clinton's campaign. That may have presented a bit of problem for Mr. Krugman's credibility except for one small item. He doesn't have any children and his cats both assure him that they remain unemployed, preferring to laze around the house.

The really funny part is the rumor will probably stay alive as long as the internets exist. That's the trouble with the self-correcting aspect of the intertubes. It only works if people see the corrections. They often don't.

Time to remember - Part One

By Libby

I was digging through my archives last night for reasons unrelated to this post, but it's always interesting to see what you might have forgotten in the intervening months. I'm was especially entertained by my predictions. On January 9th, I wrote:

Here's my first prediction for 2008. It will be the first election that turns on the internets. If this post at HuffPo by Ted Kennedy is any indication, the politicians are finally catching up to the technology. I thought it was really significant that he embedded his YouTube and asked readers to pass it along.

That was right on I think but I also predicted that Obama was getting into the race too soon and that Webb and Tester would emerge as consensus candidates by now. I guess I don't have a future as a seer.

On a different note, in light of the current imbroglio over FISA and eavesdropping, I was surprised that I had forgotten we discovered back in January, Bush had decided it was okay for DHS to open your snail mail without a warrant. I suppose they're still doing that.

Burning down the House

By Libby

As my friend Jules Siegel dryly notes, "When shredders can't keep up,turn to fire.

The blaze appeared to be located in Vice President Dick Cheney's suite of ceremonial offices on the second floor of the building. Cheney and President Bush were across the street in the West Wing of the White House when the blaze broke out. It appeared to be under control within an hour.

Thankfully no one was hurt but what do you want to bet that this is one day that Dick left the door to his 'ceremonial' vault of secret documents, open?

Update: The latest report confirms the fire was in Cheney's 'ceremonial' office.

If Fred knew then what he knows now...

By Libby

Freddy Kagan in Dec 05.

The American military, however, is infinitely better trained, equipped, and motivated today than it was at any point in the Vietnam War. The advantages of a volunteer over a conscript army in such wars are incalculable. The technology of the current American military, although not developed for counterinsurgency struggles, has proven to be almost as valuable in such fights as it was in conventional war. And the American soldiers of today are so much more experienced in many of the sorts of tasks they face than were the conscripts of 1965 that there is no comparison between the two.

The technological improvement of the U.S. military between 1975 and 2005 has also revolutionized counterinsurgency warfare almost as much as it did conventional war. Precision-guided munitions now allow the use of U.S. airpower in support of discrete tactical operations without generating excessive collateral damage. The near-invulnerability of the military’s armored vehicles has also proven invaluable: Repeatedly during the battles of Fallujah and elsewhere, the arrival of American tanks or Bradleys meant that the insurgents’ day was done. Perhaps the most remarkable difference, however, comes from a seemingly trivial piece of equipment: Night-vision goggles and infrared sensors mean that coalition forces, not the insurgents, now own the night. The vc and the nva used to terrorize American infantry when darkness fell. Today it is the other way around, and the insurgents hardly try to operate at night at all. All of these technological developments, and many more, have helped contribute to the rapid collapse of meaningful guerrilla activity in Iraq and make it unlikely that such activity will develop again as long as American forces remain there in significant numbers.

Freddy Kagan today.

"What's astounding is how long we spent not applying traditional counterinsurgency principles to fighting what obviously was an insurgency," says Fred Kagan, a military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute and former West Point instructor. "It's not that we've solved the IED problem, per se. It's that we've begun to have success in defeating the insurgents."

Gee whiz Fred. You think that could be because 'experts' like yourself took so long to admit the insurgents were winning?

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Another loss for the home team

By Capt. Fogg

Even though their last attempt in 2003 was shot down by a Federal Appeals Court, the GOP controlled FCC under Kevin Martin has decided, despite public and congressional disapproval that we need less diversity in the media and as of yesterday has made it far easier for the handful of heavily Republican near monopolies that own most of the newspapers, TV and radio stations in the US to move toward unobstructed media consolidation in all markets. In the cases where such cross ownership isn't allowed by the rules, waivers will be granted and if there is no preference for "conservative" viewpoints, I will be amazed.

There's still hope that a wrench can be thrown into the machine once more and another handover of public property to the corporate barons prevented, but we have to let our senators know and we have to do it now. 25 of them have already pledged to overturn this outrageous ruling but we need more - unless of course you really want a country where all you can read and hear is Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and lyin' Bill O'Reilly.

Cross posted from Human Voices

A whole lot less of Jesus and a lot more constitutional law

By Capt. Fogg

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
-Sinclair Lewis-

Sinclair Lewis and Ron Paul. I've quoted both of them frequently and it seems that Doctor Paul has read the Nobel Prize winning author too. Asked for his opinion of Mike Huckabee's faith dripping Christmas ad where he poses with a cross and talks about the birth of Christ, he gave Fox News the above quote.

I admit, I usually find other people's faith to be as unpleasant to view as their dirty underwear but since I don't consider Jesus of Nazareth to be the divinely anointed king of anyplace, I don't call him Christ and am not about to have some overweight Gomer Pyle tell me to. As Christmas, the birthday of Deus Sol Invictus , is an entirely pagan holiday established by a Roman emperor who considered himself to be God and was until recently eschewed by many Christian sects, perhaps the few American Christians with a rudimentary sense of history might agree that this cheap, tawdry and condescending assertion of faith doesn't indicate a president who represents all of us but rather a power hungry preacher seeking a captive congregation of 300 million people.

I have to agree with Ron Paul that the constant harping on Christian identity and Christian power and Christian celebration by someone who should be talking about restoring the rule of law; should be addressing the growing economic problems caused by the Bush administration, the diminishing role of the US in world affairs, the quagmire in Iraq, the disaster in Afghanistan, the shrinking of the middle class and a host of other things including religious divisiveness reminds me of the kind of Godblathering, flag waving rhetoric that has paved the road to power of so many despots. I have said it over and over and Thom Jefferson said it over and over and I will say it again; any government based on religion is not a democratic government but a form of tyranny to which I will not submit.

By Dodd, we did it

By Libby

When I got home last evening and saw what had happened on the floor with the FISA bill I so furious and disgusted, I couldn't even blog about it. I was sure that Reid was going to get away with railroading telecom immunity, a/k/a the White House Criminality Coverup Act, through. Just before I went to bed, I got the email from Dodd that announced the Christmas miracle. Thanks to an outpouring of outrage from you, my fellow citizens, Reid was forced to pull the bill.

I've already done longer posts with pertinent links at Newshoggers and The Detroit News, so I won't repeat that here. All I'll add is my own thanks to everyone who believed that their one letter or phone call could make a difference. It did. Citizen participation turned the tide.

This my friends, is what democracy looks like.

Bye - bye bulbs

By Capt Fogg

A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.

-Daniel Webster-

The last big fuel economy legislation package was enacted 32 years ago. Per Capita energy usage has increased dramatically since then. For one thing, it generated an abiding lust for ever more ridiculously large and heavy vehicles that even $3.50 a gallon gas prices haven't diminished and it did nothing to reduce the longer commutes and increased ferrying of all the little Codys and Madisons to their various activities and lessons.

Technology has indeed improved. Engines are more efficient and more reliable but it's been more than offset by every mother's need to drive an Army truck, by the death of public transportation in many places and by the further decentralization of the population. Dare we hope for a more practical approach in the new energy legislation that the House of Representatives is likely to pass today?

Seems like we can say good bye to incandescent light, our warm and friendly 19th century friend, and hello to harsh, flickering, mercury laden florescent bulbs or to the eerie and expensive aura of light emitting diode arrays. Phillips and GE, who played a large part in drafting the phase out of incandescents will get to sell you things that cost ten times or twenty times more.

I will miss light dimmers. They don't work with florescent light and I will have to find some other way to keep my bedroom and living room and dining room from looking like a hospital. Perhaps it will reduce my electric bill by two or three percent, but I doubt it. Most of the energy usage in my house is from water heating, pool heating, air conditioning and food refrigeration and the electric company is surely not going to freeze rates in response to decreasing demand.

Overall, the legislation is designed to reduce total consumption by 8% by 2030. That's not a lot and the benefit is questionable when one considers the environmental effects of brewing so much alcohol, producing so many silicon or gallium arsenide solar cells or the massive need for ever more petrochemical fertilizers to grow ever larger amounts of ever more expensive grains for fuel. It's really hard to know what the unintended consequences will be. It's likely that there will be more than an 8% increase in population in 23 years. It's hard to know what Americans will choose to drive to avoid the headaches of electric cars or the lack of utility of Smart Cars and it's far from certain that the government will retain it's desire to fund the billion and a half program for the next ten years.

I don't rest any easier knowing that the legislation was mostly drafted by the companies that stand to benefit the most and most quickly and I suspect that the $30,000,000 solar array to be built to power the Department of Energy (during peak daylight hours when the sun shines in Washington) will scarcely profit anyone but the people who sell solar cells.

It's not so much that I'm a reactionary cynic, although I am, but without a major shift in the way Americans live and work and breed, I fear this is only another kind of tokenism and another handout to big corporations and that the unintended consequences may be as bad or worse than doing nothing.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Enough!

By Capt. Fogg


"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor"

Matthew 19:21

"poverty is not an issue"

Father Jonathan Morris on Fox and Friends

________________

Hasn't anybody had enough of rapists, pederasts, embezzlers, adulterers, public toilet Lotharios, swindlers, the cognitively impaired, the psychotic and the high living patrons of prostitutes of both genders waving bibles and telling us how to vote? Not enough of us I guess. Apparently such tin horn casuists; such moral midgets who use Bibles as a sort of elevator shoe, still find a welcome at Fox News and Republicans stupid enough to think God likes Democracy almost as much as he likes Mike Huckabee still tune them in.

Father Jonathan Morris, a "conservative" Catholic priest told us on Fox and Friends yesterday that the reason there was "less response" from Democrats when it comes to talking about God, is that the Democratic platform is at odds with Biblical teachings. So it is, or at least at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church which for well over a millennium has excommunicated anyone who dared deny that God appoints kings and prelates to rule them and told us that because questioning the government was questioning God, Democracy is of the Devil.

Perhaps Father Morris was too busy with the altar boys to study his "Ecclestical History for liars" course or to notice that the Bible doesn't mention abortion and tells us that life begins with breath, not conception. Of course the Bible, even the bowdlerized, mistranslated and tendentious Vulgate Bible the smug Father reads, commands all sorts of things that no one including the Pope would consider obeying, but Morris isn't a theologian or Biblical scholar or an historian or is he even honest or intelligent for that matter; he's a Republican Christian supremacist and Fox News pet. Like Shakespeare's Iago, he's all about convincing us that our best interests are served by killing the thing we love best and in this case that thing is freedom.

It shouldn't take a genius to realize that the aims of a united church and state are not democratic, but authoritarian. One does not arrive at commandments by voting and law based on commandments as interpreted by divinely inspired priests can be no part of a free society.

"Now, this is not judging any Democrat's individual faith, but when their platform goes against Biblical teaching they know they have to be careful when they start getting into details"

says Morris, carefully avoiding the details that show his ignorance and contempt for compassion and decency and liberty and all the human values the values voters can't handle. Indeed, the problem of poverty and how to treat the poor, the subject that seems to appear so often in the words of Jesus is secondary to stamping out abortion says the man in black. After all, the poor go to heaven but those single cell "babies" go elsewhere unless we sprinkle water on them and mumble in Latin, right? Screw the poor, the elderly and the sick. Screw the children and all hail the wealthy and powerful. Jesus is about persecuting gays and abortion, right?

"There's always a hierarchy of value"

says Morris with the kind of self contradictory gall that only a moral absolutist can muster, and by that he means the essential teaching of Christianity is about abortion and gays and not the poor. We can talk about the poor and sick and helpless later when we solve these greater problems. Do you need any better proof that there is no God who punishes us than that Morris is rewarded while innocent children starve and die for lack of medical care?

But as long as America avoids addressing it's imbecile problem; it's ridiculous fear of truth and its swooning submission to superstition and charlatans like Father Morris, we will continue to elect the Huckabees and the Romneys and the other Elmer Gantrys we always fall for. Unless we are willing to admit that the wisdom of the stupid only makes sense to the stupid; unless America is ready to have a reformation and a new birth of secularism we don't deserve any better.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Quick bytes - Out the door edition

By Libby

If you need fresh reading material while I'm out today, here's a few posts worth your time.

Atrios with his usual brevity, gives you Shorter candidates. My man Cernig, picks up the theme and expands the field.

Depressing but right on, Digby explains how things work.

And Avedon takes us on a rollercoaster from from despair to hope. As always, if that's not enough of our favorite American living in the UK for you, start at the top and just keep scrolling through the linky goodness of her Sideshow.

Oh, and before I forget, there's a new blog on the sidebar with hours worth of fun if you've never read Jon Swift, the master of satire. I've been meaning to get him on the blogroll for a long time and he should be on any well rounded regular read list. He's so good, the first time you read him, you're not sure he's really on your side.

Excess Hoggage - Out of Time Edition

By Libby

Song in my head. I'm off to do family stuff again today so I'll be out until this evening. Hoping to come home with more energy and do some posting tonight, but in the interim, here's what you missed if you don't follow my Newshoggers' posts.


Lieberman makes GOP status official. Endorses McCain.

Ron Paul busts fundraising records. Boston Tea Party fundraiser nets record breaking 6 million in one day.

Hillary is looking a little less inevitable.

This is a moot point, as it's on the floor right now but note I put an early warning that Reid is selling us out on FISA.

Dems caved to Bush bullying again this week. No big surprise but still disappointing.

Don't miss this one about a US military platoon that staged a mutiny. They refused to go out on their mission because they thought they would lose it and start killing people randomly.

This one is funny in a sad way. Creative financing to avoid foreclosure. Grow pot.

It's finally official. Government websites suck and it's almost impossible to get the public information from them.

Clinton dumped drug use into Obama's lap. I'm disappointed he didn't come up with better answers.

A new poll shows 99% of Americans wouldn't take drugs if they were legalized. No kidding. It's not like they couldn't get them now if they wanted to try them.

Obey was talking big on standing up to Bush on the budget. As we found out, that didn't amount to much.

Another take on the call for impeachment.

Want you TV shows back. Go here.

Small advances in cocaine/crack law parity. It's still up to Congress to fix this permanently but that's a fight for after the silly season I think.

Breaking news on FISA fight

By Libby

The bill is on the floor being debated. You can watch it live on CSPAN.

Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald rounds up more of the holds that Harry Reid has honored and continues to honor, many of which come from Republicans. What kind of "leader" cuts the throat of his one of his most distinguished and long serving fellow Democrats?

One thing is very clear. Reid has got to go. I'm thinking the Senate should stage an internal coup and unseat him from his leadership position. Clearly he forgot which side he's supposed to be fighting for.

Don't let Dodd stand alone

By Libby

Thanks at least partly to the blogburst of indignation, Reid's rollout of the FISA 'fix' has been delayed until Monday. Jeralyn runs down Reid's lame excuses for virtually guaranteeing telecom immunity via procedural hanky panky. All his fine talk about respect for tradition would go down a lot easier, if he wasn't so selective about when he decides to follow it. If he truly honored it, he would respect Dodd's hold, just as he's allowed Republican Tom Coburn to kill legislation addressing unsolved murders of the civil rights era with his hold which he's been 'honoring' since last summer.

I'm going to be out most of the day doing family stuff so I'm going to send you to Digby for the talking points. Read the whole post, but here's the money graf.

Senators Clinton, Biden and Obama said they would support a filibuster. Edwards said he supported one too. If they would agree to come back to the Senate and help Dodd talk all night, it would bring much need attention to the issue and show the Democratic base that these candidates value them. Imagine if they all (including Edwards) agreed to suspend their campaigns and come back to Washington to stand with Dodd. It would be electrifying --- and it would show the country that the Democrats are prepared to fight. (It would also give them a bunch of free TV time.)

Will any of them (all of them?) do the right thing or will they blow it off?

Go to Dodd's site for a list of the committee members that can help. Click on the action button on the sidebar. But even more importantly we need to press the candidates to show some leadership on this. Contact Clinton, Obama, Biden and John Edwards and ask them if they are going to keep their word to fight for this by also suspending their campaigns and standing with Dodd in the chambers to protect our rights instead of allowing the administration and the telecoms to get away with breaking the law.

Or in the alternate, you can contact Harry Reid and tell him to just call the whole thing off until after the Christmas break. There's no reason to rush this thing through right now. The current 'fix' doesn't expire until February.

[Begging the indulgence of my partners, cross-posted from Newshoggers]

Wexler wants impeachment hearings

By Libby

There seems to be a growing recognition inside the beltway that something drastic needs to be done. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) has an idea on how to solve the gridlock in the Congress and restore some constitutional balance to the government. Impeachment hearings. It so simple, so obvious, I don't know why we didn't think of that. Oh wait....

Still, I shouldn't be snarky, because he's serious about about impeaching Cheney so we can get this administration's crimes on the record. He's started a website to collect signatures and he wrote an op-ed with two other Representatives on the Judiciary Committee in support of it, that no major newspaper would print. Here's some excerpts the WaPo doesn't want you to see.

On November 7, the House of Representatives voted to send a resolution of impeachment of Vice President Cheney to the Judiciary Committee. As Members of the House Judiciary Committee, we strongly believe these important hearings should begin. [...]

The charges against Vice President Cheney are not personal. They go to the core of the actions of this Administration, and deserve consideration in a way the Clinton scandal never did. The American people understand this, and a majority support hearings according to a November 13 poll by the American Research Group. In fact, 70% of voters say that Vice President Cheney has abused his powers and 43% say that he should be removed from office right now. The American people understand the magnitude of what has been done and what is at stake if we fail to act. It is time for Congress to catch up. [...]

Holding hearings would put the evidence on the table, and the evidence – not politics – should determine the outcome. Even if the hearings do not lead to removal from office, putting these grievous abuses on the record is important for the sake of history. For an Administration that has consistently skirted the constitution and asserted that it is above the law, it is imperative for Congress to make clear that we do not accept this dangerous precedent. Our Founding Fathers provided Congress the power of impeachment for just this reason, and we must now at least consider using it.

I'm convinced this is a good solution. What Wexler needs now is some visible public support to make it work. Please sign the petition and scroll down to read the whole op-ed.

Old man winter

By Libby

It's been almost three years since I left lovely downtown Noho and I still really miss my friends and a lot of things about New England. But this I don't miss. I used to live on that street, about a quarter mile up into the background mist. I have never seen gridlock like that. They say it was like that for miles and miles in all directions.

I do really miss this though. I never made one that big, but I was semi-famous for my own creations.

This was the second storm in a week. They're predicting one for tomorrow as well. The first one didn't look so bad in the heart of the city. That was a fun downtown in the snow if you were walking.

Are we safer now?

By Libby
Updated below

I don't know. Maybe I just have fake terrorist threat fatigue but don't you think this latest conviction on conspiracy to commit terrorism is just a little bit oversold as "one of the most realistic terrorism threats on U.S. soil since Sept. 11." Maybe I'm missing something here, but it appears this terrorist group consists of four guys, three of whom spent most of their time in prison plotting this attack and one of whom has been judged mentally unfit to stand trial and is now under psychiatric care.

The plan was pretty scary, but I see no indication that they managed to accumulate any guns, much less build a bomb. The worst thing they did was write a really threatening manifesto and rob a few gas stations.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to get them off the streets. They're obviously violent men who don't belong free in civil society, and it's heartening to see our law enforcement cooperate well to put them back behind bars. But it does us no great service to hype this as the greatest threat ever. The recent shootings by lone gunmen at the Omaha mall and in Colorado did more damage than this hapless group of wannabes did.

This is what makes trading our civil rights for a false sense of security so ridiculous. The government's massive surveillance programs weren't responsible for the capture of these would be terrorists. Good old fashioned police work was. Neither did those databases protect those who died in the shootings. If we're to learn anything here, I think the lesson is that the world is full of disturbed and violent people and no one can protect us from them all.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Update: Mark expands on the point of this arrest coming about as a result of good police work and notes the conviction was obtained without the use of torture. He also makes a really good point that the overcrowding of our prisons contributes to the growth of these home grown terrorist wannabes.

Blood on our hands

by Capt Fogg

"summa awilum in mar awilim uhtappid insu uhappadu"

If a man destroy another's eye, his eye shall be destroyed.

-Code of Hammurabi, 1795-1750 BC-

_______

It's funny in a grisly sort of way, to listen to the moral absolutists try to avoid the fact that if you kill a man for a crime he didn't commit, you are a murderer; A murderer with an excuse perhaps, but a murderer none the less. Of course some versions of morality insist that if you kill anyone you were not forced to kill, it's murder. Morality is no more absolute than any other opinion.

In my opinion, arguing for the Death penalty by saying that most of the people you kill are guilty, aren't worth the rebuttal; it only takes one to make it murder and one to make us all accessories, and the fact seems to be that it's been quite a bit more than one. Arguments that justify the probability of killing at least a few innocents, or indeed for killing anyone because doctrine says it's a deterrent are simply arguments for expedience and from fear, not from reason. Arguments that depend on some cosmic system of double entry book keeping are arguments from an ancient religious tradition with no basis in the actual cosmos. I'm fed up with all these attempts to justify hate crimes and so apparently are others.

It's New Jersey however, and not some Bible Belt state that has taken the lead by stepping away from blood sacrifice and away from the totalitarian notion that a life can be taken in cold blood by some committee of citizens made sufficiently angry by paid professionals. To this writer, it provides a glimmer of hope that the United States might some day follow the path of enlightenment, but just a glimmer.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Ron Paul has his own blimp

Anybody have an extra five thousand bucks they don't need so they can sponsor me for a ride? I don't think I'm major media enough to get a free one, even if I promised to write lovely posts on all five of my blogs.

Nothing to hide?

By Libby

The new online database that tracks government spending, usaspending.gov, is already yielding interesting results. Radar pulls up some telling expenditures along with a handy chart.

Federal spending on paper shredding has increased more than 600 percent since George W. Bush took office. ... In 2000, the feds spent $452,807 to make unpleasant truths go away; by 2006, the "Cheney Effect" had bumped that number up to $2.9 million. And by halfway through 2007, the feds almost matched that number, with $2.7 million and counting.

I wonder if the White House gave Fawn Hall her old job back when they recycled the rest of the old Iran-Contra thugs?

Brits drink more than they think

By Libby

There's a new study out in the UK that suggests previous metrics were flawed and using more current methodology concluded, Brits drink more than past studies would indicate. I don't know if that's true but I doubt they're in any danger of becoming the world standard for drunks.

Speaking from personal experience, I've hoisted more than a few brews with various ethnic groups back in the days when I used to have three or so beers before I went out drinking. Brits are surely good drinkers but they have a long way to go before they can beat Germans or Czechs. However, the gold standard still is, and I think probably always will be, the Irish. They're the only ones that were ever able to drink me under the table anyway.

As my dear friend Harry McColgan used to say. "You're not really drunk until you're holding on to the grass to keep from falling off the face of the earth." Hard not to agree with that, when you're lying on the lawn next to him.

Blame the bloggers - part 347

By Libby

The slow motion pile on of 'professional' journalists who are crapping in their pants over the emerging power of Blogtopia to drive the public debate, comes today from this idiot at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The guy warns of the perils of 'unregulated' reporting. According to his reasoning, only the paid media elite should be allowed to be gatekeepers of the information chain.

There's already enough widepread mockery on his op-ed so I won't bother to add any snark. And if you don't feel like wading through all of the posts, I thought Kyle and Kathy had great takedowns.

I'm just going to add that I think there should be a rule that 'professional journalists' who obviously don't have a clue about the blogosphere shouldn't be allowed to embarrass their home publications with clueless whining about unfettered free speech. I mean a guy who doesn't know the difference between a viral email smear campaign and blog posts probably needs to do a little fact-checking himself before he starts tapping on the keyboard.

Reid about to ream us on FISA

By Libby

Links to the longer explanations are at my Newshoggers post, but this is mission critical folks so I'm just going to quote my capsule version here.

Bottom line. Reid is about to try to pull a fast one. Not only is he failing to honor Dodd's hold, he's setting up the vote on three competing bills to virtually assure that telecom immunity will be passed and he is planning to hide behind the usual mealymouthed excuse of the damned 60 vote threshold. Don't let him get away with it.

Better to call, but if you can't do that, please use his web form and let him know you won't be fooled again. I just sent a polite but blistering email myself, in addition to calling.

Time is of the essence. Tell him if he won't honor Dodd's hold, you want him to bring forward the SJC version of the bill, not the SIC one.

Democratic Iowa debate

By Libby

I watched it all again but had to book out immediately afterward to take care of some pressing business that tied me up for the rest of the day, so my review is late, but it's up now at Newshoggers.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

By Capt. Fogg

He pulled out his gun and then he said,
If you make a crooked move, you both fall dead.

. . . He loved the women and he hated the law
and he just wouldn't take nobody's jaw.

Doc Watson -Otto Wood the Bandit-

___________

When I first heard that a Texan by the name of Joe Horn had shot and killed two men he saw exiting his neighbor's house carrying a bag, my reaction was that he was a long way outside the "castle doctrine" law that allows one to defend one's life with deadly force without the requirement to wait until an intruder shoots you or to first attempt to flee.

At least in Florida, my state of residence, this law does not allow one to shoot someone to protect property or to shoot someone in the back as he runs away. Air America spent a lot of time yesterday discussing this case and while listening to the callers, two things struck me forcibly: In Texas it's legal to kill somebody over a watch or a toaster, even if he's no threat and is running away, and that public sentiment seems to back the idea that anyone can shoot anyone observed to be engaging in criminal activity even long after the crime has been committed.

Just how far down the freeway of fear have we traveled that one reads comments in the New York Times like these:

"His actions were absolutely and inflariously [sic] justified. It was his Christian duty to protect and defend his neighbor."

"Anyone who breaks into someone's home with the intent to steal, rape or whatever is a worthless human being and deserves to be shot."

" so as far as i [sic] am concerned, the thieves gave up their right to life when they broke into someone elses [sic] home."

The idea that theft is a capital offense and that any witness has the right to enforce capital punishment without even a casual nod to due process or Jesus is something that would have been radical in the illegal mining camp of Deadwood in 1875. Do I have to admit, after half a century of believing in the basic decency of most people, that all that now separates my fellow Americans from unprincipled savages is the threat of violence at the hands of the law?

Of course the years of Republican fear mongering have had an effect. Of course years of Reganite insistence that Government has no answers to any problem have had an effect. Years of declining violent crime rates have done nothing to convince much of the rabble that civilization itself is not the culprit and that the wages of lawbreaking is and should be instant death by the hands of any vigilante or self appointed deputy with the few hundred bucks it takes to buy a decent firearm. Of course this case has been further inflamed by the fact that the burglars were illegal aliens and you'll read that fact cited in may of the arguments that such people have no rights at all much less the right to remain alive.

As for now, I still cling to my childish naivete, but I'm coming close to the point where I will have to declare that I live in a nation of vicious, bloodthirsty, bigoted and stupid cowards more like a baboon troop than a nation.

Cross posted from Human Voices