Wednesday, April 30, 2008

At the movies

expatbrian

I watched several movies this week that were nothing more than big name actors in mediocre films. I'm not going to review them here other than to say that I was disappointed in Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with Brad Pitt, Michael Clayton with George Clooney, No Country for Old Men with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks. Sure, there is some good acting, even some exceptional acting, but I like to be entertained, not bored. And these bored me.

On the other hand, these are my gems of the week.

Cloverfield-4.5 stars. Very unusual scary thriller about a group of partiers in new york who get caught up in an invasion. Entirely filmed as if by a camcorder held by one of the group, this is my favorite scary movie so far this year.

Redacted-3.5 stars. Like Cloverfield, this is filmed as if from a camcorder held by a soldier filming the real life story of his squad in Iraq. The value of this movie is that it effectively shows the horror and brutality of the war and the horrendous impact it is having on our young soldiers. I'm bias but, if the media and the government won't let us see what is really happening in the war, then at least we should watch movies like this that make a strong attempt.

Across the Universe-4.5 stars. This nice boy meets girl story is told through beatles songs and is simply elegant and excellent. If you like the beatles and want a little romance blended in, you're gonna love this.

American Gangster-3.5 stars. Not half bad movie about a mob drug king and the cops trying to take him down. Denzel and Russell Crowe.

The Brave One- 4.5 stars. A keeper. Jodie Foster as a woman who seeks revenge for a brutal attack. Put this high on the list.

Hero Wanted-3.5 stars. Cuba Gooding Jr., one of my favorite actors as an apparent hero twice over. Not his best ever but a good story with an unusual ending.

The Great Debaters-4.0 stars. Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker team up in this cheer-the-underdog true story about a black debate team from a tiny college that goes for the big time. I was surprised at how much I liked it.

If you're not already using emule and http://www.sharethefiles.com/ to download movies, try it. If that's a little high tech for you (and it's not really very high tech) then http://www.surfthechannel.com/ has a great selection of streaming movies and TV shows that you can watch just by clicking on them. Enjoy

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Mission Accomplished (any minute now)

By Libby

Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of Bush's triumphal arrival by jet to make his victory speech under that Mission Accomplished banner. "Since that day, more than 3,900 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, representing more than 97 percent of total troop deaths there."
Today, reporter Helen Thomas asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino how the president would “commemorate” the date tomorrow. Perino said the White House had “certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.”
The White House is still spinning that banner as meant only for the men on at that ship, which I'm sure is why he held an international press conference under it -- just for them. I mean hasn't he done that for every ship that came home in the last five years? And all those wingers and warmongers who were pounding their chests and mocking the dirty effin peaceniks for being wrong, wrong, wrong about what a dismal failure this invasion would be, that was just a coincidence. And geez, Bush was so proud of that one ship, he just couldn't stop talking about them.
In fact, regardless of Perino’s attempts to amend the banner, it’s clear what Bush meant. Just a month after his speech on the U.S.S. Lincoln, he also spoke to troops in Qatar: “America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished.”

The truly astounding part is that even five years later, the same warmongers are still telling us that any minute now, the mission will be a awesome victory. It's just around the corner. And some people still believe them.

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Father of LSD dies at 102

expatbrian

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, whose medical discovery inspired millions in the 1960s, has died. He was 102.

The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel.

He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped onto his finger during a laboratory experiment in 1943.

"I had to leave work for home because I was suddenly hit by a sudden feeling of unease and mild dizziness," he subsequently wrote in a memo to company bosses.

He said his initial experience resulted in "wonderful visions."
LSD or "acid" had a tremendous impact, not only on the behavior of those who took it, but on the music and art of our generation. I liked it, and have always believed it was an important if surreal part of my education.

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Turning out the vote

By Libby

If you live in North Carolina, as I do now, these robocalls have been making a big stir. I didn't get one but then again, I almost never answer the phone. Surprisingly, it turns out to be the work of a left wing women's rights group. I've weighed in on the controversy at Newshoggers.
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Pentagon Scrambling to clean house

expatbrian

Just a quick note about this deteriorating barracks story out of Ft. Bragg. The post brass in particular and the pentagon in general are now in panic mode trying to inspect every barracks on every post in the country. This leaves me just a little confused.

When I was in the army there was barracks inspection every single morning. The entire building had to be swept, mopped, dusted with everything put in its place and tidy. Personal rooms for permanent staff were not inspected often but all common areas were. If that's changed, why has it? I'm thinking its because it is soldiers who did the cleaning and even soldiers who did the inspecting and there just aren't enough soldiers to get everything done.

The fact is, the brass at Bragg and the pentagon know exactly what those conditions are and always have. Its no different from the situation at Walter Reed. It is not a revelation. The only revelation is that the public just found out about it and is outraged. So the military has to cover their ass, lie and say "OMG we didn't know but we will fix it now that we do!" Give me a f**king break.

In comments to The Associated Press, General Rogers made clear that the complaints about the Fort Bragg barracks are hardly news to him. “Are soldiers happy with living in the Korean War-era barracks? No,” he said. “No matter how hard we try, we can’t put enough lipstick on this pig.”

That sums it up nicely. These barracks, and barracks all over the country, are WWII vintage or even older. And each has had literally tens of thousands of residents. There comes a time when just another coat of OD paint isn't enough. Barracks will never be the Ritz, but maybe its time to spend a few bucks and give our soldiers a decent place to sleep.

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Supporting the troops

By Libby

Thanks to all those who think keeping the troops stuck in the quagmire is somehow supporting them, the death toll is rising again as the fragile security situation slowly falls apart.
BAGHDAD - The killings of three U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad pushed the American death toll for April up to 47, making it the deadliest month since September, the military said Wednesday.
Don Surber complains these numbers disregard wider and longer range comparisons, apparently seeking to mimimize the impact of the numbers, but when the administration and its lackeys were touting all that alleged progress from the surge 'success,' he and his crowd couldn't keep the parameters narrow and short range enough. Everybody who promised to stand together with us to end the occupation if there wasn't any serious progress shown in six months -- which deadline was over a year ago now -- should start keeping their word instead of making excuses.

On a brighter note the video made by a soldier's dad about the abysmal conditions at Fort Bragg received enough attention to make it into the major media and now the dad reports that he has spoken with the commander and steps are being taken to rectify those horrible living quarters. Even better, it appears that barracks across the country will be evaluated and repaired as needed. That's the kind of troop support I like to see happening.

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Bush's Ratings Soar on Bright Economic News!

expatbrian

Just kidding.

Bush scored a 27% approval rating this week on his handling of the economy, his worst showing ever in that category. So, what does he do? What any other stressed out Republican in denial would do. He blames the Democrats.
President Bush, hoping to inoculate his party and his presidential legacy from election-year anger over the economy, heaped criticism on the Democratic-led Congress on Tuesday for "letting the American people down."
I gotta say, regardless of the subject matter, Bush has an enormous amount of nerve to talk about anyone other than himself "letting the American people down". I can't recall any former president who had less of a clue or cared less about what the American people want. With Bush, it's almost as if he reads the polls and then does exactly the opposite of what they suggest. He then blames the anger and frustration of the people on Congress.
...But he offered no new ideas for a range of economic worries now facing the country, from record gas prices and soaring food costs to rising inflation, layoffs and home foreclosures, and a credit crunch that even has sparked fears of a college student loan squeeze.
Well of course he didn't offer any new ideas. He doesn't have any. He believes that by putting a few hundred dollars in your pocket, dollars you'll end up spending on $4.00 gasoline, that you will forget about the spiraling inflation, soaring food costs, obscene gasoline prices, the housing nightmare, business closings and job loses and record setting budget deficits.

Oh, and the other thing he is depending on you to forget is Iraq and Afghanistan. And, I must admit Mr. President, that strategy appears to be working. Not one war related headline in Google news this morning to distract us from your agenda.

He still refuses to use the term "recession" as if we are all so stupid as to believe that as long as that word never passes his lips, we don't have one. He uses terms like "slowdown" and "tough times" and "difficult straits" to make it seem like it's not quite so bad. Of course, he NEVER goes to a gas station to fill up his tank, he NEVER goes grocery shopping, he NEVER pays a medical bill and he NEVER has to worry about being laid off.

He didn't even have to worry about being impeached for his criminal, traitorous acts because he knows that the American people don't have the balls to demand that it happen. We are much better moaners and groaners than we are demanders and insisters.

Bush does have one plan though, to get us out of this "difficult strait".
But he pivoted quickly to longer-term fixes that he favors, such as opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration and production, and making it easier to build new oil refineries and nuclear power plants. All are longtime priorities of his that have been stymied in Congress.
Sure, his one solution to YOUR problems is to give HIS oil buddies a free hand to expand their businesses and reap more profits while they further fuck up the tiny bit of unspoiled environment we have left. And I'm just absolutely positive that when they do it, your gas prices will come tumbling back down. And the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and the old bearded sage in the sky really do exist.
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Ozymandias

By Capt. Fogg

The excellent HBO miniseries John Adams concluded Sunday night with some ruminations by our second President about how the gritty history of the American revolution had, after only 50 years, been lost to the mythologizing processes of patriots and painters and poets. I'm not sure that he ever read Shelly's ironic poem of 1818, although he lived long enough. I'm sure however, seeing his classical education, that he knew that such things are eternal and ineluctable. Indeed, anyone with any kind of memory at all can see that the words and deeds of our current administration are lost to reinterpretation, redaction, braggadocio and denial in a far shorter period than a half century and eventually are reduced to ridiculousness.

If I still had a sense of humor about such things I would laugh at Flim-flam George's latest attempt to blame the effects of his fiscal irresponsibility on the failure of Congress to solve our problems. They failed by looking the other way at Corporate swashbuckling, by bitching excessively about no-bid contracts to companies that pay no taxes and will not be investigated when billions disappear, by not taking the burden of inheritance taxes off the very, very rich and by ignoring a host of other really brilliant ideas like unrestrained spending and profligate borrowing, but of course I don't. I lost it some time ago and all I could wish for is to miraculously to survive the explosion of our sun just long enough to see the man vaporize into a wisp of plasma to be born by the solar wind into the infinite emptiness of the universe.

But I digress. The Bush Nebula is still Earthbound and the Occupation still awaits a definition of "victory."
"I've repeatedly submitted proposals to help address these problems, yet time after time Congress chose to block them,"
said the Sultan of Smirk today. Too bad they didn't block the "warpresident" entirely by impeaching him or at least keeping him from starting the war, but what we're seeing here, I fear, is the beginning of a tendentious falsification of history on a level not seen since the great Redactor put together the Bible.

Canonical History will be kind to George Bush, since it isn't really possible to be unkind in degree adequate to his stupidities, his iniquities and his weakness. Indeed, knowing this country and its love for self-ennoblement, he may be sneering down at us from Rushmore or gleaming at us from the face of a highly devalued Dollar before my grandchildren are old enough to be cynics. Some Parson Weems will emerge to write stories about his early honesty and there will be paintings of George the Brush Clearer and heroic marbles of the Commander Guy in his flight suit poking up through the desolate sands of post-apocalyptic America. Who will be there to laugh?

Cross posted from Human Voices

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The new snitch society

By Libby

I've always believed one of the big reasons the Bush regime got away with callously stripping us of our civil rights in the name of terror prevention was because the public was already inured by the atrocities of the war on some drugs where abridgement of civil rights of 'druggies' has been codified by the courts. One of the latest ploys in that war on the citizens, is to enlist service techs to snitch to the police if they see something 'suspicious' while they're in people's homes. Well, we can see well that's working out. You can expect a lot more erroneous SWAT raids like this one.
Police were executing a search warrant signed by Hennepin County Judge Ivy Bernhardson, who believed there was probable cause the Adams's home was a meth lab.

Berhardson, who was appointed to the bench less than a year ago, did not return KARE 11's phone calls.

"Ohmigod," Adams said as she recalled police breaking down her door and flashing the search warrant. "I just kept saying to them, 'you've got the wrong house.' "

Police soon realized that themselves.

"From a cursory view, it doesn't look like our officers did anything wrong," said Capt. Greg Roehl.

Roehl said the drug task force was acting on a tip from a subcontractor for CenterPoint Energy, who had been in the home Friday to install a hot water heater.

"He got hit with a chemical smell that he said made him light headed, feel kind of nauseous," Roehl said.

The smell was vinegar, and maybe pickling lime, which were clearly marked in a bathroom Mr. Adams uses to mix chemicals for his salt water fish tank.
And here's the real problem with this new program.
Police say there was no extended investigation, just an interview with the subcontractor.

"Everything this person told us turned out to be true, with the exception of what the purpose of the lab was," Roehl said.
Excuse me, but isn't the purpose of the lab the whole justification for breaking the door down and yanking these people out of bed and treating them like criminals? They issue a warrant based on a single conversation with a repair man who is not trained in drug detection? This is almost worse than the similar botched raids that were conducted solely on the word of drug snitches who are looking for a break for themselves when busted and have a clear reason to lie.

At the very least, we need to revise the rules of engagement in this stupid war to require some kind of verifying corroboration of 'tipsters.' These botched raids are all too common already and it seems unlikely their numbers are going to diminish unless we have better guidelines for warrants.

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Monday, April 28, 2008

Oh boy

By Libby

If this post catches the wind, Shaun is going to get buried from all that stuff flying off the fan. Brave guy. Hell, I'm afraid to even quote it but I'm linking to it because I know he's not sexist. I think it says something about the levels of anger being generated by this prolonged primary that drives him to use such language.

And cruising more bloggers who speak in unguarded language, Hart Williams knows a cross-burning racist teevee station when he sees one. Interesting point that ABC started this smear campaign and never once gave the Rev. Wright a chance to defend himself.

Meanwhile, Dan at Pruning Shears cuts through the Pentagon PR machine and gets to the essence of what laughably is called civilian leadership there.

The “chickenhawk” epithet has some validity in the following sense: Those who advocate forcefully for war without having participated in one up close may be fairly questioned on whether they regard the inevitable horrors (intended and otherwise) too lightly. I believe the lack of such experience among our civilian leaders - and indeed their affirmative action to avoid it - has led them to run the armed services with a shocking lack of empathy or humanity.


That's the part that always infuriates me. They treat living human beings like so many inanimate numbers. I continue to think a 15 month tour on IED duty would help the entire lot of desk jockeys inside the Pentagon find some humanity when it comes to moving our troops around the world as if they weren't doing anything more deadly than playing a friendly game of Risk.

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Embracing the inner wonk

By Libby

Having joined the working class poor three years ago for reasons that will remain unexplained, the capital gains tax doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but it is going to become an issue because the media is going to flog the GOP's "Democrats only want to raise your taxes" meme endlessly. Atrios has the appropriate comeback.
With talk of raising the capital gains tax in the air, you're going to hear a lot of conservatives and mainstream media folks blather on about how much this kind of thing is going to be so bad for the "middle class" or "even working folk" because everyone is invested in the stock market through 401K plans, etc. But the capital gains tax rate will never apply to that money. More than that, any capital gains from those plans will be, upon withdrawal, taxed at the income tax rate which for most people will be higher than the current 15% capital gains rate. So wealthier people who have direct investments in stocks and whatnot get to pay 15% on their capital gains, while the rest of us in lowly 401K land will likely be paying a higher rate.
I'd suggest you file that away for future reference. I have a feeling you'll need it -- often -- before this is all over. Meanwhile, see my Newshoggers post on how the lending industry will get away with screwing us over.

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Watch and weep

By Capt. Fogg

Many of us are going to get a government handout this month; you know, the kind of thing the Republicans have usually treated as another form of the Socialist Plague when the dollars are directed toward indigent children. For a good number of those recipients, that money will go not to purchase the Japanese cars, Korean televisions and Chinese everything else that we're being told is an economic stimulus plan that will prevent the recession that has already happened. For most, I think, it won't go to pay down the crippling debt or to pay for needed medical care, but to buy gasoline; the indispensable substance of a nation with the poorest public transportation system in the civilized world.

Our Bushtopia can always find a way to get you to buy oil, no matter who suffers in the process and they're very good at making it sound like patriotism. Of course real patriotism has little to do with lapel pins or stupid looking plastic flag holders clipped to SUV windows or yellow "Support the Troops" ribbons, and while you're pouring your government handout into the tank of your 7000 pound monument to fashionable folly, remember who is suffering and dying so that you can exercise your plastic patriotism.

Remember the men and women living in dirt and filth and blood for year after year until they either die or are discharged with a "personality disorder" like shrapnel in the skull, so as to deprive them of decent medical attention and the support they deserve. If you want -- if you really want to see how Uncle Scam treats our "heroes" when they return home to wait to be sent back for another 15 months watch this video. Watch all ten minutes of it and consider taking the hush money George is sending you and using it to defeat each and every Republican candidate with the gall to support this sham government and its sham war. Use that money to make sure not one of these criminals gets another term; these thugs who get free medical care, large pensions and all they can squeeze from the suffering citizens, abused soldiers and victims of American aggression. Watch it and weep.



Cross posted from Human Voices

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

Media Bytes - Going to a GoGo Edition

By Libby

Song in my head, with a bonus track to soothe this old heart of mine. I understand this is rare live Zombies performance where they're not lipsyncing. I really loved that group. But on to the linkage.

It's a rather light load this week. Here's the heavy reading. LAT has a five part series on the drug war, a kind of dueling op-eds thing. Worth a read if only to see Reason magazine's Jacob Sullum tear up the Heritage Foundation's Charles 'Cully' Stimson. Poor old Cully didn't have a prayer of winning that argument.

On the lighter side, Susie's post was just delicious. Mark Crispin Miller floats a rumor about Rove. Read the whole thing, it's short, but here's a tasty graf.
“Rove has been described to me by several of my GOP sources in Alabama as being in a state of panic. He has been pressing senior Alabama GOP figures to speak out for him and to attack me and Jill Simpson, as well as CBS and MSNBC.
The person speaking and under attack is Scott Horton by the way.

Susie also has the best pro-Hillary ad I've seen -- ever, while this is a pretty nice pro-Obama. That second link is to a MoveOn site that is hosting some kind of contest. It refreshes every 30 seconds with a new ad. I only looked at the couple Avedon posted but I'd love to hear a review on overall quality if anyone sticks around longer.

Meanwhile, DWT points us to the DNC's latest ad. This one I think is much better than the last one. I hear it's really pissing off the wingnuts.

And Watertiger catches Megan McCain channeling her inner Jeri Thompson. Her daddy is not amused.

Finally getting to the eye candy, I knew Silas and his wife pretty well when I lived in lovely downtown Noho but I had no idea he did this sort of marquetry. I especially like the portrait cabinets myself.

Speaking of Noho, you should probably bookmark the Smith Greenhouse outdoor webcam. I hear the bulbs are starting to bloom up that way. This vista will be getting more colorful daily from now on.

Finally, this reminded me of my life in the frozen north. I've always loved frost patterns and these are some of the nicest ones I've ever seen. It almost makes me miss winter. Almost.

[Links lifted mainly from Avedon who really should be on everybody's daily read list]

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Hate mail of the week

By Libby

I have a new critic at DetNews, where by the way it's going to be McCain bashing week. Scroll down to get posts, the links sometimes work, and I have another one I haven't posted yet, but I love Frank already.

BLOGS & SPENCER

When one thinks of people who don't what They are talking about and has problem maing up tHings oNe of the fIrst person that comes to mind is Libby Spencer. While I am neW to this blog thing reading Spencer puts a new and lower standard to the word STUPID.

frank o609, Warren, MI

By the way, I don't think he's being clever with the language here for the snark effect. His typing is a little worse than usual, probably because he was so pissed off by the post, but he always talks like that.

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The future is now

By Libby

You know, I really did predict this way back in maybe in 05, just without all the fancy words. I said that the internets were going to change politics in ways that would surprise people and that 06 would be the first show of Leftopia's muscle, but we wouldn't see the full impact until now. I also predicted that 08 would see an tsunami of voter discontent. Not that I could find a link to it. I think I posted that at DetNews and it would take hours to find it in their archives, if it even still exists. They've upgraded so many times that some posts got lost in the transition.

But no matter, that link is really worth reading in full and so is dday's post on Obama's interview where I picked it up.

Related to dday's post, I almost didn't read this other piece because it was in the NY Post, but Joe flagged it and it's a good analysis. I've read dozens of electability arguments, but when you strip out all the emotional and cause related arguments, the bottom line is Obama really is more electable precisely because his reach is so wide.

He's the one bringing in the new voters and the most money. If memory serves, that used to be the main criteria for electability and now it's my time to choose. The decision can't be put off any longer and I've finally decided I'm going to cast my ballot for Obama. I think he's earned my vote.

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Stray thought - Updated

By Libby

I don't understand why it's incumbent on Obama to singlehandedly discredit Fox but it's okay for Hillary's man McAuliffe to cut a commercial calling them 'fair and balanced' or at least apparently it's inconsequential enough to her supporters to not be mentioned in the same post. It just doesn't make sense.

Update: Matt Stoller weighs in. It's a much more even handed post and his points are well taken, but I think he's taking too short term a view. I've let a lot of stuff that pissed me off about both candidates slide that I wouldn't normally let pass unrebuked, but I fail to see how doing otherwise would advance progressive goals. We sure as hell aren't going to advance a progressive agenda if McCain manages to slither in on a trail of Democratic blood.

The long term goal is to get a Democrat in the White House. We're not going to get one that isn't going to lie to us. That's just not a reasonable expectation. We have to work with what we got, and tearing up our own candidates isn't going to accomplish the long term goal. Just as in traditional warfare, the smaller force sometimes gives up ground in a battle in order to survive to fight another day, I think we have to make sure we get a Democratic president first. We'll have four years to win the greater war.

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Saw it in the Sunday papers

By Libby

Elizabeth Edwards tells us what we already know about our dysfunctional establishment media, but does it so eloquently, it's definitely worth a read in full. She thinks the solution is for us to calmly demand better news coverage but as many have pointed out already, the problem is that most voters aren't really that interested in the wonkery. The reason the news went all tabloid is ratings and most people just don't want to hear the eye glazing dry details. They pretty much want soundbites along the lines of tell me what you're going to do in one sentence and how much is it going to cost me?

That wasn't always true. Before cable TV, the public would watch a substantive debate. I blame the invention of the remote control myself. I mean really, how many people actually watch a whole program all the way through without clicking around the dial? And on those rare times when the battery dies in the clicker and you don't have a spare, how often do you get up to physically switch the stations? I'm not sure there's a cure for it. Certainly not an easy one. It reminds me of this Paul Simon song.

Meanwhile, my review of Obama's Fox interview, my advice to Obama and my thoughts on the danger of negative politics, among other new posts are up at Newshoggers right now.

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War progress- Week ending April 27

expatbrian

The following American casualties were identified today. They won't have to worry about the problems and incompetence within the VA.

Sgt. Guadalupe Cervantes Ramirez, 26 of Ft Irwin California in a vehicle incident.

Staff Sgt. Shaun J. Whitehead, 24 of Commerce Georgia blown apart by an IED.

Staff Sgt. Ronald Blystone, 34 of Springfield Missouri shot by small arms fire.

1st Lt. Tim Cunningham, 26 of College Station Texas died in a vehicle incident.

Pfc. John Bishop, 22 of Gaylord Michigan died in a vehicle incident.

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19 of Sag Harbor NY died of wounds by unknown.

Cpl Jonathan Yale, 21 of Burkeville VA died of wounds from unknown.

Total young Americans killed so far in April - 40

According to statistics, during the week ending April 27, approximately 126 veterans committed suicide.

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Picture of the Day


By Libby

Caption that. Bush was in Kent CT for a GOP fundraiser at the home of Henry Kissinger. The 400 guests were wowed by his speech and raised $700,000. Meanwhile, about 100 protesters demonstrated in the "free speech zones." The protest looked like a lot more fun.

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Warmongers support war -- not the troops

By Libby

Picking up on ExPatBrian's theme, here's a couple of more examples of outrageous maltreatment of our troops. I have a slightly longer post at Newshoggers but really this video speaks for itself. Our government sends these soldiers repeatedly in hellholes for 15 months at a stretch and they come home to three inches sewage on the floor of their barracks. As Brandon Friedman points out it's a disgrace that they can spend three-quarters of a billion dollars on Bush's fortress the embassy in Baghdad, but our troops have to live like this. In fact it's more than a disgrace. It's damn criminal negligence.

Meanwhile, the VA refuses to help injured vets register to vote and are fighting any efforts to help them do so in court. Think that has anything to do with the fact that the majority of soldiers are now leaning towards Obama or Ron Paul?

And where are the warbloggers on these issues? I took a vomit inducing tour of the some of the bigger ones this morning and not one word about the maltreatment of our troops. Malkin is screeching about McCain's failure to endorse hatemongering ads and Tigerhawk wants to shut down the post office and bank branches because what the hell, he doesn't use them anymore. Nevermind the poor and the elderly who don't have computers or transportation to main bank branches. The rest are just flogging the latest hate speech about liberals and Democrats.

I'm not a violent person but this morning, I feel like shoving magnetic yellow ribbons down a few wingnut throats.

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Veterans committing suicide in record numbers

expatbrian

Two veterans groups who have filed suit against the VA have exposed a coverup by that agency as to the number of vets who are attempting and succeeding in committing suicide. The VA, in response to a records request by CBS news had said that there were a totol of 790 suicides in all of 2007. However, a private email that has come to light shows otherwise.

In one email message titled “Not for the CBS News…,” the VA’s head of mental health Dr. Ira Katz wrote "Shh!" and then claimed there were 1,000 suicide attempts per month by veterans under the care of the agency. The e-mail was written last February when CBS News was questioning the VA about the number of veterans who have tried to kill themselves.
Attorney Gordon Erspamer, whose father was one of the GI's exposed to massive radiation during the atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll in 1946 and later developed leukemia, is handling this case pro bono. He has done a lot of free work on behalf of vets since finally winning a $90,000 settlement for his dad. It took him 10 years fighting the VA to get disability benefits for him.

"If you add up the veterans' suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and compare it to the total combat deaths, the veteran suicides are higher," says Attorney Gordon Erspamer, who introduced a VA e-mail at the trial that showed an average of 18 vets a day are committing suicide. "The VA doesn't want that out."
Sens. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and Patty Murray of Washington state said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans. Murray, who clenched her jaw and seemed to shake with anger during the discussion, said she is tired of spending “every day for five-and-a-half years” trying to drag information out of VA.

In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans Health Administration confirmed that the agency’s own statistics show that an average of 126 veterans per week —6,552 veterans per year—commit suicide, according to an internal email distributed to several VA officials.
She said a study showed 6,250 veterans killed themselves in 2005 — and in his e-mails, Katz “not only backed up those numbers, but said they were much higher.” The emails also show that 12,000 vets a year that are under VA care are attempting suicide.

A second department e-mail message from Dr. Katz shown at the trial starts with “Shh!” and refers to the 12,000 veterans per year who attempt suicide while under department treatment. “Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” it asks.
This is the organization that is supposed to support, treat, counsel and give aid to our veterans. But this is the Bush era VA and they are obviously more concerned with making his sorry ass administration look good than they are with their stated mission. And we are paying their salaries.

You can and should read this and the related articles published by Veterans for Common Sense here.

Think about how bad it must be for this many young soldiers who survive the war, to be so absolutely desperate that they must take their own life when they come home. Something is horribly wrong here. And the one agency whose sole function is to protect and help them covers up the problem instead.

Now throw into that mix the fact that recruiting standards have been lowered so as to allow those who are already mentally unstable to join and serve. If stable men are so stressed out that they can only get relief through suicide, what chance do these less capable recruits have?

How wrong is a war where more troops kill themselves than get killed on the battlefield. How wrong is the policy that allows that to happen? And how can we even consider electing another man who publicly supports these policies and fully intends to continue them? Are they all crazy or are we?

cross posted at World Gone Mad

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Friday, April 25, 2008

Joke of the Day

By Libby

I can't believe the day is almost gone. I'm obsessing about my impending surgery leaving me with facial freaking paralysis and couldn't fall asleep last night so I slept until noon and I've been engaging in comments over at Air America for the last couple of hours between my reading. One of my posts developed a healthy thread where an interesting conversation was going on. I would link to it but it's about to drop off the page. The guest post thingy doesn't seem to archive but in case it lives somewhere on the server, this link might work.

Anyway, I'm about to post a hearty rant at Newshoggers about Hillary, but I just ran across this joke at Jake Tapper's blog. I run hot and cold with Jake's stuff, but he's a roll today. I think this was a great catch.
On his Facebook page, the Democratic National Committee's director of research, Mike Gehrke, was shown "twittering" -- meaning he was sending a message to his friends through "Twitter" -- the following message:

"Mike is twittering: You know what you call someone who digs up dirt on John McCain? An archeologist."
Apparently it's from a Jay Leno monologue, but as an old person myself, it made me laugh. Hell, they'll be saying that about me soon enough and I'll still think it's funny.

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The lies of war

By Libby

I was cruising through my archives of unposted links and found these old ones I never deleted. Last year on this day we found out that the Bush administration didn't just lie to get us into this war, they lied to us about the war. At House hearings a soldier testified that he was ordered to lie about Pat Tillman's death and Jessica Lynch testified that the Pentagon lied about her capture and rescue.

In response to this and the Democrats publicly stating the Iraq occupation was a disaster, Tom DeLay, himself newly indicted for money laundering, the White House and the Very Serious Villagers who support them like "man of the people" David Broder accused anti-occupation Americans of treason.

Steve Benen, never at a loss for words, dug up the ultimate DeLay quote in response to that, an eloquent dissent on the war -- in Kosovo. It remains the perfect argument for leaving Iraq.

Who would have thought I would be looking back on these days with fondness now? Leftopia was such a nicer place when we were all working together to fight the machine instead of bickering over who gets to run it this time. I was thinking today that it's not so much that I hate this primary going on for so long, it's that I hate what it's doing to Leftopia. It's taking all the fun out of it.

Meanwhile, the war drums for Iran keep getting louder. While nearly everyone is poring over polls and running modeling to predict who is going to win six months from now, the White House is steadily building yet another deceitful narrative about imminent danger and quietly putting the players in place that could, and would, act on their lies. I wonder how much all those predictions will matter if the October surprise is a little air strike.

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Republicans have a problem

By Libby

Well here's a little good news for a change. The stupid primary isn't the only game in town and in Mississippi a Democrat won the first round of the contest that normally would have gone hands down to a Republican.
Democrat Travis Childers finished with 49% of the vote in last night's special election, Republican Greg Davis 46%, and the remainder going to the defeated candidates from the primaries for the regular election in November, plus third-party candidates. Without anybody getting 50% of the vote, this goes to a runoff in three weeks.

Both Childers and Davis are strong social conservatives, so it might be useful to look at the major issue dividing them: Iraq, with Childers supporting a timetable for withdrawal and Davis in favor of staying.

Even though the media ignores it and does it best to keep pimping the warmongering talking heads with their rosy scenarios of victory around the corner, even in the reddest district that fully supported Bush in 04, the Republican lost. Chances look good that an anti-occupation Democrat will end up with the seat. It looks like the even the loyalist GOPers are wising up. Between the occupation and the economy, everybody is ready for a change. This can only bode well for November.

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I'm going to live and I am posting

By Libby

The appointment with the surgeon yesterday about did me in. Especially the fine needle aspiration. I knew I was in trouble when the doctor looked at me and said, I don't use pain med to do this... It wasn't a long process but for a minute there I thought I was going to pass out.

Long story short, I don't have cancer but I do have a benign tumor that needs to be surgically removed. Tumor - you can hardly see it but it just sounds ugly. It's not a really a big deal except the surgery could leave me with facial paralysis. A small chance but one a confirmed hypochondriac like myself shouldn't have to know about. I liked it better they didn't have to tell you all the scary stuff to prevent potential litigation.

Anyway, I'm still posting mostly at Newshoggers and you should take a look because the posts are getting better. I caught Bill Clinton flipping the bird, and check out how the Pentagon is supporting our troops -- not.

Meanwhile, it's a beautiful day but I'm way behind at Detroit News so I'm going to throw a couple of posts up there and maybe post to Last One Speaks. I think I haven't posted there in a week. But I'll be back here eventually.
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McCain votes no on equal pay for women

By Libby

Well, he didn't actually bother to vote, but he says he would have voted no on a bill that would have repaired damage done by Alito's hamfisted decision in Ledbetter.
Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits.
Oh of course. We wouldn't want the courts to used to litigate injustice. Everybody knows the sole function of the judiciary to rubberstamp whatever 'decision' the president makes. And remember how the GOP was caterwauling about up or down votes and threatening the nuclear option to eliminate filibusters?
Senate Republicans killed the bill Wednesday night on a 56-42 vote that denied the measure the 60 votes needed to advance it to full debate and a vote.

Yes, they used a filibuster to kill it. In fact, the GOP minority, as I'm sure you recall, has used the filibuster to block progress more than any previous incarnation of Congress. Why the Democrats aren't vigorously pointing this out every time it happens is beyond me.

Meanwhile, McCain, acknowledges that poverty is worse among women than men. "The Arizona senator said he was familiar with the disparity but that there are better ways to help women find better paying jobs."
"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.
Of course, this bill was about equal pay for equally educated workers. And maybe McCain hasn't heard that most families have both spouses working. Or about all those single mothers who hold down three jobs to pay the bills while the day care providers are raising their own kids. And the reason they have to work so hard is because they're not paid as much as men doing the same work thanks to an archiac mindset rooted in the days when most women had the luxury of staying home.

McCain tells the most poverty striken people in America that "I wouldn't be back here today if government had fulfilled the promise that Lyndon Johnson made 44 years ago." As if a guy who owns 13 houses worth $13 million would even recognize poverty if it jumped up and bit him in the ass. Somehow he fails to notice that poverty has grown tremendously in the years GOP held the reins of power and sliced the social safety net to shreds, while passing bill after bill to enrich the already wealthy.

But then, as he admits himself, economics isn't really his thing. But he's sure that cutting taxes for the top 1% of the wealth holders in this country is the answer -- because our current economy is doing just great and that empty wallet in just a figment of your imagination.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

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The other, less important news

expatbrian

I haven't posted much about politics lately. I'm pretty much bored and disgusted with the whole thing. It's just a repeat of all past election seasons with all the candidates telling us daily how bad the other candidates are and how only they can and will save us and the world. Of course, none of them can or will.

My home page is Google News and right now, in the long list of stories there, there is just one Iraq related story and that is about Petraeus getting promoted. It seems the war is no longer of any interest to the American people. Lots of news about Mugabe, Dalai Lama, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Jordan, and of course Texas religious fanatics, a new house full of murdered people in Chicago, a grizzly bear that some idiot decided could be tamed and the very latest on American Idol. Somehow American soldiers being brutally killed everyday didn't have the pazazz necessary to make the news.

So in case anyone is interested, and the evidence is strong that no one is, during the Pennsylvania primary this is what else was going on.

Pvt. Ron Harrison,26 of New Jersey, was killed by a "non-combat" injury near Baghdad.

Spc Steve Christofferson, 20 from Wisconsin, was blown up by an IED in Bayji.

Sgt Adam Kohlhaas, 26 of Missouri was blown up at the same time.

Two as yet unidentified Marines were blown up by an IED in Ramadi.

Another as yet unidentified Marine was blown up by an IED in Basra.

Four as yet unidentified Marines were wounded in those explosions.

A few bodies were found in and around Baghdad but they can't all be identified because they didn't all have heads.

I'm sure the families of the dead and wounded soldiers cared about it. That's probably about 100 people or so. The other 320 million of us apparently can't be bothered.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

It's not that I didn't post

By Libby


It's just that I didn't post here. I haven't been able to focus today. I did a few posts at Newshoggers because of Air America gig, but I've been obsessing about my doctor's appointment tomorrow so they're all crap.

I hate going to the doctor. Especially when there's something really wrong with me. I'm not sure I want to find out what it is.

Meanwhile, I'm following the returns and I see Hillary won. And I also see the exit polls were wildly wrong. I'm told it's because they're unweighted. And they've been consistently wrong. WTF. What's weighting really except cooking the data to conform to the stated results? And when did they start becoming consistently wrong?

I'm not ready to post about it yet. I'm burned out tonight but I'm sitting here trying to remember when that started. I don't recall exit polls being so inaccurate until recently so I did some googling and I can't find anyone who can cite major discrepancies before the mid 90s. In fact I find earlier references praising or complaining even about their accuracy.

So I'm wondering if anyone else remembers exit polling being so far off in the 70s and 80s?
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Fascinating

By Libby

Both the photo and the fact that Julie Nixon Eisenhower has maxed out her political contribution limit -- for Obama. Both she and Trisha were such goody two shoes during the Nixon years but I always suspected Julie was the rebel in the family.

Trisha hasn't changed much though. She gives all her dough to McNasty.

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The Fabulous Life of John McCain

By Libby

While we're all waiting for the results of today's primary, here's something to think about in the event the Democrats ever get around to picking a candidate.



Just another average Jake alright.

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Dreams

expatbrian

I keep having this wonderful vision of a cold snowy day in January '09 - Obama standing on the White House porch as George Bush leaves for the last time. Obama gives him a swift kick in the pants and says, "Get your sorry ass out of the people's house" as George stumbles down the steps into the waiting arms of the FBI.

God, it's better than a good wet dream and, at my age, that's saying something.

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At the Movies

by expatbrian

I'm not a big fan of science fiction and I normally don't get too excited about fantasy movies unless they are exceptional like Lord of the Rings and King Kong. But I just watched two of that genre that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Water Horse tells the "real" story of the Loch Ness monster and the boy who raised him. If you liked Free Willie, you will like this one. I give it 4 stars.

The Golden Compass is even better. This movie, which will obviously have a sequel, follows the exploits of a young girl who possesses the last golden compass, a device that only she can read and which tells the reader only the truth. The special effects are great and Lorek the Ice Bear steals the show. 4 1/2 stars.

Also watched -

War with Jet Li was a typically violent drama with lots of action and a nice plot twist. No oscars here but entertaining if there's nothing better to do. 2 1/2 stars.

The Bucket List teams two of Hollywoods best - Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in a heartwarming story of two old men from totally different backgrounds who are dying and decide on a few last flings. The story is so-so but Nicholson is always worth a watch. 3 stars.

Gone Baby Gone was surprisingly good. Directed by Ben Affleck and starring Casey Affleck as a PI investigating the kidnapping of a 4 year old girl. Morgan Freeman is the police chief (jeez, he is in everything these days!) but Affleck is the show stealer here. 4 stars.

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Monday, April 21, 2008

Traveling Wilburys

by expatbrian

It was while George Harrison was having dinner in Los Angeles with Roy Orbison and producer Jeff Lynne that he mentioned he was going to go somewhere the next day and make up a tune. Roy agreed to join him.

They knew Bob Dylan had a studio in Malibu so George called him and he said sure, come on up. Harrison had left his guitar at Tom Petty's house and when he picked it up, Tom decided to join in, too. The result of this groups first effort was a song called Handle With Care.

They thought that one sounded pretty good and decided to do another 9 to make an album. They ended up recording the album in the kitchen at Dave Stewart's (Eurythmics) house. Harrison called the meeting and the results "magical". And so it was.

Youtube has an exceptional video of the whole story in three parts - (1) (2) (3) and its definitely worth watching. While Dylan is legendary, even in the eyes of these talented artists, it is obvious that all of them are in awe of Roy Orbison.

I make it a point not to miss performances by Dylan and while he usually appears nervous, angry or bored, playing with these guys he really seems to be having a good time.

Shortly after the album went platinum, Orbison died. When they did the music video for End of the Line, they paid tribute to Roy in a most memorable way. Enjoy.

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Can we call it a police state yet?

By Libby

Radley Balko flags an under-reported story that raised my civil libertarian warning system into the red zone. He tells us, "Last week, federal, state, and local police in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas conducted a massive sweep, including raids of businesses, homes, and boats; traffic roadblocks; and personal body searches."

Radley has the supporting links to the full coverage, but here's some of the gory details on Operation Sudden Impact. This massive police force, that numbered in the hundreds, swarmed the target zone, allegedly looking for terrorists. They seized computers and paperwork from businesses. The accounts vary wildly but reports state 332 people were arrested and either 202 or 1,292 people were cited for traffic violations. (Clearly there's a typo in one of those reports.) The 100 sheriff's deputies also "recovered 12.2 grams of heroin, 19 syringes and seized $1,795."

So in other words, our law enforcement authorities spent at least tens of thousands of dollars on a quasi-military sweep and busted a few low level drug users and a whole bunch of bad drivers. No terrorists were reported to be injured or arrested in the shakedown. This is how 9/11 changed everything. Our own government terrorizes us to "keep us safe" under the aegis of "fighting terrorism." But here's what should raise alarm bells with every civil libertarian.
Even though Memphis hasn't suffered a terrorist attack, the city is using federal grants to fight crime, which might lead to the discovery of a terrorist suspect. Other cities are using federal money with similar programs.
This is just the beginning of a new trend in domestic law enforcement. As far as they're concerned, we are all terrorists now. To paraphrase the old saying, just because you haven't done anything wrong, doesn't mean they won't come looking for you.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

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Just your typical American family


By Libby

While the Dems are slicing and dicing each other in a battle to the finish, McCain is on a personal history tour, defining himself as just an average Jake who is one of us little people. Let's check in with his little Blogette who has been breathlessly chronicling that family trip.

Oh dear, she's taking a little break from the rigors of the campaign and is just hanging around like any other middle class 20 something.
We've received a fantastic invitation from People Magazine to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner hosted by Craig Ferguson in Washington, D.C. on April 26th and look forward to blogging about this fun black-tie event. Until then, I'll be at home indulging in a few of my favorite guilty pleasures including, sleeping in my own bed; hanging out with Bridget; watching "The Three Stooges" (an obsession of mine since childhood); eating fish tacos; drinking strawberry margaritas; playing "Rock and Roll Jeopardy"; and taking in beautiful Arizona sunsets.
Ah yes. Isn't it grand to be average. I especially liked the little "skipping with delightful joie de vive" number on the roof.

[Graphic shamelessly stolen from Crooks and Liars]
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Time Warner sucks and other excuses for not posting

By Libby

My internet went out last night so I didn't get back here and I have to work for a few hours this afternoon so posting here will be light. I do have new posts at Newshoggers and Detroit News if you're wondering what's on my mind.

Oh and check it out, our Newshogger posts are starting to appear on Air America. I think that's pretty cool but it's easy to remain humble about it. When I told someone about it last night, they said, "What's Air America?" A good reminder that political junkies are just a small and dare I say elite group.
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Ben Stein bombs

By Capt. Fogg

I used to watch the Comedy Central quiz show Win Ben Stein's Money; not because I liked the guy, but because I liked to be amazed at what he didn't know. Of course not knowing all kinds of political and historical trivia isn't an indication of being a dumb schmuck, but letting one's name be affiliated with a movie like Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is proof positive. It's slightly gratifying that the public largely has ignored Ben Stein's turd of a film although divine intervention in some really ghastly way would have been more gratifying.

The premise that "intelligent Design," the resurrected, quasi-Deist argument that life and perhaps the universe is too complex to have arisen through natural processes, has been so soundly, thoroughly and often humorously debunked over the last two centuries that it shouldn't be necessary to note that existence not only predates our inability to understand it but isn't subject to reducing its complexities to the level where a religious person can understand. Yes this is a religious argument and that's why it's only applied to Human evolution and not to the equally difficult aspects of quantum physics, general relativity and advanced mathematics. Imagine my saying that Tensor Calculus is flawed because it's beyond my ability!

Comprehensive denunciations of Intelligent Design have been around for centuries. It's a buried fallacy now exhumed like some hollow zombie only because our culture has lost touch with itself and the majority of us are as ignorant if not more so than we were 200 years ago. Percy Bysshe Shelley's refutation of Deism and his Necessity of Atheism not only makes Ben Stein's vaunted brain look dull and pedestrian, but illustrates the ironic appeal to victimhood that is this movie's argument. Shelly was thrown out of school for his brilliant efforts; thrown out by the same militantly dishonest dullards who claim to be unfairly treated by science.

The argument from Ignorance has it that biological structures like the eye cannot have originated without guidance from a supernatural intelligence because, say the the proponents of God, they don't understand the process. This proposition begins with the absurd and doesn't need to be reduced far for one to notice that according to such arguments, the greater the ignorance, the more true the propositions must be. To the ignorant, all things are equally possible.

Of course nature can be difficult to understand and even when understood, it can be counterintuitive. Humans took a long time to accept that up and down were relative directions and they roasted scientists alive for showing evidence that myths were incorrect. Battles were fought over such things as atomic theory and of course the heliocentric universe. Being less and less able to do so today, those who cling to and insist that others must cling to myth, have to create an additional saga of their own persecution: hence this movie.

If you buy into it of course, you cannot avoid admitting that you value comfort above honesty; that you see evidence as less valuable than comfort and that you want to punish anyone who disagrees. There is not only no evidence for order in the universe much less order than can only be a design, but the conjecture does not provide for the design of the designer. It's like the classic rebuff to the argument that there is no giant turtle upon whose back the Earth rests: it's turtles all the way down says the little old lady to Bertrand Russel. It's not an argument, it's a hysterical fugue. Imagine arguing for the existence of a "Firmament" or for a world that floats on water or a heaven one can walk into from a mud brick tower! Although ID may require only the Deus Absconditus of the Deists; a God who created things and moved on, there is no evidence, there is no science, nothing that can be demonstrated, nothing that can be inferred from demonstrable fact. ID is of the same ilk as magic, voodoo, deception, outright stupidity and pathological delusion.

The evidence for the origin of species through natural selection is sufficient that no alternative explanation can compete fairly, hence the unfairness, the dishonesty and the outright sleaziness of Steins movie. Do I need to repeat that there is no evidence whatever for the Divine hand other than the argument ad ignorentiam? If we must give equal opportunities for bogus theories and reject all standards for truth in education, we must abandon the notion of education altogether and return the universities to the Churches we took so long to dethrone. Ben Stein has bet his money that we will. I hope he loses every dime.


Cross posted from Human Voices

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Media Bytes - Did you ever have to make up your mind edition

By Libby

Song in my head. It seemed appropriate with the tension building for the primary. It's funny, the 22nd has always been a big day for me. I got married to my first husband on that day. I had my first date with my second husband on that day and it's an important anniversary for another member of my family. Not to mention it's officially Earth Day although it appears most formal celebrations for that are going on this weekend.

Anyway, I have a mixed bag of mostly mellow links but let's start with the political.

This is the best of the lot today. Rachel Maddow notices that at long last, the Bush regime accomplished their mission in Iraq.

So now that that's over, we can offer all of you your own $3 trillion shopping spree.

On a lighter note, if you missed the Dem debate, you can catch the highlights in this one minute synopsis.

And here's just the beginning of what could be a very long list of things that are younger than McCain.

Moving on to world politics, this campaign in France has got to be the best ever. We could use more candidates like this here.

While looking to the near north, this one requires a commitment of time and I've only watched the first episode, but Escape to Canada is as beautiful in its videography as it is interesting and informative.

Meanwhile for your Sunday funnies, I give the essential recipe for a glass of water and the fruits of faith based education.

If you want to beat that traffic stop, by all means invest in someAntipoleez breath mints but never suck a Fishermen's Friend. That's just asking for trouble.

That's no longer an issue for my friend Fearless Freddy, since he's gone cold sober and all but he's high on happiness, what with being feted by Hollywood moguls prior to appearance on the Tonight show. It looks like his 15 minutes of fame might last longer than a quarter hour.

And a belated congrats to Digby for an honor well deserved. We all adore you.

Finally, this week's eye candy is this amazing gallery of photos of the Tree people in Indonesia. When I saw their houses, I almost wanted to join the tribe but then I saw the dinner menu. Guess I'll stick to being a blogger after all.

[hat tips to Paul Wright, Tim Meehan, Jules Siegel, Avedon and Radley.]

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Last word on the debate debacle

By Libby

Barry Crimmins and I became instant friends from the moment we met. It's hard not to adore someone who once refused to shake Henry Kissinger's hand, because he's a war criminal. He has the funniest analysis on the Democratic debate I've seen so far. Clinton supporters may not see the humor but everyone can appreciate his acerbic wit. He doesn't discriminate in his scorn for the system. In fact, just start at the top and keep scrolling for his biting satire on just about everything political.

And speaking of the debate, in case you didn't get a chance to tell ABC how great their debate moderation was, I hear they're making it a little more difficult to get through on the main line, but Tim F. has a whole slew of alternate avenues of communication where you can politely express your gratitude for their impeccable journalism.

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Hillary hates us

By Libby

I'm not inclined to get that offended at Hillary's remarks berating the progressive activists. The false representations of MoveOn's position are troubling but I'd bet there's not a living politician who hasn't privately expressed those same sentiments.

Of course they hate us. We've disrupted their cozy little lifestyle. Before the internets, activists were a nuisance but it took time to spread a message and the pols still had their private smoke filled rooms to retreat to, where they could express their honest views unnoticed and conduct the real business of "their people." Now the technology has allowed their every word to be instantly broadcast around the world and they have nowhere left to relax into their true personas.

The internet changed everything. Everyone knows it's the price you pay for holding public office, but living life in a fishbowl has a whole new meaning now that the older politicians are just beginning to grasp. I'm not surprised that it makes them cranky. Most people are creatures of habit and are discomfited by change.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

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New meaning for commercial programming

By Libby

Brand placement in commercial programming isn't exactly a new concept but somehow I have a really bad feeling about this project.
NBC Universal Thursday took the wraps off its new digital studio, appropriately named Digital Studio, which will involve advertisers in the content-creation process for Web series. [...]

NBCU described it as a "a first-of-its-kind relationship to give brands a seat at the table during the development phase of original digital entertainment." [...]

The first of those first-of-a-kind Web shows will be Gemini Division, set "five minutes in the future" and following a New York City homicide detective. Intel, Microsoft, UPS and Acura will be worked into the story line about an "underworld of genetically fabricated life forms."
It occurs to me that if we don't fight for internet neutrality now, eventually this is the kind of big media 'programming' that will be awarded the fast lanes on the intertubes while those of us who are trying to inject reality based elements into the ethernets will be consigned to the secondary routes. A theory I'd say is bolstered by the latest round of newsroom layoffs in the major media.

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The sins of the fathers...

By Libby

Since it seems to be religion week here at The Impolitic, allow me to make a contribution with this video where a Catholic priest defends Rev. Wright and eviscerates some Fox News idiot's attempt at an ambush interview. I hear O'Reilly played a whole 5 seconds of it on his own show but it really should be watched in full. This is a Catholic priest who walks his talk and I can respect.

Blue Girl tells us there are more where he came from.

[T]his is Father Michael Pfleger and he is one fiery lefty priest. He sees something he doesn't like, he does something about it. It is because of him that alcohol and tobacco are no longer advertised on billboards on Chicago's South Side. He is an activist priest in the finest Liberation Theology tradition.

Liberation Theology views Jesus not just as the Redeemer, but as the Liberator of the oppressed as well. My dad was a Catholic, and my husband, and son are Liberation Theology Catholics. I respect Catholics who follow that path. They don't say stuff - they do stuff.
More importantly they do stuff out of love for their fellow man and seek to improve the lot of all rather than perpetuating the religiosity of hate that one sees too many so-called Christians practicing, where the end goal seems to be to punish "the other" for failing to toe an ideological line.

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Don't Tase me Stewardess!

By Capt. Fogg

The airlines have been treating us like cattle for quite a while now or when we're lucky, like dogs, but so far the cattle prods and shock collars have remained the tools of the Federal government. No, it's not a Saturday Night Live skit, a Canadian company really is trying to sell the idea that we all, as airline passengers, should wear a device that allows the flight crew to zap the hell out of us if we get unruly, uppity, unappreciative or terroristic. The definition is really up to them and may vary according to how long they've been working that day and with other personal factors.

Great idea, since them "terrists" aren't smart enough to use clear Teflon tape or to make a device that sets off the shock cuffs or collars. It certainly wouldn't cause any weak, young or elderly passengers to die if your "flight attendant" were to see someone praying to Allah and turn on the zapper, or if the damn thing just malfunctioned.

The promotional video begins with what has become the universal symbol of somebody trying to make us do or believe something stupid: the 9/11 crash footage. I haven't the slightest reason to believe any airline would ever adopt this technology, but my advice is that whenever you see the smoking towers, change the channel or hit delete. Lamperd can brush off objections as the careless and unpatriotic sentiments of "privacy advocates" but I hope most of us can understand that treating people like cattle in a pen, to be subjected to extreme pain and the terror of its expectation at the whim of a corporation is the complete end of any pretense to freedom and an invitation to insurrection.

Cross posted from Human Voices

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Blowing up Hillary

by expatbrian

This guy is a real artist.



To see him do Obama, click here.

H/t to Jonolan for finding these gems.

cross posted at World Gone Mad

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Friday, April 18, 2008

The devil and Mr. Jones

By Capt. Fogg

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

-Bob Dylan-

I have to admit I don't know either and I suspect the market analysts of the same confusion. My morning perusal of the news includes a glance at Bloomberg.com and the leading headlines today were:

  • Citigroup has $5.1 Billion loss, cuts 9000 more jobs.
  • Stocks in US rally on Citigroup.

It might make a skeptic think that perhaps these stories overlook something or that nobody really knows what the hell is going on but still need to say something in order to get a paycheck. Or maybe it's the same old prophylactic optimism by which they've been trying to ward off disaster with a smile, a shuffle and a little shuck and jive.

Perhaps the same thing applies to the political gigglefest. Are voters really going to change their minds at the possibility that Obama gave Clinton the finger - are they even going to believe it? But they have to say, to print, to televise something and childish nonsense is far easier to sell and more distracting than any serious discussion; particularly a serious discussion about a truly unworthy Republican.

Cogitamus asks us the trenchant but rhetorical question of how the media would treat either Democrat if they had had checkered careers like McCain. Frankly I think the entire Media-as-propagandists truth is laid bare here.

You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks

Something is indeed going on, but all you're going to hear is that everything is all right: we don't need to change anything.

Cross posted from Human Voices

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Kerfluffle of the day

By Libby

I have a bad feeling that this gesture is going to be parsed to death in the next 24 hours. The wingers and the Clinton bloggers are already on it. To me, trying to be a disinterested observer, it looks like he was reading his notes and absentmindedly scratched his face. I get a little itchy from nerves when I speak in public myself and don't doubt that I may have unconsciously done something similar on those rare occassions.

In any event, people will read into whatever they want to see into it, but I immediately thought of this incident myself when I saw the item. If you're too lazy to scroll, just click on the photo. There's no mistaking the intent of that and if memory serves, our concern troll media didn't find it all that shocking or offensive at the time.
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Blog around

By Libby

I've been posting at the other blogs this morning. I have a couple up at Newshoggers, including one about ending the Democratic debates. After 21 of these 'events' there's really no point to them anymore, as the last sorry spectacle made clear. It only allows our lazy media motormouths to define the narrative and they're too lazy and stupid to trusted with it.

On the bright side, we do have Rachel Maddow on the teevee now. She chased Joe Scar from the set with this brilliant takedown of the motormouth narrative and brings up a really biting analogy about McCain's associations. Links at my NH post on that.

Also have new posts at the Detroit News. In particular, you should read this one that's based on Cernig's post that you should also read for context. It so happens that polygamist compound is financed in some large measure by DoD, no bid/sole source contracts. Apparently there is no depravity so great that will preclude financial support from the Bush regime. (And yes I know George didn't sign the damn contracts, but it's his loyalists who are running the show.)

Oh, and another bit of good news for the Newshoggers. We're going to be featured bloggers at the newly revamped Air America website for a week starting on Sunday. I'll put up a link once I dig it up.

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What lies ahead

Think about how many of these young men and women will never get over this war.
Roughly one in five U.S. troops is suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an equal number have suffered brain injuries, a new study estimates.

Only about half of them have sought treatment, says the study released Thursday by the Rand Corp.

A recently completed survey showed 18.5% — or 300,000 people — said they have symptoms of depression or PTSD, the researchers said. Nineteen% — or 320,000 — suffered head injuries ranging from mild concussions to penetrating head wounds.

Those two groups may overlap, but still, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of soldiers walking around without treatment (at least one hundred big high schools full,) and some percentage of them will never recover.

Now, let's talk about flag lapel pins, because that's what's important.

(Posted by Mike - Born at the Crest of the Empire)
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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Debatable value

By Libby

I'm on early call and on my way out the door. I didn't watch the debate, but I collected some reaction and have another post of interest at Newshoggers. That and Brian's collection of holy manifestations will have to hold you for the moment.
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I Demand A Retraction!

by expatbrian

I have to take strong and public exception to a recent post by my illustrious and I thought, faithful colleague, Captain Fogg, in which he suggests that Jesus cannot reveal himself in "grease stains and burnt toast". Indeed! If God can move in mysterious ways then certainly, my good man, Jesus can reveal himself anyway and anywhere he damn well pleases. Only a fool would make such an ungodly comment in the face of all of the overwhelming evidence.

Just take a look at this Captain Hoity Toity!

"I have a spoon with the image of Jesus Christ on it," said a Mr. Davis of Kentucky. Davis says look closely and you'll see the robe, the beard and the eyes. "And he appears to be looking up" exclaims Davis.



And put this one in your pipe and smoke it, Admiral Big Mouth!

Laquan Joyner and her husband Theo Grimes say they have been praying and asking God to send them a sign.When they looked in the shower, right next to the shampoo, there it was, an image of Jesus.The family says they will never clean the spot and they now treat the shower like a shrine.



And before you go hide yourself in the head, Seaman Shame-On-You, try this on for size!

Jerry and Wendy Divock of East Windsor say the image of Jesus' face mysteriously appeared on a bedroom door roughly 10 years ago. Raised in a Jewish home, Jerry says the door has inspired him to convert to Christianity. The face appears to be a natural pattern in the grain of the wood.



Having second thoughts yet Yeoman You-Don't-Know-What-You're-Talking-About? And this!

Psychic Veronica Weary, said she first saw the image on Easter Sunday two years ago in her new age café in Mandurah and the image had remained visible ever since. "People have come to see the crystal while going through hard times and have told us afterwards that they felt energised and had lost their fear and worry about their particular difficult situation,” Mrs Weary said.



Cat got your tongue yet, Commander Cocksure? And how about a little of this!

This image miraculously appeared in the alter cloth of a Buffalo chapel. Extra people from outside the parish who heard about the image have been dropping by since it was noticed. On Tuesday morning, about 20 extra people were on hand, Slish said. “We went, ‘Oh my gosh, yes. I knew what it was right away. It’s like a vision that he’s there. I always tell everybody to behave themselves because he’s there.”



And last but not least, Petty Officer Poop-In-Your-Pants, try to explain this one away!

Greg Wolfe of Andover got a divine surprise when he was chopping up firewood last week. A gasoline log splitter cut through a piece of wood, leaving behind an image of Jesus’ face.
“You would never dream something like this is going to happen,” he said.



If that last one is not the divine face of the Son of Man, then I damn well don't know what is.

cross posted at World Gone Mad

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