spook of the ozarks: September 2006

'State of Denial'

The Post has posted the first take of excerpts.

GOPedophilia scandal/cover-up

Josh (w/DK) is your one-stop source.

Dumb move

AP:

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is defending President Bush's anti-terrorism tactics in multiple court battles, said Friday that federal judges should not substitute their personal views for the president's judgments in wartime.

It's never a good idea to piss off a judge you have business before, much less all of them.

'Cut and run'

This line of attack could backfire on the GOP.

He'll never learn

Trent Lott, on the civil war in Iraq:

"It's hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what's wrong with these people," he said. "Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Israelis and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me."

'Just a comma'

If this is really how W views the situation in Iraq, we're in big trouble.

That didn't take long

ABC blog:

Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) planned to resign today, hours after ABC questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former Congressional pages under the age of 18.

Aravosis has the e-mail messages.
via DailyKos.

Disgusting

How do miscreants like George Felix Allen wind up in the U.S. Senate?

'Charlie Rose'

Good show last night, a discussion of the Clinton/Wallace kerfuffle and the Big Dog's record re: counterterrorism, available free today only, here.

Is Mark Pryor a Democrat?

He really needs a primary challenger in 2008, unless he plans to run as the Connecticut for Lieberman candidate.

What it did

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein:

This Congress hit the ground stumbling and has not lifted itself into an upright position. With few accomplishments and an overloaded agenda, it is set to finish its tenure with the fewest number of days in session in our lifetimes, falling well below 100 days this year.
... But the big problem with this Congress is not what it didn't do, it is what it did, and did badly.

Case in point.

Wrong

It's no surprise that a GOP strap-hanger like John Boozman supports torture and opposes habeas corpus, but what the hell is Mike Ross' excuse?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House refused Wednesday to release the rest of a secret intelligence assessment that depicts a growing terrorist threat, as the Bush administration tried to quell election-season criticism that its anti-terror policies are seriously off track.
Press secretary Tony Snow said releasing the full report, portions of which President Bush declassified on Tuesday, would jeopardize the lives of agents who gathered the information.

They won't make that mistake again?

Lyons, Conason

Gene and Joe have some fun with the Big Dog's smackdown of Chris Wallace. YouTube has it here.

Bikers

Here they come.

Concern troll

Out of a job. Soon to join him: Bolton, Santorum, Allen.

Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck

Alterman:

I disagree with Hugo Chavez on an awful lot, particularly the intellectual merits of Noam Chomsky's works on foreign policy, as well as reports of his death. But one thing troubles me: Have Bush and Satan ever actually been seen in the same place at the same time?

Reid was right

Eavesdropping authorization bill dead, as Harry Reid said.

Nice try, Condi

Think Progress does the media's heavy lifting for them. She's one of the easier among the administration's legion of liars to debunk.

Drink up

Presumably.

Unfathomable

WaPo:

Millions of older Americans are confronting a temporary break in their Medicare drug coverage this month that will require them to pay the full cost of their prescriptions or face the painful prospect of going without.
This is the "doughnut hole" in the new Medicare drug benefit that began in January, and advocates for seniors say there is nothing sweet about it. Some seniors knew nothing of the coverage gap until they were hit with a bigger drug bill, advocates say.

This didn't have to happen at all. That it's happening right before the midterms is sheer stupidity. These people vote.

Gas prices

Gallup:

PRINCETON, NJ -- The average price of gasoline across the country is currently $2.44 per gallon, down from a high of $3.00 per gallon this summer. The American public, however, remains relatively pessimistic about gas prices, and most Americans do not believe they will continue to decline. While 4 in 10 Americans believe gas prices will be lower by the end of the year, the majority predict prices will be the same or higher. Men -- particularly those aged 55 and older -- Republicans, Midwesterners, Southerners, and those in households earning at least $30,000 annually are most optimistic that gas prices will be lower by the end of the year.

Prediction: They'll continue to decline until Election Day, after which they'll rise, with the increase attributed "holiday travel" (absent some geopolitical or environmental provocation).

Central High anniversary

NYT:

On Sept. 25, 1957, with 300 United States Army troops standing guard, nine black children were escorted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, days after unruly white crowds had forced them to withdraw.

Three years after Fayetteville High.

They killed Osama

And then resurrected him while we were watching football. Isn't place-kicking, aside from environmental and collaborative factors, like free-throw shooting? As in, shouldn't there be more competent kickers?

Crazy Jean Schmidt

She's a real piece of work. Perhaps you remember when she called John Murtha a coward. Turns out she's also a plagiarist.

'Jeopardy!' trivia

Louis Bayard, a one-time champ, reviews Ken Jennings' book, "Brainiac," for Salon. (Actually, his piece is more about Bayard's experience on the show than Jennings' book.) Bayard, the only male champion in the new season's first week, won last Friday. But on Monday, for some reason, KFSM, the CBS affiliate here, aired a replay of last Thursday's show. So his Salon piece is as close as we'll get to seeing his unsuccessful defense of his title.

They knuckled under

Karl explained it to them.

Can they do this?

Wally:

[Peyton] Hillis, [Darren] McFadden, Felix Jones, [Marcus] Monk, [Damian] Williams and [London] Crawford are guys who are capable of getting you six on any given down.
So far, if memory serves, those six have not been on the field at the same time this season.

Apparently, yes. It would have to be a tackle-eligible play.
Can't resist this:

Houston Nutt takes the blunt of the blame ...

Unintended irony?

Justin Rood asked Gordon Baum, CEO of the Council of Conservative Citizens, about George Felix Allen's Jewish ancestry:

"To us, whether somebody's Jewish, es macht nichts," Baum told me.
"That means 'it doesn't make any difference' in German," he explained.

In German.

Technically correct

At a fund-raiser:

[Bush] criticized a published comment by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who is in line to become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if Democrats win the House. Rangel was quoted in a news story this week as saying he "cannot think of one" of Bush's tax cuts he would renew.
"That's one way of saying they're going to raise your taxes," said Bush, who avoided naming Rangel directly. "You see, if you don't extend the tax cuts, your taxes go up."
... President Bush spoke to about 400 people in a VIP club area of Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Republican fat cats' taxes should go up.

Hugo Chavez is a blowhard provocateur wannabe

But he's not "a longtime enemy of the United States," KHBS/KHOG. He's a critic of the Bush administration, which is not quite the same thing.

Amen

Gene Lyons:

The president’s authoritarian impulses, on display during an amazingly petulant Rose Garden press conference, so clearly derive from his own fundamental weakness of mind and character that it’s become increasingly embarrassing to watch him perform.

Joe Conason:

It is strange but true that the country’s most prominent spokesmen for the Prince of Peace and for tradition and morality are also its most outspoken proponents of torture.

They're sadistic freaks.

Cops seducing bikers

NWATimes:

The Fayetteville Police Department is planning not only to vamp up security during this year’s Bikes, Blues & BBQ rally, but also bolster its relationship with local merchants.

Can't wait to see how that works out.

Her head implodes

It had to happen eventually.

Rachael Ray

She's attractive. Haven't seen the new show; unlikely to, since it's on at 9 a.m., but this is about what we expected.

George Felix Allen

Reading about this reminded us of this.

Creepy

KFSM is live-blogging the trial of Deanna Bobo, a teacher accused of having sex with a student. Who's Allison Houston?

That must've been a brief exchange

Don moderated a debate:

The candidates talked about the role of the lt. governor in state government ...

Surprise

They aren't even waiting until October.

'Diverse chorus of political voices?'

WTF?

New TV shows

Tom Shales previews the fall lineup. Plenty to skip this year.

Op-eds

Call your cousin

If he/she's never seen a train wreck.
UPDATE: Link to full Time article.

Guess where

McClatchy:

Several former U.S. defense officials who maintain close ties to the Pentagon say they've been told that plans for airstrikes -- if Bush deems them necessary -- are being updated.

Necessary for what?

Exactly right

What Josh says. If Warner, McCain and Graham do the unthinkable and put principle before politics, Rove's aura of invincibilty is done.

'Survivor'

Don't watch it. But some people are bent out of shape because the contestants are divided up "racially," which made us wonder: When did "Hispanic" become a race? The answer is here.

Why we can't catch Osama

W:

Pakistan's a sovereign nation. In order for us to send thousands of troops into a sovereign nation, we've got to be invited by the government of Pakistan.

We'd never send thousands of troops into a sovereign nation without an invitation from its government.

Da-da-dum, dum, dum

Another one bites the dust:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 — Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, lawyers and others with knowledge of the investigation said Thursday.

Wartime president

Looks like W's torture authorization and kangaroo court bills are in trouble in the Senate.

'Outrageous, dishonest'

Lying to promote a war:

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran's nuclear capability is "outrageous and dishonest" in trying to make a case that Tehran's program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.

That pretty much summarizes the entire GOP approach to governing.

Deja vu

Galloway:

It was 41 years ago in a place called South Vietnam where I first saw an American administration begin telling lies so often and so convincingly that officials began to believe their own propaganda.

Some of us knew they were lying then, too.

Atta in Prague

Debunked again. Bigtime: Prove it didn't happen.

9/11 speech

Conason:

George W. Bush seems to believe that if only he speaks the same discredited phrases often enough, the rest of us will somehow come to believe them too.

We'll probably never know whether he's consciously lying or just delusional when he says some of his BS.

Tax, spend

Can't help it.

Fantasies

W, last night:

We're helping Iraq's unity government grow in strength and serve its people.

McClatchy, yesterday:

WASHINGTON - Iraq's political process has sharpened the country's sectarian divisions, polarized relations between its ethnic and religious groups, and weakened its sense of national identity, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.

NYT editorial, today:

[T]he nation needs to hear a workable plan to stabilize a fractured, disintegrating country and end the violence. If such a strategy exists, it seems unlikely that Mr. Bush could see it through the filter of his fantasies.

Days left in Bush presidency: 860.

Alterman canned

MSNBC, for whatever reason, has discontinued Altercation. It will resume next week at Media Matters.

Guess who?

(Reuters photo)

The first family observing Patriot Day.

Take the gloves off

They're gonna cheat.

Impenetrable

W thinks the GOP will retain congressional majorities, enabling him to destroy Social Security next year. Does he know about some surprise that's going to happen between now and Election Day?

'Stone cold'

The WaPo updates us on the five-year hunt for Osama.

Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
(AP photo)

Better than a BCS-caliber football game, hands down.

Uninterrupted

Except for midway through part two, where W gets to further terrorize his Depends-clad "base."

Busted?

Signs point to sock-puppetry.

Too much 9/11 -- especially on TV

Simon Jenkins:

Conceding the kudos of state censorship to jihadists should be as unthinkable as conceding arrest without trial. That does not excuse the politico-media complex from any responsibility for caution, a sense of proportion and self-restraint. The gruelling re-enactment of the London bombings in July and this weekend's 9/11 horror-fest are not news. They exploit grief and horror, and in doing so give gratuitous publicity to bin Laden and al-Qaida. Those personally affected by these outrages may have their own private memorials. But to hallow the events with repetitious publicity turns a squalid crime into a constantly revitalised political act. It grants the jihadists what they most crave, warrior status. It more than validates terrorism as a weapon of war, it glorifies it.

Thank Jeebus football season has begun.

Hello, walls

It never ends:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren't counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country's sectarian violence.
In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution.
That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July.
But it eliminates from tabulation huge numbers of people whose deaths are certainly part of the ongoing conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Not included, for example, are scores of people who died in a highly coordinated bombing that leveled an entire apartment building in eastern Baghdad, a stronghold of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Still trying to make it as a hopeless case

Nice scoop

By Stephanie Heinatz of the Hampton Roads Daily Press:

FORT EUSTIS -- Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a postwar Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.
In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a postwar plan.

Someone should be fired.
via Kevin.

Vote GOP or die

They think they can insult you into voting for Republicans:

In a repeat of the 2004 campaign, a group supportive of the president, Progress for America, began running an advertisement this week on national cable television and on stations in Missouri echoing Mr. Bush’s new theme. With images including the World Trade Center collapsing on Sept. 11, 2001, and pictures of terrorists, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the Iraqi insurgency who was killed in June, an announcer says, "These people want to kill us."
The announcer continues: "Many seem to have forgotten the evil that happened only five years ago. They would cut and run in the Middle East, leaving Al Qaeda to attack us again."

These "many" strawmen who "have forgotten" apparently live mostly in Missouri -- or watch only those cable channels that are bereft of reminders that the anniversary is soon.

Go Vic, Woody

Rep. Vic Snyder is the pearl of Arkansas' congressional delegation. He'll crush his wingnut opponent in November. Woody Anderson, though, needs your help to unseat GOP straphanger and W-enabler Rep. John Boozman.

'The Path to 9/11' storyboards

The Poor Man has 'em.

'The Path to Mickey'

Aravosis is brilliant.

Happy birthday, Sonny

Sonny Rollins is 76 today. His Web site, this week only, has posted video of nine performances starting in 1957. Enjoy, and then show him some love.

Galloway stays busy

He's supposed to be retired, but he's still connected:

If these distinguished military officers are correct that it's not too late to change course in Iraq, then we should all hope that they're wrong in fearing that the Bush administration is too ignorant, too inept, too proud or too political to do so.

We'll defer to their expertise on the former but have abandoned all hope that they're wrong about the latter.

'The Path to 9/11'

ABC's gonna regret showing this wingnut propaganda. Think Progress is all over it.

'Hubris'

Sounds like an infuriating read, full of new revelations.

Wow

Horrible:

NEWPORT, Ark. (AP) - Two women were killed and five people were injured when a truck crossed several lanes of traffic and hit a fast-food restaurant where current and former Newport school teachers gathered each Tuesday to eat dinner and visit with one another.

Now we know

Italian reveals what provoked World Cup head butt.

Sounds about right

This is a pretty good Fareed Zakaria column about the GOP's Iran fear-mongering, but Kevin Drum finds a pretty good nit to pick.

What he says

Deja vu all over again

Stop us if you've heard this one:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi and coalition forces have arrested the second most senior figure in al-Qaida in Iraq, Iraq's national security adviser announced on Sunday, saying the group now suffered from a "serious leadership crisis."

We know what that's like.

Heh

One more drop in the polls, and he may yet rebrand this mess War of the Worlds.

Go Hogs

~~Good~~ Tough luck.

Canned

Lee Siegel, wanker.

Mocking Rummy