Fitz!

well, i truly thought skippy settled the youtube wars, but i guess i was mistaken.

meanwhile, since brooks, kondracke, dickerson, et. al, insist that liberal blogs are to blame for all of joe lieberman’s troubles, we say, when someone asks if you’re a god, you say, “yes.”

OOOHHH RAAAHHH Ned!

ps i know eric scwhartz personally. he’s a nice kid and very funny guy (used to work w/him over at premiere radio before they were assimilated by the borg and i was fired).

Heh. I heard Eric perform this song this afternoon at Falconridge Folk Festival, and then I come home and see it here.

Is there a female version of this song?

God bless you, pach.

I was wondering what you were going to use to follow the drag show from last week.

Now I know.

Brilliant and

ROTFLMAO, WTC (woke the cat)

ROOTZ!!!!!!

Oh, and PACH

!!!

send any and all complaints to eschatonmail at comcast dot net.

I find this is excellent advice under any circumstances. It is also a good place to forward any Nigerian investment ipportunities that may come your way, as well as detailed information about biofuels.

SLEEP !!!!!!

as funny as this is, I gotta stop ;(

night all

Nice title. Snappy music and lyrics. I like the delivery.

I cannot link to Billmon’s blog anymore. Was it shut down or is it just that I can’t get a connection from my computer?

Billmon had a picture of someone, looked like a soldier or militiaman, holding up a baby with its head blown off. I could see from comments in earlier posts that it shocked some people here. Was it shocking enough to get the ISP to shut down the site? Or is it just a connection problem from my end?

Why was the picture so shocking? What do people think happens when you bomb civilian targets, whether the bombers are the terrorist arm of Hezbollah, or the Likud/Kadima party, or the US, or Iraqi insurgents? There must be dozons of kids, maybe hundreds of babies, ended like that. So, one picture of it is so upsetting? People all over the world are seeing that picture, and many more like it. Hope its just my computer. Not censorship.

sorry if this double post–
Nice title. Snappy music and lyrics. I like the delivery.

I cannot link to Billmon’s blog anymore. Was it shut down or is it just that I can’t get a connection from my computer?

Billmon had a picture of someone, looked like a soldier or militiaman, holding up a baby with its head blown off. I could see from comments in earlier posts that it shocked some people here. Was it shocking enough to get the ISP to shut down the site? Or is it just a connection problem from my end?

Why was the picture so shocking? What do people think happens when you bomb civilian targets, whether the bombers are the terrorist arm of Hezbollah, or the Likud/Kadima party, or the US, or Iraqi insurgents? There must be dozons of kids, maybe hundreds of babies, ended like that. So, one picture of it is so upsetting? People all over the world are seeing that picture, and many more like it. Hope its just my computer. Not censorship.

I liked that Schwartz bit very much. Bravo!

puppethead, You make/made a valid point – I agree that it essentially is/was a dirty trick in the style of Karl Rove in an attempt to create a diversion and to discredit Lamont. Good though, that it turned out than Holy Joe was called out as a big fat hypocrite. Because of our corporate controlled rw media, we seldom get such traction on our reverse nelsons – so, that was good. I wasn’t up on whether the HAL stock holdings were maintained in mutual funds; if that’s the case, then, of course, it would be possible for one to be uninformed about one’s portfolios.

But alas, you are right, it was just nasty trickery.

Hi Pach

Got a little more of a note at end of the Blue Amer. thread. Just couldn’t find that article, at least so far. However, concept is REAL. I just know it. I’ve seen it in action.

t-i-r-e-d. Will catch up with this latest tomorrow.

Thanks for all you do! ;->

Susanne @ 6:

I don’t know about a female version of the song, but I do have a shirt that says “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries.”

Nice song. I liked the tune. Words are cool. Nice delivery. Should be a hit.

Alton:

Thanks for the rosaries off my ovaries. I was having a hard time wrapping my mouth around the words.

Thers, I’ve got an interesting opportunity in my inbox from an elderly widow in the U.K.

It does resemble one I got from Nigeria in many ways (actually, it’s an exact duplicate), but since it is from the U.K., our main allies in the war on terra, do you think I should follow up?

Hey gang.

Don’t tell Atrios what I did, ok?

Suzanne:

“Wrap your mouth around?” Ewww…what a visual!

(I’m poking out my mental eye right now. Wow, that was a short trip into the gutter, even for me!)

Billmon’s site is down. I wonder if its some technical thing, or the ISP got angry about the pic of the baby war casualty? I guess time will tell. Anyway you can tell which it is? Other than waiting for Billmon to say.

Looks like everyone’s gone to bed with RevDeb.

Suzanne @6 – I suggest just sing it with great gusto – it becomes even funnier!

Gosh, Pach – it is after 9 here on the west coast… perhaps everybody just got too hot today… at least it’s making the dogs sleep well already…

I don’t have a penis, so I can’t tell the fundies what to do with their Jesus, and my ovaries are long since past caring about rosaries. I do, however, have a TimesSelect subscription, so I thought you might like to know that Bobo’s Sunday column will introduce the world to a new oxymoron, the “neocon instrumentalist.” http://select.nytimes.com/2006…..rooks.html

Now what the hell, you may rightly ask, is a neocon instrumentalist? Someone who doesn’t want to bomb Tehran — yet. Someone who wants Hezbollah to lose while insuring that the Lebanese government wins. How is this miracle to be accomplished? By letting Israel bomb the crap out of Lebanon and then moving in an international force for some serious nation building. In short, a neocon instrumentalist is someone who thinks Chimpy and Condi are doing exactly the right thing. Which is, of course, where Brooks always winds up, with or without the oxymorons.

I am here, Pach. I just don’t seem to have much to say at the moment. I need punaise to get me started.

wesgpc – I can’t get to Billmon’s site either. Maybe he’s under a DOS attack from the little green snotballs for running that pic in other than a celebratory way.

had the CNN on all day… it’s interesting that every special they run describes the brutality of Hezbollah (with the implication that blowing Lebabnon to smithereens is a good idea) and yet, the bloggers with their cell phone movies seem to keep the Lebanese citizens in clear view… good unintended counterbalance….

Oops. It turns out that “p*n*s” is as bad as v*agr*” for the spam filters. Never mind, I’ll get out of moderation eventually.

I said a naughty word the other day and eventually I appeared… I was mad and forgot…

Pach @22, maybe everyone just went to check their e-mail, because it said we should at the end of the video, and you know how suggestible we left-wingers are … so used to following orders, we never thought to do otherwise! And then there were all those e-mails for small blue soldier-come-to-attention pills that we had to forward to Atrios …

Frank Rich ends with this bit on Lieberman in tomorrow’s column:

“It’s possible that even Joe Lieberman, a fellow traveler in the religious right’s Schiavo and indecency jeremiads, could be swept out with Rick Santorum in the 2006 wave. Mr. Lieberman is hardly the only Democrat in the Senate who signed on to the war in Iraq, but he’s surely the most sanctimonious. He is also the only Democrat whose incessant Bible thumping (while running for vice president in 2000) was deemed “inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours” by the Anti-Defamation League. As Ralph Reed used to say: amen.”

•

I have it on good authority Atrios hearts blue, diamond shaped. . . well, you know.

poor little Ralphie Reed! so shocking he lost in Georgia! (snark!)

I’m trying to withhold my anger with Boxer until after the primary – I’m thinking she must owe Loserman big for something and is just fulfilling a promise… we will see what she does AFTER he loses… then if she’s still supporting him, she will completely draw my ire.

JWR #26: Maybe so. There is a lot of worse stuff been put up along that line. Interesting to see what is up.

Dana @31, Frank Rich said Joe Liebermoan was “Bible thumping”? Ummm … doesn’t he (Liebermoan) use a different holy book?

Is this comment too much like the AP pointing out to CHS that “Bush was in DKE, not Sigma Chi”?

The AP never saw Animal House.

AirportCat

I suggest you read the Wikipedia entry on “Hebrew Bible.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible

Wow, Pach, that was fun! I can’t get the Sully vid to play at Atrios, sometimes I guess UTube just doesn’t want to play.

Eric Schwartz is cute and funny and to the point. Love his Uncle Sam outfit.

Oh, I wanna be a fly on the wall for the private RGJoe/BigDog chitchat!!

This is the slowest Late Nite thread I’ve seen in quite some time.

Didn’t realize so many FDLers were Con Ed customers.

i hope against hopes someone will get into the press conference w/boxer on monday and ask her if she agrees w/sen. lieberman that catholic hospitals have a perfect right to refuse to administer plan b contraceptives because it’s such a short walk to another hospital in connecticut.

AirportCat, maybe that’s why Rich capitalized Bible–*g*
Anyway, Rich’s column is another excellent smackdown, entitled, “The Passion of the Embryos.”

“Oh, I wanna be a fly on the wall for the private RGJoe/BigDog chitchat!!”

I wonder if Joe, in order to get Clinton to campaign for him, had to apologize for hosing Clinton down during the Lewinsky flap.

Maybe my faith is misplaced, but I’m counting on Boxer to inform Joe that she will not be supporting an independent bid. (This will take place in that proverbial smoke filled room next week.)

neuro @37, dana @41 : why I like FDL so much, I learn things from the commenters.

neuro @42, interesting choice of verb, “hosing”

YouTube is running a little hitchy and slow tonight it seems to me.

And, really, are you sure you want to see Sully grope hs own ass cheeks as credits roll on Bill Maher?

JWR

“I’m counting on Boxer to inform Joe that she will not be supporting an independent bid.”

I hope you are correct. What would be better is if she would go public with that.

AirportCat

It’s not a standard usage, not in Merriam-Webster Online, but I like the visual image that it suggests.

Maybe it seems slow because I’m not the only one awaiting moderation. It’s hard to remember the spam filters when the entire post on which we are commenting uses a forbidden word. Or maybe it’s just that the post pretty well says it all.

Lemme go look backstage – hold on.

OT – 2 little teacher ladies – I like their style – looks like a little court challenge action:

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration’s policies.
Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating “No More War.” What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?
Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.

at raw story

(ooo! look how fancy I’m getting! a block quote AND a link!)

OC nice job

and yes, I think it is quite possible that Boxer will be in the smoke-filled room with Big Dog for The Talk… I do think she and Loserman are friends and if anyone can talk some sense into him, it’ll be her…

I refuse to lose my faith just yet! I do think there are some Senatorial manners in play here and the script is just being run out….

Thanks, Suzanne! I’m really quite proud! of course it only took me about 20 minutes to get it to work right and I’ll probably not remember what it was that caused success…

oh well…

neuro @47, yeah, and the visual image I get from that goes well with the rest of the thread

and I can’t help but hear those two Canadian guys (Bob & Doug McKenzie?) saying (to Liberman) “Take off, hoser!”

neurophius – What would be better is if she would go public with that.

Yeah, I know. I guess I’m just looking for some reason NOT to be angry with her.

Thanks, Pach. That did seem to shake a few more loose (although they must have used a different forbidden word.) Anyone who wants a link to/preview of Bobo’s column for tomorrow should refresh their screens and look at 26, because refresh comments won’t pick it up, IIRC. ‘Night, all. See you tomorrow.

I doubt RGJoe listens to anybody whose sentence starts with, “When you lose the primary, Joe….” and probably he needn’t — for now. I’m hoping BigDog (and maybe Barbara too) are getting some credit in the JoeBank so they can talk sense to him on 8/9.

Went over to UTUbe central and found the Sully video. Thanks for waving me off, Pach, but I can’t resist a bear scratching anywhere. What a tool he is!

“neoconservative incrementalist”

it is to laugh

OC at 52 -
Thank you for posting that link -
That story didn’t really follow up on something that I wondered about – that the Secret Service was enforcing the “private property” rights of the Republican Party. Seems drastically hinky.

hmmm Billmon’s site is still down

sherocket – I just think it is a crying shame that the politicos don’t get to hear the dissent any more… and of course, it is the scale of it all – Bush gets to murder zillions and everyone else gets arrested for wearing the wrong t-shirt…

Thanks, OC, it’s great to read that some of those cases still are going forward. I’m sure by the time there’s a Democratic President, the “speech free zones” will be a thing of the past, and our leaders will again be subject to heckling and signage opposing them.

All these accommodations for Dear Leader’s fragile psyche amaze me!

I was so proud of my Congresswoman at her town hall meeting at Marina School back in January — when Code Pink stood up and interrupted her speech, Pelosi invited all their members down to the front of the stage, holding their signs so all of us could see them. Of course, they ended up in most of the event photos, getting their message out thanks to the Minority Leader, who wasn’t afraid to face them! Although her SS detail was a little perturbed — presumably they are used to her doing that, though.

Gosh, look who’s back: Daniel Ortega!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00751.html

Hey Matt O., your Unka Dan is here again to make the end of W’s term hell!

had a big ol’ email fight with my very best old friend today. we’ve known each other since high school. he’s still in the Navy after 30 some odd years and currently underway. he’s always been a solid Democrat – always. But I think they only get Fox News on the satellite dish… he’s a very smart man but he doesn’t understand the unilateral executive stuff at all… he’s gotten harsh in his views of “the enemy”…. It saddens me that he is getting so rigid in his thinking.

I’m hoping he gets out of the Navy soon. I always thought it was good he was in – suited him well and good to know that some smart, right-thinking guys were watching out for us…

sad

Jim Webb debated George Felix Allen Jr today at The Homestead in Virginia: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00842.html

You know, Teddy, I know the Dkos poll shows a lot of frustration with her, but my experience over the last few months has given me some real respect for her.

She’s not a genius. She’s not charismatic. She’s not a great speaker or speechmaker. But she is a fighter, and she keeps a fractious caucus rather well together, and she’s learned a lot about us in a short time and treats us with respect.

And she’s sure as hell not Sten Hoyer, who really is a noxious asshole.

Great stuff, Pach.

Defenders say stricter policies are a response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a small price for ensuring the safety of a world leader in an era of heightened suspicion and uncertainty.

OC, the lamest thing about it all is the shrub pulled the same anti-American stunt back when he was governor of Texas.

raise your hand if you think Israel should pay to rebuild all the infrastructue in Lebanon that they’ve knocked down…

what a mess

ifthethunder – certainly seems that W must feel his is the biggest d*ck swinging…

if you had to create a person that I was certain to dislike intensely, it would be W in every way

Bedtime for me, folks. Keep yer Jesus off my penis.

Join us tomorrow at 5PM EST for George Soros. Some special guests may also stop by. You’ll want to be around if they do.

G’night Pack – thanks for the fun show… and don’t worry, my Jesus isn’t anywhere NEAR your penis…

psst – Pach? before you sleep? will you loosen up the moderation? I forgot about the P word…

OldCoastie

“if you had to create a person that I was certain to dislike intensely, it would be W in every way”

I used almost those same words talking to my wife earlier this evening. It feels as if there were an evil god who created Bush just to taunt us.

OldCoastie @71, Israel paying for the destruction of Lebanese infrastructure means US taxpayers footing the bill — and I’m actually OK with that — but I think I would prefer to see the Israelis not just pay for it, but actually go in there and fix it themselves. Not that it would ever happen.

imagine if you had to work for the guy…

sort of explains why he’s got such nut balls surrounding him…. who else could stand it?

Neoconservative instrumentalist.

Dickless Nazi?

just in from dinner with some LeSpeakeasy friends (our old hangout for the Billmon commenting community after he got tired of dealing with massive comment threads) and found the followoing link from a German colleague who I had asked about the Merkel video …

in german but with subtitles, a little levity on a hard day …

http://video.google.com/videop…..0154749704

Airportcat – I think we ought to take it out of their allowance then and send them to the corner to think about what they’ve done…

Just to make you feel good, we had record temps two days in a row and expect again tomorrow. It was 118 on friday, 116 today, expect 114 tomorrow. We also had a record low of 95. Explain that one, record high low?

And it is monsoon season, does not make sense, usually when the monsoon season starts the temp drops to around 100. One of the local power companies (APS) recorded 320% profit and they want a rate hike??? Thankfully, I am with the public utility.

katymine – 118 is too hot! geez, we only made it up to about 110 today… I’m dreading the electric bill, but guess I’ll cross that bridge when I cross it…

I always loved Ortega’s tacos.

-GSD

siun, that one made me laugh out loud.

should probably turn off the computer now, while I am ahead — your laugh and Pach’s!

Regarding Holy Joe’s bible thumping: that was something I have never been able to understand about him as a Jew.

I’m sorry I don’t remember the sourcing on this, but until the 2004 election, Jews as a group voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party, regardless of flavor (Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox.) In contrast, the more religiously conservative Christian voters are, the more likely they are to vote for Republicans. In this last election cycle, Republicans successfully wooed Orthodox and Conservative Jews for the first time. (I also remember there was an Amish voter registration drive in PA, but I don’t know how successful it was.)

The administration’s support of the state of Israel may be a factor in that success, but I think that Israel will, unfortunately, end up being far worse off for Bush’s friendship.

Lieberman may be a practicing Conservative Jew (keeping kosher, etc.,) but his pandering of the religious right does not square with my understanding of Judaism at all. For example, his suggestion that rape victims not have immediate access to Plan B is at odds with a NINETEENTH century ruling by rabbi Yehuda Perilman that “[A woman] differs from ‘mother earth’ in that she need not nurture seed implanted within her AGAINST HER WILL, indeed, she may ‘uproot’ seed illegally sown.” (Quoted by Telushkin in “The Book of Jewish Values.”)

I’d love to see a reporter really grill him on how he reconciles his beliefs with that sort of pandering of the bible-thumpers, but I know that’s only wishful thinking.

I was 105.8 in the shade today, katymine. That was in the shade alongside a creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains of CA. 103 shade yesterday.

katymine and OldCoastie

Where are you located?

Oh yeah. Pootie Poot comes out swinging against The Decider and Deadeye Dick and their good buddies in the black gold industry. This could be titled The Evil Empire Strikes Back.

Russia to shut out US companies from gas field developing.

So, says Russia, you won’t let us in on the Iraq development, screw you’s guys.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk…..?gusrc=rss

-GSD

siun #80: That is one funny video. Must be popular. Bushs ‘operator’ seems like a swell guy who landed a cool job.

Check out the video Siun posted at 80.

Just to be sure everybody is mad at them, the ACLU sues the state of Missouri on behalf of Fred Phelps and his hate-church. I guess if Hater Fred’s speech is safe, all of ours is….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00643.html

neuro – inland So Cal

OldCoastie, I am in Phoenix but the weather is screwy. We get our hot dry temps in May-June and then the monsoons starts with humidity and then the temps drop but we are having the humidity plus the high temps. I am seeing leaves on trees dry up right on the tree.

Thankfully I am on a level payement plan for my power. I pay $250/month every month to make up for my $350-450 monthly bills. Usually I get a rebate of a “free” month for the overpayment but not looking for one this year.

How long is before Bush is due for a another trip overseas? I wonder what hijinks he’ll do next? Get Putin in a headlock, just for some fun? Take a whizz in his water glass at a sate dinner if the loo is too far away? What the heck, it’s under the table, who’d know?

OldCoastie, is that “Coastie” as in USCG? ‘Cause just FYI, after Katrina, I have vowed never to allow anyone to denigrate the USCG (by calling them “puddle pirates” or any other such nonsense) in my presence. I evacuated before the storm, but I know quite a few folks who were here through the aftermath, and by all accounts the Coasties flew their asses off in those little HH-65s, picking people off of roofs and taking them to dry ground. And that Admiral Thad Allen was sure a breath of fresh air after all those FEMA jerkoffs.

katy – I just had good friends who moved from Phoenix to Texas and NOW they are complaining about the heat… once it passes about 82, it’s all too hot for me…

Ok, that was hysterical!

Airportcat – yup – former CG… but small boats, not helos (always said I could swim but could not fly)

;-)

Running the channels and stopped at CNN Anderson Cooper 360 taking about the destruction of bridges, overpasses, electric transmission centers and the airport…. hmmm now who in the world is a global company that can rebuild that?

Anyone take a guess?

kaymine, my first thought as well with regard to the re-building was that there are several companies who must salivate whenever these wars break out, HAL being the big one but also of course GE, Bechtel, et al.

sorry, katymine

and Airport? thanks for the support! Coasties are a pretty sensible bunch – down to earth, independent and somewhat creative in their solutions… I was VERY proud of them during Katrina – it’s unbelievably hard work and extremely dangerous – even during “normal duty”… they were able to do the job because they are used to working without all that much direction from headquarters and it paid off big time during the hurricane.

the USCG gives you a chance to do what’s right…

Hi Teddy,
Since I was following the promo of Robert Greenwald film about the Iraq corruption and Matt o’s posts, I was slammed because I suggested that it was war to feed the military-industrial-congressional complex. Afterall, the USA is shipping bunker busting bombs to Israel now according to Taylor Marsh…
Does everyone else have that horrible sick feeling in the bottom of their hearts over this mess in Lebanon?

glad y’all liked that one … had me hysterical –

Danjay Gupta on CNN was awesome … showing the effects on a hospital of bombing by Israel … worth keeping an eye on his reports

OldCoastie #102: so, ‘coastie’ means coast guard? I went to conference on occupational safety. One of the best talks was by two folks from the Coast Guard. Turns out the Coast Guard was the first group to set up a registry to monitor health problems in people who worked in rescue and relief operations. I was impressed. They had no results yet… but they somehow set it up asap so they could get accurate exposure records.

OldCoastie — small boats or small helos, the constant seems to be big balls. You are rightfully proud of what those guys did during Katrina. One of the very few organizations (maybe the only one) that not only did not screw up, but did far more to help than anyone could have expected.

Now Nic Robertson reporting on the bombing of Lebanese tv … Robertson is pointing out that the stations are not Hizbollah but the way the govt reaches the public with news

both reports – the bomb on a hospital and the destruction of the tv stations are violations of Geneva … even if Hizbollah is operating nearby, you are not allowed to cause damage to civilian targets in this way … so who will prosecute?

yes, “Coastie” is instead of “Coastguardsman” – easier to say and much more inclusive… sailors are all Navy…

My not offcial yet but eventual future son-in-law is a Coastie. Fine man he is.

Airport – it was funny – when you are out there doing that crazy stuff, it never occurs to you that it is out of the ordinary – it is all just real focused problem solving and trying to make sure you don’t lose any of your crew…

it’s later you think, “how the hell did we pull that off?!?

mostly, it’s just thousands of hours of actual operational experience – you are at it all the time under the most unusual circumstances.

katymine, I would have a less sick feeling if there were some grown-ups in charge of our country, but this regional war in the Middle East seems to be just what Dear Leader, Inc., wants.

Suzanne – I’m guessing your daughter will be in good company.

Everyone needs to explain to their friends that what you see now is foreign policy the BushCo way. This IS the Project for a New American Century way, the right way the smart way, the Cheney way. This IS what they think should be normal operating procedure. No multilateralism, no negotiations, no deterrence, no sissy moral suasion. Just let things go and then whomp and stomp all over when they get out of hand. Only set the world back three or four centuries.

Since we’re back on religion and the totalitarian Right, I have a question. Condi said this today:

What we’re seeing here, in a sense, is the growing — the birth pangs of a new Middle East and whatever we do we have to be certain that we’re pushing forward to the new Middle East not going back to the old one.

In Matthew 24, Jesus uses the phrase “birth-pangs” in referring to signs of the end of the age preceding his return. (In the King James text, he refers to “the beginning of sorrows.”) He also talks about not interfering.

Here’s the whole passage:

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs. (Matthew 24:3-8 RSV)

Is the phrase “birth pangs” sufficiently generic not to worry over, or is that code-speak for the base? Am I just being paranoid or has our foreign policy manual actually been replaced with the Book of Revelations?

In any case, they seem more than willing to just let sh*t happen.

Stalled out on my way to bed, so back very briefly. As TeddySF correctly notes, Brooks’ oxymoron was indeed neoconservative “incrementalist,” not “instrumentalist.” Either I mistyped it or a kindly moderator thought it was a typo and “fixed” it while getting me out of purgatory. It was probably me, since I can’t think of Bobo without thinking “tool.”

OldCoastie @110, yeah, I’ll bet if you spent too much time thinking about what you were doing — as opposed to being focused on getting the job done and bringing everyone home safe — you might not even try some things.

Just recently, someone I know who has a sailboat was coming in from the Gulf to the Rigolets (inlet to Lake Pontchartrain) and hit something in the water that stopped them dead. Guy dove over the side to see what they hit, turned out it was a house! Their hull cut a vee into the roof, they got stuck and had to call the USCG to pull them free. Just another day at work …

JWR – it may only be code to speak to the “base”… after all, they are really Happy! these days…. perhaps if they can keep this crap up until October, the fundies will turn out to vote.

Airport – shhh… don’t tell anyone, but the trick for pulling off someone who has run “aground” (or ahouse, as the case may be) is to try very, very hard not to sink the boat you are saving….

;-)

people tend to get a little pissy about that sort of thing

Seems like the Coast Guard has to deal with a little big of everything. I heard a Coast Guard spokesman on a radio interview. He was explaining that you can’t go out and operate a boat while you’re drunk. Said some people who got caught were freaking amazed that you go drunk boating.

Oh man, its too late, and I have a bad cold, so typing is bad.
meant: little bit of everything
and
meant: amazed that it’s against the law to go drunk boating

When my boyfriend and I played “who can think up the best worst-case scenario” on the subject of PNAC (and the code-speaking evangelical fundamentalist christians) – the main thing I remember coming up with was that there could be a horse and a rider here. We only see and hear the horse – the President, the radical religious right, the public figures giving reasons and “policies” and press conferences. They are the horse, along with PNAC, something enough people with enough power believe in to accomplish their public goals. Meanwhile, the rider is certain corporate interests prepared to cooperate with the public agenda while manipulating the true believers into creating greater wealth and heightened protection from accountability, and whatever other private agendas they have.

Granted, this was me playing conspiracy theorist with my BF (whose dad might have been the real-life basis for that Mel Gibson movie, and has a congenital predisposition to conspiracy theories). My only basis for the theory is that if this were all a novel, that is how I would expect it to turn out.

dealing with drunk boaters, you learn a little diplomacy… ya know, it’s hot out there in the sun!

all winter (in New England) we worked with fishermen – we knew them, they knew us – a very compatible relationship…

but, in summer? with the “general boating public”? that was a different kind of adventure….

No doubt the 500,000 displaced Lebanese will agree that their new refugee status is all for the greater good. Birth pangs doncha know.

birth pangs, my ass… we’ve got to kill it to save it!

madness

This is a story here near the border that even the repubs have been whinning about the big question of just where has all the money donated to the minutemen groups going? They do not have non-profit IRS rating and no accounting has been done. Several of the local TV stations have been digging. Here is a story at kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..10246/0891

Apparently much of the $1.6 mil raised over the past fifteen months by Simcox is unaccounted for. Now leaders of the vigilante group want to know where the money is, and why it was funneled through Alan Keyes’ Virginia based charity organization, Declaration Alliance.

When the wingnuts complain, you know something is REALLY rotten.

JWR 114:

I used to have to hang out with a bunch of fundie wingers, and was very familiar with their code-speak. Unless that’s a pretty new one, I’d have to say it’s pretty generic.

Oldcoaste #122: I recently spent a week doing reconstruction work around Bay St Louis LA (or MS? it’s right on the stateline, I think) and Gulfport MS. They hated everyone, mostly FEMA, feds generally, state, church group do-gooders and charity workers (who I think were mainly fakes who ripped people off right after the storm. But people liked the Coast Guard.

katymine – why does that make me laugh so hard?

OldCoastie – The Rapture bulletin boards are full of that sort of talk, (a sure vote getter-outer for today’s GOP), and they’ll be sorely disappointed if it turns out the Rapture is not successfully nudged along by this little mess in the ME.

But to hear our utterly ineffectual SoS start talking like that just gave me the creeps.

Imagine, your neighborhood is bombed, no bank machine, no electricity, you flee with nothing. Maybe the shirt on your back if you’re lucky. Yesterday you were sitting in a cafe with friends drinking a cappuccino. Now you’re on the road to nowhere with nothing. Just like that, 500,000 people, their lifestyle gone. *poof*

wes – I think if they are “sea people”, the understanding is there… when I was in (more than a few years back), Coasties weren’t very authoritarian – “law enforcement” wasn’t a big part of the job yet (hell, when they finally gave us guns, mostly we just shot each other) – the focus was all search and rescue – much more “firefighter” than “cop”… no hostility…. good to know that hasn’t completely changed.

Jenny 130

Sounds like you, too, think we have a wee bit of disproportional response going on?

katymine #125: look, its late and I really have a bad cold and can’t sleep. Did your post and the link really say that? That is very weird.

But, most of Abramoff organization is shut down, and they need to keep the $ flowing. And the minuteman dudes are probably expendable politically. Maybe they are the next chumps pushed outta the lifeboat.

JWR – doesn’t she always give you the creeps? she flips me out everytime I see her… there’s just something not right there – how can a person so smart be so out of touch?

Drunk boaters? Say it ain’t so!

Reminds me of the time a guy ran his week-old 40-foot SeaRay aground on my airport. At night, but what did he think all those lights were, they don’t look anything like channel markers?! Alcohol was involved.

You know that famous Border Fense they were building…. get this… It is a standard 4ft – 5 strand Barbwire fense, you know, the same kind of fense you see ALL over the west.

Those Repugs were expecting a 10ft super fense…

Oh God… the Generals have invaded the 24hr Cable shows…. just like before….

katymine 125:

Orcinus (David Niewert) has writen extensively about Simcox. The guy has a pretty ugly background.

Airport – don’t get me started about the drunk boaters playing chicken in Boston Harbor with the super tankers… oh my! the stories I could tell!

we never lost a soul, but boy, I’ll tell ya’ – it was awful close sometimes!

Oldcoastie #131: The people I met personally called themselves the Rednecks of the Redneck Riviera. Mostly ex-military people, misfit refugees from the Bible belt. People who’d come from all over the country to do construction work, transferred there for work, etc. A real interesting, very mixed demographically, and nice, bunch of people. Some cantankeousness, though. All the people I met lived right next to a bayou or within half a mile of the sea. That is the area that is still wrecked around those parts.

steve 132 -

I’m having a duel dilema lately. I’m ashamed to be an American and I’m ashamed to be a Jew, to tell you the truth. It’s really all too much. We’re in the mother of big trouble.

I watched that Pat Buchanan clip. Gave me chills. And that headless baby at Billmon’s place. I can’t get that image out of my head, sorry I clicked on it.

There was a lightning storm from the heat tonight at the beach. I was outside on the sand watching it earlier. Very eerie. ‘night, all.

When I was up on the NW coast of Alaska visiting one summer, there were lots of Native Americans and fisherman zipping out in what seemed to me to be real flimsy boats on the roughtest seas I have ever seen. And Coast Guard too, except they generally had bigger boats. I took one ‘pleasure ride’ on a boat along the coast. Was terrified and threw up. I can’t imagine what the winter is like.

SteveAudio at 11:15 pm – Well, I hope you’re right.

Jenny 140

Was just haveing a similar discussion tonight with friends, that many American Jews we know are pretty troubled by Israel’s response to this whole thing.

I heard a reporter based in Israel say that while in recent years the average Israeli tended to be somewhat more liberal than their government was, but that had changed in the last week or so, analogous to USA after 9/11.

The thing is, the border incident may be as galvanizing to people as 9/11, but in reality was hardly the same.

I also blogged about an article I found at AntiWar.com stating that the military response had to have been planned in advacne based on the size of it, and also saying that the border incident became a convenient trigger event. I dunno…

wes – I really liked the civilians we worked with (well, except for the Republicans – we’d tow ‘em 3 hours back to their marina, do the required vessle inspection and they’d fuss because one of us left a black heel mark on their deck)… but for the most part, folks were pretty organic and interesting… not always full of education, but solid and decent

wesgpc, Bay St. Louis (what’s left of it) is in MS … they are usually nice folks over there, but I can’t say that I blame them for being pissed off at most everything and everybody these days … large areas of coastal MS were completely wiped out, and many of those folks feel that they have been ignored while the national media focused on New Orleans … it is a complaint that is not without merit …

wes – winter tended to be… er, COLD! and rough but beautiful and wild… requires a lot of respect for “the mother” (earth)

OldCoastie at 11:20 pm JWR – doesn’t she always give you the creeps?

Lol. Why yes, yes she does. :p

She also said today, “Syria knows what it has to do.” Wag the finger schoolmarm diplomacy. Unreal.

#145 and #146: the places I worked, MS is doing much better than LA. There are places I drove around Lake Pontchartrain that look like nothing had happened since the storm except it has dried out. MS has quite a relief operation going, at least by the time you get as east as Gulfport.

Airport – I suspect the CG will be punished in terms of funding until W is out of office – they set up expectations of what the gov’t could accomplish and made everyone else look extra incompetant…

I think that’s the way this admin works…

steve 144 -

I absolutely think the response was planned, an excuse to devastate Lebanon. It’s inconceivable violence — destroy an entire population as a response to a border incident. I’m Jewish by birth, and that’s all — I can’t ever remember siding with Israel and their heavy-handed, atrocious war-mongering. Hateful, destructive, anti-life. There are no excuses. Okay, laterzzz…

Jenny, I think you’re right – it seems like a huge, coordinated response almost literally overnight.

More info on the Minutemen from NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07…..ref=slogin

The organization has not released any financial statements or fund-raising records since it was created. Several of the group’s top lieutenants have either quit or threatened to do so, saying requests to the group’s president, Chris Simcox, for financial accountability have been ignored, The Times reported.

Mr. Cole said he personally collected “tens of thousands of dollars” in donations during the Minutemen’s 30-day April 2005 border vigil in Arizona. But he said that despite numerous requests, he was never told where the money went.

Mr. Cole said Mr. Simcox removed him as a national director of the border campaign “for asking too many questions about the money.”

I heard that someone sold their home and donated the whole amount to the Minutemen, the Repubs whinning on AZ TeeVee saying they were seeing checks for thousands of dollars being sent in, but they are sitting down on the border with no water, food or porta-potties.

Don’t think too many are sitting out there this weekend since it was 116-118!

wesgpc @149, large parts of Eastern New Orleans are still mostly unpopulated. Mind-boggling amounts of debris have been picked up and carted away, but there is still so much left that you might not notice had you not seen with your own eyes so much hauled away. The FEMA trailers are starting to seem like a real bad idea now that we are well into hurricane season. People living in trailers are being advised to evacuate for Tropical Storms. And if we get a storm, flying debris will definitely be a problem.

#153: I read in the paper today that some minuteman group is planning on building their own border fence. That will be swell. Maybe they’re saving up for it.

what I can’t figure out is W keeps walking around saying, “freedom! democratically elected! freedom!!” and here he has a democratically elected gov’t in Lebanon that is pretty darn moderate by comparison… and then he let’s Israel blow it all to sh*t… he just seems like such a putz…

doesn’t he notice the contradiction? someone on the tv (couldn’t say who) said that this is all some sort of… erm… (uh-oh, not enough words stored in my head)… proxy, maybe? for a war between us and Iran… I don’t know if that’s right or not but it was an interesting thought.

Suzanne says:
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:17 pm

Is there a female version of this song?

*Ahem* my humble submission for this request:

Keep your Savior off my labia
Keep your bible off my boobs
Keep your prayers out of my ears
And your crosses out of my tubes
You can keep the virgin mother
And the resurrection too
Keep your Savior off my labia
I’ll keep my labia off of you

#154: Yes, that’s what people told me ‘You should have seen four months ago’. But still, seemed like whole communites in Eastern LA were still dang near deserted. Not just poor ones, like in New Orleans. I saw some very high income developments just sitting there empty. I didn’t see that in MS. I wondered what was going on. But was just driving through those parts, so never found out.

OldCoastie @150, that would indeed be regretable, but perfectly in “character” (if I may use the word in this context!) for this administration.

wesgpc’s votinglinks – see my post on #136, the only fense being built here is a standard 5 strand barbwire fense. Regular white bread western fense.

#156: I’ve repeated this so many times that if I say it again I fear I may be banned. But in Paul O’Neil’s tattle tale book, there is a quote of Bush saying that the wisest policy is to let them fight it out and the US will deal with the guy left standing. Now I see he is letting that play out. He must have no clue, he must think its like a bar fight or something, with no broken bottles to wave around.

katymine – I don’t think those minutemen with their beer bellies and the massive amounts of heart and cholesterol meds they must be on are probably in any shape to be out in this heat… they are probably inside the air-conditioned Sizzler poundin’ down another rack of ribs with onion rings on the side…

a least the ones around here on the tv fit that mold… I never figured they’d be able to catch much anybody, considering…

justathought – YEA!!!!

nice job!

wes – but doesn’t somebody usually step in during a bar fight? stop the thing – especially when one of your friends is involved?

only a great big wimp would duck out…

What is this I keep hearing about “taking the ‘F’ out of FEMA”? Are they planning to give us an Entirely New Emergency Management Agency?

#164: Yeah, but… I dunno how those people think. Look at the video posted in comment 80. That’s the best explanation I’ve seen. Bush is run by some party dude roadies who operate him, and the German dude with the job of ‘Bush pilot’ has a weakness for taking breakes with beer hoagies and loud rock at just the wrong moments.

I think my Nyquil is kicking in. So will try to sleep.

justathought at 11:45 pm – Hey, that’s pretty good!

wesgpc – Hope you feel better soon.

#164: to be serious before I leave, the frightening thing is that I truly believe that what you see now is the BushCheney and PNAC approach to international relations. the US and its allies are strong, it is unmanly and sissy for the strong to go around diplomating and talking with the bad and/or weak. No, you just sit back and open a can of whoop-ass if any one gets too out of line. War as first resort in terms of any proactive policy action. Amazing, but I think true. It’s more or less what the PNAC statements say is the right way to do it. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, and says its a duck, I guess it’s a duck. Welcome to… how far back should be go… a long time. More than three or four hundred years.

just a thought

Wow! That was more than just a thought. That was fabulicious. Thank you.

Well, I was going to play off the phonym “resurrection” with a joke about the “second coming” but I just couldn’t make it scan correctly.

Oh well ;)

night, wes – good chatting…

oh! look how late! time for a little “nap” so I can get up before the heat…

have a good one, all!

The new Emergency Management Plan without the F means the YOYO plan – You’re On Your Own

Good night too… have to get up early to mow the lawn!

justathought at #157 – engorged with brilliance!

Remember how the terror warnings stopped…. after Election Day 2004? This administration has demonstrated again and again it will make foreign policy decisions based on political need, which is why I’m detecting a similar odor emanating from Lebanon.

Can you recall a previous offensive that was launched by the IDF after the capture of just 3 soldiers? I can’t. I fear the whole show is Rove-driven, designed to rattle sabres at Iran… till Election Day.

Try to debate the merits of Hezbullah pragmatically? We’ll be labelled ’soft on terrorists.’ Criticize Ohmert? We’ll be Jew-haters, and Rove will say that’s why we’re going after Lieberman.

I don’t believe I’m paranoid. I really believe Ohmert was looking for an excuse, because Bush requested it. Bush knows losing the majority in Congress leaves him open to impeachment. Don’t underestimate their fear. They were already capable of high crimes; what are they capable of if they feel cornered?

I believe Israeli policy is being driven by Bush right now. And though I think the country’s wised up, there’s nothing like nukey talk to cause serious shrinkage in that newfound courage.

Ya have to think like a polecat to unnerstand where the next stinkjet’s aimed. How many will die because Bush needs a political win?

As many as it takes. Awful as that is.

My favorite lyric is still:

Tell them soul suckin’ preachers
to come down and see
Part man, part monkey,
Baby, that’s me.

The Boss is apparently not a creationist.

Keep your Savior off my labia
Keep your bible off my boobs
Keep your prayers out of my ears
And your crosses out of my tubes
You can keep the virgin mother
And the resurrection too
Keep your Savior off my labia
I’ll keep my labia off of you

Keep your crucifix outa my cervix
Keep your Lord away from my loins
The Pope can prattle if he wants to
But don’t tell me I have to join
Keep your Savior off my labia
I’ll keep my labia off of you

lotus – Looks like I need to mop this morning before I pass the tiki torch over to ya. Left a few bagels with all the fixins along with some fresh juice. Enjoy the papers (ha) and I will see you in the afternoon. Oh, Some Penguin Cafe Orchestra in the CD player for your Sunday morning listening pleasure and we need to fill the bird baths twice a day in this heat.)

Not my imagination. Definitely something fishy happening right now. Kos, Brad Blog, Raw Story, AMERICAblog, MyDD, Seeing the Forest, Digby, and this site are all maddeningly slow.

Michelle Malkin, Little Green Footballs, Powerline, Fox News, Myspace, Andrew Sullivan, non-political blogspot pages, ESPN…..no problem whatsoever.

OldCoastie at 11:20 pm – doesn’t she always give you the creeps?

One last thought before fading away. I suppose it’s that I’m accustomed to Condi being incompetent in a secular sort of way. That bit about the birth-pangs just sounded a bit too much like her husb.. I mean, like George.

Mawnin’ awl……..from damp DownEast Maine? Coffee anyone?

Steve Audio at 144, followed by others, said what many have been thinking:

also blogged about an article I found at AntiWar.com stating that the military response had to have been planned in advacne based on the size of it, and also saying that the border incident became a convenient trigger event. I dunno…

Confirmation from SFChronicle by way of Juan Cole:

More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail.

Cole has many interesting comments. For instance, on aspects of controlling the public response to actions which are, to understate ludicrously, controversial:

The Israelis tend to launch their wars of choice in the summer, in part because they know that European and American universities will be the primary nodes of popular opposition, and the universities are out in the summer. This war has nothing to do with captured Israeli soldiers. It is a long-planned war to increase Israel’s ascendency over Hizbullah and its patrons.

Cole begins his extended analysis of the apparent basis of U.S. policy with this chilling observation:

That is why I was so shaken by George W. Bush’s overheard conversation with Tony Blair about the war. He clearly thought that it broke out because Syria used Hizbullah to create a provocation. The President of the United States did not know that this war was a long-planned Israeli war of choice.

Why is that scarey? Because the Israeli planning had to have been done in conjunction with Donald Rumsfeld at the US Department of Defense. The US Department of Defense is committed to rapidly re-arming Israel and providing it precision laser-guided weaponry, and to giving it time to substantially degrade Hizbullah’s missile capabilities. The two are partners in the war effort.

In finishing up on Condi Rice’s birth pangs, Cole suggests that the phrase as she uses it is a reference to an idea Cole attributes to the neocons, “creative chaos.” I found a reference to creative chaos from Rumsfeld in this CounterPunch article. It certainly leaves room for accusations that these people use language in very cynical ways to exploit the undiscerning, since I expect a lot of the religious right-wingers do hear “birth pangs” as a doctrinal reference. (”…that nice Baptist girl,” and you know they’re thinking girl, “from Alabama…”)

Morning, all.

Jenius, I realize this is an hour-plus later than your report, but I just tried most of those (friendly) sites and they’re fine now.

Great thread, y’all — Pach’s and siun’s videos, justathought’s lyrics, OldCoastie-wesgpc-AirportCat’s exchange, katymine’s report, and all the rest — 100% primo.

Ooo, and what yummy bagels, Eureka! Thanks a bunch. (How ’bout you and thet mop come on down here for a visit, darlin’ boy? I can’t seem to teach these cats the knack . . .)

Why thank you, OS, doan mine if I do. Here, help me with all these bagels and cream cheese and goodies, woncha? You too, prostratedragon! Eureka was way generous.

Many thanks for Juan Cole’s and your “nice Baptist girl” contributions; chilling’s the word, all right. Heading to Cole’s right now myself, then probably on to some of the Iraq[i] blogs I’ve been distracted from this week … see what I can find to goose our jollification . . .

Jenny at 152
Check out this unfortunate woman’s blog. Did DarkBlack show up tonite?

Why you’re certainly welcome!

Hope you see this today—my FDL and certain other connections have really hit the sludge all of a sudden, as Jenius says. Took nearly 20 minutes to refresh once.

Just read through yesterday’s posts and comments. I don’t know how any sentient being can stomach–now aint that a purty verb–this admin and its utter disregard for the commons. I know WE can’t, but the rest of them…..maybe it’s time to shut down Maalox……..

Off to another day at Ye Olde Faire Not Scarborough. In my intensely rainy wind driven dreams, the tarps and inventory were all in the mud, and the popup had rolled off the field into the woods. But there are patches of blue skies to the west, so maybe the downpour just ending was a final shot.

Happy day to all,
OS

Dang I’m tired. Been arguing with fanatics from all sides for hours. One of my better posts:

I absolutely don’t see how violence solves this problem for Israel. My understanding is that Hez has only 1,000 hard-core members. If things go great for Israel and all 1,000 are killed everyone knows what happens next: 1,000 more spring up to take their place from their auxiliaries. This is a Sisyphean task that Israel will never complete. The only way to achieve a long-term solution is through negotiation and compromise. Clearly, incentives must be provided to the Lebanese people to establish a strong democratic central government. That is the only thing that will stop the rocket and terrorist attacks for good.
The current strategies Israel is employing are driving that one solution years into the future. Of all the foolish things Israel is doing, the most counterproductive is the driving of all the Canadian and other emigres out of Lebanon. Frankly, the loss of these people with their exposure to mainly western, pluralistic and democratic countries is an enormous blow to the establishment of a strong democratic central government in Lebanon.
Oh, and murdering 8 Canadian citizens was just brilliant. Four of them were small children born in Canada. These actions have lost Israel many friends in Canada. Even people, like me, who once were ardent supporters of the state of Israel.

Whoa — this morning Juan Cole makes one claim that stuns me (emphasis mine): “In fact, the instability in Iraq mainly comes from Sunni Arab guerrillas, who hate Iran and it is mutual.”

Iraq’s instability mainly comes from whom, JC? The folks now begging us to stay and protect them from Muqty’s and Jabr’s little death-angels all over the place?

WTF?

And WTF especially on your way to this conclusion?

Because of their fetish for states, the Neoconservatives of the Bush administration are unable to see that the Levant and points east are now the province of militia-parties that dominate localities and wield asymmetrical paramilitary force in such a way as to stymie states, whether local host states, local adversaries, or imperial Powers. Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas and other groups in Gaza and the West Bank, al-Qaeda/ radical Bedouins in the Sinai, the Muslim Brotherhood in some Sunni areas of Syria, the tribes and gangs of Maan in Jordan, the Peshmerga of the Kurds, the guerrilla groups of the Sunni Arabs in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, Badr Corps and Marsh Arabs of the Iraqi Shiites, the Basij and Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Iran, the party-tribes of Afghanistan–whether the Tajik Jami’at-i Islami or the Pushtun Taliban–and the biradaris and ethnic mafias of Pakistan, are all arguably as significant actors as states, and often more significant.

By its assault on Middle Eastern states, whether it takes the form of military confrontation or of “pressure” to “democratize, Neoconservatism in Washington and Tel Aviv has increased the power and saliency of militia rule throughout the region. The transition under American auspices of Iraq from a strong if odious central state to equally odious militia rule and chaotic violence is only the most obvious example of this process. More people have been killed in terror attacks in Iraq every month since February than were killed on September 11, 2001 in the US, and since Iraq is 11 times less populous than the US, the 6,000 killed in May and June are equivalent to 66,000 killed in civil war violence in the US. Condi Rice echoes the old Neocon theory of “creative chaos” when she confuses the Lebanon war with “the birth pangs” of a “new” Middle East. The chief outcome of the “war on terror” has been the proliferation of asymmetrical challengers. Israel’s assault on the very fabric of the Lebanese state seems likely to weaken or collapse it and further that proliferation. Since asymmetrical challengers often turn to terrorism as a tactic, the “war on terror” has been, at the level of political society below that of high politics and the state, the most efficient engine for the production of terrorism in history.

Juan Cole almost always makes sense to me, but this “Sunnis are most of the problem” thing doesn’t. Whaddya reckon got into him for a minute there?

CNN breaking – female photo-journalist killed in Lebanon

Any word who, twolf?

Now CNN says SH hospitalized (his hunger strike).

More big suicide-bombings in B’dad, of course — “Iraqis are now asking themselves whether a trip to the market for fruits and vegetables is worth it.”

lotus – they haven’t given a name yet. All they said was that she was a contributor to many major wire services.

Oh thank God — Salam Pax heard from!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006
New [Baghdad Blogger] report for Newsnight went out a week ago.
You can watch it HERE – needs Real Player – it is slightly squished because they have the 16:9 transmitted version on that site instead of the 3:4 version.
The second film has been shelved until August.
posted by salam at 5:09 PM

Washington Journal just announced that they have an invitation in to Joe & Ned on their show.

Well I just don’t accept Juan Cole’s argument west of, oh say Ninevah. Everything east I blame on Dubya. I see what Juan is saying has a measure of validity, frankly everywhere in the world (seriously redstate vs. bluestate, will the yellow dog militia be issuing shortly). But this misunderestimates the value all societies place on goodwill and the longing for sound governance. Just talk to the proprietor of your local Lebanese coffee shop – you will be set straight.
Clunk, — a feral member of the canine family falls asleep.

Sleep well, you jackally pooch.

Good morning FDL I’ve got coffee and danishes here for everyone (cherry filled almond pastries really)

General David Grange on CNN now – he can’t pronounce ‘nuclear’ either. You would think a general, or anyone in power, would be better informed than that.

C-Span will cover the Clinton Liberman thingy–on tape delay!

Jonathan Kaplin on Wajo, loves the Gop!

Hotcha, cc!

beard5, you feed us SO well, bless ya.

the Clinton-Looserman event is not likely to proceed smoothly — it could make for some good TV unless it all gets editted out. It’ll be fun to watch a skillful politician like the Big Dog try to handle a contentious event — Bill will get to see what a fuckup Wniny Joe has become in Connecticut !

Ah, food is love in Chez Beard.

And kneading dough is a good way to take out my frustrations with the current situations around the world.

I’ve been listening to the Washington Journal on CSPAN, so the dough is very well kneaded.

CNN via Reuters – Syria calling for cease-fire followed by diplomacy

Hmmmm… Now that’s really some idea poster lespool over at Next Hurrah has;>)

lotus, jmo, but whatever oil the Shiia and Kurds are offering is a lot less than what they had under Saddam. A lot of them appear to figure, they have the least to lose and the most to gain through violence.

Also, Bush administration appears to have figured out that the Sunni’s are still their only counterweight to Iran, so the Sunni’s know they have leverage with Bush to continue car bombing the Shiia in Bagdad. Bush isn’t anti-terror, he just wants to balance it to maximize US influence in the region.

France used Germany and Prussia in particular for centuries against Russia in this way. They wanted a strong Prussia (Eastern Germany) as a counterweight to Russian expansion into Europe. France also supported a fragmented Germany, who would only unite against Russian aggression. Bismark spoiled all that, unified Germany, and used all that Prussian military expertise to crush the French in 1870.

JWR 115, creepy creepy creepy.

Bush isn’t anti-terror, he just wants to balance it to maximize US influence in the region.
The whole world appears to have figured this out, except for the TM in the US, selectect parts of the West, and Israel.

Wrt to JWR’s 115, all four canonical gospels (Mk, Mattt, Luke, John) are written after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70CE. It was that event, not the (Roman) crucifixtion of Jesus which primarily caused the remnants of Israel to expel followers of the Nazarene from Judaism. That’s where the anti-semitism in the NT mostly comes from, Jewish followers of Jesus who worshipped in the Temple from his death @ 30 until 70, getting kicked out of the Temple, and losing their jobs, which were contingent on being observant Jews. It was only then they had to start a new religion. Naturally they turned to Paul’s writing, 49 – @60, because he had converted the Greeks, who did not understand the essential Jewishness of Jesus. Until the unearthing of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other non-canonical documents from the 1st Century, we did not understand how much our understanding of Jesus had been filtered by Greek culture.

Oh man, ya gotta see Salam’s new video at http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=56445 (transcript available there too).

WRT to videos, a very-minor-woe is me. They’re so dark on my screen that I can barely make out faces, and subtitles plumb worthless. My local techie just says it’s because my monitor is (a) Gateway and (b) antique (but feeling a new fridge coming on soon, I need to soldier on with it). There’s a drop-down door below the screen, and when I poke the little wheel behind it, a mini-window with “Contrast” and other controls in a hub-&-spoke pattern appears. But when I try to put the cursor on the mini-window, the arrow just disappears behind it, and after a bit, the mini-window itself goes away.

Any advice for me, anyone? To avoid hijacking the thread any further, you could email me at lotuslander@cfl.rr.com

Much thanks in advance for any help.

That “to” was redundant, wadnit.

CNN is just wall-to-wall unmitigated horror. Jeezo-petes.

“That “to” was redundant, wadnit.”
Yep, and mine was too.

Oh well, John, maybe these good folk will forgive us. This once. *g*

new thread

Thought the video was hilarious, still laughing and singing it to myself.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I feel like the YouTube wars are only amusing to those involved in them. No, I don’t lack a sense of humor, I’m just tired of having to scroll past music videos posted up on political sites. It’s almost as bad as people in bands trying to force me to listen to endless recordings of live performance–though at least that make sense as they’re actually making the music.

I guess it’d be one thing if I shared the musical taste of the blog master or mistress, but one thing I’ve discovered is that the folks who run political blogs appear to be allergic to either pop music or rap.