Phoenix Woman here, cooped up in a place where we got in one weekend all the snow we missed this winter up to this point.
Yeah, it makes it a little hard to maneuver, but we keep on chugging along, just like this train that my spouse snapped last month in southeastern Minnesota. (Personally, I was far more traumatized by the sight of Byron York and Maureen Dowd on my TV this morning, when I made the mistake of getting up early enough to catch part of Press The Meat. MoDo, ever one to pimp her her own material, claimed that at the Oscars tonight, nobody was going to talk about anything but the tiff between the Hillary and Obama campaigns — a tiff that MoDo, of course, did her level best to create with her excrement-stirring column last week.)
So buck up, suck up and let's get chugging!
Here's a roundup of news tidbits that I found interesting, yet won't be found on the evening TV news (at least not in America):
– What if a former KGB official, well-versed in control techniques such as propaganda and murder, took over the world's second-most-powerful nuclear power? And what if during much of that time, the leaders of the one country that could stop him wouldn't lift a finger because they were themselves hideously corrupt, incompetent fascists intent on destroying democracy and freedom both here and abroad? That's the situation we're in with regard to Vladimir Putin.
– Just a reminder not to confuse conservative Jewish neocon allies such as AIPAC with Jewish Americans as a whole: Jewish Americans as a group are the strongest opponents of the Iraq war and always have been, AIPAC and Lieberman notwithstanding, and a new Gallup Poll reconfirms that.
– The doping case against Floyd Landis is falling apart as we speak. Seems that the French lab wasn't too choosy about who it allowed to handle his urine samples, which is a big no-no. This could have big implications for the sports-drug-testing field — and not just for cyclists, either. Landis probably won't get his reputation back, but he might be able to get enough of a career back to put some food on the table.
– Obligatory self-promotion (and promotion of others) note: Charles passes on The Ballad of Sarasota (where it sucks to be a voter), and Alicia Morgan has her artistic take on our new favorite Congressional whackaloon, Michele Bachmann.
– Hey, kids! Looks like BushCo's been giving money to Osama! (But it's OK because he's a Sunni.)
– Oh, and Bush has the contingency plans all ready to launch an attack on Iran within twenty-four hours of his giving the OK. And the word is that if Bush does attack Iran, half the Pentagon's generals will resign in disgust. BOOORR-ING! Where's Anna Nicole Smith's corpse? We wanna talk about that instead!
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Iran. We’re on the brink of a Middle East regional war, and MSM is consumed with the Anna Smith tragedy, Spears or whatever.
I’ll see your train, and raise you a Fire Truck!
I am really, really interested in a Presidential candidate who will focus on peace in the Mideast. And the environment.
Landis was innocent from the get go. WADA has been and is on a witch hunt. They doping authourities have bungled one case after another. This, along with the current UCI/ASO conflict may just indicate that pro cycling has the most inept administration since the IOC.
I like having regular Minnesota posters on FDL.
PW, fess up. Do you say Ohhhh Yaaah?
I admit to it. Cracks me up every time I catch myself and others doing it.
elvisgoat @ 4
Did you forget the USA administration?
I absolutely love trains. I’m an HO geek. Sante Fe, Southern Pacific, Burlington Northern.
US accused of drawing up plan to bomb Iran
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Monday February 26, 2007
President George Bush has charged the Pentagon with devising an expanded bombing plan for Iran that can be carried out at 24 hours’ notice, it was reported yesterday.
An extensive article in the New Yorker magazine by the investigative journalist Seymour Hersh describes the contingency bombing plan as part of a general overhaul by the Bush administration of its policy towards Iran.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran…..34,00.html
In an op-ed in the New York Times, columnist Frank Rich argues that
over five years after the events of September 11, 2001, President George
W. Bush is still ignoring serious terrorist threats to the United
States. Faced with warnings from terrorism experts and a White House
seemingly more focused on Iraq, Rich begs readers to ask, “Haven’t we
been here before?”
This is why the entire debate about the Iraq ’surge’ is as much a sideshow as Britney’s scalp. More troops in Baghdad are irrelevant to what’s going down in Afghanistan and Pakistan. … Who lost Iraq? is but a distraction from the more damning question, Who is losing the war on terrorism?
The record so far suggests that this White House has done so twice.”
“The White House doesn’t want to hear it now, either. That’s why terrorism experts are trying to get its attention by going public, and not just through The Times.”
“It is precisely by pouring still more of our finite military and intelligence resources down the drain in Iraq that we are tragically ignoring the lessons of 9/11. Instead of showing resolve, as Bush supposes, his botch of the Iraq war has revealed American weakness.”
“What’s changed in the few months since his lie is that even more American troops are tied down in Iraq, that even more lethal weapons are being used against them, that even more of the coalition of the unwilling are fleeing, and that even more Americans are tuning out both the administration and the war they voted down in November to savor a referendum that at least offers tangible results, ‘American Idol.’”
“Five years after 9/11, the terrorists would seem to have us just where they want us — asleep — even as the system is blinking red once again.”
Oklahoma kiddo @
3
At this point, I’d be happy with a president who’ll focus on the environment while not mucking up the mid-east any further. Heck, I’d be happy with Al Gore :)
motherlowman @ 2
FIRE TRUCK! FIRE TRUCK! FIRE TRUCK!
Democrats in congress need to start giving the generals a Constitutional leg to stand on in refusing orders to attack Iran.
Simple “sense of the Senate” reaffirmations that the War Powers Act does not trump Article 1 Section 8, and that nothing IWR should be construed as a declaration of war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, ought to do it for any general so inclined to look for a reason to defend the Constitution, per their oath.
Blub @
10
At this stage of the game,we really need someone who will stop ww3,andbegin the long process of locking up the batch of criminals who have been looting the treasury of the usa for the last 6 years
Balrog @ 5
You betcha!
FITZ!!!!
Have you all forgotten??
My doctor won’t let me comment about Iran. Not just bad for my blood pressure, bad for my emotional/mental equilibrium.
Please, other people take this burden from me.
We are in serious danger of entering the next World War.
For real.
Please make it stop.
If I would be allowed to comment I would speak at length about the danger to our nation, to our children and grandchildren, to the shredding of whatever remains of our national reputation…
We are Germany in the 1940’s. And WE will spend the next half century hanging our heads in shame for what we have perpetuated on the world. If not hanging our heads literally at the Hague.
Fine, fine, I’m stopping now.
TAKE ACTION NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE DEAR GOD
egregious @ 15
Feh. Not even FITZ can upstage Oscar night.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 7
My father’s a train buff, and my spouse is a big train buff. So we have lots of train pics.
Phoenix Woman @ 14
A million years ago on mp3.com there was an mp3 of the Yooper Creation Story. I loved it! Never could find it again, sigh.
Heya PW — great links! Would you mind if we move the Oscars discussion upstairs — or would you prefer a separate thread for clothing and bling snark?
elvisgoat @ 4
A lot of people have suspected that WADA went after Landis because it was the next best thing to nailing Lance Armstrong, who retired before they could take him down. Landis was on Armstrong’s old Postal team, and at one time was Armstrong’s closest cycling buddy; that was enough to red-flag him in a lot of people’s eyes.
Heck.. here’s my (rock bottom minimum) litmus test for our next president:
- has a reasonable vision for how to provide Americans with the basic services that citizens of any other advanced industrial democracy (and some less advanced ones as well) have come to take for granted
- embraces multilateral diplomacy
- opposes preemptive war and eschews world conquest
- doesn’t believe that the primary role of the executive branch is to bring about the second coming
- supports fiscal probity
- honors the constitution, including the basic notion that there are three branches of the government
- is not a traitor or a racketeer
- is literate in at least one language
- doesn’t have daddy issues
OK.. maybe my expectations are too low, but still, after the past 6 years…
Christy Hardin Smith @ 19
Whatever works for you, Christy!
(LindaR: left ya something downstairs!)
Oklahoma kiddo @
7
Have you ever ridden the Durango-Silverton train?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 8
Yup — that’s in one of the links cited up top.
Sy’s also the one reporting that Bush has decided to back the Sunnis/Baathists over the Shiites in Iraq and outside of it, even though the Sunni insurgents are the ones killing our troops.
egregious – I am writing my senators and congressman once a week on Iraq and Iran and accountability and habeas corpus and torture and fired USDAs and illegal surveillance and the Patriot Act and safe elections etc.. etc..
Another rail nut here. Grew up watching the GG1 run on the New Haven Line, as well as enough F9 to get me hooked.
Phoenix Woman @ 25
I didn’t think my opinion of bush could go lower…I was wrong
An attack on Iran will drive both Bush and Cheney from office, and the Republicans will be disgraced for a generation. Iran and Sadr have our balls in a vice-any attack will unleash hell like we haven’t seen yet.
Alicia @ 24
No. But I’ll ride any train anywhere if given the chance. When I was in college in Cali years ago, my idea of a vacation was riding the So. Pac. freights. I was a part-time ho-bo. ;0)
Phoenix Woman @ 17
;0)
supposedly the latest copy of the new yorker has comments from Sy Hersh to the effect that his responces to peak oil is to pour gasoline on it…would love to see that artical
Twisted Martini @ 27
;0)
Twisted Martini @ 27
For true train buff insanity, go to Rochelle, Illinois.
Kiddo, if you are going to be in Chicago for yearly Kos, you can get more than your fill of trains. Can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one there!
snuffy @ 32
New Yorker article
snuffy @ 32
The whole thing is here.
the situation we’re in with regard to Vladimir Putin.
Ok, what if Bush/Cheney totally succeed with their plans to render us a totalitarian nation, and the remnants of the CIA decide to oppose them?
That’s what we’re seeing. I can’t comment further, except to say that the wealth of a stolen 1/8 of a large nation will buy a LOT of PR in Washington and other cities. Just sayin’.
I’ve lived near Camp Pendleton for a long old time now, and I’ll tell you, there are bomb noises this afternoon I’ve never heard before.
Nancy? Carl. John? Anybody home? Besides Russ?
nicole !!
Rochelle is awesome, been looking at the webcam for years.
Twisted Martini @ 29
I’m not sure, about driving Bush and Cheney from office, but I certainly hope you’re right. Any B1 bombing of suspected Iranian nuclear sites (the most likely scenario imo) would further make Iran the victim of unchecked US aggression. This would also imvho, drive Iran, Russia, and China closer together. That’s really really not in our strategic interest, but since when did that ever deter Shooter and the Shrub.
snuffy @
32
Here’s a link to the printer friendly version of his article: http://www.newyorker.com/print…..fact_hersh
Twisted Martini @ 35
I might be too rad for KOS. Those guys would probably put me in a straight jacket, gag me, and lock me in a dark closet. ;0)
Twisted Martini @
29
Unfortunately, there are some who are no doubt advising shrubbery that by attacking Iran he’ll tickle the patriotic nerve of Americans… and I’m not completely confident that, with the right spin, these jokers won’t be able to obtain some measure of public support above, say, 25% or 30%, with the same pack of lies they sold us with Iraq. Maybe I’m being too pessimistic here but, then again, maybe not.
FYI
Christy put up a second Oscar watch thread for slaves to fashion…
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..nd-misses/
Alicia@24: I’ve ridden the Durango-Silverton train!
No spin will work this time…The polls are where they are because people figured out, despite the best efforts of the stenography corpse, the Iraq is a disaster.
I’m not saying that we all won’t suffer, but Fredo will reap the whirlwind if he tries it.
Marcy has posted a new TNH thread: http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c….._corr.html
rosalind @
23
}blushing{
Ned Lamont Backs Habeas Corpus — and Chris Dodd:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..42069.html
Someone, please ask TRex to do a snarky post about Sue Ellen Wooldridge, the former administration environmental bigwig who brags about,in her childhood, biting the balls off sheep. Come on TRex, ya can’t pass this one up!
karen allen @ 52
“How to Seduce Ozzy Osbourne in One Easy Step?”
Oklahoma kiddo @ 30
One of my kids was a train nut from one year on, and we found out about Durango-Silverton from another train buff. It’s an old narrow-gauge railroad in Colorado, and it is stunningly beautiful. We took the kids 3 times – took Amtrak sleeper from LA to Grand Junction, then rented a car and drove south to Durango. Too awesome for words.
Phoenix Woman !
Welcome to the Front Page – FDL continues to bring us spoiled little firepups the creme de la creme from all corners of Thedirtyhippieswererightistan
go gal go !
karen allen @ 47
Isn’t it the most beautiful trip ever?
Pioneering Corruption–And Political Payback. Wonder if Marcy’s calling for a blogswarm or three?
Rice pledges direct Iran talks, with conditions
“I am prepared to meet my counterpart or an Iranian representative at any time if Iran will suspend its enrichment and reprocessing activities. That should be a clear signal,” Rice said in Washington.
Updated: 2 hours, 41 minutes ago AP.
Same ol’, same ol’?
EvilDrPuma@53: Let’s not disrespect Ozzy Ozbourne by putting him in the same category as Sue Ellen Wooldbridge. This woman, the top environment prosecutor in the administration, took up living with an environmental lobbyist, throwing him everything he wanted environmentally. So cozy, she and her lover are buying a $1 million house in Colorado with an oil exec.
Oklahoma kiddo @
44
Not.
I was a passenger in a car on cliffs above – that was scary. Wrong season, tho, train wasn’t running.
If you ‘collect’ train rides, go to Lima, Peru, and ride the train up the side of the Andes to Huancayo – all switchbacks and tunnels.
http://thecontrarian.in/magazine/peru/rail1.php
well .here you have it.. straight from the horse’s mouth.. Even if by some miracle Congress manages to pass a veto-proof war limitation measure:
“Rice says Bush won’t abide by legislation to limit Iraq war “
http://www.signonsandiego.com/…..-iraq.html
hail caesar
TeddySanFran @ 36
Thankyou! Teddy
Blub @
21
Dennis Kucinich. No strings attached. Or Mr. Gore.
Great post Phoenix Woman!
Alicia @ 54
I have gone crosscountry from eastcoast to the west…with a private room…trains,the ONLY civilized way to travel….cost a arm&leg though..
Zig alert.
A shout out to Gore from Ellen.
Pretty funny comment.
karen allen @ 52
I know a man who did that on his wife’s family’s little farm in the Manzano mountains near Albuquerque. That was how they did it, he proudly told me. His wife rolled her eyes and said, “Oh, he just wants to show off. It’s perfectly easy to tie the legs and just remove the balls with (some tool) but he has to really get into it.” :-)
angie @
64
Actually, any of them pass that particular set of tests, with the possible exceptions of St Hillary of Chappaqua (who, having no clearly articulated position on anything, it’s really hard to tell) and Dennis (who is just not into the whole multilateralism thing, especially when it comes to trade). I’m not a fan. Gore and, if not, then Edwards :)
As Al Gore steps into the national spotlight because of the Academy Awards and his global-warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” it’s worth remembering that in fall 2002 Gore sought to warn the American people about another “inconvenient truth,” the folly of invading Iraq.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/022507.html
If it is all the same to you, Phoenix Woman, I would just a soon GW and his happy crew of idiots did not get it into their heads that they have the right to choose Russia’s leaders. You might have noticed the problems they created when they tried to re-organize Iraq to their tastes? And Russia has real, working, and numerous nuclear weapons, unlike the various members of the axis of weevils the Crawford Cretin is so worked up about.
Permit me to be shrill.
Team BushDick has committed treason. They’re funding terrorists allied with Al Qaeda. I wrote a Congressman and three Senators before I could even post about it online.
Congress must investigate with a clear intent to impeach if Hersh’s report is true. Should Congress fail to act, only the Jeffersonian remedy of revolution is left.
And I’m supposed to care about Oscar, et al?????
Maybe Pink Floyd was right in defining the root malady: comfortably numb.
Blub– I really don’t believe that Kucinich is an isolationist– he just wants fair trade agreements and after living in a car as a child, who can blame him?
The press and the pundits have given him horrible treatment. His is a voice we need to listen to, imho.
I want somebody who speaks the truth.
New thread from Marcy: http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..l-payback/
Blub @
69
I like blub’s criteria! Edwards, however, can’t utter the words “oppose preemptive war”.
I think in the blogosphere we ought to be paying more attention to the Prez candidates who are lesser known instead of just the big 3 who are blessed by the media and the party. The media certainly aren’t going to do it but we have a unique opportunity to dig deeper. I like Clark a lot. Want to learn more about Dodd, and there are others. Personally, I’m desperate for a genuine peace candidate. We have time to do it, but we need to get off the train that is rushing to ‘08 and piling on the money. Surely we can take time to reflect and focus on a variety of candidates with some well-honed questions and demands. (And I have zero interest in Oscars or Smith’s corpse.)
angie @ 73
i’m with you angie.
1. i lived in cleveland when kucinich was mayor. how often does a politican live up to a campaign promise (that he knows is the right thing to do), even though he knows he will be politically destroyed if he does?
2. i don’t see much “free” about nafta, ftaa, cafta… except the word “free” in the title (other examples are the “patriot act” and the “peace keeper” MX missle). anyone who still thinks nafta was a good idea needs to check out chapter 11 (start here and here)… or read some stiglitz.
as far as i can tell, kucinch has told the truth as he knows it. that, at least, ought to earn our respect.
selise, thank you.
I like the man and his ideas a lot. It is past time for the US to get off its high horse and get about the business of making peace and being an honest broker for good.
He’s persistent and unwavering and right on a lot of issues. That must count for something, eh?
what if the son of the former director of the cia, also well-versed in control techniques and murder, took over the nation’s top nuclear power?
just askin…
Congratulations on your promotion to FDL PW. You deserved it!
We gopher state types are proud of you!
Phoenix Woman, Thanks for the reminder to not confuse neocons with Jewish Americans. Although it’s probably a reminder to the choir, I am amazed at the number of callers to CSPAN who seem to know that it’s the Jews…