Seems like I couldn’t turn on a TV newscast this past week without seeing some breathlessly-hyped effort to link Democratic presidential candidate (and presumed front-runner) Hillary Clinton to some alleged naughtiness on the part of a major campaign contributor, Norman Hsu, who the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal is attacking.
But guess what? There’s much more concrete evidence of wrongdoing (including an actual 23-count indictment!) on the part of Alan Fabian, the finance chair of Republican presidential candidate (and presumed front-runner) Mitt Romney — yet the national press is as silent as the tomb in comparison. (And I say this as someone who is not exactly a Clinton fan.)
Last month, we found that when a Democratic congressman pushes an airport security person, that becomes national news within hours — but when a Republican Senator is busted for peeping into bathroom stalls and trying to solicit sex therein, the press will sit on it for over two months until somebody finally leaks the story to Roll Call. (Of course, the Republicans are now patting themselves on the back for their speediness in deep-sixing Craig once the story was no longer covered up, but if he’d been in a state with a Democratic governor — as is his fellow Senatorial perv, Diaper Dave Vitter of Lousiana — they’d still be backing him to the hilt as they have all throughout his decades-long career up to last week, because they’d rather eat ground glass than allow a Democratic governor to appoint the successor to a Republican Senator.)
And here’s a story that you won’t be seeing on the national TV news anytime soon, being as they’re too busy telling us about Hillary’s icky (and Asian!) friends, and because it involves a Republican legislator being naughty (hat tip to this Kossack):
A local couple is complaining that U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn left them two threatening voice mails after they wrote a letter criticizing his fundraising.
Jonathan Bartha and Anna Bartha told The Denver Post that Lamborn said there would be “consequences” if they did not withdraw their letter.
“We felt very threatened and intimidated, and quite frankly, scared,” Anna Bartha said. “It was just not anything we would ever anticipate an elected official would pursue or a way that an elected official would conduct himself.”
Charming, eh?
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PW Again!
Must be My Day! *g*
First?
lovely…
PW, It’s exactly why I turned off 24/7 news. Tonight I turned on Newshour to see what they were going to cover. Josh Bolton will be a guest. I don’t have enough cold beers to endure that.
charmed, I’m sure.
FWIW, the Idaho Statesman has stated they knew ‘nothing’ until Roll Call broke the story. I don’t think it was covered up by “the media.”
JPL @ 5
it’s unwatchable anymore.
Phoenix Woman once again plumbs the depths of the media bowels so we don’t have to. I see a Medal of Freedom in her future.
Diaper Dave needs to be run out. Not sure how to get that ball rolling, but it’s gotta get going.
The Hsu’s are interesting. What’s unclear to me, is what he’s trying to get her to do? I do fault Clinton for taking his money a SECOND TIME after hubby ALREADY had to return his money back in the 90’s. Should know better — unless the money was funneled as NOT from Hsu, and that scenario especially begs the question of where Clinton’s impropriety comes in? What’s she promising him? That whole thing is very murky to say the least.
Aaaaaaanyway…
PW, you’d almost think that the MSM was favoring the Republicans.
The MSM seems to have lightened up as to whether Hillary is warm and fuzzy enough.
Hi Firepups, greeting from Italy.
I have been reading about the scandals that keep hitting the GOP (Craig, Vitter to name just the most recent ones) and I must say that I find amazing how deaf and blind your general public seems to be not sheer hypocrisy that one can see behind these revelations. The all-family-values, all-Christian-values gopers very often end up being doing behind closed doors exactly what they have been ranting against when sitting in the hall of the parliament or of the senate. How comes that they are not the laughing stock of the nation, how comes that there seems to be so little outcry on the public arena about house members and senators that have made duplicity a way of life? I understand (?!) the down deep crazy right-winger a la Malkin, Ole Professor and so on, they will just shut their eyes and keep singing the GOP gospel, but what about the average guy, the middle age conservative (I am thinking my own father here…) that buys in the conservative way of thinking because he is convinced that a stable society is the paramount of western civilisation (no matter how unequal the system is.. but that’s another story)? Does this just fly over those kind of people head without (voting) consequences?
Again the fact that the press seems to be so compliant is something that leaves me dumbstruck: I mean even with our dismal press here in Italy (and trust me, it is really bad, completely in the pockets of the rich and powerful) a blatant contradiction between acting and preaching as the one seen in those two examples above would be a death sentence to any politician and for the party he is a member of (at least if exposed… God only knows that politicians need a keen eye on them to keep their abuses to the minimum… Italian history is full of terrible examples…).
Please do not misunderstand me: I can see how this hypocrisy strikes you (and all the people of the left blogosphere I have the pleasure to read) as much as me , my puzzlement is about the average citizen, the fathers and the mothers, the middle class people… in a word in the GOP “normal” voters…
P.s. This a trimmed down version of a post that got “eaten” by the site this morning.. let’s hope it works.
14th
hey hey hey!!! Not so fast with the craig thing. He aint resigning so fast. as a matter of fact, the phony gooper bastards that were calling for him to resign and leave the planet appear to be switching to supporting the fucking perv.
Ya gotta love the goopers. Now lets see what the dems do.
Edward R. Murrow rolls in his grave at all this biased drivel. Fine to report on Clinton but Double Gitmo Romney is fair game too!
Here are a few articles in response to Mearsheimer and Walts new book, and Justin Raimando updates us on the latest on the “off limits” to the MSM A*P*C trial (and generally the progressive blogosphere)
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11554
“Many people have written me – given that I have covered the implications of the *A*P*C spy trial in detail but haven’t published anything on the subject recently – asking whatever happened to Rosen, Weissman, and the case, and darkly implying that since the supposedly all-powerful “Jewish cabal” that (in their view) runs the world couldn’t possibly allow this to come to trial, it won’t ever see the light of a courtroom. Ah, not so: the trial, though delayed – through the successful legal tactics of the defense – has not been derailed. A trial date of Jan. 14, 2008, has been set – although this, too, is tentative, given the outcome of several pending legal maneuvers. Another reason for the successful delaying tactics by the defense: the media hasn’t paid any attention to this case, apart from a brief flurry of interest when the story first broke.”
This 7th delay of the A*P*C Rosen espionage trial may give the lobby more time to build support for a pre-emptive strike on Iran based on unsubstantiated claims.
Here is Abe Foxmans response to the newly released book by Mearsheimer and Walt.
http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/deadliest_lies/
No response to the book at Forward .
More responses to the newly released book
http://desertpeace.blogspot.co…..about.html
http://cornellsun.com/node/23853/22241
1,589 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Phoenix Woman and the Firepup Patriots:
Ain’t NUTHIN’ “charming” about American fascists and krypto-Nazis…their presence in our history has tested God’s patience. I wonder how much longer we’re gunna get devine benign neglect.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, REMEMBER WE GOTTA CLEAN THE MESS UP AFTER WE GET RID OF THE BASTARDS!!
Kimba, I think many people are as amused as they are outraged. We might be sorta scandaled out. But I’ve heard people in Idaho consider Craig quite the hot potato! They’re pretty upset and feeling betrayed.
FWIW.
Frankly, I’m a bit more ticked about Vitter hiding behind his kids.
From The Hill:
NPR is as guilty as anyone.
Some day there will be justice, IMO.
The evil ones will perish.
Their enablers and manipulators will perish.
Those who sat by and did nothing will perish.
And so will everyone else.
Destruction of our planet, the most fundamental issue.
If Americans Knew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..mp;search=
allan_in_upstate @ 21
more of the mycelia of BushCo/Republican corruption
AZ Matt @ 20
What a jerk. IF people speak out incorrectly about someone’s record, they always have the opportunity to set the record straight THEMSELVES by writing their own letter to the same editor.
That’s how it’s done in the free world.
Passion my ass.
I remember a time when the press was on top of things and inquisitive, hard working, pretty much top notch. That wasn’t so long ago. I thought they were pretty good during the Watergate incident. I just can’t seem to figure out how they got here from there.
Ann in AZ @ 26
they all wanted to be celebrities like Woodward and Bernstein
Did anyone see the bit on BBC world about PM Gordon Brown going around talking and, er, listening to people from all different political parties? He even appointed an outspoken opponent to lead an important committee.
Can anyone imagine that happening in our divided country anymore?
I don’t know if it was a puff piece, fairy tale, or the real deal, but it sure felt nice to watch it.
I think I know why the MSM is ignoring the Romney case. The old white boys of the GOP’er party are boring as hell. Just look at the Hollywood Fred commercial that is supposed to be showing tonight. It’s bobble head Fred.
As far as Craig and McConnell, Howie has been talking about this for a while. My bet is that if Craig is forced to resign, he might bring ol’ Mitch down with him. There have been rumors for a long time no that Craig isn’t the only one that learned top tapping at Union Station.
Kathleen @ 17
You know, the other day when Abe Foxman was on Fresh Air, I couldn’t listen to him. I don’t know what it was – maybe his dismissive, “you should never, ever question the state of Israel” attitude – or what, but he was absolutely unlistenable.
Elliott @ 27
Now they all want to be sure they can get jobs with News Corp, so Republics are mostly hands off.
Ann in AZ @ 26
Private ownership to corporate ownership.
JPL @ 5
thanks for the heads up. I was trying to rush home from work to watch. Now, I’ll have to stop by the drug store for some *an*x and vodka.
Ann in AZ @ 26
For the most part, the national press corp was fairly co-opted during the H2Ogate years. Not quite as bad as today but nearly so. Woodward and Bernstein were not national reporters, they worked the Metro desk. They just thought it odd that burglary suspects were getting high priced legal talent and took it from there.
It was IIRC Joe Alsop, one of the WaPo0 pundits/columnists, who coined the term “third-rate burglary” to describe H2Ogate in an attempt to blow it off as meaningless.
I stepped away from the computer for a minute and had a chance to rethink my last comment. I take it back. The change in the media absolutely must be a consequence of who is allowed to own our airwaves and other forms of media. The poor performance of the media must be a function of media consolidation, since they all seem to be moving in lockstep. No wonder our Congress is wondering around like the Jews during their 40 years in the desert. They haven’t yet figured out what to do about it (although they alone have the power) even if they have figured out what’s happened (and I certainly hope they’re smart enough to have figured that out. Or else they really don’t belong in government, but I guess that’s the whole point!) I feel like we’re all pawns in some kind of higher chess game, and this needs to stop immediately if not sooner.
do-si-do
I can see the progressive side of the society being fed up with this kind of duplicity (and yes I agree with you that Vitter is a bigger ***ker).
What puzzle me is the apparent (at least from outside your nation) lack of reaction from the “normal” conservatives, the older people who end up voting for the GOP because, in a twisted way, they think that’s the way to do things “properly”, because is what their families have always done, because this will keep the USA strong… you get my drift … again think your middle class, late 60, stable job father (no offense meant to anyone fitting that description…)
In other words those people with moderate ideas (which I do not share, do not misunderstand me) that will vote for a conservative as a rule but that, I am sure, cannot be happy to see such false and misleading behavior be the rule among the GOP members…
john in sacramento @ 30
I know Foxman was so reactionary, instead of stating facts he repeated the standard “anti-semitic” response, this is just not going to work any longer. Walt represented the wide spectrum of Jewish voters more than Foxman did. Walt made it clear that the right wing zealots who pushed for the invasion of Iraq did not reflect the larger Jewish population in the states.
do-si-do @ 32
Yeah, but when the private ownership consists of the likes of a Rupert Murdock, what difference does it make? Why ever did Ted Turner sell his media empire? Perhaps corporate ownership would be better?
dakine01 @ 33
That would be a certain Richard M. Nixon, who described the event as a 3rd rate burglary.
“What Hillary Hides” at American Conservative.
Interesting http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_08_27/article.ht
I was surprised when Brzezinski came out in support of Obama
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..refer=home
I keep hearing about the nuclear bombs flown by mistake to Barksdale. Larry Johnson has some questions and there needs to be some action on this one. I remember when we were terrified of nukes.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/5/163835/2472
Kathleen @ 36
I didn’t hear the whole show: just a little bit of it. But what I did hear is just the opposite of what you state. Foxman responded to the charge that it was a Jewish cabal that led us into Iraq, by pointing out the diversity of opinion within the Jewish community before the war.
Wow I just watched Josh Bolton. He can lie better than Ari. His last comment was that he knew that “Sen. Craig would resign in order to do the right thing for his family and the people of Idaho.” Jim asked if that was his choice and he said that he knew that Craig would do the right thing. It was like watching Marlon Brando in the Godfather. The only report that counts by the way is from the generals on the ground.
Perhaps Jay Leno will ask Frederick of Hollywood about Craig, Vitter, Fabian, Lamborn, and Co. Better yet, how about having David Gregory or Brian Williams pop up as a special “guest host” to take over that segment, or — as long as I’m dreaming — Keith Olbermann.
It’ll never happen, of course, but it’s a pleasant dream nonetheless.
Ohi, it is 2 am here I must go to bed… before leaving OT but worth reading :
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
“Leaving Home…” Riverbend of “Bagdag Burnig” in exile.
Hearth breaking…
Boy I am going to have nightmares…
kimba1970 @ 35
I remember my mother’s story about telling one of her older family members – aunt, I think – that she was changing her party affiliation from D to R, back around 1980. She was told ‘Your father would be turning over in his grave’ and responded ‘Then they’ll just have to go out and pat down the grass’.
It wasn’t the party she’d signed up for, forty years earlier, and it wasn’t the one her father’d been in when he died twenty years earlier. (You couldn’t print her opinion of Shrub. Not obscenity, but profanity.)
http://www.theaustralian.news……61,00.html
The Aussies are upset too. An editorial in the Australian (a Murdoch-owned paper).
BigMitch @ 38
Actually, it was Ron Ziegler, Nixon’s press secretary. Whether he was quoting Nixon, or giving his own description, I do not recall (to use another Watergate expression).
kimba, good to see you again!
Copernicus. Keppler. Newton.
Who cares what the fashions, what the politics, what the daily lives of people were then?
Scholars, naturally.
Ideas, or the absence thereof, propel the human story.
Best to try to find those ideas, to grasp one’s times as well as a sense of the future.
snowbird42 @ 40
that’s terrifying, but nothing else makes sense.
From Hold On, Mr. President by Sam Donaldson (love him or hate him);
And he was equally tough on both carter and reagan. affiliation didn’t matter.
BigMitch @ 38
And actually we’re both wrong – it was Ron Ziegler who first used the term
Kathleen @ 39
I don’t care for Obama either.
Is there evidence that the media sat on the Craig story for two months? How did they find out about it?
I was under the impression that no reporter had nosed this one out. No one goes through the airport police blotter every night looking for the names of out of state congresscritters.
Peterr @ 47
“I do not recall”
now where have I heard that recently?
Elliott @ 52
It was reported on the “news” that they were being flown to Barksdale to be ultimately destroyed, and that the warhead part wasn’t supposed to be still on them. Now, that just does not make any sense. I think something is amiss. I really do not believe they would use “nuclear bombs” on Iran. I do, however, think they will use tactical nuke bunker busters.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 53
I thought this was better than most floating around the internetz these days.
Surprisingly Obama placed third on my list of matches.
Check out this issue based quiz:
http://www.dehp.net/candidate/
When you’re done with that, check out the stats:
http://www.dehp.net/candidate/stats.php
Elliott @ 56
Could it be from Ike Ferguson?
EPUd from below:
jayt @ 145
There is one other good possibility for Craig, and if I am Craig’s lawyer, this is where I am heading very fast and very quietly. The Hennepin County Court has a pre-trial diversion program that could be offered. I would be talking very quietly to the head county attorney, or his chief deputy, about what a useless mess for both sides this is if it gets reset on a trial docket; big time and resource costs, dog and pony show interrupting other court activity etc. Talk him into stipulating to set aside the plea and entering into the pre-trial diversion program; which is typically a 8 or 16 hour class costing about a $150, an agreement that you will not commit any other offenses for a year and you are done.
bmaz – don’t you think you’re maybe discounting too easily the anger and resentment of both the County prosecutor and the judge involved? IOW, having engaged in what they thought to be a good-faith negotiation (and yes, I think it *was* negotiated) with Craig, that they’ll take at all kindly to Craig now coming back, reneging on his agreement, and then asking for a diversion program in return for his screwing them over?
(and the Minn DOC statute does encompass “obscene” conduct. so that might well be what you’re think of there).
And won’t the diversion agreement, even if he can sell it, still entail a stipulation to the facts as alleged? They do here.
jayt – As to factual basis, some do, some don’t I have no idea what it is in that specific court; but since it is not regulated by the court, but rather by the prosecutor, it could be to an amorphous disturbing the peace anyway as long as the prosecutor was cool with it. As to the anger and resentment on the part of the authorities, that is a very salient point. I almost wonder if they didn’t have some of that to begin with and that is why he didn’t do diversion to start with. More likely, I think that may not be the case and the mail in plea bit was all arranged and agreed to by the prosecutor and court because it had the least “noise quotient”. In short, I got no idea where that part of it stands. Apparently Craig has also retained Tom Kelly, a Minneapolis attorney that is very well respected by several people in NACDL that I know. We will know pretty fast if this is the course; so we shall see. It may not work, but I sure as hell would be trying it if I represented Craig.
Peterr @ 49
Hi Peterr… Always a pleasure to read and post on this great blog !
I am yawing like crazy, I really need to get some sleep, see all you around and keep the good work going !
Craig pled guilty— he told everyone that he pled guilty. To think that he can convince the voters that he was railroaded into the plea seems bizarre- but hope springs eternal- and nothing’s quite as pathetic as a congresscriter who is out of work
Eureka Springs @ 58
thanks, that was interesting
apparently Kucinich is my man and I like Gravel it says.
Who’s going to watch the repubs debate?
I can’t wait for the Hennepin County Live Blog.
BigMitch @ 59
Why yes, I do believe that may be the source.
never heard of him before.
JPL @ 64
I just can’t do it.
God.
I want to scream, but I’m not that sort of person.
I’m sitting in an auditorium filled with over 1,000 persons.
Idea after idea, scandal after scandal, rumor after rumor, is presented to the audience.
The predictable responses.
But what counts?
The Fourth Estate. Whose fourth estate?
(including an actual 23-count indictment!) on the part of Alan Fabian
I follow the news pretty darn closely, and this is something I’ve never seen or heard. Spotlight time.
The funny thing is, that Craig could have gotten the diversion program, if he had confided in a lawyer and allowed him or her to negotiate it. The fact that he didn’t suggests that he really was acting irrationally because of the pressure he was under.
As I said the other evening …
“Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to
deceiveget anonymous sex in an airport crapper.”Elliott @ 63
I got the same: Kucinich, Gravel, Obama, Clinton, Edwards….
Elliott, I got the same results. Kucinich first with 90… Duncan Hunter last with minus 86..)
Kucinich was also first for me with Gravel second, Obama third, Richardson fourth and Edwards fifth. The numbers were pretty close though with Kucinich at 54.
Eureka Springs @ 73
my numbers were more moderate(I didn’t make a choice on every question?)
my bottom three:
Tancredo -45
Romney -52
Hunter -57
.
LS -who was your last one?
In this election year, I expect every goddamned story about Bill Clinton’s wife being icky or weird or what-have-you to be exactly balanced by a story about what a crazy-ass Leona Helmsly-styled monster Guliani’s third wife is. It’s only fair.
JPL @ 74
Clinton came before Edwards on mine!!
well shut my mouth!
Here’s a fun one to try on your right-wing pals:
Q. What’s the difference between New York mayor Rudy Guliani and New York Senator Hillary Clinton?
A. Hillary Clinton respects the institution of marriage.
OK.
Copernicus, a Polish monk, came up with the idea that the earth revolved around the sun. Why? Because it was SIMPLER than the Ptolemies idea of complex spheres.
Keppler, as a result of amazing observations, deduced the planets move in elliptical orbits about the sun.
Newton put these ideas to mathematics — mathematics he invented.
Where are such profound ideas today?
They’re aren’t.
And that’s our basic problem, slice it and dice it however you wish.
Elliott @ 75
My last three were:
Giuliani-58
Romney-64
Hunter -71
Mine was Kucinich, Gravel, Obama, Clinton, Edwards. Of course my real preference is not listed.
cleter @ 78
And I just might have the opportunity to try that one out. Don’t know that I’ll get many heehaws though.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 81
Gee, who could that be?
hmm..
Jonathan @ 79
From the birth of Copernicus to the birth of Isaac Newton was about 150 years. In a comparable period of time, ending with the present date, the following big ideas came up: evolution, relativity, quantum theory, anti-biotics, germ theory, to name but a few.
Three contractors were visiting Iraq on the same day. One was from Syria, another was Dutch, and the third from Halliburton.
At the end of the day, they went to the green zone for dinner. A military guard asked them what they did for a living. When they all replied that they were building contractors, the guard said, “Hey, we need a boatload of fencing. Why don’t you guys take a look at it and give us a bid?” So, to the planning room they all went to check it out.
First to step up was the Syrian contractor. He took out his tape measure and pencil, did some measuring and said, “Well I figure the job will run about $52,000; $26,000 for materials, $18,000 for the installation and $8,000 profit for me.”
Next was the Dutch contractor. He also took out his tape measure and pencil, did some quick figuring and said, “Looks like I can do this job for $44,000; $20,000 for materials, $17,000 for my crew, and $7,000 profit for me.”
Without so much as moving, the Halliburton contractor said, “$444,000″
The guard, incredulous, looked at him and said, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?”
“Easy,” he said. “$375,00 for me, $25,000 for you and we hire the Dutch guy.
Kathleen @ 17
Didn’t I see this downstairs too?
snowbird42 @ 41
Oh get that tinfoil away from me. I refuse to think that there is a parallel operation going on within the military to get nuclear weapons into the base tasked with Mid-East ops without the ‘for public consumption’ power structure knowing about it.
I will NOT think like that … that way lies
Cheneymadness …BigMitch @ 84
hey that seems like a geometric progression of sorts.
Jonathan @ 79
Since there’s nothing for Occam’s Razor to scrape against in this d@mn administration, it is why equally competing and bamboozling rethug theories continue to apply.
The Abramoff Scandal, it is like the Energi*er Bunny, it keeps going,and going!
Big Mitch at 83
No big ideas today.
ABCNews just had a roundtable of experts on Iraq. Who were they? Retired general Jack Keane who along with Fred Kagan was one of the architects of the “surge”. Fareed Zakaria a semi-reformed neocon. And Richard Haass a Colin Powell style Republican and president of the quintessentially Washington Establishment foreign policy shop the Council on Foreign Relations.
And gosh darn it, didn’t they all conclude that there would be some troop reductions (sometime to some extent) but that we would be in Iraq for years.
So a group of Very Serious Persons. And who was missing from this august gathering? Anyone with a clue, or a Democrat, or a critic of the war. This is what passes for balance at the networks. Pure and simply, pathetic.
The real kicker on Doug Lamborn that hasn’t gotten much play is his vote against tougher anti-dog fighting laws.
It is unclear exactly what motivated Congressman Doug Lamborn to unleash an attack on a Colorado Springs couple who criticized his vote against stiffening penalties for dogfighting and for accepting campaign contributions from gambling interests.
http://www.care2.com/news/member/434996229/470827
unconventional conventionist @ 88
My theory:
We’re in a dark age, in which valuable ideas have no value.
All that counts at street level is entertainment.
Hugh @ 92
did you see any reference back to the predictions they made when they were all on together the last time?
Jonathan @ 91
Copernicus and Newton were not recognized in their time either. Who knows what will be the significance of string theory, or the plasmonics revolution, or advances in medicine that are on the drawing boards right now? Quantum computing is so fantastic it blows my mind. But it may never pan out. Who knows?
Craig’s campaign suffered an instant setback, however, when the ethics committee refused to set aside a complaint lodged against him. “Pending Sen. Craig’s resignation, the committee will continue to review this matter,” the committee’s senior senators wrote.
BigMitch @ 84
Yes, we had a wonderful century or so, but from what I’ve seen in the last couple of decades, the current state of basic research resembles the walking dead. Could you recommend that a student go into research when the chance of getting a grant funded is less than, say, 5%? The pipeline seems to be getting, well, dry.
And, no, corporations will not take up the slack; they have the attention spans of gnats. No $$$ for them in a matter of weeks and they’re not interested. You can’t even work on a project for them; they pull out after a month. That’s not the way that science gets done.
Kimba 1970,
I think we’re all wondering the same thing you are. How can the average joe continue voting for these deranged politicians. We saw a shift in 2006, and I suspect that 2008 will be greater yet.
Most people register with a party the first time they vote (18 if they like) and pretty much vote their party for the rest of their lives.
The media, as PW points out in this post, has been invaluable to the republicans. Rush Limbaugh had the ear of the construction workers and many laborers for many years, and I think his influence was huge.
I think we’ll see a big change next election between the war, the financial squeeze on the middle and lower middle classes and all of the corruption and naughty, naughty behavior on the part of the republicans. Sure hope I’m right. If not, got a room for rent?
Congressman Lamborn supports dog fighting..That meme has a nice ring to it.
I left out cloning and the genome project.
walking the dog, later pups!
BigMitch @ 96
Jonathan, while Tesla was alive he was ignored even though his inventions were taken by others and are being put to use today for everything from Star Wars technology to waether control to ELF mind control with microwaves and heavy metals in the air (it gives a big boost the BigPharma when an entire population can become depressed and need anti-depressants, SSRIs, SNRIs etc).
He died in poverty after seeing his rival Edison get accolades throughout his lifetime.
The ideas are out there, the problem in this country is that our kids aren’t being introduced to them because their teachers have to worry about everyone testing out well so NCLB funds won’t be removed.
We’ve really come to the end of the line when we let a functional idiot dictate what our children should be learning in school.
I watched Tweety on MSNBC “Drudge Lite” feed Craig’s sleezy BBB softball questions until of a sudden the remote switched to the US Open.
Nothing is beyond forgiving back at the MSM, except Ron Paul, who is driving Zionites nuts.
AP – Iraq’s security forces will be unable to take control of the country in the next 18 months, and Baghdad’s national police force is so rife with corruption it should be scrapped entirely, according to a new independent assessment.
That puts this whole mess squarely in the lap of the Bush successors. Rove is the man with the plan.
Big Mitch,
I’d like in one way to have a 2007 PhD in electrical engineering from a great university.
I’d know everything about the universe on a micro level. Everything. And more.
Next year, if I didn’t keep up, I’d be obsolete.
But what on a macro level has changed?
A 4.5 Ghz computer in 2008?
A faster clockspeed for Americans’ lives?
I used to embrace, relish the future.
Now, I just want to escape.
snowbird42 @ 41
This is the scariest thing I can remember. I hope that Bush has been informed that he will be impeached if he strikes Iran without congressional approval. (Not with nukes, but with regular bombs)
I thought threatening opponents with dire personal consequences is practically rethug standard operating procedure. My guess is, they get good practice with these tactics, what with intermidating minorities to stay away from the polls and other such business. If they do voter suppression, why not dissent suppression as well?
Their party needs to be ended. It’s that simple.
BigMitch @ 101
I would add cosmology and the use of genetics to track the movement of human populations.
This is true of Rudy Giuliani, the Democratic former mayor of New York, who is not afraid of individually displaying his completely hawkish pro-Israel world view. Those who like it, can like it – those who do not, can vote for Clinton.
Her advantage, in the eyes of many of Israel’s supporters, will obviously remain firm also in the wake of the new election speech she launched in New Hampshire, at the beginning of the week, whose aim was to present her as an agent of political “realism.” This is the magic formula that served Republicans in the past, such as the father of the incumbent president – not among the most friendly of presidents in relation to Israel – which today is being heard from the mouths of Democrats as the clear signal that they are cutting themselves off from the heritage of the son’s idealism.
Huckabee has already visited Israel nine times, eight times more than Bush. His Internet site has three chapters devoted to foreign policy: terror, Iraq and Israel; he promises that Israel “will have access to the state-of-the art weapons and technology that it needs to defend itself.”
james at 102
couldn’t agree more
Elliott @ 83
Another link
Staging Nuke for Iran?
link
behindthefall @ 87
I don’t see that it’s much more comforting to think that they are just losing the damn things a half-dozen at a time. I thought every move a nuke made had to be signed off on by everyone involved. And as Johnson said, how the hell do we know about this at all? Someone leaked it deliberately, to a respected service-related publication. Why, is the key question. To intimidate Iran? or to alert the American people?
Elliott @ 95
Nope.
Jonathan @ 79
Nonsense. During their times, these people were largely unheard of and disbelieved. Hell, we all hear about Galileo (much of it total BS), and he didn’t believe Kepler, who’s work he knew about!
You won’t know who the genuises of our generation are. Our kids or grandkids will.
Loo Hoo. @ 106
Al the Spook de-lurking here:
I have some issues with the story, although the suggested explanation definitely has a steer manure aroma as well. My main point is that the nukes for this sort of operation normally aren’t flown around the country, they’re loaded on the carriers under heavy security and kept there. And each of the carrier groups there has enough tactical and theater nuclear weapons to devastate iran three times over. so i don’t think these particular nukes are going to iran.
that said, the real problem with using a tac nuke is, aside from the HUGE international uproar that would be caused, is that they might not work as planned. this has two very bad consequences. One, they might hit a populated area killing thousands with blast and shock and more thousands with lethal radiation, and causing fallout and debris damage like no one has ever seen. imagine the images THAT will produce. Two, what if it prematures in LOS of some of the carriers or of a domestic airliner? EMP from those babies is not trivial. All chips fry, drives wiped, flash ram and rom gone, fires started everywhere from the shorts, you name it.
Nukes are not magic wands and modern nukes have NEVER seen combat. If chimpy uses them, he better HOPE they work right.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 109
Uh, the Democratic former mayor? I didn’t know that Ed Koch and David Dinkins were running for president…
JPL @ 64
Will you do it for us?
I’m sorry OT
Did anyone just see pbs interview with Joshua Bolton. I’m very disapointed with Lehrer.
Loo Hoo. @ 117
When they actually start debating something, anything, please let me know.
GordonM,
Copernicus was dissed.
Keppler raised some eyebrows.
Newton was respected greatly during his life, as was Einstein. And Planck. And Heisenberg. Etc.
I disagree with the proposition that great ideas are seen as great only in retrospect.
There is an ironclad rule in the military that you never dink around where nuclear weapons are concerned. It says a lot about how much our military has deteriorated that some dope in North Dakota apparently didn’t get the message, but much more seriously the system failed in that it let some single dope in North Dakota make such a decision without it being countermanded by anyone else.
Jonathan @ 106
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m a nurse with 26 years of widely varied experience, now totally devoted to hospice care. there are times, when I see the mess we’re facing, that my sons are facing, that I envy my patients their morphine and Ativan and bedbaths. I feel horrible for saying it and for feeling it, but every once in awhile, I do.
BigMitch @ 83
Don’t forget the theory of relativity and atomic science!
althespook @ 116
Given the likely targets like Natanz and Arak they can not help but work wrong for the same reason you don’t use a nuke to start your barbecue.
zennurse at 122
I think we’re on the same page.
althespook @ 116
Awhile back, when there was bluster about using Nuke-penetrators on Iranian hard targets, A BDA estimated >6 million killed, most from radiation effects from the “dirty” bombs.
dakine01 @ 117
That was a mistake I believe. This was lifted from Haaretz.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/900938.html
Jonathan @ 94
What counted at the street level in the days of Copernicus, Kepler or Newton?
One thing that counted in Newton’s time: gin. Cheap, crappy, nearly poisonous gin. The first strong alcohol that could be afforded by the middle class. Before gin, being drunk in public was a mark of distinction, because it meant that you were prosperous enough to afford liquor. Took a couple hundred years, but gin changed that.
Actually as one of the great ideas: has anyone mentioned the net?
Jonathan @ 126
I’m proud to say that often happens.
Loo Hoo. @ 107
It was reported to Bush and Gates, and the person “responsible” was fired.
Hugh @ 124
no, i don’t think so. centrifuge work has the hot materials so spread out they can’t go fissile, and despite a lot of bad movies and sf, the radiation from a nuke all vanishes in a few nanoseconds (”shakes”) long before the plasma could vaporize the uranium enough to possibly participate.
Now it these were boosted fusion weapons, that would be another matter. The first boosted fusion bomb was much larger than expected. Oppenheimer got everyone off the atoll because he had a “bad feeling”. good thing.
thread up
New Post
rjb @ 119
Aloha Ya’ll! I wouldn’t say it was OT, it a sad commentary on the MSM’s shift to the right! If Jim is partaking of the Kool-Aid, it truly exemplifies the extent of the bias within the MSM! Thank god we still have KO, Bill Moyers, David Shuster, and a few others! But, we do have the Lake and other Toobz to find some semblance of sanity out there…!!! 8-)
behindthefall @ 98
Did Kepler get a gov’t grant? No. Those things came into being with the New Deal. They have gone out of favor, as Reagan et al have engineered a revolt against everything New Deal-ish.
50 years is a ripple on the face of history. If you’re watching the ripples, you’re missing the waves.
Eureka Springs @ 120
By the way who’s airing it?
Steve-AR @ 127
yeppers. fissile materials don’t vanish when blown into the air by conventional or nuclear explosives. The only reason the Israeli raid on the Iraqi reactor wasn’t a disaster of this type was that it hadn’t been loaded yet.
Jonathan @ 106
So what are you arguing?
That the pace is too fast to bother trying to keep up?
Or that the pace has slowed to nothing and there are no new ideas?
Regarding the issue of the Iran question, the nukes, the tinfoil hat vs healthy realism: I have learned to have a degree if faith in Larry Johnson and his allies. Larry does not shoot off his mouth, he is careful with what he says and always presents his information from a factual context. Given that I don’t watch TV at all, only what you and C&L link me to, preferring the print NYT and a variety of mags (VF, New Yorker,Harper’s, Mother Jones, American Journal of Nursing), I rely on my computer for correct info. And I know what we all know about Cheney and Bush (see KO’s outraged commentary last pm). I think war with Iran has been in the planning stages for a very long time and share Larry’s questioning concern. I sure don’t have the ability to pick up the phone to call spooks and experts.
Hugh @ 122
What if there is a middle ground between screw up and Larry Johnson’s theory. Like a couple of guys did it as an intentional monkeywrench to draw attention to the fact that we are getting ready for Iran? Not saying I believe this, just a thought.
Elliott @ 63
Me too! In real life, I like Edwards & Dodd best but when I did the quiz, Kucinich & Gravel were first & second. Curiouser & curiouser.
And yes, as always, I am really late to a thread. I really don’t know how all of you who post comments regularly keep up! I can barely stay on top of reading the posts never mind actually commenting.
Jonathan @ 121
Kepler was a Protestant nutcase in a largely Catholic world. Newton was respected by those who would come to write history, not by Joe Bricklayer. Einstein’s mythos comes out of the New Deal / WWII evangalism of academia and research – historically a rather unusual phenomena. Einstein is regularly quoted as saying things he never did, just to give them the flavor of authority. Hell, Steven Hawkings is a celebrity.
That doesn’t mean there’s any understanding of Einstein. Hell, I was discussing a science fiction novel with a friend that involved speed-of-light travel (supposedly written with a great understanding of relativity), and in the course of dissing the novel, I mentioned that as you approach the speed of light, your mass tends to infinity. He was so offended that he’s no longer my friend.
GordonM @ 144
and your length goes to zero. Just to make your life interesting. and of course time (for you not for anyone else) eventually comes to a stop, but you’re probably beyond caring at that point…
Hmmm. Took the quiz at http://www.dehp.net/candidate and got:
Kucinich, Gravel, Obama, Clinton, Edwards.
And there I thought that I was an Edwards kinda guy. Never would have thought that putting strong opinions about the Iraq/Iran War would have put Obama > Clinton > Edwards.
How accurate is that quiz, anyway?
althespook @ 145
Question my length and you‘ll lose a friend *g*.
althespook @ 133
I was talking about the political and radiological effects of the weapons themselves and not what might or might not be running through the Iranian centrifuges at the time. A-bombs do have radiological effects has many victims from Hiroshima and Nagasaki can attest.
i’m not gonna watch the repug lovefest….anyone wanna?
althespook @ 145
Actually this is what an observer would observe about you. You would feel normal but the rest of the universe would look mighty strange.
Hugh @ 150
correct. i was being snarqy not accurate, relativistically speaking…
Hugh @ 148
yes but those were city busters. the tac nuke penetrators planned for use in situations such as natanz are in the 1 to 5 kiloton range and designed to explode underground. unless the blast hole vents heavily, i don’t expect serious radiological casualties beyond the immediate area. However, as I noted above, NONE of these puppies have been used in real combat. And since the ban on testing, they haven’t even been detonated, just simulated.
GordonM @ 147
it’s all a matter of relative relationships…:)
althespook @ 152
This was how bunker busters were sold. The facts are otherwise. They can not penetrate sufficiently into the ground to damp down the release of radiation or even diminish very much the explosive effects. What’s more because they will penetrate some way into the ground they will be more likely to kick up dirt and dust and will tend to propagate the radiological effects over a larger area.
althespook @ 151
Sorry, the batteries on my snark monitor are running low. *g*
Hugh @ 154
given the relatively high failure rate of previous conventional bunker penetrators, i tend to believe you. I fear we may empirical data far too soon…
Oklahoma kiddo @ 54
Brzezinski is a pretty conservative Dem, a “realist”. But, I think his brand of foreign policy would fit in better with Edwards than with Obama.
Maybe they should get together and talk foreign policy (Zbig and Edwards that is).
BigMitch @ 42
No he didn’t. He used words like sinister and most dangerous to describe anything the book and its authors for daring to be critical of A*PAC’S influence and the idea that this influence is a potential
liability strategically. Whether you agree or not with the book, that reaction to it questionable. He also would not let Terry Gross interact and would go on and on repeating himself like a bully. Listened to it twice
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