Yup: There’s a point that’s probably worth raising with our scofflaw Republican friends. All of their arguments now amount to excuses, like those of a small child caught stealing cookies: Joe Wilson’s a liar. Plame’s covert status wasn’t protected well by the CIA. It was just a short phone call. Rove really wanted to speak about welfare reform. Wilson said … Read More
Rove and Espionage
UCLA Professor Mark Kleiman is happy to point out that Rove may have met the statutory requirements for espionage: But Rove’s conduct certainly meets the far less demanding elements of the Espionage Act: (1) possession of (2) information (3) relating to the national defense (4) which the person possessing it has reason to know could be used to damage the … Read More
Plamegate Roundup
From The Left Coaster, a link-o-riffic round-up of the talking points lies of the waterboys and Rove apologists: A number of rebuttals have been provided around the liberal blogosphere to the fakery from the GOP and their media arms about the Valerie Plame expose. Here’s a roundup. TALKING POINT: Valerie Plame (Joseph Wilson’s wife) was not covert.FACT: She was. TALKING … Read More
128,000
That’s the number of Iraqi civilian deaths since the invasion liberation clusterfuck that started in March 2003. That is one out of every 200 Iraqis. And 55% percent of them are women and children. So says an Iraqi humanitarian organization, according to the Washington Times. Have a nice day.
Fox News Hates America
And Oliver Willis has the video to prove it: FOX News anchor John Gibson just said onair that he thought Karl Rove deserves a medal if he outed Valerie Plame. Let me repeat: John Gibson, anchor at the FOX News Channel, says he believes that we ought to expose our covert government agents and harm national security… as long as … Read More
Flypaper Schmypaper!
The flypaper theory, which was false and stupid before last week, is now (in light of the London attacks) demonstrably false and stupid. But that doesn’t stop administration officials from making bone-headed and offensive arguments like this: Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Fran Townsend, the president’s homeland security adviser, said that the war in Iraq attracts terrorists “where we have … Read More
Moral Clarity vs Factual Clarity
Matt Yglesius says what I have been thinking for a long time. The reason why the right is inept at fighting the war on terror is because they simply have no interest in accurately surmising the driving force behind our enemies. Instead, the right just wants to paint the bad guys with broad brushes, and ignore the nuances of their … Read More
In The Mind Of A Killer/Molester/Kidnapper
Joseph Duncan allegedly kidnapped two children in mid-May—8 year old Dylan Groene and his 9 year old sister, Shasta. He did this after murdering the kids’ older sibling, mother, and mother’s boyfriend. And it appears that Duncan later killed Dylan. Fortunately, Duncan was apprehended this past weekend, and Shasta was rescued. Duncan left behind an eerie blog called “Blogging the … Read More
Friday Random Ten
"Sargeant Rock Is Going To Help Me" – XTC "Summer Breeze" – Seals & Crofts "Running Up That Hill" – Kate Bush "Taxi (Live)" – Harry Chapin "Grovel, Grovel" – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat "How Do You Do" -Mouth & Macneal "Angel" – Massive Attack "Gymnopedie No. 1" – Erik Satie (from the film "Diva") "Diamonds On The … Read More
Earth Destruction Watch
Number of days gay marriage legalized in Spain, Canada – 1 Number of days Earth not destroyed – 1 James Dobson – "It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth." [Full credit to Publius]
Failure IS An Option
Let’s get serious. Bush screwed up by getting us into Iraq in the first place, and screwed it up once we were there. He had no plan yada yada yada. But let’s put down the anti-Bush signs and flags and ribbons and ask some simple questions with respect to Iraq: NOW what? How do we “win”? I’m struggling with this, … Read More
Quo Vadis?
Note to White House: If you want sell your message to the American people about how great things are in Iraq, don’t use Latin.
Operation Yellow Elephant Update
Max Blumenthal talks to College Republicans, and asks them why they aren’t enlisting. The responses are what you would expect: “a nagging football injury”, “my ex-hippy parents don’t want me to”, etc. Then there is Cory Bray, a senior at at U.Penn’s Wharton School of Business. From the bar at a college Republican party, Bray brayed: "The people opposed to … Read More
Terrorists Heart Bush
Remember that ridiculous meme during the past election that the terrorists were rooting for John Kerry to win? Apparently, just the opposite: Two French journalists who were held hostage in Iraq told a British documentary program that their captors believed George W. Bush’s re-election as US president would help radicalize Iraqis. Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who were seized in … Read More