We Told You So (Again)
And yet again: The insurgency in Iraq continues to baffle the U.S. military and intelligence communities, and the U.S. occupation has become a potent recruiting tool for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, top U.S. national security officials told Congress yesterday. "Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists," CIA Director Porter J. Goss told the … Read More
Bat Boy the Musical the Movie
Word comes from our dear friend Miss Emily Mark — who apparently doesn’t have a website yet (*ahem!*) — that they are making Bat Boy into a movie. She don’t lie. We have a special affinity for that show. John Landis is slated to direct. No word on casting yet. But if you are out there Mr Landis, may I … Read More
Kill the Wabbit, kill the wabbit . . .
Somebody asked me if this — a guy threatening to kill a bunny unless he receives $50,000 — is legal. It sounds like it oughta be illegal, doesn’t it? But I racked my legal brain and, off the top of my head, I couldn’t find any reason why it is against the law. Unless of course, he doesn’t meet his … Read More
Life Imitates Python
An indignant Israeli is suing a pet shop that he says sold him a dying parrot, reports the Ma’ariv newspaper. Itzik Simowitz of the southern city of Beersheba contends the shop cheated him because the Galerita-type cockatoo not only failed to utter a word when he got it home, but was also extremely ill. Mr. Simowitz adds that the shop … Read More
Democracy in Action
You know things are bad when election disputes have to be resolved by — literally — a coin toss. And you know things are really bad when they apparently can’t even do a coin toss correctly.
Recycled Nuclear Photos
This might be tough to follow. But here goes . . . Yesterday, an eagle-eyed blogger realized that CNN was using the same photo in two different stories. One story, from February 9, was about Iran‘s purported nuclear program; the other story, from February 12, was about North Korea‘s purported nuclear program. But . . . both stories carried the … Read More
NOW They Tell Me!
Last week, a dozen of the top American law journals announced their commitment to reducing the length of law review articles. (Source) P.S. Speaking of academics, here’s a pretty good honors thesis.
No Empirical Reality
Paid-off pundits to fake newsmen — where does it end? Frank Rich says it goes deeper: When the Bush administration isn’t using taxpayers’ money to buy its own fake news, it does everything it can to shut out and pillory real reporters who might tell Americans what is happening in what is, at least in theory, their own government. Paul … Read More
More Iraqi Civilian Abuses
From MSNBC: There are new allegations that heavily armed private security contractors in Iraq are brutalizing Iraqi civilians. In an exclusive interview, four former security contractors told NBC News that they watched as innocent Iraqi civilians were fired upon, and one crushed by a truck. The contractors worked for an American company paid by U.S. taxpayers. The Army is looking … Read More
The Right Wing Starts Eating Itself
Much hilarity at the Free Republic as they try to cope with the fact that their demi-God, Sean Hannity, said that the website has been taken over by trolls.
All Together Now . . . “WHAT Liberal Media?!?”
Joe Conason raises a good, and retrospectively obvious, point in this column: If the mainstream media is "liberal" and loves stories about sex, then why isn’t it jumping all over the Gannon-as-male-prostitute story? Imagine the media explosion if a male escort had been discovered operating as a correspondent in the Clinton White House. Imagine that he was paid by an … Read More
Who Is This Man?
This American won the Nobel Peace Prize and saved billions — not millions, but billions — of lives. Yet . . . …take a quick poll among your friends and see how many people can tell you who Norman Borlaug is and then see if the same people know who Ashlee Simpson is. Then come back and try to convince … Read More
Bush To Churches and the Poor: Fuck You!
Remember all those times when Bush was eager to show what a compassionate conservative he was? You know, with all his faith-based initiatives to help churches and others assist the poor and needy? Turns out it was . . . (imagine my surprise) . . . a bunch of PR bullshit. In fact, one guy says that the Bush White … Read More