"A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They’re loud and ostentatious. Perhaps they’re frightened and defensive, or maybe they’re not properly trained and make mistakes out of ignorance." — The Ugly American, William Lederer & Eugene Burdick I’m going to go with "not properly trained". … Read More
Caught On Tape
What an embarassment. Here’s your President, caught unaware that he was miked, talking to some world leaders. First, chomping with his mouth full on a dinner roll, he responds to Blair’s proposition about sending international peacekeepers to quell the situation in Israel and Lebanon: "See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah … Read More
To My Gay Friends In Guilford County
There’s a wanker in your midst. This is from the blog of Marcus Kindley, Chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party: We now say that homosexuality is ok. That it is natural. Yes it is as natural as pedophilia. If it were natural then we wouldn’t be having a conversation about it, because there would be no procreation. It really … Read More
Birthdays
Celebrating his 60th birthday, the President of the United States: George Bush. Celebrating their 14th birthday, the Mary-Kate and Ashley of the neo-Nazi movement: Prussian Blue. [Okay, the girls’ birthday was last week, but they blogged about it today]
The Plamegate Bombshell
The National Journal reports that Bush himself told Cheney to leak classified information in order to discredit Joseph Wilson. More on this later, I’m sure… but it’s hard for this Administration to get all blustery when newspapers supposedly leak classified information.
My Internet Is Broken — Is Yours?
If senators don’t know what they’re talking about, they shouldn’t be talking at all. Here’s Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) talking about the Net Neutrality bill, and why he opposes it: I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why? No, it … Read More
Hamdan Perspectives
What Hamdan means — and doesn’t mean: There’s plenty of good analysis at OrinKerr.com and of course SCOTUSBlog. Orin Kerr also cites an interesting New Yorker piece about David Addington, Bush’s "legal mind behind the war on terror" It’s pretty clear from the Hamdan decision that Addington, among others, were simply barking up the wrong tree. The article quotes an … Read More
The “American Values” Agenda
Here’s the "American Values" Agenda being pushed by the GOP (from the website of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL)): Pledge Protection Act (HR 2389; Akin)Summary: Protects the Pledge of Allegiance from attacks by activist federal judges seeking to rule it unconstitutional. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act (HR 42; Bartlett)Summary: Ensures an individual has the right to … Read More
SCOTUS News
Lot of things coming from the Supreme Court today. I’ll combine it all here: (1) In Hudson v. Michigan, a recent controversial decision involving the "knock & announce" tactics of police raids, Scalia apparently "twisted the words" of an eminent criminolgist to reach his conclusion. The criminiologist complains here. (2) SCOTUS announced today that it will hear a case about … Read More
The Power Of The Blogosphere
I hate — really hate — the self-congratulatory aspect of the political blogosphere, where bloggers hoist themselves on their own petard thinking that, collectively, they can change the course of politics and, by extension, America. But Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the proprietor of the most popular liberal blog Daily Kos, seems to really be making a difference, and has set himself … Read More
The Strange Crash Of Gary Dodds
You need to read this story to believe it. Although, nobody’s sure what to believe. It involves NH congressional candidate Gary Dodds, a Democrat, who disappeared for 27 hours in April. His car was found in a crash with a guardrail, and Dodds himself was found a mile away a day later. His "story" of what happened, where he was … Read More
Bush Defaces American Flag
Here’s what the US Code says: TITLE 4 > CHAPTER 1 > § 8 § 8. Respect for flag (g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature. Here’s a picture of Bush today, in Vienna Austria … Read More
Yet Another Republican Consultant Pedophile
It’s bizarre how many Republican activists are accused of things like this: EDINBURG — A young girl featured in a controversial television ad during the 2000 presidential campaign testified this week that the man who developed the commercial molested her for years and forced her to watch pornography and use sex toys. The girl, now 15, told jurors Carey Lee … Read More
Like Uncle, Like Nephew
Enjoy these photos of Pierce Mallon Bush, George’s nephew. By the way, he’s 20 (underage for drinking).
Plot Synopses For Episodes Of A Gilligan’s Island Remake Starring Members of the Bush Administration
From McSweeney’s Lists: Gilligan invades a neighboring island of cannibals. He mistakenly believes that Mary Ann and Ginger would be a sufficient force to secure the island, and Skipper erroneously claims they would be welcome as liberators. A hurricane hits the island. Gilligan does nothing to help, but tells Mrs. Howell, "Lovey, you’re doing a heck of a job." Skipper … Read More