In loo of actual news, the prestigious British Broadcasting Corporation reports on the plumbing mishaps of the rich and famous:

Rocker Lenny Kravitz is being sued over an allegation that one of his toilets overflowed into a neighbour's apartment causing "catastrophic" water damage.

Insurance company Amica Mutual accused Kravitz in court papers of allowing "a commode to become blocked, clogged and congested with various materials"....

Amica said it had had to pay $333,849.77 to fix Mr Disend's apartment on the floor below Kravitz's flat in their building in Manhattan's SoHo district.

Meet Your Liberal Media: Ass-Kissing-er Edition

An article for the New York Times demonstrates how the SCLM are actually the steno pool for the right-wing:

"The only reason for this call was to tell you that despite all appearances to the contrary in this city you still have some friends," the CBS correspondent Marvin Kalb told Mr. Kissinger during a chaotic period in 1975 when President Gerald Ford had just stripped him of his title as national security adviser, which he had held simultaneously while serving as secretary of state.

"I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that," Mr. Kissinger replied.

A year later, as Mr. Kissinger's tenure drew to a close, Ted Koppel, then diplomatic correspondent for ABC News, told him: "It has been an extraordinary three years for me, and I have enjoyed it immensely. You are an intriguing man, and if I had a teacher like you earlier I might not have been so cynical."

"You have been a good friend," Mr. Kissinger replied. Mr. Koppel ended the conversation by saying, "We are lucky to have had you."

This may have occurred 30 years ago, but, as Bob Somerby points out, only the asses have changed. Today, the same journalists -- and newer ones -- are sucking up to Colin, Rummy and Condi.

Fred Barnes and Charles Krauthammer Make A Snuff Film

Fred and Charles have lent their putative good names to a film project released by David Bossie, the disgraced former bagboy for the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee. From a review of Celsius 41.11:

Less savvy propagandists than Mr. Moore, the "Celsius 41.11" filmmakers apply their thesis with a trowel. The film opens with the image of the second World Trade Center tower being hit by a plane, and returns to the attack, with the towers in flames and then tumbling, again and again. The filmmakers make their political line of reasoning clear when they soon follow this Sept. 11 imagery with snippets of antiwar demonstrations. One nitwit protester defends dictatorship (she is for it if it means health care for everyone), a slice of loony nonsense that is followed by images of dead children. As with most of the news material folded into "Celsius 41.11," it is impossible to know who these children are or who killed them. Other images, including that of a woman in a burka being executed, remain similarly unidentified.

...

Directed by Kevin Knoblock; written and produced by Lionel Chetwynd and Ted Steinberg; based on the books "The Many Faces of John Kerry" and "Intelligence Failure: How Clinton's National Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11" by David Bossie; edited by Michael Hilton and John Tracy; released by Citizens United. Running time: 71 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Tony Calabrese (Narrator) and Fred Barnes, Michael Barone, Barbara Comstock, Alice Fisher, Mansoor Ijaz, Charles Krauthammer, Michael A. Ledeen, Michael Medved, Joshua Muravchik, John O'Neill, Bill Sammon, Fred Thompson and Victoria Toensing.

The least appealing cast in the history of pornography.

And yet Bill O'Reilly gave it two thumbs up his own ass.

November II, Act 4, Scene 3

Scene: Your polling place, 7 a.m.

And our first Tuesday shall be stolen ne'er again,
From this day to the ending of the world,
And we on it shall be reenfranchised -
We many, we happy more, we band of voters;
For they to-day who cast their ballot for Kerry
Shall beat the freepers, and Repugs so vile,
This day we shall restore the Constitution;
And slimebags from Texas now-a-bed
Shall think themselves fuck'd like ne'er before,
And hold their manhoods cheaper still (if that's possible) while all rejoice
That vote with us upon Election Day.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Illinois, Land Of Drinkin' Edition

The 51st Congressional District of the Illinois State Legislature is served by a drunken Puke:

Barred from driving for a year because of a drunken-driving conviction, state Rep. Edwin Sullivan Jr. (R-Mundelein) often hits the campaign trail these crisp fall days astride his mountain bike.
...

Sullivan had just left a party with a group of Illinois lawmakers and lobbyists attending an annual golf outing. He was held overnight in the Berrien County Jail after a breath test showed that his blood-alcohol level was twice the .08 legal limit, his arrest report showed.
...

Sullivan plans to apply for a restricted driving permit from the secretary of state's office soon.

But first he needs to complete 22 hours of alcohol-abuse counseling at the Lake County Traffic Court Building in Grayslake, he said.

How very Bush/Cheney of him. Better wear a helmet and some body armor on the campaign trial, Eddie -- the roads are full of Republicans.

Toothpick A with Tina Clown

After averring that Senator Kerry indulges in Clairol, Botox and other cosmetic enhancements, Tina Brown accuses unnamed Democrats of obsessing over trivialities:

At this precarious moment any distraction is a disaster for Kerry, even when it's Bill O'Reilly's sexual harassment problems. Gleeful Democrats who could have been spending useful hours signing up disenfranchised minority youths to vote instead spent whole mornings poring over the Fox moralist's phone-sex fantasies.

.... What happens if the audiotape surfaces on the day of the election? Whole precincts of swing voters would stay home and play it.

It's a good thing Tina picked up the slack, "signing up" all the disenfranchised minority youths she knows in seconds, while politically-active Dems, lacking an Oxford education, struggle their way through the O'Reilly suit at a snail's pace, their lips twisting out each syllable and spittle cascading from their mouths.

Airheads are the definitive Washington Post columnists.

When the Boston Red Sox Make the World Series, You Got to Start Betting on Kerry -- And They Just Did. 10/21

Although, as we learned in 2000, we can't count on the umpires to do the right thing.

Just Be Grateful It Wasn't Purdue

From a Slate article on Bill O'Reilly's fascination with things pornographic:

In 2002 he bragged on air about breaking a sex story nationally. His scoop: An adult production company had shot in the dorms at Indiana University, using students as performers. He did two segments on the topic and returned to IU once again in 2004 to interview a girl who had set up a porno Webcam in her dorm.

West Coast Bloggers Are Throwin' Down

pitchers of domestic beer, most likely. San Francisco Bay Area bloggers -- and their groupies -- will be gathering to plot their revenge against those limelight-hogging, media-darling East Coast bloggers who don't know their 15 minutes of fame are up. Your congenial hosts will be Scaramouche and Pete M. of Dark Window, who says:

So come join me, our legendary co-host Scaramouche, and several other celebrity Bay Area bloggers (TBA) and readers next Wednesday, October 27th.

We'll be meeting at 6:00 PM at Ben & Nick's Bar & Grill in Oakland's Rockridge district and hang around until we get sick of each other (or get kicked out - we are, after all, Puppeteers in Satan's Army). The bar is located at 5612 College Avenue - just a half block from the Rockridge BART station and only a couple of short blocks from Freeway exits (Hwy 24).

It's also within blocks of a 24-hour Albertson's, Zachary's Pizza, and a 51 bus stop. And only a couple of miles from the fabulous Grand Lake Theater marquee.

Why not attend? It's not like any of the presidential candidates are going to show up in California.

Here's the Moonie Times "respecting Mary Cheney's privacy" in the past few months:

Politics1, a political Web site, posted a story and a picture of Maya Keyes with a woman identified as her lesbian girlfriend. Keyes is staunchly anti-gay and told a New York radio talk show all gays were living in sin and were "selfish hedonists," including by definition Mary Cheney, the openly lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney. (September 28, 2004)

The Republican candidate for Senate in Illinois, Alan Keyes, has been off the leash lately. Last week, he called Mary Cheney, the vice-president's daughter, a "selfish hedonist" because she is a lesbian. To duck this kind of abuse, Mary didn't even appear with her family on the podium Wednesday night. (September 3, 2004)

Mr. Romney took the stage before the acceptance speech of Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a homosexual daughter. (September 2, 2004)

In his answer, Mr. Cheney noted that he and his wife "have a gay daughter, so it's an issue that our family is very familiar with." ... [Para.]The Cheneys have two daughters, both of whom work on the campaign. Mary Cheney, who is homosexual, is director of vice-presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. She held a public role as her father's assistant in the 2000 campaign and helped the GOP recruit homosexual voters during the 2002 midterm elections. (August 25, 2004)

The ad was sponsored by DontAmend.com and Mr. Aravosis' Web site, DearMary.com, which aims to convince Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, to urge her father to drop his support for the amendment. (July 12, 2004)

Grand Old Police Blotter: We Don't Know Dick Edition

Dick Dasen's fellow Montana Republicans are distancing themselves from the fundie philanthropist/pervert:

The list of potential witnesses on behalf of Kalispell businessman Dick Dasen Sr. is down by at least one....

State Rep. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, didn't know he was on the list until his wife read Jackson's name in a newspaper story about it Saturday....

While he could testify in a limited way about Dasen's community deeds, Jackson said "it would be counterproductive" to Dasen's defense if Jackson was cross-examined about what he thinks of the accusations against Dasen.

Dasen, 62, has pleaded innocent to promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, sexual intercourse without consent and sexual abuse of children.

Meanwhile, Dick's attorney gives us a preview of his client's exculpatory evidence:

The depositions were filed Friday in District Court by George Best, Dasen's defense attorney....

Sworn statements of Cari Halama and Valerie Hondius, however, describe Dasen as a man who gave them thousands of dollars to keep them off the streets with no expectation that he would ever be repaid.

...

Hondius said she called Dasen from a motel room, where she had an 18-year-old friend. Dasen went to the room and, after minimal introductions, engaged in sex with Hondius' friend.

Later, the three met at Dasen's house, where he took pornographic pictures of the teenagers and performed a sex act on the other woman. After both occasions when all three met, Dasen wrote Hondius a check for $2,000, she said.

"At any time, did Mr. Dasen say that he wanted to pay you for this or that you were -- did you ever say that we'll do this if you give us money?" Best asked Hondius.

"It was expected," she said.

However, she told Best that Dasen never tried to touch her or made her feel intimidated or threatened.

"What was your impression of him?" Best asked.

"That he was a really nice guy," Hondius said....

She went to Dasen to ask for a loan to get into a house with her three children. The friend had told her that Dasen "was known to help people" and had bailed him out of jail once without ever asking for repayment....

According to her deposition, it was about three or four months after she met Dasen when she had sex with him at his home....

Halama's world was populated by women that Dasen helped, including her best friend Marshall and women who had breast enlargements courtesy of Dasen.

Eventually, Halama slashed a woman's tires because she owed Halama money for drugs. Dasen paid to replace the tires, but ended his relationship with Halama. He stopped taking her calls and they haven't spoken since, she said.

"What are your feelings as we speak today about him?" Best asked Halama.

"I care about him a lot," she said....

I was hungry, and you had sex with my 18-year-old friend; I was naked and you took pornographic pictures of me; I was a stranger, and you got me breast implants.

That's quite a novel defense: Here's some other women I didn't pay for sex, and these other teenagers I was involved with weren't underage, either. Things aren't looking too good for ol' Dick.

While Bush peddles the no-draft line on the campaign trail, the Selective Service puts in place a plan for a draft of medical professionals:

The Selective Service has been updating its contingency plans for a draft of doctors, nurses and other health care workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the military's medical corps.

In a confidential report this summer, a contractor hired by the agency described how such a draft might work, how to secure compliance and how to mold public opinion and communicate with health care professionals, whose lives could be disrupted.

On the one hand, the report said, the Selective Service System should establish contacts in advance with medical societies, hospitals, schools of medicine and nursing, managed care organizations, rural health care providers and the editors of medical journals and trade publications.

On the other hand, it said, such contacts must be limited, low key and discreet because "overtures from Selective Service to the medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft," and that could alarm the public.

...

The chief Pentagon spokesman, Lawrence T. Di Rita, said Monday: "It is the policy of this administration to oppose a military draft for any purpose whatsoever. A return to the draft is unthinkable. There will be no draft."

"We prefer the term indentured servitude," explained Mr. Di Rita.

And why exactly would we need more medical professionals in the armed services anyway?

The most interesting part is the Selective Service's plan to use p.r. tactics on the American public to garner support for a draft. The Service held focus groups to learn that:

People are apprehensive about the length of service that might be required. The "occupation of Iraq has proved more costly, in terms of dollars and lives, than most Americans expected." Members of the National Guard are "serving tours of duty far longer than many ever anticipated."

Could that be because the Administration used lies and p.r. to sell the war? And what does that tell us about the credibility of Bush's no draft pledge?

(Thanks to a reader for the link.)

Sullen Honor

Precisely how dense is Sully? He thinks the blogad on his site for the smearumentary Stolen Honor "funnels a few Sinclair dollars to the blog." He also believes he's running an "ad from Ann Coulter."

In fact, both ads are from NewsMax.com. NewsMax is giving away the Coulter book to idiot subscribers. The situation with the Stolen Honor video is slightly less clear, as the NewsMax site asks purchasers to make out a check to Red, White and Blue Productions, Carlton Sherwood's corporation, but to send the check "care of" NewsMax. Presumably, the two corporations have some sort of profit sharing deal for videos sold through NewsMax, but clearly it doesn't involve Sinclair, which is simply broadcasting the faux-umentary, and doesn't own it.

So who exactly is Sully promoting? Here's "NewsMax pundit Steve Farrell"'s latest column:

Homosexuality is not a natural equivalent alternative. It is, in every way, a perversion -- unnatural and unhealthy. ... The gay marriage issue is not a question of rights vs. discrimination. It is a question of supporting what is not only natural but also most beneficial for society (the natural family) vs. encouraging what is logically a behavioral aberration that should be treated rather than honored.

Sully's never had qualms about taking cash from anti-gay bigots. Now that it appears the Father's Rag is no longer publishing Sully's tepid gruel (maybe he's just on hiatus until November 3!), he's got to earn his crust from other cretins. And Carl Limbacher and his crew are as cretinous as it gets.

Incoming

Here's another Stolen Honor suit, this one against Carlton Sherwood and, potentially, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.

The New York Times version of the story says:

A veteran shown in a new film critical of Senator John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activism is suing the producer of the movie, saying it libels him by deceptively editing his statements.

The suit, filed yesterday in Philadelphia, involves the film "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," which accuses Mr. Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, and the antiwar group he joined of making up the accounts of wartime atrocities that Mr. Kerry later talked about in his 1971 Senate testimony. The Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its 62 television stations to show the movie this week.

The veteran who brought the suit, Kenneth J. Campbell, is shown saying he was not at one of the massacres later discussed, and asking another veteran whether he could produce accounts of the massacre.

A lawyer for Mr. Campbell, a decorated marine who is now a professor at the University of Delaware, said the film was edited to take out footage in which Mr. Campbell made clear that only soldiers who witnessed the atrocities firsthand would be allowed to testify at the hearings, and footage in which he recounted his military superiors ordering him to kill innocent civilians.

"It edits little clips to make it look like they're just making up instances," said the lawyer, David Kairys, who said Mr. Campbell was not connected with the Kerry campaign.

And for those who would cite this news report as evidence of the Times' supposed liberal bias, it is buried deep in the paper's front section, while today's oped pages have three Bushites (Brooks, Franks and Leaves Buchholz) vs. one Krugman, and an editorial asserting that American soldiers should shut up and commit suicide, on principle. I guess it's hard to give up being a cheerleader.

7:45am - Tony Blankley, Washington Times, Editorial Page Editor
8:30am - Greg Palast, Harper's Magazine, Contributor
9:15am - Elgie Holstein, Kerry-Edwards Campaign, Energy Adviser & Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Director of Global Warming Policy

Remember what Blankley said about George Soros this summer:

Using unmistakably anti-Semitic tropes and metaphors, Blankley appeared on Fox's Hannity & Colmes to call Soros a "robber baron" and "pirate capitalist." "This is a man who blamed the Jews for anti-Semitism," he continued. "This is a man who, when he was plundering the world's currencies, in England in '92, he caused the Southeast Asian financial crisis in '97. He said that he has no moral responsibility for the consequences of his financial actions.... He is a self-admitted atheist; he was a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust." As blogger Josh Marshall pointed out, "You have to hand it to [Blankley], pasting together a rant which manages to weave together accusations of anti-Semitism and most of the key anti-Semitic slurs and motifs." Moreover, Blankley implies that Soros should somehow be blamed for surviving the Holocaust.

Not only a waterboy for a bigot, Blankley is a bigot himself.

Here's more of Blankley's poisonous diatribe.

Want to give Blankley a piece of your mind?

Call-In Numbers
Support Pres. Bush:
(202) 628-0205
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(202) 737-0002
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Email:
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The Father's Waterboy

John Gorenfeld has an interesting item on why John "A Mighty Fatass Is Our" Podhoretz parted ways with the Moonie Times, according to previously unpublished magazine article:

Podhoretz describes his decision to leave the Times as a "personal one which I will not discuss." However, some of his colleagues say that he was deeply troubled upon his return from an Alaskan fishing trip he took with Moon last August. Moon used the occasion, say sources, to expound on his "Zionist conspiracy theories" and what Podhoretz perceived to be undiluted anti-Semitism. Indeed, some of Moon's teachings contend that Jews have "suffered four thousand years of punishment for killing Christ."

It's surprisingly easy to conjure up an image of Poddy in the Alaskan wilderness, wearing his windbreaker, canvas hat and life jacket, sitting next to a riverside campfire as the Reverend Moon (through a translator) expounds up his theory of Jewish indemnity.

Cue Dueling Wanhams.

Steno Howie

Howie the Putz writes, in shorthand:

On Fox's "Special Report," the comments made about Kerry over the summer were an eye-opening 5 to 1 negative. In September Kerry fared only slightly better, moving from 17 percent to 21 percent positive. Is that because Fox leans Republican -- or provides a balance to the more pro-Kerry networks?

...

Whatever their orientation, journalists are the last line of defense against public deception. If they fail to challenge distortions by politicians, they might as well join the stenography pool.

Whatever their orientation, media journalists are the last line of defense against public deception. If they fail to challenge the lies of Fox, they might as well go down on Rupert Murdoch on page CO1 of the Washington Post.

Shill Bill

Correction to This Article

An Oct. 15 Style article on a sexual harassment accusation against cable TV host Bill O'Reilly incorrectly said that it is illegal in the state of New York to tape a telephone conversation without the other party's consent. The practice is legal if at least one of the participants is aware of the taping.

Next time, spend 15 seconds on Google before you shill for Faux, Howie.

The Smell of Desperation

William Safliar joins the desperate Republican attempt to smear Kerry for his remarks on Mary Cheney during the final presidential debate.

In an attempt to make Kerry look bad, Safliar acknowledges that Dick Cheney has openly spoken of his daughter's sexuality, but claims "the press - respecting family privacy - had properly not made it a big deal."

Well, the New York Times, for one, has printed 18 articles during the period from 2000 to immediately before the recent debates which include the words Mary + Cheney + lesbian, including one from January 2001 which starts like this:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- It was a first for gay Republicans. Last week's inaugural events included a breakfast honoring the Republican Unity Coalition, a new political group that includes gay members of the party. The master of ceremonies at Friday's celebration was a respected Republican elder, former Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, a close friend of both the Bush and Cheney families.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Simpson noted, "Not one of us doesn't have someone close to us who is gay or lesbian." Then he invoked Mary Cheney, the daughter of the vice president, who attended the inauguration with her partner. Mr. Simpson said that after Ms. Cheney said she was a lesbian, her father, Dick Cheney, "protected and loved her as his very special, special daughter."

So Safliar, like the Cheneys, wants it both ways. Ms. Cheney's sexual orientation is "no secret or anything [to be] ... ashamed of," but it's private and shouldn't be mentioned in the press. It's okay for "political junkies" to know, but it certainly should be mentioned in front of the great American unwashed - Lord knows what mischief they'll get up to if they're let in on such delicate matters. It's The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Except At G.O.P. Fundraisers For Wealthy Gays.

And, of course, when Kerry mentions it at the same time he's telling those 50 million viewers that he's more progressive on gay rights than Bush, it's a trick to get people to vote against Bush. That's even less credible than Safliar's claim that he knows what the unnamed (of course) Democratic strategists who "concocted this base-surpressing dirty trick" are now advising Kerry.

All of Safliar's recent columns reek of desperation -- he sees his boy going down. This one even invokes Tailgunner Joe. Your old pal, Roy Cohn, would be very proud, Bill. For so very many reasons.

Keyes Blasts Reagan

U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes told a rally Saturday that incest was "inevitable" for children raised by gay couples because the children might not know both biological parents.

"If we do not know who the mother is, who the father is, without knowing all the brothers and sisters, incest becomes inevitable," Keyes told the Marquette Park rally held to oppose same-sex marriages.

"Whether they mean it or not, that is what will happen. If you are masked from your knowing your biological parents, you are in danger of encountering brothers and sisters you have no knowledge of."

(link)

Bill O'Reilly, Voice of Experience

Jimmy Breslin finds this nugget of self-recognition in O'Reilly's new parenting book, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids:

"Here's a big word for today: dehumanization.

"That's when you go out with someone only for their appearance - their big pecs or long legs. When you are interested in someone only on the basis of physique, you're dehumanizing him or her, seeing that person only as an attractive object. If you are doing that, remember, good sex occurs between two human beings, not between two objects ...

"Are you surprised by my thoughts on the subject? Did you think that O'Reilly would tell you sex is off-limits? As you know, things are more complicated than that. But I repeat my mantra: Sex is best when you combine sensible behavior with sincere affection ...

"It is also smart to recognize that there is no area more potentially dishonest than the sexual arena.

"And if you exploit a girl, it will come back to get you."

But what about one human being and one battery-operated phallic object?