Roger's Mail Sac

I rarely publish reader e-mails, but this one offers a rare insight on Middle East politics:

Dear Friend,

I am Mrs. Suha Arafat, the wife of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment.

You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account and companies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government.

In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of about $6.5 Billion Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for woman, more importantly when the woman is from a Christian background, hence my desire for a foreign assistance.

I have deposited the sum of 21 million dollars with a Security financial firm in whose name is withheld for now until we open communication. I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and Investment opportunity. This arrangement will be known to you and I alone and all our correspondence should be strictly on email alone because our government has tapped all my lines and are monitoring all my moves.

In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $21,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter, Zahwa, will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family Estate/inheritance. Please, if you are honest, I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children. In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith and send to me your complete personal contact information.

May God bless you and your household.

Yours sincerely,

Suha Arafat
Reply to sshaa_43@yahoo.it

Roger's Farm Film Blowup

I still haven't seen any of the nominated films, so I don't care who/what wins.

But an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby would be a nice Guckert shower ... right in Michael Medved's ignorant puss.

Once again, I must apologize for not being able to post due to other commitments. Believe me, I'd rather be doing almost anything than what's occupying nearly all my time. And I've no doubt you're sick of these lame I'm busy posts.

Don't file for divorce just yet. I promise I'll be more attentive and responsive to your needs, and won't bring work to bed with me ... very, very soon.

Just like old times.


Please, baby.

An Embarassment Of Riches

I've delayed posting this so that my vast influence wouldn't skew the voting. Or because I didn't realize voting had already closed.

One of those.

The only problem with the 2004 Koufax Awards is that there are too many good blogs to choose from.

Take Most Humorous Blog. Voters have to choose between TBogg, World O' Crap, Jesus' General and Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness. (The others are all great too.) When was the last time the Motion Picture Academy had to choose between four such equally qualified nominees. Because they were equally good, that is.

I'd have to say TBogg is most in synch with my sense of humor, but they're all consistently brilliant.

Every one of the nominees in the Best Writing category is a gifted writer. My vote is going to Jim Capozzola, but I envy the talents of all the nominees.

As for the new blogs, as Dwight Meredith says, "Now, there are so many new blogs of such high quality that it is impossible to be familiar with them all."

If only there was enough time to read them all.

Sully Joe Says Uncle

Sully, who, when he said he was giving up blogging meant he was giving up blogging about shaven-head Bush apologists who look for love on the 'net under assumed names, weighs in the Larry Summers controversy. He writes:

I let rip on the academic Stalinists baying for Summers' blood ....

And then he says some more shit, but I think I'll stop right here.

Academic Stalinists?

Is Larry about to be shot in the back of his head by the Academic NKVD?

Is Lar going to be tortured to death in a prison camp in Academic Siberia?

Will he be going to Intellectual Starbucks with an Academic Beria?

I can't remember Sully comparing the demands for the firing of Howell Raines or Jordan Eason or Trent Lott or Ward Churchill to the Great Purge. In fact, it was Sully who -- more jackass that wolf -- was braying for blood in the Raines and Lott cases. There's more Stalinism in Sully's retroactive editing his earlier writings than there is in the remarks of those taking issue with Summers' assertions.

(No link. He's given up blogging, you know.)

Ezra Klein has a funny post reviewing Hugh Hewitt's book, Blog. I looked for a copy of Blog at Borders yesterday, but couldn't find it. Must've been sold out, or in the fiction section.

I did come across el-Bent Bozell's cleverly-titled Weapons of Mass Distortion : The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media, and briefly contemplated reviewing it. But I'd rather castrate myself with a rusty spork than spend $25.95 on Bozell, so I just skimmed it.

Opening the book at random, I landed on a chapter subhead reading "What A Difference A Lawsuit Makes." The title did not refer to the million-dollar settlement Bozell's PTC group paid to settle the WWF's slander suit, but rather the supposed liberal media bias against Larry "Krazy Kounsellor" Klayman. According to Bozell, when the self-identified conservative, Klayman, filed numerous suits against the Clinton Administration and Clinton associates, the debbil media called Klayman a conservative and wasn't interested in the merits of the suits. Of course, neither was Brent, since his book didn't go on to report the outcomes of those suits. But when Klayman sued over access to the minutes of Dick Cheney's secret energy task force, the media wasn't so hostile.

If Bozell wasn't such a dishonest hack, he would have mentioned that Klayman's anti-Clinton suits went nowhere, and that Judicial Watch is joined by a legitimate organization, the Sierra Club, in prosecuting the suit against Cheney's task force. He might also have mentioned that Klayman's no longer with Judicial Watch.

Maybe Bozell mentioned these facts elsewhere in his slim volume of fairy tales. To be frank, I wasn't going to stand around in a store all day reading Bozell's crap.

Perhaps a sympathetic employee of Bozell's publisher, Clown Forum, could send me a review copy before the piles of remainders are sent to a hazmat site for proper disposal. It would be the perfect revenge for having to work with asswipes like Major Garrett and Michael Medved all day. Bozell's overdue for a bitchslapping, and I'm just the bitch to deliver it.

Kinsley vs. the Law

The usually astute Michael Kinsley engages in some sloppy reporting here:

Last week a federal appeals court ruling upheld a lower-court order that Miller and Cooper must testify or go to jail.

That is a travesty. These two public-spirited journalists promised anonymity to sources at a time when the law about "journalists' privilege" was unclear. Having made that promise, they feel obligated to keep it. If they shouldn't have made that promise, society should have sent them a clearer message to that effect. The message is still a muddle. Why these two, who never published the secret name, and not others, including some who did? Before we start jailing journalists for keeping promises, we need to decide when such a promise should be made.

Uh, the Branzburg case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1972. The Court held:

The First Amendment does not relieve a newspaper reporter of the obligation that all citizens have to respond to a grand jury subpoena and answer questions relevant to a criminal investigation, and therefore the Amendment does not afford him a constitutional testimonial privilege for an agreement he makes to conceal facts relevant to a grand jury's investigation of a crime or to conceal the criminal conduct of his source or evidence thereof.

What part of that holding is unclear to Kinsley?

You might want to take some remedial law classes, Mike. I hear U.S.C. has a night school; it might even be accredited.

Frivolous Republican Lawsuits

James Guckert sues reality ... for a divorce.

"Jeff Gannon is considering suing liberal interest groups, bloggers and others for a 'political assassination' that drove him from his job as a reporter for a conservative news outfit called Talon News, he told NEWSWEEK. Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, singled out Media Matters -- a 'well-funded' liberal group headed by longtime 'attack dog' David Brock. ('Everything we wrote about him came from the public record,' Brock replied.)"

I look forward to discovery.

Wingnut Bloggers Humiliated By Mainstream Media Bully

(Story via Atrios)

John Fund, the man who taught Jonah Goldberg everything he knows about being a doughy pantload, has pissed off an already pissy bunch of rightwing bloggers. No, he didn't date them and then start punching them. He dared to use their laptop computers at the CPAC Conference without their permission.

This really got Kevin McCullough's y-fronts in a knot. Who? Kevin McCullough, the deservedly obscure twat who was last seen making shit up about Ed Asner's supposed affinity for Uncle Joe Stalin.

The third-rater rants at length here, after consulting with fellow whiner Robert Cox, idiot father of that idiot brainchild, The National Debate. Kev sneers that Romeo Fund isn't even a credentialed blogger, but rather a nasty old MSM man. Fund also committed the unpardonable heresy of "thrice" referring to his online column as a blog, when it is not, is not, IS NOT!

Kev was so outraged by the trespass that his command of the language ... well, actually, I think it stayed the same:

"Bloggers have a right to make a statement about the arrogance of the big media with which we are treated. Whether they be for us or against us from an idealogical standpoint is really beside the point."

Cox, meanwhile, chides Fund for thoughlessly leaving Cox's computer logged onto the Wall Street Journal server after finishing his work, even though it was Cox who stupidly left his laptop available for Fund to access.

Now, if I had a laptop, Mr. Fund wouldn't be touching it. So why couldn't these conservative hardmen keep Fund off their machines? You'll never get Michelle Malkin to return your calls, Kev, if you can't even top John Fund.

Update (2/21): Kevin McCullough e-mailed me to point out that he corrected his claim about Ed Asner when he learned he was mistaken. If you follow the "making shit up" link, above, through Atrios's link to the original WorldNetDaily article, you'll see Mr. McCullough's original article and correction.

Release the Hounds

I'm not sure about these new limits on fox hunting.

Why shouldn't hounds be allowed to tear Hannity and Roger Ailes limb from limb if they can catch them?

Helter, Schmelter

Actually, I think they're comparing Bush to Charles Manson.

Wead Smokes Bush

Now that's news!

"Why should my past prevent me from having a future?"

In the past:

He lied about a Democratic presidential candidate.

He lied about Democratic congressional leaders.

He lied to his employer and his readers when he plagiarized White House press releases.

He lied when conducting interviews, if you believe his current lies.

He lied about his identity.

When he got caught lying about his identity, he lied about the reasons for lying about it, and lied about being harassed.

He lied about his past.

He lied to cover up his lies about his past.

He lied about being subpoenaed by the grand jury, either when he said he had or he said he hadn't been.

He lied to the White House, if you believe the White House.

He lied to his potential johns.

You're absolutely right, James.

Your past shouldn't prevent you from having a bright future as a conservative journalist.

In fact, it should guarantee it.

What Kind Of Asshole Would Say This?

"COOL[.] The tsunami may have uncovered an ancient city."

This kind.

Flowers for Peggernon

Some jibbering halfwits are raising money to buy flowers for dolphin worshipping knuckle-sucker Peggy Noonan, just because Peg wrote a puffer on wingnut bloggers.

My advice: Don't tell her you grew them yourself, or she'll call you "retards with spades."

p.s. to Peggums: Yes, we saw your piece before someone corrected your incorrect spelling "Drew Pierson." Try writing as if you were sober next time.

Pig To The Slaughter

"Kids, this is an object lesson: read books, don't take drugs."

This Is Not America

Jeremy Scahill reports:

But the real controversy here should not be over Jordan's comments. The controversy ought to be over the unconscionable silence in the United States about the military's repeated killing of journalists in Iraq.

Read the whole thing.

Then read this:

Pictures of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan posing with hooded and bound detainees during mock executions were destroyed after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq to avoid another public outrage, Army documents released Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union show.

And this:

The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that it had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances of the death were not disclosed at the time.

The prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging," the documents reviewed by The AP show. It is unclear whether that position -- which human rights groups condemn as torture -- was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations.

This is not America.

This is the Bush Administration.

Buying Delays

Big Pharma and his lawyers are further delaying the State's investigation into Pharma's doctor-shopping. Limbaugh has managed to keep the matter tied up in appeals for over a year:

Assistant State Attorney James Martz was responding to arguments Limbaugh and his attorneys made asking that the records remain sealed. Martz said Limbaugh's argument that he should have been notified before the records were seized by investigators is equivalent to saying "that law enforcement is never to be trusted."

"Then search warrants should never be issued and law enforcement should never be permitted to investigate criminal activity for fear that they will abuse the power granted," Martz wrote in a brief filed with the Florida Supreme Court. "Such reasoning would eviscerate law enforcement's ability to protect the public and enforce the law."

Martz added that the 4th District Court of Appeal's ruling, which said Limbaugh's privacy rights were not violated when the records were seized in 2003, should be upheld.

Any other junkie who lacked the millions to buy time would have been convicted by now. But Pigboy's time is running out.

The Right to Privacy

Wingnuts find a right to privacy:

Cliff Kincaid, editor of the Accuracy in Media report, wrote on the conservative group's Web site: "The Gannon 'scandal' would be laughable, were it not for the fact that Gannon's personal privacy has been invaded and his mother, in her 70s, had to endure harassing telephone calls from those on the political left trying to dig up dirt. The campaign against Gannon demonstrates the paranoid mentality and mean-spirited nature of the political left."

Ho.

Kitty Litter

Here's that class act, Kitty Q. Seelye, describing the journalists ordered to reveal the Plame leakers:

Ms. Miller was among a group of Times journalists who won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for reporting they did on Al Qaeda, and much of her work has focused on national security and government secrecy. Most recently, she has written about the controversy surrounding the United Nations oil-for-food program.

The other reporter involved in the contempt case, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, has a side career doing stand-up comedy, including dead-on impersonations of politicians.

She left out how Miller is a striking brunette beauty, while Cooper is a chubby, balding schlub.

Seelye did include this fanciful claim:

Ms. Miller has been a target of media critics who contend that her articles on unconventional weapons helped provide the Bush administration's justification for going to war in Iraq.

If, by unconventional, you mean imaginary, then you've got it exactly right, Kitty.

Update (2/16): I originally erroneously linked to the same NYT Liptak article as in the previous post, not the Seeyle article. The link is now corrected.

Law And Order

Anyone who thought the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was going to overturn the contempt order against Matt Cooper and Judy Miller wasn't paying attention. (The opinion is here.) Given the controlling Supreme Court authority, the appellate court couldn't have ruled any other way. Time and the Times could have saved Floyd Abrams's fat fee and hired some legal hack like Glenn Reynolds or those Powerline idiots and gotten the same result.

The Supreme Court isn't going to review this one, absent a call from the White House or Gonzales to Fat Tony Scalia.

I feel sorry for Mr. Cooper and his family. The villians aren't the appellate judges who applied the law, but rather Robert Novak and the Administration thugs who broke the law in the service of their unelected leader. I hope Cooper names the thugs, gets a book deal out of the story and retires early on the proceeds. Miller can simply skip the country and find work in one of Ahmed Chalabi's shady enterprises.

Highlights For (Those With The Intellects Of) Children

(yes, you, Leslie, Putzie and 'Cracker)

Featuring Goockert and Gannon

Goockert enjoys publishing the names of undercover operatives whose names are kept secret to protect their lives.

Gannon is outraged by the "invasion of privacy" when his true name is disclosed.

-0O0-

Goockert ridicules gay men and lesbians seeking legal equality.

Gannon refuses to address allegations that he solicited and/or engaged in illegal acts of exchanging sex for money.

-0O0-

Goockert makes up quotes and spreads lies about Democrats.

Gannon cries he's the victim of nasty partisanship.

(Note: This would be much funnier with illustrations)

Grand Old Police Blotter: Battles of Bullshit Run Edition

A Republican civilian contracting firm, Custer Battles, stands charged with defrauding its fellow citizens of tens of millions of dollars worth of security services not provided in Iraq.

On at least two occasions, Willis said, the firm was paid $2 million from a vault in the authority's basement, served up in $100,000 plastic-wrapped bricks of cash.

"We called in Mike Battles and said, 'Bring a bag,' " Willis said.

Michael Battles and Scott K. Custer, both former U.S. Special Operations soldiers, founded the company in 2002. Battles ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate for Congress in Rhode Island that year.

After an interview with Custer in January 2004, agents from the Pentagon inspector general's office wrote, "Battles is very active in the Republican Party and speaks to individuals he knows at the White House almost daily, according to Custer." A White House spokesman had no immediate comment.

Screw the White House, why didn't you call Alberto Gonzales?

As for the whistleblowers' suit against Custer Battles, "Lawyers representing Custer Battles have denied the charges and have argued that the case should be dismissed because the money that was allegedly stolen belonged to Iraqis, not to Americans." Fair enough. Remand the motherfuckers to the democratically-elected government of Iraq and let justice take its course.

Whore's Your Daddy

I don't know whether James Guckert is or was a prostitute, but if these stories from Americablog and Salon are true, he certainly topped Howard Kurtz.

Kurtz was spouting the party lie that J.D.G. quit the White House press cwhore because of disclosure of "personal details." Worse, Kurtz was a simpering stenographer who took the word of a man he already knew to be a liar.

Kurtz on CNN:

Now, that question, Wolf, kind of put a target on Jeff Gannon's back. A lot of liberal bloggers began digging into his background. In the last 24 hours, they've exposed his real name. They've raised questions about some sexually provocative Web addresses that he registered on one of his companies, but never actually did anything with.

Oh really, Howie? Never did anything with them. How did you come to that conclusion?

But what precipitated his resignation is that he says that on behalf -- out of concern for his family -- and he told me last week that he had been threatened, that he had been stalked -- this has gotten so personal that he felt he needed to step down as the White House correspondent for Talon News.

And your evidence for those assertions is?

In his Post chit-chat:

But there is no question that he resigned because of the personal information that was dug up on him, a tactic that even some liberal bloggers have criticized.

No question? I guess there's no question if you unquestioningly accept the word of a confirmed liar and ignore the facts.

You've shown yourself to be a gullible fool or, worse, a deliberate liar. Resign now, Kurtz, and spare yourself further embarrassment.

A cold-hearted bastard would wonder about the carcinogenic effects of Lucianne Goldberg blowing smoke up one's ass.

A less compassionate soul might abuse the concept of karma.

But I know what cancer can do, so I sincerely wish Mr. Snow a fast and full recovery.

Libel Sources

Speaking of CNN-employed liars, Howie "the Putz" Kurtz will take honors for Lying Employee of the Year with this bit character assassination:

KURTZ: I'm going to let you expand on that when we turn to our next part of the discussion.

Another resignation driven by bloggers just this week. Jeff Gannon, an openly conservative reporter writing for two Web sites, TalonNews and the clearly partisan GOPUSA.com, drew fire after asking President Bush this inaccurate and somewhat loaded question. ....

KURTZ: Gannon quit after liberal bloggers revealed his real name and his registration of several sexually provocative online Web addresses that he never turned into Web sites. Gannon, who said he and his family were being harassed, defended his work on CNN's "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS."

...

KURTZ: Bill Press, should the White House have given day passes to an online reporter for a site like GOPUSA so that he's in a position to ask the president of the United States questions like "Harry Reid is talking about soup lines." Well, Senator Reid never talked about soup lines. That was a characterization, Gannon later admitted to me, he picked up from Rush Limbaugh?

PRESS: First of all, let's make a big distinction, all right? I mean, Eason Jordan is a real journalist for 23 years. I think this guy is a phony. And let's call him by his real name, James Dale Guckert. And you know what he was? He was in there for two years, Howie, every day getting a daily pass under a pseudonym by the White House.

KURTZ: But there are lots of people that change their names. Woody Allen isn't his real name. What's the big deal about that?
...

KURTZ: On the other hand, David Gergen, there are a lot of colorful characters in the White House briefing room. You've worked there. Lester Kinsolving comes to mind. And some people there are just out-and-out liberals. Liberal columnists and others. So why shouldn't Jeff Gannon or James Guckert be able to ask his question as well?
...

KURTZ: But Jeff Jarvis, liberal bloggers like DailyKos and Atrios, among others, went after Gannon on some personal stuff. Some of them say he's anti-gay; he denies that. Did they go too far in using these kinds of online tactics against somebody whose politics they clearly didn't like?

JARVIS: Well, online or off-line tactics, yes, I believe so. The story here is did the White House stack the press deck and then pull out a friendly card, as Mr. Gergen puts it? That's the real story. The story of Gannon, he may be a little, well, hard to take, but to go beyond the main story here and go after his personal life does make you look like a bit of a lynch mob.

And as we in blogs who are opinionated -- Kos calls himself an advocate -- get press passes for things like conventions, we have to, you know, be concerned about saying that someone else shouldn't because they're not a legitimate journalist. Well, we're all legitimate journalists today, and that's a line that's very fuzzy now.

KURTZ: But how do you...
...

PRESS: Yeah, if I may, just to make a point here. I think that Media Matters for America, which is a blog where I found out about this Jeff Gannon thing, they weren't going after his personal life. The point they were making is a point we were talking about earlier, how did this ringer get in the White House so often and called on so many times by Scott McClellan and President Bush, and I think that does get down to the credibility of the media. When you have somebody there who's not under his real, who's representing a site that links you to GOPUSA, it's really questionable...

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: That's a very legitimate question, Bill. But it was the personal stuff I think that drove Gannon or Guckert to resign.

First off, why do the media whores like Howie always get someone like Jarvis or Sully or Instacracker or some other right-wing twat to appear on these stories? That's not a rhetorical question. The answer is because Howie doesn't want anyone who's going to challenge his lies.

The Putz's lowest blow is accusing Atrios and Kos of going after Guckert on "personal stuff." What personal stuff is that? The guy's real name? The fact that he registered gay escort/porn domain names. Those are public records and business information, having nothing to do with Guckert's "personal" life. Of course, the Putz doesn't identify the "personal stuff," because he can't.

The Putz doesn't mention anything about Guckert's press-release plagiarism (perhaps Guckert's not dusky enough for Howie to care) or that he was a recipient of White House smears against Joseph Wilson.

Finally, why is Putzie so sure that it was "personal stuff" that drove Guckert to "resign." First of all, the personal stuff was out there before he resigned, so how could it cause him to resign? More significantly, the Putz seems to take Guckert's tales at face value, which is ridiculous, given that Guckert's entire career is premised on a bald-faced lie.

Howard Kurtz's accusation that Atrios and Kos attacked Guckert for "personal stuff" is a lie. CNN and the Washington Post should can the Putz immediately.

p.s. -- Don't forget to send Howie a Valentine tomorrow.

If CNN is getting rid of people for making shit up, why is Nancy Grace still working there?

The 'Rent Is Past Due.... For A Major Ass-Kicking

Danny the Rentboy phones in his bi-monthly column by printing reader letters, because, you know, the NYT doesn't have a letters page or anything. One correspondent makes the following point:

You're not doing your job very well by allowing the reporter Judith Miller to avoid you and the executive editor, Bill Keller, to stonewall you. Mr. Keller can't respond to you because "Judy faces a serious danger of being sent to jail for protecting a confidential source."

He and Ms. Miller can't discuss new assertions about Ahmad Chalabi with the public editor, but it's O.K. for her to go on television?

DAVID DAVICH
Winter Park, Fla., Feb. 6, 2005

Actually, Dave, Jokrent is doing his job exactly as intended.

Pistof Devolves

Want proof there's no God? Nick Pistof's continuing career as a media pudnut is a start.

Here's Pistof thinking deep thoughts:

There's still plenty of reason to be skeptical because Dr. Hamer's work hasn't been replicated, and much of his analysis is speculative. Moreover, any genetic predisposition isn't for becoming an evangelical, but for an openness to spirituality at a much broader level. In Alabama, it may express itself in Pentecostalism; in California, in astrology or pyramids.

In the op-ed pages of the New York Times, in sneering pseudo-intellectual wankery.

Pistof also says:

Another possibility involves brain chemistry. Genes that promote spirituality may do so in part by stimulating chemical messengers in the brain like dopamine, which can make people optimistic and sociable - and perhaps more likely to have children. (Dopamine is very complex, but it appears linked to both spirituality and promiscuity, possibly explaining some church scandals.)

Har har har. This from the self-righteous prick who was pretending to save young women from sexual exploitation a couple weeks ago.

Pistof should avoid writing about religion and science. And everything else.

Read It And Weep

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United States and 40 other countries and sought unconventional weapons, according to a declassified version of the document.

The 13-page proposal presented to Dr. Rice by her top counterterrorism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, laid out ways to step up the fight against Al Qaeda, focusing on Osama bin Laden's headquarters in Afghanistan. The ideas included giving "massive support" to anti-Taliban groups "to keep Islamic extremist fighters tied down"; destroying terrorist training camps "while classes are in session" and then sending in teams to gather intelligence on terrorist cells; deploying armed drone aircraft against known terrorists; more aggressively tracking Qaeda money; and accelerating the F.B.I.'s translation and analysis of material from surveillance of terrorism suspects in American cities.

(More here)

Like Father, Like Klan

This is a must read article. Every word. From the photograph of George W. Bush giving Neo-Klansmen Wesley Pruden, Jnr. and Fran Coombs and anti-Semite Tony Blankley a tour of the Oval Office, to this interesting look at the Moonie Times' ad policy:

The Washington Times has taken something of a public relations beating recently. This Jan. 20, it ran an ad attacking Jews as "those folks of the anti-Christ." After the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington complained, Times general manager Richard Amberg Jr. wrote the group to profusely apologize, claiming the Times "never knowingly" allows ads that "denigrate religions."

That may be. But in just one sample period in late 2004, the newspaper ran at least nine similar ads -- on Oct. 11, 13, 15, 20, 22, 26, 29, 30 and 31 -- many of them plugging an anti-Semitic book called For Fear of the Jews.

On Dec. 6, it went one better, publishing an ad for the Institute for Historical Review, a leading anti-Semitic hate group that specializes in denying the World War II Holocaust.

Of course, Bigot Pruden and his fellow sheetwearers will assert that running Holocaust denial ads demonstrates the paper's coverage isn't controlled by the Unification Church, since the Father's view is that the Holocaust did occur, and was appropriate "indemnity" for the death of Christ.

Makes you wonder why Elliot Abrams is so enamored of Moon. Maybe it's their status as fellow convicts.

Man On God

By the way, anything I ever do is okay because my Christian faith has enabled me to receive forgiveness for the sins of my past.

I love how that works.

The Hack Hillbilly

The Hairless Hack is correcting his errors without acknowledging them. He originally wrote this at Slate:

(Chuck Berry got the idea for "Maybelline" by listening to Gene Autry!)

Through the miracle of unprincipled hackery, his blog now reads like this:

(Chuck Berry, known around St. Louis as the "black hillbilly," based his first hit, "Maybellene," on an old country song; Bo Diddley invented his eponymous beat after listening to ... Gene Autry!)

You'd think the powers at the Washington Post would frown on such sleazy doings... but instead they'll probably give Kaus a spot on the editorial page, between Krauthammer and Will.

Jim Capozzola tells us what a petty bastard David Horowitz is.

George W. Bush -- Restoring Man Whore and Dignity To The White House.

A Hack Flashes Back

Tiny Mickey Kaus momentarily diverts his thoughts from Howie Kurtz's balls -- you think I'm kidding? I'm not -- to weigh in with this timely comment:

The big problem with last year's Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake halftime show was not that people saw Jackson's breast. It wasn't what Jackson did that was offensive. It was what Timberlake did. Here was a massively popular, relatively hip singer whose message was that it was a hip, transgressive thing for men to rip clothes off women when they feel like it (which is quite often). I watched the game with a group of non-evangelical, non-moralistic dads who were uniformly horrified. The problem for them wasn't sex--their kids see flesh all the time in videos--but a form of sexism, not prudery but piggishness.

I might be inclined to take this seriously, but for Kaus's enthusiastic endorsement of the Predator in the California governor's race. Kaus didn't claim that allegations against Schwarzenegger were false or unproven, he claimed that they didn't matter. It sounds like Kaus is more offended by consensual, choreographed interaction than real, nonconsensual assault.

I Wish I'd Said That

"Right Turns is yet another one of those memoirs about how the author started out as an idealistic liberal only to become disillusioned and realize the real money was to be made as a conservative shill wearing his apostate's sincerity as a merit badge. It's a warmer, fuzzy-wuzzier account of the same ideological odyssey documented by David Horowitz in I Taught the Black Panthers the Funky Chicken and Roger L. Simon in his forthcoming Damn, I Wish My Memoir Had Come out before Medved's: Maybe I Can Hit Him up for a Blurb. The grandaddy of the genre is Norman Podhoretz, whose searing anecdotes recounting the snubs he's received at cocktail parties after swerving right are now old enough to have their own AARP cards." -- Who Else?

Mickey Kaus is writing one, too, as soon as he learns how to write.

Bottoms Up

This may explain Bush's claim that he gave up drinking:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas woman has been indicted for criminally negligent homicide for causing her husband's death by giving him a sherry enema, a police detective said on Wednesday.

Tammy Jean Warner, 42, gave Michael Warner two large bottles of sherry on May 21, which raised his blood alcohol level to 0.47 percent, or nearly six times the level considered legally drunk in Texas, police detective Robert Turner in Lake Jackson, Texas, told the Houston Chronicle.

"We're not talking about little bottles here," Turner said. "These were at least 1.5-liter bottles."

Warner, 58, was said to have an alcohol problem and received the wine enema because a throat ailment left him unable to drink the sherry, Turner told the newspaper.

Don't try that at home.

I haven't been keeping up on the news lately, so it's a good thing nothing's going on.

I thought I saw something about a bunch of Republican congresspersons getting caught playing stinkfinger with each other before the State of the Union Address, but I might be mistaken on that one.

In order to quash those ugly internet rumors concerning my disappearance, I am not, nor have I ever been:

Michael Jackson's defense counsel

Campaigning for DNC Chair

A member of the New England Patriots

In indefinite administrative detention

Andrew Sullivan's ghostwriter

Preparing the phonetic spelling transcript for the SOTU

In possession of the $9 billion Paul Bremer "lost"

Dead.