Oh for a book and a shady crook...

Oh for a book and a shady crook...

Since Roger is otherwise detained and I still have a key to the place -

There are very good reasons why the Wall Street Journal employs Karl Rove. After all, he did mastermind the election of a virtual idiot into a spot somewhat higher than first runner up at American Idol. But I think that the WSJ had something other in mind than Rove writing fanfic about Incurious George, the man who put the 'brief' into briefing:

At year's end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as Leader of the Free World.

Mr. Bush's 2006 reading list shows his literary tastes. The nonfiction ran from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, King Leopold, William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, LBJ and Genghis Khan to Andrew Roberts's "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900," James L. Swanson's "Manhunt," and Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower." Besides eight Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald, Mr. Bush tackled Michael Crichton's "Next," Vince Flynn's "Executive Power," Stephen Hunter's "Point of Impact," and Albert Camus's "The Stranger," among others.

Fifty-eight of the books he read that year were nonfiction. Nearly half of his 2006 reading was history and biography, with another eight volumes on current events (mostly the Mideast) and six on sports.

To my surprise, the president demanded a rematch in 2007. Though the overall pace slowed, he once more came in second in our two-man race, reading 51 books to my 76.

I'm as willing as the next person to believe that Rove may have actually read 76 books; he doesn't exactly look like he spends his late evening hours at raves. But please don't try to tell me that George W. Bush reads nearly a book a week. The Sporting News, during baseball season, yes. "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900."? Please. That would be too ironic.

Rove should stick to giving tips on manipulating public opinion in order to destroy the Constitution inch by inch while emptying the Treasury into Dick Cheney's buddies pockets. When it comes to what is commonly called "polishing the turd", he should leave it to pros like John Hinderaker who can use his tongue purtier than a twenty-dollar whore.

It Must Be Love

Regrettably, I will be working full-time and more through the holidays. That depressing news is balanced out by an exciting upswing in my personal life. The first part is only temporary; the second, who knows? But for now, something's got to give. Although this blog will suffer in the short run, I am hopeful that it will continue to exist, and I will try to make it so.

A very happy and healthy year end to all my virtual friends. Thank you for reading, and for participating.

Heartwarming

The Altantic is publishing children's letters to Santa.

Jerry Falwell's Evil Twin

Note: Falwell was evil too, of course. But the one with the goatee always gets the title.

Going to the Show

That movie about The Anchoress and Professor Bainbridge looks pretty interesting. Has anyone seen the reviews?

Frankly, I'm more troubled by the eight years of bootlicking by the press.

Ho Ho Ho

Instacracker has had a series of hard-hitting posts on the Bush economy this past week (link and internal links omitted):

LOTS OF big electronics markdowns.

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A BUNCH OF jewelry on sale, at Amazon.

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CHRISTMAS DISCOUNTS on gourmet food.

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A BUNCH OF bargain toys for Christmas and Hanukah. Lots more toy deals here.

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TOP KIDS-AND-FAMILY DVDs OF 2008.

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AMAZON PRIME IS on sale for Christmas, letting you get a year of free two-day shipping for $59. I've been an Amazon Prime user since it first started and I've loved it....

Whether "Professor" Reynolds is spreading for amazon.com for free or he's making money on the deal matters not to me. Product placement is as American as Hostess Fruit Pies, and if the 'Cracker's drooling groupies don't mind wasting their time (or are too stupid to find amazon on their own), far be it from me to complain. The triumphs of the blogsphere are that you don't have to label advertising as such, and any content-free whore can get rich or die trying. And its not like anyone takes the 'Cracker seriously anyway.

Satire Recognized In Great Britian

It's the law:

"The transparently false attribution is irony," said [Mr Justice] Tugendhat, in a 17-page judgment. "Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used ... The attribution is literally false but no reasonable reader could be misled by it." The judge added: "Irony is not always a form of sarcasm or ridicule."

If anyone would know about ridicule, it'd be a guy named Tugendhat.

The only question remaining about the fire at Sharia Plain's church is when Instacracker will blame it on eco-terrorists.

You know, like when he falsely blamed these arson fires on eco-terrorists.

Context Is The Devil

I love NewsBusters, the website that can find conservative bias in the alphabet. There's so much stupidity on the site that I don't usually bother writing about it. But here's a perfect illustration from contributor Tom Blumer, who apparently has unlimited access to a computer at the halfway house.

Blumer chides an Associated Press reporter for mentioning a Focus on the Family presentation at Sharia Plain's wingnut church in an article about a suspected arson fire at the church. Key simpering point: "D'Oro had to work hard to get the Focus on the Family dig in. As would be expected, Greg Johnson's coverage at the local Frontiersman said nothing about the Sunday bulletin ad, nor did the lengthier coverage at the Anchorage Daily News. Of course not: It has no relevance to the story."

And here's the reference:

..... Palin, who was not at the church at the time of the fire, stopped by Saturday. Her spokesman, Bill McAllister, said in a statement that Palin told an assistant pastor she was sorry if the fire was connected to the "undeserved negative attention" the church has received since she became the vice presidential candidate Aug. 29.

"Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good," McAllister said.

The 1,000-member evangelical church was the subject of intense scrutiny after Palin was named John McCain's running mate. Early in Palin's campaign, the church was criticized for promoting in a Sunday bulletin a Focus on the Family "Love Won Out Conference" in Anchorage. The conference promised to "help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome.

Do I need to spell out the relevance of the reference to anyone that was able to turn on a computer?

If I had been the A.P. reporter, I would have simply stated that "No evidence exists that the fire was the result of attention from Palin's campaign, and Palin and her spokesman are scumbags for portraying Palin as a victim." The reporter also could have pointed out plenty of other wingnut goings on at the church which came up in the campaign. But for Blumer to claim that the final paragraph was not necessary to put the Palin stooge's remark into context shows only that Blumer's road to mental recovery will be longer than the Al-Can Highway.

The Underground Internet

Tristam finds some blog triumphalism at its most offensive and stupid. The source is not a surprise.

Meet Your Liberal Media: Useless Idiots Edition

Bob Somerby is right to blast Morning Joe co-star and prize dullard Mika Brzezinski for recycling the lie that UAW workers earn $73.00 an hour. But he doesn't emphasize the source of Brzezinski's idiocy is the Brent Bozell e-rag CNS News, an organ with even less credibility than Brzezinski and her co-host, Joe Scarborough. Brzezinski is a lot like her heroine, Sarah Palin, in that she believes anything that's placed in front of her and she's told to read. And it's no suprise she's now appearing on the same wingnut radio station as Big Pharma, Hannity, Don Imacracker and hairless troll doll Mark LEVin.

A Moveable Dumbass

Over at the Kiddie Corner, Mark Hemmingway's stomach rumbles like a tsumani as he chortles over Rev. Jerry Wright's ignorance about the fundamental details of World War II. Shit Steyn also joins in the fun.

Yeah, Wright's almost as big a dumbass as the guy who said this:

President Roosevelt waited until after World War II to put in place a commission to investigate what mistakes led to Pearl Harbor. That was a wise move, but then Roosevelt did not face the kind of hyper-partisanship that plagues America these days.

The dumbass in question is Cliff May, and the dumbasses who published his dumbassery are the dumbasses at National Review. And the dumbassery is still displayed on NRO more than four years later. I'd send Hemmingway the link, but I suspect his pants are already saturated from amusement.

Time For Another Blagojevich Ethics Panel

Gov. Rod "the Blog" Blagojevich (D-IL) is trying to ruin my Grand Old Police Blotter schtick.

Thank God for Vito "Ed Grimley" Fossella (R-NY) and his .17 BAC. Kids, don't drink hand sanitizer and drive!

By the way, those who are attributing Joseph Cao's win in Louisiana to low African-American turnout can blow me. A little over a month ago, the pale Republicans in Alaska nearly returned convicted criminal Ted Stevens to the U.S. Senate. African-American turnout in Louisiana was low because African-American voters didn't support Jefferson, not because of apathy.

Congratulations to Ahn Cao, the newly elected representative from the Second District of Louisiana and the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress. Cao ousted William Jefferson, so the Republicans will have a harder time playing the false equivalancy game every time one of their scumbag sitting congressmen is indicted. Cao sounds like a winger for the most part, and was a McCain supporter, but apparently he's not Vitter/Jindal clone. He's quoted in this article as saying, "Politics and religious life don't mix." He's got degrees in physics, philosophy and law, so he's evidently brighter than the rest of the droolers in his party, he can't run for President, and the Dems will get the seat back in two years, so he's the ideal Republican.

Do-Over Or Die

When pressed by Gibson, Bush declined to "speculate" on whether he would still have gone to war if he knew Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction.

"That is a do-over that I can't do," Bush said.

Sorry, Charley, but that's the wrong question. The correct question is, "Why did you go to war when you knew Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction?" Press that question, you enabling asshole.

The E-Nvisible Hand

Since I posted last Thursday, the life-sized and anatomically correct rectal thermometer at National Review Online has moved not a penny. The Corner's readers appear to be as bankrupt as the contributors. How long before the Cornerites are reduced to cannibalism as a means of cutting overhead?