Acid and Assholes

I don't usually comment on the moronic statements made on right-wing blogs because, really, who's got the time? There's enough idiocy from professional morons like Nooners and D'Souza to keep me busy for a lifetime, and it's not like I post that often anyway.

I'm willing to make exceptions, however. Take this analysis from "Bryan" at Hate Air, in which Bry reviews a newspaper report that a middle school student was suspended for throwing ham in the direction of some immigrant students from Somali, apparently to insult/harass them for their Muslim faith:

This incident didn't happen in a vaccuum [sic]. Last August, a man rolled a pig's head into a Somali mosque in Lewiston. But prior to that, according to a commenter on the SunJournal site reacting to this story, Somalis attacked apartments and cars with acid (apparently the SunJournal didn't report on that, because I can't find a story about it–it either didn't happen or it's down the media memory hole). And prior to that, white supremacists paraded around and acted like fools over the arrival of the Somalis. The mayor of Lewiston asked Somalis to stop moving to town 5 years ago, because their swift influx was maxing out the city's resources. CAIR has been hovering over the situation the whole time. But note out of all of this behavior, the only group that actually got violent was within the Somali community (and that's also the hardest to find any reportage of). White supremacists have been irrelevantly ranting for years. Kids have been mean to other kids forever. Acid attacks are new though.

You see, it's the Somalis' fault because they "actually got violent" -- except for the fact that Bry doesn't have a fucking clue as to whether any Somalis actually got violent. Oh, but he's got it good authority from some asshole commenter on a website -- a person he knows nothing about. What more proof do you want!?! (Coming next: Bryan acknowledges his illegal relationship with underage goats as soon as I post it on the SunJournal website using the same commenter name as Bry's imaginary friend.)

And when you take away the unsubstantiated wingnut rumor, you're just left the with xenophobic mayor, the parading white supremacists and the folks who desecrated a mosque. And not a single act by Somalis. (Let's not even bother to mention the lack of any connection between Bry's fantasy Somalis and the middle school harassment victims. You can't start a race war if you insist on such details.) No wonder Bry thinks those little brown brats should shut up and take it.

What is the moral of the Bry's post? Well, Bry has two: "This is where 'hate crimes' legislation gets us" and "This is where the inherent and credible threat of violence gets Muslims." It not clear what the illiterate's second point is, but my guess is he's saying that Muslim middle schoolers deserve harassment because Muslims are violent. Or just because they're Muslim.

It also appears that the "acid attack" meme is gaining traction as a wingnut smear against Muslims and/or non-white foreigners. But acid attacks are nothing new and they're not unknown in wingnut circles either.

(Sorry, no link to the bigot.)

Dinesh D'Souza Is Not Proof Of A Malevolent God

Al-Qaeda apologist Dinesh D'Souza has this classy comment on the Virginia Tech shootings: "Dawkins' Message to Mourners--Get Over It!" Of course, scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins didn't actually send any message to the survivors of the shooting victims or make any comment to or about them. He simply doesn't believe that there is an omnipotent God who greenlighted the killing spree. In D'Souza's moral wasteland, that's justification enough for putting words into Dawkins' heathen mouth.

If I were to play D'Souza's game, I'd title this post "Bush's Message to Librescu's Survivors -- Librescu Burns In Hell." I guess my reluctance to do so explains why I'll never be a respected fellow at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University.

Peggy Noonan Gets Introspective

What's the best way to describe your columns, Peg?

"The self-serving meanderings of a crazy, self-indulgent narcissist" is one.

Peg's penetrating analysis on the Virginia Tech shootings? Somebody should have done something.

What that something is, Peg doesn't exactly say. Except that someone should have removed Cho from campus -- he should have been "removed from the college population." Which act would both immediately erect a force field around the entire campus and render everyone living outside the campus invulnerable to bullets. Problem solved.

Peg also opines that what shouldn't be done is to increase "funding for mental health services in the United States." Presuambly because once the guy was off campus he wouldn't need mental health services, either voluntarily or involuntarily. But note that Peg also believes the campus mental health services are responsible ("Way to take responsibility," she sneers) for failing to either cure Cho or prevent him from acting.

You can't help but be impressed by the fact that one of the United States' leading national newspapers prints critiques of mental health issues by a woman who believes in magic dolphins and, albeit to a lesser extent, the competence of George W. Bush.

Death of The Dinosaur Media

I've said it before and I'll say it five hundred times more. Ladies and gentlemen, we have just witnessed the insertion of the last nail in the coffin of the insidious EM ESS EM. And they don't even realize it.

The so-called "responsible" media thinks it can tell us what we can and cannot think about the Virginia Tech killings, by denying us unfettered access to the last thoughts of Cho Seung-Hui.

But, as Adam Curry said to Doc Searls via real-time podcast at BloggerCon IV, the man no longer controls the message. Had Mr. Cho availed himself of the latest vlogging software instead of foolishly relying on the dead air media, his message would now be as widely recieved -- and respected -- as that of any washed-up telvision reviewer turned consulting blowhard. The future criminally insane won't subject themselves to the filter.

Rejoice, my fellow digital citizens, the age of the criminal-journalist is here.

(Cross-posted at Buzzmachine)

What Reason Do You Need To Be Shown

Those searching for an explanation for the shootings at Virgina Tech are out of luck. The young man who killed his classmates was mentally ill and there are mental illnesses we cannot cure, control or understand. Human understanding, in its present state, cannot supply an answer to why such assaults occur.

Which might explain why so many wingnuts are desparately seeking (non-existent) connections between the shootings and Islam or race or co-ed dorms or depraved secular culture and the decline of "The West." (You've already seen those links.) Anything but mental illness. Because mental illness can't be blamed on godlessness (and, more specifically, Biblical-godlessness). In fact, in the logic of the wingnut view, mental illness, because it exists, must be part of God's plan. And because it is an involuntary infliction, it can't be explained away as a deliberate rejection of godly principles.

Of course, it's more fun to bitch about foreigners or violence in the media than to rationally address the need for more and better mental health research and treatment. Or to wallow "inside the mind of a killer" for fun and profit (oh, if only there was a way to lure potential serial killers to the DatelineNBC house for some sexy talk with Chris Hansen!) But don't imagine you'll accomplish anything with such exercises, and don't pretend you're even trying.

Death Of A Flaming Asshole

Remind me not to have Richard "Lurch" Brookheiser write my eulogy:

Many years later, another guest, not a callow youth but the mayor of New York, sat next to her at the dinner table, giving his short billionaire know-it-all opinions of everything, in this case the effects of second hand smoke. She blew a puff in his face, and drawled, "Mr. Mayor, may I smoke in my own house?"

Of course, if that's the most positive recollection you have of the deceased, you've got to work with what you have.

A Slap To The Head

There's not much worth reading in The New Republic these days, but this Jon Chait column takes the right tone in dressing down an innumerate talking penis:

I'll give Fleischer the benefit of the doubt here and assume that this isn't an outright lie, but rather he couldn't read the table correctly. Let me explain it this way, Ari: Suppose that a few years ago, 37 percent of your scalp was covered with hair. Today, only 31 percent is. Would you say that your hair has increased or decreased over that time?

It all depends on what Karl Rove told him to say, J.C.

On Persecution of Michael Smerconish Remembrance Day, a small still voice reminds us of how much we have lost:

Now the question is: who will be the impresario for such regular stimulating conversation and where will it take place? Where will Doris Kearn Goodwin, Tom Friedman, Jon Meacham, Joe Biden, John McCain, Harold Ford, Tim McCarver, Darryl Waltrip -- and many more -- speak to us on a daily basis?

Never again.

Worthless Speech

Over at The Huffington Post, self-pitying slaphead Michael Smerconish portrays himself as a Holocaust/lynching victim. Why? Because Media Matters and/or some unnamed unnamed bloggers criticized his insipid on-air comments.

See how they whine:

Ah, but the floodgates are now open. The cyber-lynching by faceless, nameless bloggers of talk-show hosts like me has begun.

Individuals who hide behind the anonymity afforded by the Internet are seeking to squelch the First Amendment right of people whose identities are readily known and who, unlike their cowardly critics, put their names and credibility on the line each and every day on matters of public concern. Left unconfronted, it is a dangerous practice in the making.

Of course, the staff of Media Matters have names and presumably faces, and Schmuckonish doesn't identify any faceless or nameless bloggers in his pitiful screed.

More importantly, Smerconish doesn't understand the First Amendment. As Harry Shearer pointed out on Friday's Countdown, the Bill of Rights doesn't guarantee anyone a syndicated radio deal or continued employment by a media conglomerate. Nor does it provide Smerconish with a shield against criticism from those who disagree with his ignorant tripe. It does (at least in theory) prevent government interference with the rights of those nasty, nameless bloggers whose rights, to the Schmuck's lament, are equal to his own.

When Smerconish loses his program -- either by popular demand, the lack thereof or as a result of his own ignorance -- he can still exercise his First Amendments rights for the price of internet connection and free account at Blogger. And for $3.50 and his credibility more, he can still get a cup of coffee.

Update: More on free speech from the named and visaged Tom Hilton.

Another Wingnut For Internment

Johann Hari on psuedo-toff tosser Andrew Roberts:

Much of Roberts's advice to Bush is based on similarly skewed and surreal misreadings of history. For example, he has advised Bush to adopt "the whole idea of mass internment," saying: "I think it is the way the administration of Iraq should go." At his lunch with Bush, according to economist Irwin Stelzer, who was present, Roberts cited Ireland as a place where internment worked.

America, The World's Jailer. It's so crazy it just might work.

Exactly like it did the last the time we tried it in Iraq.

Roger Recommends

Le siege de Paris, by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier

For those who want to appear well read without the hassle of reading or those who can't stomach the vast wasteland that is broadcast radio, I'm happy to let you in a solution that's quite bearable: audiobooks.

I've just finished listening to the audiobook version of The Judgment of Paris by Ross King, a history of French art in the 1860-70s and the birth of French Impressionism. I was surprised how much of the content I remembered from a college art history class, but even more surprised by how much I'd forgotten about the political history of the period, including the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris.

It's not the book I'd pick up if I saw it in a bookstore or library, but it was an entertaining "listen" and easy to follow in audio format despite the cast of hundreds (perhaps because I was familiar with the story and some of its protagonists).

The main drawbacks with audiobooks is that they're significantly more expensive than regular books and not as versatile. You can't skim them or search them via an index. And the quality of the readers and performances varies widely -- something you don't know until you listen. I've been borrowing them on CD from the public library, which eliminates the first drawback, but means that the selection is fairly limited and often depressing. (Think Steven King and Mary Friggin' Clark, and scratched disks.) But ocassionally I come across something worth listening to, like Gore Vidal's Point to Point Navigation, read by the author, or Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, read by Simon Prebble. (Even something I'd surely never read, such Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, was made enjoyable in audio through the performance of Lenny Henry.)

Late last year, when I was driving to the hospital daily and at odd hours, these things kept me awake and away from driving into a bridge abutment. What more can you ask for from a CD?

The Replacement Killers

Chuck Schumer will probably get a bit more love in the leftwingosphere in the near future:

"Please treat this as confidential," Mr. Sampson wrote in the [January 9, 2006 e-mail] message. He concluded, "If a decision is made to remove and replace a limited number of U.S. attorneys, then the following might be considered for removal and possible replacement."

Mr. Sampson testified under oath on March 29 at a hearing of Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no candidates in mind to replace any of the fired prosecutors. In his prepared statement, he said that "none of the U.S. attorneys was asked to resign in favor of a particular individual who had already been identified to take the vacant spot."

At one point in the hearing, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, asked Mr. Sampson, "Did you or did you not have in mind specific replacements for the dismissed U.S. attorneys before they were asked to resign on Dec. 7, 2006."

Mr. Sampson, testifying under oath, replied: "I personally did not."

That's Libby-style perjury, that is. And Sampson handed it to Senator Schumer on a silver platter.

A Noonan Flashback

I missed the fourth anniversary of this Peggy Noonan Classic:

Weeks later, after all the news--the invasion, Saddam gone, more al Qaeda arrests--the president of the United States had a meeting that he'd been looking forward to. It was in the Oval Office. It was early evening and the lamps seemed to light it with a golden glow. The door opened, and in marched the men who got Osama. The Ranger crew, the Screaming Eagles who guarded them.

The president gave them great medals and thanked them on behalf of a grateful nation. Then he asked for the Rangers who'd stormed the hideout. They stepped forward. Bush said he was sorry their names would have to stay secret but it was best under the circumstances, too much still going on, didn't want to let them be a target for some nuts.

"But when the time is right," Bush said, "your country will be told who you are, and what you did. And then -- better get ready for the sculptors and all the statues."

Bin Laden may live on, but Karl Rove's e-mails will never terrorize another American ever again, that's for damn sure.

Hoo-ah.

Howie The Empty-Headed Ho

Howie Kurtz, forced to address the ravings of his racist pal, provides the KKK man with a defense. In a column insanely titled "The Race Debate" (What, exactly, is being debated - whether the Rutgers team really are hos?), Kurtz writes:

Journalists like me who have gone on Imus's show have done so because we enjoyed the opportunity to talk about politics and media without the stuffiness of so many other programs. And it's probably true that too many of us looked the other way when he went over the line with some of his cruder comedy bits. He's now vowing to clean up his act, and I hope he does.

...

In my view, Imus is not a hater or a bigot. He supported Harold Ford when the African American congressman ran for the Senate. He's raised tens of millions of dollars for kids with cancer, of all races, who are put up at his New Mexico ranch. Imus practices a form of insult comedy that too often goes up to the line of decency, goes over the line or, as in this case, obliterates it. But he seems truly chastened by this bit of stupidity.

Here's a hint, Howie. If you enjoy talking about politics and media without the stuffiness of many teevee programs, talk about those topics with like-minded friends off the teevee. You still exist if no one's there to film you. Or get yourself invited on the hundreds of teevee and radio programs that don't star a racist clown. (Yes, that means stay away from O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Savage and the Salem Radio Network.)

The reason you "looked the other way," Ho, is that Imus's bigotry never bothered you. In fact, 11 years ago, you wrote that "Imus's sexist, homophobic and politically incorrect routines echo what many journalists joke about in private." Unstuffy journalists like you, Howie?

Never mind what Imus said, sez Kurtz. Black people invented the word "ho," Jesse Jackson impregnated someone other than his wife, and Al Sharpton supported Tawana Brawley. In other words, they started it.

Thanks for showing us your colors, Howie.

Conflict-of-Interest Kurtz Rides Again

Howard Kurtz can't be bothered with the Don Imus story. It's not in his column today, or his online "Extra" column. And it wasn't on his CNN media program, The Jonah Goldberg Show, this weekend. And somehow no one managed to mention Imus during Kurtz's weekly chat, in which Kurtz controls the questioning.

To be fair, Howie's all over the time-sensitive breaking news about Meredith Vieria.

A cynic might speculate that Howie's covering his own ass about his professional friendship with Imus and/or trying to ensure that his frequent appearances on the Imus show (most recently, March 19) don't stop coming.

A realist knows that's the case.

The Ballad of Mitt Romney

(inspired by a true lie)

Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Mitt
Rich trustfundeer, and a Cranford School twit
He bought an M.B.A. from a second-rate b-school
Then Teddy kicked the ass of that lying wingnut tool
Patriarchist, he is -- old gold -- theocracy

Well Mitt will kiss your ass if you're a millionaire
But if you want the right to choose, the bastard just don't care
You're poor or gay or sick; to Mitt, you've got no right to be
He panders to the basest base that rules the G.O.P.
Dobson, that is -- Robertson -- Lopez

Well now it's time to say fuck off to Mitt and all his spin
'Cause here's how things are going down if Mitt should hap' to win:
You're all invited back again to eighteen fifty-three
To have a heaping helping of right-wing theocracy

(Banjo solo by Mike Huckabee)

Correction, Please

The New York Times continues its descent into sub-mediocrity:

Yesterday’s show also included an interview with Tim Russert, the host of NBC's "Meet the Press," one of a great number of political and media heavyweights who appear regularly on "Imus in the Morning." (The NBC spokeswoman said the statement expressing regret about the remarks reflected Mr. Russert's feelings about the matter as well.)

Both Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, recently appeared on the show, and media figures including Frank Rich of The New York Times and Chris Matthews of MSNBC have also spent time with Mr. Imus. Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, appeared on the show some time ago to promote his book "The Audacity of Hope."

A real journalist, and his editors, would know that Joe Lieberman is not a Democrat.

As to the point of the article, I think it's beyond the point where actual Democrats can justify their appearances on the Imus program. Yes, I'm talking to you, Senators Kerry and Dodd. As for Joe Lieberman and Tim Russert, I'm sure they feel right at home.

Drivin' That Train, High on Insane

The Straight Talk Choo-Choo has derailed yet again, spilling toxic chemicals and causing the evacuation of the tri-state area. And what does Casey McJones have to say for himself?

"Trust me to lie to you."

"Of course I am going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do it in the future," says McCain. "I regret that when I divert attention to something I said from my message, but you know, that's just life," he tells Pelley, adding, "I'm happy, frankly, with the way I operate, otherwise it would be a lot less fun."

The topic, of course, is McCain's lie about life and death in Baghdad. As long as McCain had fun spouting off, well, that's all that matters.

Be Vewy, Vewy Qwiet, I'm Pandewing to Gun Nuts

Willard "Muff" Romney takes some more target practice with his toes:

His staff refused Friday to provide details about his hunting history, including whose gun he used, with whom he hunted and whether he hunted in Utah as a college student or as an adult. He does not own a firearm, despite claiming to earlier this year.

The former Massachusetts governor issued the statement Friday after The Associated Press asked wildlife officials in Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Utah for any documentation verifying Romney had been a registered hunter.

...

Officials from Michigan, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where a license is necessary to hunt such small game, said they could not immediately locate any license for Romney. An official in Utah said a change in state law last year blocked public access to license records.
Of the four states, Utah has the most liberal hunting regulations for small game. Jack rabbits can be hunted without a license and killed without limit, but cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares require a license.

When he corrected his staff's statement during a news conference Thursday in Indianapolis, Romney said: "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter, small varmints, if you will." He added: "I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times."

Governor Fudd said he'd like to be able to give more details, but he's been bwainwashed.

Cracker, Please

When morning radio racist Don Imus made his latest bigoted comments, MSNBC just couldn't figure out how in the world his vile remarks found their way onto its channel.

While simulcast by MSNBC, 'Imus in the Morning' is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN Radio. As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for these offensive comments."

Now we've gotten that settled, I guess MSNBC can fire these folks then:

IMUS IN THE MORNING

Credits for MSNBC

Tom Bowman
Executive Producer

Christy MacDonald
Producer

Rosanne Pilone
Associate Producer

Nope. No production there.

Oh, and pay no attention to the fact that the KKK-Man's show is broadcast from NBC television studios, or that MSNBC supplies all the technology and graphics for the program, or that NBC News "talent" and MSNBC staffers appear on the program every day. MSNBC's going to have those locks changed and make sure that Imus's photo is distributed to all security guards.

Manifestos To Watch Out For

John Hinderaker: I Am John Dolt

Jonah Goldberg: I Am Bob Dough

Mickey Kaus: I Am Dil Do

BREAKING NEWS: THOMPSON'S IN G.O.P. RACE

No, not Chris and Maggie's daddy-figure and yokel scene-chewer Fred Thompson. Tommy "Tommy" Thompson, former Wisconsin governor, has joined the ranks of his fellow losers, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee and Willard "Muff" Romney, in the fight for five minutes of air time on basic cable.

During the "In Memorium" segement of ABC's This Week, Thompson's corpse said:

"Things are started to coalesce and I feel very, very optimistic about my future,"....

"I am the reliable conservative. My record shows that. All that people have to do is look at my record, and I am one individual that they can count on," Thompson said.

Thompson also revealed some of the planks in his head platform. First, he plans to order Iraq's puppet government to act democratic:

He would have "a completely different Iraq strategy" from the president's. Thompson said he would "demand" that the Iraqi government vote as to whether it wanted the U.S. to remain in the country. If the answer were yes, "it immediately gives a degree of legitimacy." If the answer were no, "We would get out, absolutely. It's a duly elected government."

Thompson also vowed to nominate cabinet members who would place loyalty to himself above all else:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has made "terrible mistakes" in the handling of the fired federal prosecutors. "I would not have appointed Mr. Gonzales. I would have appointed somebody that was loyal to me," Thompson said.

Because Abu G. was running a rogue operation out of Justice, designed to bring down Bush and his administration.

In the most recent surveys, Thompson is polling at "who the fuck is that?" plus or minus five percent.

John McCain is right. The progress in Iraq is remarkable.

Straight Talk lives! For ever!

Since we're on the subject, since C.J. is widely reported to be "anatomically correct," what do you think the sculptor used.

A Fudgsicle Pop? A Drumstick? A Jell-O Pudding Pop?

He is Reisen

So when do the wingnuts begin festooning their blogs with chocolate dongs and Swiss flags to denounce intolerance and defend artistic freedom?

I suspect the greatest offense was the artist's failure to use white chocolate.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Right-Hand Bag Man Edition

The Washington Post reveals how Republican sleazebag Bernie Kerik got the nod from Bush to head the Department of Homeland Security: Jeanine Pirro ordered Bush to hire him, in exchange for favors rendered.

In addition to charges involving false information and tax law, the U.S. attorney's office in New York City is also threatening to charge Kerik with conspiracy to commit illegal wiretapping in his dealings with the 2006 GOP candidate for New York attorney general, Jeanine F. Pirro, the sources said.

After Kerik left the Giuliani firm, Kerik arranged for two off-duty Giuliani firm employees to conduct surveillance on Pirro's husband. Pirro and Kerik also discussed bugging a boat where Pirro suspected her husband was having an extramarital affair. Kerik was heard on a wiretap telling Pirro that he did not want to do the bugging because it was illegal.

About a year earlier, Pirro, then the Westchester County district attorney, ordered the A&P supermarket chain to hire the Giuliani-Kerik security firm as part of a settlement agreement in a case involving underage alcohol sales. The security firm was ultimately paid $43,000, according to a knowledgeable source who spoke about the terms of the contract on the condition of anonymity.

I'm only surprised that Bush didn't tap Kerik to head the F.B.I., with those credentials.

But we now know that Guiliani isn't Bush's choice for his successor, since the U.S. attorneys in New York still have their jobs.

Meanwhile, TBogg has the funniest Kerik commentary ... ever.

I'm not a bit surprised that hairless troll doll Mark Levin would defend a pedophile and his followers, who murdered law enforcement agents and set fire to their own children without remorse.

I'm also not surprised that Levin would lie to do so.

That's just the kind of guy he is.

I'm not even surprised that National Review would happily publish Levin's slander.

Says Levin:

The same Democrats who defended Janet Reno when she ordered the torching of the Koresh compound resulting in the death scores of Americans, including children, defended her for over seven years in office.

I will be surprised if any wingnut challenges Levin on his deranged slander. But it would be refreshing to see such integrity.

Shorter A.A.

I don't need intoxicants to appear insane.

Abu Lied

D'Kyle Sampson doesn't know much and forgot most of that, but he does know that Abu Gonzales lied about his involvement in the purge of U.S. Attorneys who refused to do Karl Rove's dirty work.

But Sampson provided new detail of Gonzales's involvement, testifying in response to questioning that he had at least five discussions with his boss about the project after Gonzales first approved the idea in early 2005 and that the attorney general was aware which prosecutors were under consideration for dismissal.

"I don't think the attorney general's statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate," Sampson said. "I remember discussing with him this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign."

Meanwhile, the White House admitted that the heads of the Department of Justice acted as Karl Rove's personal whores:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino also sought to play down the testimony, saying that the administration has never ruled out the possibility that Rove passed complaints about Iglesias on to Gonzales.

...

Sampson said he was aware of repeated complaints about Iglesias by Domenici, who called Gonzales and McNulty four times from late 2005 to 2006. Another key factor was complaints from the White House that Iglesias -- who was invited to train other prosecutors at two Justice Department seminars on voter fraud -- had not been aggressive enough in carrying out voter-fraud investigations.

"I do remember learning from the attorney general that he had heard complaints from Karl Rove," Sampson said.

Rove rightly fears unbiased and independent criminal prosecutors. And testifying under oath.

And every other "loyal Bushie" should fear what Rove will do to him or her to protect his own ass.

Who Is Monica Goodling?

I can't be certain, but it seems the "senior counselor" to Abu Gonzales who invoked the Fifth is a law graduate of Pat Robertson's clown college, Regent University.

Perhaps she's confused the Fifth Amendment with the Eleventh Commandment.

Update (3:09 p.m.): Well, that was quick. Pat pulled the picture. I guess there is such a thing as bad publicity.

But rock 'n' roll never forgets.

Friends With Benefits

Another entry in the recurring series, "Why Politico.com Can't Be Taken Seriously." Here's Mike Allen transcribing the White House talking points regarding Abugate:

Sampson is not gunning for anybody, according to friends. He believes that the issue has blown up because the Justice Department had an inadequate system for preparing officials to testify before Congress, the friends say. The Justice Department officials testified that the firings were based on performance rather than politics, an assertion called into question by e-mails the department later delivered to Capitol Hill.

The friends say Sampson, 37, does not plan to deliver bombshells, and say that Democrats looking for plots and schemes will be disappointed. Like other Republicans, Sampson will contend there was no underlying sin, just a botched response.

"He is not personally of the opinion now, based on what he knows, that anybody at the Department of Justice did anything intentionally wrong," said a friend familiar with Sampson's thinking.

Sampson is testifying voluntarily, sparing the committee from having to decide whether to subpoena him. "He doesn't feel that he has anything to hide," the friend said. "He doesn't feel that there's any aspect of this story that he can't explain publicly. He's hoping to contribute what he knows in the hope that getting the truth out, as fully as it can be gotten out, will ultimately help calm the situation rather than aggravate it."

Ah, yes. The truest friends are those who stand by you while refusing to acknowledge that they're standing by you.

But why is Mike Allen transcribing these anonymous comments as if they're newsworthy? More importantly, why is Allen refusing to identify these friends and their interests in the matter? If Sampson has nothing to hide, why are he and Allen hiding the names of Sampson's friends?

Perhaps recognizing that no one will buy his tale of "friends," Allen adds the suggestion of religious persecution to his fable:

Sampson -- a Utah native and father of three whose wife is a fellow graduate of Brigham Young University -- is the bishop of his Northern Virginia ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He told BYU Magazine in 2003, when he was in the White House counsel's office, that he often got home just in time to read to the children before bed.

Why, no man of devout religious faith and limited familial devotion could lie to Congress. Just ask Jack Abramoff.

Allen tops himself, however, when gets to spinning for Abu G.

Republicans sympathetic to Gonzales, while not knowing what he will contend, say that one case he could make to indignant lawmakers would be that the problem lies in the difference between what he said and what he meant: When he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January that he "would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney position for political reasons or if it would, in any way, jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation," what he meant was that he would never fire someone for improper political reasons or to influence a case.

The Republicans say the argument would be that he was guilty of sloppy language, of being too categorical and of saying things he hadn't thought through carefully enough.

Please, please, please make that argument, Alberto. Preferably under oath.

Grand Old Police Blotter: That'sa Greedy Greaseball Edition

This article provides a flashback to the conviction of minor hood in the Nation's largest criminal syndicate:

But since it first went on the air in 1999, "The Sopranos" has had a complicated relationship with the Garden State. While many residents feel a sense of pride in the series, others, especially politicians, have complained that it plays to ugly stereotypes about Italians as thuggish criminals.

In 2000, James W. Treffinger, who was then the Essex County executive, banned the series from shooting there, saying it “stereotypes an ethnic group.” (Mr. Treffinger was later sentenced to 13 months in prison after being convicted of corruption.)

Who is Don Treffinger?

Mr. Treffinger, once a leading Republican politician in the state, was convicted on corruption charges growing out of his efforts to use his county post to propel himself to higher office.

But, wait, there's more!

James W. Treffinger, left, the former Essex County executive, his former campaign committee and a campaign staff member have agreed to pay $171,000 to settle an investigation by the Federal Election Commission, the commission announced yesterday. In May 2003, Mr. Treffinger pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Federal District Court on an unrelated matter. The election commission said Mr. Treffinger improperly used campaign funds to pay his legal fees. After negotiations with the commission, Mr. Treffinger, the staff member and the committee admitted accepting excessive contributions, the commission said.

Sounds like S.O.P. in the G.O.P. Wasn't Fredo DeLay doing something similar?

With the Republican Party it's not a stereotype, it's a platform.

Screw that fake Hillary ad -- This is the real Bonzai Kitten!

Jonah and The Wail

Leave it to the Doughy Pantload to blame his failings on a little girl. After Tim Noah of Slate picked up on Goldberg's years of delays in publishing his first romance, Liberal Fascism: The Summer of My German Soldier, Goldberg posted this snippy retort:

But I will say this. He has absolutely no idea what he's talking about, which he basically admits. His assertion that the book's delayed for marketing reasons would be a flat-out lie if it weren't flat-out conjecture. As my wife, various friends and colleagues and sundry others can attest, the book is delayed because it's not done yet. The reasons for that have to do with any number of things (revisions, work distractions, my father's death, the birth of my child, etc etc) and, as far as I'm aware, marketing isn't even on the top ten. Noah, who hasn't read it, is invested in a theory and simply imagines facts to substantiate his usual sneering schtick.

After admitting that the book has been delayed because his earlier drafts were unpublishable dreck (requiring "revisions"), Goldberg uses his own child to excuse his dilatory ways. Only problem is, the blameless offspring was born months before Goldberg announced his intention to write the book. So the birth can't account for the years of delay identified by Goldberg's tormentors.

Of course, Goldberg also promised back in 2003 that "It'll be a big book." It's now a slim 272 pages, although for National Review Online readers, a book of stamps is a weighty tome.

In his response to Noah, Goldberg also simpers that his book "isn't what the Amazon description says." But the description of the book's contents on Amazon came verbatim from the publisher -- and is credited as such on other sites. So Goldberg's calling his own publisher a liar. I guess calling a Pantload publication "[i]mpeccably researched and persuasively argued" was too much even for Jonah's shovel to carry.

By the way, isn't knowingly using a false description of a product to sell merchandise, uh, what's the word I'm looking for ... oh, yeah ... fraud?

Look, I don't care if Goldberg or his ghost ever finish the book. The point is that Goldberg and his publisher represented the book would be out in 2005 and 2006 and etc., and solicited the advanced sale of copies based on those representations. If Goldberg lacks the competence or capacity to fulfill promises he made voluntarily, then he shouldn't bitch when people point out those facts.

Pull The Plug

I defy even Senator Doctor Frist to view this video and find evidence of brain activity.

And it also seems the proprietor of that site has the same problem with the concept of exclusivity as the Depends Media crowd.

Well, I don't hate my parents

I don't get drunk just to spite them

I've got my own reasons to drink now

Think I'll call my dad up and invite him.

I can sleep in till noon anytime I want

Though there's not many days that I do

Gotta get up and take on that world

When you're an adult

It's no cliche it's the truth.

I remember when using one of those seven-day pill dispensers was the step over the edge of the cliff.

I can't take any more illicit drugs

I can't afford any artificial joy

I'd sure look like a fool dead in a ditch somewhere

With a mind full of chemicals

Like some cheese-eating high school boy.

This song used to crack me up.

Sometimes my head hurts and sometimes my stomach hurts

And I guess it won't be long

Till I'm sitting in a room with a bunch of people whose necks and backs are aching

Whose sight and hearing's failing

Who just can't seem to get it up.

Well, at least I don't have a pill splitter.

Yet.

'Cause I'm an adult now

I'm an adult now

I've got the problems of an adult

On my head and on my shoulders

I'm an adult now.

Bloody. Hell.

Doughy D.O.A.

It's taking longer than expected for Jonah Goldberg's ghostwriter to finish his long awaited worstseller, I Heart Hitler: Without You, Adolf, I'm Nothing. Back in 2003, the Pantload's publisher was promising a 2005 release date. As 2005 passed, Goldberg promised a March 2007 release date, and then a September 11, 2007 (!) release date.

The dupes at Doubleday are now announcing a December 26, 2007 release date which, no doubt, will roll over to a 2008 date by the end of Spring.

Or maybe not. I searched the Doubleday website and could find nothing on Lucianne Jnr.'s manfesto. A page at the website of Doubleday's parent, Random House, refers to Goldberg and has a picture of the book's cover, but has no information about the Pantload's volume. And the Pantload's not one of the ten Goldbergs on the publisher's author roster.

At a promised 272 pages, this means that Goldberg hasn't managed to complete even a fifth of a page per day. Factoring in the huge margins, large type, bogus endnotes and eight to sixteen pages of red and black Crayola illustrations, it's probably closer to less than a tenth of a page. Of course, Goldberg's churned out much more than 272 pages worth of Corner Crap over the past four years (and that's not including his syndicated column and BSG slash fiction). So he's got no excuse for delivering his book 2 and 1/2 years late.

Either the publisher is refusing to publish Goldberg's steaming pile as written or Goldberg couldn't come up with enough examples of liberal fascism to fill a large pamphlet. Or both.

Meanwhile, it's appropriate that the current release date is the date known for returning unwanted crap in exchange for cash or store credit. And the start of Kwanzaa.

Sorry for the lack of posts. Under the weather.

Laughter is the best medicine without a 30 dollar co-pay, so, build up your immunities with these healing gems from Marty "The Wedding Singer" Peretz:

What we have to learn from others is how to flee greed, and how to flee greed in a way that does not sabotage the expansiveness of peoples' lives. Imagine a family of four living on $20,000 a year. The United States could do with a new immersion in egalitarianism. This is still said to be an animating idea of contemporary liberalism. But it's not at all clear to me how much this idea really does animate liberalism's high priests and priestesses, especially those from Hollywood.

And:

Secondly, if Fitzgerald was persuaded that Libby had in fact leaked Plame's identity, why didn't he, in fact, take Libby to the grand jury and charge him with violating the secrecy provisions of the law? There are several reasons. One is that the applicability of those provisions are dubious. The second is that Plame seems to have led a rather public "secret" life, flashy, suggestive and also silly. Anyone one who outed Plame was outing a known character. And, then, there is the probity of Plame pushing her own husband--a low-level diplomat with no significant past and, even then, no promising future--for an intelligence and security task for which he had no qualifications. Yes, the ex-ambassador may have been quite known in Niger. And that is only one reason why he was so very wrong for the job at hand. Do you send a show-boater to dig for the movement of nuclear material? Is this not shameful? Is this not what we call nepotism, high-stakes nepotism?

Down On Your Knees With Newt

Remind you of anything, honey?

Did Newt Gingrich appear on James Dobson's Sex Talk to lay the groundwork for a run for President, as some suspect, or was he just pimping his new audio release, Where I Left My D.N.A. In D.C.?

"Rediscovering God In America" takes listeners on a tour of historic American monuments, sights, and documents in Washington D.C.. From the White House to the Capitol to the Constitution, Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista explore America's past from their unique conservative and Christian viewpoints. Because of recent legal challenges to references of God in American government, AKA the conflict for separation of church and state [wtf? -R.A.], the Gingriches wrote this book as a "rebuttal to those who seek to write God out of American history." Through the country's relics, they claim, we can re-discover "our history as a nation under God." With what might seem like a normal sightseeing trip through our nation's capital, the audiobook aims to transcend it into something higher - a "profound...journey of discovery and renewal," touching the spritual as well as the historic.

I'd personally like to see Newt run for the Oval O., so I'll offer him a campaign slogan with historic echoes -- "Two Adulterers For The Price of One."

Shorter Charles Krauthammer

"If my boss was maniacally obsessed about a subject I'd never heard of before, I couldn't possibly be expected to remember where I'd heard about it, but, man, if anyone ever gave me head...."

And who could ever believe that Ari Fleischer would lie?

It Makes Me Smile

Tiffany Midgeson has created a new standard for the application of criminal sanction:

I'm not a lawyer, so I have no idea what the odds are of any appeal by Libby being successful. But here's what I do know for a fact.

I know that nothing Scooter Libby did led to the publication of the name of CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson in Robert Novak's column - the event that began this legal fiasco.

I know that Scooter Libby, who is an old friend of mine, is suffering today. I know his wife, Harriet, is suffering. I know his children are in torment. And it breaks my heart.

Because if a criminal suffers when he's convicted of a crime, the crime didn't happen. And the immediate family deserve a veto on conviction, or at least the right to make a criminal impact statement, as it were.

These sentiments make sense coming from a man like Poddy, whose first and only accomplishment occurred that night, many years ago, when Norm and Midge got plastered, cried like babies and then did their duty for posterity. (And they weren't even psychic!) If you can't use your family to carry your worthless ass throughout your life, then what good are they?

Meanwhile:

While the rest of the Scooter Libby Fan Club is getting all the ink they want to spin their fables, Marty Peretz, who is a Founding Father of the Libby Legal Defense Trust, has remained silent as the grave. And it's not because his dictaphone is broken. Perhaps Marty is a shrewd investor after all.

Beltway Blarney

In a touching bit of media incest, former NBC content provider and MSNBC regular Lawrence O'Donnell tells us that "Russert Convicted Libby."

Not in this reality.

Russert didn't convict Libby. Libby convicted Libby by telling a series of deliberate lies, under oath, in which Tim Russert made a guest appearance.

Patrick Fitzgerald presented the facts to the jury, with remarkable skill. But Libby convicted himself.

Russert wasn't even a credible witness in general, as Libby's attorneys were able to show. Perhaps that's why Libby chose Russert for a starring role in his perjured testimony. But the defense couldn't show that Russert lied about Libby, because there was no evidence he did.

Pumpkinhead's testimony was simply consistent with the other testimony and documentary evidence, so Libby convicted himself whether or not Pumpkinhead was believed by the jury. The uncontradicted evidence showed that Libby knew everything he claimed he learned from Russert before calling Russert, so whether Scooter and Fat Tim talked Plame was irrelevant.

I generally like O'Donnell, so I'll chalk this up to an early and ongoing St. Patrick's Day celebration between Larry and Chris Matthews.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Soft-Headed On Crime Edition

The criminal apologists at National Review Online are working themselves into a frenzy, each trying to out-stupid the last. It's a thing of beauty.

While the lemon-puss cry-babyism of hairless troll doll Mark Levin is the most heartwarming, I'm giving best in show to historian Cliff May, for this gem:

Over the weekend, I talked with a former federal prosecutor. I said to him: "If Libby were going to lie, surely it would not be about a conversation with Tim Russert. Tim Russert is too famous and too credible. People would believe him, rather than Libby. Libby is smart enough to know that. So if Libby were going to invent a conversation, surely it would be a conversation with someone else -- almost anyone else. It makes no sense that Libby would lie about a conversation with Tim Russert and think he'd be believed and Russert would be disbelieved."

The former prosecutor replied: "Libby's lawyers would have better off making that argument than the arguments they did make."

Bolstering the credibility of the man whose testimony proves the prosecution's case -- it's an ingenious strategy alright. I bet Cliff also mused to his (mostly likely pretend) prosecutor pal that he couldn't understand why Libby didn't call Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a character witness.

You really owe it to yourself to visit The Corner, to witness the 500-Year Dumbassery.

More Lie of Heartbreak

There's only one thing missing from this little puffer on the deep personal toll the Libby verdict might conceivably take on Dicky-Ticker Dick:

On a personal level, friends of the vice president say the trial has been deeply painful for him. Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney were all but inseparable -- Ms. Matalin has called the former aide "Cheney's Cheney" -- and often started their days by riding to work together. Mr. Libby accompanied the vice president almost everywhere he went, and Mr. Cheney made clear his high professional and personal regard for his aide, even playing host to a book party for him in 2002 at his official residence. Alan K. Simpson, a Republican former senator from Mr. Cheney's home state, Wyoming, said he saw Mr. Cheney over Christmas and asked how he was doing. He took the answer as a kind of oblique reference to the Libby case.

"He said, 'I'm fine, I'm O.K., I have people I trust around me — it's the same old stuff, Al,' " Mr. Simpson recalled.

Another friend of Mr. Cheney's, Vin Weber, a Republican former congressman, said the verdict had "got to be heartbreaking for the vice president." But Mr. Weber said he wished Mr. Cheney would explain himself.

"I don't think he has to do a long apologia," Mr. Weber said, "but I think he should say something, just to pierce the boil a little bit."

Missing is the fact that Simpson and Matalin are thick as thieves with the Scooter Libby Defense Fund. Knowing that little fact might put their fables in a whole new light.

Justice Tuesday

...And a Happy New Year.

I can't think of a lovelier holiday present for Victoria Toensing.

In Defense of Bigotry

Male-patterned male escort Mickey Kaus leaps to the defense of his fellow hater, Ann Coulter:

What do I think of Coulter's comment? I think a) she obviously wasn't saying John Edwards is gay; b) she equally obviously doesn't think Edwards is gay; c) she picked the word "f-----" because she wanted to make a joke about what that Grey's Anatomy star said that resulted in him going into rehab; d) hard as it is to believe, it seems as if she doesn't realize how offensive that word is to people -- she thinks it's a very strong, non-boring word that basically means someone with the effeminate traits stereotypically associated with homosexuals; e) it's worse than that, a toxic word that shouldn't have been used even in a joke--or anyway in that joke; f) she's not, in fact, a homophobe. She's not even really what Mike Kinsley would call a "closet tolerant" because I don't think she's in the closet about it. It's worth noting what she did not say in response to Nagourney, which is any suggestion that gays are sinners going to hell, etc.--i.e. what the stereotypical liberal would expect the stereotypical Christian conservative to say ...

Of course, this is all bullshit and Kaus knows it.

Whether Coulter thinks Senator Edwards is a "faggot" is irrelevant. She thinks gay men are legitimate targets for hate and ridicule, and chose the word because she knows exactly how much her audience of haters -- Kaus included -- despise gay men. It doesn't matter if Coulter thinks gay men are sinners, or lesser human beings, or simply an easy target for verbal abuse in front of a crowd that believes the first two. It's bigotry all the same.

And Kaus, whose archives are littered with his weasel-worded opinions about how it's entirely reasonable to be repulsed by homos, whole-heartedly endorses it.

Synergy

A meeting of the mind:

Years ago, I read a book by Erving Goffman called The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. As intriguing as its title, the book actually did a microsociological analysis of the deployment of different personalities and affects for different circumstances and needs. Well, Hillary Clinton is a case in extremis of the phenomenon. Hillary is the greatest makeover artist of the era. Her hair, her face, her names, her beliefs. And now, courtesy of Powerline, you can hear how she's made here [sic] voice over... or voice-over.

And Bob Somerby highlights another meeting.

Motel Hell

Things are getting tough on the wingnut welfare rolls. Listen to Mister Ed's tale of woe, camping out CPAC in a rent-by-the-hour fleabag:

I got back this afternoon from my CPAC adventure, tired out and glad to be home, but happy with the weekend's work. I'll be grateful for my own bed after the rather unpleasant stay I had at the Washington Plaza Hotel in DC.

The place looks like a million bucks from the outside on Thomas Circle, but it looks like $1.50 on the inside. It has unique balconies that are shared for the entire floor, which means anyone can wander by your room. The balcony door only has a normal doorknob (the main room entrance is from the interior hallway), and mine fell off in my hand the first night I arrived. I asked twice the next morning for them to fix it, but when I got back to my room the next night, it was still broken. After listening to a bunch of foul-mouthed, loud lunatics on the balcony until 1 am, I got about four hours of sleep. I went down to the desk the next morning, this time with the doorknob in hand, and told them I expected to get a phone call when it got fixed.

After making several calls myself back to the hotel, they finally fixed it around 6 pm or so. They jammed it back onto the latch just tight enough so it wouldn't fall off again, rather than replacing the entire assembly, as they should have done. I won't stay there again, and neither should you.

It's tough out there for a welfare queen cum call-center manager.

Actually, I have no idea whether Mister Ed got free room and board for his banal blogging, but no one but a prize-winning chump would put up with such inferior accomodations on his own dime.

Cox Peters Out

Tiny tosser Robert A. Cox has self-castrated his blog "OlbermannWatch" after just three short years, depriving the world of insightful media critiques such as this:

A reader sent along this post which might help some newcomers better understand the pathology of OlbyLoons.

Keith Olbermann Org (KO.O.) :: View topic - QuickTopic board: With fans like these, who needs Bob Cox?

You may see the name "Quanlin" listed as a Site Admin in the Ko.o site . Her she joins in knocking the "gal pals" as psychos yet she herself was a regular on the same "QT Gal Pals" discussion list just a couple years ago. Go figure.

Posted by RCox at 6:37 PM

Yeah. Go figure.

What exactly is Cox?

Cox is a recognized thought-leader in the world of citizen media and a sought-after panelist, lecturer and corporate speaker. He often appears to discuss journalism and new media in the context of blogging and citizen journalism. As a corporate speaker, he often shares insights based on his "blogstorm" experiences with business and trade associations, corporations, brand marketing companies and consumer products companies seeking to understand threats and opportunities in the blogosphere.

Cox has spoken at the National Press Club, the Kennedy School at Harvard University, Johnson & Johnson, the Radio Television News Director Association, the First Amendment Center,, the National Archives, as well as leading non-profit organizations, universities, and corporations. He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows –including the MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, BBC, NPR and CBS Radio and has been featured in stories in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Online Journalism Review, PBS.org and many other news publications.

Cox sits on a number of citizen media advisory boards including NewAssignment.net, Newstrust, Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and others.

And yet he still has time to master the intricacies and complex interactions of the "OlbyLoons" at the "QT Gal Pals discussion list." Not just any thought-leader and sought-after panelist could do that.

More on the stroke-damaged brain of Cox here.

(Post inspired by comments at TBogg.)

By the way, whose bright idea was it to allow Joe Lieberman to give the Democratic Radio Address? And to let Holy Joe avoid mentioning Bush's lack of accountability for the problems at Walter Reed?

Were Dick Cheney and Zell Miller unavailable to deliver the address?

Don't Bother

If you weren't criticizing Insane Clown Bigot Ann Coulter at least six years ago, your ass-covering opinions now are meaningless.

The CPAC rally was attended by thousands of wingnuts who know exactly what kind of bloodthirsty racist Coulter is, and none of them started simpering how Coulter makes conservatives look bad until they got caught Friday laughing at her latest gag.

At least have the courage of your convictions, and boldly endorse her bigotry like former boyfriend Mickey "Just Far Enough" Kaus does.

Yeah, I'd Keep My Name Off A Quote Like That Too

"Any suggestion that he was dodging the draft is totally, factually inaccurate," said a senior Giuliani campaign adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. "He opposed the war on tactical and strategic grounds."

And this one also:

[Mark Salter, McCain dogsbody] added: "I don't think McCain would want it to be an issue. I know that sort of suggests a false modesty, but I really don't."

This blog's obscenity count is surprisingly low.

WARNING: Link contains numerous obscenities.

An e-mail sent yesterday by my close personal friend, Maverick McStraight Talk:

Tonight, I will be appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. During this broadcast, I am going to announce that I will be a candidate for President of the United States. As one of my closest and most loyal supporters, I wanted you to see this announcement first on my website. I will make a formal announcement and embark on a tour in April.

This is an exciting announcement and I hope you will watch CBS tonight at 11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT.

I hope CBS got premium rates for the infomercial.

And if I'm one of McCain's "closest and most loyal supporters" -- words hyperlinked to a donation page in the e-mail -- why did the Virgin Johnny disable my McCainSpace page so quickly? Some loyalty!

Dark Side of The Moon

Here's an interesting report from George Archibald suggesting that things at Conservative America's Newspaper, the Moonie Times are Fran-tastic:

Last week. I received first-hand reports that during the newspaper's morning news meeting on Thursday, February 22, Coombs threatened foreign editor Jones with physical assault because Coombs wanted a particular story angle attacking the United Nations’ investigation of Iran's nuclear weapons program, but Jones corrected Coombs on certain factual errors.

Coombs told Jones and other editors in the meeting that he wanted a very anti-UN and anti-Iran story, but Jones questioned many of Coombs' suppositions with factual corrections.

Then, I'm told by people present, Coombs went ballistic, slammed his hands on the table and shouted at Jones to do the story the way Coombs demanded, "before I jump up on this table and smack you down." Coombs angrily erupted against Jones in front of national, business, metro, photo, graphics, and library editors or their representatives.

Then, five days later, on Tuesday, February 27, according to many witnesses in The Washington Times newsroom, Coombs walked over to the cubicle of veteran foreign desk reporter Tom Carter and attacked him with a barrage of epithets and threats in front of all newsroom employees present.

The day before, there was a brief discussion on the foreign desk about a pending series by religion writer Julia Duin on the abortion of girls in India. The Times had expended a lot of money for Julia Duin and photographer Mary Calvert to travel to India to produce this series.

In the discussion with colleagues on The Washington Times foreign desk, editor Jones said: "The reason we are running this story is that Coombs thinks all the aborted girls means that Indian men will be immigrating to the United States to marry our girls." That is an exact quote, what Jones told his colleagues on the foreign desk.

Coombs has told me and others repeatedly that he favors abortion because he sees it as a way to eliminate black and other minority babies.

Archibald states that Fran the Klan and the Moonie Times' Director of Human Resources did not respond to requests for comment.

Sounds like Frannie is taking leadership lessons from his boss's pal, Kim Jong Il.

I don't know why the right-wing continues to attack Muff Romney for his unequivocal pro-monogamy stance.

After all, Romney was against polygamy in 2002 and again in 2005. There's simply no way he'd change his convictions just two years later. Muff's no political opporunist.

Nonresponsive. Move To Strike.

A hack takes questions from the masses:

Anonymous: Michelle Malkin has been loud, rude and wrong on just about any topic she has ever opined upon. Any chance you will ever profile any of the bloggers who have been serious, thoughtful and correct? Also, as the right-wing already dominates AM talk radio, cable news and other media, right-wing bloggers are seemingly marginalized. In contrast, real liberal points of view (Krugman and Dionne excepted) mostly are confined to the Internet. It seems as if these "new" voices are a far more interesting phenomena.

washingtonpost.com: Michelle Malkin's Conservative Fight Has Others Coming Out Swinging (Post, Feb. 16)

Howard Kurtz: Well, let's see, I've already done profiles of Jeff Jarvis and Andrew Sullivan, and written extensively about bloggers on both the left and the right.

Yes, but the question is about "serious, thoughtful and correct" bloggers.

Between Sully's slander of liberals as fifth columnists and Weirdbeard Jarvis's assertion that the 9/11 Commission was partly to blame for the Hurricane Katrina FEMA fiasco (not to mention his phony outrage about the nonexistent outing of those Iraqi bloggers), I can't imagine a less fitting characterization of those overrated bloghards.

The only one less deserving of those appellations is Kurtz himself.

Amazing Farce

The religious wingnuts are out in force, touting Amazing Grace as proof of the moral superiority of Christianity and, more importantly, themselves. In Friday's Wall Street Journal, Catholic bigot Charlotte Allen wrote:

It is rare that a Hollywood film takes up a subject like William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British parliamentarian who devoted nearly his entire 45-year political career to banning the British slave trade. Alas, a lot of people watching "Amazing Grace," Michael Apted's just-released film, may get the impression--perhaps deliberately fostered by Mr. Apted--that Wilberforce was a mostly secular humanitarian whose main passion was not Christian faith but politics and social justice....

In fact, William Wilberforce was driven by a version of Christianity that today would be derided as "fundamentalist." One of his sons, sharing his father's outlook, was the Anglican bishop Samuel Wilberforce, who wrote a passionate critique of "The Origin of the Species," arguing that Darwin's then-new theory could not fully account for the emergence of human beings....

Perhaps the leading evangelical force of the day was the Methodism of John Wesley: It focused on preaching, the close study of the Bible, communal hymn-singing and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Central to the Methodist project was the notion that good works and charity were essential components of the Christian life.

...

This idea of slaving as sin is key. As sociologist Rodney Stark noted in "For the Glory of God" (2003), the abolition of slavery in the West during the 19th century was a uniquely Christian endeavor.

...

Thanks to Wilberforce, the movement's most visible champion, Britain ended slavery well before America, but the abolitionist cause in America, too, was driven by Christian churches more than is often acknowledged. Steven Spielberg's 1997 "Amistad," about the fate of blacks on a mutinous slave ship, also obscured the Christian zeal of the abolitionists.

Allow me to provide a little counterpoint to Allen's rectal-targeted smokestorm:

But you will ask me, can these things be possible in a land professing Christianity? Yes, they are so; and this is not the worst. No, a darker feature is yet to be presented than the mere existence of these facts. I have to inform you that the religion of the southern states, at this time, is the great supporter, the greater sanctioner of the bloody atrocities to which I have referred. (Deep sensation). While America is printing tracts and Bibles; sending missionaries abroad to convert the heathen; expending her money in various ways for the promotion of the Gospel in foreign lands, the slave not only lies forgotten—uncared for, but is trampled under foot by the very churches of the land. What have we in America? Why we have slavery made part of the religion of the land. Yes, the pulpit there stands up as the great defender of this cursed institution, as it is called. Ministers of religion come forward, and torture the hallowed pages of inspired wisdom to sanction the bloody deed (Loud cries of "Shame!") They stand forth as the foremost, the strongest defenders of this "institution." As a proof of this, I need not do more than state the general fact, that slavery has existed under the droppings of the sanctuary of the south, for the last 200 years, and there has not been any war between the religion and the slavery of the south.

Whips, chains, gags, and thumb-screws have all lain under the droppings of the sanctuary, and instead of rusting from off the limbs of the bondman, these droppings have served to preserve them in all their strength. Instead of preaching the Gospel against this tyranny, rebuke, and wrong, ministers of religion have sought, by all and every means, to throw in the background whatever in the Bible could be construed into opposition to slavery, and to bring forward that which they could torture into its support. (Cries of "Shame!") This I conceive to be the darkest feature of slavery, and the most difficult to attack, because it is identified with religion, and exposes those who denounce it to the charge of infidelity. Yes, those with whom I have been labouring, namely, the old organization Anti-Slavery Society of America, have been again and again stigmatized as infidels, and for what reason? Why, solely in consequence of the faithfulness of their attacks upon the slaveholding religion of the southern states, and the northern religion that sympathizes with it. (Hear, hear.)

...

Why, as I said in another place, to a smaller audience the other day, in answer to the question, "[...], are there not Methodist churches, Baptist churches, Congregational churches, Episcopal churches, Roman Catholic churches, Presbyterian churches in the United States, and in the southern states of America, and do they not have revivals of religion, accessions to their ranks from day to day, and will you tell me that these men are not followers of the meek and lowly Saviour?" Most unhesitatingly I do. Revivals in religion, and revivals in the slave trade, go hand in hand together. (Cheers.) The church and the slave prison stand next to each other; the groans and cries of the heartbroken slave are often drowned in the pious devotions of his religious master. (Hear, hear.) The church-going bell and the auctioneer's bell chime in with each other; the pulpit and the auctioneer's block stand in the same neighbourhood; while the blood-stained gold goes to support the pulpit, the pulpit covers the infernal business with the garb of Christianity. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support missionaries, and babies sold to buy Bibles and communion services for the churches. (Loud cheers.)

A Voice.—It is not true.

... —Not true! is it not? (Immense cheers.) Hear the following advertisement:—"Field Negroes, by Thomas Gadsden." I read now from The American Churches, the Bulwarks of American Slavery; by an American, or by J. G. Birney. This has been before the public in this country and the United States for the last six years; not a fact nor a statement in it has been called in question. (Cheers.) The following is taken from the Charleston Courier of Feb. 12, 1835:—"Field Negroes, by Thomas Gadsden. On Tuesday, the 17th inst., will be sold at the north of the Exchange, at 10 o'clock, a prime gang of ten negroes, accustomed to the culture of cotton and provisions, belonging to the Independent Church, in Christ Church parish." (Loud cheers.) I could read other testimony on this point, but is it necessary? (Cries of "No," and "One more.")

Is it required that one more be given? You shall have another. (Loud cheers.) A notice taken from a Savannah paper will show that slaves are often bequeathed to the missionary societies. "Bryan Superior Court. Between John J. Maxwell and others, executors of Ann Pray, complainants, and Mary Sleigh and others, devisees and legatees under the will of Ann Pray, defendants, in equity. A bill having been filed for the distribution of the estate of the testatrix, Ann Pray, and it appearing that among other legacies in her will is the following:—viz., a legacy of one fourth of certain negro slaves to the American Board of Commissioners for domestic (foreign it probably should have been) missions, for the purpose of sending the Gospel to the heathen, and particularly to the Indians of this continent; it is on motion of the solicitors of the complainants ordered, that all persons claiming the said legacy do appear and answer the bill of the complainants within four months from this day. And it is ordered, that this order be published in a public Gazette of the city of Savannah, and in one of the Gazettes of Philadelphia, once a month, for four months. Extract from the minutes, December 2, 1832." (Cheers.) The bequest I am in duty bound to say, was not accepted by the board. (Cheers.) But let me tell you what would have been accepted by that board. Had those slaves been sold by Ann Pray, and the money bequeathed to that board, the price of their blood would have gone into the treasury, and they would have quoted Chalmers, Cunningham, and Candlish in support of the deed. (Cheers.)

Not only are legacies left and slaves sold in this way to build churches, but the right is openly defended by the church. In 1836 the great Methodist Church in America, holding through ministers. and elders, and members, in their own church 250,000 slaves, said in their general conference in Cincinnati that they had no right, no wish, no intention to interfere with the relation of master and slave as it existed in the slave states of the American union. What was this but saying to the world, we have no right, no wish, No intention to release the bondman from his chains? The annual conference in the south took the broad ground of the right of property in man, asserting it in a resolution, proclaiming it in an address, preaching it in thanksgiving sermons, putting it forth in 4th of July orations, and even quoting Scripture. I could tire your patience by reading if it were required, extracts from documents, the genuineness of which has never been called in question, showing that the right is asserted by the slave holder, to property in human beings. (Hear, hear.)

Let's see. Frederick Douglass vs. Charlotte Allen. Who has more credibility?

There was nothing uniquely Christian about the abolitionist movement. In a time where only white Christian men (and a few women) are allowed to speak and deemed worthy of hearing on the Question of Slavery, you're going to have Christian abolitionists. And you'll find them opposed by a hell of a lot of devout Christian slaveholders.

To put it in slightly more modern terms, for every Reverend King there was a multitude of Reverend Wesley Pruden Snrs.

There still is.

So cram it, Charlotte. Riding Wilberforce's coattails from the safety of 2007 doesn't make you moral. Nor is the existence of Christian abolitionists an endorsement of any of your purportedly Christian pet hates. And given your eager efforts to hide the inconvenient truths about Christianity and slavery, there's absolutely no doubt which side you'd be on in 1846.

Holding Out For A Hero

The radical religious overlords of the Republican Party are getting desperate for an empty vessel into whom they can leak all of their pet hates, as they did with G.W. Bush:

The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign.

But in a stark shift from the group's influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election.

Many conservatives have already declared their hostility to Senator John McCain of Arizona, who once denounced Christian conservative leaders as "agents of intolerance," and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, a liberal on abortion and gay rights issues who has been married three times.

But many were also deeply suspicious of former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts...

And some members of the council have raised doubts about lesser known candidates — Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Representative Duncan Hunter of California, who were invited to Amelia Island to address an elite audience of about 60 of its members, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who spoke to the full council at its previous meeting, in October in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"There is great anxiety," said Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and an elder statesman of the conservative movement. "There is no outstanding conservative, and they are all looking for that."

Sounds like this group of worthies won't even let Catlicks or Mormons into their club, let alone give one an endorsement. (Although this site which attacks the CNP from the right says they do, and aren't wingnutty enough for God's tastes.) Update/Correction: Of course, Rick Santorum is a Catholic, so that's mighty white of them to extend an invite to the ex-Senator.

The Council for National Policy was founded 25 years ago by the Rev. Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians to strategize about turning the country to the right. Its secrecy was intended to insulate the group from what its members considered the liberal bias of the news media. In recent years the group has brought together a cross-section of the right from Edwin J. Feulner to Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association.

Cross-section, eh? It's a regular Unibrow Coalition.

Other attendees included Gary Bauer, Paul Weyrich and Rick Santorum, as well as invitees Mike Huckabee, Duncan the Muslim Hunter and Mark Sanford. Doesn't sound like there were even any women there. And the glare must've been blinding.

Mr. Norquist said he remained open to any of the three candidates who spoke to the council or to Mr. Romney. He argued that with the right promises, any of the four could redeem themselves in the eyes of the conservative movement despite their past records, just as some high school students take abstinence pledges even after having had sex.

"It's called secondary virginity," he said. "It is a big movement in high school and also available for politicians."

Apparently the Virgin Johnny has put out one too many times for Grover to reconstruct the hymen.

Let's help out pale pals, and nominate a right-winger who fits all their qualifications. Leave your suggestions in comments here, and I'll forward them to Grover, or send them directly to the new and exciting Friends of Americans for Tax Reform blog.

Half-Mast

All the suck, half the issues.

This should give Beinart the free time to enlist.

In His Defense, He Also Said "Marry The Mormons"

In his latest appeal to the Republican base, Duncan Hunter has named Dr. Henry Jordan as his South Carolina campaign co-chair. This Henry Jordan:

COLUMBIA, S.C. (May 16, 1997 12:25 p.m. EDT) -- A state Board of Education member, talking Tuesday about displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools, had a ready suggestion for groups who might object to it.

"Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims," Dr. Henry Jordan said during the board's finance and legislative committee meeting. "And put that in the minutes," he added.

The remarks made Tuesday were expunged from the written minutes, but were recorded on tape. The (Columbia) State obtained the tape under the Freedom of Information Act.

Jordan, a surgeon who failed in a bid to get the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 1994, said Thursday he thought the meeting was over and members were engaged in private conversation.

Later this month, Hunter will provide wooden crosses and lighter fluid to all registered Republican voters in South Carolina.

Expect the media firestorm over Hunter's hire to begin right about never.

Traitor Joe's

Is anyone surprised that Joe Lieberman lied to the voters of Connecticut to retain "his" Senate seat?

Connecticut Democrats who voted for Lieberman should hang their heads in shame, either for their stupidity or for their disloyalty.

Yes, I know Lieberman hasn't become a Republican yet. He may never become one, if it's not in his own best interest to do so. But the fact he is considering it when nothing has changed proves he knew he was lying when he gave his "word" to caucus with the Democrats.

Fraudlent War Supporters Not Named Kaus

Steve M. has the details on fraudulent polling on the Iraq debacle being promoted by The New York Post.

Frank Luntz would be proud. (Of the Post, not Steve.)

The Last Empty Gesture

Kaus to American troops: Drop dead.

That's not a paraphrase. In the course of bashing Hillary Clinton, physical and mental midget Mickey Kaus shows that he's not afraid for American servicemen and women to die in the war he loves. The hairless hack writes:

P.S.: It's not too early to say that Hillary's performance in the opening weeks has been impressively unimpressive. It's pretty clear in retrospect, that the war with Iraq, however it comes out, was a bad gamble. A mistake, in other words. But now that we've made the mistaken gamble, it also seems clear--to Mohammed at least--that the surge might do some good. The correct position, by these lights, was War No, Surge Yes. It would be selfishly callous, in a stereotypically American way, for us to invade Iraq, make a mess, and then not be willing to pay any extra price to help fix the mess we've made. (Murtha's demand that the troops be given "a year at home" -- and the heck with what happens to Iraqis like Mohammed -- only emphasizes this self-interested perspective.)

What price is Kaus willing to pay to help fix the mess he's made in Iraq? Well, he's at least willing to sacrifice another 3,200 American lives, more if need be. And he's willing to extend the troops' tours for as long as it takes -- and the heck what happens to those men and women and their families.

Sorry, Kaus. I didn't invade Iraq and make a mess of it. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld did. And Bush supporters/apologists like you did. And yes, the Members of Congress like Senator Clinton did. So get back to me after you get your fat ass out of your comfy condo and contribute something -- anything -- to the war effort or the Iraqi people whose lives you destroyed.

Gravel to Gravel Coverage

I expect I'm not the only one who read the list of Democratic hopefuls scheduled to debate tomorrow and said Mike Gravel Who?

Here's Gravel's campaign website, and here's his bio.

I was going to make a joke that Gravelanche will be this year's Joementum, but there's no comparison between Senator Gravel and the lickspittle from Connecticut.

Gravel is best known (although not by me) for taking on Nixon on the Vietnam war:

In 1971, [Gravel] waged a successful one-man filibuster for five months that forced the Nixon administration to cut a deal, effectively ending the draft in the United States. He is most prominently known for his release of the Pentagon Papers, the secret official study that revealed the lies and manipulations of successive U.S. administrations that misled the country into the Vietnam War. After the New York Times published portions of the leaked study, the Nixon administration moved to block any further publication of information and to punish any newspaper publisher who revealed the contents.

From the floor of the senate, Gravel (a junior senator at the time) insisted that his constituents had a right to know the truth behind the war and proceeded to read 4,100 pages of the 7,000 page document into the senate record. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Senator Gravel did not have the right and responsibility to share official documents with his constituents.

He then published The Senator Gravel Edition, The Pentagon Papers, Beacon Press (1971). This publication resulted in litigation, Gravel v. U.S., resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision (No. 71-1017-1026) relative to the Speech and Debate Clause (Article 1, Section 6) of the United States Constitution.

Lieberman, of course, would say that Senator Gravel wanted the Vietnamese terrorists to succeed. Or send his Bullshit Mooseboy out to do it for him.

No matter how bad your Presidents' Day was, be thankful you weren't forced to spend the day creating and writing an Oscar blog, like the TNR interns were.

Free Your Minds

Of all the reasons to despise Politico.com, perhaps the greatest is that the site's writing staff is so male dominated. All of their "name" writers are male, with the exeception of gossip columnist Anne Schroeder. And as if to differentiate between male seriousness and female frivolity, Schroeder's column is called SHENANINGANS. (Emphasis in original.)

Most of the female writers' bylines on the homepage have been fluff pieces, like the "Barchelle" article comparing Barack and Michelle Obama to celebrity couples.

Come on, guys. It's not like there aren't plenty of women just as unqualified as Mike Allen and Roger Simon: Susan Schmidt, Deborah Howell and Nedra Pickler spring to mind immediately. Hell, Judy Miller must be desparate for a job about now. Hackery isn't confined to one gender.

Roger's Reader Participation - Holiday Edition

In Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, Fat Charlie's father tells his son that children who attend school on Presidents' Day dressed as their favorite President recieve a bag of candy. Fat Charlie goes to school dressed as Taft.

Two questions:

1. What's wrong with Gaiman's premise?

2. What's your favorite President's Day memory?