Qana

Photographs and video of both last weekend's tragedy and the massacre of 1996. (Warning: View at your own risk. Extremely graphic.)

The Passion of the Mel

An excellent, educational article about Gibson's recent anti-semitic blunder. The writer has several informative paragraphs about the obstacles independent producers face if they want to distribute a film themselves. (Via C&L.)

While I'm not at all surprised at Mel's Nazi predilections, given his father's Nazi-loving history, I am surprised at what he said: that "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." What does that even mean? What has this pitiful excuse of a man been reading? Smoking? Mel: Do you mean to tell me that the Jews started the Revolutionary War? the Civil War? Vietnam? the Mexican War? the many wars your newest film subjects fought that destoyed their civilization? WTF?

BONUS: We lefties (née "moderates" or "centrists") feel uncomfortable promoting Hitch because of his back-stabbing and drunken rants. But his prosodic gift has never failed him. He still excels at nastily dismembering worthy subjects. It was true for his Christmas essay and it's true for his current dissection of Mel Gibson. Read and enjoy. It's not as vicious as South Park's "The Passion of the Jew" but think of it as an expensive wine--many complex and complementary flavors.

Why We Keep Losing

Matt Stoller at MyDD performs a reportorial service for the netroots by draining the DC campaign-consultant swamp. Guess why the dems can't market themselves worth a damn? Because prominent consultants who've repeatedly ruined campaigns are being paid by corporate interest to undermine Democratic efforts. The latest? Medicare.

The solution? Spread the word and call your representatives and senators. If they get flooded with calls and emails telling them the very people they rely on to lose win elections are being paid to make them lose, they will be very, very angry with those consultants and stop listening to them. If they have any sense (fingers crossed) they'll see that what Gore's doing is working: When you stick to principle and speak truth to power passionately, people perk up and listen, give to your campaign and vote for you come election day. Cf. the campaigns of Paul Hackett and Ned Lamont. They're the future. The netroots are the future. The current crop of consultants is a dead end.

UPDATE: Corrupt consultants notwithstanding, here's a very hopeful survey conducted by NPR. Maybe somebody in the DNC will read it.

Why We Fight

There is no War on Terror. Terror is a psyop, a way for a government to instill fear in the populace and focus hatred on a cutout enemy. 9/11 was the ultimate psyop, the biggest special operation ever conducted--and the best implementation of "shock and awe." Sometimes, as in the case of Hamas or the IRA, averages joes become terrorists without the government's help, but not usually. Right now, the war in Lebanon has nothing to do with kidnapped soldiers. The operation has been in the works since at least 1996, with the details being fleshed out more recently. It is the expansion of the fake War on Terror to include Syria, Libya*, Iran, Sudan and Somalia. The true nature of the war, planned in secret, is never mentioned, and journalists seem utterly ignorant of it, despite the sheafs of publicly available documents. The war is really about economics, i.e. power. It's about access to Caspian basin oil and the rerouting of energy transportation to cut off China and Russia (and possibly to undermine OPEC). It's no surprise that the only man who seems to know this is an economist and isn't American. Read the details here. Read what General Wesley Clark never revealed during his presidential campaign (maybe because he oversaw the destabilization of Yugoslavia by the KLA and Al Qaeda, our biggest ally in the War on Terror). More details about the origin of the current war, the "clean break" document, here.

FUN FACT: Guess what Condi Rice's area of expertise is? Central Asian oil.

BONUS: Chomsky explains why America is a terrorist state.

SUPER HAPPY BONUS: A surprisingly entertaining and brief history of the Middle East.

*Given our rapproachment with them, thanks to negotiations begun under Clinton, I guess they're off the menu. But who knows?

Sunday Mecha-Blogging

Only $300k--and an option to star in the next Anime hit.

A Scanner Darkly

Wow. See it. Not only does it highlight our current proto-fascist tendencies, but it's brutally funny.

A Brief Moment of Gratitude

I should've written this, oh, 11 months ago, but who's counting? Anyway, in case I need help this hurricane season, though I'll probably stay with my peeps in Baton Rouge, I'd like to formally thank readers PDS and Abby Taylor for offering--in the first week of the disaster, no less--whatever I needed to get by, including cash and housing. Fortunately, my ex-girlfriend's parents footed the bill and let us keep the FEMA money and the bedbugs (I'm not kidding), but I thank the god I don't believe in for people like Abby and PDS. Lein Shory also offered to take us in, including the four cats and dog. But once the power came back on in Laurel, we repopulated our little 4-acre mansion with fluffy, annoying pets, including a few from New Orleans and I commenced catching up on a couple of missed seasons of Sex and the City.

P.S. I don't remember, exactly, but Gnat's Trumpet may have offered help as well. In any case, he and (sigh) Pursuit encouraged us to evacuate and showed some sympathy. They deserve credit for that.

Kristolnacht

The predictably rah-rah Israel "reporting" in these sad United States has it wrong. Nothing new here; they always have it wrong, which is why we still have supporters of Israel here. Now don't misunderstandimate me, I think Israeli citizens have every right to a peaceful life there, but they don't have the right to treat Palestinians as second-class citizens and go around butchering civilians there and in south Lebanon. (Not that civilians are doing that.) Click here for the skinny on the current Israel-led conflict. We should mention as well that, unbeknownst to our benighted national media, this is the beginning of the widening of the "long war" which includes Iran, Syria, Libya (thanks, Dubya) and (I guess) others. It's all about the oil, folks. Well, and domination of Asia and preservation of Empire. Reporters might want to "read" or "research" the "clean break" document authored by Perlowitz et al. back in '96, when Netanyahu was busy dismantalling the peace process. Call it Kristolnacht.

UPDATE: Josh Marshall weighs in, sees ominous clouds gathering over Mordor....

Marshall v. Reynolds

Josh Marshall responds to the Perfesser's false claim. I love hate to pick, but writing "Glenn Reynolds falsely claimed" is verbose. At this point, just write "Glenn Reynolds." The man is an out-and-out fabulist.

Watching Beirut Die

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was in Beirut with a camera crew for the commencement of hostilities. Read. Learn.

NOTE: Perhaps the most touching part is reading how the young Marines treated the refugees. That means a lot to me, knowing first hand how kind and friendly kids armed with M-16s can be. No, I'm not kidding.

Life's Little Victories

I saw this comic by Keith Knight on Salon the other day and told him it was spot on. He was kind enough to write back. Since I don't blog nearly enough about this city (partly because I can cry only so much), here's an accurate portrait of our "little victories"--just the beginning of a litany of them.

BONUS: Knight's website is here.

A Funny Coincidence

Remember the extremely suspicious "suicide" of Britain's David Kelly, a former weapons inspector, right before a WMD report came out in the UK? Well, it's kinda lookin like he was kinda sorta, you know, assassinated. For more UK, US, USSR, Israeli, French and other Western assashenanigans, read the brilliant, thoroughly researched The Assassination Business.

Brownie: "Bite Me"

While we're busy linking to Raw Story (happens now and then), here's a heads-up on the Playboy interview with Michael Brown. Now we're no fan of Brownie, but we're under the impression that Brownie was the least of the severe problems last August. In light of our previous post about Normie's dad, we can't think of any reason to buy Playboy other than to "read" the Brownie interview, but if you're "moved" to purchase the magazine (available in an expanded online edition!) you'll get to read this memorable line, which took Brownie only one full year to come up with:

Dealing with horses' asses taught me how to deal with the federal government

Oh, yeah, and some other shit happened today, somewhere southeast of Europe. I think some people over there are killing each other or something. Nothing our "federal government" should bother with, though.

Coleman Disturbed by Automotive Shenanigans

In other news, White House shill Norm Coleman's father, was caught screwing in a car near a pizzeria. Coleman did not "condone" his father's behavior and was "deeply disturbed" by what he had "learned." We don't know what kind of crap his father fed the Congresscritter while he was being reared, but I have a slightly different take on the matter: Give pappy a big fat cigar! Pour him some brandy and pat him on the back. Why? Well, first of all, sex is natural, sex is fun. But more than that: The elder Coleman is (ahem) 81! And his automotive partner? 38! How cool is that? Christ, when I'm 81, I hope I'm caught in a car with a filly half my age. That's friggin' inspiring.

NOTE TO COLEMAN'S FATHER: While we applaud your conquest, you might've tried to get a room in the nearby hotel or maybe opted for a parking spot off the beaten path. Ask a local teenager for directions (and maybe some new techniques--and a condom).

Iran: the Next War Is Closer Than You Think (Reprise)

Joshua Kurlantzick called it last April, after Seymour Hersh revealed Rummy's monkey business in Iran. Recently, Raw Story followed up on Hersh and Kurlantzick's revelations about the MEK and covert operations in Iran. Now, Rolling Stone, which along with Mother Jones, GQ, Harper's, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story, routinely shames the national MSM by doing the job most major papers refuse to do, has yet another revelatory report on our war plans for Iran--the next target in a long line of oil-rich targets. (Via Raw Story.)

N.B.: The story isn't just by anybody, it's by James Bamford, the highly connected polymath who revealed the inner workings of the NSA. His last piece for Rolling Stone focused on The Rendon Group, the DC PR outfit contracted to sell you the Iraq War. In living color.

UPDATE: Powerline's "I donated my brain to science but they wouldn't take it" Scott presents Michael Ledeen's rebuttal of James Bamford's article. Never mind that all Ledeen ever does is lie, but he's still covering for his neocon proteges vis-a-vis Joseph Wilson. Note: if you're a Republican and think Joe Wilson lied, just cut your own head off and save the Islamofascists the trouble.

Is It Fascism Yet?

While John Dean's busy warning Americans about the rise of Authoritarianism and creeping fascism, the GOP faithful are busy humming patriotic tunes with their fingers in their ears. Not that they'll pay attention to this (or to anything else resembling reality or fact), but for their benefit, here's a list of 14 indicators of fascism. Guess what? It ain't lookin' good, folks.

UPDATE: Another take on the same theme. The author doesn't think we're "on the verge of becoming a fascist state" but argues it could happen with the right amount of putsch push. (This heat-sensitive frog feels water a bit warmer than that but our tendency to adjust to changing circumstances means there's no telling where, exactly, the boiling point is.)

Huckabuck

And, you know, while we're busy not blogging about politics or New Orleans, we thought it about time to give a local venture a little press (we stress "little," because we get as much traffic as the local antique store on a Monday). There's a kewl new search engine in town--literally--called Huckabuck. Why should you care? What's the skinny? According to its promoter, Paige, whose PR experience we question (see above), asked real nice for us to write about it. (I even offered her a chance to post about it, but she preferred that I do it--and no, they're not paying me or giving me a gift basket or anything.) Huckabuck is so non-non-non-non-non-egregious because it lets you "tune" your search with a cool little equalizer thingee. Meaning that you can emphasize (or de-emphasize) results from six different search engines, including Google and Technorati. So it's a blogger's dream. Can't find what you're looking for? Just re-tune your search. Meta-search-engines have been around for years, but this is the first one that lets you do this. Tres cool.

Kewl Tewl

Here at realitique™, our hard-working volunteer staff likes to take a break now and then from the hustle and bustle of commenting on commentary and reporting the news that other people are reporting to showcase a nifty short film, a funny post or anything else that keeps newsheads sane by distracting them from the evils they witness daily. In that regard, we present a neato new blogging tool that even Red Blogistanis can comprehend. (Sorry, but it's almost impossible to get through an entire one-paragraph post without insulting American righties or their Beloved Leader.) So anyway, here you go: the pop-up politician.

An Explanation

Longtime (sometime) reader PDS commented on the previous post as follows:

Rob: I am most curious as to what swayed you to believe 9/11 was perpetrated by our executive branch and intelligence services, per your post a few days ago. I ask this literally, not rhetorically.

If your premise is true, do you not find it ironic to be making predictions about "Democrats" taking back the House, etc.? Do you really think a government responsible for 9/11 will simply resign itself to the viscissitudes of an election, or that merely electing a handful more Democrats will do the trick?

I really must add one last comment and suggestion, which I will make because (I am hoping) there must be some kind of blogging leeway accorded to the person who made the first comment ever on your blog: Since you began this project, I have seen you go from agnostic to atheist and now from a professed "independent" to enthuisiastic use of the word "we" in a number of recent posts, which I take to mean Democrats. I must say I am almost more startled by the latter change than the former.

If you having any interest in taking requests from long time readers, it would be interesting to see a post or two explaining your evolution along these lines some time.

PDS:

While I appreciate most comments, I appreciate thoughtful ones most. I'm not sure you were the first to comment on my blog--that may have been Lein or my ex-girlfriend Amanda (yes, ladies, I'm available)--but you were were one of the earliest, and like Gnat, you've always been cordial or at least reasonably polite. Maybe it's my Southern upbringing, but that means a lot to me and is why I've berated one or two (ahem) readers for bad manners.

1. What swayed me about 9/11? The evidence. I came out of the 9/11 closet near the beginning of the year--and posted about it. Since then, I've posted numerous times about the administration's complicity in 9/11. If you want the quick-and-dirty version, watch Loose Change, 2nd Edition, or Steven Jones' presentation on the use of high-explosives in the WTC. If you want the most damnable reportorial evidence, read The War on Truth (which I've mentioned a couple of times on the blog). If you're too busy with all that (which I wouldn't doubt, given your job and child), just tell me where I can find the Boeing in front of the Pentagon. That's all. Just show me physical evidence of a jetliner. Don't worry, the Pentagon has yet to produce a single frame of footage showing anything resembling that.

To spur your curiosity, let me offer a few topics for your investigation:

a. Pakistan's ISI (intelligence services) were more or less built by the CIA. The ISI, in turn, created the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Do you find it odd that the head of those services not only paid Mohammed Atta through a cutout (Omar Sayeed Sheik) but also met with Tenet, Powell, Armitage, Rice, Goss and others right before and after 9/11?

b. View the photographs from Shanksbury. Then show my any physical evidence of a crashed jetliner there. Debris was scattered for miles. According to my knowledge of fifth-grade physics, that's not possible unless the plane blew apart in midair--say, as the result of a missle strike.

c. Please explain how the first three steel-framed buildings in history to collapse from fire did so, all on the same day. Remember, all three buildings were structurally redundant, had survived intense fire before and were barely smoking right before they collapsed. Again, physics is not on the government's side here. You don't have to look to kooks for evidence; physicists, fire experts and demolitions experts say that too.

d. Please account for the report of French intelligence officials that a CIA Middle-East station chief met with Bin Laden in a Dubai hospital two months before 9/11. I think, but can't remember for sure, that this was the same station chief that granted visas (over objections) to most of the alleged hijackers.

e. Please explain why the Rowley memo as well as the warnings from Israeli and Russian intelligence regarding 9/11 were ignored.

f. Please explain why 5 separate military/police exercises, some of which involved hijacking planes, were being held the morning of 9/11.

g. Please explain why the remaining 8 fighters available on 9/11 to defend American airspace were sent away from the jetliners, whose locations were known.

h. Please explain why the entire war on terror precisely matches the plans for the second rendition of The Great Game as outlined in Zbigniew Brzezinski's book and as echoed by Wolfowitz in PNAC's defining document "Rebuilding America's Defenses."

i. Please explain why we used Al Qaeda to help destabilize Bosnia (after using them to do the same to Afghanistan, which according to conservatron "logic" makes Carter the winner of the Cold War) and paid, via Zawahiri, $50M to not attack our forces there, but did not make a similar deal for them not to attack us elsewhere.

j. Please explain why at Tora Bora we didn't surround Al Qaeda but instead left a wide opening for them to flee to Pakistan through.

k. Please explain why a highly irregular number of put options were put on United and American airlines shortly before 9/11. Also explain the coincidence that a high-ranking CIA official was a former head of the bank the options were bought through.

l. Please explain why president Bush waited for a while after Andrew Card told him that the U.S. was "under attack." Explain also why Bush was reading at a school after he was told that an airliner had hit the WTC.

m. Please explain the coincidence that WTC 7 was brought down, even though its fires were minimal, especially considering that one or two floors had been hardened for use by Giuliani's EOC. Explain also why the CIA and other gov't agencies were using the building. And explain what happened to the billions of dollars in gold stored beneath the WTC.

n. Explain why the Joint Chiefs of Staff cancelled flights the day before (or close to it) 9/11.

o. Explain why John Ashcroft stopped flying on commercial planes the summer before 9/11.

p. Explain why, under Bush, Reich Marshall Rumsfeld was designated as the sole arbiter of military flights intercepting civilian jets.

q. Explain Operation North Woods.

r. Explain why we evacuated a number of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters "by accident" at Tora Bora.

s. Explain why president Eisenhower thought the USSR wasn't much of a threat and why he stridently warned the populace against the military-industrial complex.

t. Explain why we fought in Vietnam and why we conquered Hawaii, the Phillippines and Cuba, why we forced China and Japan to trade with us and why we started a war with Mexico.

u. Explain the 40+ interventions we started and/or funded after WWII, all under the pretext of the Cold War, which nearly no one in a position of power believed was real.

v. Explain why we offered the Taliban either a "carpet of gold" or a "carpet of bombs...before the snows fall in October" shortly before 9/11, why we had a plan for war with Afghanistan, according to Brzezinski's geostrategy, and why we attacked that nation in October, 2001.

w. Explain why several hijackers were quartered near US military bases.

x. Explain why a significant number of the alleged hijackers are still alive.

y. Explain why we invaded Iraq over WMD, given that we sold Saddam the precursors for that WMD and turned a blind eye as he slaughtered his own subjects and thousands of Iranians.

z. Explain why we bombed Afghanistan after the Taliban told us they'd hand over Bin Laden for house arrest and an international criminal tribunal.

For fun, look into why a former member of the UK Parliament and the former head of German intelligence both think, along with 100+ US scholars, that 9/11 was an inside job.

3. Your second paragraph contains by far the most penetrating question you've ever asked me, the equal of which probably no reader has asked. As you may have guessed, I can't answer it, except to say, all I have left is hope. If "we" lose in November, I may well flee the country ahead of the totalitarian state you refuse to see coming (why the denial, PDS?).

4. The last two presidential elections were almost certainly stolen. The evidence is overwhelming, if you choose to look at it. So no, I'm not so confident in 2006 or 2008.

5. I haven't changed a whit since you started reading, except that I've become massively more informed. For years, I have technically been an agnostic. I still am. But I live as an atheist. I do not understand why people have a problem with this. Unlike Bush, I do not flip flop. I know what I think and why (he doesn't even think). I have no reason to believe there is a god; if there is one, he is nothing like the god most religions describe; that's what evidence and logic indicates. Since I can't prove a negative, I can't say for certain that there is no god. Therefore, I am an agnostic. But I live without doubt, when it comes to the divine. I live without guilt or morality--though not without empathy, which the GOP rejects. I don't think there's a god. If there is a god, I don't care and reserve a small bit of contempt for him--whatever's left over from what I feel for most Republican congressmen, the Bush family, Reagan and Ayn Rand. As I wrote in one of my unpublished novels, "If god wasn't dead, he should be executed."

So, no, you haven't seen anything except a greater willingness for me to forthrightly state what I think.

6. Yes, I am independent. That hasn't changed. Most progressives would say the same. But as our corrupt system of government makes it all but impossible to have a third party, I vote for Democrats. I hope never to vote for a Republican again. They disgust me beyond description. Unfortunately, I live in Louisiana, so it's in our interest to vote for slimy, scum-sucking conservatives. Until those despicable asswipes are kicked out of orifice, we have no choice. Happily, most New Orleanians, including conservatives, hate Republicans as much, if not more, than I do. I wonder why.

Death from Above

Our nonexistent national news media loves to whip up patriotic fervor by showing green-screen smart-bomb attacks on targets but never shows the effects of those attacks. During the first Gulf War, for example, Americans weren't shown the highway of death, a miles-long stretch of highway which we bombed, slaughtering possibly thousands of fleeing Iraqis, leaving a trail of charred corpses pointing at Baghdad. To get an inkling of its horror, you had to watch last year's Jarhead. But thanks to Link TV, now you can see what's actually happening on the ground in Lebanon as Israel indiscriminately massacres civilians (we do the same in Iraq daily). You need to signup with YouTube to watch it--it's quick and easy--but if you don't like that, try bugmenot.com. And what are we doing about the bloodshed? Nothing. Kinda reminds you of last August, don't it? (Video via Raw Story.)

Make Nice? Yeah, Right

I never thought I'd see an almost 180-degree reversal in the national mood. But it happened months ago and despite the "bounce" that so many Washington media whores keep seeing in Bush™'s poll numbers, such a bounce exists as much as support for the Iraq War among our generals. As we approach the upcoming Lieberman-Lamont fisticuffs in Connecticut, the Democratic and media establishments in Washington are beyond anxious; they're hysterical. Even Rush Limbaugh is worried. Meanwhile, a few Democratic politicians seemed to've noticed that, you know, Blue Blogistan is way ahead of the curve on this one. Our mood is the nation's mood: anti-Bush and anti-GOP. Anti-authoritarian. While Establishment consultants fret over Democrats being anti-Iraq-War and pro-sanity, the rest of the electorate is feeling at peace with themselves over how they're about to vote. We ain't ready to make nice. Far from it. And make no mistake about it, though Republican gerrymandering may thwart a number of easily won races against the GOP, at worst at least one house of Congress is going to topple--or at worst be too close for the K Street Patronage Machine to ram through every last piece of corrupt legislution that Bush™ wants. Lamont is about to kick Lieberman's whiny bitch ass. And come November, we're gonna clean the floor with the rest of the appeasers in the House. And no consultant's cozy job in DC will be safe....

UPDATE: Nitwit Assrocket weighs in on Blue Blogistan's "crusade" against Lieberman: "Today's liberal movement is more about anger and hate than it is about policy, and Lieberman just doesn't fit in, no matter how he votes."

This from a man who thinks Il Duce is an undiscovered genius.

Bloodbath

Let's be clear. Iraq is not teetering, it is not on the verge, it is not on the brink, it is not descending (unless by that you mean further). There is no longer any debate here. Iraq has plunged headlong into the abyss of civil war. Not that anyone in Washington, including our execrable national media, has noticed. No, it's all Palestine all the time, with bloodthirsty autocrats like Bill Kristol and friends calling for "escalation." To what point, Mr. Kristol, should we "escalate"? The escalator here is going one way: down. It's long past time we got off.

Unless, of course, you and your puppet boy king started all of this in September, 2001. Then, at least, we know you meant the world to go this way all along.

Yes, Bush was right when he spoke of a "grave and gathering threat." He just got the country wrong. As the rest of the world knows, the United States of America is the greatest threat to world peace. It is impossible to overstate the case.

UPDATE: Lookee here, somebody agrees with me (incidentally, my opinion's based on the extensive work of academic types who developed a thorough, statistical taxonomy of civil war, much of which, I think, this author relied on).

Media? What Media?

Friends, not only is our national "media" not liberal, it's nonexistent. Witness their latest non-coverage of a now-infamous event, covered not because it happened (and maybe it's not all that newsworthy) but because blogs covered it. That's right. Assuming it wasn't much of a story in the first place, why noting that other people were noting its occurrance as actually increasing its newsworthiness is as absurd as the event itself. Yes, I am referring to the Bush backrub*.

The Carbetbagger Report gives the gory details.

*His good-ole-boy indiscretion may be the least indiscrete, offensive act of his entire career. On a sliding scale from backrub to slaughter, that's not bad.

More on our nauseating non-media later.

Marshall Whittman Takes the Bus to Crazy Town

I stopped reading the allegedly progressive Whittman a while ago, when he started spouting DC conventional wisdom. In other words, Liebermanesque war-mongering and Bush™ fellating: exactly the opposite of what every poll for months has shown the majority of Americans want. Well, he's at it again, foaming at the mouth over the "soul of the Democratic Party," which is under assault from enraged leftists who repeatedly, calmly mention that Iraq is in a civil war and we need to get the hell out. Yes, these enraged lefty bloggers are taking the Donkey down the path to perdition. Not only that, we lefties are "Swift-Boating" Joe in a "vile...disinformation campaign." A few lowlights:

Truth will not deter the left wing practitioners of swiftboating. Just as their right wing brethren sought to make a coward out of a war hero, the left wingers seek to make a right winger out of a long-standing liberal.
...
It is fashionable among Democratic pundits and politicians to express contrition about their support for the war and beg for forgiveness from the lefties. Joe's great "sin" is that he stands by his original position and expresses optimism about America's eventual success in Iraq. However, it is far more popular and acceptable in the Democratic Party to express defeatism and doom. And this is the party that the American people will trust with their security?

And here is a message for those moderates who are refusing to vigorously support Joe - they are coming after you next. Limousine Liberal Lamont is merely a tool for the nutroots to help achieve their ultimate objective. The goal of the activists and the celebrated nutroots is to move the party to the left on critical issues such as national security and trade. And the ultimate result will be that Democrats will only be able to visit the White House on a tourist pass.

Note to Marshall: The president who Joe's rimming barely has a 30% approval rating. Add Whittman to the long list of Red Blogistanis whose every utterance is exactly the opposite of the truth. Sadly, such Blogistanis are too dim-witted to even notice.

Read Whittman's entire witless ravings here.

Monstrosities

The English language has no adequate words to describe acts such as this. Unfortunately, our nation is being run by people who condone, even sanction, actions such as this. Want to know how our intelligence-security services and Executive branch perpetrated 9/11, slaughtering 3000 of our innocent citizens? Want to know how Israel can murder hundreds of innocent Lebanese? Want to know how Hitler and Stalin could exterminate millions? Read John Dean's latest book. Or, for the quick-and-dirty version, read Arthur Silber.

I'm sure the lonely, wandering conservatron will think I'm exaggerating. Again, unfortunately, I am not.

The Shame of It

As Sylvester the cat's son said. While Bush™'s assumption of (largely unexercised) dictatorial powers are disturbing enough, what's merely embarrassing is that, unlike the suave, educated proto-dictator Putin, Our Leader can't put a sentence together. He makes the United States look like a goddamned backwater. I guess that's what we get for loving anti-intellectuals and what the Bush crime family gets for raising that fucktard in a house devoid of books.

Say, is there anyone in Europe we could pay assloads of money to keep that stupid rat bastard of ours? I hear we have a few CIA "camps" he could attend....

Welcome to the Armaggedonalypse

Or the Apocaggedon. Or something. Anyway, wingnuts are more prone to hyperbole than their (non-ignorant) counterparts on the left. (Examples: Ken Lay compared to the crucified Christ, Rick "See the Fetus" Santorum comparing pro-filibuster Democrats to Nazis, some TNR hack calling lefty bloggers "blogofascists.") Still, even after John Gibson announced the War on Christmas, Newt and friends' recent announcement of WWIII or IV takes us beyond the rhetorical pale of the pale they formerly took us beyond. While the technique itself is not surprising, the announcement, per usual, took us off guard. And per usual, they're whipping up their authoritarian base. The rest of us could laugh if we weren't so busy crying over the armed madhouse this country has become*.

As if it weren't as obvious as Bush™'s lies, this is yet another brazen Orwellian attempt to frame the discourse in an insane fashion before an impending election. And this time, the GOP's collective back is to the wall; so who knows what crazy Rovian shit they have planned.

This conflagration in the Middle East, however, is far, far from being a world war, though it could turn into one. It is three separate but loosely connected conflicts, not one of which has much to do with terrorism--unless you mean Israeli and American terrorism against the populations of Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza. But that's par for the course. While Israel's reaction to Hizbollah is inexcusably extreme and targets the very people who did nothing against them, we follow suit in other parts of the Middle East. At the same time, Hizbollah just makes everything worse by provoking via violent extremism the last nation on earth that needs provoking to do something violent and extreme.

And what is Il Duce doing about it? Trying to give Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel a friggin back rub.

Maybe that's because Our Beloved Leader doesn't know what the fuck is going on.

*Get Greg Palast's new book, Armed Madhouse, here. No, I don't get a cut.

Dr. Miracles

An excellent, funny short film.

William Kristol Takes the Bus to Crazy Town

I used to think neocon high priest Bill Kristol was one of the marginally sane practitioners of realpolitik (albeit a 9/11 co-conspirator and mass-murderer) but clearly that's not the case. He's bugshit crazy.

UPDATE: As usual, Tom Tomorrow predicted this in his quickly-becoming-reportage-rather-than-satire comic strip.

Clinton Got a Blowjob

Hilarious.

Israel: WTF!?

Not that Israel is known for "restraint" or, you know, general decency, but their latest response to Hezbollah has been a bit, um, over-the-top. Kidnap two of our soldiers? Why, we'll bomb civilian neighborhoods! If you've been wondering what the fuck is up with the little nation that could, Steve Clemons has a hypothesis that experts agree with and that no one is reporting on.

Fight or Flight

I hate to be alarmist or dreary or apocalyptic, but if we lose in November (that is, if the election is stolen yet again), it would be prudent to leave the country. Maybe nothing will happen around November 2008, but there's a decent chance that we'll see an actual Reichstag fire in this country. Yes, 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks seemed like the Reichstag fire, but technically the next attack would qualify. 9/11 and the anthrax attacks merely set the stage for state control of every citizen's life. Another attack would be perpetrated as an excuse to declare martial law and gain absolute control over the nation.

So: if we lose in November, pack your bags and get the fuck out of Dodge. (If you live in Louisiana, you already have your bags packed and know what it's like to look at all your belongings with pathos and imagine that none of them will be there when you return.) If that doesn't work, then it's time for alternative solutions. One of these is a velvet revolution, where millions of American's mass in the streets and demand change. The other? Severe but necessary. I won't clarify what I mean, but midwestern militias will understand. It will be time for more radical solutions to the problem of governmental oppression. Either way, you'll need a coleman stove, lots of batteries, flashlights, water and canned food. Best also if you purchase a few tools used by hunters and the vice president. You'll be needing them.

And no, I am, most assuredly, not kidding. I'm busy making plans.

Borat

November 3 can't get here soon enough, and I'm not saying that just because of hurricane season.

Stupid Motherfucker of the Day

Blackfive. (Unnamed high-ranking Administration officials tell me that he also wanted to assert that Satan directly hired Joe Wilson and that the sky is green, but I couldn't confirm it.)

Profile in Courage

Okay, maybe a bit high-fallutin' a title, but Keith Olbermann is the only person outside of Comedy Central to host an actual news show. (I'm sure it's been noted many times before, but how sad is it that the only news shows on television are satirical? That's what happens when the MSM is dead and all you have left is Samizdat.) The unbelievably incompetent NYT (at least they report 10% of the news!) has a profile.

The Situation in Lebanon

Radio god Mike Molloy points to this Lebanese blog for on-the-scene reporting on the Israeli atrocities in Lebanon.

UPDATE: Predictably, Juan Cole has more.

John Madden for Vagicil

Bored as I am? Watch this. (Via The Great Society via Atrios.)

Ted Stevens' Internets

Ted Stevens' crazy rant last week was entertaining enough without commentary. But The Daily Show turned his sparkling turd into bars of gold.

Ivo Errs

I hate to pick on Ivo Daalder, because he's an excellent and sane analyst, but in his criticism today of Bush™'s nonexistent foreign policy, Daalder concluded that

While there has been a shift in foreign policy during Bush's second term (one Jim Lindsay and I wrote about here some 9 months ago), it's not so much a shift from unilateralism to multilateralism as it is a shift from relying on the use of force to doing nothing.
...
It was this combination of unilateralism, preemptive force, and regime change that made Bush's foreign policy revolutionary.

(Emphasis mine.)

I hate to say it, but Daalder is wrong. Far from being "revolutionary," Bush™'s foreign policy has been America's standard practice for nearly two centuries. Almost every war this country has fought, including the Revolutionary War, has flowed from a pretext. Our stated reasons for war are almost always about selling the war to the public. This has held true from as early as the Mexican War onward. Even our involvement in the much-lauded WWII was largely artifice (allowing that the cause was good), owing more to our repeated provocations of Japan than of the actual (anticipated) Pearl Harbor attack.

No, the difference between Bush™'s foreign policy and the policies of previous administrations has nothing to do with the use of "preemptive military force" but instead with brazenness. Bush™ does what the West has always done; he just doesn't care what others think of it and his attempts to cover up his real agenda are so laughable that it's a wonder that by now the GOP hasn't imploded. That they have not owes an America-sized debt to the power and efficiency of the Republican propaganda machine and the suckers who haven't yet caught on to the lie.

Creeping Fascism Quote of the Day

As John Dean notes in his recently released book, Authoritarianism comes naturally to those of a conservative bent and it's almost exclusively found among Republicans, most of whom* love to follow He Who Leads**. (May his sheep multiply and his cattle grow fat on the grass of the field; selah.) If there are any liberal Authoritarians, they're few and well hidden--perhaps because liberalism and Authoritarianism are diametrically opposed. On that note, we present what Steven Bradbury, head of the Justice Department's office of legal counsel, told Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) regarding the Supremes' recent Hamdan decision:

The President is always right.

As Nixon famously declared, "If the president does it, that means that it is not illegal***."

Mmm, yeah.... Fuck that pesky "constitution"....

But the few actual conservatives left in America shouldn't worry, and above all they shouldn't smear the good name of Our Beloved Leader® by describing such actions as "Authoritarian" or "fascistic"--because as everyone knows, fascism requires uniforms. I mean, it's not as if Bush™ is using signing statements to subvert Congress' laws or surveilling everyone's email, phone traffic, medical records, financial transactions or Web-surfing history. Or, for that matter, using fake terror plots and alerts and live terrorists to keep the public in a state of fear.

That's the stuff of fantasy.

*Yes, I know there are some libertarian Bushians, but many of them seem intent on defending everything this Empire Administration does.
**Why do I keep thinking of Voldemort and Sauron?
***A previous version of this post got the quote slightly wrong. Thanks to YouTube, I've corrected it.

Bush Pilot

Brilliant.

Guide to Fascism

In case former readers like PDS still don't understand what fascism is or how to smell it when you run across it in your local grocery store, here's a handy guide. Hey, criticism and insults only matter if they come from the left, not the right. Right?

Adam Corolla to Anne Coulter: Blow

Lest this past week find you short of lefty shadenfreude, here's Adam Corolla (for once) doing a public service. Give him a medal.

Minimalist SciFi Comedy

Approximately four readers know that I have intimate knowledge of minimalist filmmaking, since I have in my possession the 30-min., single-angle, ennui-filled attempt at porn that my aged aunt and uncle recorded a couple of years ago (a few of you have--wince--seen it). Be that as it may, here's a great example of where SciFi might go next: the way of the handheld documentary. Or as Burroughs would put it, "Louder! Funnier!"

Goddamned Liberals

Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things—every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.

—Matt Santos, The West Wing
(Via Simply Left Behind via C&L.)