Electronic Darwinism

Starting a soapblox group blog

2008-02-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Starting it over at Thinking Meat. I'll keep this as an archive.

Absolution

2007-10-23T13:27:00.001-07:00

It's official.

I am officially absolved for comparing the Republicans to the Soviets.

None other than the Shooter himself, Darth Cheney, said so in a recent speech.

As time passed, the terrorists believed they'd exposed a certain weakness and lack of confidence in the West, particularly in America. Dr. Bernard Lewis explained the terrorists' reasoning this way: "During the Cold War," Dr. Lewis wrote, "two things came to be known and generally recognized in the Middle East concerning the two rival superpowers. If you did anything to annoy the Russians, punishment would be swift and dire. If you said or did anything against the Americans, not only would there be no punishment; there might even be some possibility of reward, as the usual anxious procession of diplomats and politicians, journalists and scholars and miscellaneous others came with their usual pleading inquiries: 'What have we done to offend you? What can we do to put it right?'"

So, apparently we were not fighting the Soviets in the Cold War to protect the world from Soviet totalitarianism. Apparently, we were fighting them because they got to be totalitarian and we couldn't.

The Rule of Law Died Again Today.

2007-10-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Kagro X over at Big Orange says it better than I can:

So what we're saying here is that secret memos can now be drafted (retroactively and be backdated if necessary?) that purport to be "legal directives" upon which the telecom companies can claim to have relied in "good faith." Or worse, they may even be able to say they received nothing but oral assurances that their activities were "legal." And if you want to see these "legal directives," it just so happens that since they've been prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel or some other close advisors to the president, executive privilege may just prevent you from doing so.

Or "national security."

Or "I just don't feel like it, and you can't make me."

And that's the real problem here. How is anyone to tell the difference between law that meets the commonly accepted definition we all work with every day on the one hand, and "whatever the hell the president says" on the other?

What is "law," anyway? Is it the stuff that Congress passes in public and that you can read in order to be able to obey it? Or is it just anything that can in practice frighten you into obeying? If you can be sent to jail, or immunized from suit, or whatever, based on a secret showing that you relied in "good faith" on a memo an "administration" official gives you (and literally nothing more -- and perhaps even a lot less), you really have to ask yourself that question. What. Is. Law?

Randi Rhodes Attacked

2007-10-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

From the Village Voice:

The Talking Radio blog reported on Tuesday that liberal talk radio host Randi Rhodes was mugged and brutally attacked while walking her dog near 39th Street and Park Avenue, but the NYPD can't confirm the report.

From the blog:

According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week. At of late Monday night we have not able to locate any press accounts of the attack and nothing has been posted on the AAR website....Elliott was extremely agitated when he reported on the incident. He opened his show by saying "it is with sadness that tonight I inform you that my Air America colleague Randi Rhodes was assaulted last night while walking her dog near her New York City home."

The NYPD has no reports on file, and the corporate media has nothing to say. The same people who still think Saddam was behind 9/11 and that we're winning in Iraq think that Randi is just making this up.

Updates when I hear more.

UPDATE: From Air America:

October 16-NEW YORK-On Sunday evening, October 14, Air America host Randi Rhodes experienced an unfortunate incident hindering her from hosting her show. The reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded. Ms. Rhodes looks forward to being back on the air on Thursday.

Air America Radio

So, what happened?

Been a while

2007-10-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

Real Life's been too busy, and I've been down.

But I did have to tell y'all about this Frank Rich column.

Here's the heart of it, but please go read it all:

By any legal standards except those rubber-stamped by Alberto Gonzales, we are practicing torture, and we have known we are doing so ever since photographic proof emerged from Abu Ghraib more than three years ago. As Andrew Sullivan, once a Bush cheerleader, observed last weekend in The Sunday Times of London, America’s "enhanced interrogation" techniques have a grotesque provenance: "Verschärfte Vernehmung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the ‘third degree.’ It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation.

Emphasis mine.

I agree. "Bush lies" just doesn't cut it anymore. And Frank, welcome to Moody Loner three years ago.

Courage Campaign

2007-09-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

You know an election is coming up when the Republicans start looking for a way to throw it. This time they came up with the great idea of making California - the state with the most electoral votes, as they're allocated by population - give up a third of their electoral votes to the Greedy Old Perverts for showing up.

Sure, allocating electoral votes by Congressional district instead of by state would be fair if everyone did it, and if the Congressional districts weren't so gerrymandered that they were safe votes for one party or the other. That the GOP isn't pushing this in Texas and Florida tells me all I need to know about their motives: change the rules to favor themselves.

So what do we do about it? Head on over to the Courage Campaign and find out. They have a conference call coming up on Monday that specifically addresses this issue.

Oh, and Californians, when you see a paid signature gatherer with this petition - and they are out there - don't sign it. Unless there's a solid provision that it goes into effect when a majority of states vote for it - and not until - then all it would do is hand the Republicans another election they didn't earn and don't deserve.

It's Official: I Live in the Soviet Union.

2007-09-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Those of you who remember the USSR - remember how we'd get on them about the whole "internal passports" thing? How we said that one of the hallmarks of totalitarian Stalinism was having to beg permission from the government to move around within your own country?

Well, take a look at this.

Oh, it gets better. Blue Patriot Woman at the Great Orange has analysis.

In related news, a music scholar had her visa torn up, was groped during a search, threatened with detention in a Santa Clara, CA facility, and kicked out of the country - apparently for being brown. Or Welsh.

And these are just the cases we hear about. How many do we miss? And since when does DHS have a detention facility in Santa Clara?

And why the hell are we hearing O.J. crap when this is going on?

How to Second Life Part 1 - Creating Kossack Fullstop

2007-09-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

With the little literally climbing on me all morning, I can't do a "Week in Review" this morning - so here's the first of my "How to Second Life" series from dKos.

When I offered the community the option of having in-world tutorials for Second Life, or a howto diary, the community overwhelmingly chose howto diaries.

Notice I snuck in a plural there - due to screenshots this is going to be a series. But, I will be making this as thorough as possible so that everyone will be able to join the growing Daily Kos community in Second Life.

I won't bother to try to sell Second Life here, and if you're not interested or think it's pointless, don't bother commenting to that effect - this diary is help for people who have shown an interest.

That said, join me over the flip, and I'll introduce you to Kossack Fullstop.

Oh, and lots of screenshots, so be warned.

Well, technically I can't introduce you to Kossack Fullstop- I haven't made him yet. Follow along with me, and we'll make our accounts together.

You can click on a screenshot thumbnail for a larger version.

So, we're looking at a Daily Kos diary - like, say, this one, and we think ”What the hell – let's get in on this – but I'm not running Linux and all these terms scare me. Now what?”

Well, the first thing we want to do is go to the Second Life website and check the system requirements. A little checking now will save a lot of trauma later. The system requirements link isn't immediately obvious - use the link I've provided. Oh, and here's a screen shot of the system requirements.

Already we learn that if you're running Vista, you're hosed. Well, even more hosed than you are just by running Vista. Mee. Yow.

Update [2007-9-15 13:52:53 by Moody Loner]: We learn from brillig, in comments, that Vista works for her. Go ahead and try if you're running Vista, just make sure ou meet the system requirements.

If your system meets the requirements (you may have to get the manual and compare) go ahead and click the friendly orange "Download" button next to your operating system and go to the Download page, and download the free Second Life client.

First, however, we're going to finish setting up your Second Life account. Go to the top left and click on "Second Life". When you're back at the home page, click on the big orange "Sign Up Now" button.

The first thing you are asked is to select a community. Instead of starting on Orientation Island wit the plebes, several companies and organizations have set it up so that you can start at their new users' areas. I hope that someday Netroots Nation and/or Daily Kos has a community here - but for now we'll skip this step.

Next, we choose your avatar's name and enter your email address. They also want your birthdate - Second Life is for 18 years old or over. Yes, they have a list of last names for your avatar to choose from. No, I don't know why they insist on this.

You can use your dKos handle, an anagram or derivative of it, or come up with something on your own. Here, you can see I've chosen "Kossack Fullstop".

Next, you're asked to select an avatar. You don't have to, and you won't have your "newbie av" for long, but these provide a nice, quick, and easy start for your avatar. I've chosen one at random.

Now they're going to want your real name, a password, a security question, and they'll have you complete a captcha to make sure that you are a person and not a robot or script.

Feel free to make shit up here - I did - but be warned that they're talking about identity verification systems, and avatars without a verified identity won't be able to go to Mature areas with adult content. Personally, I don't give a crap, but some people do.

Oh, and write the avatar name and password down somewhere - you're going to be running the install for your client after this, and it wold suck to have forgotten one or both of them.

Finished! You'll see a friendly screen saying that they've sent a confirmation email to the address you've given. Go to your email client - yes I made a Gmail account for this - and click on the link in the confirmation email.

Now run your client install - if you're running Linux then the link to fareast's diary at the start provides a handy guide, while Linux and Mac users can just run the executable file downloaded from Second Life and the installer will take care of that for you.

You're ready to get going - in part 2 I'll meet you on Orientation Island.

Guest Blog: Top 10 Censored Stories 2006-07

2007-09-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

DJShay at Daily Kos guest blogs at Electronic Darwinism:

The San Francisco Bay Guardian has a must read article today. It’s a list of the Top 10 Underreported Stories of the last year. The list is part of a list of 25 Top Censored Stories of 2006-2007 from Project Censored, group that tracks underreported news stories in the National Media. Below is a summary of the Top 10 list. I urge you to read the entire San Francisco Bay Guardian article as well as visit the Project Censored Web site and view the entire list.

From the article:

There are a handful of freedoms that have almost always been a part of American democracy. Even when they didn't exactly apply to everyone or weren't always protected by the people in charge, a few simple but significant rights have been patently clear in the Constitution: You can't be nabbed by the cops and tossed behind bars without a reason. If you are imprisoned, you can't be incarcerated indefinitely; you have the right to a speedy trial with a judge and jury. When that court date rolls around, you'll be able to see the evidence against you.

The president can't suspend elections, spy without warrants, or dispatch federal troops to trump local cops or quell protests. Nor can the commander in chief commence a witch hunt, deem individuals "enemy combatants," or shunt them into special tribunals outside the purview of our 218-year-old judicial system.

Until now. This year's Project Censored presents a chilling portrait of a newly empowered executive branch signing away civil liberties for the sake of an endless and amorphous war on terror. And for the most part, the major news media weren't paying attention.

The stories that are listed and linked to below are stories that have been diaried here [at Daily Kos] as well as at other blogs. But none has been given the scrutiny that they deserve in the MSM, Traditional Media, Corporate Media, Legacy Media, etc. Choose your own terminology. And some of these stories I am hearing about for the first time. So, start spreadin' the news.

No. 1 - Suspension of Habeas Corpus

"Why does it contain language referring to 'any person' and then adding in an adjacent context a reference to people acting 'in breach of allegiance or duty to the United States'?" Parry wrote. "Who has 'an allegiance or duty to the United States' if not an American citizen?"

No. 2 - Martial Law

Tucked away in the deeper recesses of that act, section 1076 allows the president to declare a public emergency and dispatch federal troops to take over National Guard units and local police if he determines them unfit for maintaining order. This is essentially a revival of the Insurrection Act, which was repealed by Congress in 1878, when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act in response to Northern troops overstaying their welcome in the reconstructed South.

No. 3 - AFRICOM

Though the official objective may be peace, some say the real desire is crude. "A new cold war is under way in Africa, and AFRICOM will be at the dark heart of it," Bryan Hunt wrote on the Moon of Alabama blog, which covers politics, economics, and philosophy. Most US oil imports come from African countries — in particular, Nigeria. According to the 2007 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, "disruption of supply from Nigeria would represent a major blow to US oil-security strategy."

No. 4 - Secret Trade Agreements

"The overall effect of these changes in the rules is to progressively undermine economic governance, transferring power from governments to largely unaccountable multinational firms, robbing developing countries of the tools they need to develop their economies and gain a favorable foothold in global markets," states a report by Oxfam International, the antipoverty activist group.

No.5 - Slaves Construct Iraq Embassy

Once on site, they're often beaten and paid as little as $10 to $30 a day, CorpWatch concludes. Injured workers are dosed with heavy-duty painkillers and sent back on the job. Lodging is crowded, and food is substandard. One ex-foreman, who's worked on five other US embassies around the world, said, "I've never seen a project more fucked up. Every US labor law was broken."

No.6 - FALCON

Though the US Marshals Service has been quick to tally the offenses, Whitney says the numbers just don't add up. For example, FALCON in 2006 captured 462 violent sex-crime suspects, 1,094 registered sex offenders, and 9,037 fugitives.

What about the other 7,481 people? "Who are they, and have they been charged with a crime?" Whitney asked.

No.7 - Blackwater

"It's become nothing short of the Praetorian Guard for the Bush administration's so-called global war on terror," author Jeremy Scahill said on the Jan. 26 broadcast of the TV and radio news program Democracy Now! Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army was published this year by Nation Books.

No.8 - KIA - Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture

The deal provides a captive customer base for genetically modified seed maker Monsanto and a market for cheap goods to supply Wal-Mart, whose plans for 500 stores in the country could wipe out the livelihoods of 14 million small vendors.

No.9 - Privatization of Infrastructure

As Daniel Schulman and James Ridgeway reported in Mother Jones, "the Federal Highway Administration estimates that it will cost $50 billion a year above current levels of federal, state, and local highway funding to rehab existing bridges and roads over the next 16 years. Where to get that money, without raising taxes? Privatization promises a quick fix — and a way to outsource difficult decisions, like raising tolls, to entities that don't have to worry about getting reelected."

No.10 - Vulture Funds

Named for a bird that picks offal from a carcass, this financial scheme couldn't be more aptly described. Well-endowed companies swoop in and purchase the debt owed by a third world country, then turn around and sue the country for the full amount — plus interest. In most courts, they win. Recently, Donegal International spent $3 million for $40 million worth of debt Zambia owed Romania, then sued for $55 million. In February an English court ruled that Zambia had to pay $15 million.

9/11

2007-09-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

I was going to post something summing up Iraq and 9/11, because God knows that's all we're going to be hearing about today, but God damn if Bill in Portland, Maine beat me to it:

Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, yet that country has paid no price for producing and harboring terrorists. Neither has Pakistan, the country in which Osama bin Laden is now hiding.

The PDB said: Bin Laden determined to Strike in U.S.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq.

Sitting in a classroom for seven minutes after being told "America is under attack" is a poor display of leadership, especially if you're America's president.

If the administration had tried to sell the Iraq war based on anything other than the fear of weapons of mass destruction, we never would have invaded.

Colin Powell, the most trusted man in the administration, said: "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."

There were no WMDs. Not "in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat," and not even in the Oval Office "somewhere."

Four and a half years after declaring that "major combat operations have ended," major combat operations have not ended.

Taunting the insurgents by sneering "Bring 'em on" was really dumb because the insurgents brought it on.

The insurgency wasn't "in its last throes" then, and it isn’t in its last throes now.

The Taliban has bounced back in Afghanistan. The Maliki government has flatlined in Iraq.

Osama bin Laden has not been caught, either dead or alive. He is still making videos.

Now, if you'll excuse me, since we're celebrating a terrorist attack on our nation by turning it into a national fucking holiday, I'll need to go get 9/11 cards and a 9/11 tree for us to exchange 9/11 gifts under before 9/11 dinner. Yes, tell me that's not what it's going to be in twenty years.

Electronic Darwinism - The Week in Review

2007-09-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

For the third time, I have a collection of random links, some funny, some serious to post here and at Daily Kos.

Yes, just to practice - I don't expect too many readers at weird o'clock Sunday morning.

Okay then. Let's kick off this week's review with David Neiwert's Swiftboating of American Journalism, from which I obtained this quote:

Chicago Tribune Editor Charles M. Madigan says: “If you are a journalist, you should probably just assume that you come across as a liar.”

Like me, he points out this story in Salon. Want to know how to turn two men who shot a fleeing, unarmed suspect and lied about it into martyred heroes of the Right? That story will tell you.

Noted anti-videogame ~~crackpot~~ attorney Jack Thompson, at the hearing for his disbarment, has subpoenaed none other than the Chimp in his defense. Oh, and Jeb! too, for good measure. That can't help but to go well.

The Rude Pundit reports on yet another humiliation the Chimp has inflicted upon our international standing. God, can we just amend the Constitution to put "Not an idiot" in the qualifications for President already?

Glenn Greenwald tells us of the new tough guy over at National Review - Mark Hemingway. And before you ask, of course he's too tough and manly to, you know, pick up an M-16 and drive a truck in Iraq.

Okay, so maybe Giuliani is the proper heir to the Bush administration. After all, his first response is to lie.

I don't have any Linux news handy - but I do have the weather.

Good news - the ACLU wins and takes down the part of the Patriot Act authorizing national security letters. Thanks, Firedoglake and thanks ACLU.

One has to wonder about te minds that can produce Realtime ASCII Goggles. No, really. Just seeing those three terms together gives me a headache.

Oh, and Prim Perfect, the Second Life magazine that Ms. Korobase writes for, has been mentioned in the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph. It would be darkly humorous in a story-of-Moody's-life way should her writing grow more popular and famous than mine.
Yes, I always have a hard time ending these. Until next time -

I still live, I still think: I still have to live, for I still have to think.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Electronic Darwinism: Week In Review

2007-09-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, to try to establish a blogging schedule and to practice for a weekly series, here is my Electronic Darwinism Week in Review.

Stories that, while they may not be major or earth-shaking or even make much sense, somehow managed to capture my attention enough for me to inflict them upon you, Gentle Reader.

Yes, crossposted on the Daily Kos.

By the way, this is my record for a series and schedule - two in a row. W00t!

Okay, first - go sign up for Second Life, dammit, and go see my friend csk's WTC Memorial. I'll wait.

Oh, you can find it by clicking the Map button and searching for Celestial Requiem NYC. Yes, I'll wait.

So, I heard some guy resigned from the Attorney General's office. Wake me when the war crimes trials start.

So, it's Magical September. Oh, and still no pony. And the Magic Everything-Gets-Better Fairy is dead.

Speaking of dead...

Melanie Sloan weighs in on the resignation of Larry Craig (R-Self-Hating Hypocrite).

On a lighter note, Ubuntu 7.10 finally gets rid of manual graphics card configuration. If you don't understand what that means, then savour your good fortune.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. God, maybe it is the Sixties all over again.

There's a new TV program starting on BBC America next Saturday. Spun off from Doctor Who - kind of a CSI/X-Files sort of thing - it's called Torchwood. Was watching the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America yesterday (I liked the original series, and Little Loner is a biiig fan of the new Doctor) and they had a "sneak preview" Every God-damned Break. How can I anticipate you if you won't go away?

Oh, and speaking of next Saturday...

All right, that's it for me - but feel free to add any strange, peculiar, or interesting links in comments. Yeah, I need a clever sign-off line, so I'll rotate through 'till I find a good one.

Hakka paale!

The Week in Review:

2007-08-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Okay - to help me add content to my blog, and to get some kind of schedule established, I'm going to take Sunday mornings to do a Week in Review.

This will probably be a quick intro and a list of links to things I think are important, interesting, or weird that happened in (or that I came across in) the past week.

There may well be random weirdness and pictures of a cat involved.

And, to get practice in doing a weekly series, I'll sacrifice one of my daily diaries at the Daily Kos to languish, unread, bearing this content.

So, the Week in Review:

Because I am what I Am, let's start with the news that Hasbro/WOTC is releasing a Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons - news that I would normally greet with cartwheels of sarcasm and misery, were there such a thing and were I able to do cartwheels.

Nevertheless, I hear that feats and prestige classes are gone which in itself is enough for me to give it a look, even though they're claiming to have simplified it yet again - one wonders if Fifth Edition is going to be printed in cave pictograms and require rocks. Yes, the Geico cavemen can bite me.

Oh, I'm sorry - you want some real primal screams of outrage? Read this article from the Rolling Stone.

Ohh, this is going to go well.

The Democrats are threatening to kick Florida's electors out. Like that's going to happen.

Justice finally comes for two teens murdered before I was born.

Oh, and some idiot is comparing Iraq to Vietnam. God, it's like he's not even trying anymore. I, of course think no national re-exploration of Vietnam is complete without exploring the part that Five Deferments Dick and AWOL the Chimp played in avoiding it personally while demanding that others go to die in their place.

Okay, drop your own tidbits that you've discovered over the week in the comments.

Minuteman Snuff Video Saga Part III - Wherein My Prayers are Answered

2007-08-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Crossposted from the Daily Kos:

Again, don't know how I wound up with this, but my prayers have been answered - the video I found here and updated about here has been claimed by Robert Crooks, leader of the Mountain Minutemen, to be faked.

Again, hat tip to Casey Sanchez at Hatewatch, and more below the fold.

[edit] imagine a fold here.

Here's the first three paragraphs of Casey's story - read the rest at Hatewatch:

For the first time, Robert Crooks, leader of California’s nativist extremist Mountain Minutemen, has admitted to filming and posting videos (here and here) that seem to depict an undocumented immigrant being shot on the border. But Crooks now says the video was staged.

"Who in their right mind is going to shoot a smuggler, videotape it, then post it to YouTube?" Crooks asked KGTV 10News in San Diego.

That’s a change from last week, when Crooks, in an E-mail to the Intelligence Report, insisted he neither filmed the video nor posted it to a video-sharing site. A local police spokesman told 10News the video did appear to be fake.

Yeah, Robert, its that whole "in their right mind" bit where y'all fall down, but thank God it wasn't the death of an unarmed man that we saw - just the fantasy of a bunch of gun-toting nutjobs down there, watching the border through their scopes.

Yeah, it's not often an agnostic gets his prayers answered - and I'm casually curious as to when the terrorism charges get leveled against him and his "Minuteman" buddies. Hell, Jose Padilla is looking at life in prison for less than this.

Hey, I promised an update when I learned more, and now we know.

Minuteman Snuff Video Saga Part II - Wherein I Has an Enemy

2007-08-26T04:48:00.000-07:00

Crossposted from Daily Kos:

Okay, I'm still not certain how I got this as my issue - but I wanted to give y'all some updates on my last diary.

Plus to lighten the mood a little, I'd like to take a moment to discuss the guy smack-talking behind my back at Democratic Underground as well.

Yes, bet y'all didn't know I was an 3-l33t h4xx0r and t3h right hand of Kos, as well as his biggest problem. Came as a stunner to me, too. The things you learn on t3h interwebs.

Okay, first the serious.

David Neiwert has picked up the story over on Orcinus and provided analysis. While it's his opinion that the bulk of the video appears authentic and the gravesite coda is faked, he's not willing to call it either, absent an investigation by law enforcement.

It's also being covered on Colorado Confidential.

Hope anyone interested downloaded it, because I hear YouTube pulled the video for violating their service agreement. Those of you thinking I'm giving undue attention to right-wing propaganda, take note. Those of you uncomfortable with YouTube hosting snuff films, I share your sigh of relief.

I also wanted to point out Duncanives' insightful comment, highlight ImpeachKingBushII's action, and for fairness' sake, some concerns by phrogge prince.

While the jury's still out, I said I would keep y'all updated, and that's every development I know of. Holler if you hear something.

On a lighter note, this little incident introduced me to a charming fellow over at Democratic Underground by the nom de guerre of Thunder Rising.

Yeah, I know - but as he both apparently reads Kos and felt no shame in going behind my back, this is completely fair.

Anyway, our brave investigative reporter, Mr. Rising, discovered a secret, grave threat menacing Daily Kos, the progressive netroots, and the very fabric of the spacetime continuum itself - Moody Loner.

Dun-dun-DUHHHHNNNN!!

Yes, hijinks ensue. He also takes some time out of his busy schedule to call me names. Apparently, Democratic Underground doesn't have the "calling-out" rule for titles that The Daily Kos has.

However, his talk quickly went to GBCW when he found out I was on my way over to inquire directly just what the hell he thought his problem was. I was going to say that he screamed like a little girl and fled, but in the interests of fairness and accuracy I tested it with my own daughter by unexpectedly sticking my head in through the kitchen window and making faces at her.

Okay, let's just say that Brave Sir Rising did not scream and fling a ketchup bottle at my head, and leave it at that.

So, to recap:

Story at Hatewatch.
Video not directly linked to here. YouTube yanked it anyway.
Further analysis at Orcinus and Colorado Confidential.
I'm still not a front-pager at the Daily Kos. Nor do I speak for the site.
Oh, and we need ketchup.

Minuteman Snuff Video Saga Part I - Wherein I Pray It's Faked

2007-08-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

Crossposted from Daily Kos:

First off, props to Casey Sanchez at Hatewatch.

Okay, I was hoping someone else would diary this - and I hope to Christ this video is fake.

Was doing my daily system install surfing when I happened across the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch site - and a stunning video that certainly looks, to my untrained eye, to be one of those "brave" Minutemen watching the border murdering an unarmed man.

I'm going to quote the post at Hatewatch. They also have the video there, I'm not going to embed it here even if I could.

The video, filmed with night-vision equipment and low in quality, is not always easy to understand. Here is a detailed description:

The footage starts by showing a single figure wearing a backpack sneaking along a rugged desert trail. A male voice, off-camera, says: "I got him. He’s low crawling. Guy with a backpack. I betcha it’s probably full of dope."

And here - after a few minutes - is where it gets uglier:

At this point in the video, the backpack-wearing figure begins to slowly emerge from behind the rock outcropping. "You know what? I’m going to take a fucking shot," the first voice says. There are two flashes of light and the sound of two semi-automatic rifle shots in quick succession. The figure wearing the backpack appears to fly backward and drop from view.

Please take a look and tell me this is faked. American citizens are not lurking at the border, shooting people for sport.

Are they?

OK So Maybe I Won't Quit

2007-08-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

I was going to GBCW - but by popular demand I'll keep doing this - at least Week in Reviews Sunday mornings.

Today I'll also post the Minuteman Snuff Video Saga from Daily Kos, to gve y'all some content.

On Hate

2007-07-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

Here, we'll do this Terrorist Sympathizer style:

Daily Kos:

Tonight, we remember Sgt. Courtney T. Johnson and 1st Sgt. Jeffrey R. McKinney; they came from different states and different units, but both are mourned tonight by the many people who knew and loved them.

Tonight we honor a courageous American soldier who calmed the sorrows and soothed the pain of many Americans and Iraqis

Tonight, we mourn three sailors -- Petty Officer First Class Jason Dale Lewis, Petty Officer First Class Robert Richard McRill, and Petty Officer First Class Steven Phillip Daugherty – killed together when an IED detonated near their Humvee.

Brothers in arms. Families united in sorrow. Their stories follow.

O'Reilly's supporters, via Kos' inbox:

I hope you all die a slow death. Much like you wish on good honest people like T. Snow, the Pope, etc. Liberal Fucks! I hope you choke on the smog & drown in the global warming waters caused by cows. You people are so stupid.

IE: San Fransisco is much better now a days since the liberal invasion 1/2 century ago. Hmmmm: It's full of disease, poverty, queers(goes with disease.....), and polution. You people can't keep your backyard clean, but cont. to impose your views on other parts of the country. I'm so sad your still around. I'm sure you'll die off sooner than later. Much like you morals have. Go eat some grass

Any questions?

God, a month and a half!

2007-07-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Second Life is a vampire!

So, let's see what the Obstructionist-in-Chief is doing...

Lying about our troop strength in Iraq, and setting us up for another Friedman Unit in Magic September? Check.

Lying about why we're there in the first place? Check.

Scaremongering with the failed UK terror attacks? Oh, so check.

Promising to keep American soldiers in harm's way until they find the pony or he can get his war-criminal ass to Paraguay? Check.

Demonstrating utter contempt for due process and the rule of law? Check and check.

That's the most depressing part about doing this - it's like I never went on hiatus.

Local news: San Jose City Council District 4

2007-05-22T16:01:00.001-07:00

Oh. My. God. Look at the idiot the GOP is inflicting upon the nation's tenth-largest city.

Here, you just have to see for yourself. Sure she's cute - but is this really the best they could do?

Week in Review

2007-05-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Second Life is eating all my time. How the hell does the General do it?

Anyway, for our Must Reads we've got Orcinus documenting Lou Dobbs' losing battle with reality (with a quick aside regarding the fundies' mistrust and loathing of, God help us, science fiction), and the inestimable Glenn Greenwald busting Mike McConnell's lying op-ed on FISA.

Here's a link to the NYPD surveillance targets before the Republican 2004 convention. Enjoy, and props to Bob Harris.

Oh, and speaking of warrantless surveillance - here's a preview from the UK courtesy of Slashdot.

Also, I'd like to welcome Cap'n Dyke to the blogroll - we share certain proclivities. For brightly-lit desktops, you perverts. She's added me to her crew, so I guess I need to brush up on my pirate lingo. Belike. Says I.

Wi' a curse.

Go over there and give her an Electronic Darwinism ahoy. And mind your manners, she runs a tight ship, scupper me wi' a belayin' pin, else!

Hey, this pirate bit is fun! Keelhaul the quartermaster! Jettison the mizzenmast! Splice the mainbrace!

Music!

2007-05-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Helmet tip to the General. Here, try some tunes from Moody:

They Voted Us Out. Again.

2007-05-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

From this Washington Post story:

A majority of members of Iraq’s parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels. The development was a sign of a growing division between Iraq’s legislators and prime minister that mirrors the widening gulf between the Bush administration and its critics in Congress.

The draft bill proposes a timeline for a gradual departure, much like what some U.S. Democratic lawmakers have demanded, and would require the Iraqi government to secure parliament’s approval before any further extensions of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2007.

“We haven’t asked for the immediate withdrawal of multinational forces; we asked that we should build our security forces and make them qualified, and at that point there would be a withdrawal,” said Bahaa al-Araji, a member of parliament allied with the anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters drafted the bill. “But no one can accept the occupation of his country.”

Isn't that lovable, how they're passing laws about us and wanting us out just like a little sovereign nation. That's sooo cuuute! And look, they even think it's still their country. God, puppet imperial client-states are just so adorable sometimes.

So yeah, how about that purple-finger moment? And, now that we've firmly established that they don't want us occupying their country anymore, can we please get out now?

We Win. They Lose.

2007-05-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Apparently, they're serious.

Christ.

It's official, our political discourse has hit kindergarten.

What's next, BecauseMommySaidSo.com?

Words fail me. Words just fail me.

Making sure we referee a civil war is "supporting the troops". Keeping our soldiers in an unwinnable occupation, dying by ones and twos and fives and tens because otherwise the Chimp might look bad is "victory".

And trying to salvage the last shreds of our nation's standing and dignity is "surrender". What kind of fucked-up Bizarro world do we live in?

Here's a hint, guys - it's their country. They will "wait us out" for as long as it takes because they fucking live there. And the day we leave, whether that's tomorrow or a thousand years from now, will be the day they declare victory.

The only thing that will change is the number of American soldiers' lives lost.

They Just Don't Get the Whole "Rule of Law" Thing

2007-05-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here, let's let Glenn Greenwald lead it off:

The Wall St. Journal online has today published a lengthy and truly astonishing article by Harvard Government Professor Harvey Mansfield, which expressly argues that the power of the President is greater than "the rule of law."

The power of the President, Mansfield says, is greater than the rule of law. And he says it like it's a good thing.

When Benjamin Franklin, when asked what kind of government the fledgling United States had famously replied, "A republic, if you can keep it", this was what he was talking about.

Oh, and in case you're writing this off as the bloviating of a pundit, let me assure you that it is, in fact the policy of this Administration:

Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement

By JAMES RISEN
Published: May 2, 2007

WASHINGTON, May 1 — Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.

Rather, they argued that the president had the constitutional authority to decide for himself whether to conduct surveillance without warrants.

The Chimp has the authority to decide for himself whether or not he needs to follow the law?

Did I miss the coronation?

So, How's that War on Terror going?

2007-05-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Story from Yahoo News, via Orcinus:

A 27-year-old Austin man was arrested on Friday and charged with placing an unexploded bomb containing some 2,000 nails outside an abortion clinic in the state's capital.
The explosive device also included a propane tank and a mechanism "akin to a rocket," Austin Police Commander David Carter said.

The device was discovered on Wednesday in the parking lot of the Austin Women's Health Center, police said.
The Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force -- made up of federal, state and local law enforcement authorities -- arrested Paul Ross Evans, who authorities said was on parole for an unspecified crime.

Just casually curious as to when this guy gets his all-expense paid trip to Guantanamo Bay, with free waterboarding and ~~kangaroo court trial~~ military tribunal thrown in.

Nope, the story goes on to say about how this guy actually got some due process, like arraignment, bail hearing, presumption of innocence, that sort of thing. Guess he was too white and right-wing to be a terrorist.

Second Life ate my weekend.

2007-04-23T03:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, and the news is still all Virginia Tech, all the time.

So, how do you think Alberto Gonzales did on his testimony last week? Personally, I think he did a great job - if his job was to piss Congress off just as much as he could.

And with this Administration, it might have been.

But how bad can it be when Republicans are referring to Torturin' Al as "Dead Man Walking"?

News is

2007-04-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

All Virginia Tech, all the time.

All I will say about it is - beware the decisions made in the storm of the media hype and the fear of the moment, for like the decisions made after 9/11, they will haunt us for years to come.

And, of course, my prayers to the victims' families - if the prayers of a California agnostic mean anything.

Cable's back.

2007-04-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

With the Daily Kos meetup coming up, though, I'll probably be too busy to post much.

Well, between that and Second Life, of course.

So yeah, if you've been keeping up with the US Attorney firing scandal, you've discovered that there is evidence that David Iglesias was fired for not bowing to political pressure to meddle in an election.

If this is news to you, you can catch up here and here.

Here's another fine example of the liberal media in action. Yes, that was irony. No, that did not mean "sort of like iron".

So, how's that surge working out? We're down to "Go Big or Go Home" and, surprisingly enough, Go Big isn't working. Not even when we throw in the ~~Luftwaffe~~ Air Force and ~~Kreigsmarine~~ Navy.

Glenn Greenwald notes a pattern of document control issues over atthe White House. I'm supposed to believe that the White House has a worse document control system than I do, and I store my important papers in a box in the garage marked "Whatever".

And here I as wondering, with the highest-paid job in my life, why I still feel poor.

Okay, that's it for now. Time to try and get some sleep.

Moody Loner gets a Second Life.

2007-04-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Yeah, like I needed something else to eat my free time.

I'm in-world as MoodyLoner Korobase. Avatar subject to change without notice.

Naturally, because I brought up Second Life in the title and led off with it, I'll now talk about something completely different.

So, yeah - about the last story, turns out Mulally was just making shit up.

Relevant quote from the story I found to back it up in the Australian:

The No.2 US carmaker apologised yesterday after Mr Mulally said his claim of intervening to prevent Mr Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of an experimental Ford vehicle had been meant as a joke.
Ford said Mr Mulally never expected the story he told journalists in New York last week would be taken seriously.
The CEO found himself in an embarrassing situation when the story was featured on blogs and even in mainstream media like the Financial Times, which said "he may have saved the incumbent of the Oval Office from blowing himself up".

Of course, I found a journalistic source to back up the first story, too. Naturally, this is all the bloggers' fault.

Now, if I wanted to go all Glenn Reynolds on y'all, I'd point out that while the story is in itself false, that the CEO of a major automaker is mocking Bush to journalists gives the story a sort of "meta-truthiness"...ah, but fuck it.

God, it IS Like Trying To Follow a Five-Year-Old

2007-04-09T05:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I came across this little tidbit in the Detroit News:

Plug it in, fire it up, Mr. President

The Detroit News

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.
Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week.

Read the article for the rest. Now, I sincerely doubt - unless Ford's designers are hitting the crack pipe even harder than usual - that the electrical cord would even fit into the hydrogen tank, much less set off a conflagration that would immolate the leader of the free world.
No, Mulally was worried about the Smacktard-in-Chief looking any more like the idiot people are beginning to believe he is, so he took steps to cover Bush's ass. Naurally, Bush took steps to resist:

"I just thought, 'Oh my goodness!' So, I started walking faster, and the President walked faster and he got to the cord before I did. I violated all the protocols. I touched the President. I grabbed his arm and I moved him up to the front," Mulally said.

I submit that his thought was closer to "Fucking hell!" than "Oh, my goodness!", but that's just me, as is the emphasis above.

Yeah, you might want to look at that, Mulally. It could be catching, and you'll be snortin' blow, driving while drunk, and avoiding military service. Then comes the dress-up phase, and it's all downhill from there.

Quick Easter Post

2007-04-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a diary over on Daily Kos regarding those bastions of the liberal media, the Washington Post and Reuters.

I'd have linked to the original news stories myself to illustrate - but they've been changed. Funny, that.

Whoops, spoke too soon. Reuters India still has it:

"Iraqi army soldiers swept into the city of Diwaniya early this morning to disrupt militia activity and return security and stability of the volatile city back to the government of Iraq," the U.S. military said in a statement.
SCATTERED RESISTANCE
Bleichwehl said troops, facing scattered resistance, discovered a factory that produced "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs), a particularly deadly type of explosive that can destroy a main battle tank and several weapons caches.

Those would be the ~~aluminum tubes~~ ~~Nigerian yellowcake~~ ~~chemical weapons labs~~ that only ~~Saddam~~ ~~Al-Qaeda~~ Iran could have provided.

Yes, they really do think yuo're that stupid. Why shouldn't they, with the "liberal media" to help them?

Forecast calls for Showers and a 30% Chance of WWIII

2007-04-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, today's the latest day given for our nuclear attack on Iran. Here's an excerpt from those paranoids over at the Jerusalem Post:

The United States will be ready to launch a missile attack on Iran's nuclear facilities as soon as early this month, perhaps "from 4 a.m. until 4 p.m. on April 6," according to reports in the Russian media on Saturday.
According to Russian intelligence sources, the reports said, the US has devised a plan to attack several targets in Iran, and an assault could be carried out by launching missiles from fighter jets and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a security official as saying, "Russian intelligence has information that the US Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory."

Note the date of the article. Apparently, April Fools' Day is celebrated in Israel. Nevertheless, I've heard it from other sources as well.

Why is a "missile attack" on a recalcitrant Iran a big deal? Unlike many on the Left with whom I've found myself allied these past six years, I don't automatically assume that missile equals nuke.

That said, the bunkers that the US claims Iran is doing bad nuclear things in are themselves buried deep enough that they might require nuclear bunker busters to destroy. And an attack on Iran, nuclear or no, could drag Russia, China and India in - against the United States. Fun times.

So far, once again, it looks like cooler heads have prevailed. But the Chimp and his cronies keep trying to drum up an attack on Iran - and if they get their way, the fallout will affect all of us.

Pun definitely intended.

Okay, what the hell

2007-04-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Like Atrios says:

Tell CNN to get the facts right on Pelosi trip

For much of the past week, CNN and its White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux have offered a steady stream of inaccurate and incomplete coverage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) trip to the Middle East and her April 3 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Please join Media Matters for America in demanding that CNN and Malveaux stop misinforming viewers about Pelosi's trip and present all the facts. CNN's contact information can be found in our "Take Action!" sidebar on the right.

Since April 2, Malveaux has wrongly and repeatedly claimed that Pelosi had no "standing" and was not acting in an "official capacity," has attacked the trip as "political theater" and a "political stunt," and has parroted the Bush administration's attacks on Pelosi for going to Syria while ignoring the fact that a Republican-led delegation met with Assad on April 1. Most recently, Malveaux asked whether Pelosi's trip was a "big wet kiss to President Al-Assad."

Other CNN personalities have joined in as well. Lou Dobbs devoted an entire segment to "Pelosi's bad trip," while the April 3 edition of Anderson Cooper 360 featured a segment on Pelosi's trip titled "Talking to Terrorists."

After several days of inaccurate, one-sided coverage, it's time to tell CNN enough is enough. It's time to take action.

Use the contact information in our "Take Action!" sidebar to contact CNN, Malveaux, and Dobbs -- and be sure to tell your friends.

Take Action!

Contact information:
CNN
CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1906

When contacting the media, please be polite and professional. Express your specific concerns regarding that particular news report or commentary, and be sure to indicate exactly what you would like the media outlet to do differently in the future.

New Look

2007-04-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on it, but let me know what you think of the new look.

Personally, I think it looks too iPod, and I liked the fonts from the old version better. Still need to work on colors, too. But I got so many complaints about the old version, and I figured, what the hell.

I got the template from www.finalsense.com.

Hiatus in Review:

2007-04-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

Sneaking some time and bandwidth to update. Nope, just can't stay away from y'all.

First off, let's look at some of the current Republican heir apparent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's comments regarding presidential power (from the National Review, via Glenn Greenwald):

Then he began to muse about, after a veto, "would the president have the constitutional authority to support them [the troops], anyway?" He said he's a lawyer so he wouldn't offer an opinion "off the top of his head," then he proceeded to do just that. He seemed to suggest that Bush could fund the Iraq war without Congress providing funding, but it was confusing. In an interview with a New Hampshire TV reporter after his remarks, he seemed more categorical and said, since the war had been authorized by Congress, the president has "the inherent authority to support the troops." But he added, "You have to ask a constitutional lawyer."

You might also want to read Cintra Wilson's article in Salon about him. Here I was worried that I might have to end Electronic Darwinism's run afther the Chimp leaves. If ol' Rudy weasels his way into the White House, he'll provide me material for four more years or until I piss him off and he disappears me, whichever comes first.

And he said he'd do it, too.

What else? Oh, looks like those 15 sailors captured by Iran were released. Purely coincidentally, Iranian diplomat Jalal Sharafi was released, and the five Iranians captured on January 10 get to get a visit from Iran's ambassador to Iraq. These coincidences boggle the mind.

And speaking of coincidence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was in Syria. I'm sure that the reports that Syria brokered the release are coincidental as well.

Looks like the Chimp is whining about the supplemental spending bill funding his Iraq occupation. Once again he rails about Congress actually having the temerity to submit a bill that isn't a rubber-stamp of his previous four years of failure. God, just because 70% of the public wants out of Iraq. Who do those Congresspeople think they are, members of a co-equal branch of the government with oversight authority or something?

Oh, and he stuck Swiftboatin' Sam Fox in as ambassador to Belgium. After, of course, he withdrew Sam's nomination from the Foreign Relations Committee. It's like making a five-year-old eat his vegetables, isn't it? On the bright side, it's not like Belgium is going to nuke us for this. I was going to say "What else could we do to piss the world off at us?" but the Chimp always manages to find an answer to that somehow.

That's it for now, I'll try to catch up with you next week at the latest.

Missed the cable bill again

2007-03-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Going on hiatus until April 15th, or until I can scrape up the dough to pay them.

Yeah, this happens sometimes. No worries.

For the Two or Three Bushites that Still Read This Blog:

2007-03-19T07:57:00.001-07:00

From the Waxman hearings friday, Rep Waxman (hat tip to Raw Story for the full transcript):

I have been advised by the CIA, and that even now -- after all that has happened -- I cannot disclose the full nature, scope and character of Ms. Wilson's service to our nation without causing serious damage to our national security interests. But General Hayden and the CIA have cleared these following comments for today's hearing.
During her employment at the CIA, Ms. Wilson was undercover. Her employment status with the CIA was classified information, prohibited from disclosure under Executive Order 12958. At the time of the publication of Robert Novak's column on July 14, 2003, Ms. Wilson's CIA employment status was covert. This was classified information. Ms. Wilson served in senior management positions at the CIA in which she oversaw the work for other CIA employees and she attained the level of GS-14 -- Step Six under the federal pay scale. Ms. Wilson worked on some of the most sensitive and highly secretive matters handled by the CIA. Ms. Wilson served at various times overseas for the CIA.
Without discussing the specifics of Ms. Wilson's classified work, it is accurate to say that she worked on the prevention of the development and use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States.

Helpfully, I have bolded the sections that directly refute the Republican't talking points. Your heads may now explode.

Do-Nothing Feinstein Stands Up

2007-03-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, astounding as it is, California's answer to Joe Lieberman piles on to the attorney purge scandal with this little tidbit (courtesy of McClatchy Washington Bureau via Atrios):

WASHINGTON - Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice Department official sent an e-mail that said Lam needed to be fired, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.

Feinstein, D-Calif., said the timing of the e-mail suggested that Lam's dismissal may have been connected to the corruption probe.

Like the philosopher said, it don't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

TorquemadAlberto in Hot Water

2007-03-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Looks like having the Chimp refuse to grant clearances to investigate Torturin' Al has caught up with them both.

Remember this story from the Times last July?

WASHINGTON, July 17 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that President Bush had personally decided to block the Justice Department ethics unit from examining the role played by government lawyers in approving the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program.

What happened? Well, nothing - because, at the time, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee was Arlen Specter, who talks a good fight when it comes to the rule of law.

After all, it's not like it would ever surface again - like, for instance, if the Democrats won the midterms and took over the chairmanships of the committees.

Oh, wait. Look what's back:

3-16-07, 9:18 am

(APN) ATLANTA – At least four Members of US Congress and four US Senators today raised concerns about a breaking report in the National Journal that US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears to have known he was going to be negatively implicated in a review at the US Department of Justice’s (USDOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) when he advised President Bush regarding the review. The review was later squashed when Bush denied security clearances OPR needed to investigate Gonzales.

So, would blocking an investigation into yourself be considered impeachable? How about covering the ass of your lackey when some well-deserved accountbility is coming his way by blocking the investigation for him?

I Dont Know Where to Begin

2007-03-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

I managed to get an account on Conservapedia. No, not to vandalize it, only to correct factual errors - they're welcome to their own ideology, but they don't get to have their own facts.

Between the Reagan-worship, evolution-denial, McCarthy knob-slobbering, and Wikipedia-whining I just do not know where to begin.

Maybe basic addition...

I Get a Certain Rats-Fleeing-Sinking-Ship Feeling

2007-03-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Looks like Halliburton has moved their corporate HQ to Dubai.

Yes, that Dubai.

Coupled with El Rancho del Chimp in Paraguay, one begins to get a certain rats-deserting-sinking-ship feeling. The one thing the two countries have in common is a certain lack of extradition treaties with the United States.

Looks like Shooter gets oil and the arms trade, while the Chimp gets water, the arms trade, and a hell of a lot of brush to clear. And here we were thinking that they didn't have an exit strategy.

The Week in Review

2007-03-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

Naturally, as soon as I decide to get off my ass and get a renter, I get creepin' cruds that don't put me down enough to miss work, but do keep me sleeping in enough to miss blogging time.

Ah, well. Life goes on. Here's some things I should have written about this week:

Scarecrow at Firedoglake opines about the ~~occupation~~ surge. First sentence sums it up nicely:

Almost everything President Bush and his supporters told us in January about his new way forward in Iraq is already inoperative.

Also, Michael "Savage" Weiner and Ann "Frankly, I Don't Give Enough of a Shit About Her To Coin a Demeaning Nickname" Coulter get Spockoed. What Spocko has taught us is that even if the extremists that are the public face of the Republican Party have no shame, the advertisers that pay for their spots do. Isn't the free market wonderful?

What Elf Only Inn taught us is the parting shot to Ms. Coulter and Mr. Weiner, "Live long and prosper, BITCH!"

Looks like ol' "Scooter" Libby is going to the slammer. The Rude Pundit offers helpful advice to the Administration regarding Libby. I have some advice for Scooter, either take the deal that Fitz offers you and flip, or learn to sleep on your back and never let them call you Scooter.

That should catch us up pretty much - I've yet to address Rod Majors or my Online Integrity gloat, but those will have to wait for another day.

Not Exactly Three Amigos

2007-03-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

Opened the bidding for that thumbnail space there near the top right-hand column, and here are the three bidders that responded:

Our first bidder is Bacon Tastes Good. Normally I don't give a crap about entertainment blogs, but anybody who likes Heroes that much can't be all bad.

Next, we have an old friend and sparring partner, Peter Porcupine. Yes, one of the last of a dying breed - an actual, honest conservative. Seriously, if more Republicans were like Peter, there would be a lot more about Linux and science fiction on this blog.

Finally, we wind up with Pressing the Flesh. This gets my enthusiastic recommendation, solely for the "Satan Thwarted Once Again In Reclaiming Cheney story.

Looks like Peter Porcupine won the impartial black d6 roll, but I'd like you all to stop by all of this week's bidders and gve them a Moody Loner howdy - and please, I link to these people so clean up after yourselves.

The death of "Online Integrity"

2007-03-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have noted the passing of it - I'm still working on my gloat.

For the right to gloat when the Bushites and wingers inevitably failed to live up to their agreements - that was why I signed up.

Obligatory Ann Coulter post

2007-03-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Was going to say something about Ann Coulter - but apparently the phrase "hideous, dried-up old crackwhore" will get you sent to rehab these days.

You may say, with that crack, that I'm no better than she is. Should I ever threaten to have people beaten to death with baseball bats because they disagree with me, then you'll have a point.

Was going to write a post about Cheney

2007-02-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

but dammit, the Rude Pundit beat me to it.

The incident should remind us that George W. Bush is only a heartbeat away from the Presidency...

New Adventures in Strategic Incoherence

2007-02-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

Quick, why are we still in Iraq?

No, no WMDs, they've ostensibly established a sovereign government, and Saddam and his loathsome sons are dead. So why are we still there?

The latest excuse is that we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here - the implication being that if we declare victory, take our ball and go home millions of emboldend terrorists will immediately attack the United States.

The truth is much more complex, as the truth often is.

For the explanation, let's turn to Josh Marshall:

In the Hersh piece in The New Yorker we learn that the US has essentially decided to get out of the al Qaeda/Sunni-jihadist fighting business and redirect our efforts toward fighting the Iranian peril. The real war we're in the midst of now, it turns out, is the trans-Middle Eastern Sunni-Shi'a civil war. And we're going to side with the Saudis, who will in turn enlist a bunch of al Qaeda type groups to work on our behalf against Iran.

Now, you may be worried that this sounds rather like how we got into this mess in the first place. But don't worry. As Hersh writes, the Saudis are assuring the White House, that "they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was 'We've created this movement, and we can control it.'"

Emphasis mine.

Okay, then. Just to get this straight - we were over there to fight al-Qaeda. Now we're fighting Iran alongside al-Qaeda - at the same time we're supposed to be fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Let me know when this starts making sense to you.

Quick Shout Out

2007-02-20T07:08:00.000-08:00

Stop by Blue Panther there at the thumbnail on the right. Normally I give up if I only get one bidder, but Blue's perseverance should be rewarded.

The Deep Shallow

2007-02-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

Today's post is written by guest blogger GreyHawk.

This morning, a Republican Congressman gave voice to his concerns regarding the non-binding resolution about the Iraq War that coined a new term for the distinguished men and women of the Hill. It was well spoken, and hit the mark squarely.

He said it was a "deep shallow." (Hat-tip to Roxy of ePluribus Media.)

Representative Bob Bishop of Utah made what I found to be a singularly insightful speech on the House floor regarding the non-binding resolution that Congress is now passing time on:

Yesterday, I had the opportunity of going back to Baltimore and watching a play, "Wicked." And in the play, the main character, the male lead, Fiero, is in love with Elphaba. And she tries to distance herself from him by saying, "Yeah, but you're thoughtless and shallow." And Fiero says, "I know, but I am a deep shallow." This resolution is a deep shallow. It may have words aimed at the White House and the White House action, but regardless of those words, when history is written the finger of accusation will not point to the executive branch, who has been consistent, it is going to point back here to Congress, to our actions.
Our Constitution gives Congress the responsibility of the declaration of war. Instead, we passed a resolution approving force. With a war declaration, there is a commitment to action and to ultimate goals. A resolution of force implies something less, and it allows Members of Congress who did that to say, yes, I agreed with force but I didn't expect it to be used this way. Or, I wasn't really that serious. Or I didn't expect it to be anything more than a little war taking place. It is a process that allows you to be deeply shallow.
This resolution may clear the conscience of some people, it may put political distance between others, but it does noting for soldiers, it does nothing towards a U.S. victory, to benefit this country, or to improve the body politic. Our words, our actions, our votes will be looked on in history with contempt, for they are indeed in this issue deeply shallow.
In conclusion, I would like to describe the good that will come from this resolution for our Armed Forces.
Yes, that about sums it up.

Notice the extensive list of good things that will come of this non-binding resolution, situated between the last two sentences of the excerpt.

Heady stuff, eh? Powerful. I can't believe there's even room for debating such goodness.

...the concept of what good may come of the non-binding resolution has been explored here and elsewhere before. I'm not going to delve into the subtleties of the various pros and cons. To quote again from Mr. Bishop's speech, from a section just before the excerpted bit,

By definition, it means it does nothing. It changes nothing, but allows us all to make statements for media consumption and allows some of those who made the original vote to use force the ability to shirk the responsibility of that particular action.

That's all.

Sure, there are benefits to putting one's thoughts down or forcing one's opponents to give voice to words that could come back and haunt them. But our troops are still inadequately supported. Our troops are still dying, their families faced with a sotto voice, a folded flag.

It's all well and good to say that with the Republican majority broken and the GOP stranglehold on Congress loosened, we can forego any thoughts of impeachment and let the Bush Administration serve out the remainder of their term relatively neutered, but that's purely a fantasy. They are not neutered, and they do not intend to be. In fact, they have been actively working to prepare for this very time when Congress might actually attempt to stall their plans.

A somewhat random and eclectic perusal of stories and diaries paints a starkly pessimistic picture of the lengths that the Bush Administration will go to. Let's review a couple, shall we?

Trial by Fire? Executive Order on Alien Unlawful Enemy Combatants by exmearden describes how an executive order sets the stage to bolster the MCA and Patriot Acts in order to denaturalize a citizen -- declare that person's citizenship revoked and thus term that person an alien, enabling the label of "enemy combatant" to apply and effectively remove any and all rights and liberties.

US Attorneys Establish Patriot 2 Via Precedent (Repost) by TheFatLadySings -- also cited within the piece by exmearden -- speculates on one possible goal of the Attorney Massacre -- the de facto establishment of Patriot 2 through the creation of precedents that bolster the underlying "adjustments" to law and how they are executed. ePluribus Media has been running a series on other relevant aspects of the Attorney Massacre -- they are posting another one soon that touches on the use of political profiling. (There's a lot more going on with regard to the US Attorney Massacre; check this comment for a list of the various other pieces they've covered so far, and keep an eye open for the profiling piece.)

In the piece Things Running in the Background by ABA, several aspects of the Patriot II provisions are explored and extrapolated -- very scary stuff.

A diary titled A Government of Men, Not Laws? by Vox Libertas illustrates the manipulation of laws to enhance the Unitary Executive Theory, which in and of itself is a dangerous threat to our nation. Here's a killer excerpt:

The second action that fits into this pattern of centralized Presidential control is to be found in H.R. 5122, the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007", which among a great many other things amended the Insurrection Act, which along with Posse Comitatus controls and limits the President's use of the military within the United States. The changes are worded as a collection of edits which alter a substantial fraction of the wording of section 333 of the Insurrection Act, and so I found it helpful to create a marked-up version of §333, showing the changes. Also helpful is a flow chart in the Wikipedia entry for the insurrection act.
As either of these should make clear, the major change is to expand the circumstances under which the President can deploy the armed forces and take direct control of the National Guard away from the Governors who normally command them. In the past, he could do so only in cases of "insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy". Under the new wording "natural disasters, public health emergencies and terrorism" are added to the list as is the wildcard "other circumstances". Other changes include specifying that the President can use the armed forces, including the National Guard, in US territories as well as the states, explicitly naming the National Guard rather than referring to "the militia" and what appear to be minor textual changes.
With a broad enough interpretation of "other circumstances" and "opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws" or "impedes the course of justice", the President can pretty much deploy the military domestically whenever he feels it necessary and become the sole military commander in the area, federalizing the National Guard. So long as you trust the President, this isn't such a bad thing. But as other nations have learned, elected officials are not always what they seem.
Adjustments that bolster such changes and additions are going to be very hard to erase and resolve back toward a true nation of the people. The capacity for a ruling elite is being reinforced at every turn.
Then there are two that tie directly to immigration and national security in the form of a national ID -- I consider them related, in that they help control "the masses" without having to worry (much) about the distinction between "citizen" and "non-citizen." REAL ID: States Revolt, ID Ghetto Our Future? by lapin and Immigration: Attrition by starvation term by BlueStateLiberal.

How bad must things get before more people begin to wonder if our nation suffers from either Creeping Fascism or Just a Simple Dictatorship? (hat-tip BooMan)

Our nation has been betrayed by those who cover for the current Administration's gross negligence, criminal incompetence and outright unConstitutional behavior. Our people have sent a clear message to Congress and the Executive Branch through last November's election. Elections have consequences. And the November election of 2006 also set some expectations. Congress is on notice.

The Executive Office is manned by people who now clearly meet the definition of "domestic enemies" -- enemies of the State, who seek to undermine the proper workings of government for their own good. Those who adhere to them and give them aid and comfort are committing treason. The White House, with the adherence of these traitorous bastards, is attempting to define any opposition by Congress to their plans as unPatriotic and treasonous, knowing full well that they themselves are the ones truly betraying their nation.

Enough is enough, folks.

It is time for Congress to stop the political games, to step up and call out against the tactics of this Administration and their proponents. The political comfort zone of staying within "the deep shallow" must be forbidden to them.

It is time to act.

Impeach, starting with Vice President Cheney. Set the process in motion for Bush, too, so that he cannot issue pardons and interrupt the process, but pursue Cheney through to the end. Then finish the process on the Unitary Executive and his coterie of malcontents.

We have two years. Even two days is too much, with the cost in both lives and money, as well as a multitude of other resources, burning away in the raging inferno of incompetence that surrounds these criminals and decimates everything in their path.

Crossposted at DailyKos, ePluribus Media, BooMan Tribune, My Left Wing, Never In Our Names (NION), The Impeach Project (TIP) and Progressive Historians

America-Hater

2007-02-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

Several people, myself included, wonder why Washington Times columnist Frank Gaffney hates America so, and why the Washington Post continues to pay him to do so.

What Happened to Stopping the War?

2007-02-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

As Glenn Greenwald pointed out before he moved, wasn't the whole reason we elected Democrats because they'd do something about the nightmare quagmire that is the occupation of Iraq?

Here's part of what he has to say about it:

It is, I think, very hard to deny that there are some valid points lurking here. Most Bush critics accept these two premises: (1) Congress has the power to compel a withdrawal of troops from Iraq and (2) a withdrawal -- whether immediate or one that is completed within, say, six to nine months -- is vitally important. It is important in its own right and, perhaps even more so, because it is our presence in Iraq which enables all sorts of future disasters, including a looming confrontation with Iran.

Yet the Democratic-controlled Congress is clearly not going to attempt to exercise its power to compel the end of this war -- at least not any time soon. And, with some exceptions, there seems to be very few objections over that failure, very little clamoring that they do more. Why is that? What accounts for the seeming willingness -- even among more vocal war opponents and bloggers -- to give Democrats a pass on actually ending the war (as opposed to enacting symbolic, inconsequential resolutions)?

He brings this up because of a post on Politburo Diktat 2.0, wherein Commissar writes:

Those who disagree with the war in Iraq should be opposing it every day, almost to the exclusion of other topics. When the Netroots get wound up, they can hammer something endlessly (e.g. about 10 posts in 3 days from MYDD on the Edwards/Marcotte affair.) Why not pile on the pressure on Congressional leaders to stop funding the war? What would a patriot do? Why did I vote Dem in 2006? Your side has the power, guys. How about a Vicious Rant and Important Action Alert?

Generally, I do anti-torture, impeachment, and loss of civil liberties. That said, you have a point, Commissar.

UPDATE: Commissar, Glenn - looks like Congresswoman Lynne Woolsley (D-Petaluma) has your answer.

Here's her reminder on Daily Kos.

Birthdays

2007-02-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

Charles Darwin was born 168 years ago today.

I could write a long essay in honor of his work, but as so many have already done so, let me instead direct you, Gentle Reader, to this

Part I: Evolution Explained

Part II: Intelligent Deception

Part III: Evolution Defended

Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States, was born 198 years ago today. Link is to Abraham Lincoln Online, one of many resources you can use to educate yourself about the man that many consider to be the greatest American President in our history.

Where the Hell Are These Guys Learning Civics?

2007-02-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

Steven Bradbury, as reported in - God help us - Newsweek, seems to think that there are circumstances in which it's perfectly OK for the Chimp to order the military to kill American citizens on American soil. Current and former government officials were quick to justify this by bringing up various "24"ish scenarios, but apparently none of the officials were willing to attach their names to this idiocy.

University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein is only too willing to sign on, however - saying that:

the post-9/11 congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force against Al Qaeda empowered the president to kill 9/11 perpetrators, or people who assisted their plot, whether they were overseas or inside the United States. On the other hand, Sunstein says, the president would be on less solid legal ground were he to order the killing of a terror suspect in the United States who was not actively preparing an attack.

Emphasis mine. Evidently, blatantly violating the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution merely puts the Chimp on "less solid legal ground". Left undiscussed is what happens to the suspect, or to the legal concept of presumption of innocence.

They're still trotting out this crap.

This Space For Rent: Pardon Me Whilst I Indulge in Meta

2007-02-06T07:49:00.000-08:00

Something that a few of my readers have asked is why I bother with the whole "This Space for Rent" deal.

Look, even I get tired of writing about how the Chimp is screwing us over. I've got to give y'all a break now and then, and every week or so I get a not-really-random sample of blogs from BlogExplosion for us to go visit. Sometimes the hardest part is for me to find something to say about each one.

That said, here's this week's bidders:

Step Into the Nexus - Miss Nexus talks about whatever occurs to her.

As Seen in the Rear View - Here's some advice, vixen - dice.

The Blue Panther - My buddy from India. Go blue!

L'Undone - A tale of high-weirdness, big love, cyber-crime and the mutual insane obsession of two people that never even met. And I quote.

The impartial black d4 selects As Seen in the Rear View - but please stop by all the bidders and give them a Moody Loner Howdy. Assuming, of course, that this does not violate state and/or local statutes.

The Freedoms They Hate Us For

2007-02-01T06:53:00.000-08:00

You ever wonder what freedoms, exactly, they hate us for?

This transcript at IraqSlogger of this video at AlterNet might give us a few hints.

If this video is to be believed, then some of the freedoms they hate us for are the freedoms to round up citizens at random, torture them, and rape them until they hang themselves:

What was the most fun things?

The most fun thing, umm....definitely the women.

Yeah? They had chick insurgents, man?

No, they didn't have chick insurgents.

***

Something goes down, they just grab everyone around, you know, fuck em. I mean, you gonna have 35 trials? No, you know. People are like, "Oh they're innocent." You know what, I don't give a fuck. As far as I'm concerned, they're all guilty. You know what? They should have kicked Saddam out themselves. Instead, we're there doing the fucking job. We're losing guys.....

***

Were those people in the World Trade Center guilty? No. Fuck them. They fucked us, so now we're fucking them. Fuck them, dude, anyone with a fucking rag on their head is fair game.

***

....girl, she was probably like 15 years old. Yeah, she was hot dude. The body on that girl, yeah, really tight. You know, hadn't been touched yet. She was fucking prime. So....

***

One of the guys started pimping her out for 50 bucks a shot. I think at the end of the day, you know, he'd made like 500 bucks before she hung herself.

I hope to Christ this is a hoax. How bad have things gotten when we can even consider something like this to be true?

God help us as a nation if it turns out to be accurate.

Helmet tip to the General.

Writer's Block

2007-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

Got nothing for you today - work and lack of sleep.

Here's a movie to watch - if I can get the embed right.

You can always stop by Online Blogintegrity and see what else my south-of-the-border feline compadre has found on YouTube.

What They're Not Telling You About Iraq

2007-01-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

Here's the story that CBS refused to air.

Here's the reporter's follow up.

And here's the Pentagon's take on the subject.

WARNING: There are no schools being painted in the first two. There is, however, plenty of whitewash in the third.

Just as an aside

2007-01-25T07:31:00.000-08:00

Five Deferments Dick doesn't get to tell me to support the occupation.

Their pet General Petraeus doesn't get to call me a traitor for speaking against the occupation.

Glenn Reynolds has been shamelessly wrong since day one, and continues the tradition of Chimp-fluffing that has made him a household name for "that guy on the Internet that I've never heard of who's always wrong".

And as for your pledge, Hugh Hewitt? Bite me.

All Kinds of Updates

2007-01-24T07:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah, cable bill snuck past me again. Lots of catching up to do.

On the KKKSFO front, Mike Stark reports on his appearance on Reliable Sources. Naturally, Dan Riehl and Howard Kurtz ganged up on him. Naturally, Mike took them to school. I'm glad Mike does this, for I don't have the temper for it. I used to, but it's been frayed by six years of being called a terrorist-coddling traitor when I was Right. All. Along.

While we're on the subject, Spocko reports some successes. My inner Star Trek geek says, "Qapla!"

Hey, I heard the Chimp gave a speech - how'd that go? Here's a blogger's response. This guy looks familiar somehow - have I seen him on TV?

Oh, yeah - and the Chimp hit 28% approval rating on the CBS polls, with 64% disapproving. The Chimp has passed Nixon country and is heading for Truman territory.

And finally, Fitzmas has arrived. Watch Libby, Rove, and Cheney all throw each other under the bus. Destroying evidence, Dick? How Spiro Agnew of you.

That should take care of the highlights. Time and energy permitting, I'll stop by with anything I've forgotten about.

This Space for Rent: Healing Music and B.S.

2007-01-21T07:26:00.001-08:00

Looks like the two bidders for that thumbnail space to your right are as follows:

Daniel Kobialka, Principal 2nd Violinist with the San Francisco Symphony, has put his blog up for your perusal. Go improve yourselves.

Ryan Shattuck has submitted his blog, bullshattuck, for your approval.

In his words:

the bullshattuck blog generally covers a wide variety of topics, from politics and religion, to pop culture and wondering why Muslims aren’t allowed to charge interest. Being that Ryan Shattuck is also mildly self-centered, most of his essays center on himself.

Right. Well, the impartial black d6/3 selects bullshattuck for our renter, but please feel free to stop by both bidders, and tell them Moody sent you.

I Finally Figured it Out

2007-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Who Attorney General Alberto "Abu Ghraib" Gonzales reminds me of:

I mean, habeas corpus isn't just Constitutional Law 101 - it's Schoolhouse Rock. Federalist 84? Tenth Amendment? Apparently, neither of these exist in Torturin' Al's Bizarro World - or, like all to many, he considers the Constitution clause by clause and not as a whole, just like anyone trying to get out of a contract does. I mean, the concept that the Constitution doesn't enumerate individual rights but rather limits the Federal government's infringement of them is grade-school civics.

Are You Sure AG Gonzales Used to be a Lawyer?

2007-01-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Glenn Greenwald on AG Gonzales:

But ultimately, there are only two options -- (1) the administration is now complying fully and exclusively with FISA when eavesdropping, in which case all of its prior claims that it could not do so and still fight against The Terrorists are false, or (2) the administration has changed its eavesdropping program some, but it is still not fully complying with FISA, in which case nothing of significance has changed (at least on the lawbreaking issues) because the administration is still violating the law.

The FISA court and the administration cannot reach an agreement for proceeding that deviates from the FISA law itself. So it is only one or the other of the two options, neither of which reflect well on the administration.

I know I'm no lawyer, but I thought that releasing legal opinions weakening the case of the guy whose ass you're trying to cover was, you know, bad.

The Anti-War Fringe

2007-01-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest numbers for the "looney left" anti-war fringe from the L.A. Times:

The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, supervised by Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, surveyed 1,344 adults nationwide by telephone Saturday through Tuesday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

With attitudes about Iraq weighing heavily against him, Bush's overall job approval rating stood at 39%, with 59% disapproving. Those figures are comparable with what had been Bush's worst showing in a Times poll — last winter, his approval rating was 38%, with 58% disapproving.

On Iraq, 33% approved of Bush's handling of the war, with 65% disapproving.

[edited for brevity & fair use]

These results closely tracked the reaction to Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq — 60% opposed it and 36% supported it.

[edited for brevity & fair use]

Asked whether Bush "deliberately misled Congress and the American people" with his prewar claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, 50% said they agreed with that statement, and 44% said they did not.

Emphasis mine. Looks like the "fringe"

But don't worry, Bushites, the LA Times covers your guy's ass at the end:

But for most Americans, finding a way forward in Iraq apparently seems daunting enough without reopening arguments about the past — half of those polled said they did not want Congress to hold hearings to investigate Bush's prewar claims.

Which means, by my count, that half do.

That'll Have Me Whistling & Laughing All Day

2007-01-16T07:31:00.000-08:00

From the General:

By commenter Democommie:

The Ballad of the Yellow Beret
(to the tune of "The Ballad of the Green Berets")

We are tough, young Republicans
We fight with words (but never guns)
We show support by drinking beer.
But since we’re rich we’ll stay right here.

(chorus)
Chicken wings suit me just fine
They go so well with my yellow spine
I’ll ply my trade while you’re overseas
When you return, your job will speak Chinese

I’m like my grandpop and my dad,
Those terrorist bastards make me mad;
But I’m a Stanford B-school grad;
So I’ll not be going to Baghdad

(Chorus)
Chicken wings suit me just fine
They go so well with my yellow spine
The poor man’s born to join the fray
I was born rich, I’ll get an MBA

I just can’t share the poor man’s fate
Cause at the Frat House hot babes wait
Just like Dubya I get “C’s”,
And like Dick, I got “Priorities”

(Chorus)
Chicken wings suit me just fine
They go so well with my yellow spine
We strut like cocks in our “Old School” halls
We’re really hens, we’re lacking balls

Something else that will have me laughing all day - apparently the Chimp's approval rating fell by four points and his strong disapproval rating rose by the same amount after his "new strategery in Iranq" speech. If you couldn't divine a new plan in his speech, don't worry - only 22% or so of the listeners could, and they disliked what they heard by a three-to-one margin.

Sure, warbloggers, I'll be happy to post links to back that up - just as soon as you post the links proving that the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died.

This Space for Rent: Karaoke and Vikings

2007-01-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

Looks like our bidders this week are YouTube Karaoke returning for another try this week. Welcome back!

Our other bidder is Arthur's Hall of Vikings - Arthur's manly, masculine blog. For men. Big, manly men who wrestle other manly men (whether in the manner of the ancient Spartans or not is not specified). Personally, I don't see the attraction in wrestling - if I wanted to see big, hairy, sweaty guys screaming I'd go to the biker bar and kick some Harleys over. Again. Nevertheless - although I have my suspicions he's related to the General - welcome, Arthur.

The impartial black d6/3 selects Arthur for the thumbnail space - looks like I'll be putting some SPAM on the BBQ. Stop by both of our bidders, and tell them Moody sent you.

KSFO Snuff Radio 'Debate the Critics" Special HOAX

2007-01-12T06:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you're all astounded to discover that KSFO host Melanie Morgan emailed a bunch of sycophants to bail her ass out of today's "fair and impartial" KSFO special. Hat tip to Zeno for the scoop.

Now, I too was under the impression that this was billed as an opportunity for them to speak to their listeners, advertisers, and community in an honest way. Guess we get another lesson in Bushite honesty.

Here's co-coward Brian Sussman trying to apologize. Here's the actual recording of the incident he's apologizing for. Here's me once again unsurprised at the winger definition of "personal responsibility".

Yeah, the KSFO "face the critics" special is a hoax, and always was. Were they serious about it, they'd invite their critics to a moderated debate on neutral ground. Hell, just having a critic on their show without shouting over him or cutting him off would be a start - although there's no way in Hell I'd do it. No, this was always just about stirring up their base and covering their asses for their advertisers.

[UPDATE} Thanks for the heads-up about the typo in the title. No, really - don't strain yourself or anything.

More Fun with Snuff Radio KSFO

2007-01-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, Gentle Reader, another update regarding Spocko's heroic battle against the fascist-wannabes at KSFO. Here's a link to the hate until I can find a way to host the mp3s myself. Here's a video. Here's another video. The more KSFO bawls about people disseminating their hate radio clips, the more I feel compelled to link to them. It's a curse.

Looks like the Chronicle and local TV station CBS 5 have joined the fun - and in a way that will have the cut-rate Limbaughs gnashing their teeth over the liberal media.

Now KSFO's snuff-talkers are claiming that they're the victims in all this - that everyone's picking on them, taking them out of context, and making up lies about what they innocently joke about to their listeners.

To which I respond: Precisely which of the mp3s recorded from KSFO radio shows, in the hosts' own voices, are made-up lies? They were sure as hell willing to stand up to their words when talking to their callers - why are they so reluctant to have their advertisers hear the same shows?

Are they ashamed? Did it occur to them that many companies would be reluctant to have their products mentioned alongside calls to stomp people to death? Maybe someone might wonder about their protestations of innocent humor, when all of their jokes seem to be about killing people.

They want context? How's this for context? Or this?

Yeah, and Spocko's too smart for their candy-ass town-hall setup, as is Mike Stark - as we discover in this press release:

[KSFO Program Director Ken] Barry told me that the show would be call-in only. I expressed my trepidation with regards to that format. After all, having made a name for myself by wallowing in the fetid cesspool that is right wing talk radio, I’m fully aware of disgusting and unfair techniques hosts use to maintain control of the dialogue and marginalize the opposition. Hosts regularly mute microphones, shout over callers, disconnect calls and rant afterwards about the caller that can no longer defend himself or his point of view.

I offered Barry the following proposal. If KSFO is interested in a genuine and reasonable discussion of the important First Amendment issues at play, I would be happy to be a guest on their show for 20 or 30 minutes – or however long they desired. I made clear that I have no interest in a radio cage match; I’m not looking for a shout-fest or name-calling. Put simply, I agree that a free and open exchange of ideas would benefit the San Francisco community and I am willing to advocate for my side with the dignity and decorum decent human beings have come to expect from one another.

Barry sharply dismissed my proposal and told me, like anyone else, I could call in if I wanted to.

They don't give a shit about First Amendment issues unless it's their cushy jobs on the line. They were damned quick to shut down Spocko's blog - but look how they whine when advertisers pull out of their shows, like the world owes them a living sitting indoors threatening, bullying, and spewing hate. They whine that their livelihoods are in danger. Maybe they need to.

If they get too hard up for money - I hear the Army's hiring.

Now That's Telling Them

2007-01-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

For all of you wondering why Hunter is a front-pager at Daily Kos and why I'm not, have a read of his latest column:

Ok, the premise we're momentarily working with is that George Bush has exhibited bipartisanship, or is about to, or is even mentally capable of it. The premise we're working with, based on the say-so of Republican strategists and conservative and (Lord help us) "centrist" pundits, is that the rout of the Republican party in the midterms was a demonstration of how very much America wants or needs to heal, and that healing means bipartisanship, and bipartisanship means not doing unto the Republicans what the Republicans did unto the entire country, unto their political enemies, unto their perceived political enemies, and unto their insufficiently-friendly political friends, all of which was fine and dandy and smelled like a summertime breeze during the entire time they were doing it, but suddenly began to be gauche the exact moment some Democrat, somewhere, had the power do do something in response to it. No, America didn't need "healing" when the GOP was running roughshod over civil rights, getting thrown out of their own offices in corruption scandals, were introducing more and more creative ways of sucking cash out of government coffers and into corporate contracts, and were regularly calling half of America traitors. We only need healing when the opportunity presents itself to prevent, investigate, or roll back those corruptions. That's when we all need to watch our step!
Now, let's be honest. How much of a dumb, painfully dumb, masterfully dumb, spectacularly gullible, hyperenfranchised, alcohol-addled, camera-chasing microphone-humping column-strangling jackass from the seventh circle of Grey Poupon Hell do you have to be to buy that premise even for the slightest moment as being anything other than dumbfuckery promoted by carnival barkers trying to weasel away from their own rigged game? Since when did "willing to promote any asinine hypothesis, no matter how stupid and self-serving on its face" become the defining characteristic of supposed political wisdom?
The message of the last election, a sweep of Republicans from power, polls showing a nationwide anger at the handling of Iraq and at the unending stream of cringe-inducing Republican corruption scandals -- it's not over either of those things, now, despite the polls proving the exact contrary? It's instead an earnest message from a dimwitted population that they really, earnestly want a Congress who will let bygones be bygones, and who will work together to continue the Iraq war and comply with Bush's versions of government?
Sweet merciful crap. I mean... sweet, merciful goat-molesting crap. Just how dumb do you people take us for?

See? Some days I wonder why I even bother to get out of bed. How can I compete with the classic, nay - lyrical "sweet, merciful goat-molesting crap" ?

Once again, he writes the column I wish I had written.

Wednesday's Updates

2007-01-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

Morning, Gentle Readers. I have a few quick updates for you - first, we have some more news on the KSFO front, as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation drops KSFO like a hot rock. Here, I'll let Spocko tell you about it:

We have our first documented success. I would love if we had an actual letter, but I'll let bluestatedon say it in his own words.

Update: MEDC responds quickly (0 / 0)
After I read last week that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation had advertised on KSFO, I sent emails to James Epolito, MEDC President and CEO, and Lisa Dancsok, MEDC VP for Marketing, Communications and Legislative Affairs, to inform them of the situation. I received a personal response via email that evening from Ms. Dancsok, informing me that they were investigating the situation immediately.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from Jim Epolito himself. He'd already met with with GoverBlogger: Electronic Darwinism - Create Postnor Granholm about the situation, and needless to say she was horrified that money had been spent on advertising on that station.

Yup, recursive quotes again - go to Spocko's Brain for the full story - but the ending might be given away by that word in the last sentence of the excerpt - horrified. Way to go, MEDC, for doing the right thing.

In other news, Eric Boehlert documents the fall (by which, I mean the total loss of credibility) of the right-wing warbloggers at Media Matters. I mention this because - thanks to BlogSoldiers, BlogMad, and BlogExplosion - many of them have my blog inflicted upon them, and I couldn't pass up another opportunity to gloat. Petty of me, true, but I never claimed to be Saint Moody Loner.

Let us wrap this up with a quote from Scarecrow over at Firedoglake from an essay about the punt, Somalia, and preemptive war in general:

Just as it did not matter that as many as 20-30 Pakistanis civilians were killed in an effort to kill some al Qaeda leader thought to be meeting in a Pakistani house, it did not matter that there might have been other Somali people killed in this latest attack and now more follow up US attacks, or that some of the victims were probably innocent, or that we were not even technically at war with those we wanted to attack. We did not do this because Congress passed an Authorization to Use Military Force in Somalia.

No, we did it because our President claims we have the right to murder people in other countries if he decides he wants to do so. And we were in apparent violation of Security Council resolutions, which we helped pass, banning the introduction of weapons into Somalia from outside nations. We are an outside nation. In short, we attacked people in another country because we claim we don’t have to obey any laws anywhere — not ours, not theirs, not the UN’s. And that, my friends, is exactly the belief that terrorists everywhere hold.

'Nuff said - gotta get to work. Peace.

Local News: Hate and Death Threats from KSFO Winger Radio

2007-01-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I need to pay more attention to local issues.

Thanks to Spocko, who I can't link to because Disney bullied his ISP into shutting down his blog (UPDATE: Spocko's Brain Lives! Here's a link to Spocko's blog), I found out about local radio station KSFO's contributions to civility and moderation in political debate.

And there's no way in hell I can put enough sarcasm on that.

Here's some more light reading on the subject - oh, and don't take my word for it, have a listen for yourself:

Brian Sussman tells caller to say 'Allah is a whore'

KSFO caller suggests bombing Syrian mosques

Brian Sussman wants military weapons in his home

Brian Sussman says he doesn't have to tolerate Islam

Brian Sussman says we should cut off detainee fingers and penises

Melanie Morgan and Ann Coulter say liberals should be executed

Coulter and Morgan say Bill Keller should be executed - sound effects by Officer Vic

Brian Sussman says Islam is a false religion

Officer Vic wants to send a hit team after photojournalists

More laughter about Bill Keller in the electric chair

Honky talk-show host is offended because Sen. Obama is a 'halfrican'

Paint a bullseye on Rep. Nancy Pelosi?

More bullseye talk about Rep. Pelosi

Morgan accuses SF Chronicle of 'blacking up' Richard Pombo

KSFO crew says 'dig up Rachel Carson and kill her again'

Coulter says 'at least they hit some UN peacekeepers'

Morgan says 'hang the NY Times editors'

KSFO crew wants to kill liberals

KFSO crew says 'liberal tree should be pruned'

KSFO crew says liberals should be 'stomped to death'

KSFO crew says 'gonna track that e-mail down and do something unpleasant to his cojones'... then Melanie does a live spot for Brite Smile

KSFO crew says 'then, attack the NY Times'

KSFO caller says Bill Keller should be 'lined up and shot'. KSFO crew says 'skip the trial'

KSFO says 'unpleasant things are going to happen to stupid liberals'

Lee Rodgers talks about civility, then says 'someone should have belted that chinless bitch a long time ago' This one is just precious.

Lee says we need to kill millions of Muslims in Indonesia

Lee says the AP should commit mass suicide

Lee suggests hooking a Sears DieHard battery to someone's testicles, then blowing them away

mp3 audio clips in zip (with KSFO contact info)

wma audio clips in zip (with KSFO contact info)

Hat tip to Ripley and Online Blogintegrity.

Oh, hey - KSFO's contact info sort of snuck in there. I'm sure they're looking forward to hearing from you about this.

I can think of some other people who would love to hear your rational, nonpolitical argument on the value of hate speech and incitement to murder as a means of marketing their products. I'll post contact info from them as soon as I can get it - and if I can figure out how to spam-proof it. You may have to contact me at the link in my profile for the list - but I assure you, the need these people and businesses have to hear from you about this is worth the extra effort.

Update: RJB has posted more contact information at his blog. Remember, these advertisers are (or should be) just as horrified at how KSJO is selling their products and services as you are. They signed up for family-friendly Disney Radio, not hate and calls to murder.

Update: Here's a preliminary list of those good people that need to hear your concerns regarding this matter:

Administaff	800-237-3170
Agape Village	800-379-0103
Agape Village Foster Family Agency	209 824-5365
American Diabetes Association	703-549-1500,
AT&T
BAAQMD
Benchmark Lending	800-680-4000
Best Buy	612-291-6114
BFS Retail & Commercial Operations LLC a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.	630-259-9121
Big O Tires (TBC Corp) via Sumitomo Corporation of America	561-227-0955
BMW of North America LLC.	800-831-1117
Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.
Bright Smile	1-800-542-4802
Cache Creek	800-992-8686
California Teachers Association
Check 'n Go	513-336-7735
Choice Hotels International	301-592-6719
Cingular Wireless
Cyber Mesa Telecom
Dennys
Eastern Furniture
FedEx
Freecreditreport.com Experian	847 517 5600
Frontier Airlines	800-265-5505
HMS Capital
Home Depot
HoMedics Inc..	1-800-466-3342
Humidex-Atlantic	800-293-9577
In and out Hamburgers	1-800-786-1000
Infineon Raceway at Sears Point	800-870-RACE ext. 137
John M. Cummuta	800-743-8533
Kaiser Permanente
Learning Annex Real Estate and Wealth Expo 1800-US ANNEX	(212) 371-0280
Match.com (an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp )	800-926-2824.
Michigan Economic Development Corporation	(517) 335-1871
Microsoft Dynamics
Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.	888-560-MMSA (6672)
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company	314-982-1000
New York Life Insurance Company	212-576-7000
OSH (part of Sears Holdings)	847-286-9036
Outofbk.com (Automated Finance Corporation)	(877) 688-6325
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	916-923-7053
Preparation H (Wyeth)
Pulte Homes, Inc.	1-866-785-8325
Riviana Foods
Shreve and Company Jewelers	(415) 421-2600
Sleeptrain
Sutter Health	415-925-7905
Taylor Made Water Systems	925.521.9100
The Jewelry Exchange -Goldenwest Diamond Corporation	714-542-9000
The Jewlery Exchange
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc
Verizon
Verizon Wireless	(805) 372-6969
Visa Security Play (Visa U.S.A., Inc.)
Wheelworks
Window Broker	888-240-3688
Zuffa, LLC. (parent of UFC : Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Already we have an update. Looks like Spocko's getting a new site. Looks like this is all over teh intertubes. Looks like the San Francisco Chronicle is about to get involved. Fun times.

Oh yeah, 'cause Disney's lawyers are going to find this:

I have posted links to these files in accordance with Fair Use guidelines, for non-profit, non-political, and educational purposes only. Any resemblance to political statements supporting or opposing these statements is purely coincidental, and probably all in your imagination. This post is as apolitical as...ummm...Path to 9/11.

Also, defending loathsome incitements to murder based on people's skin color, religious beliefs, and/or political affiliation is - while very necessary to support our First Amendment - not what Disney's customers and corporate affiliates would consider to be consistent with Disney's family-friendly corporate image.

This Space for Rent: New York and Karaoke

2007-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

Now that the holidays are over, it's time once again to rent out that thumbnail space there to your right.

Today we have an old favorite of mine, New York Nitty-Gritty, otilus' photoblog of New York City scenes and one I've never seen before called YouTube Karaoke which provides the valuable public service of enabling you to karaoke in the privacy of your own home, with the windows and doors shut.

Decisions, decisions.

The impartial black d6/3 gives the spot to New York Nitty-Gritty, but again, I urgeyou to visit both sites, Gentle Reader. Tell them Moody sent you - and keep the singing down or I'll call the cops. And stay off my lawn.

Once again, waiting for the Libertarian response

2007-01-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

Guess what, Gentle Readers? We just lost the mail.

President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.
That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.

Hat tip to Atrios and the New York Daily News.

I await the response of the Libertarians. Will it be more Republican't ass-covering, or will they finally, finally realize that the Chimp is a bigger threat to their cherished freedoms than every Democrat on the face of the earth rolled together? Personally, based on their showing for actual Liberty so far, I'm betting most of them roll with the Republican't ass-covering, but it warms me in my middle age to believe that there may someday be a straw that breaks that particular camel's back.

Wanna bet there's some lame-ass Bushite who will tell me, with a straight face, that the Chimp's Decidering to read mail without a warrant is to "protect freedom"?

How can anyone justify this? The way the Chimp snuck it through on one of his extraconstitutional signing statements shows that even he can't justify it - although now that he's been found out I'm sure he'll give it the ol' Harvard C-student college try.

Waiting to Decide

2007-01-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Decider has another week to pull some kind of brand-new lame-ass justification for the Iraq occupation out of his ass. Hat tip to the BBC.

Here's a chunk out of the article - I suggest y'all read the whole thing - and I'll toss in a little emphasis if you don't mind:

The BBC was told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.
Its central theme will be sacrifice.
The speech, the BBC has been told, involves increasing troop numbers.
The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.

Look for my official response in the middle of next week. Unless the "sacrifice" and "troop increase" involve sending Jenna and Barbara to serve in Iraq, the likely theme of my response will be "Fuck off, asshole."

Saddam Hussein Executed

2006-12-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, we got our show trial and our vengeance.

So now can we leave?

Considering all the other corners we've turned and milestones we've passed without managing to go anywhere, I'm thinking probably not. We've turned down every other opportunity to declare victory and go home, and we'll turn this one down too. Guess the Chimp hasn't killed enough Iraqi children yet.

And no, I'm not linking to the execution video. Find it yourself.

And, by the way, if you're looking for a year-end Top 10 list, it looks like Dahlia Lithwick has written mine.

See y'all next year.

Hiatus again

2006-12-22T05:52:00.000-08:00

Got the next week off work, so either I'll be posting all the God-damned time or you won't see hide nor hair of me.

In case it's the second option, Happy Holidays.

Yes, in the spirit of the season, that's just to piss off the terrorist sympathizer.

Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkey Says We're Not Winning in Iraq

2006-12-20T06:40:00.000-08:00

Yeah, let's start off with the punchline. From the Washington Post:

President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.

Don't worry your little heads, Bushites. The only thing that makes the Chimp more resolute about fighting a pointless, illegal occupation against a popular insurgency is losing a pointless, illegal occupation against a popular insurgency.

And, in this article, we find out why the Chimp Decided on Robert "Juvenile, Insulting Nickname Coming Soon" Gates as Secretary of Defense over such luminaries as Joe "Cocksucker" Lieberman. Apparently Mr. Gates has the magic power of pulling brand-new U.S. soldiers out of his ass:

In another turnaround, Bush said he has ordered Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to develop a plan to increase the troop strength of the Army and Marine Corps, heeding warnings from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill that multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan are stretching the armed forces toward the breaking point. "We need to reset our military," said Bush, whose administration had opposed increasing force levels as recently as this summer.

Without a draft (which, if the numbers for the pre-war protests and support of the curent occupation are anything like accurate, would have the American people pulling the White House down around his ears), how the hell are we going to "reset our military"? You did tell him that actual people are killing and dying in Iraq, right? 'Cause it sounds to me like he thinks he's playing World of Warcraft, and a server reset will make everything OK.

Hiatus

2006-12-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

Had some computer issues, and lost a few mornings to the vampire that is Fate.

Yeah, thanks for asking how I was doing. Appreciate it. No, didn't get my all-expense-paid shipping container to whatever Eastern European hellhole we've replaced Gitmo with. Yet.

The six medics accused of deliberately infecting people with AIDS in Libya have been found guilty in a Libyan court and sentenced to death. Apparently they have the right to appeal. Don't know what good it will do them, though.

Looks like we're getting another little lesson in the panacea of elections in Palestine as they teeter on the edge of civil war. You can't just slap an election on like a band-aid and think democracy's going to spring up, you have to establish democratic institutions and the rule of law. Otherwise you get a hellhole like Iraq, an oligarchy like China, or a plutocracy like the United States.

Speaking of Iraq, the Pentagon reports attacks are at the highest level there since June of 2004. So, what is it, Bushites? Are they trying to influence the elections? Are we turning another corner? Are they standing up as we stand down? Still looking for a new way forward? Think things will be better in six months?

Just how stupid are you?

And, taking a page from Atrios, we have Simple Answers to Complex Questions. Today's Complex Question comes to us from the Asia Times Online. Sudha Ramachandran writes:

Even as US President George W Bush signed into law a bill that Congress passed last week allowing Washington to conduct nuclear trade with India, sections in India are wondering whether this country can trust Bush to deliver on his promises.

They point out that the US law enabling nuclear trade with India deviates significantly from commitments that were made by the Bush administration to the Indian leadership over the past year.

So, you're asking if India can trust Bush to uphold his promises?

No.

That was Simple Answers to Complex Questions. Thank you for playing.

Mark Your Calendars

2006-12-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

On December 18th, the President of the United States will give a speech in which he will lay out (in broad strokes, of course) the strategy that he has Decided on for the occupation of Iraq.

Link to Washington Post article here.

As has been pointed out by wiser people than I, namely Atrios and LithiumCola, his choices basically boil down to doing more of what we're doing now, giving up fighting insurgents and going after al-Qaeda, or siding with the Shiites.

We've been there longer than WWII and the Chimp is still trying to figure out, at the most basic level, what the hell we're doing there and how the hell to keep doing it so that he can still call himself a War Prezdint.

It would be hilarious if it weren't for all the people dying.

The Kind Of Horseshit I Have to Deal With

2006-12-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Thursday, I posted an excerpt from Glenn Greenwald's Nov. 30th column about how the warrantless wiretapping program is still illegal no matter how the Chimp uses the extrajudicial, unconstitutional powers he's seized for himself.

This is the kind of response I get:

Andy D said...

The program continues to be misrepresented. The program isn't wiretapping, and it has safe guards built in so that only terrorist are targeted. The information obtained from the program can't be used for civil criminal investigations. It has netted results, and we have captured high profile targets using this program.

Horseshit, Andy.

I find it illuminating that, in a column about how Bushites try to focus on the use rather than the legality of warrantless wiretapping, when the money quote I used was

It is truly astounding to watch people incapable of understanding the point that the reason it is wrong and dangerous for the President to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants is because doing so is against the law. Shouldn't that be a simple enough proposition that every functioning adult ought to be capable of understanding it?

Andy responds by once again "misunderstanding" the point. What part of "because it's a felony" do you not get, Andy?

Here's another quote, from the same column. I'd icily suggest that you read it this time, but that leads me to the realization that I screwed up the link to it in the last post. I'd better fix that.

One more time: the principal problem with the President's warrantless eavesdropping is not that he is abusing the secret eavesdropping powers he seized (that is something we do not yet know, because the Congress has not yet investigated that question). Instead, the "problem" is that the President is engaging in the very conduct which the American people, through their Congress almost 30 years ago, made it a felony to engage in, punishable by up to five years in prison -- that is, eavesdropping on Americans without judicial oversight.

Thus, even if Lanny Davis and the other Republicans on the panel think the President is using his illegal powers carefully, his conduct is no less illegal. Why is it necessary even to point that out? This has been the obvious and paramount point from the beginning, as I wrote in my book (at pages 25, 60) (emphasis in original):

The heart of the matter is that the president broke the law, deliberately and repeatedly, no matter what his rationale was for doing so. We do not have a system of government in which the president has the right to violate laws, even if he believes doing so will produce good results. . . .

The NSA eavesdropping scandal, as its core, is not an eavesdropping scandal. It is a lawbreaking scandal....

Are we clear, now? I even added some emphasis, so you wouldn't miss the point. Address that, if you will.

Once again, Glenn brings it home

2006-11-30T07:05:00.000-08:00

Today's column here. I can't add to it, but here's a taste:

It is truly astounding to watch people incapable of understanding the point that the reason it is wrong and dangerous for the President to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants is because doing so is against the law. Shouldn't that be a simple enough proposition that every functioning adult ought to be capable of understanding it?

You'd think so. Some of these Bushites claim to be studious, serious people with law degrees and everything, but my five-year-old daughter gets the point that, time and again, seems to escape them.

Unless, of course, their stupidity is a rhetorical device to cover their dishonesty.

Up to you. We report, you deride.

This Space For Rent: The Number of the Day is...Four

2006-11-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

Once again, we have four bidders for that thumbnail space you see near the top of the right-hand column. Let's all give an Electronic Darwinism Howdy to the following blogs, and see who the Impartial Black d4 selects.

First, we have Kamal's Computerized World. SQL tips, jokes, and cricket. What's not to like?

Second, we have IrnBru001's blog. Progressive news and opinion currently leading off with a slam at Glenn Beck. Sir, you have proved that you're not working with our enemies.

Next, we have Observing Hermann. An American expat gives us a view of German culture and opinion.

We wrap it up with Quartz Mountain Weblog. The weblog for a web and print design company, they offer advertising and marketing tips - if you're into that sort of thing.

Our impartial black d selects Kamal's Computerized World, but please stop by all the bidders - and tell them Moody Loner sent you.

And You Call Me Crazy

2006-11-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

From the New Haven Advocate:

A collective “I told you so” will ripple through the world of Bush-bashers once news of Christopher Lohse’s study gets out.

Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.

You know I'd hate to disappoint ol' Andy Bromage over there in Connecticut, so here goes:

I Told You So.

I will, of course, point out to ol' Andy that you don't have to be a progressive to think Bushites are nuts. Hell, my Republican friend thinks Bushites are nuts. But, sadly, that doesn't fit Andy's lede, so the not-so-subtle digs at those of us who opposed the Chimp all along - and were correct in doing so - continue.

Frigging liberal media.

Okay, back

2006-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

And thanks to Mrs. Moody and Alton Brown or showing her the path, I've had what was possibly the best Thanksgiving turkey ever. I'd post the recipe, but that's not what y'all are here to read, and I'd probably be executed for divulging classified Thanksgiving secrets.

And, amid the bitter aftertaste of the worsening chaos and civil war in Iraq, I give thanks that I've done my duty as an American citizen to stand against tyranny and aggressive, preemptive war and stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law. I accept that much more needs to be done and rededicate myself to standing up for the freedoms that good Americans have laid down their lives for.

Yeah, cue American flag backdrop and patriotic music.

And, for my non-American readers, I will work for the day that you forgive us and respect us once again.

Thanksgiving Weekend.

2006-11-22T07:03:00.000-08:00

Either I won't be able to post at all for the next four days or I'll be on all the time.

Let's find out.

And a-One, and a-Two...

2006-11-20T06:44:00.000-08:00

Looks like it's the Chimpster's turn to get thrown under the bus.

With Kenneth Adelman and Henry Kissinger coming out against Bush's Iraq War Pony Hunt and Pixie Resuscitation Plan, one wonders if it's become time for the "conservatives" to try to rescue their ideology by claiming that the failure was not them trying to dictate terms to reality, but rather the failure of the Bush administration to be the right kind of "conservative". Or "conservative" enough. Or something.

Look, you've supported the Chimp for six years, at least - if "support" can be considered the proper term for a level of public fellatio that would make Monica Lewinsky blush. You had the House and the Senate enthusiastically rubber-stamping the shit that the Chimp-in-Chief flung about the Oval Office. You don't get to run away from Captain Thirty-One Percent now.

On the bright side, though, if the Gang O' Perverts has come to the realization that they'd better dump the Chimp if any of them want to have jobs in 2008 - well, suddenly impeachment looks a lot more likely.

Oh, and "conservative" is in quotes because I've seen precious little of the hallmarks of true conservative thought - limited federal government, strict adherence to the Constitution, and fiscal responsibility.

Politically Correct Inclusiveness in our Higher Learning Institutions

2006-11-17T08:18:00.000-08:00

Here's the video. Not for children. Pobably not work-safe, especially if you work for UCLA and/or the LAPD - as I'll call them from now on, the Defendants.

Perhaps you are unaware of the effects of being tasered. Let me assure you, Gentle Reader, that unless you're dangerously psychotic or whacked out on PCP the last thing you'd be capable of after being tasered is getting up.

At least people wee willing to confront the police ad tell them to back down. Of course, for their pains, they got threatened with their very own tasering.

All because the guy wouldn't show his papers.

Take a good hard look. Is this what you want our society turning into?

This Space for Rent: The Gang of d4 Once More

2006-11-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

Looks like we have some new faces and some old friends dropping y to try and rent the thumbnail space to your right. Introductions are in order. Gentle Readers, meet:

JCM's RPG art: Character portraits and NPCs for paper-and-pencil roleplaying games. Focuses on Storyteller. Bust out some more D&D NPCs there, d00d!

Tom Jackson Online: News, current events, and entertainment news from the UK. Go for the Michael Jackson mockery.

Pictures From My World: Bozette's photoblog currently featuring sculptures from Waupun, WI. Art, photography, and sculpture fans rejoice.

Advertising for Success: Advice on advertising, monetizing, and other ways to use your blog as a revenue stream - at least, more in-depth than my brief flirtation with Google Adsense. Yes, a yer and a half is a brief flirtation. I'm old-fashioned.

The winner of the impartial black d4 roll is Tom Jackson Online, but please visit all of this week's bidders, and tell them Moody sent you.

Two Years

2006-11-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, Electronic Darwinism started two years ago today.

Anyone insisting on celebrating the occasion can make use of the PayPal button in the right-hand column. Perhaps I'll update my wishlist as well, on the off chance the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy(TM) ever gets around to ponying up.

We will return you to your regularly irregularly scheduled righteous wrath tomorrow.

Terrorist Captured in California

2006-11-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

Reuters story here regarding the poster boy of the right-wing blogosphere, Chad Castagana, and his arrest on charges of mailing terrorist threats and fake anthrax to media outlets and public figures.

Oliver Willis points out, here, that this guy was a regular poster at Free Republic and Ian Schwartz' blog.

A few questions spring to mind:

Whenever some lunatic on the "Left" (i.e. not a Bush-worshiper) does something stupid like this, he or she is portrayed as the face of the left-wing blogosphere. Why don't we portray this dork as the face of the right-wing?

Aren't we fighting terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here?

I thought we were fighting a Global War on Terror - that law-enforcement solutions weren't manly enough and we had to stamp out terrorists wherever they may hide with missile attacks and military strikes. Think I would have heard of tanks in the streets of Woodland Hills.

I guess he's lucky he's a politically correct terrorist. Were he a Muslim, he'd be getting waterboarded in whatever hellhole we've replaced Gitmo with.

Sure hope this is the right guy. We can't assume that he's guilty just because he was arrested. Good thing we have the rule of law in this country. Unless, of course, the Chimp says differently.

Stunned

2006-11-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yeah, another little hiatus - but now it's time to get back to work.

The Republicans haven't stolen the election - but our electoral system remains dangerously vulnerable. The Patriot Act still stands. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 still stands. We're still losing good soldiers in a bad occupation that the Administration lied to get us into. New Orleans is still a disaster area. There's still the NSA spying on American citizens in direct contravention of FISA. And they're still dealing with the Chimpster's idea of bipartisanship - renominating Bolton and trying to get himself off the hook for wiretapping.

Now we will see if the Democratic Party will pull us back from the brink - or if they're perfectly OK with the shiny new fascism the Republicans instituted. Less netroots candidates won than I would have liked, and more corporatist cronies slipped through than I would have preferred.

The work isn't done yet, in fact it has barely started. But I'm stunned that things have changed this much, this quickly. Perhaps I can allow myself to hope that it's enough.

Quick "day after" post

2006-11-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

Looks like there's hope for my nation after all - the Democrats have a majority in the House after six years of the Republicans rubbing their faces in minority status. This is going to be fun.

And I'll at least have the opportunity for another I told you so when Loserman commits yet another inevitable betrayal and caucuses with the Republicans or goes to work for the Bush administration. You don't have to be Nostradamus to see that one coming.

Finally, what the hell is wrong with my state?

Quick "go vote" post

2006-11-07T07:19:00.000-08:00

Yeah. Go vote.

And Californians, when I say paper ballots, I mean it.

Print a copy of this PDF and bring it with you if they get snippy.

This Space for Rent: Pre-Election Edition

2006-11-06T06:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's that time again. The weeks just rip on by, don't they?

Looks like we have three bidders this time: Aeowolf Online from the UK with stories about the death of eDonkey and the comforting idiocy of schoolchildren in the UK, Dragons Omen with Clinton bashing and jokes (the thought of having to choose between Hillary and McCain in 2008 is enough to make me contemplate opening a vein), and Soapbox Jury, with random reviews of blogs, sites, and movies.

The impartial d6/2 selects Soapbox Jury, but I'd like you to visit all three shout-outs. And, if you're in the US, go vote tomorrow, dammit. And remember - paper ballots!

Moody Loner's Election Guide: November 2006, California

2006-11-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's that time again. Sadly, due to moving I didn't get any election materials this time around so this election guide will cover the propositions and a few candidates, and no local issues. Everything else I'll have to decide in the voting booth, which usually means I'll be voting "no".

On the bright side, nobody paid me for any of these endorsements, either way.

Dammit.

That said, let's get into it. This will follow the usual format with the proposition number, my name for it, a quick answer, and a longer explanation. Afterwards, we'll cover a few candidates.

Propositions 1A-1E: Goddamn, Our State's Falling Apart.

Quick answer: Reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, I vote yes.

Long answer: I don't want to vote for these bond measures. Never mind that this is Arnie's big push to regain legitimacy, I hate bond measures - passing off debt to the future - and these are some whopping big ones. And they'll be twice as big by the time we're through paying them off.

But you know, we need to do this. Our infrastructure is decaying, and it's only going to get worse. It's going to have to be done sometime, and the longer we put it off, the more expensive it will be.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it needs to be done. Yes, even the housing and schools ones that are failing right now.

Prop 83: The Hell with our Civil Liberties, They're Child Molesters, Goddammit!

Quick answer: Oh, hell no.

Long answer: Why don't we just mandate that child molesters be imprisoned or institutionalized for life? There, problem solved. This proposition suggests that, due to the horrific nature of the crime committed, a criminal who has paid his debt to society has to, upon release, wear a GPS device that tracks his location for the rest of his or her life.

Apparently, I am the only person horrified by this. The proposition, incidentally, widens once again the definitions of child molestation and sexual offenses.

You're going to tell me how horrible it is that I would think of letting a child molester have one single, solitary civil right that he or she could possibly use to harm a child. Fine, don't come whining to me if your 19-year old son has to wear a GPS for the rest of his life because his 17-year-old girlfriend's parents caught them doing it. And the next time you're watching some teen coming-of-age movie (the genre being one of the many, many things I despise in this cherry-blossom world) understand that in the real world, they'd be fitting that understanding older woman with a tracking device like an animal.

So voting no on this.

Prop 84: Department of Redundancy Department Act.

Quick answer: I don't think so.

Long answer: I just swallowed $4 billion in bonds for disaster prevention and flood control, and now you want me to eat $5 billion more? Are you kidding me?

I know Katrina scared the crap out of you. It scared the crap out of me. California, however, isn't known for its hurricanes.

Look, if we really need this, if our flood control in this state is really that bad off, I'll eat my words, swallow my pride, and vote for it. Right now, though, I really don't think we need it.

Prop. 85: Deja Vu All Over Again Proposition.

Quick answer: What part of "Christ, no" do you theocrats not get?

Long answer: We just had this proposition last time. I swear to God, they just dusted it off and re-submitted it.

Look, some of you parents know how annoying a small child can be when they're testing their limits. You know how they ask for something they know you're not going to give them, over and over, barely pausing for breath between each whining demand?

I'd take six hours of that before another one of these God damned foot-in-the-door religious right nutjob propositions.

No. Goddammit, no. My daughter isn't growing up in a state where the government can tell her when she can or can't reproduce. Don't like it? Move to South Dakota.

Oh, you say you approve it because of your culture of life? Then get out there and oppose the war, and shut up and leave me alone.

Prop 86: Let's Beat More Money out of Smokers Act.

Quick answer: I don't know. Probably no.

Long answer: As it is, the state's getting more money from tobacco than the companies selling it. And we want to throw more on? Look, nobody likes smoking. Even my smoker friends hate smoking. But when is this jacking the price on the addicts because we can? We, as a state, are showing the same morality as the corner drug dealer.

On the other hand, if we're going to fund anything with a tax on tobacco, it should be programs to help people quit smoking. That way, the demand for the tax money decreases as the supply does.

Until the taxes get so high that people start buying illegal cigs 'cause they can't afford legal ones.

Looking at a no on this one.

Prop.87: Make Big Oil Pay Act.

Quick answer: Oh, I like this one. Time to pay for those record profits, Chevron.

Long answer: They pay more money to drill oil in Alaska than they do here. Hell, they pay more in Texas. Not particularly interested, since this last summer's record oil company profits, to hear about how they can't afford it. And I'm one that doesn't think that corporations pay their fair share anyway. They particularly don't like the part that makes it illegal to pass the costs on to us.

Yeah, anything that Chevron pays that much to advertise against must be a good idea.

Prop. 88: Weren't We Just Here? I Swear We Were Just Here.

Quick answer: Leaning yes.

Long answer: More money for education. At least they have the balls to raise taxes. It's not like I can't afford my rent going up fifty bucks a year, ad they actually address the people who can't. I like this a lot better structurally than I do another bond measure.

Prop. 89: Make Corporations Pay for Everyone's Political Campaign.

Quick answer: Oh, hell yes!

Long answer: While this doesn't nearly go far enough, I think that this is a good step towards a republic as our Founding Fathers envisioned - one where political offices were held by people who had jobs.

Sure, make the corps pay. It's not like they don't anyway, and this could wind up saving them money. Of course, they won't have a hold on specific candidates, but I'm sure their political donations are merely a way to express their interests, and not legalized bribery to control the political process in their favor.

Pardon me while I laugh bitterly.

Yeah, screw 'em. Besides, if this passes, there's better odds of a Moody Loner campaign. Not good odds, but better than they were. My enthusiastic endorsement - Yes on 89!

Prop. 90: Fuck the Environmentalists Act.

Quick answer: No, I don't think so.

Long answer: You know, once I knew a lovely hippie environmentalist girl, and I would not have minded fucking her at all. But not like this.

This once again takes something we should all be concerned about - abuse of eminent domain by governments and developers - and uses it to let businesses and developers fuck us over. You'd think that some bigshot developer from New York would be behind this, and you'd be right. This is one of my biggest grapples with my libertarianism - much as I'd like to see a smaller, less invasive government, it assumes a benevolence and interest in the common good among corporations and the wealthy that I'm just not seeing.

And when the hell did issues like this become my decision, anyway? What the hell are we electing a state Legislature for?

Anyway, digressions aside, I'm sure there's a better answer to the eminent domain issue than this. Voting no.

Wow, that was all kinds of fun. Let's move on to my thoughts on some candidates. Anyone I don't mention, I don't have an opinion on.

Secretary of State: Debra Bowen. Do I have to tattoo it on your forehead? Because I will.
Governor: Reluctantly, Phil Angelides. More of a vote against Arnie.
Lt. Governor: John Garamendi.
Insurance Commissioner: Reluctantly, Cruz Bustamante. More of a vote against Steve "Mr. Negative" Poizner.
Attorney General: God, Jerry Brown got old and bald. What the hell happened?

Senate: Not Dick Mountjoy. Republicanism aside, think of the jokes. Not particularly happy with Feinstein, but she'll probably win without my vote anyway. Yes on 89.

Oh, if you're in CA-11, please vote for Jerry McNerney.

That's it for this one - I may add more local issues and candidates. And remember - paper ballots!

Because A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2006-11-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

And this grim, grim picture is brought to you by our very own Central Command. I'm pretty sure it's not classified anymore.

This chart, to your left, graphs our progress in Iraq. The green bit on the left - labeled "Peace" - is what the hard-core Bushites would have you believe is happening. You know, flowers, candy, schools getting painted, that kind of thing.

The red part at the right is what the reality-based community thinks is happening in Iraq - sectarian violence, ethnic cleansing, partitioning - all fancy terms for civil war.

The arrow marked Current - which would be what the people actually occupying Iraq think - is in the red end.

I think the argument is over. However, I'm sure I'll hear about how this is all a plot by George Soros, Hillary Clinton, those cut-and-runners in Central Command, and the liberal media.

All Hail Discordia!

2006-10-31T06:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's that time again. Merry Samhain, Happy Halloween, and All Hail Discordia!

Dammit, should have taken today as a religious oliday. Ah well, not like we're going to be doing much actual work anyway - and I'd miss out on the activities at my place of employment.

We'll return you to your regular righteous wrath tomorrow - November 7th election guide coming up!

Freedom of the Press.

2006-10-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

Something else that, were I not a regular reader of Glenn Greenwald's blog, I wouldn't have known:

Bilal Hussein is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer who was detained by the U.S. military in Iraq back in April -- almost six months ago. Along with 14,000 other people around the world (at least), he continues to remain in U.S. custody without being charged with any crime. The U.S. military has vaguely claimed that he has close ties with Iraqi insurgents but refuses to specify what it is specifically that he is alleged to have done, refuses to provide any hearing or process of any kind for him to learn of the charges or contest them, and refuses to respond to AP's requests for information about why he is being held.

Apparently what he's guilty of is trying to document the war in Iraq. The bastard. That will teach him to commit photojournalism without spouting the Partei line. How the hell do you think we went from 17th in the world in freedom of the press to a whopping 53rd?

And see that power that the Administration is using on journalists it doesn't like? That's the same power that they, thanks to that obscenity called the Military Commissions Act of 2006, can now use on you.

Points for any seething Bushites reading this:

First, where in the Constitution does it say that only citizens have the right to due process of law? Last I checked, if a foreigner committed a crime in the US, we put him on trial instead of summarily jailing him.

Second, although the Military Commissions Act specifies that it only applies against non-citizens, how would a United States citizen "mistakenly" labelled as an enemy combatant seek redress without habeas corpus? Answers involving the infallibility of the Bush administration will be met with well-deserved derision.

Third, what's with all the hate? Labelling everyone that disagrees with you America-haters that need to be jailed or killed for the good of the country makes you look like a bunch of brown-shirted, jackbooted, seig-heiling fascists.

This Space for Rent: Daylight Savings Edition

2006-10-29T06:09:00.000-08:00

That must be why I'm up at 6 am.

Shout-outs to this week's bidders, Discuss It with fine analysis and discussion of the Military Commissions Act, and The Search for Health in Decadence for the discussion regarding the perils of utopianism.

The Impartial Coin Flip selected Discuss It, but I urge my readers to visit both blogs. Tell them Moody sent you, and be polite - I'd like to be invited back.

Because If I Could Let Bullshit Slide, I Wouldn't Be Doing This

2006-10-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I was just going to let it slide, but screw it. The biggest perk of running your own blog is the ability to get the last word.

On the off chance that Blog Mad or Blog Explosion inflict my site upon PrivatePigg's delicate sensibilities, my response to his response:

1. No, you and Brian are trying to make the argument about FDR and not Bush, and I won't let you.

2. Again, no you don't get to switch the argument. And no lefty claims that every Muslim in the US is in internment - note that I didn't, either. I merely asserted that the populations of Gitmo and whatever other hellholes we're operating are exclusively Muslim. You could easily rebut this by listing all the inmates that aren't Muslims - not merely non-Arab, because they're not the same thing.

3. Let me enlighten you regarding this little concept we have here called freedom of association:

[While the]United States Constitution's First Amendment identifies the rights to assemble and to petition the government, the text of the First Amendment itself does not make specific mention of a right to association. The United States Supreme Court jurisprudence names two distinct ways in which the right may be implicated:
1. Freedom of association is recognized and may be protected as a fundamental element of personal liberty when choices to enter into and maintain certain intimate human relationships are at issue.

2. Freedom of association is recognized and may be protected for the purposes of engaging in activities protected by the text of the First Amendment—speech, assembly, petitioning government for a redress of grievances, and the free exercise of religion. Because the role of these relationships is central to safeguarding individual freedoms, they may receive protection from undue intrusion by the State. Thus, there is a constitutional freedom to associate as a means of preserving other individual liberties.

This is not merely a conservative meme, it's a libertarian one.

4. One thing we agree on is that this Administration has made the 4th Amendment irrelevant. Apparently, you don't understand the concept of due process of law either.

And those "I'm smarter than you" quips apparently drew blood, hence your response. Read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Really read it - then come back here and tell me that ol' Chimpy is merely exercising his Constitutional powers. This would be one of the many reasons why his approval is at 33%.

Oh, and regarding your use of liberal as an insult:

Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights. It seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power, especially of government and religion, the rule of law, free public education, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports relatively free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of all citizens are protected.^[2] In modern society, liberals favor a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed.^[3]

If this is an insult, remind me to get insulted more often. Of course, I'm casually curious as to when fiscal responsibility, constitutionalism, less intrusive federal government, and personal responsibility became liberal values, but whatever.

Yep, lots of wikipedia this time. Not the source I prefer, but you win arguments with the sources you have, not the ones you want or might wish to have.

PS: Regarding your refusal to patronize my site, PrivatePigg - it's fair enough, as I have yours blocked as well. On the other hand, I read yours first. You should think of doing the same next time, lest you find yourself once again accusing a libertarian whose idea of fine dining is a restaurant with metal silverware of being a liberal elite. Just sayin'.