Tuesday, January 07, 2003


KARL: There was a very interesting moment involving Trent Lott, who is the person that Frist helped oust as Republican leader here in the Senate. Lott had come to the well of the Senate with fellow Mississippian Thad Cochran for his swearing in.

As he walked back, Daschle was standing next to Frist to shake everybody's hands. Senator Lott went over to Tom Daschle. They shook hands, they embraced, they shared a laugh and then Senator Lott walked right by Bill Frist without giving him so much as a handshake. It was a very chilly moment. You could actually feel the chill up in the spectator's galleries in the Senate -- Judy.



Does this mean Lott will give Frist the smallest office?
Buffy Season 3 DVDs are shipping. Get'em while they're hot!


Pickering's back...

Priscilla Owen is back...

Gene Lyons' New Column

Arkansas readers close your eyes.



Riding into town on his trusty golf cart, the Texas Ranger of the World allowed as how that bunch with the mustaches and black hats down at the Baghdad Saloon had best saddle up and clear out. Come sundown, Cowboy Dubya was fixin’ to come looking for evildoers.


Actually, Newsweek scribe Fineman’s bathetic hero-worship notwithstanding, it’s a cliché to mock President Junior’s drug store cowboy act. The role itself was already threadbare when Ronald Reagan played it. Besides, the average Clint Eastwood western is rich with nuance compared to the two-dimensional melodrama of Bush foreign policy. (In “Pale Rider,” the villain is a claim-jumping, strip-mining tycoon who’d be a GOP donor in 2003.) Melodramatic clashes between pure good and absolute evil are more apt to be found on the fantasy and science fiction shelf these days—films where the bad guys aren’t even human.


Which may be a clue about where Junior got his idea about how to deal with North Korea, the most dangerous member of his celebrated “axis of evil.” The White House can’t have imagined they were dealing with actual human beings. If so, they might have realized that U.S. policy toward that benighted land couldn’t have been better calculated to produce the crisis they have blundered into.


Some warned that Bush’s “axis of evil” metaphor was reductive and dangerous. Mostly they were shouted down by ideologues whose first response to the 9/11 catastrophe was to stifle dissent and promote orthodoxy. Defining your antagonists as evil may be politically advantageous and psychologically satisfying, but it can also make you stupid if it means blinding yourself to their point of view altogether.


One of Junior’s first acts as president was to publicly humiliate South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who visited Washington in March 2001 seeking an endorsement of his country’s “sunshine policy” of reconciliation with its communist neighbor. Instead, Bush sneeringly dismissed what he implied was a Clintonian fantasy—even though German reunification, following the implosion of an East German communist regime almost as dogmatic as North Korea’s, happened during his father’s presidency.

“One cannot see the modern world as it is unless one recognizes the overwhelming strength of patriotism, national loyalty,” Orwell argued in 1941. “[A]s a positive force there is nothing to set beside it. Christianity and international socialism are as weak as straw in comparison with it.”


By all accounts, North Korea is a madhouse. Koreans north and south, however, feel themselves to be one people with a shared language, history and culture. On both sides of the DMZ, Bush’s disrespect was seen as a bitter insult, weakening our alliance with the democratic Republic of South Korea.


Next came the “axis of evil” speech, then Junior’s West Point address threatening “preemptive strikes.” Reading from a script, Bush declared that containment was “not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.”

The threat couldn’t have been clearer. According to Bob Woodward’s book Bush at War, Junior appeared to believe his own rhetoric: “’I loathe [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong Il!’ Bush shouted, waving his finger in the air. ‘I've got a visceral reaction to this guy, because he is starving his people ... It is visceral. Maybe it's my religion, maybe it's my—but I feel passionate about this.’”


Kim got the message. Exactly when North Korea began to experiment with enriched uranium weapons with Pakistan’s help isn’t clear. It was some time after 1998, giving Bush apologists a semi-plausible way to blame Bill Clinton. But it won’t wash. At worst, North Korea could make maybe two bombs some years hence by that method. The scary part is their re-starting a nuclear reactor shut down in 1994 and capable of making enough weapons-grade plutonium to start a production line within months.


Taking advantage of U.S. preoccupation with Iraq, the communists called Bush’s bluff. Unless he wants another Korean War, there’s not much he can do about it. So now the White House has taken to leaking word that North Korea’s inclusion in the “axis of evil” was merely speechwriter’s flourish, stuck in lest Junior appear to be threatening only Muslim states. If anything, that makes Bush look even more ridiculous.


“The lesson of North Korea for other Third World dictators,” Zbgniew Brzezinski told the Washington Post “is to go nuclear as rapidly as possible, and as secretly as possible, and then act crazy so as to deter us


They’ll call it something else, but the big-talking Texas Ranger of the World has little choice but to negotiate. The doctrine of preemption lasted, what, six months?



I like the last paragraph

Looking for a few fabulous men..

CalPundit notes that the Democrat's plan for this year is actually bigger. I look forward to the Democrats being accused of being fiscally irresponsible for posing such a big plan and timid and ineffectual for posing such a small plan simultaneously [That's an assignment for you, Mickey! No one else could manage...]
Poor Mickey.

(from Ted, who gets some digs in too.)
According to CNN the median adjusted gross income in the U.S. $66,619 (numbers taken from the Tax Foundation)

According to the White House, the median household income (not quite the same thing) in 2001 was $42,228.

Can anyone explain this to me?

(update: I accidentally misread that the numbers were from the Tax Policy Center. They're from the Tax Foundation, which is a whole other ball of wax...still looking into this...)

Okay, due to suggestions from various people, particularly reader s.v., it seems that what the Tax Foundation is doing is using the median income figure for 2 earner households. Then, they're strangely switching over from household income to household adjusted gross income. The effects of the first switch are obvious, and since AGI is always a bit lower than actual income, they're calculating the tax benefits for people with much higher actual incomes.

Let's see if I can say that simply:

They're taking a two-earner family which has an adjusted gross income (AGI) equal to the median income of the two earner households, and calculating their tax benefit assuming they have two children. This skews the value of median household income value upwards (fine, but they should be more clear), calculates the tax benefits for families that have actual incomes even higher than this, and then throw in the mandatory two kiddies.

I think.

In other words if you're a two earner house hold with two kids making $66K gross income, your tax benefit isn't going to be as high as they're claiming.

If only this were like a game of musical chairs...

CABLE NEWS RACE
FRIDAY, JAN 3, 2003

O'REILLY 1.4 [RATING]
HANNITY/COLMES 1.0
LARRY KING 1.0
SHEP SMITH 1.0
BRIT HUME 0.9
GRETA 0.6
CROSSFIRE 0.6
CHUNG 0.5
AARON BROWN 0.5
DONAHUE 0.3
HARDBALL 0.2

looks like Matthews would be out.

Washington Post says:

Of the $674 billion package, all but $3.6 billion comes in the form of tax breaks; those funds are for $3,000 accounts that unemployed workers can use to find new jobs.

So much for rumored extra transportation money, or money to help states with fiscal problems.

Last night's Donahue wasn't a perfect show, but it was consistently funny from start to finish. Go read the transcript, and if you missed it just try and imagine Bernie Goldberg's face when a caller said this:



DONAHUE: Billy from Tennessee. You waited. I thank you for your patience. What did you want to say?
CALLER: Phil, thank you. I think the main thing I wanted to say is I’m sad that the conservatives you have on tonight have done a poor job of articulating our conservative argument, which I think is another bias of the press is that you always pick very smart, astute liberals, like Al Franken, who are very articulate, and then you have conservatives who scratch their heads and can’t come back with something.
DONAHUE: Oh, well...
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)


I'm pretty sure the caller continued a bit longer where it says "crosstalk," but you get the idea..
As Hesiod points out, the ricin found in London has no links to Iraq. It's derived from the castor bean plant, has been around for many years, is completely unsuitable for anything other than an assassination attempt or a very bad way to try and hurt a small group of people.
O. Dub notes the liberal media only broadcast a few seconds of the Democrats' response to Bush's speech.


Makes me miss the good old days when the Clinton News Network would devote every morning to the Gingrich press conference...

UPDATE: People are saying the Dems had good coverage yesterday.

Where is the outrage?

Seriously, there are times when little partisan me just doesn't get it. I really really can't comprehend why at least a couple of people other than some idiots with websites like me aren't just a wee bit pissed off at this latest fake terror alert. Some guy in custody in Canada says some obvious nonsense about 5, or was it 19, guys sneaking across the border. The Canadian authorities, just to be prudent, hand it off to the FBI. We get a full media press - including a statement from the president - about these guys. We get word that the president has mobilized law enforcement to look for them, presumably diverting them away from other more productive terror-fighting activities. The media can't keep straight if these guys are Arabs or Pakistanis, or who the hell cares what's the difference anyway... Some members of our fine citizenry start calling the cops on randon brown people they spot on the bus. The FBI posts up pictures of who the hell knows who which are still up on their web site. Then, to top it all off they throw in a bit of Indian bashing just for good measure.

This one can't even charitably be called a bungle. This is an outrage.
Daschle not running.

Novakula Speaks

While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says publicly that the U.S. can fight at the same time in the Persian Gulf and Northeast Asia, nobody in the military is ready for a disastrous second Korean War even without fighting in Iraq. Certainly, nobody in the Bush administration wants one. Even without nuclear weapons, the North can launch a brutal attack on Seoul using conventional arms. Accordingly, the president's jeremiads against the "axis of evil" now look like posturing.
"We're not going to reimplement a draft. There is no need for it at all. The disadvantages of using compulsion to bring into the armed forces the men and women needed are notable. The disadvantages to the individuals so brought in are notable. If you think back to when we had the draft people were brought in, they were paid some fraction of what they could make in the civilian manpower market because they were without choices. Big categories were exempted - people who were in college, people who were teaching, people who were married - it varied from time to time but there were all kinds of exemptions. What was left was sucked into the intake, trained for a period of months, then went out. Adding no value, no advantage, really, to the United States Armed Services over any sustained period of time."

Donald Rumsfeld, today.

"Any comparisons between today's force and the Viet Nam force would be dramatic."

General Myers, today.
Musings tells the Virgin Ben to put on a yarmulke and watch his evil tongue.

(via Digby).

UPDATE: TBogg discovers what Ben really thinks of sex.
New York Times gives impact of removal of dividend tax:


TAX BENEFITS FOR 2003 BY INCOME:

Income Percentile: 0-20
Income Range*: $0-9,964
Average Change in Tax: -$6
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 0.4%

Income Percentile: 20-40
Income Range*: $9,965-21,349
Average Change in Tax: -$20
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 1.3%

Income Percentile: 40-60
Income Range*: $21,350-37,834
Average Change in Tax: -$47
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 3.0%

Income Percentile: 60-80
Income Range*: $37,835-68,329
Average Change in Tax: -$168
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 10.7%

Income Percentile: 80-90
Income Range*: $68,330-98,053
Average Change in Tax: -$304
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 9.7%

Income Percentile: 90-95
Income Range*: $98,054-133,858
Average Change in Tax: -$622
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 9.9%

Income Percentile: 95-99
Income Range*: $133,859-316,894
Average Change in Tax: -$1,777
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 22.7%

Income Percentile: 99-100
Income Range*: $316,895 and up
Average Change in Tax: -$13,243
Percentage of Total Income Tax Change: 42.3%

*Adjusted gross income on tax return


Not online. (thanks samela)

UPDATE: Ted Barlow has comments on the impact of this on municipal bond rates (they'll fall...err, I mean rise)

UPDATE: Here's the source of the data, from the Tax Policy Center.
Brad DeLong's always been pretty defensive about Hubbard's role in the Bush maladministration, now he tells him it's time to get out.
BusyBusyBusy explains the 5 scary brown men situation. (Yes, I know one of them is actually more a scary purple, and one doesn't look all that brown...)

Saddam Plans to To Defend Against US Attack

How evil is that?

Monday, January 06, 2003

Please check out Nick's Crusade. And Pax Liberalis.

The New Traditionalist Manifesto

Welcome scumbuster to the world of blogging. Him and Snotty have a lot in common.
Tonight's Donahue is hilarious..
5 scary men alert was a hoax by a guy in detention trying get himself let out.


Interesting Monstah has more. In particular, notes the FBI still has pictures of the mythical scary brown people up.




Wow. I hadn't read the original Slate article before, but...wow. David E. takes on Slate's racism.
Even I had a hard time believing that the "liberal" Washington Post would have actually published this essay by Bill Lind. I checked. They did. My god.


It begins:

The triumph of the Recovery was marked most clearly by the burning of the Episcopal bishop of Maine.

She was not a particularly bad bishop. She was, in fact, quite typical of Episcopal bishops of the first quarter of the 21st century: agnostic, compulsively political and radical and given to placing a small idol of Isis on the alter when she said the Communion service. By 2037, when she was tried for heresy, convicted and burned, she had outlived her era. By that time only a handful of Episcopalians still recognized female clergy, and it would have been easy enough to let the old fool rant our her final years in obscurity. But we are a people who do our duty.

I well remember the crowd that gathered for the execution, solemn but not sad, relieved that at last, after so many years of humiliation, the majority had taken back the culture. Civilization had recovered its nerve. The flames that soared about the lawn before the Maine statehouse that August afternoon were, as the bishopess herself might have said, liberating.



(thanks to Farmer)
Max has two great posts - first his O'Reilly talking points and second an analysis of the Democrats' stimulus proposal.

Fineman Speaks the Truth



CHRIS MATTHEWS, host: Howard, did the Republicans have this thing completely knocked in this town? Is George Bush completely in control of Washington right now?

Mr. HOWARD FINEMAN (Chief Political Correspondent, Newsweek): Well, the interesting thing, Chris, is he's not just in control of the political apparatus, he's in control of the press, he's in control of the sort of social atmosphere of the city in a way that I haven't seen in quite some time.


(thanks to penalcolony for the catch)
I put a little checkbox above to force the links to open in new windows. However, comments won't work when checked - anyone have a clue how to modify this code to have them work even when checked?
Nathan Newman informs us that corporations that pay no taxes can't be double taxed while reader Andy X tells us:



Here's an article which looks at IRS data to see exactly how many people in which income groups reported dividend income (although they don't say which year the data is from). It's an interesting view of the situation:

"Figures from the Internal Revenue Service illustrate that point. The 15.2 million tax returns that reported adjusted gross incomes of less than $50,000 had a total dividend income of $26.9 billion, according to the IRS. Fewer people -- about 10 million -- reported adjusted gross incomes of between $50,000 and $100,000, but they had more in dividend income -- $27.1 billion.

The 4.8 million returns that indicated adjusted gross incomes between $100,000 to $200,000 had $23.8 billion in dividends, and the roughly 200,000 filers reporting more than $1 million in adjusted gross income had about $25.4 billion in dividends, the IRS says."

Using these numbers, we find the average dividend income per filer for each group:

under 50K - 15200000 - 26900000000 - $176.97 per filer

50k-100k - 10000000 - 27100000000 - $2710 per filer

100K-200K - 4800000 - 23800000000 - $4958.33 per filer

Over 1000K - 200000 - 25400000000 - $127000 per filer

Regardless of the charges of "class warfare", it is obvious that as one moves up the income ladder, the returns for this type of income play a much larger role in one's income. Looking at the midpoint of the lowest group, the $176.97 represents less than 0.8% of the total income that someone in that group made that year.
Likewise with the other groups, at the midpoint, the share of total income is:
50K-100K - 3.6%
100K-200K - 3.3%

For the over $1 million set, using the lowest number (hard to find a mid-point on an open-ended set) the figure is 12.7%.

One can make different arguments about various assumptions, but the basic point, backed up by the numbers, is that this DOES help the wealthier more than other people - regardless of how Ari wants to spin the numbers.


UPDATE: Just wanted to add that though it does say it, I hadn't noticed that these numbers exclude the zeros which presuambly bias the bottom numbers upwards quite a bit and the top numbers not so much. That is, this is the set of tax returns for which the Dividend Income box is greater than 0.


Democratic Veteran has some more.
Archpundit gives us the full scoop on the Lind/Weyrich connection discussed by Joe Conason.


And, one can't bring up Lind, Weyrich, anti-Semitism, and Jewish World Review without this blast from the past from Stanley Crouch about the Evan Gahr affair.

Since we're riffing here, that road leads us to Mona Charen, who TBogg is having fun some with.
Go check out Thinking it Through who says "advantage: blogosphere!" for pushing this story:

This time, Beth Osborne Daponte will be leaving her calculator off.

A senior researcher at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, Daponte was the Census Bureau demographer who postulated in 1991 that 158,000 Iraqi men, women and children died during and shortly after the Persian Gulf war. In return, she was reprimanded by her government, and saw her report rewritten and her career sidetracked.

Today, with another war in Iraq a possibility, Daponte says she has no intention of trying to estimate Iraqi deaths again. Revealing finely tuned cynicism, she wonders whether it would be worth the stress.



Clearly she should have been reprimanded for drawing a moral equivalence between dead Iraqis and the innocent premature babies that were ripped from the incubators by Iraqi soldiers.
Replace the word average with the word 'median' and please redo all the figures in this article, oh supine press corps.
Reader C.C. emails in with:


Atrios,

I am re-reading Fear and Loathing: On the Campaing Trail '72, and ran across the following that I think explains media "bias" better than anything else, and actually fits the Occam's Razor principle since it is the most obvious/easiest explanation :

"This was one of the traditional barriers I tried to ignore when I moved to Washington and began covering the '72 presidential campaign. As far as I was concerned, there was no such thing as 'off the record.' The most consistent and ultimately damaging failure of political journalism in America has its roots in the clubby/cocktail personal relationships that inevitably develop between politicians and journalists -- in Washington or anywhere else where they meet on a day-to-day basis. When professional antagonists become after hours drinking buddies, they are not likely to turn each other in . . . especially for 'minor infranctions' of rules that neither side takes seriously; and on the rare occasions when Minor infractions suddenly become Major, there is panic on both ends.

A classic example of this syndrome was the disastrous 'Eagleton Affair.' Half of the policital journalists in St. Louis and at least a dozen in the Washington press corps knew Eagleton was a serious boozer with a history of mental breakdowns -- but none of them had ever written about it, and the few who were known to have mentioned it privately clammed up 1000 percent when McGovern's harried staffers began making inquiries on that fateful Thursday afternoon in Miami. Any Washington political reporter who blows a Senator's chance for the vice-presidency might as well start looking for another beat to cover -- because his name will be instant Mud on Capitol Hill."


I'd say plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - except, there's one problem with the idea that this is simply the rules of the game. They weren't the rules during the Carter administration, the Clinton administration, or the Gore presidential campaign.

Monkey Mail

hey, it's been awhile.


From: xxxx
Subject: Blogging for Stalin?


OxBlog thinks you may really be Kim Jong Il. Hmm, it sort of makes sense.
Mark Morford explains why republicans are twice as likely to participate in online surveys:




Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to participate in online surveys, mostly because such surveys are usually broken down into simplistic good-vs. evil binary choices and nifty multiple-choice answers and cute pretty pie charts that are much easier for them to understand than actual issues and political stories that might be, you know, complicated or messy or remotely nuanced, according to a poll. Among those who go online to catch up on politics, almost half of Republicans, 46 percent, said they like to register their opinions in online surveys, whereas only 28 percent of Dems did so, preferring instead to participate in sad little online chat rooms where they coddle each other and sigh heavily and lament about the lack of true Dem leadership and note how the party has devolved into a bunch of emasculated apologist wimpheads, all scared Uncle Cheney is gonna smack them upside the head if they say something naughty about Shrub's War. "Me like click pretty buttons hee hee yay," giggled one Repub, giddily clicking little surveys on the USA Today site. "Um, we sort of disagree with Article 123.5 in the latest national budget sub-clause of Section 772.2, maybe," whined one Dem leader, sheepishly, before being smacked upside the head.


(via email, click the link to sign up)
South Knox bubba gives us the 2004 election preview.
The Note, which *really* deserves all the credit for "breaking" the Lott story,* has returned.

*And not Crazy Andy who, contrary to current myth, didn't say a thing for 3 days .
Racism taking another one down...

Though, like Lott, he won't fall far I'm sure.

Clinton Library Causes Downtown Revitalization

Anoint me, dude.

Washington Post Ombudsman notes praise, and criticisms because they were big meanies to Trent Lott. Did not address this issue.

Sunday, January 05, 2003

Welcome Skyedreams to the blogosphere.
Just to put it simply - a guy who covered up for pedophiles, was responsible for Operation Ill Wind, and deep into the Tailhook scandal is Just the Man to Involved With a 9/11 Investigation.
The Moonies have taken up the Chavez-terrorist connection.

(thanks to Jim Henley for sending it in )

Jerry Falwell said after Sept. 11 that abortionists, feminists, the gays and lesbians who promote homosexuality as a natural lifestyle, the American Civil Liberties Union and all those who try to secularize America (in short, the PC crowd) bear some responsibility for Sept. 11.

While his statement may have been unpopular, it was true, at least in the larger sense. If we pillory those who defend traditional moral values, we seem weak. Why would any terrorist fear a country that treats the Boy Scouts like the KKK? If we treat the moral as trivial, if we make it seem as though our lives have no value, how can we expect others to respect the value of our lives?


The Virgin Ben, obsessing about the sexual habits of others.
Hey Jay, apparently we never root for the same team.

nelson Ha Ha! /nelson

Freaking Lovely

fuckers.

UPDATE: Let me just add this is a total outrage and a big extended middle finger to the victims of 9/11, their families, the country, truth, justice, the American way, and everything else one can think of.


Lehman was Navy secretary from 1981 to 1987 and presided over Ronald Reagan's buildup to a 600-ship Navy. But Lehman also presided over one of the worst cover-ups in the Navy's entire 227-year history.

Long before the Roman Catholic Church pedophile scandal, the U.S. Navy experienced one of its own. It involved at least one U.S. Naval Academy graduate, P-3 Orion naval pilots with access to nuclear weapons (the P-3 Orion is an anti-submarine warfare aircraft), personnel with top-secret clearances, and officers in leadership positions of trust akin to those of clergymen.

The Navy's pedophilia scandal broke in the quiet and serene Oregon coastal town of Coos Bay on Sept. 11, 1982, when the commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Facility, a classified submarine tracking station, was arrested by local police for involvement in child pornography and lascivious acts with minors, including sodomy. The arrest followed a 2-month-long investigation involving the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service.

...


A team of Navy counselors, chaplains, and child psychiatrists from Bethesda Naval Hospital, who were alerted to fly to Oregon to treat and offer assistance to the young victims and their families, was abruptly ordered to stand down.

And before long, the Navy acted as if the incident never even occurred. The potential for damage to the Navy's reputation was evident as reports surfaced of other Navy pedophile rings at Moffett Field Naval Air Station near San Jose, Calif., and U.S. naval bases in the Philippines and at San Diego.

Some senior naval officers, allegedly including one flag rank officer, were quietly and quickly retired. According to one NIS investigator, the Coos Bay arrest opened up a Pandora's box of pedophile cases in the Navy and, according to a number of federal law enforcement officials in Portland, Seattle, and Washington, the cover-up of the incidents "went right to the top" - and the top at the time was John Lehman.

The Navy also pressured the state of Oregon and Coos County not to investigate independently the Coos Bay incident any further, saying that its investigation never turned up any evidence that civilian children in Oregon were victimized. Throughout the next few years, Navy public affairs officers were ordered to stonewall reporters.

In many respects, John Lehman was no different than Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law in covering up an incident later described by a senior naval officer as among the top 10 most damaging incidents in the history of the U.S. Navy. However, unlike John Lehman, Cardinal Law had the decency to acknowledge the scandal and ultimately resign his office over the church's pedophilia scandal.

Rewarding an arch-cover up artist like John Lehman with a seat on the Sept. 11 investigation commission is a disservice to the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks who are seeking answers to why it happened and closure to their horrific tragedies.



More on this hideous excuse for a human.

More.





The Virgin Ben.



hahaha


As the Goblin Queen says:


For the record, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a virgin, either by choice or because it just hasn't happened yet. It's when people let their sexual frustration become openly expressed contempt for another gender that I have a problem.



Or contempt for people of another sexual orientation, let me add. But, if the Virgin Ben wants to resort to Onanism and/or those regrettable nocturnal emissions, who are we to judge..
If I were the horse, I'd say here are the names and email addresses of everyone in the best little whorehouse in D.C. But, I'm much more polite than that (ha ha), so here's your chance to communicate with the noble and honorable Washington press corps. All of them.

Take back the media says:



It's time to remind the Washington Press Corps that they're there to do a job, not make best friends with the administration that they're supposed to be covering objectively. We at Take Back The Media urge you to email, fax or phone these correspondents and let them know that their utter lack of hard work is not going unnoticed. Tell them that the way to get information out of Ari is to stand up to him, not to let him obfuscate. Tell them that they're supposed to be covering the White House, not trying to befriend those who work there. Tell them that their journalistic ancestors are watching their actions with horror and disgust.
Not enough of you are buying Neal Pollack's new book. Buy it here. I think if he sells about 30 million more copies he'll have to pay me the $5 million he promised me if I plugged it. Otherwise it seems I'll get nothing.


Or, you can buy his old one here.
oooh. Drudge has a world exclusive coming... I wonder if this former Bush speechwriter beats his wife? Or gets a little on the side? So many possibilities..


Looks like Mr. Danielle Crittenden (well she didn't take his name as she has advised so many women to, so perhaps he should have taken hers, no?) has written a nasty book. My bet is there's practically nothing in there to upset the White House, but let's hope they make a big stink and try to destroy him like they did DiIulio.

Oh no, he calls him 'tart.' naughty naughty!
Ailes says Sullivan is a humorless git, and he also points us to this fascinating article in another Moonie Magazine (one Andrew Sullivan doesn't write for) about North Korea.
Interesting Times compares Bush/Clinton poll numbers for comparable periods of crisis (though obviously very different crises).
Pundit Pap is up.
More on the five men we aren't looking for.
Here's a fair use snip from This Week. Watch Gingrich get busted on his lie about when the recession starts and hilariously try to blame the Democrats for criticizing a proposal they haven't seen because the proposal that was floated on Friday has already been changed.

(thanks to Charles Eicher)
So explain to me why on the local ABC Sunday morning news they prominently feature a story, complete with video footage, of an alleged link between Hugo Chavez and al Qaeda which as far as all of my interns and I can find, has not been taken up by any newspaper or wire service and can only be traced back to the web site of the organized opposition to Chavez.

I hear an organ playing...

I thought Krugman's performance against Newt Gingrich on This Week was pretty good. Though how anyone can go up against Newt Gingrich and manage to resist the temptation to say "serial adulterer" is beyond me...

From Fools for Scandal


Enter now investigative reporter L.J. Davis, who came to Little Rock in early 1994 for The New Republic to look into alleged conflicts of interest involving former Governor Clinton and his wife. The result of Davis's investigation became the magazine's April 4, 1994, cover story, entitled "The Name of the Rose."



..."With the stroke of a pen and without a visible second thought," Davis wrote, "the-Governor Bill Clinton...gave life to two pieces of legislation inspired by his wife's boss [i.e., the Rose Law Firm] -- revising the usury laws and permitting the formation of new bank holding companies."

In fact, Arkansas usury laws were revised as follows: In 1982, Republican Governor Frank White got the legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the general election ballot replacing the state's restrictive 10 percent interest limit. He campaigned for it vigorously. Every bank, car dealer, and large retail merchant in the state supported the change. Needing the support of organized labor, which opposed the change, White's opponent, Bill Clinton, sat on the fence. Clinton won the election, but the amendment passed without his help...

Davis also wrote darkly of a 1985 law permitting state-chartered banks to open branches in more than one county. "Worthen [National Bank]," he wrote, "could not have been brought to life without [Clinton's] Government." Clinton, The New Republic alleged, also favored Worthen by making it a "major depository of the state's tax receipts," in gratitude for which Worthen awarded the Rose Law firm its lucrative legal business.

But Worthen existed as a federally chartered bank holding company called FABCO (First Arkansas Bankstock Corporation) long before Clinton took office. Nor did the governor award Worthen state deposits : then the state's largest bank, Worthen had been the major depository since before Bill Clinton was born. (State law apportions such deposits among competing institutions.) As for the Rose Law Firm, it had been Worthen's chief counsel for fifty years.

Davis's main focus of the conspiracy is the mighty Stephens Inc. investment banking empire and Clinton's role in stuffing its coffers with illicit bond money.... But for The New Republic, a magazine by the way which employs no fact-checkers [emphasis mine], to assert that Bill Clinton made the Stephens family rich makes about as much sense as arguing that Chase Manhattan's David Rockefeller owes it all to Mario Cuomo.


Need I remind you who the editor of the New Republic was during these glory days?

shhhhh


Yet last week's issue of Time--which celebrates the Bush-Cheney team like it is Michael and Gabriel--provides data that runs against the notion that Americans are enthusiastic supporters of the administration. The president's approval rating has dropped to 55 percent. The country is split between those who say they trust the president (50 percent) and those who don't (48 percent). No one seems to have noticed that the 60 percent approval rating the media have celebrated all these months is about the same as President Bill Clinton's at the time of the Lewinsky scandal.


Barney Gumble notes that it was under Gary Aldrich's watch that the illegal immigrant started working at the White House.

For completeness...


The White House and the Republican National Committee declined to comment yesterday on a racial controversy involving a Bush administration ally who is campaigning to become chairman of the California Republican Party.

Bill Back, the California party's vice chairman running for the top job, sent out an e-mail newsletter in 1999 that reproduced an essay that said "history might have taken a better turn" if the South had won the Civil War and that "the real damage to race relations in the South came not from slavery, but from Reconstruction, which would not have occurred if the South had won."

The Contra Costa Times reported on the e-mail article yesterday and quoted Shannon Reeves, the California GOP secretary and an African American, saying: "There's no room for bigotry in the Republican Party, and I don't think there's a lot of room in the Republican Party for people who distribute bigoted information. What's appalling is to have the vice chair of the Republican Party distribute this."


Here's what he sent around.



The real damage to race relations in the south came not from slavery, but from Reconstruction,which would not have occurred if the South had won. And since the North would have been a separate nation, the vast black migration to northern cities that took place
during World War II might not have happened.

Ailes and Digby on Margaret Carlson & Fred Thompson.

Ailes:


Anyone with a brain larger than the size of a walnut will recall that Thompson was the chair of one of the most partisan -- and worthless -- investigations in American political history: The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee campaign finance reform investigation. Thompson also was the champion of that discredited criminal and Richard Mellon Scaife employee, David Hale.


Digby:


Am I crazy or wasn't there some chatter at one time about Margaret having a big crush on Thompson and stalking him all over DC?


Nope, not crazy. Go there for the story.




My local news is reporting Chavez-Al Qaeda ties.

Update: They also have footage of Chavez ripping babies from incubators.


Serious Update: I can't find this story *anywhere.* The claim was that Chavez's personal pilot has fled the country since Chavez was making him aid al Qaeda, to whom he had given millions, destroy the U.S. Can anyone find evidence of this story anywhere?

Friedman's dumb article is based on yet another faulty assumption - that unless we do something about Hussein he may control the entire oil supply of the Middle East. That's just bollocks.

Saturday, January 04, 2003

Martin Wisse brings this to our attention (it's a bit old, but I missed it first time around):



Halle Berry, in her role as the sexy superspy Jinx in "Die Another Day," helps James Bond save the world from certain doom. But Ms. Berry may be performing an even more improbable feat as the cover model of the December issue of Cosmopolitan magazine

Ms. Berry became only the fifth black to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan since the magazine began using cover photographs in 1964, and she is the first since Naomi Campbell in 1990. Ms. Berry is evidently one of a tiny cadre of nonwhite celebrities who are deemed to have enough crossover appeal to appear on the cover of mass consumer magazines.


Tom Friedman says it's war about oil. Sorta. But maybe that's okay. Or not.

God I hate that guy.
Talk Left tells us the FBI used an informant to tape phone calls of Governor Ryan.

While politicians aren't above the law, blah blah blah, there's something a bit smelly about that. As Jeralyn says, "[T]o use an undercover ploy to tape a Governor, any Governor, is not a routine matter. "

Crank Watch has a good rundown of l'affair Lott.
Krugman's going to be on This Weak tomorrow. Get ready to unleash your righteous fury bloggers!
Interesting Monstah has been on the bogus "5 Scary Middle Eastern Guys" story since the beginning.

Is it okay to be a bit outraged now? Let's think about what's happened. The administration has apparently made up this story. There is no evidence it happened. No evidence of 5 guys going to Canada. No evidence of 5 guys coming over the Canadian border. No evidence that the 5 guys are connected to each other or terrorism. They mysterious gentlemen are alternatively described as "Arab" or "Middle Eastern" even though one of the photos was of a Pakistani guy who is currently in Pakistan, and all the names appeared to be Pakastani. Bush announced that he personally sent the FBI on a nationwide manhunt for these guys, which one newspaper article described as a 'posse,' and authorities asked the public to help. The public, of course, dutifully responded to his call by calling the police on random people.

Can we count the number of ways this is sick disgusting shit?
Take a look at junior's jacket.

Jeebus.
Chilling forgotten history.
("kitten Kevorkian." haha. No one can beat the horse.)

Upstairs, Downstairs


In fact, the democratic - some might even say proletarian - theme was evident throughout the ball at the World Trade Center: standard tickets were an affordable $40, the guests - about 7,000 of them - had to pass through a metal detector, and there were long lines for the cash bars that were shut down during official speeches. Guests swarmed the tables of hummus and pita, which were ravenously consumed and promptly cleared for good. Because of a shortage of seats - and pita bread - one woman ate her small lump of hummus with a fork, standing up.

Many of those overheard complaining about their growling stomachs declined to discuss it on the record; this was a partisan crowd, after all.

''Would you come to something like this to eat?'' asked Republican National Committeeman Ron Kaufman, wearing a tuxedo and cowboy boots. ''You come to be seen and to talk.''

This inaugural gala, however, was a two-party system.

An escalator ride to the discreet, exclusive Martini Lounge brought a striking change of scenery. Well-heeled guests who ponied up $1,000 or more took in a stunning view of the Boston skyline to the right, and to the left, a plate-glass window allowed them to gaze down on the hoi polloi crammed on the World Trade Center floor. Video and audio from the ground-level stage were piped in to a television monitor in the corner.

Tables were adorned with white-rose centerpieces and flickering votives; seating was plentiful, as was the spread of Middle Eastern hors d'oeuvres. Vodka flowed down the trunk of an elephant-shaped ice sculpture.

Jeanne Kangas, a Republican State Committee member, was impressed.

''It's very creative,'' she said, calling for a refill of her martini. ''This thinking outside the box, it's very similar to what Romney wants to do'' as governor.
HORSEHORSEHORSEHORSE!


(hey, where'd my link go...:( ..hey it's back again!)

Oh man, whore of the year is tough. I thought Margaret Carlson would be a shoo-in.
If Chris Matthews's ratings were the same as Phil Donahue's, or even lower at times, why did Phil get cancelled but not Matthews?

Something to ponder...

The word gay has been hijacked!!! By gay people...er homosexuals!!!

Those bastards!


But I thought the media was liberal on cultural issues! Howie keeps telling me so!


Don Farmer is a retired ABC News political and foreign correspondent and a former CNN news anchor. He can be reached via e-mail at marcodon@aol.com.


UPDATE: Inspired by Jesse, I sent Mr. Farmer an email:



Dear Mr. Farmer,
I remember having a similar experience as your grandson when I was a child. I was reading a book by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, I believe) and was quite disturbed by a particular passage which described how the characters were gleefully "throwing faggots on the fire." I must have been about 9 or maybe 10, but this behavior was quite disturbing to me. It seemed bizarre to me that these otherwise noble and likeable characters would do that to people simply because they were gay, I mean homosexual.

Opening up my dictionary I'm quite shocked to discover that many many words have multiple meanings. Some meanings are apparently "archaic," which I think means that have fallen out of common usage, and some have preferred, secondary, and even tertiary meanings. Some word meanings differ by region within the U.S., and there are even words that mean one thing in the U.S. and something entirely different in the U.K. It's quite fascinating how flexible the English language is, and how quickly it evolves. As a person with a distinguished career in media - including a stint as a foreign correspondent - I'm surprised that this might be new to you. But, I suppose it's nice that there are still new things to learn.

In any case, my mother was also concerned that a word had been 'hijacked' - but her concern was that it had been hijacked by bigots and used as slur. She also wanted to shield me from its bad association and usage - which wasn't with homosexuality per se, but with people who think that it is "bad."

Perhaps the word 'faggot' could be the subject of your next column.

Best regards,


Atrios

The Washington Times, owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon who has declared that America is "Satan's Harvest", and which employees as a writer and Assistant National Editor Robert Stacy McCain , a neo-confederate secessionist racist member of the League of the South, has declared the New York Times the Knave of the Year.

I can think of no higher honor.

Jeebus.

The case of the five vanishing suspects




By the middle of this week, they had starred in hundreds of newspaper and television reports and had been on the lips of everyone from U.S. President George W. Bush to Senator Hilary Clinton, who announced at a press conference that they had entered the United States through Canada.

But yesterday, the FBI admitted that the most important ingredient in the story -- that is, the proof -- is nowhere to be found: "There is no border-crossing information that would say they're here," FBI spokesman Ed Cogswell said. "And to say they came in from Canada is pure speculation."

...

"We don't know if they ever entered the U.S.," Mr. Cogswell said. "And in fact we've never linked these guys to terrorists. Most of what we have here is an unknown, and even with these individuals we don't know if they are true names with those photographs."

"We're chasing rumours," a senior RCMP officer said. "We don't know if these five men were ever in Canada and we certainly have no proof whatsoever that they crossed into the United States either legally or illegally."

Asked what might have triggered the initial FBI allegation about the five Middle Eastern men entering the U.S. from Canada, the Mountie replied caustically: "It was a slow week at the White House. They needed something to stir the pot because nothing was happening in Iraq."


UPDATE: Slacktivist has more. And scroll down for some good Kaus bashing, too.


Remember this? Wonder whatever happened to it..


Bush Set to Fight An Electoral College Loss
By Michael Kramer,

New York Daily News November 1, 2000


Quietly, some of George W. Bush's advisers are preparing for the ultimate "what if" scenario: What happens if Bush wins the popular vote for President, but loses the White House because Al Gore's won the majority of electoral votes?


...

[W]hat if Gore wins such crucial battleground states as Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania and thus captures the magic 270 electoral votes while Bush wins the overall nationwide popular vote?


"The one thing we don't do is roll over," says a Bush aide. "We fight." How? The core of the emerging Bush strategy assumes a popular uprising, stoked by the Bushies themselves, of course.

In league with the campaign - which is preparing talking points about the Electoral College's essential unfairness - a massive talk-radio operation would be encouraged. "We'd have ads, too," says a Bush aide, "and I think you can count on the media to fuel the thing big-time. Even papers that supported Gore might turn against him because the will of the people will have been thwarted."

Local business leaders will be urged to lobby their customers, the clergy will be asked to speak up for the popular will and Team Bush will enlist as many Democrats as possible to scream as loud as they can. "You think 'Democrats for Democracy' would be a catchy term for them?" asks a Bush adviser.


Wonder why they could've expected the media to fuel the thing bigtime. Al Gore couldn't even fuel the notion that they should recount a few votes in Florida,* and he did win the goddamn popular vote.

*Don't bother to tell me they were counted and recounted and recounted again because 18 counties in Florida never recounted them once during the statewide legally mandated automatic machine recount. You wouldn't want to look like a fool or a liar like James Baker now would you?

(thanks for the reminder Thumb)

CNN gossip...


CNN's ratings are in the toilet, but the cable network's on-air talents are looking a lot chirpier these days. According to ticked-off insiders, Teya Ryan - boss Walter Isaacson's number two - has handed down an edict in hope of regaining some ground against front-running Fox News Channel. "She let it be known to all on-air personalities in no uncertain terms that they are to be happy. Everyone has to be happy and chirpy all the time - that's what she thinks viewers want," our mole groused. "Kyra Phillips was on the other day and mentioned the doctors killed in Yemen and she looked like she was saying 'Happy New Year!' " No wonder on-air talents like Garrick Utley, Brooks Jackson, James Hattori, Allan Dodds Frank and Mark Potter were not so broken up when they were handed pink slips yesterday. CNN viewership fell 8 percent to 898,000 while Fox had a 34 percent spike to 1.2 million under the leadership of Roger Ailes. A CNN rep said: "It's completely absurd. Teya has never instructed an anchor to be happy. CNN's journalists always strike the appropriate tone.


The stupider that network gets the lower their ratings go. Hasn't anyone noticed that? Could it have anything to do with this?


Roll Call August 6, 2001


Copyright 2001 Roll Call, Inc.
Roll Call


August 6, 2001

LENGTH: 875 words

HEADLINE: CNN Chief Courts GOP

BYLINE: By John Bresnahan and Mark Preston

BODY:
In an effort to improve his network's image with conservative leaders, new CNNchief Walter Isaacson huddled with House and Senate GOP leaders last week to seek advice on how to attract more right-leaning viewers to the sagging network.

Isaacson met with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), House GOP Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (Okla.), Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to talk about CNN's image with conservatives and how it can be improved.

Isaacson confirmed that he also reached out to senior White House officials, but he denied that he was seeking counsel on how to boost CNN's ratings with conservative viewers.

Interesting profile of J.C. Watts. He's starting to spill the beans a bit more.


When the controversy first broke, Watts fixated on the way Lott was being savaged by liberals and the media. And he identified with him because of it. As the furor has worn on, however, Watts finds himself offended not only by the details of Lott's segregationist-coddling past but also by the posturing of the senator's conservative critics. They are worried, they say, about the impact of Lott's comments on the party's outreach toward African Americans.

What outreach? Watts wonders. For a long time, he says, he has been the only congressional Republican actually doing outreach instead of just talking about it. Outreach? Where have you been for the past eight years? Watts wonders.

Once again, his long-simmering resentment of liberal exploitation of racial issues for political gain is at war with his frustration at his party's tone-deafness and lip service about inclusion. Watts is trying to straddle a fault line that Lott has turned into a chasm.



Saturday Book Recommendations

Sleepwalking Through History by Haynes Johnson. The often ignored history of the Reagan years. It's a shame this guy forgets everything he knows when he goes on the Newshour to be a historian Bobblehead.


cover






The Fifties by David Halberstam. The notion that it was the Fifties that was the real time of social upheaval and not the Sixties is perhaps not so novel, but in a series of short unlinked chapters on a variety of subjects - from the civil rights movement to McDonalds to Levittown to television and youth culture, Halberstam makes clear why and how it really was the pivotal decade.


cover

Adam Felber takes a peak at the Democratic candidates.
Hahaha. This is brilliant.

Friday, January 03, 2003

Thinking it Through has some good stuff up.
Eriposte has set up a comprehensive media bias page.
Peter Arnett buzzsaw history I.

Peter Arnett buzzsaw history II.
Reader BB writes in:


I heard on "Marketplace" on the drive home the director of "The Crooked E," the television-movie made from Brian Kruger's (sp) book on his experiences at Enron, to be shown this Sunday night on CBS (I think). The woman said that the original screen date was November 3, or the Sunday prior to election day. But for reasons of which she had no explanation, she and the producer were told two weeks before the election that the movie would be rescheduled, which disappointed the producer, who hoped that the movie would give voters pause.


Damned liberal media.

Better Rhetor says fire John Ashcroft, as should the all the sanctimonious Lott-bashers.
Edwards proposes to end university legacy admissions.
Haha.


UPDATE: Digby fills this story out correctly.
Check out the 2003 year-in-review, sent from the future.
Anyone in the mood for the 'liberal Rush Limbaugh' (sorry Mike) can listen in here now.

Go read skippy now.
Republicans to give Lott committee chairmanship.

Good for them.

BATF to round up illegal firearms.

Freepers unhappy. Haven't yet come up with link to Clinton.

Senate Report Clears Rubin of Illegality

Duh.
Another horrible segregationist club, Lone Whacko.
An entertaining look at the good old days of the National Review.
Cabbage Hammer advocates nuclear proliferation.


Just the logical implication of 'more guns, less crime.'
Volokh says some interesting things here, but I have a big quibble with this one:


Yes, occasionally the Left does try to get such people fired; it generally fails, because the First Amendment does indeed protect professors who offend blacks as well as those who offend whites.


I'm pretty sure the protection that professors have from being fired is simply something called 'tenure,' combined with employment contracts which give wide latitude to expression under the umbrella of 'academic freedom.'

If Eugene worked for the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe, he could be fired for almost any reason, including one of the partners taking offense to something written in his weblog.
Interview with liberal radio host Randi Rhodes.


RHODES: Oh, I am so glad you asked. I am a ratings and revenue queen. Number 1 or 2 in the ratings usually. So what are the "mainstream" talking about? Well, they say Liberals don't make money because no one wants to hear them. Okay, let's think.

...
BUZZFLASH: Explain the allegations that Rush Limbaugh has stated, that if Clear Channel syndicated your show, he would take his program to another company. Could there be a Democratic or Progressive Rush Limbaugh type personality on the airwaves?

RHODES: Not at Clear Channel.

First, let me tell you where the story came from. I had two meetings with middle managers who both liked me and what I had done for our 'pod'. (At Clear Channel the territories are split up into 'pods'.) In two separate meetings I was told "The Rush story." Additionally, I should never expect to be syndicated by Clear Channel because Rush had said he'd just do what advertisers do. He'd go somewhere else. I was an unknown, he was a known.


You can listen to Randi here.


Religious Right mad at O'Reilly. ha ha ha.
UggaBugga has a fun game for us to play!

Heads roll at CNN


While Utley said it was his decision to leave CNN, five of his peers were axed in recent days. Washington senior correspondent Brooks Jackson, San Francisco-based anchor James Hattori, CNNfn anchor Bruce Francis, CNN financial news senior correspondent Allan Dodds Frank and Miami-based reporter Mark Potter were told their contracts won't be renewed.

"I got the word on Monday that my position is being eliminated," Jackson said.

Prominent CNN national correspondent Bruce Morton, an ex-CBS veteran, is expected to leave when his contract expires this month, CNN sources said.
The Dr. Laura memo.
I've discovered another horrible example of a segregationist club.


This one's for you, Lonewhacko.

Bush Announces Operation Infinite Purity

Outlaws Onanism. Legalizes Clitoridectomies.

Someone should tell the Virgin Ben. Quick.


Thursday, January 02, 2003

Eric Boehlert demolishes Time and some poll myths.
Krugman draws a questionable moral equivalence between Kim Jong Il and Bart Simpson.

Well, not really. But it's a good column.
Haha. This is actually funny.



As is its source.

Readers hate Boondocks.

Apparently it makes it hard for some of them to be "tolerant."


(some like it, too. via Charles Kuffner.)
Sara sez:



Well, I was at the Memorial -- it was advertised, by the way, as a Memorial Rally not a Memorial Service. I did not boo -- but when Lott showed up I did a small thumbs down. (got my wish it turns out)!!!

Everyone is missing the essence of who Paul was, and how he became successful at Electoral Politics. It all began when he was in Grad School and adopted as one mentor Myles Horton, founder of Highlander Folkschool (Great 2 hour PBS interview by Bill Moyers with Horton is available). Horton's roots went back to Jane Addams and John Dewey and he applied those ideas to creating in the South an adult education school focused on Labor Organizing, then in the 40's Civil Rights, and come the late 60's the environment. Paul modeled his own college teaching career on Horton's example -- for 20 years there was not a progressive movement or event in Minnesota where Paul and his students were not engaged. That created one hell of a network, especially since as each little movement came to fruition, Paul invited them into the DFL. It was on that base that he ran for Senate in 1990. We had no money, and the elite in the party never thought we could win -- but guess what? Networked Progressive Movements can offset big bucks in some circumstances.

When Paul, Sheila, Marcia and the traveling staff died in that plane crash it was the demise of a life work and not just a candidacy -- and the 20 thousand people who stood in line to get into Williams Arena that day were not looking for spiritual uplift. They wanted to remember all the times, and they wanted to shout at the heavens about their pain.

Minnesotans know that it was Hubert Humphrey who forced the Democratic Party to reverse its stand on States' Rights and take up the call of Human Rights -- and he did it most publicly at the National Democratic Convention in Philadelphia in 1948. That act was the cause of Strom Thurmond's leading the States' Rights party in the 48 election -- and while Hubert had to talk for 16 years before most of the Civil Rights he stood for became law -- he did it. Paul Wellstone was his heir. Of course people in the Arena knew Lott was CCC and KKK and all the rest. When he walked in, that was the undercurrent of discussion all around me. "How dare he come here" was the comment. You need to know that we also had been offered VP Cheney for the event, and we had uninvited him because we were unwilling to put up metal detectors and wand everyone, and let the Secret Service run the Memorial. Locally the press reported some of these matters -- but the whole story of how the Republicans tried to upset the Memorial has hardly been told. For instance, in one parking area some of Coleman's little boys went round slapping Coleman bumper stickers on cars in camera range. We got the cops to paste plain paper over them. Everything was edgy -- and Lott was simply too much to take.

Rick Kahn has had to take a huge amount of responsibility for well intentioned bad judgment. He was one of Paul's students in the late 80's who took on the thankless job of being Campaign Treasurer at a time when that was a thin checkbook, and the Wellstone office was a rented broom closet in a center where we kept the phone, the answering machine, and the Apple Computer on which we formatted the early campaign literature. Two nights a week we were entitled, given our mini rent, to haul out the campaign into an office where we could do phone organizing. I organized a Congressional District for Paul -- and I did it from my dining room table, because the office was too small. Kahn simply is a young man who invested more than 14 years of his life in Wellstone -- never got called on a Campaign Finance Error, and who was beyond devastated. I wish some folk would comprehend him.

Those of us who worked over the years to keep Wellstone out there as a National Figure know we can't replace Paul. What we have to work on now is rebuilding in many states the kind of progressive network that made it possible for Paul Wellstone and Sheila to serve. Part of that is being real and human and shouting at the heavens when things crash.


I say, as I have always said, anyone who pissed on a man's grave and trashed his family and closest friends in the middle of their grieving is beneath contempt. Disgusting, hideous, insults to human decency.

What's wrong with the left on the internet?

Simple:

Newsmax? Gets money.

Townhall.com? Gets money. (do you think think they actually pay the Virgin Ben? Jeebus - someone call Barbra Streisand and get her to write checks to Jesse and Matthew Yglesias and Eric)

WorldnetDaily? Gets money.

Buzzflash? Reader Donations.

Smirking Chimp? Reader Donations.

The Hamster? Reader Donations.

MediaWhoresOnline? Presumably self-financed, but admitttedly unknown.

Bartcop? Reader donations.

Atrios? Reader donations.


That isn't a plea for money, believe it or not. I'm just saying that the Left on the internet is an all volunteer effort. That isn't all bad, but a corollary to the no money is no coordination. No secret messages from Sidney Blumenthal.

Take a bow, Mr. Jones


I was touched -- deeply touched! -- by Luke Benson's cry of anguish over how the liberal media prevent conservative voices from being heard in this country ("Liberals, media have all but ignored Lott's apology for his remarks," Dec. 26).

In fact, I am deeply touched many, many times each day by the silencing of the right in this great nation of ours.

I weep as Rush Limbaugh describes, on the hundreds of radio stations that carry his show, the ruthless suppression of the conservative viewpoint by "liberal wackos" and "femi-Nazis."

My heart bleeds when I read the same lament in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, our nation's most prestigious financial publication, and when I hear it on the up-and-coming Fox News cable channel, or on one of the countless radio talk shows hosted by the little Limbaughs.

I rend my garments when the Voice of the Times, deep in the heart of the Daily News, bemoans the stifling of the conservative voice.

Yes, if I've heard it once, I've heard it a million times: Conservative views can't get a fair hearing because of the machinations, the bias, the dishonesty and the mind control of the liberal media.

With so many saying it, who can doubt it?

Think about it!

-- Stan Jones
Eagle River



There are plenty of (presumed) candidates for the democratic spot on the '04 ticket whose candidacy I consider silly. Though for all of them, except one, that view is at least slightly debatable.

Well, at least he had the good sense to step down as Leader.
It's the Bloggies!
Nassau County obviously not ready for self-government.
Eric Alterman demonstrates once again that conservatives are humor impaired.
Derbyshire is giving in to despair. Lesbians and single black women having babies! The horror!


Had Derbyshire said a "single woman" we could have taken this as a comment on traditional family structure, yadda yadda yadda. But, he had to note she was black as well. Why? Duh.

(via Oliver)
The Hamster has returned. And, apparently he's only 5 years old or something.
My spider sense tells me Jay Reding is talking about me. Anyone wanna go see what he's on about?
Some people both in comments and in email have questioned whether Ward Connerly got a bum rap from Bob Herbert. Here's David Frum's "defense."

I don't think Herbert gave him a bum rap at all. And I have another reason to think David Frum is an idiot.
Margaret Carlson definitely won the Pundit Outrage of the Year. I didn't write anything about it because as Neal Pollack once wrote,* her statement was "so beneath contempt that I can barely muster the energy to write 1,000 furious words about them." Fortunately, Bob Somerby slices and dices her for me.

*In his case, about Al Gore.
CalPundit takes on OxBlog over North Korea. Bonus points for Argumentum ad Jedi!

UPDATE: As Davey notes in the comments, Kevin Drum should be ashamed of himself for suggesting a moral equivalence between George Bush and the Emperor in Star Wars!

This is ambulance chasing?


In 1993, a five-year-old girl named Valerie Lakey had been playing in a Wake County, N.C., wading pool when she became caught in an uncovered drain so forcefully that the suction pulled out most of her intestines. She survived but for the rest of her life will need to be hooked up to feeding tubes for 12 hours each night. Edwards filed suit on the Lakeys' behalf against Sta-Rite Industries, the Wisconsin corporation that manufactured the drain. Attorneys describe his handling of the case as a virtuoso example of a trial layer bringing a negligent corporation to heel. Sta-Rite offered the Lakeys $100,000 to settle the case. Edwards passed. Before trial, he discovered that 12 other children had suffered similar injuries from Sta-Rite drains. The company raised its offer to $1.25 million. Two weeks into the trial, they upped the figure to $8.5 million. Edwards declined the offer and asked for their insurance policy limit of $22.5 million. The day before the trial resumed from Christmas break, Sta-Rite countered with $17.5 million. Again, Edwards said no. On January 10, 1997, lawyers from across the state packed the courtroom to hear Edwards' closing argument, "the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen," recalls Dayton. Three days later, the jury found Sta-Rite guilty and liable for $25 million in economic damages (by state law, punitive damages could have tripled that amount). The company immediately settled for $25 million, the largest verdict in state history. For their part, Edwards and Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service.

You like me! You really like me!

Congrats to all the winners!

And, thanks to Dwight for taking a fun idea and actually putting a lot of effort into it.
Ah, could someone who knows something about HTML explain why the blockquote tag doesn't seem to work in some browsers?

Okay..now I get it. Could someone suggest a more universal way of indenting text?
Society, culture, the institution of marriage, family, and all that is good in the world has likely been totally destroyed by this.

Jeebus help us. Before it is too late.

K. Lo gives us her favorite examples of liberal media bias.


What always amuses me about the Corner is how the other residents of that insane asylum treat her as if she were a very special child and she never seems to notice.
The righteousness of all things is now judged by the blowjob standard. Unsurprisingly, Ward Connerly thinks nothing can be worse.


I am delighted that Lott was forced to remove himself from consideration as Senate Majority Leader. But, it is truly a measure of our misplaced priorities and values when a statement made at a birthday party that might be interpreted as an endorsement of racial segregation can overwhelm issues of war and peace. For making such a statement, one gets the political death penalty. But, for having sexual liaisons in the Oval Office — and lying about it — one gets invited to give speeches all around the globe and receive speaking fees in excess of $100,000 per engagement.
Yesterday an Isuzu SUV rolled over after its tire blew. Two passengers were killed. Another 4 survived due perhaps, in part, to the help of Senator Frist who was at the scene.


Given Frist's support of "tort reform" and his votes to cap punitive damages on product liability, the surviving 4 passengers likely would have preferred that John Edwards was at the scene.
Digby tells Peggy Noonan it's time to apologize.

UPDATE: Leah A., who also needs her own blog, says:


Yes indeed, the mighty Wurlitzer was on the job on this one, and it wasn't just the usual idiots. So august a conservative as Christopher Caldwell, you know, the good conservative whom TAPPED is always TAPPING on the back for his excellent writing and excellent fairness, was right in there, banging out dissonance; that's my polite word for LIES.

Even more than Noonan, who contented herself with using the good, though mis-guided Wellstone to club the mourning family and friends left behind, Caldwell implicated Wellstone himself in all the badness going on; it was emblematic, don't you know, of who Wellstone really was at heart, which Caldwell knew for sure, using that lazar eye all conservatives come equipped with that can penetrate through flesh and bone to see the real person; his unique discover - Wellstone was a phony, though a phony who didn't know he was a phony.

For instance, Caldwell claimed, there was no interest at the memoria in any of the people who died with Paul, the eulogies were only about the Senator. As Wellstone had lived, Caldwell pointed out, so had he died; after all, Wellstone's constituency was limited to left-leaning college professors (I swear to God that's what Caldwell wrote)

One problem with this analysis; as we all know, there was a long separate eulogy for each of the passengers who died in that plane. For heaven's sake, two of them were Sheila Wellstone, Paul's wife, and Marsha, his daughter. Was Caldwell trying to say Wellstone, his family and friends didn't care about them either?

Of course he wasn't. The truth is that Caldwell isn't much better than any of the contemporary right, and every bit as prone to lie. Clearly, he hadn't seen five minutes of the memorial, or made any attempt to read any accounts from neutral sources, or made any attempt to contact anyone actually there, or anyone responsible for putting on the memorial. Why bother with tiresome, and potentially troublesome facts when you are in possession of the truth, by definition. Oh sure, Caldwell's up for the occassional attack on an Anne Coulter; she's a genuine embarrassment. The question I have for Caldwell: jeepers creepers, why aren't you embarrassed by Peggy Noonan? Hell's bells, why aren't you embarrassed by yourself?

Someone, (digby, atrios) should do the same kind of job on Caldwell on the memorial that digby did so beautifully today on Noonan. Please.



(um, I think you just did)

Wednesday, January 01, 2003

Orange County, CA isn't quite what people think it is.

It can produce Bob Dornan, Pejman Pundit, Ann Salisbury, and CalPundit.

My Plea For the New Year

Partisan hacks should admit to being partisan hacks.


I am one!

So, cut the crap the rest of you.

The Twins Cruise Report


My best friend's son was on this cruise. He's a huge Bush fan but was extremely disappointed in the conduct of the twins. He said that all they did was drink. He met Jeb's son George and thought he was just terrific. I guess the family mingled like normal folk though surrounded by Secret Service.


They're legal now, so good for them!

Cheers!
I'm sure Mrs. Atrios would be the first to tell Jeff Jarvis that I lack the necessary beauty that telegenic pundits such as Robert Novak and Jonah Goldberg possess. I have a feeling Josh Marshall could be okay, as long as we get the scruffy unshaven pissed off looking Josh Marshall from the website and not the rather frustratingly supine (and too well groomed) Josh Marshall we see when he pays that toad Howie Kurtz a visit.

As for radio, Mike Malloy is very good at what he does. Randi Rhodes and Nancy Skinner are also quite good. Malloy doesn't quite have TV down yet, though Nancy is pretty good.

Anyway, the point is there is some talent out there - in media and in existing organizations. It just needs coordination, cultivation, and above all financial support.

The Right has numerous transmitters - people who can sidestep the "mainstream media" and blast stories, talking points, and information out to a mass audience and ensure the rest of the media will dutifully parrot it. And, of course, Fox News as well. The Left doesn't have this at all. This is where Bloggers may play a role. But, even then - if a tree falls in a forest... until the media takes its cues from liberal bloggers, as it currently does from conservative ones to some degree, we can't be very optimistic about the power of our Blogs.
Damn. Digby has a blog - now where am I going to get all my best stuff?
Ailes notes the Mugger is an idiot.
Now I'm pissed. Google demoted me. I used to be "7/10" on their page rank system, now I'm back down to "6/10."
Conason's good today.
In comments below Reynolds says:



Actually, Josh and I emailed about this almost the minute it was posted. He wanted to be sure I realized he was quoting someone. I said yes, but your post says they're right. And I offered to change the post if he thought I was unfair.

He said no, but I nonetheless added a line making clear that he was quoting someone.

If I've learned anything, it's that people who call me a "conservative asshole" generally don't bring much to the argument.




To which I respond:


Nor do people who say that people who are against war in Iraq are objectively pro-Hussein.

In any case, agreeing with what he quoted in which a comparison was made between the situations at Ruby Ridge and North Korea is not the same thing as stating (or meaning) that there is a moral equivalence between Ruby Ridge and North Korea. But,you know that.





This inspires confidence.


dd LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- A Pakistani jeweler said Wednesday his picture is among those of five suspects who the FBI says may have entered the United States on falsified passports. The man said he has never visited the United States.


Though it is amusing sometimes in the end I find any discussion of "Who is Atrios?"* rather silly - at least silly if people actually care. I mean, who is Ted Barlow? Well, he's some guy from Texas who has a weblog. Who is Oliver Willis? Some guy in Boston who runs a weblog. Who am I? Some guy in Philadelphia who runs a weblog. If this were "Eschaton, by Bob Smith" people would say "oh, that Bob Smith is some guy in Philadelphia who runs a weblog." End of story.

Being anonymous raises the question of whether I am "somebody" - which I think means somebody in politics or media outside of this weblog. And, I've said many times I'm not. I've never worked in journalism in any way (well, okay I was briefly an intern in high school for a tiny local rag...) and I've never been involved in politics. I don't receive secret messages from the DNC or Sid Blumenthal (though I'm open to it!) nor, sadly, do I receive any money. But, even if you knew my name you wouldn't have any idea if that last claim were true, any more than you know whether Glenn Reynolds is paid by Grover Norquist.



*Deliberate stupid Ayn Rand reference




Speaking of Gene Lyons

Here's today's column. Arkansas readers aren't allowed to read unless you get the paper, so close your eyes:


The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk

Everybody remembers the slapstick scene at the end where Bill Clinton's pants fell down. But now that it's receeding into history, it'd be surprising to find one American in ten who can recall exactly what Kenneth Starr's ballyhooed Whitewater investigation was alleged to be all about. It simply defies credibility that the United States government frittered away $60 million and squandered the energies of upwards of 100 FBI agents for seven years investigating a failed $200,000 dirt road real estate project before admitting it found no credible evidence of wrongdoing by President Clinton or his wife Hillary.

According to Susan McDougal's engrossing, often funny new book The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk, she did her best to warn Starr's investigators that they'd embarked on a fool's errand. She describes a March, 1995, meeting during which OIC prosecutors made it clear that all she needed to do to secure a grant of immunity was to drop a dime on the President.The problem was, she kept telling them, that "I didn't know of anything the Clintons had done that was even remotely illegal."

She remembers thinking "what a dumb system...there was no obvious way to prevent a guilty person from simply telling grandiose lies against another person - one who might well be innocent - in order to save his own skin."

Unfortunately, the whole system turns upon the competence and integrity of prosecutors, and the abstemious Mr. Starr turned out not to have any. It still drives her crazy that "despite abundant evidence to the contrary, [Starr] is almost always described as an honest man, indeed as a man of real integrity." She speculates that her pious antagonist got the benefit of the doubt from the press simply "because he was so quick to assure us over and over or his reputation for honesty. Whether comparing himself to Joe Friday or quoting scripture, Starr made sure to constantly talk about his integrity....[But] the simple truth is that Kenneth Starr had absolutely no compunctions about telling outright lies if they suited his purposes."

True to her generous nature, McDougal doesn't quite grasp how deeply the Washington press establishment had bought into the Whitewater delusion, nor how willing it was to abandon its own ethical standards in the quest to bring down a Democratic president. Shoot, she's still upset that lazy journalists bought into the premise that "Madison Guaranty [Savings & Loan] was a criminal enterprise," smearing many innocent, hardworking employees, although virtually all of the real crimes Starr's team found centered around their star witness, embezzler David Hale.

She ought to read Susan Schmidt and Michael Weisskopf's book Truth at Any Cost. They blame the entire state. In darkest Arkansas, see, Starr "was up against an infernal system...everything seemed geared to protect the former governor and his wife - from the local courts and prosecutor's offices to the federal judiciary." Infernal, no less, which my dictionary defines as "of or relating to hell."

Schmidt glorified Starr for the Washington Post; Weisskopf for Time. Having staked their careers on OIC leaks, their book is the journalistic equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages come to identify with their captors. But they did get one thing half right: "Exhibit A" in their explanation of why Starr failed to bring indictments against the Clinton "crime family," for example, is Susan McDougal. "Clinton," the authors contend "would not ask her to break her silence. She never talked."

In reality, of course, Susan did testify for several days during her 1999 criminal contempt trial, and was cross-examined by OIC prosecutors more than a year before Truth at Any Cost was published. Her account of that trial, and the deep satisfaction it gave her to confront Starr's bully boy prosecutors in open court, as opposed to a grand jury room where prosecutors have virtually unlimited power, makes a satisfying conclusion to a deeply humane account of one woman's unlikely heroism.

But it was, indeed, McDougal's dignity and courage that brought Starr's operation to a standstill. She served 18 months in jail on a civil contempt citation imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright because she refused to testify before a federal grand jury.

Starr's attempt to add criminal contempt charges failed when the trial jury deadlocked in favor of acquittal and a mistrial was declared. The jury found her innocent of an obstruction of justice charge, apparently because she convinced jurors of what she'd realized three years earlier when, after convicting her of crimes she insists they knew she hadn't committed, OIC prosecutors paraded her in chains before a national TV audience: They had never been interested in the truth, only in getting the Clintons.

Maybe exhibiting her like Hannibal Lecter wasn't the dumbest thing Starr ever did. He did so many dumb things. But in retrospect, the image of Susan McDougal in her simple checked skirt and black stockings, draped in shackles and shuffling off to prison with her chin held high, told millions of Americans all they needed to know about the prissy Torquemada who ordered it done.


You can buy Susan's book here.