Viva la France!

Bush covets the French flag while travelling on his French-Canadian bus.


(source)


(thanks to reader k)

Good News, For Now

Anti-gay amendment fails to pass Kansas House.

Bush Hates Veterans

Link:

At least one person who said he waited patiently in line came away empty handed.

Bill Ward, of Dubuque, said he arrived at about 7:30 a.m., and waited an hour. When it came time to show his identification, Ward said he was asked if he supported Bush in 2000.

"I said I didn't vote for him then and I won't vote for him now," Ward said.

Saying he is a World War II veteran who served in Germany and France, Ward is strongly critical of the war in Iraq.

'The only thing I wanted to do was get down to the riverfront and ask Bush some questions," he said.

Ward's lack of support for the president apparently was his undoing.

"They asked some girl to escort me out and I told them I don't need to be escorted out," Wards said. "I'm a veteran of World War II."

Just Wait

Chris Geidner has some fun with Jeffrey Rosen, one of those who keeps warning gay activists that they'd better get to the back of the bus before there's a backlash. In truth, there has been a legislative backlash, but that just shows how captive the Republican party is (in particular, the state organizations) to the Christian Right. But, a reasonable chunk of people who are against gay marriage and similar just don't think it's particularly important. It just isn't the big of a political issue. In fact, I believe the best thing they could do is turn the '04 GOP convention into a HomoHateAThon. Bring it on, I say, and say goodbye to the GOP for a couple years.

Just Bizarre

I understand that the Bushies want the campaign narrative to be Commander Codpiece Kills the Terra Ists, but even so what freakin' moron in that campaign decided to name a campaign tour the "Winning the War On Terror Campaign Tour." Are these people on crack? And, then, after releasing that tidbit to the media several times, what freakin' moron decided to then rename it to the Yes, America Can Tour.

Powell

Slapnose brings us this interesting new GQ article on Powell, etc... in which we learn that Condi Rice lies, among other things.

The more I spoke with Wilkerson, the more I understood why Powell's staff had gone to such lengths to set up my interview with him, reminding me that anything Wilkerson said was the same as hearing it from Powell. But if Wilkerson was going to be Powell's voice, if he was going to say the things that Powell wouldn't or couldn't, there was one question I still needed him to answer. Before I left, I wanted a sense of Powell's plans for the future. I was wary of how to phrase the question, though. It seemed safe to assume that Wilkerson had not been dispatched to announce the end of Powell's career in this article, at this particular moment, and if I asked him outright whether or not Powell was planning to quit, I could put him on the spot. He might wind up saying, as Powell did, "I never speculate on that" or "He hasn't announced a decision." So I phrased the question differently.

"Being inside the building," I said, "is there as much expectation that this will be the end of Powell's tenure as there is outside the building?"

Eight long seconds of silence.

"Um," Wilkerson said, "I've known him for fifteen years...."

I nodded.

"My considered opinion is that he is..." His voice trailed off. "He's tired. Mentally and physically. And if the president were to ask him to stay on—if the president is reelected and the president were to ask him to stay on, he might for a transitional period, but I don't think he'd want to do another four years."

Wilkerson fell silent again.

"He seems tired," he said.

Moon

Oy.

He's Fucking Dead

Interesting column on Pat Tillman's memorial service. It's a shame our media is always desperate to force all heroes conform to the standard cartoon script, instead of letting them just be human.

Pollacky Goodness

Don't forget to check in with Neal Pollack, who apparently is planning to storm the Air America studios tonight and force Sam and Janeane to have him on as a guest on the Majority Report so he can rail against the Sexual McCarthyites on the Left who exposed his Teabagging Scandal.

Bush Bus Tour Fraud

This is pretty unbelievable. Bush is flying, and not taking the bus. The questions from the audiences are planted.

Discourse Monopoly

One of the things I've noticed about conservative pundits and bloggers since doing this is that for some reason they seem to truly believe that only they should have standing to express their opinions. Here's another example from the blogger who must not be named:


In other words, "John Kerry deserves criticism for what he's saying even though I agree with everything he says."

...Shorter He Who Must Not Be Named:

The anal rape of juvenile prisoners in Iraq is justified because it serves as a powerful warning to Kim Jong Il.

I think we're reaching the end, here, frankly.

Cheap Ads

The number of ads on the right hand strip has declined, so honoring the Gods of Supply and Demand I've lowered prices. Place your ad now before prices go up again!

Marshall on the Bush Neocons

This is about right:

In the popular political imagination we're familiar with the neocons as conniving militarists, masters of intrigue and cabals, graspers for the oil supplies of the world, and all the rest. But here we have them in what I suspect is the truest light: as college kid rubes who head out for a weekend in Vegas, get scammed out of their money by a two-bit hustler on the first night and then get played for fools by a couple hookers who leave them naked and handcuffed to their hotel beds.

And just think, it's on your dime and with your nation's honor -- what an added benefit.

Look, the Onion accurately portrayed the level of thinking of these "deep thinking grownups" who were "realists" and who were "more serious about the realities of the post-9/11 world" than us silly people who were "stuck in a 9/10 world." Or whatever:

No It Won't"

By Bob Sheffer

No it won't.

It just won't. None of that will happen.

You're getting worked up over nothing. Everything is going to be fine. So just relax, okay? You're really overreacting.

"This war will not put an end to anti-Americanism; it will fan the flames of hatred even higher"?

It won't.

"It will harden the resolve of Arab states to drive out all Western (i.e. U.S.) influence"?

Not really.

"A war against Iraq is not only morally wrong, it will be an unmitigated disaster"?

Sorry, no, I disagree.

"To take over a country and impose one's own system of government without regard for the people of that country is the very antithesis of democracy"?

You are completely wrong.

Trust me, it's all going to work out perfect. Nothing bad is going to happen. It's all under control.

Why do you keep saying these things? I can tell when there's trouble looming, and I really don't sense that right now. We're in control of this situation, and we know what we're doing. So stop being so pessimistic.

Look, you've been proven wrong, so stop talking. You've had your say already.

Be quiet, okay? Everything's fine.

You're wrong.

That's the level of rhetoric we've been hearing from these idiots since they got into office. And, now, thousands are dead because they got conned by a 2-bit hustler.

Worst. Administration. Ever.

Why Does George Will Hate America?

Wow, they're even losing him.

Morons

God. Worst. Administration. Ever.

Radio Free Sisyphus

Julia from Sisyphus Shrugged will be on Air America shortly. Right after Fat Mike of NOFX and Chris Schifflet of the Foo Fighters. (both of punkvoter.com)


...you can listen to NOFX's Idiot Son of an Asshole here (replaced with more "official" version).

Rule of Law

Something tells me that Bill Thomas isn't going to make good on his promise:

WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials were wrong to prevent a budget expert from giving Congress estimates of the cost of Medicare legislation, congressional researchers have concluded.

In a report made public Monday, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said efforts to keep Richard Foster, the chief Medicare actuary, from giving Democratic lawmakers his projections of the bill's cost — $100 billion more than the president and other officials were acknowledging — probably violated federal law.

Recent estimates set the bill's cost at more than $500 billion.

Foster testified in March that he was prevented by then-Medicare administrator Thomas Scully from turning over information over to lawmakers. Scully, in a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, said he had told Foster "that I, as his supervisor, would decide when he would communicate with Congress."

Congressional researchers chided the move. "Such 'gag orders' have been expressly prohibited by federal law since 1912," Jack Maskell, a CRS attorney, wrote in the report.

The report was requested by committee Democrats after majority Republicans refused to subpoena Scully and White House adviser Doug Badger to testify about their roles in keeping cost estimates from lawmakers.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., the committee chairman, said he would be willing to issue subpoenas if laws had been broken.

A spokesman for Thomas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

...the Bloggers at the DCCC are a bit less pessimistic than I am.

Arlen Specter Controls Your Uterus

Watch Arlen Specter announce his intentions to help hustle Bush's anti-choice judges onto the Supreme court.

Be very afraid.

And, then give to the Hoeffel campaign.

Cranking Up The Draft Noise

Link:

WASHINGTON - The chief of the U.S. Selective Service System has proposed registering women for the military draft and requiring that young Americans regularly inform the government about whether they have training in niche specialties needed in the armed services.

The proposal, which the agency's acting director Lewis Brodsky presented to senior Pentagon officials just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, also seeks to extend the age of draft registration to 34, up from 25.

Open Thread

Chat away.