How Dare She Maybe Have Changed Her Mind... Possibly

This post from a conservative blogger (found via this post by kos) underscores the insanity around the whole Cindy Sheehan smear campaign. There's actually a lot of issues brougt up in this post, but this is the one that's been bothering me the most all week.

There are so many side issues of shamelessness and crass opportunism in this story it makes my head spin. Think about the gall of a political and media machine "accusing" a private citizen of changing her mind (imagine that!) about an elected and supposedly accountable public official. When did a private citizen supposedly changing her opinion about something rise to the same level as a flip-flop about firing anyone involved in the leaking a CIA agent's name? At what point did the ability to change one's mind about a politician become something to be ridiculed and accused of instead of cherished as a basic right? And it's not as if in the past year we haven't learned anything about the pre-war manipulation of intelligence, as well as the incompetent planning, that resulted in the death of Cindy Sheehan's son and thousands of others like him.

I don't know about you, but the fact that accusing someone who's gone through such a tragic even of having changed her mind about such a complicated issue as the war is a "smear" is just disgusting. Seriously, since when is changing your mind a capital fucking offence? This is a serious issue, lets face it, a lot has changed since the begining of the war, including THE REASON FOR THE FUCKING WAR! If you supported the war on April 4 2004 (the day Casey Sheehan was killed), you'd have to be either crazy or corrupt or have the IQ of blue cheese to support it in August, 2005.

Of course, all of this big hub-bub completely ignores the fact that she has been consistant since day one.

Sinking Ship.

Abramoff's ship is sinking.

It won't be long before the rats start fleeing.

Who wants to place bets as to who will be frog-marched out of the capitol first?

They Are Scared Shitless

Check out the title of this story: The Globe and Mail: Bush ducks mother of dead soldier

Yesterday, Mr. Bush felt obliged to respond himself. "She feels strongly about her position and she has every right in the world to say what she believes," Mr. Bush told a news conference. "And I thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is: Get out of Iraq now. And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so."

Mr. Bush said he grieves for every death in Iraq. "It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel about the death that takes place."

Yet there was no sign Mr. Bush intends to meet Ms. Sheehan. In fact, there were reports he is travelling solely by helicopter when he leaves the ranch in an effort to avoid racing past the protester in a limousine.

"The President says he feels compassion for me," Ms. Sheehan said, "but the best way to show that compassion is by meeting with me and the other mothers and families who are here.

"All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his five-week vacation to talk to us before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."

Bush talks a big game about supporting the troops. But what does that mean? Really? What does it mean to support the troops?

A part of that would be supplying our toops with the equipment necessary to complete their mission. He hasn't done that.

Another part of that would be to sit down with a greiving mother of a soldier who was killed in action, and explain to her what exactly her son died for. Answer her questions. Wipe her tears. Look her in the eye and say "We had no choice but to go to war because..." and try to figure out some damn reason. Hell, at least don't avoid her by helicoptering in and out of your compound.

The point is, you can say "He's the president, and he doesn't have to meet with every lowly greiving mother who feels they sacrificed their son for an unjust war. He's a busy man. He's got lots of putting and bike riding to do". Fine. You can make that argument. But don't say he supports the troops. Support requires action, not just lip service.

In Defense of Internment

Tbogg makes an important point. Lets not let our concern for Michelle Malkin get in the way of our duty to protect this nation.

Morrisey... Fucker

As the godfather of emo, there's a special place in hell reserved for Morriesy.

But, on the other hand, he did get the New York Dolls back together. And he's got really good hair. I just can't hate the cunt.

Tomorrow night, New York Dolls at the Starland Ballroom.

If you're anywhere near central Jersey, for $20 you can't lose. Last time I saw them it was pretty much all the first album. Lets hope we get It's Too Late, Babylon, I'm A Human Being, maybe even Red Patent Leather.

I just don't feel worthy of going to see the Dolls, man. I don't have good enough pants!

Anderson Cooper - Closet... Hipster?

In the lead up to the story on Scientology today, before the break, they were playing Televison's See No Evil.

I don't watch this show much. Does he always play Television in the background?

BTW, the actual story is pretty creepy, talking about a private Scientologist K-8 grade school, The Delphian School (more info here). Now, as a survivor of 12 years of Catholic school, I have to say flat out that I am against religious schools of all kinds, but hey, at least if you get shipped off to Scientology central you'll have the chance to see John Travolta at parent-teacher night.

"Oh, oh, Mr Kotter! Mr Kotter!"

If A Blog Falls In The Forest...

You know, the two rules of writing are to write what you know, and to write to your audience. Of course, those are often incompatible. It's hard to know if your audience has any interest in what you know. Then on the other hand, you have blogs like this, where, lets face it, odds are no one's going to read this. So who do you write to? What do you write about? What kind of tone do you use, what references are acceptable? And most importantly, does it even fucking matter?

Well, It'll Be An Interesting Election Season...

Katherine Harris is in.

Too bad she doesn't have Katherine Harris to fix the votes for her.

Earth Sweet Earth

Looks like the Shuttle made it back safely.

It might seem a bit obvious to say this, but it seems to me that space is dangerous. Getting into and out of it especially so. And maybe it's time we had a serious national dialouge as to whether it's worth the risks. It seems to me that it is.

It seems kind of trite to say we should go because we can, but hell, maybe that's enough. It's a vital part of the human sprit that we push the boundries of our habitat. It's an instinct that has had notably positive and negative ramificaitons over the centuries, but it has never been surpressed. And while we should certianly do everything we can to make sure that these shuttle flights are safe, these astronauts are adults who have weighed the risks and know exactly what they're getting into. We are learning new things every minute we are in space. If nothing else it has been an exercise in international cooperation that surely has had real world rewards.

But I think the most complelling reason, for me at least is the one with the least logical reasoning behind it. We should keep pushing into space because, well, it's SPACE, man! I know that we have problems here on earth that need to be taken care of but look at what we spend on NASA. $16.2 Billion a year.

We're currently spending $1 Billion a week in Iraq, accourding to the GAO.

I'm just saying that maybe if we ordered our priorities a little better, we could reach for the stars without being cut off at the knees.

GOP Thugs - Montana Edition

Stolen from Crooks and Liars :

It seems Montana Senator Conrad Burns has been caught cozying up to
ultra-corrupt Jack Abramoff. Abramoff has funneled thousands of dollars into Burns' coffers.
This guy's up to his neck in dirt. So the Montana Democratic Party has put
together some commercials that tie these two pigs together at the same trough.
How do the Republicans respond?

By trying to reasonably dispute the facts of the case? Nope. By sending out press releases that contain exculpatory evidence? Not even close. By threatening to sue the television stations that broadcast this admittedly partisan but still factual add? You betcha.

Your station must not allow itself to be used in this
way. Under Columbia roadcasting System, 412 U.S. 94 (1973), and its progeny,
and Federal Communication Commission precedents, your station is not obligated
to air any advertisements from the MDP. See National Conservative Political
Action mm., 89 FCC2d 626 (1982). These precedents hold that third-party
spenders such as MDP do not have a guaranteed right of access to air their
advertisements on your station. In fact, if your station does not stop
airing this advertisement after gaining knowledge that it contains false and
misleading statements, you are subjecting your station to potential
liability. See 47 U.S.C. § 315 (providing immunity to stations for
statements made in legally qualified candidate ads, but not extending such
protections to third-party ads).

Attached to this letter is an annotated script for the advertisement
highlighting the false and misleading statements contained in the MDP
advertisement. Since the MDP advertisement contains false and misleading
statements, we hereby demand that your station stop airing this advertisement
immediately. If you are unwilling to do so, we reserve the right to pursue any
appropriate legal action and request an explanation of the basis of your
decision in law or station policy

Thugs. These guys are splitting hairs of a "I did not have sex with that woman" proportion (Kos explains the details), and are resorting mafia-style intimidation to keep this add off the air. Seems to me they tried this before (don't have time to google it right now) . Remember that these adds are correct. That's important to keep in mind. This guy is intimately tied to one of the most corrupt figures in American politics since the god-damned teapot domescandale. But because they think this guy is clean on a technicality, then they're going to bully every media outlet in and around Montana to keep theseallegationss hushed.

As far as I'm concerned, two can play at this game. This is a new tactic the right is using. Don't get me wrong, these guys have never been above resorting to schoolyard bully tactics when they don't get their way, but just recently have they begun threatening media outlets who run FACTUALLY CORRECT adds.

The gloves are off. Lets see them try to swift boat another Democrat. Two can play at this game. Lets see how well their slime holds up to this kind of scrutiny

A Bigger Bang

Speaking of the Stones, hey, check out the 3 new Stones tunes .

Back Of My Hand? Great blues, sounds a lot like Keith's version of Still A Fool on Hubert Sumlin's "About Them Shoes"

Rough Justice? Everything a Rolling Stones song should be. Great Keith riff, Jagger vocals, Ronnie on slide, and Charlie Watts, still the swingingest drummer in Rock and Roll.

Streets of Love? Er.. the ballad.

Anyway, don't worry. The boys are back.

"Kablam"

Just getting started on this whole blogging thing, but got hit by a car today. Well, my car did. With me in it. Seems like a good thing to blog. I was just stopped for traffic, and then all of a sudden, "Kablam".

That was pretty much the sound. Big 'ole "kablam". Some lady just slammed right into me. Her car was totaled. Mine looks like new. Who says Americans can't make cars anymore? Not sure if there's any frame damage, gotta get that checked out. All because I was driving around waiting for them to play the new Stones song on the radio. I'm sitting there talking it over with the cop and I hear "Rough Justice" coming out my car. Fuckin Stones curse, man. First Brian Jones, then Meredith Hunter, then almost me.

First post

Numero Uno!