Perhaps responding to the criticism that Bush has been largely AWOL on Katrina, even though hundreds if not thousands of Americans have died, the White House has now put up its "hurricane relief" page, which you can see here. Right now, the photo on the page shows Bush engaging in (according to the caption) a "video teleconference with federal and … Read More
Opportunity Cost For Iraq
Via Corrente: Philly’s own Will Bunch follows the money (via the man in the grey turtleneck here) Yes, if you follow the money it turns out Bush took the money that should have been spent on New Orleans levees and pissed it away in Iraq. In fact, the very levee that burst, 17th Street, was a victim of Bush cutbacks: … Read More
Texas “Pro-Lifers” Show Pro-Death Stripes
From Feministe–the "pro-lifers" have managed to target a certain population for death in Texas. AUSTIN – Texas doctors who perform abortions without parental approval or after the third trimester could face capital murder charges because of a new law that takes effect this week, a prosecutors group says. The Texas District and County Attorneys Association has outlined that scenario in … Read More
Sgt Thomas Strickland
Here’s a passage from Sgt. Thomas Strickland, a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq, from his blog earlier this month: What the fuck has my chain of command been doing? We were winning somewhat when I left. And now we’re being pinned down in our own fucking homes? Insurgents are pushing locals out of their homes and taking over my area … Read More
The Apocalypse
Well, let’s see. The death toll from Katrina is rising. Snakes, gators and corpses are floating around in New Orleans, making the second evacuation difficult. Attempts to fix the breaks in the New Orleans levees have failed. There are whitecaps on Canal Street. Prisoners stranded in a New Orleans prison have rioted, taking a deputy, his wife and their four … Read More
A Million Ways
Partly because I’m over 40, and partly because I believe that music videos jumped the shark about 15 years ago, it’s no surprise that I never heard of "OK Go" and their video for "A Million Ways". But no more. This is a great video (and a great song). No fancy shots, no babes, not even a single video cut. … Read More
Classic Definition Of A ‘Quagmire’
Who said this: "For the U.S. to get involved militarily in determining the outcome of, uh, the struggle over who’s going to govern Iraq, strikes me as a classic definition of a ‘quagmire’." Answer: Dick Cheney Crooks & Liars has the audio (from an NPR interview conducted in 1991), if you don’t believe me.
Oy
According to Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon, there’s an email making the rounds. It carries the picture below and the following text: The image of the hurricane above with its eye already ashore at 12:32 PM Monday, August 29 looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation (approx. … Read More
Where’s Bush?
FEMA is calling Katrina the worst disaster to hit America . . . ever. Parts of New Orleans are on fire, even though most of the city is underwater. There are fears that the entire city could turn into a "toxic lake", as the flood waters continue to pour in. Over sixty people are known dead (so far) in Mississippi. … Read More
George Will On Intelligent Design (And Penguins)
When he’s right, he’s right: "March of the Penguins" raises this question: If an Intelligent Designer designed nature, why did it decide to make breeding so tedious for those penguins? The movie documents the 70-mile march of thousands of Antarctic penguins from the sea to an icy breeding place barren of nutrition. These perhaps intelligently but certainly oddly designed birds … Read More
Class Warfare
The average CEO makes 430 times as much as the average production worker. That’s data from 2004, presented here. In 2003, that ratio was 301-to-one. In 1990, it was 109-to-one. [Defense contractor CEOs, while not as rich as their brethren in real dollars, are really seeing a post-9/11 surge. Defense CEOs make 160 times more than army privates, up from … Read More
An Open Letter To Mr. Prager
Dear Mr. Prager: It’s kind of easy to win a debating point when you get to speak for *both* sides of the debate, as you’ve done in your latest piece. It allows you to misprepresent the position of your opponent, who is not there to correct you. (Do you now see why some liberals refer to the right wing media … Read More
The “You Graduated In A Crappy Year For Music” Meme
From Doghouse Riley, it goes something like this: you "list Top 100 Pop Hits for your graduating year; hilarity results". Doghouse struck out the songs he hated, bolded the songs he approved of, and added comments. Me, too. 1. Call Me – Blondie Not her best… 2. Another Brick In The Wall – Pink Floyd A … Read More
From An Iraq Veteran
Via The Green Knight: [T]he only way that we can maintain our way of life is to have a strong defense…. And we had that before we started this little adventure here. Now we’re beginning to eat it up….The equipment and the people are getting chewed up and spat out. And that’s not the right way to defend our country….. … Read More