Lately, I have been seeing this word a lot: "teh". For example, here is a post at Sadly, No which reads in its entirety: "Teh funny".
And it links to something funny.
Well, I finally had it. I wanted to know what "teh" meant. Guess what it means? "The". And when used in front of an adjective, it turns the adjective into a superlative.
So "He is teh lame" means "He is the lamest".
I have one more question though: Why?
This video of two Chinese students lip-synching to the Backstreet Boy’s "I Want It That Way" is the latest in "viral video" — homemade videos that, for some reason, get passed around, emailed, uploaded, downloaded, and talked about.
Why everybody loves these silly homebaked videos, I do not know. But they are strangely compelling, like a bad car accident.
Still, for our money, the best viral video is still the "Numa Numa" kid. See his video here and read about the whole Numa Numa phenomenon here.
An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN:
1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end.
2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters.
3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and "filed" tomorrow [Wednesday].
4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.
The shoe is dropping.
More soon.
CBS adds some info (via Think Progress):
CBS’ JOHN ROBERTS: Lawyers familiar with the case think Wednesday is when special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will make known his decision, and that there will be indictments. Supporters say Rove and the vice president’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, are in legal jeopardy. But they insisted today the two are secondary players, that it was an unidentified Mr. X who actually gave the name of CIA agent V alerie Plame to reporters. Fitzgerald knows who Mr. X is, they say, and if he isn’t indicted, there’s no way Rove or Libby should be. But charges may not focus on the leak at all. Obstruction of justice or perjury are real possibilities. Did Rove or Libby change statements made under oath? Did they deliberately leave critical facts out of their testimony or did they honestly forget? Some Republicans urged Rove to step down if indicted. Not a happy prospect for president Bush.
Who is "Mr. X"?
SCHIEFFER: John, I am very interested in Mr. X. Is there any clue or hint as to whether he be – maybe someone who outranks Libby and Rove or would he be a lower-ranking official?
ROBERTS: The best guess is that Mr. X, even though his name is not known and some people are just speculating on who he might be or she might be, is somebody who is actually outside the White House, and in that case would be of a lower rank that both Rove and Libby.
My guess: Bolton.
Raw Story, which has been slightly ahead of the curve on Plamegate these past few weeks (i.e., it seems to have reliable inside information), reports the following:
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has decided to seek indictments in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and has submitted at least one to the grand jury, those close to the investigation tell RAW STORY.
Fitzgerald will seek at least two indictments, the sources say. They note that it remains to be seen whether the grand jury will approve the charges.
Those familiar with the case state that Fitzgerald may not seek indictments that assert officials leaked Plame’s name illegally. Rather, they say that he will focus charges in the arena of lying to investigators. The sources said, however, they wouldn’t rule out charges of conspiracy.
The specifics of the charges remain unclear, and they are not final, so charges beyond lying to the grand jury could certainly be handed down.
Any possible indictments are now in the hands of the grand jury. They are expected to be made public later this week.
The Hill is reporting that the Democratic Party is working on a slogan for the 2006 midterm elections. They reportedly have it narrowed down to two: "Together, We Can Do Better" or "Together, America Can Do Better".
I kind of like the "do better" strategy, although I think it will cause many to think, "Well, a duck could do better".
But given the two choices, the first one is preferable. "We" is ambiguous enough to mean "we" as in "America" OR "we" as in "Democrats". Let the listener decide.
Wonkette imagines some of the rejected slogans:
The Hill reports that "The message project considered ‘dozens’ of potential slogans," before settling on the "do better" strategy. Rejected slogans included, we hear, "You Could Do Worse," "It’s Not Like There’s a Third Party," and "Sorry About that Kerry Thing."
Josh Marshall, not one to give in to hysterics and histrionics, points to an article in today’s Italian Daily La Repubblica — an article which, if accurate, could "rock the foundations of official Washington".
I strongly urge you to read the whole thing, including Josh’s cautionary caveats, but here is the gist:
It’s about the forged Niger/uranium documents. Back in 2002, the Bush administration wanted to refer to the uranium sales between Iraq and Niger as evidence that Saddam had an active nuclear program. Unfortunately, the CIA believed then, as they do now, that there was no evidence of a Iraq/Niger sale, and urged Bush to keep it out of a speech in September 2002.
Eventually, Bush did refer to the alleged (attempted) sale of yellowcake to Saddam’s Iraq, in a speech on October 7, 2002. (It was this reference to the yellowcake sale that prompted Cheney to ask the CIA to check out whether the sale actually took place, which led to Ambassador Joe Wilson going to Africa to investigate on behlaf of the CIA, which led to Joe Wilson publicly reporting that the whole Niger thing was bogus, which led to anger in the halls of the White House, which led to the outting of Wilson’s wife — Valerie Plame — as a CIA agent, which has now led to the Fitzgerald investigation).
But what the Italian newspaper article reveals is that sometime in September 2002, a guy named Nicolo Pollari was trying to pass on documents about the alleged sale to the White House (doing an end run around the CIA). Nicolo Pollari is not a nobody — he is the head of the Italian military intelligence.
More importantly, one week before Bush first mentioned the yellowcake sale in his October 7 speech, Pollari met with Stephen Hadley (then deputy advisor for the NSA) to discuss the documents — documents that Pollari knew were forgeries.
So what’s the implication here? The White House wanted evidence of an Iraqi weapons system, but the CIA was saying there was no evidence of a uranium sale. So the White House (through Hadley) met with the head of Italian military intelligence, who gave details about the documents relating to a supposed sale, and voila — the White House could now make the claim . . . even knowing that the documents were fake.
Josh Marshall says there is more to this story coming, but it should be up on your radar now.
UPDATE: Okay, I’m in the thickets on the timeline. Or Josh is. Or somebody is. Kevin Drum writes about the Niger/Iraq documents as well from a different angle but comes to a similar conclusion — that when Bush first mentioned the alleged sale of uranium to Iraq, the White House knew that the information was false. They knew the year before!
They knew that not only were the Nigerien documents fake, but that they had been proven fake the previous year — though not by Wilson or the IAEA. At that time, everybody thought the timeline went like this: (1) Bush gives SOTU address in January 2003, (2) IAEA proves Nigerien documents are phony in March. That’s bad, but not catastrophic. However, the real timeline, known to only a few, was this: (1) State Department determines Nigerien docs are phony in October 2002, (2) Bush mentions African uranium anyway in January SOTU address.
This blows the whole lid off of the defense that "the Bush Administration was given bad information". It didn’t. It (apparently) intentionally used information that it knew was false, avoiding the regular channels of the CIA and the State Department.
This explains why the White House attempted to discredit Joe Wilson — because they thought that Wilson had proof that the White House intentionally mislead the American people by referencing a uranium sale that the White House knew to be bogus. (The ironic thing is that Joe Wilson didn’t have such proof, but his op-ed piece came dangerously close to exposing it anyway).
P.S. Kevin posts a helpful "Uraniumgate timeline":
February 2002: The CIA receives "verbatim text" from Italian intelligence of some documents claiming that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger. Joe Wilson goes to Niger to investigate this claim and reports back that it seems highly unlikely.
October 2002: State Department intelligence agency (INR) gets an actual copy of the Niger docs and immediately concludes that they’re bogus. However, nobody outside the government knows this.
January 2003: George Bush gives SOTU address, claiming that Iraq has sought uranium from Africa.
March 2003: IAEA publicly announces the Niger docs are forgeries.
May/June 2003: Based on anonymous sourcing from Wilson, Kristof and Pincus report on the Niger story, mistakenly saying that "the envoy" had debunked the docs back in February 2002.
July 6, 2003: Wilson publishes his op-ed.
July 11, 2003: CIA director George Tenet admits that Bush shouldn’t have included the uranium claim in the SOTU.
UPDATE: The American Prospect flushes out the details. Key grafs (with my emphasis):
Although Sismi’s involvement in promoting the Niger yellowcake tale to U.S. and British intelligence has been previously reported, the series in La Repubblica includes many new details, including the name of a specific Sismi officer, Antonio Nucera, who helped to set the Niger forgeries hoax in motion.
What may be most significant to American observers, however, is the newspaper’s allegation that the Italians sent the bogus intelligence about Niger and Iraq not only through traditional allied channels such as the CIA, but seemingly directly into the White House. That direct White House channel amplifies questions about a now-infamous 16-word reference to the Niger uranium in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address — which remained in the speech despite warnings from the CIA and the State Department that the allegation was not substantiated.
There is no earthly logical reason why the 2000th U.S. soldier killed in Iraq is more tragic than the 1999th or, for that matter, the 1998th. These are miles on your car’s odometer — these are individual people. With families. With friends. And with futures which are no more.
But still, for some reason, "2000" is viewed as a milestone. And zoom, we’ve hit it:
The war in Iraq saw two milestones Tuesday that reflect the country’s path to democracy and its human toll as officials said the referendum on a draft constitution passed and the U.S. military’s death toll reached 2,000.
CNN’s count of U.S. fatalities reflects reports from military sources and includes deaths in Iraq, Kuwait and other units assigned to the Iraq campaign.
Among the latest casualties, an American soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb, and a roadside blast killed two Marines in combat Friday near Amariya in the western Anbar province, according to the U.S. military.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, more than 15,000 American service members have been wounded in the conflict, according to the Defense Department.
What A Piece Of Work Is Man
How noble in reason
How infinite in faculties
In form and moving
How express and admirable.
In action, how like an angel
In apprehension how like a god
The beauty of the world
The paragon of animals
I have of late
but wherefore I know not
lost all my mirth.
This goodly frame
The earth
seems to me a sterile promontory
This most excellent canopy
The air– Look you!
This brave o’erhanging firmament
This majestical roof
Fretted with golden fire.
Why it appears no other thing to me
Than a foul and pestilent congregation
of vapors.
UPDATE: Kevin Drum reports another Iraqi War milestone. According to the WSJ, more than half of all Americans now think that invading Iraq was the wrong thing to do. The raw data is here. Kevin’s chart is at the right.
MOONBAT ALERT UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin links to this moron, who argues the following:
"The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone. It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."
No, it’s not "artificial". It’s a real number confirmed by the Department of Defense.
Whether or not it is a significant "milestone" is a subjective opinion. And I suppose the same could be said for the number of terrorist killed, right? Or the number of Iraqis voting?
UPDATE: Billmon says it best, without words:
Brief notes not worthy of their own separate post:
Bush Prevents Kids From Seeing "Wizard Of Oz":
One hundred Brentwood kindergartners, many dressed in costumes, were all set to go see "The Wizard of Oz" on Friday when their first-ever field trip was blocked by the nation’s 43rd president.
They never got to see the wizard.
President George W. Bush, his Marine One helicopter grounded by fog, brought morning rush hour to a standstill while his motorcade proceeded from West Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley to Simi Valley for the dedication of the Air Force One Pavilion.
"We had buses all loaded up – but by the time they got to school it was too late," said Julie Fahn, a volunteer mom at Kenter Canyon Elementary in Brentwood, where girls had dressed as Dorothy to see the play performed in Malibu.
"My poor children – they were so disappointed. They’re all so sad. They were inconvenienced by a silly motorcade down Sunset (Boulevard)."
How conveeeenient!! Tom Delay Wins A Paper Shredder At Texas Auction:
Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) bid on a wicker basket two weekends ago at the Needville Harvest Festival in Fort Bend County in his home state. And he won not just the basket, but the gadget inside it, too — a paper shredder, Roll Call’s Mary Anne Akers reports Tuesday.
Oh, those silly third world people! Letters "Q" And "W" Are Illegal:
A Turkish court has fined 20 people for using the letters Q and W on placards at a Kurdish new year celebration, under a law that bans use of characters not in the Turkish alphabet, rights campaigners said.
The court in the southeastern city of Siirt fined each of the 20 people 100 new lira ($75.53) for holding up the placards, written in Kurdish, at the event last year. The letters Q and W do not exist in the Turkish alphabet.
Pictured: Rosa Parks being booked.
There’s not much to say about Rosa Parks that hasn’t already been said. Many admire her for being the catalyst for an idealistic, peaceful movement for racial equality. But we like her because she was pissed, and simply said "Enough is enough". It was a small gesture — one that has been repeated again and again since then. Her name is synonymous with anyone who takes a stand against the injustices of their time and place (see, e.g., "the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement", the Rosa Parks of Pakistan", the Rosa Parks of the Jewish deaf world", the Rosa Parks of housing", etc.). Truly, an icon.
More:
P.S. I assume that I heard this news over the radio while I slept, because I dreamt last night that she died and I was the funeral director.
The New York Times doesn’t quite come out and directly implicate Cheney, but if this is true, it certainly hurts Cheney politically.
I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.
Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.
The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.
Lawyers involved in the case, who described the notes to The New York Times, said they showed that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.
Mr. Libby’s notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. But they contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson’s undercover status or that her identity was classified. Disclosing a covert agent’s identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent’s undercover status.
It would not be illegal for either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby, both of whom are presumably cleared to know the government’s deepest secrets, to discuss a C.I.A. officer or her link to a critic of the administration.
Well, why not?
Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann’s Yeast Nation, a new comic musical about single-celled yeast organisms and their struggles in the timeline of Earth’s evolution, was heard in a private industry reading in New York City Oct. 21.
The Tony Award-winning writers are known for their satiric Broadway musical, Urinetown. The starry Manhattan Theatre Club presentation of Yeast Nation included contributions by two of the earlier show’s stars (Hunter Foster and Nancy Opel) as well as its director, John Rando.
In 2002, Kotis won a Tony Award for his book to Urinetown and Hollmann and Kotis shared a Best Score Tony for the show (Hollmann is the composer and co-lyricist, Kotis is the co-lyricist). John Rando won a Best Direction Tony for Urinetown.
The ensemble-oriented Yeast Nation is about a kingdom of one-celled yeast blobs (all of them named Jan – pronounced "yon") and how they reach for a new food source in the process of evolution. Within the community is a pair of daffy lovers, a leader, a villain, and more.
Looks like the Bubble Boy is mad at the bubble. The Daily News writes about Bush’s edge-of-meltdown demeanor:
Facing the darkest days of his presidency, President Bush is frustrated, sometimes angry and even bitter, his associates say.
With a seemingly uncontrollable insurgency in Iraq, the White House is bracing for the political fallout from a grim milestone that could come any day: the combat death of the 2,000th American G.I.
Last week alone, 23 military personnel were killed in Iraq, and five were wounded yesterday in a relentless series of attacks across the country.
This week could also bring a special prosecutor’s decision that could shake the foundations of the Bush government.
The President’s top political guru, Karl Rove, and Vice President Cheney’s right-hand man, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, are at the center of a two-year criminal probe into the leak of a CIA agent’s identity. Many Bush staffers believe indictments are likely.
"He’s like the lion in winter," observed a political friend of Bush. "He’s frustrated. He remains quite confident in the decisions he has made. But this is a guy who wanted to do big things in a second term. Given his nature, there’s no way he’d be happy about the way things have gone."
Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it. Lately, however, some junior staffers have also faced the boss’ wrath.
"This is not some manager at McDonald’s chewing out the help," said a source with close ties to the White House when told about these outbursts. "This is the President of the United States, and it’s not a pleasant sight."
***
"The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about," said one Bush insider. "Andy [Card, the chief of staff] gets his share. Karl gets his share. Even Cheney gets his share. And the press gets a big share."
The vice president remains Bush’s most trusted political confidant. Even so, the Daily News has learned Bush has told associates Cheney was overly involved in intelligence issues in the runup to the Iraq war that have been seized on by Bush critics.
Bush is so dismayed that "the only person escaping blame is the President himself," said a sympathetic official, who delicately termed such self-exoneration "illogical."
I wouldn’t call it "illogical"; more like "denial".
With the U.S. death toll approaching 2,000, let’s take a brief sstop to see exactly how Iraqis feel about their liberation. From Britain’s Sunday Telegram:
Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed.
The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi citizens support attacks and fewer than one per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country.
It demonstrates for the first time the true strength of anti-Western feeling in Iraq after more than two and a half years of bloody occupation.
The nationwide survey also suggests that the coalition has lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, which Tony Blair and George W Bush believed was fundamental to creating a safe and secure country.
That’s pretty bad. Here’s more:
The survey was conducted by an Iraqi university research team that, for security reasons, was not told the data it compiled would be used by coalition forces. It reveals:
• Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified – rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province;
• 82 per cent are “strongly opposed” to the presence of coalition troops;
• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;
• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;
• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;
• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.
The opinion poll, carried out in August, also debunks claims by both the US and British governments that the general well-being of the average Iraqi is improving in post-Saddam Iraq.
Think we’ve overstayed our welcome yet?
From Harper’s, via Atrios:
Number of erotic Harry Potter fan-fiction stories posted on a website run by an Illinois woman: 1,750
Average number of hits the site receives each day: 198,000
