You Think I've Got Issues?

The Hollywood Liberal really has the Bush bug up its wazoo. And gahd bless 'em for it.

Long After Bush Is Gone, We'll Still Be Fighting These Vile Bastards!

Media consolidation per the Corporate FCC:

The Federal Communications Commission is poised to propose new media ownership rules that will allow media companies to own newspapers, television and radio stations in the same city, according to media watchdog groups.

The Oligarchy ever contends that less (diversity) is more. Coming soon: Pravda Reborn!

Take It To The Bank

R.J. Eskow has an interesting take on the apparent metamorphisis of Al Gore's personna and the prospect of his running again for president, comparing it to the primer How To Pick Up Girls:

Many guys put too much emphasis on learning "lines" and "techniques" when they are first starting down the path to success with women ... but the truth is you won't achieve the massive success you desire until it comes from inside of you. You should be totally detached from the "outcome" of any situation with a woman. What that means is that no matter what she says or does, your life goes on the same way. If a woman rejects you, it is no big deal. If a woman goes home with you, it is also no big deal. Try to become the guy who doesn't care either way. This attitude of indifference is magnetically attractive to women.

The same seems to be true of politicians. If winning and losing aren't important to you anymore, if they're just a laugh line ("I used to be your next President"), you become confident, self-contained, and attractive. The key is to be someone, autonomous and integrated, independent of the office you seek.

Be all this as it may, Al Gore will run for president in '08; not only because this bit of psychology is dead-on, but the question inexorably boils down to what Al Gore wants. Presumably it's to correct the misdirection toward environmental disaster into which the world is being steered. And he can only be thinking, "If not Al Gore, then who?"

Who indeed can make America kick its addiction for oil, and with it its massively destructive manifestations? Certainly not the Republicans. They've revealed themselves to be the impediment and not the solution.

Hillary? Are you kidding? Hillary's answer for cleaner air is to ban the burning of flags, what with all the carbon gasses they release into the atmosphere. I mean, c'mon!!

Al Gore knows this, and the Guardian, too, has its suspicions:

It is significant, however, that Mr Gore refuses to go beyond saying that he has no "plans" for such a campaign. "I haven't made a Shermanesque statement because it just seems odd to do so," he has said - a reference to the famous announcement by the civil war general William Sherman, who unequivocally refused to stand in the election of 1884. "If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve," General Sherman said.

Gore is keeping his powder dry, he knows the American M$M is stilted toward corporate interests, and Gore's campaign to fight Global Warming is anathema to... say, for example, General Electric, owner of NBC -- it, with its slew of chattering righties like Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, Tim Russert and Joe Scarborough; all of them, itching to trot out the same old crap about Gore's alleged eccentricities, and as preemptively as they can, even as they now slice & dice his movie An Inconvenient Truth.

Meanwhile, Hillary plays kissy-face with Rupert, and the bet here is Faux News will correspondingly fade out its "Get Hillary" reporting just as it sharpens its re-slander coverage of Gore.

The point being, Gore's playing cagey for a very good reason -- but he will run. He has to. Nobody else can or will do the job only he is in position to do, that is championing the Earth's physical salvation. . . and while doing so, releasing America from the choke-hold as applied by the Oligarchy.

America The Beautiful

Graphic Courtesy of Billmon.org

"The Girls Died Screaming"

Saddam is on trial for war crimes committed in his name in a small Iraqi city. In that case, terrorists tied to the party of Al Dawa tried to assassinate the Iraqi leader. In retaliation, Iraqi forces are said to have killed scores of residents after arresting hundreds. So what, exactly, is the difference here? On behalf of President Bush, the U.S. Marines – whose culpability reportedly reaches far up the command – slaughtered dozens. Will the president be put in the dock, surrounded by Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and the rest? It’s no wonder that in 2001 Bush opposed the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. That ought not to stop the creation of a war crimes tribunal.

Not To Be Confused With The "Sweet Science"

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg with a nice line:

"Today, we are seeing hundreds of years of scientific discovery being challenged by people who simply disregard facts that don't happen to agree with their agenda," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Some call it pseudoscience, others call it faith-based science, but when you notice where this negligence tends to take place, you might as well call it 'political science.'"

Hope springs eternal; in this case, the GOP mayor of the greatest city in the world representing his party as having no place to go but up.

Righteous... !!

**FFWWWFFFF** >snork< >snork<...

The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

Don't bogart that spliff, dude!

Moral Equivalence Or Moral Relativity?

George Galloway has a reputation that spans the Atlantic; one of irreverence, irrascibility, and just being a highly provocative curmudgeon (some might say "pain in the ass") with a powerful love of the sauce. Personally I find him highly entertaining, particularly when he pastes the likes of Norm Coleman, in that case during the former's testimony before the Senate Sweep-It-Under-The-Rug Committee.

I also like to think Galloway has a little courage too:

The Respect MP George Galloway has said it would be morally justified for a suicide bomber to murder Tony Blair.

In an interview with GQ magazine, the reporter asked him: "Would the assassination of, say, Tony Blair by a suicide bomber - if there were no other casualties - be justified as revenge for the war on Iraq?"

Mr Galloway replied: "Yes, it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it - but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable. And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq - as Blair did."

It is imagined this bit of intellectual viscera will radiate across the pond as well, lapping our shores in an underlying current.

American Justice, Not Necessarily An Oxymoron

Kenny Boy takes it up the chute:

The verdict put the blame for the 2001 demise of the high-profile energy trader, once the nation's seventh-largest company, squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a trial that lasted nearly four months.

Lewis Black said it best about the Adelphia scandal, but I'll wonder aloud here: "I'm surprised their employees didn't rise up and slay them."

And while we're on the subject of justice in America, how goes it with the War Crimes Trial of the Bush Administration in 2010?

Alert Faux News

There's a fox pup running around my neighborhood. I've seen the little bugger three times now, the second time being the most remarkable. He, or she, was relaxing in the middle of the street until my car pulled up, his eyes glowing back at my headlights. I stopped and waited while he pondered the prospect of my going around. Eventually he upped and skedaddled, likely to laze elsewhere. I've only seen him at night, so if I was to deduce such things I'd say he was nocturnal.

There's no mistaking him for a more domesticated canine, this pup has unusally large, pointy ears as well as a short, needle-like snout. His thick coat has a blondish-reddish hue right down to his bushy tail. I'm no fancier but am fairly well-informed as to breeds of dog -- and this ain't no golden retriever. Curious, this, as my neighborhood is rather suburban, as in Leave It To Beaverish, sleepily interwoven throughout the industrialized edge city of Tysons Corner.

Although, having said that, I do remember having been startled a couple of years back when I was walking down a street in Georgetown on my way to the Watergate Hotel. Coming up from behind I could hear the scritchety scritch of what could only be a dog in full throttle, and which just as quickly scurried past me. It was the size of a beagle, maybe a little larger, but had longer, thicker hair.

Whoa! That was no dog.

I realized just then it was the fox -- or a fox -- one of maybe a few that had "terrorized" the locals, thus making for news over the previous couple of weeks that summer: "What Is a Fox Doing in Downtown DC?"; "Man & Nature Clash", etc. Whatever, I thought, it probably just wanted to check out the more interesting nightlife than what Rock Creek Park had to offer.

Alas, no chance of making the Georgetown scene for this little guy. Right behind it, and hot on its heels, a Park Police cop on the sprint as he blew past me, pistol in hand.

"Aw gee," I thought to myself, "poor little fellah!" (No! Not the cop!) I found myself rooting for it to get away when a second cop busted past.

I lost sight of them, then forgot about it. It was when I arrived at the hotel when I heard *CRACK!*, and turned my head in the direction from where I thought I heard the sound.

A long silence. Then *CRACK!*

I read the next day they had cornered the animal up against a building. The first shot got it in the foot. The second put out its lights.

The pup around here doesn't stick around for introductions. I was out for a power walk this evening and saw him about 25 yards in front of me, scritchety scritching across the street and into a bank of tall shrubs along my path. I did an about-face and went home. Not that he wouldn't be more afraid of me than I would be of a small wooded animal looking for a house cat on its own little prowl (one of many reasons, cat lovers, why indoor cats live to be 18, and outdoor cats 1.8), but you never know if it's hungry enough to attempt larger game.

Who needs that?

Lloyd Bentsen Dies

"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!"

I wonder what ran through Dan Quayle's mind when he heard today.

Which reminds me:
Q: What goes thru a bug's mind when it hits your windshield?
A: Its feet!

And come to think of it, doesn't Dubya kinda make Quayle seem - how you say? - "cerebral"?

Not A King, But...

Sent over by Brotherman the Elder...

BRITS REVOKE USA INDEPENDENCE (A Message from John Cleese To the citizens of the United States of America):

"In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchica l duties over all states, commonwealths and territories (excepting Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then lookup aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and "neighbour.'

Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels -- (look up vocabulary).

Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize.

You will relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen". July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) -- roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat , and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be r equired to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Audie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.

You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

A Little eBack'n Forth

One of my Repo acquaintences and I having at it...

Me (5/19): where are the pentagon city fields... ? (for sunday softball)

Him (5/22 *monday*): Next to the Pentagon City Mall - corner of 15th and hayes.

Me: jeez, thanks for the timely timely...

Him (5/23): You emailed me on Friday night, when did you think I'd respond?

Me: uhhh, friday night... ? saturday... ? sunday morning... ?

Him: I'm kidding you of course... but I don't have a computer at home. If only I could find some way to fill my freezer with $100's...

which got me wound up...

Me: right, the dem exception that proves the republican-sale-of-america-to-the-highest-bidder rule... right sen. santorum... ? go ahead, run it by me again...

Him: Hey, I don't think either party can claim exceptions. For every Delay there's a Jefferson -- let's not forget the Wright-Rostenkowski-Clinton legacy. And I didn't even have to start picking on the unions...

Me: okay, you're comparing today with 12-20 years ago... and comparing delay w/jefferson is akin to comparing the sun w/an asteroid... only in this case, were looking at a coupla oblong rocks in space orbiting a multinary star system...

moreover, the dems *never* had corporate whores writing the legislation ON EVERYTHING, or passing around graft checks on the house floor, or abdicated their oversight authority as this administration is systematically converting a republic into what SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR fears is becoming a "dictatorship"...

but while we're still on the most corrupt congress in american history, the dems in their wildest dreams could never come up with "the k st project"...

and clinton's legacy... ? what was that again... ? a blow job... ? excuse me... ?

how many soldiers were killed and/or maimed because of that... ? how many tens, nay, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians destroyed... ?

does the world despise america because clinton got his knob polished... ?

or were you referring to the clinton legacy of the largest peacetime surplus in world history... ?

gotta get a freakin' grip, friend... meanwhile, i'll have to reload if i'm gonna keep shooting down all the repo talking points...

----------
Footnote: Okay, this guy is a true believer; runs one of those more obscure "Heritage Foundation" wannabes. And of course, he's now on the "Oh yeah! We detest Bush too!" bandwagon. Fair-weather friends they be.

So Long, Joeyyyy... So Long Joeyyy...

Okay, this has me a little giddy:

It just happened. Connecticut Bob just called, and with just under half the votes cast, Ned Lamont forced the primary. 243-512, WOOO HOOO!!!!!

I rather enjoy the thought of what might be going through the minds of Lieberman, Hillary The Whore, and whatever Vichy DLCer there be left, right about now.

It's gonna be fun this primary season.

That Which Does Not Kill You...

I know, I go silent for long periods of time, and then I'm compelled to comment on someone like Britney, a fucking dope if there ever was one, and a George Bush supporter. (All very redundant, yes, I know that too.) Clearly she has her own method in making her kid, uhm, stronger:

Britney Spears' child-care techniques seem to be growing positively "Toxic" - she nearly dropped her 8-month-old son on his head yesterday as she tottered out of a posh Manhattan hotel with a glass in one hand and the tyke in another.

At least the kid's getting his money's worth in entertainment.

Must Must See!!

Al Gore does a dead-on impersonation of Darrell Hammond on SNL, link courtesy of Crooks & Liars.

Workin' the Wknd

There's something to be said about living in a bubble. Not very kosher if one is the POTUS, but quite useful it be if one needs relief from the bonehead-in-chief.

Snap-polls by the corrupted WaPo notwithstanding, the corresponding approvals dropping to 29%, while those polled would seem to have no problem, at least preliminarily (i.e., before they had a chance to think about it), w/the NSA data-mining of their phone-calling, illustrates well the bipolar disorder that is the collective American conciousness today.

So I enter my bubble, cruising down the highway in my good gas-mileage set of wheels, turn to a music station w/minimal chatter from DJs or newswonks, and I think about seeing my family this Mem-day wknd up in PA as we celebrate my niece's graduation.

I have excellent siblings, and I like their kids. And they are the only reason I would go to fight an external threat, real or faith-based. I'm not some fool-romantic caught up in God or country; not anymore. Fool me three times... Go to hell!

Jesus! I'm all over the place this morning...

Back in the bubble... !! Hmmmhmmhmmm... La la la...

Who Said It?

“The interesting thing about [George Washington] is that I read three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?”...

Was it:

A) Rocket J. Squirrel... ?

B) Dave, the 'tard who hangs out by the waterfront... ? or

C) George W. Bush, President of the United States... ?

... not a trick question...

Hillaryous

In case the former first lady doesn't actually read the blogs, Markos posts in the Post:

Just as we crazy political junkies glimpsed the viability of the candidacy of an obscure governor from a small New England state three years ago, today we regard Hillary Clinton's candidacy as anything but inevitable. Her obstacles are big, and from this vantage point, possibly insurmountable.

I'm telling you right now, it's gonna be Al Gore...

Reformed Souls

Not to be confused w/re-formed souls, Jeff Gannon beat Tom Cruise to the punch, announcing publicly that he, Gannon, is indeed a 3-dollar bill. Get used to it!

Yet perhaps the most stunning of Gannon's comments was his assertion that he supports "outing" gays who live one life and vote another. Gannon – who himself was "outed" as a former sex worker without his consent – said that he supported the outing of erstwhile Virginia Congressman Ed Schrock (R-VA), who resigned in disgrace after Rogers posted tapes of him soliciting gay sex on the Internet.

Let us hope, then, that just as the drunk pushes the 12-step, or the smoker, only 5 days off a 23-year habit, might have it, Gannon carries with his new agenda a zeal that puts a real hurtin' on the remaining closeted, pillow-biting bastards.

Not So Strange Bedfellows

eMail Received (and beware these flaming liberals):

Dear Friend,

Provide Jim the resources to win. Contribute Today!

Today, I ask you to join me in supporting Jim Webb's campaign for U.S. Senate.

Jim has dedicated most of his adult life to issues surrounding our national security. He has never backed away from a fight, whether it has been in combat, or in the all-important political arena in which our nation's future is being resolved. In addition, as a Vietnam veteran I have always been grateful to Jim for the thousands of hours he has spent, pro bono, helping those who served in Vietnam. He is just the kind of leader the Senate needs.

I would like nothing more than to work side-by-side with Jim Webb in the U.S. Congress. But to do this, Jim must win the June 13th primary, and what is sure to be a bruising general election against George Allen.Please provide Jim the resources he needs to win in June and this November. Contribute today!

http://webb.bluestatedigital.com/page/m/1du6akebvln/Y9ca0e

I spent 37 years in the Marine Corps, joining military service during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. I've represented the people of Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district since 1974. I've dedicated my entire life to public service, to fighting for the issues to ensure our country is safe.

As some of you may know, I have been very critical of the war in Iraq. The Administration has pursued bad policy wrapped in an illusion.

And Jim called it before most of us. He wrote the first article in a major newspaper, five months before the war, predicting exactly what was going to happen if we invaded Iraq. Imagine what the debate would have looked like in the Senate if Jim Webb had been there instead of George Allen.

Because we in Congress are charged with overseeing the safety of our sons and daughters when the president sends them into battle, it is our responsibility, our obligation to speak out for them.

It's time to add Jim to ongress.

Contribute today. Give Jim the funds he needs to get his message out to all Virginians.

http://webb.bluestatedigital.com/page/m/1du6akebvln/Y9ca0e

Jim Webb, through his charisma and leadership, can bring a wide array of voters back to the Democratic party. Thank you for helping him.

Sincerely,

Congressman John Murtha

Contribute today!

Stephen Colbert: Super Hero

Looks like Colbert's performance last Saturday night is going to stick in the media craw for a while, now that the moribund M$M is getting around to defending itself. Adding these two bits as illustrative of my attitude:

from Salon:

Colbert's deadly performance did more than reveal, with devastating clarity, how Bush's well-oiled myth machine works. It exposed the mainstream press' pathetic collusion with an administration that has treated it -- and the truth -- with contempt from the moment it took office. Intimidated, coddled, fearful of violating propriety, the press corps that for years dutifully repeated Bush talking points was stunned and horrified when someone dared to reveal that the media emperor had no clothes. Colbert refused to play his dutiful, toothless part in the White House correspondents dinner -- an incestuous, backslapping ritual that should be retired. For that, he had to be marginalized. Voilà: "He wasn't funny."

and from James Wolcott:

A note about the Stephen Colbert monologue at the Correspondents' Dinner that Elisabeth Bumiller seems to have slept through face-down in her entree. No question the stint played better on TV than it did in the room with C-SPAN cutting to gowned lovelies in the audience with glaceed expressions and tuxedo'd men making with the nervous eyes, but to say he "bombed" or "stunk up the place" (Jonah Goldberg's usual elegance) is wishful thinking on behalf of the wishful thinkers on the right, who have nothing but
wishful thinking to prop them up during the day.

I know what bombing looks like. It looks like Don Imus when he did a standup monologue before President and Hillary Clinton, and went over so badly that sweat broke out in rivulets down his face and in parts unseen. What triggered the perspiration cascade was a sexual innuendo about how Clinton rooted for his favorite football team by yelling, "Go baby!" at the TV, which Imus remarked was probably not the first time he had voiced such a giddyup--an allusion to Clinton's poontang exploits, if you'll pardon the expression. Imus gave such a crass performance and caused such embarrassment to himself and everybody in the room that there were calls for apologies and he was in danger of being as contaminated as Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson briefly were after their unfortunate blackface episode.

See, that was Colbert's mistake. He didn't slip in any smutty lines. Had he done so, his standup would have been impossible to ignore as the Fox News hotheads would have one into full outrage mode to defend the honor of Laura Bush and her virgin ears. Instead, Colbert was cool, methodical, and mercilessly ironic, not getting rattled when the audience quieted with discomfort (and resorting to self-deprecating "savers," as most comedians do), but closing in on the kill, as unsparing of the press as he was of the president. I mean no disrespect to Jon Stewart to say that in the same circumstances, he would have resorted to shtick; Colbert didn't. Apart from flubbing the water-half-empty joke about Bush's poll ratings, he was in full command of his tone, comic inflection, and line of attack. The we-are-not-amused smile Laura Bush gave him when he left the podium was a priceless tribute to the displeasure he incurred. To me, Colbert looked very relaxed after the Bushes left the room and he greeted audience members, signed autographs. And why wouldn't he be? He achieved exactly what he wanted to achieve, delivered the message he intended to deliver. Mission accomplished.

I saw it. I didn't find it especially funny either. It was, however, brilliant!

Stephen Colbert had a captive audience of precisely those responsible for the world's current discomfiture... and he made them uncomfortable. Up to the moment he took the stage, they were well fed, sufficiently liquored, and insufferably full of themselves. And he handed them a full-length mirror, with which to observe their glorious selves.

It was a catharsis. And pity -- or revile (take your pick) -- the ones who didn't "get it!"

A Democratic Revolution?

Charlie Cook is considered in these parts as the preeminent analyst and forecaster for all political races in America today:

To take over [the Senate in '06], Democrats must win the open seat in Tennessee, where the winner of the August 3 Republican primary will face Democratic Rep. Harold Ford. If Republicans hold Tennessee, they hold the Senate. If they have a truly horrible night and lose Tennessee, they lose the Senate.

But should the GOP's chances of picking up the open seat in Minnesota be dismissed so casually? Yes, even though Republicans have an excellent candidate in Rep. Mark Kennedy. And the same is true for the party's chances in Washington state, where the GOP is fielding a formidable challenger to Sen. Maria Cantwell. The fact is, if the political environment is so anti-Republican that five incumbents lose, then the GOP won't be able to gain ground in any Senate race. So, under the Republican apocalypse scenario, the Senate comes down to Tennessee.

The Real America

Holy Cow! An enlightened jury:

A federal jury has decided that al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui will receive a sentence of life in prison for not telling investigators what he later claimed to have known about the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

After seven days of deliberation, the jury informed the court that it had come to its decision earlier this afternoon. The unexpectedly long duration of juror debate was read as an indicator that Moussaoui may have been spared death.

Of course, the cynic would say he was spared death precisely because he had wished for it. Even so, it's a statement about America where the rod is spared, and for which I can take a little pride in my country. S'been a while...

Net Neutrality

Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts states precisely the issue at hand if the Repos and DINOs take the Internet away:

Do we really have to wait till these corporate giants divide and conquer the open architecture of the Internet to make that against the law? These telephone company executives are telling us that they intend to discriminate in the prioritization of bits and to discriminate in the offering of "quality of service" functions - for a new fee, a new broadband bottleneck toll - to access high bandwidth customers. We cannot afford to wait until they actually start doing that before we step in to stop it.

Markey: proof positive that real Dems still live.

And The Reviews Are In

If you hadn't heard by now, Stephen Colbert fucking scorched Dubya and the media elite to their faces at the Correspondent's (or as the Ex- liked to call it: The GroupJerk) Dinner Saturday night.

The Traditional Media is doing their level best to ignore his brilliant performance, but it's only a matter of time. E.g., Didn't see it yet (as I catch the midnight rerun), but I'm betting Olberman'll have a piece on it. Meanwhile, here's a sampling:

Crooks & Liars (w/video)...
The Raw Story...
Salon (so watch the freakin' commercial, this one's worth it)...
Think Progress (relaying the humorless Faux News input)...
Whiskey Bar (by way of HuffPo)...
DailyKos...

for starters...

Of course, the funniest part in all this was the Republicans were sidling up to Colbert during the meteoric assent of his program The Colbert Report.

Think they'll shy away a little now?

WWJD

Wow! I thought I was keen of mind at 15 (give or take the usual adolescent brainfart).

No way I was this saavy...