lee camp gets it...

courtesy of HuffPo...

another one bites the dust...

Socks the Cat: 1991(?) - 2009

MeOWers!

one helleuva'n underlying current...

Got to be the most under-reported story of Dubya's Final Days:

After repeatedly telling Cheney his mind was made up, Bush became so exasperated with Cheney's persistence he told aides he didn't want to discuss the matter any further.

The unsuccessful full-court press left Cheney bitter. "He's furious with Bush," a Cheney source told The News. "He's really angry about it and decided he's going to say what he believes."

And just as suddenly I'm left scratching my noggin. So why didn't Dubya pardon Scooter Libby? The guess here is The Decider resented his #2 for taking the precipitant action of outing Valerie Plame without consulting him first, and causing as much a serious shit-storm as Dubya's people had to handle.

As for Cheney's consternation, Bush only commuted Libby's 30-month sentence, which translated into a get out of jail free. Without a full pardon, however, Libby is disbarred and cannot now practice law. Ach! -- the price one pays for being convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Oh well, he can still go back to writing schlock novels or bad poetry to Judy Miller.

oh yeah... ?!

One liberal perspective on "the Stim" that isn't so gloomy...

when "capping" doesn't necessarily mean "decapping"...

Capping the CEOs at half-a-brick... Hmm, whyn't I think of that?

Oh wait! I did!

Breath easy, corporate apologists! If we were French, we'd just be, uhm, capping the CEOs.

Laissez les bon temps roulaire.

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Update: Here's where "capping the CEOs" is less satisfying than "decapping."

a smarter military strategem...

I'll buy this:

WASHINGTON – A classified Pentagon report urges President Barack Obama to shift U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, de-emphasizing democracy-building and concentrating more on targeting Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuaries inside Pakistan with the aid of Pakistani military forces.

Setting aside for now a "classified Pentagon report" winding up on the internet (Daniel Ellsberg, call your office), nation-building Afghanistan always struck me as idiotic. The Soviets merely wanted to occupy the hellish place and look what happened to the Soviet Union. No, better we chase the Taliban hither and yon for eternity while keeping our troops out of harm's way as much as possible. It'll cost less too. If we can't build a democracy there, at least we can prevent it from resettling into that ugly theocracy again.

Meanwhile, why don't we build a democracy where the people actually want one -- like North America for example, now that we've overthrown the little dictator.

co-headline of the day...

Poll: Republicans Want Party To Be Like Palin

[P]oll data like this could indicate that the Republican Party is getting ready to relive the classic cycle of ruling parties who get turned out of power in a landslide: With the party base itself shrunk down, the people who are still around are the most hard-line members, and are really the least fit people to fix the situation.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in a public cafe and feel a powerful need to suppress a giggle.

headline of the day...

Apparently time indeed wounds all heels:

Fall From Power: Rumsfeld Relegated to Riding the Bus

Schadenfreude aside, this story reminds me of that day when an elderly man bumped into me on Connecticut Avenue in D.C., near the corner of K Street. He doddered, and I grasped his shoulders to steady him. He avoided eye contact and brushed past me, harrumphing a quiet apology to the air. I paused and double-took. Goddamn if that wasn't Robert McNamara, JFK's & Lyndon Johnson's defense secretary, the so-called architect of the Vietnam War.

I entertained the notion of grabbing him again, only this time to conduct a citizen's arrest. Shaking my head, I walked on.

prediction: steelers 30 - arizona 6

Steelers D will be the difference. They'll bring the house immediately, and Kurt Warner will suddenly discover he doesn't have Marshall Faulk to dump it off to. If the Cards' O-line can hold the neo-Steel Curtain at bay, which I don't think they can do, then the Steelers 3-4 can repeat what the Pats did to Warner in '02: zone coverage and make him find the receivers.

But again, Steelers D will be the difference in this one.

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Update: And is why I don't bet on football, other'n not having the change to spare -- I rarely beat the spread. Even so, that was entertainment.