Why Would Anyone Believe A Republican?

Yes, I am very serious.

Go to Talking Points Memo for some good info on the Mark Foley sex scandal and coverup.

Yes, coverup.

Big time coverup.

Why Would Anyone Believe Tony Snow?

"In a lot of ways, the book is sort of like cotton candy. It kind of melts on contact," White House spokesman Tony Snow said at a briefing dominated by the topic."

Cut.

"The White House cooperated extensively with Woodward's first two books on the Bush presidency, "Bush at War" and "Plan of Attack," granting him extraordinary access, including four interviews with Bush. The books were so laudatory that White House aides gave them to each other as Christmas gifts and "Plan of Attack" was listed on the Bush campaign's re-election Web site as recommended reading."

Read more here.

So you have to ask yourself why the first two books weren't "cotton candy", but the new one State Of Denial is, at least according to the White House.

Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

Neil Young - Keep On Rockin' In The Free World Live Video

Absolutely blistering live performance by Neil from Saturday Night Live.

Dedicated to the United States Of America.

I hope you don't have to ask why.

Question For Bob Woodward

Bob, I like most people appreciate the excerpts I have read from your new book, State Of Denial, about the Bush administration at war and it's disastrous consequences, including decisions made before the Iraq invasion and even what warnings weren't heeded before 9/11, but I am a little confused.

Why are we just getting this information now, so long after the fact?

The only reason I am asking is that this is your third book about Bush at war.

Wal Mart - We Want Our "Associates" To Vote

"It doesn't really cross my mind to go register to vote," said 23-year-old Mike Leng, one of the Wal-Mart employees who received the registration kit. "(This is) an opportunity to voice my opinion."

While the retailer said it would not push employees to support a particular party, Wal-Mart media relations director David Tovar said some employees had been upset by a union-led campaign against the company and wanted to counter the attacks.

A bus trip drawing support from scores of big-name Democrats crisscrossed America this summer claiming Wal-Mart, the country's biggest private-sector employer, provides inadequate wages and health-care coverage while shipping new jobs overseas.

It was launched by the UFCW grocery workers union, which ended efforts to unionize the company last year.

Tovar said he believed Wal-Mart workers upset with the campaign could affect the result in key states at the midterm election, when control of Congress is at stake.

"In certain states where we have a lot of associates -- which is a lot of states -- we think Wal-Mart associates who are very passionate about the company can make a difference in some of these elections," Tovar said in an interview.

Some of the closest races of the midterm election are in Florida, where Wal-Mart has 100,000 employees, Ohio, where it has 50,000 and Pennsylvania, where it has 47,000 workers."

More here.

According to this media relations hack spotlighted above, the workers of Wal-Mart want to vote for Republicans because they are upset that unions tried to unionize the company. Because, as you know, the "associates" of Wal-Mart have it so good.

Do you believe him?

Mark Foley - Just Another Closeted Gay Republican...Well Not Anymore!

Maf54: You in your boxers, too?
Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late.
Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.

Another message:

Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen: tshirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.

And this one:

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen: A little.
Maf54: Cool.

More here.

I mean really what is it with these Republicans?

I sure hope he enjoys going to prison because that is where he soon will be for soliciting underage boys online.

He should know, he was the chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus in Congress.

Hilarious.

I am sorry, just hilarious.

Talk about the fox guarding the chickens.

Bill Hicks - Drugs & Music Video

More Information From The New Bob Woodward Book Called "State Of Denial"

"Woodward writes that there was a vast difference between what the White House and Pentagon had known about the situation in Iraq and what they were saying publicly. In memos, reports and internal debates administration officials have voiced their concern about the conduct of the war, even while Bush and cabinet members such as Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have insisted that the war was going well.

Last May, Woodward writes, the intelligence division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated a secret intelligence estimate predicting that violence will not only continue for the rest of this year in Iraq but increase in 2007.

"Insurgents and terrorists retain the resources and capabilities to sustain and even increase current level of violence through the next year," said the report, which was distributed to the White House, State Department and other intelligence agencies.

The report presented a similarly bleak assessment of oil production, electricity generation and the political situation in Iraq."

More here.

I'll sum it up, they lied to you.

Dick Cheney - Find Those WMD's I Told The World Existed & Other Strange Tales!

"Vice President Cheney is described as a man so determined to find proof that his claim about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was accurate that, in the summer of 2003, his aides were calling the chief weapons inspector, David Kay, with specific satellite coordinates as the sites of possible caches. None resulted in any finds."

There's more:

"The fruitless search for unconventional weapons caused tension between Vice President Cheney’s office, the C.I.A. and officials in Iraq. Mr. Woodward wrote that Mr. Kay, the chief weapons inspector in Iraq, e-mailed top C.I.A. officials directly in the summer of 2003 with his most important early findings.

At one point, when Mr. Kay warned that it was possible the Iraqis might have had the capability to make such weapons but did not actually produce them, waiting instead until they were needed, the book says he was told by John McLaughlin, the C.I.A.’s deputy director: “Don’t tell anyone this. This could be upsetting. Be very careful. We can’t let this out until we’re sure.”

Mr. Cheney was involved in the details of the hunt for illicit weapons, the book says. One night, Mr. Woodward wrote, Mr. Kay was awakened at 3 a.m. by an aide who told him Mr. Cheney’s office was on the phone. It says Mr. Kay was told that Mr. Cheney wanted to make sure he had read a highly classified communications intercept picked up from Syria indicating a possible location for chemical weapons."

and then there is this beauty:

The 537-page book describes tensions among senior officials from the very beginning of the administration. Mr. Woodward writes that in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Tenet believed that Mr. Rumsfeld was impeding the effort to develop a coherent strategy to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Mr. Rumsfeld questioned the electronic signals from terrorism suspects that the National Security Agency had been intercepting, wondering whether they might be part of an elaborate deception plan by Al Qaeda.

On July 10, 2001, the book says, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, met with Ms. Rice at the White House to impress upon her the seriousness of the intelligence the agency was collecting about an impending attack. But both men came away from the meeting feeling that Ms. Rice had not taken the warnings seriously.


Read about more denial here.

The excerpt above comes from a book due to come out on Monday with the delicious title of, State Of Denial, written by Bob Woodward.

A perfect description of Dick Cheney, George Bush and the Republican party if I have ever heard one.

These guys shouldn't be allowed to run a lemonade stand, let alone a country, and have access to nuclear weapons.

House Majority Leader John Boehner - Delusional Or Just A Liar Video

Chris Matthews actually does a decent job of grilling this moron who is apparently a leading light of the Republican party. He claims many things that the fanatical liars of the Republican party believe enough to actually say them in public and on tv. Strangely enough they are usually not challenged or even ridiculed on the spot.

He claims Saddam had some connection to 9/11.
He claims Saddam helped al-qaeda.
He claims Saddam had WMD and that the whole world believed it.
He claims Saddam got rid of the WMD but doesn't know what he did with them.
He claims we have to fight the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them in Boston.
He claims the Democrats want the President to fight terrorism with one arm tied behind his back.

Well I guess that should give you some idea of how truly dumb he thinks the public is that he would say this crap with a straight face.

As if they were facts and not GOP talking points.

Unbelievable.

There Is Now A Clear Picture Of Iraq And...

....it doesn't have anything to do with George Bush's delusional fantasy of what is going on there. Basically it is death and destruction on an ever larger scale. Who will take responsibility?

"About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.

The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.

The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:

_Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.

_About 61 percent approved of the attacks — up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.

_An overwhelmingly negative opinion of terror chief bin Laden and more than half, 57 percent, disapproving of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

_Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently."


You can read more of it here.

This also brings the picture into clear focus too:

"A quarter of a million Iraqis have fled sectarian violence and registered as refugees in the past seven months, data released on Thursday showed, amid an upsurge in attacks that has accompanied the Ramadan holy month.

Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq called for the kidnapping of Westerners to swap for a Muslim cleric jailed in the United States, according to an Internet audio tape.

The sectarian killing continued in Baghdad, where police said they had found the bodies of 40 victims -- bound, tortured and murdered -- in the last 24 hours, a total that has become almost commonplace in the capital over the last few weeks.

The United States says violence in Iraq has surged in the last two weeks, and this past week, the first of Ramadan, saw the most suicide bombs of any week since the war began in 2003.

The registered refugee figures showed 40,000 families -- 240,000 people -- claiming assistance, up from 27,000 families in July. The figures do not include an uncounted number of Iraqis who have moved home without claiming aid.

"The reason for this increase is that the security situation in some provinces has deteriorated considerably, forcing people to leave their homes in fear for their lives," said Migration Ministry spokesman Sattar Nowruz."

You can read more of it here.

Lost Season 3 Preview

Yes, I am a fan of the show and no, I don't watch 24.

Rick Santorum - Liar Or Just Delusional...Or Both?

You decide.

George Bush - A Liar Or Just Delusional And Soon To Be A Comma In History?

BLITZER: Let's move on and talk a little bit about Iraq. Because this is a huge, huge issue, as you know, for the American public, a lot of concern that perhaps they are on the verge of a civil war, if not already a civil war…. We see these horrible bodies showing up, tortured, mutilation. The Shia and the Sunni, the Iranians apparently having a negative role. Of course, al Qaeda in Iraq is still operating.

BUSH: Yes, you see — you see it on TV, and that's the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there's also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people…. Admittedly, it seems like a decade ago. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is — my point is, there's a strong will for democracy.


This is such a disgusting thing that was said by George Bush that no comment should be neeeded.

"Some people have guessed what's in the report and have concluded that going into Iraq was a mistake. I strongly disagree. I think it's naive. I think it's a mistake for people to believe that going on the offense against people that want to do harm to the American people makes us less safe."


Who would you believe, the President who is a known liar, or a consensus of intelligence agencies? You can read the declassified NIE report here if you like and make up your own mind.
Or course this isn't anything new if you have been paying attention.

Bill Hicks - Advertising & Marketing Video

"By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself."

Absolutely brilliant and right on target as the saying goes.

George Carlin - Owners Of The Country Video

While this isn't his best work, the truths are brutally razor sharp honest.

A Rebuttal Of George Bush & His Iraq Fantasies

Guess who is divorced from reality?

George Bush - Lying About Iraq....So What's New?

Guess what? The illegal war in Iraq has made us less safe. Startling news I know.

Now that the lying has been exposed by the Washington Post article on the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) report from April of this year, you would have to be nuts to vote for Republicans who have supported the criminal acts of the Bush administration.

Right?

George Carlin - Persian Gulf War Video

A classic bit by George Carlin from 1992.

"We like war, we are a war like people."

"I got this real moron thing I do...it's called thinking."

Just like deja-vu all over again.

Absolutely fucking brilliant.

Richard Pryor - Arizona Prison Video

Richard tells you why we actually do need prisons as he talks about making Stir Crazy with Gene Wilder.

Al Franken's God Spoke Movie Trailer

Rush Limbaugh - Voter Suppresion & Deception Is OK

"I mean, you take a look at the average Democrat voter registration drive, you can take for every hundred thousand voters they register, the cumulative IQ would probably be less than a pencil eraser. So when it comes time for the election, half of them can be fooled in saying, "No, it's not Election Day. It's tomorrow, Wednesday." And they show up on Wednesday to vote when the polls are closed, and the Democrats claim a trick has been played on them. That's how stupid some of their voters are.

You think I'm lying? That happened. Republicans did a dirty trick and sent a flier out a week early and said due to unfortunate circumstances, certain precincts, Election Day will be held on Wednesday, blah, blah, blah, blah. Democrats heard about it, this is such a dirty trick. They were worried
because they knew it would work, because half their voters are stupid idiots! They have to be when you look at the way they vote."


Naturally Rush is so smart he can't put the pieces together enough to figure out that Republicans need to do this kind of stuff to win elections. Rush is the kind of guy who believes in democracy like any fascist believes in democracy, which is not at all. He believes in power and his own top down ideology.

I won't even bring up the fact of how many people voted for Bush in 2004 then howled liked starving dogs on a cold winter night when Bush tried to privatize Social Security because they were so stupid they didn't know that he planned on doing it as soon as he was re-elected or even realize that Republicans want to get rid of every single government social program because of their ideology. No matter what they say.

Now that's really smart.

And yes they are going to try and do it again in 2007 after the mid-term elections.

Hat tip to Crooks & Liars.

Persephone's Bees - Climbing Promo Video

Another fun video from the San Francisco band Persephone's Bees debut record Notes From The Underworld.

You can buy it here.

Bill O'Reilly - Culture Warrior

With his new book coming out soon let's take a closer look at Bill "loofah" O'Reilly. Let's call the video Bill's Greatest Hits....it sounds about right. Remember, he doesn't do personal attacks.

Hilarity ensues.

Karl Rove's October Surprise

What else did you expect? Read about it here. There is no way the Republicans are going to let Democrats take over Congress and have nice hearings and investigations into the criminal Bush regime.

Yes, these people are evil and I don't doubt he has something up his sleeve because he knows the consequences if they lose control of the House.

Thanks to This Modern World for the tip.

David Gilmour - There's No Way Out Of Here Live Video

Nice live video from the late 70's of David Gilmour performing There's No Way Out Of Here which just seemed right today.

Death Holds Everyone In Its Everlasting Grip

"There is, apparently, videotape of beloved Aussie TV star and naturalist Steve Irwin getting stabbed by the nasty bayonet-like tail of a giant stingray. The video shows Irwin removing the lethal blade from his chest, where it had pierced his heart, just before he loses consciousness and dies almost instantly.

We will, most likely, never see this film. This is not because Irwin had, so far as we know, no chance to utter "Crikey!" one last time before leaping into the Great Crocodile Pit in the Sky.

No, we'll never see it because it is, quite simply, too much. It is more than we can readily handle. It is the Line.

There exists an audio track from the remarkable and wonderfully bizarre documentary film "Grizzly Man," where the hero, Timothy Treadwell, and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, are gruesomely mauled to death by a giant, furious brown bear.

The audio (Treadwell had left the lens cap on the camera when the attack occurred and hence there's no video of the death scene) is rumored to be unspeakably, nightmarishly disturbing. There is footage near the end of the documentary of director Werner Herzog listening to the track on headphones. His face is all ash and quiet horror. He hands the headphones back to Treadwell's friend and tells her to consider destroying the tape. No one should ever hear this, he says. It is just that disturbing. It is over the Line."

You can read the rest of it here.

This is another great column by one of my favorite writers Mark Morford, who seems to be one of those writers you either love or hate and there doesn't seem to be any middle ground judging by the letters to the editor he generates to the paper.

The Tidal Wave Heading Straight For The Hall Of Mirrors

There are times every now and again where you just have to step back and behold the absurdity of it all. You have to step back from the day-to-day trench wars and just marvel at how entrenched power really is in this, the country where we still cling to Horatio Alger fables or "anyone can grow up to be president" myths. What I find particularly fascinating is the intricacy and careful calibration of the propaganda system that holds this whole structure up. Like a hall of mirrors, our political debate is, in every way, designed to perpetuate the status quo. But no hall of mirrors can withstand the impact of a big enough tidal wave, which is why those inside the hall are freaking out.

Consider, for a moment, the frothing, fulminating bile now being spit from the highest reaches of Washington, D.C.'s media establishment. A few months ago, we saw one major columnist at the largest newspaper in the world say voters should not have the right to decide elections in America anymore. Not only was he not shunned for his screed, he continues to appear regularly on television as an objective, god-fearing patriotic American. Soon after that, in the face of polls showing the vast majority of Americans oppose the Iraq War, a top Washington blowhard from one of the largest television networks in the country appeared on TV to label every Democrat who has questioned the war "as weak, Jane Fonda-type Democrats."


Read the rest of it here.

David Sirota brilliantly nails the "problem", as you could call it, on the head.

This is a must read.

David Broder who is pictured above, gets mentioned more than once, although it is not the kind of attention I think he wants.

How to put this nicely and with "decent respect" as Broder seems fond of....too fucking bad.

Now that may seem brutal to some, but I am sorry, these inside the beltway DC insider "journalists" just don't seem to get it at all. Plus, to top it all off, Broder just can't stand the "extreme" left bloggers but seems to have absolutely no problems with the right wing nutcase bloggers at all.

Wolf Blitzer - Completely Worthless Cable "Journalist"

Just watch this "interview" Wolf conducts with Col. Sam Gardiner concerning U.S. operations in Iran for the last 18 months. Try to believe that Wolf is serious about his job after watching this segment. As Gardiner points out Sy Hersh has done great work on this subject already and Wolf had Hersh on in the past to discuss his articles concerning U.S. forces already operating in Iran.

So why does Wolf act like it isn't really happening and you can't believe Iran when it says it is happening?

Does Wolf believe the Bush administration after all the falsehoods it has spread?

Wolf Blitzer is one of the problems we have in this country. A media who doesn't do it's job, especially when it comes to the Bush administration. They refuse to dig in and report the obvious when it comes to this criminal regime. The public is uninformed because the media simply won't do it's job. It's the equivalent of a police officer watching a crime happen.

No wonder people still believe Iraq had something to do with 9/11 to this day. It's because of people like Wolf that they believe this stuff.

Herbie Hancock, Thomas Dolby, Stevie Wonder & Howard Jones - Synthesizer Medley

Here is a bit of 80's overkill but still an interesting video.

Think Your Vote Counts? Think Again & Watch This Video

Princeton University researchers demonstrate security flaws in a Diebold electronic voting machine.

Go here to read more about it.

This shouldn't be anything new to anyone paying attention.

Question for the audience.

Does anyone really think that Republicans are going to let the Democrats get control of the house?

Keith Olbermann - Apologize Mr. Bush

Keith Olbermann as I have said before, has been on a roll lately with his comments on the Bush administration in the last couple of weeks. Keith again with his brilliant writing and command of the english language has put in perspective and shined a bright light on the dark shadows of this radical regime who are determined to squash all dissent and remake the country into something you and I and most citizens wouldn't recognize. All while claiming that they love the very thing they are so determined to change in so many fundamental ways.

Ironic isn't it?

Jesus Camp Movie Trailer

No words are necessary.

American Buddhism On The Rise

"Though the religion born in India has been in the US since the 19th century, the number of adherents rose by 170 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the American Religious Identity Survey. An ARIS estimate puts the total in 2004 at 1.5 million, while others have estimated twice that. "The 1.5 million is a low reasonable number," says Richard Seager, author of "Buddhism in America."

That makes Buddhism the country's fourth-largest religion, after Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Immigrants from Asia probably account for two-thirds of the total, and converts about one-third, says Dr. Seager, a professor of religious studies at Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y.

What is drawing people (after that fascination with Zen Buddhism in the '50s and '60s)? The Dalai Lama himself has played a role, some say, and Buddhism's nonmissionizing approach fits well with Americans' search for meaningful spiritual paths.

"People feel that Buddhist figures like the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam are contributing something, not trying to convert people," says Lama Surya Das, a highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition. "They are not building big temples, but offering wisdom and ways of reconciliation and peacemaking, which are so much needed."

Even a larger factor, he suggests, is that Buddhism offers spiritual practices that Western religions haven't emphasized.

"People are looking for experiential practices, not just a new belief system or a new set of ethical rules which we already have, and are much the same in all religions," Surya Das says. "It's the transformative practices like meditation which people are really attracted to."

Emphasis mine.

You can read more of the article here.

Here are some interesting thoughts from Alan Watts, one of the people who introduced Zen and other eastern philosophies to the west, that you can check out.

The Real You.

Wave In The Ocean.

Technology.

Control.

Philosophy Of Nature.

A Country Of Torture

Keith Olbermann and Jonathan Turley talk about how our President, George Bush a classic Right Wing Authoritarian and Social Dominator, wants to be able to torture who he wants, when he wants to at will.

For your safety.

The king has spoken, long live the king.

I don't know about you but I feel the pride swelling up in my chest right about now.

The Stranger In The Mirror

"We had elections in New York and around the country on Tuesday. But it seems to me that the biggest issue of our time is getting very short shrift from the politicians, and that’s the fact that the very character of the United States is changing, and not for the better.

One of the things that stands out in my mind amid the memories of the carnage and chaos of Sept. 11, 2001, is the eerie quiet — an almost prayerful quiet — that hovered over a scene on the western edge of Manhattan that afternoon."

Read the rest of Bob Herbert's commentary here.

Eric Alterman - When Political Writers Write About Music

I like Eric Alterman's political writing but perhaps sometimes people need to stick to their field of expertise. I read Alterman's post on Huffingpost.com and stumbled upon this bit:

It was obnoxious enough of the Times to send a reviewer, Sia Michel, to a David Gilmour concert who has nothing but contempt for Pink Floyd. But how about one who, together with his editor, is so lazy as to write this sentence of "Dark Side:" "It lingered on the Billboard 200 chart for almost 15 years and has sold about 34 million copies worldwide." Try 15 million. Gee that was hard. And if you tell me that it was a deliberate exaggeration, well, how the hell is the reader supposed to know that? By the way, yes, look at the list. People really are idiots.

The are two problems with this post. The first one is that the review that has Eric upset is for a Roger Waters show and not a David Gilmour concert. The second problem is that the sales figures Eric quotes for Dark Side Of The Moon are for U.S. record sales and not worldwide sales. I have absolutely no doubt that Dark Side has sold that many copies worldwide.

Eric is correct that the reviewer is not a Pink Floyd fan but I have read plenty of concert reviews where that was plainly obvious, so that that is not so unusual. He is also right when he says people really are idiots about music, but again, there is nothing new or unusual about that. But just because you wrote a book about Bruce Springsteen doesn't make you an expert about music either no matter how many shows of the "Boss" you have attended.

After all this I just want to say I am still a Pink Floyd fan ( Wish You Were Here and Animals are my favorites) and a fan of Eric Alterman as well, no matter what any reviewer or critic says.

Which is as it should be, no matter how much of an idiot someone else may think you are.

Senator Mary Landrieu Blasts Republican Leadership

Watch this it's pretty good.

Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi & Brian Wilson - Surfing USA

A classic bit from Saturday Night Live.

"We have a citation for failing to surf"

Judy, Dick, & George - Do You Take Responsibility?

"Car bombs and drive-by shootings on Thursday killed at least 18 people — including two U.S. soldiers — in a series of attacks around central Iraq, officials said. The tortured bodies of 20 men were also discovered across Baghdad, a day after more than 60 bodies were found dumped on the streets. The attacks came after a day that was especially bloody even by Baghdad's standards, when car bombs, mortars and other attacks killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens. The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, said the surge in violence was the result of sectarian "murder-executions" across the capital. Violence persists in Baghdad despite a monthlong security operation by thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops aimed mostly at stopping the killings carried out by Sunni and Shiite death squads."
You can read more here if you have the stomach for it.

I wrote yesterday about the disgusting and horrible creature Judy Miller who helped the Bush administration hype the phony WMD propaganda and scare the shit out of the population into supporting the illegal invasion of Iraq.

Now do you think she or they will ever take responsibility for what they have done?

Do you believe pigs can fly?

Judy Miller - A Lust For War & A Propagandist

But don't believe me just read this:

"On the eve of war in Washington, journalists and others gathered at a cocktail party at the home of Philip Taubman, the Washington bureau chief of the New York Times...Judy Miller was one of several Times reporters there, and she seemed excited. Another journalist present asked if she was planning to head over to Iraq to cover the invasion. Miller, according to the other guest, could barely contain herself. "Are you kidding?" she asked. "I've been waiting for this war for ten years. I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Go to A Tiny Revolution to read more.

As far as I am concerned she has the blood of tens of thousands on her hands and the NY Times does as well for the stories it let her write. Stories that were mainly fiction and very little fact that scared the crap out of the people after 9/11 and were used to filter pure propaganda straight from the Bush regime and the Iraqi National Congress to the public.

The word disgusting doesn't even start to describe her.

Bob Dylan - Hurricane Live Video

For some reason this feels appropriate right now. A crime has been committed but still more are committed by the "authorities" supposedly in the name of justice for all.

Sound familiar?

Really great performance by Dylan from the mid 70's. He did his best singing when he made Blood On The Tracks and Desire where Hurricane was the opening track in my opinion.

"Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down"

Keith Olbermann On 9/11 Anniversary

Keith has been on a roll the last couple of weeks in response to the Bush gang. This is another brilliant commentary that will, no doubt, go over the heads and not be heard by the Right Wing Authoritarians who have swallowed the hook completely and willingly drank the apologist juice to the bottom of the cup and who already "know" the truth, no matter the facts that contradict it. These are the ones who slander all who disagree with the President and his policies, who are subservient to "authority" as long as it is an authority they approve of and who tells them what they want to hear.

Olbermann has stood up to them with his sublime use of the english language, the way it should be used, to illuminate and not to intimidate or push to the margins those who disagree as it is currently wielded by some who would claim to be the "true" patriots.

Bravo Keith, bravo.

Political Ad From The Center For Security Policy

Want to watch a political ad put out by this group called The Center For Security Policy? It's a Neo-Con wet dream of an ad that wants to scare you into voting for....Republicans. According to these guys your life depends on it.

Surprised?

Hat tip from Talking Points Memo.

Dick Cheney Interview With Tim Russert: The Lies And More Lies Video

I don't usually think much of Tim Russert but he did a fairly good job in this clip of confronting Dick Cheney's lies. Cheney will NEVER stop linking Saddam and Al Qaeda nor will anyone else in the administration, including Condi Rice, which you can read about here.

Russert could have done more to counter Cheney's bullshit though and if you read this you will know why.

Question for the audience.

Is there anyone who watches this video and doesn't think Cheney is lying? Besides Right Wing Authoritarians that is. Those people will believe anything their leaders tell them.

Just curious.

The Best War Ever Video

Here is a short video promoting the new book by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton called The Best War Ever about the propaganda and misinformation used to dupe the U.S. (I mean scare the shit out of the population) into supporting an invasion of Iraq to find those elusive WMD.

Think the Neo-Cons will like it?

Hat tip to Crooks and Liars.

Edwin Starr - War Video

Edwin Starr singing the classic song War that was covered by Bruce Springsteen in the 80's quite a bit. You can also watch Bruce and Edwin doing a kick ass live version of War in the video below.

ABC Miniseries Path To 9/11: Right Wing Fantasy

As almost anyone who reads a blog online knows ABC is airing a "docudrama" called Path To 9/11 on September 10th & 11th. The makers of the miniseries claim it is not "political" or "partisan" and yet for some strange reason they sent out advance copies to right wing bloggers and even Rush Limbaugh but not to others who have wanted to see it in advance including Bill Clinton himself.

If that is not a clue to who is behind this production and the bias it will take then I don't know what would be.

Think Progress has some info on the situation.

Persephone's Bees - Live Video On KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic

Persephone's Bees play six songs during a half hour set live in the studio and talk a bit about the band as well.

Watch it here.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, they kick ass live and now you will be able to see for yourself.

News Flash: Country Not Buying Bush's Tying Of Iraq & Terrorism

President Bush has increased his speeches describing Iraq as the central battlefield in the war on terror and has noted that terrorist leaders have said fighting the U.S. in Iraq is critical to their strategy.

But a CNN poll out Wednesday asked the public if the war in Iraq is part of the war on terrorism. Fifty-three percent said "no;" 45 percent said "yes."

Majority of country seperates Iraq from terrorism. Bush, Cheney and Rove propaganda not working anymore. What will they try next?

Stay tuned.

Keith Olbermann To George Bush: Have You No Sense Of Decency Sir?

Keith Olbermann has been on quite a roll lately. Inspired by the fear mongering of the Bush administration and it's referencing of Nazis and fascism to those who oppose it, last week Keith went after Rumsfeld, this week he goes after George Bush and does a brilliant job in critiquing the President.

Bravo Keith, bravo.

This is must see tv.

Bush Pounds The War Drums Of Fear....Just In Case You Forgot What He Is All About

"Bush said that despite the absence of a successor on U.S. soil to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the terrorist danger remains potent.

"Bin laden and his terrorist's allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them," the president said before the Military Officers Association of America and diplomatic representatives other countries that have suffered terrorist attacks. "The question is `Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?'"

After reading this article you would get the impression that Bush is serious about Bin Laden but that would be a mistake. This little PR campaign designed to scare the shit out of people into voting for Republicans is in full swing and the product they're selling is fear.

"Also absent from the report was any mention of Osama bin Laden. Instead, it recounted among the administration’s successes that “most of those in the Al Qaeda network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, including the plot’s mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have been captured or killed.’’

At a briefing about the report, the White House homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, said that “bin Laden remains the number-one target, but he’s not the only target.’’

Read the NY Times story here.

Do you feel any safer with Bush in charge?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Audioslave - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?

Chris Cornell does a nice acoustic solo version of the Nick Lowe penned classic made famous by Elvis Costello on his Armed Forces album from 1979.

I had a really great, relaxing weekend with my wife in San Francisco so this song is about the right mood and frame of mind for me right now.

Dedicated to all the Right Wing Authoritarians out there.

Keith Olbermann & John Dean On Donald Rumsfeld's Authoritarianism

This country is in serious trouble and Keith Olbermann and John Dean both know it, I am not sure how many other "journalists" or talking head media types really get it though. As John Dean explains this Rumsfeld speech is classic authoritarianism and as Dean points out also the administration is playing the people as if they are stupid and won't figure out what is going on. I prefer the terms rubes and dupes myself but it is the same thing.

Interesting how an administration can speak of fascism so much when it shows fascist traits itself and is filled with Right Wing Authoritarians and Social Dominators or "double highs" as they are called. Scary people.

Read John Dean's book Conservatives Without Conscience who explains this personality type quite well.

Soft (Right Wing) Men With A Hard On For A War That They Don't Fight

Glenn Greenwald exposes them here in a piece called Full-Chested Warriors. The picture of the author of this disgusting piece named David Warren is down below, and yes, it is the punchline to the story. Some boys never got over their dreams of glory on the battlefield as long as they don't have to go themselves. Call it voyeur combat.

"When Fox News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were being held by Gaza kidnappers, they were used as solemn symbols of our grand struggle against Islamic fascists. But ever since they were released, physically unharmed, they have become, as John Amato documented the other day, the targets of the same sort of hostility and bizarre resentment which was directed at Jill Carroll when she was released. It's almost as though the fact that they weren't killed -- and then refused to read some fictitious propaganda script about their captivity -- instantaneously transformed them from glorious martyrs in the War on Terror to impediments which needed to be neutralized through attacks on their mental health and character.

Yesterday, David Warren, a columnist for Real Clear Politics and The Ottawa Citizen, attacked Centanni and Wiig for being cowards and "men without chests" and said that they illustrate so much of what is wrong with the West and why we are losing to the Islamofascists:


The case of the two Fox News journalists, held hostage in Gaza, is worth dwelling upon. . . .

The degree to which our starch is awash is exhibited in the behaviour of so many of our captives, but especially in these two. They were told to convert to Islam under implicit threat (blindfolded and hand-tied, they could not judge what threat), and agreed to make the propaganda broadcasts to guarantee their own safety. That much we can understand, as conventional cowardice. (Understand; not forgive.) But it is obvious from their later statements that they never thought twice; that they could see nothing wrong in serving the enemy, so long as it meant they'd be safe. . . .

I assume they are not Christians (few journalists are), but had they ever been instructed in that faith, they might have grasped that conversion to Islam means denial of Christ, and that is something many millions of Christians (few of them intellectuals) have refused to do, even at the cost of excruciating deaths . . .

And the two Fox journalists, whom I will not stoop to name, begged for their lives even though, in retrospect, their lives probably weren't in danger. . . . Men without chests, men without character, men who don't think twice.


Warren argues that the cowardice of the two Fox journalists in saving their own lives illustrates why we are losing the War of Civilizations -- because of what Warren calls the "Chestlessness" of our "men." As Warren puts it: "That is the substance of most Islamo-fascist propaganda: that the West consists of straw men, of men without chests, of men easily pushed over." To Warren, the cowardly chestlessness of Western men is why "the West is proving unable to cope with a threat from a fanatical Islamic movement, that it ought to be able to snuff out with fair ease."

Rocky Anderson: On Fox News, Pravda Of The Republican Party

This is just absolutely disgusting. Fox News is the most blatant propaganda machine in this country for the Republican party that it is beyond the pale. Apologists for Bush and the neo-con agenda they lie and mislead their own viewers to make them rubes and dupes to keep this fanatical agenda going, which by the way, only serves the interests of the very rich.

Fox News, Pravda of the Republican party.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson

Hard to believe this guy, Rocky Anderson, is the Mayor of Salt Lake City but he is and I know my Cousin and his wife are very happy because they live there. She went to the rally to show her dissaproval of Bush and his policies. They are obviously a little more liberal than most people in Utah.