Boo Hoo

Nader upset over likely exclusion from debates

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is crying foul over the ground rules for this fall's presidential debates, which will likely leave him sitting on the sidelines again.

Ralph, don't go away mad... Ralph, just go away.

Welcome to 1984

"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaeda" is "because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda." - George W. Bush

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt. doublethink lies at the very heart of Ingsoc, since the essential act of the Party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty. To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies -- all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. Ultimately it is by means of doublethink that the Party has been able -- and may, for all we know, continue to be able for thousands of years -- to arrest the course of history.

Let's hope not.

The Good Old Days

Remember when we lived in a world where unnecessary wars, torture, and beheadings weren't the norm? And our biggest problems were an expanding economy and an over-zealous prosecutor bent on exposing the sexual exploits of a Democratic president.

Even if Bush is defeated, and I think he will be, his disastrous policies have changed the world for ever, and cleaning up his mess will take decades.

Once again

Al Qaeda Beheads U.S. Hostage in Saudi, Site Says
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants said they beheaded a U.S. engineer they had held hostage in Saudi Arabia since last week and displayed his severed head in pictures posted on an Islamist Web site Friday.

Al Qaeda had said the Saudi government had until Friday to free jailed militants or it would kill Paul Marshall Johnson.

yes HUH

Waingroh was really impressed by the president yesterday. Maybe all of his critics are underestimating W's finely tuned analytical mind. It's quite amazing to see when Our Dear Leader is put "under the spot" the kinds of concrete and devastating counter-arguments he makes to defend himself.

The 9/11 commission came out yesterday, and officially stated what everyone already knew: there is absolutely no evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and Al-Quaeda. This conclusion was made after interviewing hundreds of government officials and analyzing thousands of historical documents by a non-partisan panel of 10 US congressmen over the past 3 months. How could Bush possibly refute such a detailed finding about the non-existence of a Saddam / Al-quaeda link?

"Yes, HUH."

Like a small child who doesn't get his way but stubbornly hangs on to his story because he doesn't want his pants to catch fire, Bushy basically gave a giant middle finger to the massive efforts of the 9/11 commission. The unfortunate thing is, he won't be painted as the mindless fool he is; in fact his supporters will all fall in line behind him. Soon Karl Rove will order words like "witchhunt" or "liberal politicizing" to appear in news stories about the 9/11 panel. It's par for the course really; this administration has a set objective, and no matter what facts, truths, exposed lies, exposed corruptions, or congressional findings stand in their way, they don't let it alter their thinking. And they always get away with it.

Now watch this drive.

Bush on the Couch

Salon has a more in depth article on Drinky's mental state here. Pretty scary. And Billmon had this to say about Bush I and II's problems with communication.

Now the idea that the 43rd president of the United States may have a severe, probably undiagnosed, learning disability isn't a very original thought. (In his book, Dr. Levine also mentions that such disabilities sometimes seem inherited. Anyone who remembers 41's own ferocious, but losing, battles with the English language might suspect the same.)

Classic.

Dean?

Kos has the latest rumor on Kerry's VP selection.

Things Really are Getting Better

From Dahr, on a trip to Sadr City hospital.

He was quick to point out the struggles his hospital is facing under the occupation. “We are short of every medicine,” he said while insisting that this rarely occurred before the invasion. “It is forbidden, but sometimes we have to reuse IV’s, even the needles. We have no choice.”

This hospital treats an average of 3000 patients each day.

Another major problem that he and other doctors spoke of was their horrendous water problem.

“Of course we have typhoid, cholera, kidney stones... but we now even have the very rare Hepatitis Type-E…and it has become common in our area.”

Breaking News...Fox is Fair and Balanced

Well, at least the movie critic is. Link.

But once "F9/11" gets to audiences beyond screenings, it won't be dependent on celebrities for approbation. It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.

As much as some might try to marginalize this film as a screed against President George Bush, "F9/11" — as we saw last night — is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty — and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice.

But, really, in the end, not seeing "F9/11" would be like allowing your First Amendment rights to be abrogated, no matter whether you're a Republican or a Democrat.

He'll be fired any day now.

This is News?

The big story of the day is that al-Qaeda planed to use 10 airplanes, but OBL scaled down the attack. Who gives a shit. They didn't use 10 airplanes, they used 3, and it was horrific enough. Horrific enough to unite the whole country and provide the US with good will from around the world. What happened to all that unity and good will, well... that's another story.

Sure, it's an interesting little factoid, but top story of the day? I imagine it's getting so much play because of this, buried amongst all this bull shit. Unprecedented

It's Party Time, Iraqi Style

The Coalition Provisional Authority's livin' it up in the Green Zone.

On a typical evening, one can see U.S. soldiers smoking from 4-foot-tall hookahs and security contractors guffawing over beer, their machine guns by their sides. The CPA's would-be strategists can sometimes be seen in their ubiquitous military desert boots and dress shirts and slacks, playing Risk, the board game of global domination.

Thanks McGeggy.

"Hey! Porno?"

Dick

Via the Hamster.
Link

Since October, Ralph Nader has run his campaign for president out of the same downtown Washington offices that through April housed a public charity he created -- an overlap that campaign finance specialists said could run afoul of federal laws.

Tax law explicitly forbids public charities from aiding political campaigns. Violations can result in a charity losing its tax-exempt status. In addition, campaign law requires candidates to account for all contributions -- including shared office space and resources, down to the use of copying machines, receptionists and telephones.

Records show many links between Nader's campaign and the charity Citizen Works. For example, the charity's listed president, Theresa Amato, is also Nader's campaign manager. The campaign said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that Amato resigned from the charity in 2003. But in the charity's most recent corporate filing with the District, in January, Amato listed herself as the charity's president and registered agent.

The office suite housing the campaign, the charity and other sub-tenants had a common receptionist for greeting visitors.

And Federal Election Commission records show the campaign paid rent to Citizen Works and Citizen Works' landlord. Nader said the campaign has taken over the charity's lease on its coveted location on 16th Street NW.

---

Jan W. Baran, a veteran campaign finance lawyer who represented televangelist Pat Robertson when his presidential campaign was audited by the FEC, said Nader's arrangement was unusual for a presidential candidate. "Even Pat Robertson didn't have his campaign organization at the Christian Broadcasting Network," Baran said. "His campaign headquarters were down the street in Chesapeake."

Finals

Man. I never imagined that Detroit would even be able to compete with LA, let alone, totally dominate them. Incredible.

I love how LA just quit in the 3rd quarter. This just shows how great a coach Larry Brown is. His strategy turned Phil's vaunted triangle in to a unrecognizable polygon.

I have mixed emotions about Rasheed getting a ring after all the shit he didn't do in Portland. But I hate LA so much, I had to root for the Pistons. The Lakers, to me, are the embodiment of the Republican Party in a sports franchise. All the money, all the players, all the power, arrogance, entitlement, and just about everything I hate about the GOP I hate about the Lakers. And The pistons look a lot like the Anybody But Bush Team. No stars, diverse backgrounds, everybody doing their part to defeat the evil force.

It's been a weird year, and who knows, we might be looking at another thrashing this November. For the good guys.

Public Servant

Caught just a couple minutes of Bushy's "press con'frinse" this morning, including what Waingroh believes to be a glimpse of the true mindset of the Prez when it comes to speeches & the press. When a journalist asked him a two-part question, Drinky got all flustered: "Which question do you want me to answer? Look, it's hot out here (angry snicker), and you have a respectful president up here. Just ask one question, ok?"

As Steve Martin would say, well EXCUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUSE MEE!! I forgot how much of an HONOR it was that Drinky can BLESS us with his mere presence so that we, the small insignificant masses called the American people, should be so GRATEFUL for the rare opportunity to pester our exalted president-lord for a few questions about the Empire's crusade in Iraq. Off the cuff and under-the-spot comments like the one above show you so much more about a person's actual state of mind than prepared speeches and practiced answers. It's clear Bush feels that letting the people know what's going on in the administration is a hassle, an obligation, a waste of time, and he resents the press for meddling in his affairs. I know Drinky McDumbass has trouble with the second grade reading level, but someone should tell him that "public servant" doesn't mean "the public is your servant".

Wow!

Cheney says pigs might fly, cites no new evidence.

Not sure if he is still insisting that monkeys, at one time, flew out of his butt.

Asscroft

Krugman says it all:

No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history.

Fahrenheit 911

Here's the trailer. Now go watch it.

Hmmmm....
Did anyone catch Powell's comment on the terrorism report?

"It's a numbers error. It's not a political judgment that said, `Let's see if we can cook the books.' We can't get away with that NOW. Nobody was out to cook the books. Errors crept in," he told ABC's "This Week."

Is he saying that before they could get away with cooking the books? Which of course is true, but to say it, isn't he acknowledging that they previously did so? Am I stretching? Because to me, when I say something and I use the word 'now' it generally means something has changed and I need to signify that change with a time reference. "I used to do this, but NOW I do that." Or, for example, "I used to be able to drink tequila, but now it makes me sick." Doesn't that imply that I didn't use to get sick off tequila? I don't know... just throwing it out there.

Spin this...

Former Officials to Criticize Bush Foreign Policy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of former U.S. officials is urging voters to defeat President Bush in the November election, saying his policies have isolated the United States, a spokesman for the group said on Sunday.

The group of 26 former diplomats and military officials, including appointees of former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, plan to issue an open statement on Wednesday criticizing Bush's foreign policies.

"We just came to agreement that this administration was really endangering the United States," said William Harrop, a former ambassador to Israel under the previous Bush administration.

Diagnosis: Dipshit

It's actually more serious than that. Dr. Justin Frank, director of psychiatry at George Washington University, has written a book diagnosing Bush's neuroses. He concludes that Bush is a Paranoid Sadistic Meglamaniac.
Link

"Lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions ... [and] pumping his fist gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad."

The President suffers from "character pathology," including "grandiosity" and "megalomania" -- viewing himself, America and God as interchangeable.

"I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote, and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed," Dr. Frank told Leiby. Bush, he said, "fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated."

Dr. Frank's expert recommendation? ""Our sole treatment option -- for his benefit and for ours -- is to remove President Bush from office . . . before it is too late."