Dark Bilious Vapors

If this is true....

my opinion of the late Pope John Paul II has gone up a notch or two. According to this article from 2003, John Paul II was seriously considering the possibility that George W. Bush was the anti-Christ:

According to freelance journalist Wayne Madsden, "George W Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs and his constant references to 'evil doers,' in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations--the anti-Christ."

Madsen, a Washington-based writer and columnist, who often writes for Counterpunch, says that people close to the pope claim that amid these concerns, the pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations. John Paul II has always believed the world was on the precipice of the final confrontation between Good and Evil as foretold in the New Testament.

Of course, it was a mistake to identify Bush with the anti-Christ, inasmuch as that concept is part of a mythological world view. But it's good to know that the late Pope could occasionally recognize evil when he saw it.

Len on 11.30.05 @ 08:23 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

Never Underestimate the Power of Makeup.

Yes, the Memphis Flyer is a liberal publication. How'd you guess?

:-)

Len on 11.30.05 @ 08:16 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's 'weird music' post....

Via an interesting Slate retrospective on Billy Joel, we get this pointer to a reggae version of Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" (Windows Media Player required).

As author Jody Rosen puts it, this track is "perhaps the whitest reggae track ever recorded."

Len on 11.30.05 @ 08:13 PM CST [link] [ | ]

An excellent analysis of our prospects in Iraq....

appeared a while ago in The Forward, a New York based Jewish daily:Costly Withdrawal Is the Price To Be Paid for a Foolish War. The author is Martin Van Crevald, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University. And from his vantage point, the picture isn't pretty:

Whereas North Vietnam at least had a government with which it was possible to arrange a cease-fire, in Iraq the opponent consists of shadowy groups of terrorists with no central organization or command authority. And whereas in the early 1970s equipment was still relatively plentiful, today's armed forces are the products of a technology-driven revolution in military affairs. Whether that revolution has contributed to anything besides America's national debt is open to debate. What is beyond question, though, is that the new weapons are so few and so expensive that even the world's largest and richest power can afford only to field a relative handful of them.

Therefore, simply abandoning equipment or handing it over to the Iraqis, as was done in Vietnam, is simply not an option. And even if it were, the new Iraqi army is by all accounts much weaker, less skilled, less cohesive and less loyal to its government than even the South Vietnamese army was. For all intents and purposes, Washington might just as well hand over its weapons directly to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Clearly, then, the thing to do is to forget about face-saving and conduct a classic withdrawal.

Handing over their bases or demolishing them if necessary, American forces will have to fall back on Baghdad. From Baghdad they will have to make their way to the southern port city of Basra, and from there back to Kuwait, where the whole misguided adventure began. When Prime Minister Ehud Barak pulled Israel out of Lebanon in 2000, the military was able to carry out the operation in a single night without incurring any casualties. That, however, is not how things will happen in Iraq.

Not only are American forces perhaps 30 times larger, but so is the country they have to traverse. A withdrawal probably will require several months and incur a sizable number of casualties. As the pullout proceeds, Iraq almost certainly will sink into an all-out civil war from which it will take the country a long time to emerge — if, indeed, it can do so at all. All this is inevitable and will take place whether George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice like it or not.

And, I have to say, I'm in full agreement with Professor Van Crevald's final conclusion:

For misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 B.C sent his legions into Germany and lost them, Bush deserves to be impeached and, once he has been removed from office, put on trial along with the rest of the president's men. If convicted, they'll have plenty of time to mull over their sins.

Len on 11.30.05 @ 12:19 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Josh Marshall exposes the Rethugnican talking point for the lie it is....

over at Talking Points Memo:

There is one Democratic member of Congress who is currently the target of a Justice Department investigation, Rep. William Jefferson of New Orleans. There are also various Democrats who received money from Jack Abramoff or his many clients.

But let's get real. The Abramoff story is overwhelmingly a Republican scandal. Abramoff's whole racket was as a paymaster and slush-funder for the DC GOP machine.

Then there are the half-a-dozen Republican members of Congress being investigated for criminal infractions arising out of the Abramoff investigation. Then there are all their staffers.

Then there is Abramoff-Norquist associate David Safavian, chief of procurement at OMB who was arrested and indicted for deceiving investigators in the Abramoff case.

Then there are the GOP capos who skimmed money off the Abramoff geyser or laundered money for him, folks like Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed.

The Duke Cunningham scandal is a Republican scandal, which we'll soon see spreads into the Rumsfeld Defense Department.

The Abramoff scandal tracks into the Interior Department and the GSA.

Then there's Tom DeLay, remember him, former House Majority Leader, now under indictment in Texas. Set aside that he's also implicated in the Abramoff scandal and quite probably the Duke Cunningham scandal as well.

And then in the other body you've got Sen. Bill Frist who is at the center of a criminal investigation into his stock sales. Frist is actually sort of unique in that it's possible he may not be guilty.

Two Republican members of Congress are under indictment.

Prosecutors have already accused two of taking bribes.

These few examples only scratch the surface. And I've left aside the Fitzgerald investigation because it doesn't turn on money but pure old-fashioned abuse of power.

Yet, Republican media types have been leaning hard yesterday and today on reporters to push the bipartisan corruption line, even though the simple facts of the case simply give no basis for it whatsoever.

It's actually close to laughable.

The simple truth is that Democrats in Washington today just aren't in a position to be corrupt on any serious scale for a simple reason: public corruption is almost always about selling power. Got no power and you've just got nothing to sell. Any idiot can understand that.

The level of public corruption coming to the surface in Washington today is not unprecedented. But there's a pretty good argument that you have to go back more than a hundred years to find anything comparable. And it's almost entirely limited to one party, the Republican party, because it all grows out of the same political machine.

But Republicans are pushing their line. And lots of reporters, not wanting trouble, are doing their best to comply.

Len on 11.30.05 @ 12:06 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Nostalgia corner....

Over at Pretty War STL, proprietor Tom graces us with some pictures Bellerive Park in the Carondelet neighborhood of South St. Louis. A lovely little park overlooking the Mississippi River, Bellerive was a favorite destination for some of my high school buddies and me when we were out gadding about South St. Louis. Check out the pictures, especially of the river view.

Len on 11.30.05 @ 11:54 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Maureen...We Missed ya....

Today GEM quote comes from Maureen Dowd's latest bit in the NY Times:

"...Things had been going so smoothly. The global torture franchise was up and running. Halliburton contracts were flowing. Tax cuts were sailing through. Oil companies were raking it in. Alaska drilling was thrillingly close. The courts were defending his executive privilege on energy policy, and people were still buying all that smoke about Saddam's being responsible for 9/11, and that drivel about how we're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here. Everything was groovy.

But not anymore. Cheney could not believe that Karl had made him go out and call that loudmouth Jack Murtha a patriot. He was sure the Pentagon generals had put the congressman up to calling for a withdrawal from Iraq. Is the military brass getting in touch with its pacifist side? In Wyoming, Vice shoots doves.

How dare Murtha suggest that Cheney dodged and dodged and dodged and dodged and dodged the draft? Murtha thinks he knows about war just because he served in one and was a marine for 37 years? Vice started his own war. Now that's a credential!

It always goes this way with the cut-and-run crowd. First they start nitpicking the war, complaining about little things like the lack of armor for the troops. Then they complain that there aren't enough troops. Well, that would just require more armor that we don't have. Then they kvetch about using incendiary weapons in a city like Falluja. Vice likes the smell of white phosphorus in the morning.

What really enrages him is all the Republicans in the Senate making noises about timetables. Before you know it, it's going to be helicopters on the rooftop at the Baghdad embassy.

Just because Junior's approval ratings are in the 30's, people around here are going all wobbly. Vice was 10 points lower and he wasn't worried. Numbers are for sissies..."

And just CAN'T wait to see the "Super-Secret Classified Plans for an Iraqi Victory" we've all been laboring under behind the scenes these past couple of years.

It's just Got to be a Jim-Dandy PLAN as WE all KNOW how well it's been working up til now. Do we get any Chocolates and Flowers with that Freedom Party this time??? (Dick-Yourself...yer such a TEASE.)

:-)

Karen on 11.30.05 @ 08:22 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Today: arguably the most significant date in the history of American literature....

Today is the 170^th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a/k/a Mark Twain. In honor of this momentous day, go read some Twain. If you can't think of anything, here's a link to one of my favorites; I consider this to be one of the two funniest short pieces Twain ever wrote: "The Awful German Language". [DISCLAIMER: one of the reasons that I think that "The Awful German Language" is so hilarious is that I studied German as my college language; that familiarity helps, I'm sure.]

The other one of the two funniest short pieces Twain ever wrote (IMHO) is "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses". So as long as we're talking (and, I hope, reading) Twain, go give that one a read. I'll be here when you get back.

And if any of this has piqued your curiosity about Twain, go scratch that itch at the Hannibal (MO) Courier-Post's Mark Twain page. As a native and long time resident of St. Louis (before my relocation to Memphis), I'm fairly familiar with Hannibal, which is a short trip north of St. Louis along the Great River Road. If you ever find yourself visiting the St. Louis area, consider making the trip to Hannibal; it's worth the time. And if you're a die-hard Twain fan, consider visiting The Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site near Florida, MO (unfortunately, the cabin was moved from its original location in the village of Florida, though a Missouri red granite monument marks the original location of the cabin on the day Twain was born). The Twain Birthplace Historic Site includes a museum devoted to Twain (the cabin is preserved within the larger museum building) which is highly informative.

Ever since I first read it, I'm convinced that The Great American Novel has already been written, and it is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. So if you're a budding novelist trying to write TGAN, just give it up (give up your pretension that you're going to write TGAN, that is; don't give up on your novel. It doesn't have to be the best ever written to be worth writing).

Len on 11.30.05 @ 07:16 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Q: Now that President Bush seems to have lost (at least temporarily) his political mojo, does that make him easier or harder to satirize?

A: It's long been said that the job of commentators is to come down out of the hills after a battle and shoot the wounded. So there's some of that blood-lust that affects us all. Also, there's no telling what new harm Bush might do if he ever gets back up off the mat. You have to keep your knee on his windpipe until the danger is past.
--G.B. Trudeau [Hartford Courant interview]

Len on 11.30.05 @ 06:12 AM CST [link] [ | ]

The blogger formerly known as South Knox Bubba....

has a couple interesting posts up at Facing South.

In Student newspaper confiscated at Tennessee high school, SKB tells us of the confiscation of the student newspaper at Oak Ridge High School. The reason? The paper had the temerity to publish an article about birth control, including such "news you can use" as the success rates for different contraceptive methods, and the places at which contraceptives could be found locally. SKB also gets off some trenchant observations:

Setting aside the debate as to whether birth control is an appropriate topic for a high school student newspaper, it's sad that the "abstinence only" crowd has driven these students to seek out the information on their own and share it with their classmates. Good for them.

What's amusing, though, is what the school administration has accomplished by this. Now the school and its backward policies are in the national spotlight, the kids are all talking about sex and birth control, and bonus, they got an unintended lesson in the First Amendment, censorship, and standing up for your rights. I believe the right-wing pundit term for it is "useful idiots."

OK, then.

(P.S. Way back in ancient times when I was going to high school, whenever something like this happened it spawned another hippie underground school paper. Nowadays I guess it spawns a hundred new blogs.)

And in Associated Press looks South, he reviews a set of stories which ran over the AP wire recently dealing with the South and developments in the area. That post spawned an interesting comment from "Andy", a frequent commentor there:

Tennessee alone would be a good character study in music.

Going from Bristol through Nashville on to Memphis, you'd get everything from folk (Jimmie Rodgers) to bluegrass (Bill Monroe) to country (Hank Williams) to R&B (Otis Redding) to soul (Isaac Hayes) to rock (Elvis Presley) to the roots of "alternative" (Big Star).

OK, so Memphis gets a lot of the credit. But damn, there's been a lot of music history hereabouts.

There's a reason that I-40 from Memphis to Nashville is dubbed "The Music Highway", and Andy points out that there's a damn good reason for extending that name to the entire stretch of highway from Memphis to Bristol.

Len on 11.29.05 @ 08:48 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Sometimes, one's past comes back to haunt one.... in the strangest places!

Doing my daily round of my blogroll I made my usual visit of the always interesting Main and Central (a blog by a group of veterans and dealing with military and veterans' concerns), when I came across a reference to one of my more interesting legal cases. In a post advocating that former Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (corrupt R-CA) be court martialed for his malfeasance in office, Main and Central blogger Terry Welch (a/k/a Nitpicker) made reference to the case of United States v. Clifford M. Overton, 24 M.J. 309 (USCMA, 1987) in support of the view that Cunningham is subject to court martial jurisdiction.

Cunningham, as you may be aware, is a retired Naval officer, a highly decorated (Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, 15 Air Medals, and the Purple Heart) Naval aviator (who, I have heard, claims that the character of "Maverick" in the movie Top Gun was inspired by his career--whether Cunningham has, in fact, made that claim I don't know firsthand) who was the first US ace of the air war over Vietnam, and apparently the first ace fighter pilot in the history of the US military to score all five qualifying kills with missiles (IIRC, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the aircraft Cunningham flew in Vietnam, had no guns and was armed solely with air to air missiles in the anti-aircraft role). As a retired officer, he is in fact subject to court martial jurisdiction, and Terry cited the Overton case as authority for that proposition.

Of course, I perked up and paid attention when I saw that citation, because I had the dubious distinction of representing Overton at both his general court martial (conducted at the US Naval Station, Subic Bay, Philippines) and his appeal to the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review. It's not normal for a military defendant to be represented by the same military lawyer at both trial and appeal, however, by the luck of the draw I'd been given orders to the Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity, Appellate Defense Division, after my tour in Subic Bay ended, and by virtue of my work on some pretrial motions and a petition to the US Court of Military Appeals (USCMA) for a writ of mandamus (a request for USCMA to order the general court martial to dismiss the charges for lack of in personam jurisdiction) during Overton's trial, it was clear that I was so familiar with the issues to be raised on appeal that it made no sense to assign the case to any other appellate defense counsel.

My obligated service in the Navy ended before the Overton case was heard in the Court of Military Appeals or in the Supreme Court, so I wasn't able to represent Overton in either of those august tribunals. Which was ok by me. Among the reasons for that was that, a month or two prior to USCMA issuing its opinion in the Overton case, the US Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of Solorio v. United States, 483 U.S. 435 (1987), which in one fell swoop overruled the previous Supreme Court precedents of O'Callahan v. Parker, 395 U.S. 258 (1969), and Relford v. Commandant, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, 401 U.S. 355 (1971), which pretty well took away every basis for which we were arguing that the court martial in Subic Bay lacked in personam jurisdiction over Cliff Overton. That made the USCMA decision upholding Cliff's conviction at trial pretty much a no-brainer, and made the ultimate petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court one of those exercises in futility that every defense counsel is, alas, all too familiar with.

Obviously, by virtue of the fact that Terry could cite United States v. Overton to support the proposition that Cunningham is subject to court martial jurisdiction, I didn't exactly win that case. However, as trial losses go (and keep in mind that "winning" for a criminal defense lawyer is relative; since acquittals are so rare you have to count any better than expected result for your client as being a "win"), it was probably the high point of my undistinguished legal career. While we ultimately lost the petition for writ of mandamus at USCMA, the Court did grant our request for a stay of the trial (which was dramatically announced in the middle of the morning's court proceedings, about 15 minutes after the military judge had asked me (very snidely), "Well, Lieutenant Cleavelin, have we heard anything from the Court of Military Appeals, yet?").

The court martial itself lasted over a week, and when the dust cleared Overton's punishment was a mere dishonorable discharge and full forfeiture of his Fleet Marine Corps Reserve retainer pay (for some reason, Fleet Reserve/Fleet Marine Reserve pay is "retainer" pay, not "retired" pay). No confinement/imprisonment whatsoever was imposed by the court. And because the court didn't sentence Cliff to confinement, he continued to receive his retainer pay until the Court of Military Appeals (IIRC) affirmed his conviction (had he been sentenced to confinement of a month or longer the convening authority (Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Philippines, a two star admiral) could have executed the forfeiture immediately).

At the time, I was on very good terms with the COMUSNAVPHIL Staff Judge Advocate and his staff, and one of the assistant SJAs there told me that the Admiral was sorely pissed when he learned that not only was Cliff Overton not going to prison, but that he was going to continue receiving retainer pay for several years after his conviction.

After managing to both do my job (keeping Cliff Overton out of prison and allowing him to keep sucking off the military teat for four years he wouldn't have otherwise) and pissing off a two star admiral in the process, I obviously reached the high point of my legal career, and there was no way to go but down from there.

But, God, it felt good when it happened.

:-)

Len on 11.29.05 @ 08:21 PM CST [link] [ | ]

HOLY Jumping Jee-Hosie-phat...

...I just heard a CNN commentator make an EXTRAORDINARY statement about ole Child-In-Chief plans to try to shore-up the sagging support for his Iraqi *Sucess* (which everyone who hasn't been on Planet GOPHUCKyerslef Knows is tanking in the polls).

CIC: " ... I'm interested in winning...hehehehee...I want to defeat the terrorists ...hehehehee. And I want our troops to come home but I don't want em to come home without achieving a strategy for victory. We've got a strategy for victory."

Dana Bash: "... What the White House insists we'll see at Annapolis is the President giving more details in than he has before on how the US expects to get that victory the President talked about. And he will focus on Iraqi's and how they are stablizing their country. Specifically about security. Perhaps we'll even hear the President *admit* that the US didn't have it *right* in terms of how they were training Iraqi forces in the beginning, but he will tell how specifically they are doing at this point."

Nicole Wallace: (White House Com. Director): "Currently 120 batallions of Iraqi security forces are on the ground in Iraq. 40 of them are leading missions. And once the conditions are met for Iraqis' to secure their fledgling democracy, American troops will come home."

Dana Bash: "'American troops will come home'...you just heard that from Nicole Wallace. That obviously is the underlying theme here. The President will not explicitly say THAT and he will actually outright reject, as we heard him say today, a specific timetable for withdrawal of troops. But by talking specifically about the Iraqis, how they are stabilizing their country, that is what the President will be trying to imply. That the US can possibly, if this trend continues, that he can lay out that they can possibly start to come home - and from the Pentagon, that there are plans in place, conditions based plans, we hear that from the Pentagon and the White House, for that to happen.

And one more thing, Wolf, the White House understands that what Americans want to hear is that there IS a Plan and we're gonna see them "Declassify" something that they say is a PLAN they say has been in Place for a couple of years. To lay out short term, medium term and long term goals for getting to that victory they say they can get to in Iraq."

So, the NEW strategy for VICTORY is a *Classified Secret Plan* the White House has had in place for a *COUPLE of YEARS*...

F**K I think I'm gonna go throw up someplace.

OH, and Yeah Right... this a PLAN they've had all along.

:-(

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 03:47 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's GEM...

This Howl from Tbogg:

"Talking Prayer Smack:

Apparently there is a movement afoot in America to rould up all the Christians and nail them to crosses and then feed them to lions and then burn their bones in bonfires made of confiscated Bibles... and I never got the memo.

At least that's the impression I get from christianunderground who are all, like, "bring it unto me, man" and I'm all, like, "who are you? Stop bothering me. Go away." and they're all, like, "I mean it, man. You're in for a world of peril cuz we're not gonna be kept down by the dominant atheistic culture", and I'm all, like...well, walking away because I don't give a shit.... and then they go out late at night for drive-by proselytizing..."

The entire piece is a GOOD FUNNIE - so give it a read through.

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 08:01 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Yet More Reasons NOT to Fly...

Here's a few *creative financing* suggestions for those embattled Airlines just trying to break even and make an honest $Buck$:

"Airlines are now charging $1 for trail mix, $2 for a pillow and as much as $99 for a seat in the exit row. That's ingenious. And the Tempo Subcommittee on Flights of Fancy has even more suggestions:

- $1.99 to put your tray in the downright position.

- $5.17 per lap your luggage takes on the conveyor belt before you pick it up.

- Coin-operated TP dispensers.

- $50 to sit next to that hot babe -- on second thought, we'll charge her $100 not to sit next to you.

- $40 to sit in a section where there's no safety regulations presentation (because you know them already).

- $20 to see a movie that doesn't star Ashton Kutcher or Brittany Murphy.

- $7 to keep the partially full Diet Coke can.

- $24 not to sit in front of a child with legs long enough to kick the back of your seat.

- $13 for express access to the toilets.

- $1 for an air sickness bag, if purchased in advance. Once the plane's in the air, they're $15.

- $10 if you sit by the window and have to use the bathroom during the flight.

- $3,000 to put your seat all the way back into the lap of the person behind you.

- $1.98 refund if plane lands without all landing gear properly deployed."

-- Want TP? - That'll cost you. (Chicago Tribune)

And if I thought they were KIDDING, this might actually be FUNNIE!!

[Update: I have my own addition to the above list (and speaking of *burgeoning Gluteus Maximi*) IF you can't fit into a single seat...sorry but you'll have to purchase TWO seats to accomodate you - but maybe we'll allow you twice the luggage?!?]

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 07:25 AM CST [link] [ | ]

More about that Gluteus Maximus...

...and NO, that's not Movie Character from Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.

But as in Gluteus Maximus - and this Daily Herald story from Reuters:Burgeoning backsides sometimes make injections a long-shot:

" Fatter rear ends are causing many drug injections to miss their mark, requiring longer needles to reach buttock muscle, researchers said Monday.

Standard-sized needles failed to reach the buttock muscle in 23 out of 25 women whose rears were examined after what was supposed to be an intramuscular injection of a drug.

Two-thirds of the 50 patients in the study did not receive the full dosage of the drug, which instead lodged in the fat tissue of their buttocks, researchers from The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin said in a presentation to the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

Besides patients receiving less than the correct drug dosage, medications that remain lodged in fat can cause infection or irritation, researchers Victoria Chan said.

“There is no question that obesity is the underlying cause. We have identified a new problem related, in part, to the increasing amount of fat in patients’ buttocks,” Chan said..."

Well, Nuff said...America - yer *On Notice* (as Stephen Colbert likes to say) and get going on that exercise all you Gluteus Maximus Fans. We ain't getting any thinner!

:-)

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 07:04 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

President Bush is going to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. That no longer seems in doubt. The question is: How does he plan to do it? Which troops will come out first? How quickly? Where will they go? Under what circumstances will they be put back in? Which troops will remain, and what will they do? How will they keep a profile low enough to make the Iraqi government seem genuinely autonomous yet high enough to help deter or stave off internal threats? Who will keep the borders secure, a task for which the Iraqi army doesn't even pretend to have the slightest capability? What kinds of diplomatic arrangements will he make with Iraq's neighbors—who have their own conflicting interests in the country's future—to assure an international peace?

More to the point, does the president have a plan for all this? (The point is far from facetious; it's tragically clear, after all, that he didn't have a plan for how to fight the war if it extended beyond the collapse of Saddam.) Has he entertained these questions, much less devised some shrewd answers? If he's serious about a withdrawal or redeployment that's strategically sensible, as opposed to politically opportune, we should hear about them in his speech Wednesday night.
--Fred Kaplan

Len on 11.29.05 @ 06:22 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Ah, yes...Highlights from Previous Parties of the 5-Year Olds...

"...Check out this tidbit from "Plan of Attack" in which Woodward recounts a meeting the Bush team had with outgoing secretary of defense William Cohen and the Joint Chiefs of Staff just before taking office.

The JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] staff had placed a peppermint at each place. Bush unwrapped his and popped it in his mouth. Later he eyed Cohen's mint and flashed a pantomime query. Do you want that? Cohen signaled no, so Bush reached over and took it. Near the end of the hour-and-a-quarter briefing, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army General Henry "Hugh" Sheldon, noticed Bush eyeing his mint so he passed it over.

Feel like a fly on the wall? Perhaps, but wouldn't you rather hear more about the fact that, according to Woodward, Cheney had told Cohen that 'Topic A should be Iraq.' Iraq as Topic A -- months before 9/11, indeed even before Bush was inaugurated. But instead of connecting those dots we get not a vice president ravenous for Saddam's head but a president ravenous for mints."

-- Arianna Huffington: Bob Woodward, the Dumb Blonde of American Journalism.

Sounds just like our Child-In-Chief. Worried about his party treats and favors - never about the Substance of his meetings - HOW BORING - just pass the MINTS.

Oh - and to ole Woodie it's all about CIC's Moral Compass - PHULEEEASE!!!

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 06:17 AM CST [link] [ | ]

More Moral Equivocating on TORTURE...and Sliding Scales...

..or is that Slippery Slopes?

Krautie has joined the semantic word games with the concepts of Torture in this RadioBlogger interview. While recognizing there IS a definition in the legal code, Krautie agrees that somehow McCain's Amendment presents a "moral ambiguity"and would not fulfill the government’s “moral obligation to do whatever it takes, up to a certain point, to get that kind of information…”

“And that's the question...up to what point.” continues Krautie. He then proceeds to equivocate his way through various *techniques* while making up yet more *categories* of potential miscreants to extract Valuable Information From (Not merely Ticking-Time-Bombs is ENOUGH) and Krautie veritably skips his way past ”what really is quite a terrible kind of treatment called waterboarding, where you give them the feeling of drowning..”

Apparently Waterboarding is just a “Treatment”…not Torture. Like *Exfoliation Treatments* perhaps - Painful...discomforting...but eventually worth all that extra trouble.

But ultimately Krautie concludes he’d like to compromise on a "Sliding Scale" of permissible Torture “Treatments” based on how VALUABLE the information you’ll be getting from suspect X (which information value you can calculate in advance - to determine the efficacy and legal limits of your ”Treatments”):

”…under some court interpretations of that language, cruel, inhuman and degrading, you can have a kind of a sliding scale of really rough treatment, depending on how much information, how valuable the information is, under a kind of a court standard which said that it's cruel if it shocks the conscience. And under that logic, if it's a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the murderers of three thousand Americans, who knows about a future attack, it would not shock the conscience if you, say, injected him with barbiturate, or if you kept him sleepless for days on end. So that in other words, it seems to me that perhaps McCain is agreeing that there are these two exceptions. And if that's the case, then instead of everybody posturing, we ought to sit down together and write the rules of the sliding scale in the case of the high-value prisoner like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.”

Sliding scale or merely yet another Slippery Slope?

But IF I were one these Torture Policy Movers and Shakers, I might be a tad bit worried on my next overseas jaunt: Policymakers on Torture Take Note -- Remember Pinochet: by Philippe Sands.

Click on the "more" button to read further.

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 05:13 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

More MERRY FITZMAS ?

The Raw Story is reporting a few tid-bits more of the additional testimony details about ole Blooming-Shit-Head - indicating the possibility of yet a more Merry Fitzmas!!

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will present evidence to a second grand jury this week in his two year-old investigation into the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson that could lead to a criminal indictment being handed up against Karl Rove, President Bush’s deputy chief of staff, attorneys close to the investigation say.
...
The attorneys say that Rove’s former personal assistant, Susan B. Ralston -- who was also a special assistant to President Bush -- testified in August about why Cooper’s call to Rove was not logged. Ralston said it occurred because Cooper had phoned in through the White House switchboard and was then transferred to Rove’s office as opposed to calling Rove’s office directly. As Rove’s assistant, Ralston screened Rove’s calls.

But those close to the probe tell RAW STORY that Fitzgerald obtained documentary evidence showing that other unrelated calls transferred to Rove’s office by the switchboard were logged. He then called Ralston back to testify.

Earlier this month, attorneys say Fitzgerald received additional testimony from Ralston -- who said that Rove instructed her not to log a phone call Rove had with Cooper about Plame in July 2003..."

More links in that Chain of Fools. And maybe more Indictment Presents (gift wrapped under-seal) at the Fitzmas Tree.

Fa-la-la-la-la...la-la...la-laaaaa.

Karen on 11.29.05 @ 04:20 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Don't know if we've made Bill O'Lielly's "enemies list" yet....

though I did write Bill at his published email address (oreilly@foxnews.com) asking him (Asking? Nay, demanding) to put DBV on the list.

However, I am proud to say that we're listed in The True Conservative's list of Liberal Loser Websites. So I can say that at least we made the second team. And considering who else TTC has on that list, I'm very pleased that we're on it.

UPDATE: I see Brock beat me to the announcement by 10 minutes. So the logical question now is, when do we have the party? And who's buying the liquor?

Len on 11.28.05 @ 07:49 PM CST [link] [ | ]

We made the list!

The "True Conservative" is offering a helping hand to Bill O'Reilly in compiling a list of "liberal loser" websites.

And Dark Bilious Vapors made the list!

Take that, LGF Watch!

Brock on 11.28.05 @ 07:39 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Decorating mania

Been on an after holdiay decorating binge with the kids.

:-)

The girls did a FAB JOB - I mostly set up the train set. *wink*

And it is beginning to take shape and looking a LOT Like Christmas!!!

Next...the outside lights.

Karen on 11.28.05 @ 06:57 PM CST [link] [ | ]

If the Mess in Mesopotamia is going so well....

the troops on the ground would know it, wouldn't they?

Via Lurch at Main and Central, we get a pointer to pointer to a dKos diary entry that hints at significant disaffection among the troops in Iraq:

I'm back from Thanksgiving with my wife's family and I've got some first-hand feedback from the troops on Iraq, leaving Iraq, and Murtha. You see, my wife is a former military officer and her brother is an active-duty Major, decorated Army Ranger, and West Point graduate with more than 15 years in and about to ship out to Afghanistan. My wife is a good liberal on military issues, while my brother-in-law has always been a thoughtful and nice guy, but very conservative, especially on military issues. We've always gotten along well and been very respectful of each other, but totally disagreed on Republicans and military issues.

My brother-in-law thinks that Murtha is 100% right and that we should pull back in Iraq to forward operating bases in Kuwait, if not leave entirely. Even more interesting, my brother-in-law says that ALL of his officer friends in his real front-line outfit and around the military agree as well.

My brother-in-law is a gregarious, well-connected guy and literally has hundreds of well placed friends at the rank of Major and above. He says that ALL of his miltiary friends feel Iraq is a "mistake" and a "meatgrinder" that serves no purpose anymore if it ever did.

They would all be perfectly willing to serve and even die there if some good might come of it, but they all see that it makes no sense at this point. (My brother-in-law is no pacifist. He fought in Somalia and Haiti and killed several people there. He thought both missions were important and the right thing to do).

Apparently, one key thing that has really pissed off my brother-in-law and his friends is that young guys like them are being thrown into the position of making foreign policy on the ground. He said that his buddies around his level are being given entire towns to run in Iraq and essentially told to make up what to do. From what he hears, there basically is no overall strategy, just a bunch of LTs, CPTs, and Majors making it up as they go. My brother-in-law gave as an example the officer indicted for lying about his men tossing some Iraqis off a bridge. He knows the guy well and said he was just hung out to dry. The guy was caught between trying to figure out how to pacify the Iraqi town, keep his guys alive, and avoid international incidents. At the end of the day, he put his guys first, did the best he reasonably could, and still got screwed for it.

He also is outraged that Bush has asked the country to do nothing and downplayed the war effort that Bush claims is somehow so important. We compared what FDR did during WWII to mobilize the country to Bush's tax cuts and how the papers cover Iraq on page 20 these days. We agreed that if Bush really believes in this war, he should have and still should declare total war, pull out all the stops to get the right equipment there, reinstate the draft, raise taxes, or whatever else is needed to get the job done. Instead, Bush gives a speech here and there and essentially expects everyone to forget about the war and go shopping. He said that this is 100% Bush's fault.

My brother-in-law laughed off as ludicrous the claim that troops are somehow undercut by people debating the usefulness of their mission and questioning whether to pull out of Iraq.

I was especially interested in that last comment. If, as the bAdministration would like us to believe, the war is going so well, it seems to me that the troops over there would be so well satisfied by the good job that they knew they were doing that no kvetching on the home front could pose as serious threat of demoralization. That the bAdministration is claiming that such debate undercuts troop morale suggests to me that they're looking for a scapegoat. Perhaps to shoulder the blame for their eventual pullout before the midterm elections?

Len on 11.28.05 @ 12:51 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

The thing I'm most struck by over the last few weeks is President Bush's shrinkage in stature. He cut an insignificant figure in China even before he went into his doofus shtick, and seems to be diminishing as the dark cloud of Cheney solidifies and casts Bush in shadow. It's hard to believe he was once the chalice of Peggy Noonan's hopes; Winston Churchill in a leather jockstrap, in the humid imaginations of warbloggers. You get the impression that underneath the show of resolve and irritable resentment, he feels sorry for himself, pouty about not being appreciated. Which may explain why Laura Bush seems to have hardened into a carapace at his side, reverting to the Pat Nixon role to withstand the buffeting winds swirling around her husband and his own stormy moods.
--James Wolcott

Len on 11.28.05 @ 12:03 PM CST [link] [ | ]

"Duke" finally gives up and admits his guilt (sorta)....

or at any rate, that's what is implied by this item we take from Talking Points Memo and The Al Franken Show: Rep. Cunningham to plead guilty to tax violations

FREE LEGAL ADVICE TO REPUGNICANS: Remember to include your bribe income on your Form 1040. The Bush tax cuts haven't explicitly exempted bribe income--yet.

UPDATE: It's even better than I thought. According to reports, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham admitted in open court that he took bribes....

Len on 11.28.05 @ 11:59 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Yuk o'the Day:

From an email correspondent:

There will be no Nativity Scene in Washington, DC this year !

The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene in Washington, DC this Christmas season.

This isn't for any legal reason; they simply have not been able to find three wise men and a virgin in the Nation's capital.

There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

Len on 11.28.05 @ 08:32 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Time to consider shutting down the blog....

Somehow, when one discovers that Dennis Hastert has a blog, the hobby loses quite a bit of its luster, and one wants to take a long, hot shower and try to wash the guilt by association off.

;-)

(Note to Karen: Note the smiley. "That's a joke, son! A joke!")

Len on 11.28.05 @ 07:17 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Here's what we do know already, without a congressional inquiry: Members of the Bush Administration were dishonest with the public and with Congress about prewar intelligence. We've known this for some time—see, for example, the comprehensive and damning story Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus wrote in the Washington Post in August 2003 ("Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence"). Over the past two years, several incidents of executive-branch dishonesty in the run-up to the war have turned into subscandals of their own: the aluminum tubes that Iraq used for missiles and not gas centrifuges, the yellowcake uranium that Saddam didn't try to buy from Niger, the mobile biological warfare laboratories that turned out to be hydrogen generators for balloons, the al-Qaida chemical warfare training that was based on a false confession, the meeting with Mohamed Atta that didn't happen in Prague.

If you examine these and other pillars of the administration's case for invading Iraq, a clear pattern emerges. Bush officials first put clear pressure on the intelligence community to support their assumptions that Saddam was developing WMD and cooperating with al-Qaida. Nonetheless, significant contrary evidence emerged. Bush hawks then overlooked, suppressed, or willfully ignored whatever cut against their views. In public, they depicted unsettled questions as dead certainties. Then, when they were caught out and proven wrong, they resisted the obvious and refused to correct the record. Finally, when their positions became utterly untenable, they claimed that they were misinformed or not told. Call this behavior what you will, but you can't describe it as either "honest" or "truthful."
--Jacob Weisberg

Len on 11.28.05 @ 06:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

We get comments....

Back in May, under the heading And from the "Great human achievements" department...., we posted about the plight of Corianna Thompson. Ms. Thompson had been charged with the murder of Jean Balashek, in New Scotland, NY. What makes this case interesting is that Ms. Thompson is also a male-to-female post-op transsexual (or so the story implies), and in her birth identity and gender of Corey Wayne Balashek he had served 9 years of a prison sentence for another killing. If the charge against Ms. Thompson is true, she may therefore be the first American on record to have committed homicide more than once while in different genders.

Just recently Haloscan informed me of a comment we've received to the above linked post, purporting to be from Ms. Thompson herself:

maybe charged under both genders but this i am innocent of. its been a nightmare but i keep the faith the true killer will be caught.

Len on 11.27.05 @ 08:51 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Over at Our Obiligatory Blog....

Stan treats us to photographic evidence of what you'll get two days after your dog eats orange and blue crayons.

Len on 11.27.05 @ 08:31 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Another reason I wish I were British....

It looks like Parliament may actually conduct an inquiry into how Tony Blair got duped into supporting Dumbya's war. Unlike our Congress, which lacks the balls or the integrity to conduct such an inquiry:

This will not be a happy Thanksgiving for President George Bush, but he need just look across the Atlantic to know it could be worse. His only reliable ally, Britain's Tony Blair, now seems to be facing the full-scale parliamentary inquiry into the Iraq war -- its justification, conduct and aftermath -- that Bush has been able to avoid.

Leading opposition figures from the Conservative, Liberal-Democratic, Scottish National and Plaid Cymru (Welsh) parties have banded together to back the cross-party motion titled "Conduct of Government policy in relation to the war against Iraq" to demand that the case for an inquiry be debated in the House of Commons. They seem assured of the 200 signatures required to get such a debate -- and then the loyalty of Blair's dismayed and disillusioned Labor members of Parliament will be sorely tested.

"This apparently modest motion may be the iceberg toward which Blair's Titanic is sailing," said Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond.

Len on 11.27.05 @ 08:28 PM CST [link] [ | ]

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Len on 11.27.05 @ 07:13 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Unlike me, Mad Kane's had a productive holiday weekend....

as she's produced a couple topical limericks (on Ann Coulter's and Jack Abramoff's latest shenanigans) for our amusement.

Len on 11.27.05 @ 06:52 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Like Charles Atlas before him William Hung is an example of American spirit and tenacity, someone who can turn their weaknesses into an inexplicable strength that won over the hearts of millions of viewers who first fell in love with him on Fox's hit television show American Idol. Prior to his fifteen minutes of fame, Hung was an engineering student at the University of California Berkeley who won over his classmates and fellow dorm residents at a university talent show. Ripe with confidence and a set of vocal cords to match Hung auditioned in 2003 for American Idol, performing Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" and inadvertently invented new notes on the music scale in the process. His performance was greeted with predictable sneers from resident curmudgeon Simon Cowell, motherly support from Paula Abdul and stifled laughter from Randy Jackson, who had no right to laugh considering he made his career flourish as the former spandex pants wearing bass player in Journey.
--The All-Music Guide [bio of William Hung]

Len on 11.27.05 @ 05:52 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Challenges...

I sometimes like a *challenge* and here is one from Eric Zorn (Chicago Tribune) on Moving Thanksgiving as an artificially selected date into a better time slot for the Calendar of season's holidays and celebrations.

"7 good reasons to reschedule Thanksgiving:

If you don't like today's column, blame Abraham Lincoln.

If Lincoln had exercised better judgment in 1863 when he fixed the date for Thanksgiving, we'd have celebrated last month, this would be an ordinary week and I'd be writing happily on another topic.

Instead, Lincoln settled on late November, a dicey season for travel in the northern states. And I'm writing furiously about the need to move Thanksgiving into October.
...
I sat down in a funk [over canceled Thanksgiving travel plans] and came up with six more reasons, aside from better weather, that America should move Thanksgiving up by at least a month:

October is a better historical fit than November.

The after-harvest festivals with which Thanksgiving Day has come to be associated were traditionally held in September and October, roughly when the storied pilgrim-Indian banquet of 1621 took place.

There's nothing sacred about holding Thanksgiving in late November.

Early Americans observed various days of Thanksgiving in various months in various places. Our sensible friends in Canada celebrate in October. But when Lincoln standardized the event, he thought it best to choose the last Thursday of November (amended to the fourth Thursday by FDR) to honor the Nov. 21 anniversary of the Mayflower's dropping anchor off Cape Cod.

A four-day weekend toward the end of October would fall more neatly between Labor Day and Christmas.

Major holidays, like meals and vacations from work and school, should be as neatly spaced as practical. As it is, Thanksgiving both crowds the Christmas season and creates a long slog of days for most of us from early September until the end of November.

Because Labor Day is perfect where it is, New Year's Day is set in stone and there are a zillion reasons why moving Christmas is a non-starter, Thanksgiving's the best candidate for relocation.

A longer period between Thanksgiving and Christmas would create a longer Christmas shopping season.

This would be good for our friends in retail who could deck the aisles with boughs of holly in early November without having to hear the whine, "But it's not even Thanksgiving yet!"

Moving Thanksgiving to October might inspire us to move Halloween to late September where it belongs.

I'm getting off topic a bit here, but it's often too cold and always too dark on Oct. 31 for little kids to trick-or-treat in the early evening.

Even when the weather in late November is not so bad that it clogs and postpones travel, it's usually nothing to inspire gratitude for our natural world.

This is a chilly, gray time of year.

October, in contrast, is generally gorgeous and inspiring. No need for gloves and hats during the family touch football game on Thanksgiving morning.

Thanksgiving in October would mean no need to surf the Web fretfully on Saturday evening wondering if you'll make it back home the next day or if you'll spend Sunday night sleeping on an airport cot or in the median of the interstate where your mini-van finally came to rest.

Lincoln didn't know from airports or interstates, but what's our excuse for perpetuating his mistake?

If you think I'm wrong, give me seven reasons why. I'll settle for one good one. Post your responses to the Web at chicagotribune.com/changeofsubject.

I'll have plenty of time this weekend to read them.

So, anyone feeling the urge to respond to this challenge - feel free to pop your reply over to Mr. Zorn at that website.

:-)

Karen on 11.27.05 @ 08:27 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Sea of Beauty...

The LA Times has this FAB picture this week of Seahorses.

"GLIDING ALONG: In fairly bad condition two months ago, the creatures have flourished in 80-degree saltwater at SEA Lab, where they have had a steady diet of mysid shrimp and krill, apparently to their liking. Seahorses have no stomachs, so they have to graze often."

--Mark Melcon (LA Times)

A while back (a long while) the Shedd Aquarium had this marvelous exhibit on Seahorses, Pipe-fish and Sea Dragons. It was stunning and beautiful. This picture captures some of that mystery.

;-)

Karen on 11.27.05 @ 08:09 AM CST [link] [ | ]

I like Java, Sweet and Hot...

...Whoops, Mister Moto, I'm a coffee pot
Shoot me the pot, and I'll pour me a shot,
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup!

Oh slip me a slug from the wonderful mug
and I'll cut a rug 'til I'm snug in a jug
A slice of onion and a raw one,
Draw one!
Waiter, waiter, percolator!

I love coffee, I love tea,
I love the Java Jive and it loves me
Coffee and tea and the java and me,
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup!

Boston beans (soy beans)
I said the little itty-bitty green bean
(cabbage n' greens)
You know that I'm not keen about a bean,
unless it is a chili chili bean! (Talk it, boy!)

I love java sweet and hot,
Whoops, Mister Moto, I'm a coffee pot (yeah)
You shoot me the pot, and I'll pour me a shot,
A cup, a cup, a cup, 'an dat zat bootle!

Blow me a slug from that wonderful mug
And I'll cut a rug that's snug in a jug
Drop a nickel in my pot - Joe
Takin' it slow
Waiter, waiter percolator

I love coffee, I love tea,
I love the Java Jive an' it loves me
Coffee and tea and the java and me
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup - BOY!

--Java Jive By Ben Oakland and Milton Drake

I posted on this FAV from the 1940's about the health benefits of that cup-o-joe, But now the LA TIMES reports this - A jolt to decaf drinkers:

Caffeine can give some people the jitters, keeping them awake or speeding up their heart rate, but decaffeinated coffee, researchers have found, may be bad for your heart.

Java without the jolt increases the levels of so-called bad cholesterol in the bloodstream and reduces levels of good cholesterol, researchers reported last week at a meeting of the American Heart Assn. in Dallas...
...
The decaffeination process removes flavonoids and other ingredients that give coffee its flavor. Manufacturers of decaf overcome this problem by replacing the normal Arabica coffee species with beans from the robusta species, which has higher concentrations of flavoring agents, said Superko, who is director of the Fuqua Heart Center in Atlanta, but who did the research while a faculty member at Stanford University.

Unfortunately, robusta also has higher levels of fats, which can alter cholesterol concentrations in the bloodstream.

So enjoy that delicious Java Jive, and a second cup on ME.

:-)

Karen on 11.27.05 @ 07:48 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Winning Yet More Hearts and Minds...

"A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

The road has acquired the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in the world because of the number of suicide attacks and ambushes carried out by insurgents against coalition troops. In one four-month period earlier this year it was the scene of 150 attacks.

In one of the videoed attacks, a Mercedes is fired on at a distance of several hundred yards before it crashes in to a civilian taxi. In the last clip, a white civilian car is raked with machine gun fire as it approaches an unidentified security company vehicle. Bullets can be seen hitting the vehicle before it comes to a slow stop.

There are no clues as to the shooter but either a Scottish or Irish accent can be heard in at least one of the clips above Elvis Presley's Mystery Train, the music which accompanies the video.

Last night a spokesman for defence firm Aegis Defence Services - set up in 2002 by Lt Col Tim Spicer, a former Scots Guards officer - confirmed that the company was carrying out an internal investigation to see if any of their employees were involved.

-- News.telegraph.

So, anyone got any bets on whether these *perpetrators* are ever found and disciplined from this *internal investigation*?

Karen on 11.27.05 @ 07:17 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A Kiss should be just a Kiss...

But this story is awful and sad....

"A Quebec teenager with a peanut allergy has died after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten a peanut butter sandwich hours earlier.

Fifteen-year-old Christina Desforges died Monday. She went into anaphylactic shock and in spite of being given an adrenalin shot, could not be revived.
...
Pediatric allergist Karen Sigman told CTV's Tania Krywiak if peanuts are still on the tongue or the lips, they can still cause a reaction.

Sigman says teenagers with allergies have to let their friends know.

"If they're going to be dating somebody that they have to tell the people they're close to that they're allergic to make sure the people they're with aren't in contact with those nuts or peanuts," Sigman said.

Parents of children with nut and peanut allergies have the added pressure of constantly watching what their offspring are eating.

Terri Elituv, mother of 12-year-old Jake Elituv, told CTV News they always watch out for snacks that include peanuts, or traces of the legume.

"Everything is just sort of fraught with this underlying tension, you're anxious about what he's going to have, what he could touch," she said.

Elituv's other concern is what happens when her son becomes more independent in his teen years -- and might not share his allergy concerns with friends at parties..."

-- CTV.ca - Talkdaily via Raw Story.

One of my neighbors has a son with very severe allergies to nuts and, as he is only 7, I'm sure this hasn't even occurred to her yet about a fatal contact with nuts from kissing or dating. The school's have become very proactive to warn other parents and remove these things from snack day treats.

But how Very sad for this girl's parents and family and friends.

:-(

Karen on 11.27.05 @ 07:04 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A new medal for the 101^st "Fighting" Keyboarders...

The Hyper-Patriotic Order of ChickenHawks.

Quite clever.

Len on 11.26.05 @ 07:16 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Winter Soups...

Time to cook that left over Turkey Carcass into some Yummie Turkey Tortellini Soup.

To make a soup broth - Just put the turkey bonz and cover with water in a soup pot with some salt, pepper, bay leaves, parsley and some onions cook till the bonz fall apart (can be several hours on a low simmer). Remove the bonz and tidbits and pick the good meat off (and any left over meat from the meal) to add back to the soup. Toss the bonz in the trash.

Add chopped Carrots, Celery and add frozen peas, green beans, lima beans, chopped spinach and cook til almost tender. Get soup up to a roiling boil, then add the frozen or dried tortellini. Cook till the tortellini are soft.

Serve piping hot and yummie!!

:-)

[I put single servings into sour cream or cottage cheese containers and label and freeze for later. The start of my winter soups.]

Karen on 11.26.05 @ 03:06 PM CST [link] [ | ]

I Just LOOOOVE Science...

...so Follow this most Scientific Study from The Poor Man Institute of the Wingnut-Wankery Scale:

"...All thanks to SCIENCE!

Using these same powerful analytic tools, we can begin our investigation. First, we abstract the the concepts of “wankery” and “wingnuttery”, and represent them as the perpendicular x and y axes of a graph, respectively. We define our zero of wingnuttery as Charles Darwin’s classic “The Origin of Species”, and our zero of wankery as Steve McQueen, the only man to live through the 1960’s without ever having a stupid haircut.

Moving upwards from our axis of wingnuttery we pass through lines of increasing wingnuttiness, while moving to the right from our zero-wankery line implies ever higher degrees of wankitude, until, after many, many sheets of graph paper, we find ourselves at the Burning Man festival. With this as our guide, we can objectively plot the wingnut and wanker ratings of any individual, and determine what relationship exists between these two seemingly unrelated characteristics.

Firstly, we note that Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Nicholas Kristof and David Brooks all lie on a single line which exactly bisects our graph. This is no coincidence: this line of equal wankery and wingnuttery is used by the NY Times to determine who gets a regular spot the editorial page. (Note that by projecting this “Line O’ The Times” out, we discover that Assrocket will soon have a regular gig at the Grey Lady.) We also observe that people may evolve over time along lines of constant wankery, although only in the direction of increasing wingnuttery, which, ilke entropy, can only be created, never destroyed.

Finally, we note that the quadrant of high wingnuttery and low wanking is completely empty. You can have wanking without the wingnuttery, but not wingnuttery without wanking..."

:-) I just love SCIENCE. *tee* and *hee*

Karen on 11.26.05 @ 02:27 PM CST [link] [ | ]

New blogroll addition....

Via The Liberal Coalition, we learn of a new "blog carnival" devoted to challenging the domination of the "carnival" format by right-leaning blogs: The Carnival of the Liberals. They have a post describing the basic concept, and highlighting their web-based submission form.

The first Carnival is scheduled for Wednesday, December 7. Submission deadline is Sunday, December 4.

Stay tuned for some good liberal blogging there. And if you are yourself the proprietor of a left-leaning blog which features excellent writing (that disqualifies me, though I urge my co-bloggers to participate), consider participating.

Len on 11.26.05 @ 10:09 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's GEM of the week...

"...Some, like columnist Charles Krauthammer, were reveling in the triumph of "the American hegemon." "History has given you an empire, if you will keep it," he said, traducing Benjamin Franklin, who had said at the Constitutional Convention that the United States was a republic if you can keep it.
...

But where is the American empire now, where the new Rome? Where are its subject peoples, its provinces, its Macedonias and Carthages and Egypts, its victorious armies and triumphal parades? Where, for that matter, are its arts and letters, its Colossus of Rhodes, its Pyramids? Where is its Virgil? Would that be Bill O'Reilly, fountain of abusive misinformation, or Dan Bartlett, the White House Misspokesman? Can someone give me a tour of this realm? We might begin in Iraq. But perhaps we had better not. The tour would have to be cut short in the Green Zone, the American compound in downtown Iraq and the only "secure" territory in the country. Some 200 Iraqis have been killed recently in bomb attacks (horrors scarcely mentioned in the debate in this country). As for the Iraqi "government," these quislings are unable to follow imperial orders--they are deficient even as puppets. Their main accom­plishment has been to open a torture center, perhaps in imitation of our own Abu Ghraib, or perhaps following the model of Saddam Hussein."

-- Jonathon Schell: The Fall of the One-Party Empire.

Karen on 11.26.05 @ 09:55 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Hope y'all had a lovely "Black Friday"....

The day after Thanksgiving is denominated "Black Friday", not for any bad things that happen that day (well, not bad if you're a shopping enthusiast, at any rate), but because of the long believed legend that it is the busiest shopping day of the year, and the day that retailers supposedly see their balance sheets for the year move from "the red" into "the black" (i.e., the point of the year at which they start seeing a profit).

From my perspective, the day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the end-of-year holiday season (call it NODWISH (the NOn-Denominational WInter Solstice Holiday), "Chrismahanukwanzakah", Festivus, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, or whatever). For that reason, I've been sitting on this link til now. For your viewing pleasure:

The Best Christmas Lights Display Ever.

It may take a while to download (I think the page is being spread via email and blog, and the server is sometimes bandwidth challenged), but it's worth it. Basically, someone managed to not only put up an elaborate light display, but then found the appropriate hardware and software to synchronize the lights to a recording of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Wizards in Winter.

I put this one up in honor of one of my favorite people on Earth: my Dad's wife Carol, who is not only an all around great human being, but also one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's biggest fans. As I told you Dad, I'll be sending a CD with this one shortly, so don't bother waiting a week for it to download over your dial-up connection.

:-)

Len on 11.26.05 @ 09:43 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

As my pappy always said, hard work never hurt anyone--who didn't do it.
--Bret Maverick [TV series "Maverick"]

Len on 11.26.05 @ 08:57 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Finally....

...some action on those Left-Lane Hogs and bad drivers who *refuse* to let passing traffic through.

Police slow to ticket left-lane lollygaggers:

" A law intended to relieve highway log-jams caused by slow drivers appears to be enforced in rural areas more often than on the state’s most congested urban roads, according to state records and the state police.

Since the so-called left-lane lollygagger law took effect in 2004, state police have written 84 tickets in Chicago and the suburban tollways, compared to 82 tickets for entire rest of the state, according to state police records.

The near-equal figures are surprising because two-thirds of Illinoisans live in the Chicago area and because that’s where lollygaggers were believed to be causing the most problems when the law was enacted, a state police spokesman said.

The law carries a $79 ticket if you’re caught slowing up traffic in the left lane, even if you’re doing the speed limit.

The grand total of 164 citations over nearly two years is a pittance compared to the total number of tickets issued in a year. In 2004, for example, state troopers issued roughly 485,804 traffic citations of all types, including 9,830 citations for driving while impaired.

Still, police are pulling a lot more people over for lollygagging. Since the law took effect, 2,535 warnings have been issued. And suburban motorists might want to consider that though the end of October, some 58 tickets have been written this along tollways, roughly six times more than were written last year.

;-) Go get em State Patrol Coppers...and let the traffic Go with the FLOW!!

Karen on 11.26.05 @ 08:44 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Happy Homes…

And Homeowner Associations...

” New research shows that the 54 million Americans who make their homes in homeowner and condominium associations are overwhelmingly happy where they live -- even if neighborhood pets are an occasional source of aggravation.

According to a national survey conducted by Zogby International, more than seven in 10 respondents say they are satisfied with their community association experience, expressing strong satisfaction with both the homeowner volunteers who govern their associations and the community managers who provide professional support. Only one in 10 express some level of dissatisfaction, while two in 10 are neutral on the question.

Eighty-six percent of community association residents say they get along well with their immediate neighbors, with just 5 percent reporting a negative relationship. Of those who report issues with neighbors, the most common problems involve pets, general lifestyle, noise and parking. Of those reporting issues, 28 percent cite pets.
...
"Utopia doesn't exist in any segment of society," Jerome added, "but it's reassuring to know that the people who govern and manage community associations are working successfully to meet the expectations of millions of homeowners across the country."

-- US News Wire.

Well, given my experiences in working on our HOA here at Dennis Hastert Corner, many folks are appreciative of the efforts and work all of us Board members (we have nine Board members, one for each of the nine neighborhoods, totaling over 700 homes) put in as volunteers to oversee the management and upkeep of our common areas, 11 ponds, Covered Bridge and Stone monument, etc.

But it's nice to see that on the whole many people see the value and work done and think it helps keep up their property values and enhances the neighborhood they live in.

:-)

Karen on 11.26.05 @ 08:38 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Holidays, Shopping and Black Friday...

YIKES…now I know why I NEV-AHHHHHH shop on the day after Thanksgiving.

EV-AHHHH!!!

More stories about the trail of tears for the *Bargain Hunters* at this link.

About the only things I managed to do was reminiscent of this Friday bird blogging *wink* And some soon to be rendered turkey bonz for a Turkey tortellini soup! YUM!!

:-)

But, MY Apologies -- I entirely missed posting on this Hat Tip to our very own Dennis Hastert Corner by none other that GEM of a TeeVee Queen, Oprah:

Oprah's brownies explains is all --

"A plain brown box with a demure auntie-like lady on the cover are foolers.

The lady says "Yum," to offer a clue: Inside is a pound or two of brownies, but not just any brownie.

Oh, no. These are a deep, dark heavy-duty fusion of chocolate and fudge with almost more butter than your heart can stand.

And they are Oprah's favorite brownie. Ever.

On Monday, talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey named Deeply Fudgey Brownies created by Moveable Feast, 321 Franklin St., Geneva, in a list of Oprah's Favorite Things, a regular feature. Moveable Feast often caters for Oprah and its brownies are a dessert.

Within hours of the morning broadcast, a steady stream of Oprah fans began trailing through the catering company to taste and buy, coupled with a stream of calls and e-mails asking for the same.

Owners and chefs Matthew and Kimberly Lennert were fairly giddy with delight. ..."

and click on the "more" button to read more about Oprah's favorite things.

;-)

Karen on 11.26.05 @ 08:05 AM CST [more..] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

Jim Rockford: [answering machine picks up] This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message, I'll get back to you.
Masculine Voice: Jim, it's Eddie. You were right about Sweet Talk in the seventh. He breezed in, paid $72.50. But I didn't get your bet down.
--The Rockford Files [TV series]

Len on 11.25.05 @ 10:11 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Gem o'the Day:

Michael D. "Brownie" Brown announces plans to relocate to Colorado and become a government emergency preparedness consultant.

Says Brown, when asked how he plans to pull this off: "You have to do it with candor. To do it otherwise gives you no credibility. I think people are curious: 'My gosh, what was it like? The media just really beat you up. You made mistakes. I don't want to be in that situation. How do I avoid that?'"

So it gets better, Brown is not only selling emergency preparedness expertise, he's opening a secondary racket in 'candor'.

Actually, from the quote it seems that Brown's actual angle may be providing not generic emergency response consulting services but rather consulting services to incompetents who've been saddled with emergency preparedness responsibility and fear becoming national laughing stocks when they turn mid-size disasters in to full-on catastrophes through gross mismanagement.

This actually may be a solid and underserved niche Brown could cater to, though my understanding is that in such a learning process someone like Brown is generally referred to not as a 'consultant' but rather as 'specimen'.
--Joshua Micah Marshall

Len on 11.24.05 @ 07:29 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Technical difficulties....

I had planned a very unique Thanksgiving dinner this year (since, for circumstances not entirely under my control, I wasn't able to go up to St. Louis to sponge off the old man). Unfortunately, it had to be shipped from A Major American City via the good offices of Memphis's Major Employer, and somewhere along the line, somebody fucked up. So apologies to the one or two of you who caught my reference to a possible blog post on that unique dinner. Maybe sometime later....

However, all was not a total loss. I'd been needing to replace my cell phone for some time, and it was a good time to consider alternate providers (especially now that one can switch providers and keep one's established phone number). Managed to get a good deal on the Motorola RAZR V3, which has a nice feature set (though I'm still trying to figure out how to get pictures from the phone's integrated camera to my computer...).

All told, I still have a few reasons to be thankful....

Len on 11.24.05 @ 07:24 PM CST [link] [ | ]

Establishment of a "Constitution-free zone"....

Interesting analysis of the Padilla indictment over at Balkinization:

Since 9/11 the Bush Administration has sharply criticized others for daring to suggest that citizens accused of terrorism should be dealt with through the criminal justice system. It has insisted that 9/11 changed everything and that terrorism must be dealt with through novel methods that dispense with the ordinary protections that the Constitution affords the accused. Now it has backtracked in one of the most prominent cases and done precisely what it said it could not do-- treat Padilla as a criminal defendant.

The reason is not difficult to discover. The Administration counted votes and figured that even with a replacement for Justice O'Connor, it would likely lose in the Supreme Court. (The four dissenters in Rumsfeld v. Padilla thought Padilla was unconstitutionally confined, while Justice Scalia, who joined the majority, made clear that the September 18, 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force did not justify detaining a U.S. citizen, because the AUMF was not a legitimate suspension of the writ of habeas corpus).

By indicting Padilla now, The Bush Administration moots Padilla's appeal to the Supreme Court. It also leaves standing the Fourth Circuit's decision in the Padilla case, which broadly upheld the President's power to detain U.S. citizens like Padilla as unlawful combatants. (See Marty Lederman's post here for an analysis).

That result is particularly worthy of note, for the Fourth Circuit opinion may yet come in handy if the Administration needs to hold another U.S. citizen within the geographical boundaries of that circuit. The Administration now knows that the Fourth Circuit is a Constitution-free zone. It can, if it needs to, declare someone an enemy combantant, thrown them into a military prison, and interrogate them at its leisure. It will take years for a citizen to exhaust his appeals and reach the Supreme Court; and when the citizen finally gets to the Supreme Court, the Administration has the option to indict and moot the case (as it did with Padilla) or, if the Court's personnel have changed sufficiently in the interim, risk an appeal to the Supremes.

Pesky thing, that Constitution. Nice to know that there's somewhere that we can escape it when it's "necessary".

Len on 11.24.05 @ 07:03 PM CST [more..] [ | ]

What's the best way to say "Bush sucks"?

Commission Alex Ross to paint the concept:

Len on 11.24.05 @ 09:22 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

It's inevitable: One day, The Game will welcome the nerds; they will use stats like VORP and WARP and BABIP on SportsCenter; there will be new metrics that are as pretty and precisely turned as a 6-4-3 double play, and they will be cheered in similar fashion; Bobby Grich will be in the Hall of Fame; Joe Morgan will be institutionalized, and his roommate will be Tim McCarver (and McCarver's partner, Joe Buck, will simply be neutered)....
--Tommy Craggs [SF Weekly]

Len on 11.24.05 @ 09:15 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A new man in black....

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Len on 11.23.05 @ 11:27 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's Creationism/Intelligent Design ridicule....

From Ted Rall: Science Marches On

And a video clip of the late, great Bill Hicks doing a standup routine on creationism. WARNING: Probably not work safe, owing to language used. Also, of course, probably not work safe if your boss or a significant number of your co-workers are idiot Biblical literalist fundagelicals.

Len on 11.23.05 @ 08:00 AM CST [link] [ | ]

A guy, a computer, and not nearly enough things to do....

Extreme Adventure.

A random gamer plays 12 LucasArts computer adventure games in 24 hours. And through the miracle of time-lapse photography, you can share the adventure--in less than two minutes!!!

Len on 11.23.05 @ 07:56 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Thought for the Day:

The Today Show had a series on Plastic Surgery last week, and they interviewed a guy who was The Chairman of the Breast Augmentation Task Force. You know, I've heard a lot of great job titles in my time, but I have to put Chairman of the Breast Augmentation Task Force at or near the top of the list.
--Tommy Acuff

Len on 11.23.05 @ 07:53 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Today's GEM...

"As visual metaphors go, it was a lavishly gilded lily of an image, a hanging curveball across the plate, a George Tenet-style slam-dunk: A weary President Bush, trying to escape a news conference in Beijing on Sunday, strides away from the microphone to a pair of locked doors, which he pulls and tugs in vain. No exit , the image screamed. No way out. Of course, George Bush will inevitably get out of the mess he has made -- he leaves office in three years and two months, not that anyone's counting. But the rest of us will be left with his handiwork: crushing national debt, rising economic inequality, a poisoned political atmosphere and, oh, yes, the war in Iraq. We're the ones trapped in the dark with no exit sign in sight..."

-- No Way Out For Bush Co: Eugene Robinson (NY Times)

Well, that's about the SIZE of it, Mr. Robinson.

And BTW...WE are counting down the days as Len has posted a *count-down* clock of the days left in the CIC presidency on the sidebar. *wink*

Karen on 11.23.05 @ 06:16 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Staying the Course on Becoming 'The Worst President EVAHHH..."

Thomas Friedman (NY Times) has a ditty about the potential for Child-In-Chief to turn around the Country and salvage his presidency all in glorious realignment of admitting mistakes and moving towards a centrist postion to correct the errors of his ways. Thus, Friedman reasons, CIC can avoid becoming...

Friedman writes:

"...When I watch Mr. Bush these days, though, he looks to me like a man who wishes that we had a 28th amendment to the Constitution - called "Can I Go Now?" He looks like someone who would prefer to pack up and go back to his Texas ranch. It's not just that he doesn't seem to be having any fun. It's that he seems to be totally out of ideas relevant to the nation's future.

Since there is no such clause, Mr. Bush has two choices. One is to continue governing as though he's still running against John McCain in South Carolina. That means pushing a hard-right strategy based on dividing the country to get the 50.1 percent he needs to push through more tax cuts, while ignoring our real problems: the deficit, health care, energy, climate change and Iraq. More slash-and-burn politics like that will be a disaster.

Indeed, at a time when a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible and we are at the most important political moment in Baghdad - the first national election based on an Iraqi-written constitution - it was appalling to watch Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney using their bully pulpits to act like two Rove attack dogs, accusing Democrats of being less than patriotic on Iraq.

For two men who have fought this war without deploying enough troops, always putting politics before policy, without any plans for the morning after and never punishing any member of their team for rank incompetence to then accuse others of lacking seriousness on Iraq is disgusting. Yes, we need to stay the course for now in Iraq, but we can't stay the course alone or divided. That's the point.

We are about to produce the most legitimate government ever in the Arab world, and the Bush-Cheney team - instead of acknowledging its errors on W.M.D., seeking forgiveness and urging the country to unite behind the important effort to defeat the jihadist madness in Iraq - does what? It starts slinging mud at Democrats on Iraq. Sure, some Democrats goaded them with reckless remarks - but they are not in power. Where are the adults? We can't afford this nonsense, while also ignoring our energy crisis, the deficit, health care, climate change and Social Security.
...
"If President Bush doesn't rise to this challenge, our children and grandchildren will look at the burden he has placed on their shoulders and see this moment as the hinge between the American Century and the Chinese Century. George W. Bush may well be seen as the president who, by refusing to address these urgent questions when they needed to be addressed, invited America's decline."

Truly, I hope Mr. Bush rises to the challenge. We do not have three years to waste. To do that, though, Mr. Bush would need to become a very different third-term president, with a much more centrist agenda and style. If he does, he still has time to be a bridge to the future. If he doesn't, the resources he will have squandered and the size of the problems he will have ignored will put him in the running for one of our worst presidents ever."

Hahahahahhahahaha!!!

Dream ON, Thomas.

Not only can this President not let go of his soiled-stinks-to-high-heaven security-Rove Blankee, but he's done all in his power to keep Blooming-Shit-head by his side and return to the Dirty-Dawg-Rovian-Play Book of political campaign maneuvers. Just cause this particular smear didn't work, don't think for a minute that Rove's list of smears, fear, divide and conquer GOP rote approach to governing is now on the short list of strategies for repairing CIC's poll ratings.

If Child-In-Chief has shown nothing else for the past 5 years - it's that he both a "SLOW LEARNER" (if in fact he ever *learns* anything at all from those *mistakes* he never makes or admits to making) and has no penchant for self-correction. He offers nothing but lame excuses, no plans for change and it may be too LATE to rescue his *Legacy* beyond the "Worst President Ever."

Karen on 11.23.05 @ 06:01 AM CST [link] [ | ]

Karen will probably go into mourning....

RIP "Sam"
1990-2005

According to the Associated Press, Sam, "the World's Ugliest Dog", died Friday, November 18, 2005, just short of his 15^th birthday.

Karen first posted about Sam here back last Independence Day, and again last July 23.

I'm sure he'll be missed, and not just by his owner.

Len on 11.22.05 @ 06:39 PM CST [link] [ | ]

In case you were Wondering....

I have been Soooo Bizee. Hardly any time to post.

I've had family things, work things, appliance things, contract things, health things, multitude of EVERYTHING - all GO Crazeee the past few weeks.

They usually say "bad things come in threes" - BUT Sheesh, I'm working on making it an even DOZEN by now.

And yet one more thing this morning -- the furnace humidifier deciding to go Kablooie and leak water all over my basement floor. But as we are in the HVAC biz... I am hoping for a quick replacement unit sometime SOON. (Are ya listening, Honey!!!)

;-)

But meanwhile, after mopping the basement floor, and running some box fans to dry the moisture and avoid mold and mildew - I've been on a time-is-of-the-essence mission to find dining room chair seat covers.

My dining room chairs have suffered every indignity known to man over the past 17 years of holiday seasons and entertaining guests. But the Pizza escapade, where Cory accidentally lost control of a full steaming hot Pizza Box and dumped and entire Cheese, Sausage, Mushroom and Green Pepper Giordano's Thin crust Pizza *FACE-Down* on a dining room chair has caused me to want to completely recover them. (She was, to be fair, aiming for the table - but missed. *teehee* and