Who knew?

Posted on Tuesday 31 July 2007

Larry King isn’t a patsy.

Who knew?

Cheney went on Larry King’s show and said that he didn’t recall if he was the person who sent Abu Gonzales to the hospital to pressure Ashcroft.

King: That’s the kind of thing you would remember.

Watch the video at that link.

dan @ 6:24 pm
Filed under: Politics
Look for the footless man

Posted on Friday 27 July 2007

What moron in this collection of morons that are currently running the government thought this was a good idea? I want to play poker with him. I hope he is rich. Not that I’m a good poker player, but I think this person obviously doesn’t know when to fold’em.

Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced that the Bush Administration has subpoenaed him in the wake of his recent trip to Cuba on the July 26 episode of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” “I haven’t even told my own family yet.” Moore began, “I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me.”

How is this moronic? Let me count the ways.

  1. This is great publicity for Moore.
  2. Subpoenae are in the news. Moore will make a big deal of complying with the subpoena when current and past members of the Administration do not.
  3. Okay, let’s not count the ways; I don’t have time.

Poker players in Washington, DC, should be on the lookout for a man with no feet. Obviously, this person is the kind of person who is not just content to shoot himself in the foot, but probably used a shotgun to make sure the job was done right. He probably even reloaded. He should be easy to spot.

Or perhaps he went to Cuba for the free health care.

dan @ 6:40 am
Filed under: Politics
Shorter Kurtz

Posted on Tuesday 24 July 2007

I rarely quote another person’s post in its entirety, but David Kurtz nails it as well as it can be nailed.

Since Alberto Gonzales has about as much credibility left as professional cycling, maybe it’s no surprise that members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are hinting that Gonzales may be subject to an inquiry into whether he perjured himself before the committee in denying that there was any serious dispute within the Justice Department about the legality of the President’s warrantless wiretapping program. (Spencer Ackerman and Paul Kiel have the details.)

While it may not be surprising per se, think about what it means for the institutions of justice in this country that the sitting Attorney General of the United States is suspected of perjury, by senators from his own party, who are willing to say so publicly, in matters involving national security and the fundamental constitutional rights of American citizens; yet, the President does nothing but voice his support for man.

I suppose we should not be surprised, but we should also not lose our capacity to be outraged.

I agree with Kevin Drum: comparing Gonzales to professional cycling does a disservice to the latter.

dan @ 6:59 pm
Filed under: Politics
Punks

Posted on Sunday 22 July 2007

Steve Benen hits all the right notes about the fecal brew that is the right-wings reaction to YearlyKos.

Rush Limbaugh, shortly after he publicly mocked a man for having Parkinson’s, was invited to the White House. Ann Coulter still draws support from Republican presidential candidates. In 2001, just 48 hours after 9/11, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said Americans were to blame for the attacks and said the nation “deserved” the terrorism, but that didn’t stop Republican presidential hopefuls from reaching out to them for support.

And now Democratic candidates are supposed to avoid YearlyKos because Fox News dug up a handful of hot-headed remarks from anonymous commenters? Please.

Markos Moulitsas doesn’t need me to stand up for him.  All he did is come to America as a refugee, enlist and serve in the Army, get a degree and go to law school, start a web site that attracted a lot of progressive minded people and start a family.  I’ve only met him once but he’s the kind of American of which we need more.
This morning, Bill Kristol, another born-with-a-silver-spoon weenie, was on one of the Pravda Fox programs spewing crap.

Kristol is a punk.

dan @ 10:49 am
Filed under: Politics
Many faces

Posted on Sunday 22 July 2007

Predation is omnipresent.  Perhaps it is part of the nature of existence.

Midtown Group is an AA group in the Washington - Baltimore area.  The leader of the group, Michael Quinones seems to have used it as his happy hunting ground.

But according to more than a dozen young people who structured their lives around the group, the unusual adaptation of AA that Michael Quinones created from his home in Bethesda became a confusing blend of comfort and crisis. They described a rigidly insular world of group homes and socializing, in which older men had sex with teenage girls, ties to family and friends were severed or strained, and the most vulnerable of alcoholics, some suffering from emotional problems, were encouraged to stop taking prescribed medications.

Predation has many faces, some of them trusted.

dan @ 7:20 am
Filed under: Kids
Troubling

Posted on Sunday 22 July 2007

To hold a baby, helpless (except for JMan, who tried to stand up on day 2 of life) is a centering event.  At the time that I held Bookzilla for the first time, I knew that who I was and what I wanted mattered not a whit to what ever I needed to do to deliver this baby whole to the world.

We know that we can’t protect them forever.  We try to give them the tools to protect themselves that they may become whole people, capable of holding a baby and finding that centering moment for themselves.  We want them to be strong for themselves, knowing that we will remove the guys and tethers to allow them to fly in the face of adversity or stand against the flood tide of opinion if needed.

There are many kinds of predation in this modern life.  Commercialism, driven by an entire economy, tries to suck the marrow of self from our communities.  I remarked recently to work mates that I had managed, in terms of these soul suckers, to limit the kids to just Pokemon and Transformers.  But, I added, that was like saying that I had limited my addictions to just heroin and cocaine.

The most anxiety producing predation involves sex.  There is so little we actually know about the development of the sexual self that trying to establish policy in this area seems like a zero sum game.  We do know that sex is a powerful motivator.

That’s not to say that juvenile sexual offenses aren’t a serious problem. Juveniles account for about one-quarter of the sex offenses in the U.S. Though forcible rapes, the most serious of juvenile sex offenses, have declined since 1997, court cases for other juvenile sex offenses have risen. David Finkelhor, the director of Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and others argue, however, that those statistics largely reflect increased reporting of juvenile sex offenses and adjudications of less serious offenses. “We are paying attention to inappropriate sexual behavior that juveniles have engaged in for generations,” he said.

The significant controversy isn’t whether there is a problem; it’s how to address it. In other words, when is parental or therapeutic intervention enough? What kind of therapy works best? And at what point should the judicial system get involved — and in what ways?

Verily, when should the judicial system get involved.  This is a nuanced article, and troubling.

dan @ 6:45 am
Filed under: Kids and Politics
Night

Posted on Saturday 21 July 2007

A calf, not walking, a cow too,
Frozen in bronze, forever cold.
She played here, young once,
Her eyes, too old for her years,
Hidden by bangs, see and know
Things I do not know.

He spins, always balanced, knowing
Where he is and where he is going.
Tall and pale, this skeleton is
oddly warm, heart warmed.
He played here, riding the calf,
Forever behind her, forever behind.

Old lovers, new love, walk apart,
Old lovers, new love, enter in.
New lover, new love, greeting friends,
New lover, forever love, alone again.

The who she was, the who he was,
Have gone, in my mind, alone.
The who she is, the who he is,
Are here and gone, here and gone.

Wet is the night, and fertile is the
Dark of where I have been.

dan @ 9:18 pm
Filed under: Personal
OMG

Posted on Saturday 21 July 2007

All I can say is OMG.

dan @ 9:11 am
Filed under: Politics and video
Bumper stickers

Posted on Thursday 19 July 2007

Bumper stickers aren’t as popular today as about 20 years ago, but I saw a truck on 405 yesterday that I need to mention.  There were 5 stickers on the truck.  Two were from the Marines, one round and one saying “Semper Fi” in yellow against a red background.  There was a rectangular sticker of a blue star in a white field with a red border.  I think this represents a child serving on active duty.

The other two stickers said “No More Vietnams! End this war now!” and “Bring them home!”

As I pulled up to the truck, I saw the driver was over 60.  He was a conservative looking as they come.  I wondered if he was like me, that he had served.

To me, this was the face of Middle America.  They know.

dan @ 5:42 am
Filed under: Personal and Politics
Borowitz Reports

Posted on Thursday 19 July 2007

Funny guy.

Nader’s Ego Enters 2008 Race
Massive Ego Fills Madison Square Garden

The field of presidential candidates got a little more crowded today as the massive ego of consumer activist Ralph Nader announced that it was entering the 2008 race.

For its historic announcement, Mr. Nader’s ego chose New York’s Madison Square Garden, the only venue available large enough to contain the candidate’s bloated self-esteem.

After being loaded into the Garden’s freight elevator and wheeled out onto the stage, Mr. Nader’s ego said the words that its faithful had been waiting to hear.

“This gigantic ego has sat on the sidelines long enough and watched others’ egos get all of the attention!” the candidate’s ego roared.

Mr. Nader’s ego went on to enumerate the reasons for its latest candidacy, telling the audience, “I want to see an America where I am on campaign buttons, banners, and Larry King Live.”

His ego added that it hoped to fill what it saw as a void in the 2008 campaign: “There is no other narcissistic whackjob in the race, unless you count Kucinich.”

The consumer activist’s bloated ego received rave reviews from those in attendance, many of whom had fond memories of Mr. Nader’s successful bid to wreck the 2000 presidential race.

“It was great to see that ego back on stage,” said Nader supporter Ralph Nader, 73. “Finally, a candidate who speaks for me.”

Others echoed that sentiment, including Nader supporter Ralph Nader, 73: “I couldn’t believe how handsome he was.”

Elsewhere, in a serious setback for former Florida governor Jeb Bush, new research finds that the eldest children in families tend to have higher I.Q.’s than their younger siblings.

dan @ 4:52 am
Filed under: Politics and Things I wish I had said