doodleodleoop doodleodleoop doodleodleoop*

Cast your thoughts back.
Back I say.

To that ancient time. 3 months ago (as the crow flies).
We get this:


The chutzpah of Stuart Smalley

(no link, as Cthulu is my witness)

We have a luminary of hte Right addressing a character on Not for fucking Prime Time TV.

They got nothing. Nada. Bupkis.


C

ps The President-elect is a brother. Thanks, Poppy and Babs.

*Wayne's World, Party On! Excellent!

fuck you

I am not able to remember on which outlet it was that Obama used the derogatory term "Tree Hugger" to describe me, but he did.

And now Rick Warren?

Well, I can do better.

C

On second thought, read professeur dangereuses

Tanta has passed

Those of use who read Calculated Risk knew her and trusted her.

Go in Peace.

About * time, Barry!

Congratulations to Melody Barnes,

the Director-designate of the Domestic Policy Council. Currently Ms. Barnes is with Podesta's Center for American Progess, She was also the Chief Counsel to Sen. Ted Kennedy when he was on the Judiciary Committee ('95-'03).

This is a welcome acknowledgement to those of us left of President-Elect Obama that he intends to represent our aspirations for America.

She was also one of 2007's 10 Well Dressed Women in the Washingtonian.

Change you can believe in.




If you have the stomach for it, pop on over to G-Dub's Domestic Policy Council webpage and see the scant offerings from the Eternal Sunshine (War on Drugs) of the Spotless Mind (Faith Based Initiaves) etc. etc. I am expecting something meatier from Director Barnes.

* out of respect for the lady folk, I have omitted "teh profanity".

Scrubbed

The original post links to a video which is no longer there.

Try this

Vigilante Man

Ry Cooder

Best Headline (so far)

What a Difference an Adult Makes

Here it is embedded

Kickoff

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome to the first post-election national security debate.

Michael Ware pretty much wraps it up

All across our great nation...

bwo The E&P Pub

Dennis Prager, Dennis Prager

Over at the Poor Man Institute curv3ball lays some wood to that ass.

My favorite part (next to the summation):

He acknowledges that human sexuality is, by nature, amorphous and on a continuum, but then explains that this natural state of affairs is unhealthy and must be vigilantly guarded against. Because if not, the people guarding against it will be told that they were wrong for their past judgmentalism. Or something.

Go read it all! And behold the dismantling of sexual repression, in all it's glory.

C

On me

He knows it's over

James Wolcott has one of his very smart posts up at Vanity Fair. Here's the money quote.

He's trying to instill a preemptive sense of buyers' remorse.

Oh, how they love our country. If they can't run it, FUCK IT.

Disgusting!

C

Debate song

See ya' G-dub. Oh, and take Grandpa McCrankypants wicha.

Fuck it

Just go to SN!
Mencken (of the HTML variety) speaks for me.

In all it's glory

What Mencken Said

HTML that is.

If I were funny

I would do something like this.

bwo another funny guy

Paul Newman 1925-2008

L 'Etranger

WAMU died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure.

Conrad wept

Sorry for the Ike induced hiatus, though I have been following Big Shitpile's progress.

Here is an awesome article from the NY Times about the Swedish meltdown, bailout and recovery of the early 90's.


And here is how the rest of the world sees us;






both bwo Digby

Calm

Here is a picture of White Oak Bayou looking south at 0800 on 12 Sept., 2008.

For reference, here is teh Google Map of the area


View Larger Map

Sweet Ditty

FWIW

Hamilton and Raikkonen can spin multiple times each and still circulate faster than anyone on the track.





Elitist Alert) ....this ain't a passel o' NASCAR drivers.

The Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verse 23

Thers reverse liveblogs scoreing an impressive 9.3 with the Portugese Judge.

And he finds time to comfort the sick and infirm.

Francais

How can you not like a culture like this?

Come on in

Welcome to the newest members of the feminist movement.

Wait for it.....

The Grand Old Party

Bless their little hearts.

C

Update: after due consideration I decided to make it plural. Against my better judgement.

Workin' Night and Day

Like I don't have enough to do

Now that Ajesh Patalay has posted his top 50 Youtube videos on the Guardian website, I have some serious work to do.

I have posted about how I think that the Guardian is a quality paper/site.

But the first clip that Ajesh lists is a Fonteyn-Nureyev performance of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet.

Stunning.

I would embed, but I think you should trundle on over and check out that and the other 49.

And NO, I am not venturing into Wolcott's territory.

C

ps Wicked cool video of Cobain singing at the wall.

Totally

I see that Eureka Springs over at The Lake wants to get into Stereo Total.

I'm all over 'dat.



It don't take much to provoke me.

Neologism

Ratgasm

On John's Gambit

(presto)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

(ostinato pizzicato)
Ha ha ha
ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha
ha

My inspiration being, of all places, the Mudflats.

Updated: to add "ha"

The Best Analogy of the Day

comes to us from The Frogpond:

Don't get me wrong. I'm very pleased to learn that Rachel Maddow has been awarded her own one-hour evening program on MSNBC. But I'm somewhat put-off by all the enthusiasm people are displaying. It's like a new Wendy's opened in town and people celebrated because they wouldn't have to eat at McDonalds anymore. You shouldn't consume fast-food...ever. It is terrible for your health. The same is true of Cable News.

Personally, I gave up critiquing when I gave up my televison. Or vice versa, I can't remember.

Thanks Beakie Mom!

What Billmon said

The national security state is doing exactly what it was designed to do, but without any of the external checks and counterbalances that existed during the Cold War – the war it was originally created to fight.

Why I read the Guardian

I hate Manchester's football team.
I love their newspaper; to wit,


Six days that broke one country - and reshaped the world order

Distillaton

I have to quote Dr. Chazelle here:

But this week's events were triggered by Georgia. Its president planned a major military offensive which began with massive killing of civilians and Russian "peacekeepers." War is a ghastly beast and, as we speak, human suffering in the region is enormous. Saak (Saakashvilli, ed.) miscalculated badly, as Bush lapdogs tend to do. There's simply no way Putin will fold, no matter the cost. After Kosovo, after the missile defense system in Eastern Europe, after the constant humiliations from the West, Russia will not concede that point. Georgia, with all its shiny new US military equipment, will lose that war.

Go read it all.

Wannsee redux

Mike Allen at Politico talks about Ron Suskind's new book

“They key was a signaling system, where the president made his wishes broadly known to a sufficiently powerful deputy who could take it from there. If an investigation ensued, or a foreign leader cried foul, the president could shrug. This was never something he'd authorized. The whole point of Cheney’s model is to make a president less accountable for his action. Cheney’s view is that accountability – a bedrock feature of representative democracy – is not, in every case, a virtue.”

Hmmmmmm,
that sound familiar.

Kritzinger: No, that is not, that is contrary to what the Chancellory has been told! I have been told, I have... Purge the Jews, yes. But,to annihilate them... That we have undertaken to systematically annihilate all the Jews of Europe? No, that respnsibility has personally been denied, to me, by the Fuhrer!
Heydrich: And it will continue to be.
Kritzinger: Yes, I understand. Yes. He will continue to deny it.

According to Godwin's law, I just lost the argument.
Fuck!

C

Barry and Wes

Please go to Obama-Clark and sign the petition.
It would be great for the country, and a poke in the eye to all the fucking bedwetters.
Cheers,
C

Because

Watch this shit!

Even if you have the most superficial acquaintance with psychology, this is chilling.





Or if you prefer you can listen to the tapes.

Sit down! Shut up!

The Sunday Times of London has a piece up on what Mbeki and Mugabe are talking about.

I am not sanguine.

The Zanu-PF have elevated a bunch of young street thugs to "War Veteran" status and hamstrung criticism of these murderers and rapists.

While the Karadzic and Bashir examples might give him pause, I think he knows the jig is up. And everyone is going down with the Big Man.

Not done just yet

The ICTY has a new guest on the way, Radovan Karadzic. In the 90's this un-fucking-hinged nationalist politician attempted to expel or kill every non-Serb in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a province of the fast-disintegrating Yugoslavia.

He lived a secretive life for a decade before the authorities pounced. Next it should be Ratko Mladic, Karadzic's military commander.

This makes my fucking day (with caveat: This will not give pause to any other maniacal nationalist dictator in the future!).

For all the people of the Balkans may this reinforce goodwill where it exists, and a flowering of understanding where it doesn't.

and peace

Later) a death camp commander from the second World War has died in prison.

Even later) it wasn't that secretive a life.

Run with it

I understand satire.
I am more of an irony kinda guy. But, satire has it's place.

This just happens to be that place.




Bless the New Yorker! And bless the SPI!
You opened up the field (though I don't think you meant to).

While this would be totally fucking disgusting at any other time and in any other place, I think it is apropos here!

ps I was always a big fan of Angela Davis and Miriam Makeba (Ms. Stokely Carmichael), so the New Yorker cover kinda turned me on (no offense Barry).

Hero

I don't use the word hero often.
But here is one:

This is in no way a political decision. I simply do not feel it is appropriate to honor a person whose epitaph of government service was to have voted against or blocked every civil rights issue that came before the US Congress. His doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice cost North Carolina and our Nation much that we may never regain.

Mr. Eason, I want to say that I wish more public servants had your moral clarity and strength of conviction. North Carolina is poorer for having lost you.

C

ps Gov. Easley, Fuck You!

It's an ill wind that blows no good

Lucky me!
A racist, homophobic, corrupt, Asswipe dies and I find an awesome song.



I can only think of Homer, donuts and getting poked with pitchforks.

Guess who ends up ahead?
C

bwo Farley

What Ezra said

This is the opening edition of what I hope will be an ongoing series.
Ezra breaks it down.

More than meets the eye

Props to Sharon Weisberger.
A snapshot, albeit at a rarified level of grift.

These guys are good (operationally, as opposed to morally), and have
designed and overseen power in the US for 2 generations.

bwo John Aravosis (blogroll amended)

Taps

Godspeed General,

Out nation has lost a great patriot.
C

Better than 7

Stuff always did it for me



go in peace, Crazy Man!

You have given me more yucks than anyone.

Love,
C

ps Tell Uncle Milty Hey for me.

WSJ on the 848

I read the Journal for years and never knew that their editorial product was such shit.

Here they are on the Ducati:



Good. Not like the Euro reviews, but still within one standard deviation.
C

Beyond petroleum

For some the housing market is the relevant indicator. For some it's more macro. For me, peak oil is the bugbear. dday, over at Dighy's pad, referenced an organiztion that is doing the heavy lifting that we need to educate the polis.

And my first visit yield's T Boone sounding like a reasonable human being.

I'd be willing to bet he votes for the Publican anyway.

Fuck!

How-to

not bury the lede:

Poll reveals huge public support for David Davis's decision to force by-election over Government terror laws

The Daily Mail polls the "stunt/farce" issue. Gordo, the Git, is praying. And if he isn't he fucking should be.

That's gonna leave a mark

Seriously punching above their weight.

Why would a logical person trust any other wire service?

The big Fuck You

Sometimes I get the feeling that a sizable portion of the Israeli population wants to tell the Neocon/Likudnik types to sod straight-the-fuck off. The Hebrew University asked a pair of famous political scientists to lecture. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt.

And then there is this asshole.

Hey, Comrade! If you have a problem with academic freedom, maybe you should pipe down about Academia.

KTKXBY

P

Updated: Go Read TBogg's take.

Agitated

Agitated? He's just fucking agitated. Is that anything like shrill?
I understand that Phillipe is from the UK and has some cultural "distance",
but, Torture?

I personally am no longer agitated. David Addington and Jim Haynes must be investigated for the violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. After that, physics takes over.

C

Other people's toys

Here is Col. Pat Lang (regular Army, ret.) on how everyone wants to make their own choices and how often that is antithetical to the mindset of the American Imperial audience.

And this is Dr. Duncan Black (Ph.D, and dirty fucking hippie) with a take that comes at it from the point of view of a citizen and human being.

I hope that we are not so indoctrinated (Lang) that we can't see that the second (Atrios), that small, quiet voice, promises a much higher quality of life. That would be true both within and among nation states.

glitch

I can't get the fucking 900 siyonara to post.
So here

848

It's in.

Now I have to finish the valediction for the 'Blade.

As always,

Fuck



Until then,



Updated for clarity (bolding). Eat me!

Oh, Wally

I am watching Normon Solomon's War Made Easy

Walter Cronkite is captured waxing poetic about kiling little brown babies (circa '64).

Pardon. I am gonna hurl.

It ain't Uncle Walter and his self-assured baritone that do it. It's the fact that I, as a devout WW II warbird-lovin'-freak at the time, helped perpetuate the wanton killing of OPCs (other people's children).

Won't hapen again!


Cronkite came to his senses as well.



but , it was 1969 by then.

Lotta dead babies between '64 and '69. But they don't vote in congressional races, so who cares?



me

Pickin' Time

Oral history, confirmed by all the linguistic evidence of my youth.
A good "stand" o' Cotton was somethin'.

It meant you et......



It's important to note that this giant had Dylan on his debut TV show and show-cased bands as diverse as Derek and the Dominoes and The Fifth Dimension.

And the house band was his regular touring combo........ and his house "talent" was Carl Perkins........ and the Carter Girls provided the backup vocals........ etc..........

Updated for clarity and content

Unfuckingbelievable market

I used to think that I, kinda, sorta got the 2008 zeitgeist in a Jerry McGuire (show me the money) way.

Time for a rethink!


I dial in and hear a host, the one that called the Rutgers BBW team Ho's, talking politics.

Q. Did he just say that Hil and Barry are pussies?
A. Stupid fucking question! Of course he did.

Q. ZOMG, did he just say Barry was "almost" a bigger pussy than Hil?
A. Silly Wabbit......Duh.......

Words fail me, save one.

Fuck

All Hail

TBogg does a fine public service at Jane's Place (fuck their registration!). Isn't it about time to have a groovy president? Oh, sorry. Daddy-o?

Shit Ben

So I am reading this article in Haaretz. Just wanted to see how President Carter is being received by the "only democracy in the Middle East". I know both sides to this story so it came as no surprise that the Likudniks still have a bug up their collective asses re the apartheid book. Come to find out that it isn't just BushCo that is totally whacked, but also their friends. To wit:

Shin Bet security service has declined to assist Carter during his visit, U.S. sources close to the matter said on Monday.

An American source described the snub as an "unprecedented" breach between the Shin Bet and the U.S. Secret Service, which protects all current and former U.S. presidents, as well as Israeli leaders when they visit the United States.

Government sources on Monday described the lack of Shin Bet during Carter's visit to Sderot, an area often hit by rockets from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, as particularly "problematic".

How fucking much money did we give them last year? Do they think that if a former US President was injured or killed on their watch that America would ever forget?

And I used to respect those guys. Now they are a bunch of political spooks and in my opinion they are not advancing the interests of the Jewish State.
C

(Updated) Atrocious spelling mistakes corrected.

Worse, not better

Those of us that were agin' this one from the beginning proudly wear the DFH moniker as an homage to our Brothers and Sisters that struggled during another bloody potlach, where we decided to redistribute our future to some sick twisted theory.
Domino then, Preemptive War now.

The "serious" analysts say that my moiety is causing all the problems. Defeatism, Aid and Comfort, Plagues of locusts, You name it.

My commenter this evening graduated from the USMA in '54. Served in Vietnam in '70 and '71. Was my boss as Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence in the '80's and was appointed by Ronald Reagan to head the NSA, where he served three years.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lieutenant General William E. Odom

Thus the basic military situation is far worse because of the proliferation of armed groups under local military chiefs who follow a proliferating number of political bosses.

We agree with General Odom.

A number of reasons are given for not withdrawing soon and completely. I have refuted them repeatedly before but they have more lives than a cat. Let try again me explain why they don’t make sense.

I know the feeling, Sir.

I implore you to reject these fallacious excuses for prolonging the commitment of US forces to war in Iraq.

Amen

Bullshit!

How the fuck does this happen?


Created by OnePlusYou

Banner

The headline:

Nouri al-Maliki humiliated as gamble to crush Shia militias fail

The Times (of London) can explain the facts. Why can't our papers?
Also consider, that this happened pretty much in the British bailiwick.

Meanwhile,

...the receptionists greeted visitors with sweets to mark their victory over Nouri al-Maliki...

It gets worse. A Kurd talks shit about the U.S. They are supposed to be our allies! Maybe the A-OK for the Turkish bombing of Kurdish villages had something to do with that.

This is bad Juju!

Here is the story, if you aren't too fucking disgusted to read it.

Whirled peas

What Jonathan Schwarz says:

I don't think there's much chance the people of the world can create world peace based on mutual love. However, we might be able to build it based on mutual hatred of the violent idiots who've ruled this planet for the past 6,000 years.

Boutique Rum Blogging

Woo Hoo,
Sumfin' New

the next one will be even better

Roy props a third stringer up against the fence for some target practice:

For him, this is a low key, off-the-cuff kinda post. But wait, this "suggested" link seems interesting. Oh, yeah! I remember this.

It may be that we are so saturated with inside political information these days that even amateur analysts begin to think of these races as if they took place in a vacuum, or in a focus group. We're used to thinking of campaign messages as another form of marketing: find the target, flatter their prejudices, and sell them the product. But the kind of thinking on offer here misses even the essential logic of marketing: people have needs as well as psychological profiles. If the patriotic brand of detergent doesn't do the job, even patriots may turn to the hippie brand.

I got a chuckle from it when I originally read it. Now it scans perfectly. I see a powerful paradigm with which historians study the Great Cheney Shakedown Cruise of '01-'09.


And he ties it up with a nice little bow, Lady Anne from Richard III.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The always inane Maureen Dowd:

The dollar’s crumpling, the recession’s thundering, the Dow’s bungee-jumping and the world’s disapproving, yet George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly, tap dancing and singing in a one-man review called “The Most Happy Fella.”

Mrs. Kelley has some words on that:

Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):

Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.

When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.

Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.

Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.

Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

File this under Ooops

Atrios bwo Avedon

Otto quarantaotto

Dien Bien Phu

A really good interview with Gen. Giap.
That old mother fucker is still above ground.

Via a great post

I miss John!

Contrapuncti

Right next to each other:

Spitzer faces mounting calls to tender his resignation

Eight US soldiers killed in Iraq attacks

Getting your ashes hauled or getting your asses blown-the-fuck up.
I wonder which one has legs (rhetorical device, I know the one I will have to hear about for 8 months).

Hopefully, there was no wetsuit or anal plug involved.
C

That's right, Hussein.

I feel like I have been derelict if I do not read Juan Cole every day.

Letting down the troops, if you please.


His post here, is less war and more politics.

When you see or hear an anti-intellectual, this is the kind of stuff they are preaching against.

Facts...nototious...bias...just...theory (mushy sound of head exploding).

Ambivalence

First and foremost I want to say that my Fireblade has been a noble steed. Dependable, inexpensive to maintain and always eye catching (not to mention wicked fucking fast). I bought her new in '94. She was an early release 2003 model. I lucked out and found 2 still in crates at Stubbs Honda on Telephone Rd.

Like my earlier bike, I preferred the black scheme to the white (caveat: the white CBR600F was much better looking than the white 900RR).

Meine Damen und Herren, ...........Motoerotica.



This was taken in Oct., 2005 in Valles Caldera on State 4.








The fallback plan was trout fishing. Never got around to that.

Siyonara, Bitch!

You will always be a part of me.

C

LIAR

So Sen. Ex-Mr. Elizabeth Taylor thinks Obama is full of shit about scrounging in Afganistan. Says, not on his watch.

I call Bullshit!

How come Wesley Clark knew it in May 2007?



Notice that General Clarke mentions Warner by name.

John Warner has besmirched his office and endangered members of the Armed Forces for whom he was and is personally responsible.

Shame

Kleptocracy

Well,
at least the Brits are reporting it.
Was there ever any doubt (since, Ohhhhhh......2004) that
the current mal-administration would leave a stinking pile
of scat on it's way out the door?

via

On cults

As a quasi-functional member of the reality-based community, I would like to advance Sarah’s post on the Cult of Obama.
Smart people have created frameworks which allow them to study cults. At Orcinus they get that.
Funny (as in "The milk tastes funny!"), that people throw terms around as if they mean whatever the author requires.
Fuck!
C

Orwell's humour

For my buddy Andy,
linkie-poo to Orwell's "Funny, but not Vulgar".

h/t

but Doctor

Some on the intertoobs act as if they had a PH.D, or something.
Some of them do.



Sssshhhhh, I don't want him to hear us!

Roe as a right

What Jimbo said.

Shut out

John Vincent Coulter

Ms. Coulter,
my deepest sympathies on the passing of your Father.
Condolences to you, your family and to all those that knew and loved him.
Respectfully,
C

Review - Liberal Fascism

Dave Neiwart, writing at The American Prospect reviews Jonah's "book".

Surprise! Jonah's attempt is revanchist propaganda.

With a bonus link to a snippet of an Umberto Eco article from the NY Review of Books (No link. Read Dave's piece.).

There go those Straussian Elites again.

Fuck!

UPDATE Dave is having his annual fundraiser at Orcinus. Show him some love!

In all the textbooks

I know all us Sutherners learnt this.........not

I have seen evil...*

Dr. David Kaiser posts a great thumbnail of Leo (You want justifications? I'll give you justtifications!) Strauss, at his blog History Unfolding.

* Taliesin

Go in peace, Bubba.

Andy Olmsted

Endorsement '08

We here at Private Plzen (me), endorse John Edwards for President.