Got Pitchfork?

Bayh is a Concern Troll

2008-04-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

Bayh Warns That GOP May 'Swift Boat' Obama Over His Former Pastor

Noting that even Obama has called the controversy of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright "a legitimate issue," Bayh said that in a presidential race, those voters will take more than the economy into their decision making before the primary.

snip

Bayh said neither he nor Clinton intended to inject the Wright controversy into the primary, but he is worried that Republicans will do so in a general election. "I'm sure the far right will be out there trying to do the whole Swift Boat thing and that sort of thing. But I hope people will focus on the most substantive issues and I think the vast majority of them will.

Does he mean kind of like the Clinton campaign does everyday on their conference calls to reporters where they've been relentlessly pushing this story to the political press?

Or maybe like the way they've been pushing this meme to the superdelegates, oh, whoops! "automatic" delegates, for the past month?

What's the meaning of "intend" anyhow? is it a function of temporality? as in "we've already injected it but we're done now, thanks"??

On the other hand, we can congratulate the Washington Post for a spectacular piece of investigative journalism. I do believe they're unmasked the supersecret identity of "hadenough" aka "Elias."

Kudos!!

Blackmail

2008-03-26T16:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, let's just call THIS (In Letter, Top Clinton Donors Chastise Pelosi For Statements About Super-Delegates) just what it is. Blackmail.

wenty top Hillary fundraisers and donors have sent a scathing private letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chastising her for publicly saying that the super-delegates should support the winner of the pledged delegate count and demanding that she say that they should make an "independent" choice.

I've obtained a copy of the letter, which comes from some of the most influential fundraisers in the Democratic Party, including Hassan Nemazee, Steven Rattner, Maureen White, Stan Shuman, and Alan Patricof.

Full letter is at the TPM link. Here's the excerpt that made my blood boil:

We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.

How disgusting is that? I suggest Mrs. Pelosi tell them to fuck off and die. This is a big chance for the party to shrug off those fat cats and let the people start financing the campaigns.

In fact, I suggest all of you write Speaker Pelosi and tell her that. The party does not need Clinton's rich insiders to be competitive. We will not be held hostage to Clinton's scorched earth policy. Write Pelosi here:

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the US House of Representatives

Office of the Speaker

H-232, US Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

Please be polite- so far Speaker Pelosi has indicated that she is thinking clearly about the future of the party (no matter what other differences we may have with her).

And here's the list of Clinton uber-wankers:

Marc Aronchick

Clarence Avant

Susie Tompkins Buell

Sim Farar

Robert L. Johnson

Chris Korge

Marc and Cathy Lasry

Hassan Nemazee

Alan and Susan Patricof

JB Pritzker

Amy Rao

Lynn de Rothschild

Haim Saban

Bernard Schwartz

Stanley S. Shuman

Jay Snyder

Maureen White and Steven Rattner

This campaign isn't just about wresting control of the country from the republicans, it's also about taking control of our party away from the old-guard insiders.

Expert testimony

2008-03-11T21:05:00.001-07:00

Lots of talk around the blogosphere about whether Hillary's tactics are out of bound or not. I say they are, but don't take my centaur word for it, let's listen to the man who is perhaps the expert on the subject, James Moore, one of the biographers of Karl Rove:

If anyone has paid acutely painful attention to the political ministrations of Karl Rove over the past two and a half decades, it's me. And if there is anyone qualified to make comparisons between democracy's Darth Vader and Hillary Clinton, I stand at the head of that line, as well. And sadly, the similarities are so brutally obvious as to be disturbing.

~snip~

Senator Clinton plays the innocent on most of this by refusing to denounce these pronunciations. When she had the opportunity on 60 Minutes to tell the world that it is nonsense for the fear mongers to suggest Obama is a Muslim, she demurred with a qualified, "as far as I know" he's not. But she does know. Sen. Clinton and Obama have attended numerous Capital Hill prayer breakfasts together. Does she think he was playing the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, perhaps trying to see what is going on with that whole Christianity thing? Isn't any person believable when they declare their faith until they have been vetted by the Clinton campaign?

There's more, though I think this thing has turned into something of a rorshach test. If you're for Clinton, you've probably been cheering, if you're for Obama, you probably find it sickening. Color-coded Hillary Alerts

One thing I have to say, is that I find it disturbing to hear people that I like and respect defending tactics that would have them shrieking if it were a republican campaigning against a democrat.

For me the ends have never justified the means. I'm saddened to find out that's not true for many of my fellow democrats.

MOFO republicans

2008-02-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

Dr. Scott Lieberman/AP

"I am tired of these motherfucking republicans in our motherfucking government."

Me too.

Oh noes! Teh camels of death

2008-02-25T10:42:00.001-08:00

"Enough. The American people do NOT want to ride camels to work. We expect Barak Obama to state clearly that he is not pro-camel. Anything less is divisive."

/Mark Penn

Delusional AND stupid

2008-02-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

AP Photo

Feh. The worst thing about Hillary's campaign is that she's been working overtime to make me dislike her. Case in point- take a good look at the sign the kid is holding in the photo.

It reads "Hillary- the Smart Choice." I see. So people who voted for Obama are stupid? What a great strategy- insult your fellow democrats.

First we were delusional, then we were uninformed, and now we're just plain stupid. This, from a woman who has paid Mark Penn millions of dollars. Genius!

No wonder her campaign is going down the tubes.

Update: I added a second photo so that you could see the wording more clearly. I don't know about you, but I've had just about enough of being mocked and insulted by the Clinton campaign.

Rally madness

2008-02-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

So we headed down to the debate site to see what sort of festivities were going on. Here's a few of the many pictures I shot. Sorry about the quality- they aren't edited- just downloaded 'em and dumped them into my internet photo page.

Hillary had her peeps out. Apparently Chelsea was there- but it was before we showed up.

Here's the Obama contingent, marching in front Schultz's. The came with a (no lie) 100 piece marching band, courtesy of Reagan High School.

Lots of kids there. Commies! Indoctrinating them young!

Here's part of the big story of Obama in Texas- the republican and female defections. Bad news for both Clinton and McBush.

Cult members.

Delusional cult members. With breasts!

This cop was part of the crowd control unit- when he drove through the crowd, he suddenly flashed an Obama bumbersticker to the Obama contingent.

The Reagan High School band and drill team. It was pretty much a circus for a while.

Oh. My.

2008-02-21T10:13:00.001-08:00

Kelly West/Austin American Statesman

The above photo is on the front page of the Austin American Statesman online. Holy moly- for those of you out of state, that's Barack Obama with University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown, and the two UT quarterbacks. They're taking him on a tour of the athletic facility- that room is the newly renovated trophy room, and I'm pretty sure they're looking at the National Championship trophy.

That kind of visual just might doom Hillary's chances in this state. I cannot imagine Hillary touring the athletic facility with a smiling coach Brown.

Ouch.

Austin American Statesman

McBush 2.0 is pRoud! Everyday!

2008-02-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

McBush told us last night that he's proud to be, and has always been proud, of America, everyday. He said it with particular emphasis, to make sure we got the point.

Well. Isn't THAT just special? So, Senator McCain, tell us, were you proud of America this day?

New Orleans was drowning, and American citizens were dying while their government twiddled their thumbs. Where were you? Oh yeah, having a little birthday party with your BFF.

Heck of a job, lumpy! kai, thx, bai.

Ack! No one tell trademark Dave

2008-02-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

No wonder he hates Obama.

Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?

BTW, Obama's website is teh awesome. Not just in design, but in functionality.

Adventures in Obamaland

2008-02-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

I went to the open house for the opening of the Obama campaign in Texas on Saturday. The place was mobbed- they had so many volunteers show up for training that they ended up having to find extra space on another floor. The crowd was a real cross section of Austin- young, old, black, white, hispanic...rich, poor... and the thing I heard over and over and over was, "I've never volunteered for a political campaign before..." There were quite a few 40 and up women there, which doesn't augur well for the Clinton campaign.

The top photo is of Cory Booker, the charismatic young mayor of Newark, who is an extraordinary speaker. I would say the whole thing does have the feeling of a movement, but not in the way that the critics suggest. There's very little talk about Obama himself - it's about community empowerment. It's about people who have felt powerless taking the reins back into their own hands. It's about people with a common vision about this country and what it can be.

Over and over I heard conversations of people describing why they were there- how frustrated they've been and how they feel the tide is turning, because they, themselves are turning it. There were a lot of strangers connecting in almost a sweet way- lots of shy smiles and nods, the sharing of stories... there was some kind of basic, almost primal recognition going on. "I know you, you are part of my tribe." It was community, which is what being a democrat is all about, no? For me it was extraordinarily moving. I've rarely been so proud to be an American.

It just occurred to me that the one thing I didn't hear is how electing Obama was going to do something for me personally. As I've often said, I'm fairly comfortable. I have a good job, a nice place to live, more than enough money, decent healthcare. And for me, this campaign isn't about me. It's about making America a better place for the less fortunate.

Can you imagine a republican event where a bunch of people got all excited about healthcare for the uninsured and the end of poverty? Nope. Didn't think you could.

Ready to Surrender the Red States

2008-02-18T12:31:00.000-08:00

Are they kidding? From Politico, (yeah, I know) 'Second-class delegates':

A co-chairman of Hillary's Michigan campaign and has a line that's sure to drive a whole bunch of red state governors up the wall:

"Superdelegates are not second-class delegates," says Joel Ferguson, who will be a superdelegate if Michigan is seated. "The real second-class delegates are the delegates that are picked in red-state caucuses that are never going to vote Democratic."

As a commenter there says, Hillary! Ready to Surrender the Red States on DAY ONE!!

McBush 2.0

2008-02-18T10:49:00.001-08:00

Richard Carson/Reuters

Wow. The geezer endorses a slightly younger geezer. That should endear him to the college set.

Also, McBush 2.0 rolls out his plan for the general election. Dems Were Wrong about Iraq. Apparently he thinks the dems should apologize for getting it wrong.

Um, no. If we hadn't invaded Iraq in the first place, then al Queda wouldn't BE in Iraq. But thanks for the heads up on your strategy.

A valentine 4 U

2008-02-14T16:25:00.000-08:00

Two hearts, beating as one.....

oh my

Overheard in Austin

2008-02-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

Allen Fredrickson/Reuters

A friend emailed me yesterday to tell me about the conversation he overheard at his very conservative, republican borg:

I was just walking down a row of cubes where the sales teams sit to get my lunch and heard one sales guy say to a sales gal, “I am turning into an Obama-ican.” The sales gal says in reply, “Me too.”

And that, my pretties, is why McCain is going to get crushed in the fall.

Condi, come to camera 1

2008-02-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

Condi and Gates have an op ed in the WAPO today, asking for congress to agree to let them negotiate a "status of forces" agreement with Iraq. What We Need Next in Iraq. That's their headline- but hilariously, on the front page of the WAPO, the link says "Trust Us."

I guess they've seen the writing on the wall. Well, read this writing- KISS MY CENTAUR ASS!!!

And Harry, if you let them bully you into this too, I'm going to come to DC and pitchfork your worthless ass.

Warmonger - Let's get viral

2008-02-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of thing that needs to get out there.

I lurves it.

About Shuster

2008-02-08T14:54:00.001-08:00

Over at the crack pit this afternoon there was a lot of cheering over MSNBC's decision to suspend David Shuster for his tasteless, inappropriate and frankly, stupid remarks about Chelsea Clinton. (And a lot of flaming of me for thinking it's all overblown, but iz okay)

As I said over there, I'm not going to defend his remarks, but I do feel free to criticize the Clinton campaign's reaction to the event, which in my opinion is something of an over reaction. They got their well deserved apology, fair enough. But they went further, threatening to boycott NBC and MSNBC forever. Really? and in the same week that Hillary Clinton agreed to do a debate on FAUX news? Last time I checked, FOX still employes some of the wankers who have called the Clintons murderers, traitors, terrorist appeasers and worse.

For what it's worth, Josh at TPM has a similar take on the issue. Any maybe he's right- they couldn't touch Tweety, so they went after Shuster's head. If true, I think that's kind of crappy. YMMV.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but I just get annoyed at democratic politicians' propensity for beating the crap out of peeps who aren't really the enemy. Anyone remember Congress' silly condemnation of Moveon.org's Betray-US? ad? A little perspective would be nice.

Flame away!

(Note: and yes, reporters should not engage in silly gansta or sexist talk on the air. It's unprofessional and counterproductive. And I shouldn't have to explain that my criticism of the Clinton campaign doesn't equate to approval of Shuster's original remarks, but apparently I do. Alas, a blogger's existence, even a 16th tier one, is a cruel existence. However, I shall endeavor to soldier on. Bravely. )

Update: Oy. Josh says the is pressing MSNBC to fire Shuster. I agree with what Atrios said yesterday. It's a fair point that the Clintons are generally held to a different standard than everyone else, and that there's nothing creepy or inappropriate about a family member campaigning for a candidate.

That said, I stand by what I said yesterday. Ruining Shuster's career, a guy who does solid reporting, much of it extremely tough on the Bush administration, is going too far. In the meantime, over at the WH they're capering with glee over the idea that one of their most irritating opponents is going to lose his job. Sheesh Hillary, you've got your pound of flesh, let it go.

Your republican translation machine

2008-02-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder, when a republican says they believe in "personal responsibility," what they really mean is:

You're on you fucking own, chump!
The subtext of that is "you shoulda worked hard and gotten right with jesus sooner."

The republican candidates refer to "personal responsibility" in debates and on the stump fairly frequently. But you won't find it on their websites, though the doctrine is implicitly spelled out in their policies.

Republican dead-ender crowds know what it is though. Make no mistake about that. Check this out:

"It was one ovation after another as Bush ran through red meat issues: making tax cuts permanent, extending the surveillance law, winning in Iraq, defeating terrorism, limiting stem cell research, upholding life, appointing conservative judges."

But a telling moment came when Bush was talking about people "swept up in a cycle of addiction, and crime, and hopelessness." Said Bush: "We know that people can change their behavior. Sometimes all it takes is the help of a loving soul -- somebody who puts their arm around a troubled person and says, I love you, can I help you."

Suddenly, as Gillman reported, a woman shouted out very loudly, "I love ya Dubya!"

Bush responded: "My soul is not that troubled, but thank you."

Two things going on here- first, notice those red-meat issues are all about rewarding his base and nothing about the very real economic problems in this country. And second, notice that Bush isn't the least bit troubled by all the damage he's wreaked on society. It's all about him and the adulation of his fan club. Via today's Froomkin.

Have I said today how much I hate these people?

FISA Immunity

2008-02-07T22:48:00.000-08:00

My paranoid thought for the day- chimpy and cheney are making a really big stink about keeping telecom immunity in the renewal of the "Protect America Act" (god, but I HATE those fucking cutesy names they make up).

Their reasoning is that no company will want to help the government in the future if they think they might get sued.

You know what that tells me? They've already asked some other private companies to spy on us and so far they've said no. So they're desperate to get Congress to establish the precedent that companies acting in "good faith," even if they should have known better, are off the hook when they break the law.

Makes me wonder what else they're up to, and who else is helping them.

Feh. Congress should just let the whole thing expire. When the CIA squawks, congress can tell them they'll give them $10 million in emergency appropriations to pay for lawyers who do nothing but working on FISA motions. If the technical fix still needs fixing next year, fine. Write a reasonable bill and send it to a sane democratic president to sign.

Otherwise, no dice. And Harry, you pussy, the correct thing to say, both publicly and privately, is, "Suck my democratic dick. Dick."

Yes, I know I have a better chance of waking up with two heads than having Harry follow my excellent advice.

Harry Reid! We HALPS U!!

2008-02-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's pretty clear to me that Harry Reid knows less about the PR game than he does about how to be a successful majority leader. So I am launching a new feature here, where in I shall endeavor to take Harry's garbled, long-winded mutterings and translate them into easily understood arguments. Along the way I'll also give him some helpful hints on strategy. Feel free to play along in comments.

One hopes that he will be able to take constructive criticism, though I suspect I hope in vain.

So let's get started.

Just today, it appears that the WH is still insisting that the Senate confirm uber-douchebag author of the torture memos Steven Bradbury and won't strike a deal on other nominees unless Reid agrees to let chimpy recess appoint him.

Here's what Reid said on the floor today:

"He said that unless I would agree to allow him to recess appoint Steven Bradbury, he wouldn’t make a deal – he didn’t care if that meant no one got confirmed. He was willing to forgo the 84-plus nominees and the offers of recess appointments if he couldn’t install Mr. Bradbury.

Weak!

Here's what Reid should have said privately:

Bite me.

I always feel concision is best. And here's what he should have said publicly.

The president is holding the nomination process hostage over the torture memo guy. The senate does not negotiate with terrorists.

See? that wasn't so hard. Call his bluff. Tell him to fuck off and die.

Believe me, the public will be on your side.

Let's try another one (isn't this fun?). Today G.O.P. Senators Block Democrats’ Stimulus Plan because dems added benefits for seniors, the unemployed and disabled veterans.

Here's what Harry said (and did) today.

The majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, had signaled that Democrats were prepared to force a showdown with Republicans over the $204 billion Senate stimulus package and would not bow to pressure to simply make modest changes to a less expensive plan that was approved by the House last week.

“We should go for the whole package,” Mr. Reid said at a news conference on Tuesday. He waved off assertions by some Republicans that he was bluffing. “Wait until we have this vote, and they’ll find out,” he said. “I am not much of a bluffer.”

Well, no, you're not much of a bluffer. In fact, you suck ass at it. As the article says, you were only able to muster 58 votes, so you let it go with a "paper filibuster."

What he should have said privately to Mitch McConnell:

Bite me, you asshole.

And what he should have said publicly:

"50 votes is a pass. If you don't like it, I suggest you get your wrinkly asses up here on the senate floor and start filibustering. In the meantime, we'll tell the American people how you hate old folks and the unemployed. Have fun!"

None of this is rocket science. And I'm serious as a heart attack about the public language.

Speak clearly, concisely and on point. Show some balls, be right, and the public, as well as the press, will reward you. And hell, the country will be better off too! Imagine the possibilities.

Torture

2008-02-06T11:29:00.003-08:00

AP/Jae C. Hong

Would you trust this clown to decide whether it was appropriate for the US government to torture you? (Remember, he's the guy who mocked Karla Fay Tucker's clemency bid, "Don't kill me!") Via Froomkin:

Olivier Knox writes for AFP: "The United States may use waterboarding to question terrorism suspects in the future, the White House said Wednesday, rejecting the widely held belief that the practice amounts to torture.

"'It will depend upon circumstances,' spokesman Tony Fratto said, adding 'the belief that an attack might be imminent, that could be a circumstance that you would definitely want to consider.'

"'The president will listen to the considered judgment of the professionals in the intelligence community and the judgment of the attorney general in terms of the legal consequences of employing a particular technique,' he said.

snip

Knox writes that Fratto "rejected charges that the tactics the Central Intelligence Agency calls 'enhanced interrogation techniques' amount to torture.

"'Torture is illegal. Every enhanced technique that has been used by the Central Intelligence Agency through this program was brought to the Department of Justice and they made a determination that its use under specific circumstances and with safeguards was lawful,' he said."

And here's the kicker: "Asked whether the White House's reasoning was that torture is illegal, the attorney general has certified that the interrogation practices are legal, therefore those practices are not torture, Fratto replied: 'Sure.'"

Great. We just publicly admitted that we commit crimes in contravention against signed treaties.

Okay, Speaker Pelosi. The ball is in your court. The president's spokesman just said that we commit torture, and that the president signs off on it.

Time to impeach. End of story.

MONSTER TUESDAY!!!!! BWA HA HA HA HA!!

2008-02-04T20:33:00.001-08:00

MSNBC has been advertising tomorrow as "MONSTER TUESDAY!!"

I'm hoping it means that the guy in the photo is going to show up and perform a little eatage on Tweety. Anytime after 6:00 pm will be okay with me.

I think that is an election day result we can look forward to.

Oooops

2008-02-04T10:16:00.001-08:00

U.S. Says It Accidentally Killed 9 Iraqi Civilians

BAGHDAD — American forces said Sunday that they had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded three in a strike aimed at militants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia south of Baghdad, acknowledging what appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks.my emphasis added

A military statement released late in the day said the accidental killings happened Saturday in Iskandariya, about 25 miles south of the capital, and that the wounded were taken to American military hospitals.

The statement did not further identify the civilian victims, but the Iraqi police said American aircraft, responding to an attack on an American convoy, had erroneously bombed Iraqi civilian guardsmen who have contracted with the American military to fight Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Those guardsmen, predominantly Sunnis, are considered a major reason the American military has successfully reduced insurgent violence in Iraq. But in recent weeks scores of the Sunni guardsmen, known variously as Concerned Local Citizens, Awakening Councils and the Sons of Iraq, have been killed in clashes with Qaeda fighters and Shiite militia groups.

Allow me to be bitchy and point out that if we weren't in Iraq in the first place, none of this would be happening.

Good job! bombing the guys that were supposed to be helping "the mission."

It's time to exit this clusterfuck. IMHO though, we won't have any realistic chance of getting out of Iraq until we admit that going in was a mistake in the first place.

Farewell John Edwards, and thank you

2008-02-01T16:03:00.001-08:00

Matthew Hinton/AFP/Getty Images

If this photo doesn't make break your heart with regret for what might have been.... well, you don't have a heart.

If, as I expect, we elect a democrat this fall to the presidency, that candidate will have been shaped, pushed and pulled by the compelling and brutal honesty of the Edwards campaign. He has been the voice of the poor, the forgotten, and the disenfranchised in this country. He has become our conscience, the voice that says you may not look away from the homeless, the poor, the uninsured. You may not ignore the discarded and the unfortunates whose lives have been ruined by Katrina, or Vietnam or Iraq.

You must look.

And more, you must act.

He changed the debate, and he forced Clinton and Obama to come along with him. He led on every progressive issue and we will have him to thank if the country finally breaks the spell of this insidious, evil neo-gilded age. As Edwards said in his email to supporters yesterday:

This work goes on. It goes on right here in Musicians' Village. There are homes to build here, and in neighborhoods all along the Gulf. The work goes on for the students in crumbling schools just yearning for a chance to get ahead. It goes on for day care workers, for steel workers risking their lives in cities all across this country. And the work goes on for two hundred thousand men and women who wore the uniform of the United States of America, proud veterans, who go to sleep every night under bridges, or in shelters, or on grates, just as the people we saw on the way here today. Their cause is our cause.

Their struggle is our struggle. Their dreams are our dreams.

Do not turn away from these great struggles before us. Do not give up on the causes that we have fought for. Do not walk away from what's possible, because it's time for all of us, all of us together, to make the two Americas one.

Yesterday, after the video cameras turned off, and the stage had been taken down, and most of the reporters had wandered off to cover other candidates, John Edwards picked up a hammer and a drill and went to work building a home for one of the thousands of families displaced by Katrina.

The work goes on.

Thank you, Senator Edwards. Please don't be a stranger.

Krugman has a very fine column today on Edwards as well: The Edwards Effect

Not one more soldier

2007-10-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Just in case you're tempted to believe the Bushco nonsence that Iraq really is turning into a land of rose petals and honey, read Josh Partlow's excellent profile of the dismal tour experiences of 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in Sadiyah. 'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life'

"When we first got here, all the shops were open. There were women and children walking out on the street," Alarcon said this week. "The women were in Western clothing. It was our favorite street to go down because of all the hot chicks."

~snip~

Before the war, Sadiyah was a bustling middle-class district, popular with Sunni officers in Saddam Hussein's military. It has become strategically important because it represents a fault line between militia power bases in al-Amil to the west and the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Dora to the east. U.S. commanders say the militias have made a strong push for the neighborhood in part because it lies along the main road that Shiite pilgrims travel to the southern holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

American soldiers estimate that since violence intensified this year, half of the families in Sadiyah have fled, leaving approximately 100,000 people. After they left, insurgents and militiamen used their abandoned homes to hold meetings and store weapons. The neighborhood deteriorated so quickly that many residents came to believe neither U.S. nor Iraqi security forces could stop it happening.

The descent of Sadiyah followed a now-familiar pattern in Baghdad. In response to suicide bombings blamed on Sunni insurgent groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Shiite militias, particularly the Mahdi Army, went from house to house killing and intimidating Sunni families. In many formerly mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad, such as al-Amil and Bayaa, Shiites have become the dominant sect, with their militias the most powerful force.

"It's just a slow, somewhat government-supported sectarian cleansing," said Maj. Eric Timmerman, the battalion's operations officer.

Go read the whole thing. If the violence is down, it's because there's no one left to kill. They're either dead, or they've fled the country, like Riverbend and her family.

BTW, a little off topic, but I have to say something. It's become fashionable at Eschaton and other progressive blogs to bash the press 24/7 in a reflexive, knee-jerk, fashion. I just want to take a minute to remind you that everything you know about Iraq, about the Bush administration's crimes and abuses, or about the events of the day is because of the work of reporters.

There are still many good ones out there, working in difficult conditions and not making much money doing it. Please don't confuse the asshattery of the pundit class and Fox News with actual, honest journalism. Reports of the death of journalism have been greatly exagerated, IMHO.

note: I'd post a photo, but blogger photos seems to be down.

Don't let the screen door hit ya....

2007-08-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

.... on your way out!!

Good riddance. Gonzo Gone- this must have really stuck in chimpy's craw. Just makes me wonder what other shoe there is left to drop?

Photo: Larry Downing, Reuters.

Why I Hate Texas

2007-08-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

Oy.

I've been so busy that I didn't realize that our goofy governor, good-hair Perry, put this asshat, Don McLeroy on the State Board of Education. You people who live in more civilized parts of the world won't recognize the name, but he's a well know religious nutjob who thinks evolution is a myth, and that the earth doesn't revolve around the sun.

I'm not making that up. Here's what the National Center for Science Education had to say about his appointment:

The state's newspapers also expressed concern about McLeroy. Referring to previous ideological struggles in which the board was involved, the Dallas Morning News (July 19, 2007) worried, "The elevation of veteran board member Don McLeroy to the chairman's post raises concerns that the board is headed back in that direction," and urged McLeroy to steer clear of "the bitterness of past culture wars." Similarly, the Austin American-Statesman (July 22, 2007) commented, "McLeroy's elevation to chairman comes as the board begins a revision of science standards for public schools. That could prove embarrassing for Texas if McLeroy pushes for standards that push theology over science."

A document on McLeroy's personal website entitled "Historical Reality" and dated September 8, 2003, offers a glimpse of McLeroy's understanding of evolutionary science. Relying on discredited sources as Michael Behe's Darwin's Black Box, Jonathan Wells's Icons of Evolution and Percival Davis and Dean Kenyon's Of Pandas and People as well as on tendentious misreadings of legitimate science and on long-ago-debunked creationist claims, McLeroy argued that common descent is "only a hypothesis, and a shaky one at that." He then urged his colleagues on the board to reject the books then under consideration -- a plea that was ignored.

I'm told, on good authority, that he also subscribes to this nonsense: Fixed Earth.

I wish I could say this is a satirical post. It's not. Oh, and remember that Texas is the biggest purchaser of text books in the nation. This fucking nutter will have direct influence on the content of science textbooks purchased for Texas schools. And how Texas goes, often so goes the rest of the nation.

Feh.

Two-bit Wingnut Dictators

2007-07-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

Biggus Dickus is on Larry King tonight. And even Larry King thinks he's a big, fat liar.

Damn. How bad do you have to be when you can't even convince Larry King?

Big Dick does make some news, however. He backs up Edelman's letter to Hillary calling her a terra-ist enabler.

Staking out a position at odds with that of his own Defense Secretary, Dick Cheney was just quoted on CNN saying that he agrees with a Pentagon official's recent assertion that Hillary Clinton's request for info about withdrawal contingency plans is helpful to the enemy.

In an excerpt from an interview with Larry King set to air later today that was just shown on the network, Cheney was asked whether he agreed with an earlier assessment by Under Secretary of State Eric Edelman, who recently sent Clinton a letter chiding her request for info about the plans as helpful to "enemy propaganda." Cheney's reply: "I agreed...I thought it was a good letter."

Of course he likes the letter. I'm certain he dictated it.

Details VIA TalkingPointsMemo

Also from TPM, a truly hilarious suggestion for Hillary from commenter hwc:

Speaking of two-bit wingnut dictators. Somebody should ask Hillary Clinton whether she would be willing to meet, in Washington or elsewhere, without precondition, with Dick Cheney.

Bravo. The entire democratic field should adopt that one.

Onward Christian Soldiers

2007-07-31T10:29:00.000-07:00

Reuters/Nikola Solic

I'm sorry, but this kind of thing creeps me out. I am extremely uncomfortable with the gains the evangelicals have made in the army and air force.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't want some nutjob with a jeebus complex flying an F16.

On the other hand, if it makes the soldiers in that hell hole feel better to pray before they venture out on missions, they should knock themselves out. I guess I'll shut up about it and not point out that if jeebus *really* loved them he woulda kept them out of the hell hole in the first place. (and yes, that's snark, put ur pearls down.)

The Human Tide

2007-07-29T22:01:00.001-07:00

Via the Indepdent, Iraq: One in seven joins human tide spilling into neighbouring countries

Two thousand Iraqis are fleeing their homes every day. It is the greatest mass exodus of people ever in the Middle East and dwarfs anything seen in Europe since the Second World War. Four million people, one in seven Iraqis, have run away, because if they do not they will be killed. Two million have left Iraq, mainly for Syria and Jordan, and the same number have fled within the country.

Yet, while the US and Britain express sympathy for the plight of refugees in Africa, they are ignoring - or playing down- a far greater tragedy which is largely of their own making.

Cue Bush administration hacks saying how the Iraqis just aren't trying hard enough, or aren't grateful enough, or just don't love them some freedom enough.

Hard Werk

2007-07-29T20:50:00.001-07:00

"Fuck, when I became Prime Minister, they told me I would have to do some unpalatable things, but riding in a cart with this supreme wanker is above and beyond the call of duty."

NY Times/Doug Mills

Infuriating

2007-07-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

AP/Petr David Josek

From today's Froomkin comes this infuriating piece of news:

Bush frequently claims that he changed his Iraq strategy in Iraq and opted for a troop surge after listening to his commanders. He says this notwithstanding the fact that his commanders in Iraq -- as well as the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff-- opposed the surge.

So where did the idea come from?

Now Rowan Scarborough writes in the Examiner: "A group of military experts at the American Enterprise Institute, concerned that the U.S. was on the verge of a calamitous failure in Iraq, almost single handedly convinced the White House to change its strategy.

"They banded together at AEI headquarters in downtown Washington early last December and hammered out the surge plan during a weekend session. . . . Then came trips to the White House by AEI military historian Frederick Kagan, retired Army Gen. John Keane and other surge proponents.

"More and more officials began attending the sessions. Even Vice President Dick Cheney came. 'We took the results of our planning session immediately to people in the administration,' said AEI analyst Thomas Donnelly, a surge planner. 'It became sort of a magnet for movers and shakers in the White House.' Donnelly said the AEI approach won out over plans from the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command." (my emphasis added)

Okay, the idiots who promoted this clusterfuck in the first place are responsible for dreaming up the "surge" strategy? And looks who's right in the thick of it all- yes, a Kagan.

Oh, and there's more:

The emergence of AEI as a power player on Iraq belies the notion that neo-conservatives are on the decline in Washington. AEI brags an impressive roster of neo-con thinkers. Former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, an Iraq war architect, arrived at AIE this summer, joining such prominent conservatives as John Bolton, David Frum and Michael Ledeen.

With its plan in place, the AEI Iraq team is not sitting still. Keane is an adviser to Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. He has inspected war conditions on two visits. Kagan left for Iraq this week.

I swear to god this makes me want to take a hostage.

Original article in the Examiner by Rowan Scarborough. Arm Chair Generals Help Shape Surge In Iraq What do you bet they coined the name "surge" too? And why the fuck are we paying people in the Pentagon if they're outsourcing war strategy?

Civics

2007-07-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Oh boy. What part of "civilian control of the military" does the Pentagon not understand?

Via the Associated Press, Pentagon Slams Clinton on Iraq.

ASHINGTON - The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.

In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.

A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.

He added that "such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's answer "at once outrageous and dangerous," and said the senator would respond to his boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Good grief. We're a democracy (at least I think we still are) and public discussion about public policies questions, including wars, is part of the equation. And it's up to policy makers to decide when and where we fight wars, not the pentagon brass and their bushie-syncophant spokespeople.

If this thinking has permeated the Pentagon, we're all in a lot of trouble. It's the congress' job to provide oversight. Period. End of story.

The world will be a safer place when all of these asshats are out of government.

Today's Progess Report

2007-07-18T10:24:00.001-07:00

Ali al-Saadi/Agence France Presse

We heard a lot of talk from some senators (including Traitor Joe Lieberman) about how well the 'surge' was going.

A little reality check:

BAGHDAD, July 17 — Assassinations and car bombs killed at least 39 people in Iraq on Tuesday and details emerged of a massacre of Shiite civilians in Diyala Province on Monday in which at least 29 people were killed.

One car bomb on Tuesday exploded in the Zayouna neighborhood of Baghdad, the capital, killing 20 people, four of them Iraqi Army soldiers, and wounding 20, according to a police official at the Interior Ministry.

~snip~

Another car bomb, this one near the Iranian Embassy, killed four people, according to an Interior Ministry official. The police also reported finding 24 bodies in the city on Tuesday.

~snip~

A village of 30 to 35 houses, Dulayiya, referred to in earlier military reports as Adwala, is in an isolated area in the countryside north of Baquba, the provincial capital. It is populated by members of the Bawi tribe, a large tribe in Diyala Province.

Gunmen wearing Iraqi Army uniforms and driving civilian pickup trucks surrounded several houses on one side of the village, the police said. It was not clear if they shot at the houses or dragged people out of them and then executed them, but police officers who reached the area on Tuesday said mostly young men were killed and that the gunmen later mutilated 10 of the bodies.

~snip~

The violence on Tuesday included an attack on a judge in Salahuddin Province north of Baghdad. Gunmen wearing uniforms of the security forces stopped Judge Hamdi Habeeb al-Jubori at a fake checkpoint as he was heading home and shot him to death, according to Col. Hameed Majeed of the Tikrit police. The director of a local hospital was also killed Tuesday in a shooting that wounded three people driving with him in his car, provincial officials said.

In Wasit Province south and east of Baghdad, the Iraqi police found five bodies floating in the Tigris River. They were all civilians, bore marks of torture and had been shot multiple times, said a police official in Kut, the provincial capital. A truck driver was also killed in the area. Afterward, the gunmen burned the truck, which was loaded with food and was headed to Baghdad.

Via the NYTimes Attackers Kill 39 in Iraq.

Sounds pretty hellish to me.

The Hell of Baghdad

2007-07-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

We often hear that the Iraqis are so much better off with Saddam gone. Only an idiot or an asshole really believes that.

Anne Nivat reports from Iraq: Life in the "Red" Zone:

The "red zone": that is to say, all of Baghdad outside the fortified American enclave. The "no-go zone." The sprawling capital city that is home to more than 10 million people. That's where I lived for two weeks to get "the other side" of the story. To do that, I had no choice but to blend in.

Dressed in a loose black tunic with long sleeves called an abbaya, I strapped on sandals, tucked my hair under a scarf tied at the chin and blended into the crowded streets of Baghdad. Only my contacts knew that I was a foreigner and a reporter, and I didn't tell anyone where I was staying or for how long. I was careful never to speak in public.

My contact and I got around in a gray Peugeot. Ali, whom I knew from a previous trip, had traded in his BMW because it was too conspicuous - residents of Baghdad have to consider how every detail of life could impact on their very survival. They assume as low a profile as they can, then wait fatalistically for the day that "something happens."

"The only sure thing here is that we have lost our trust. Can you believe that we are terrorized in our own homes?" Ali, 32, chose to remain in Baghdad while the majority of his friends and relatives joined the hoards of refugees in Syria and Jordan (for the less fortunate) or Sweden (for the others).

"I am Shiite," Ali said. "My uncles and cousins were murdered by Saddam's regime. I wanted desperately to get rid of him. But today, if Saddam's feet appeared in front of me, I would fall to my knees and kiss them!"

The temperature outside is nearly 130 degrees, but the capital has no electricity most of the time. Those who own private generators have become the most powerful people in every district. They sell the precious energy eight hours a day.

On the eastern bank of the Tigris River, where I stayed, the government could provide electricity only between 6 and 7 a.m. All the appliances would burst into action, waking up the household. For those who can afford it, a small generator fills in the gaps in power. But a generator consumes up to 20 gallons of gasoline a day, an enormous amount in a time of shortages.

Under Saddam Hussein, 40 gallons of gasoline cost half a dollar. Today, you'd have to pay $75 for the same quantity on the black market - or you could stand in line for four to five days at a gas station and pay about $35.

"You spend all your time preoccupied with either getting gasoline or getting electricity - not to mention worrying about violence," says Ali. "If they go out, my sisters could be kidnapped or killed by a bomb.I travel by car only if it is absolutely necessary."

Go read the rest. For those of us who have been keeping up, none of it is surprising. It's just deadly depressing.

This is the end result of "fighting them over there." How anyone can still claim that invading Iraq and blowing their country to hell and back was the moral thing to do is beyond me.

Simple answers

2007-07-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

The New York Times takes time out of its regularly scheduled bashing of John Edwards to think about the "war on terra" and to wonder if the war in Iraq has made us safer:

WASHINGTON, July 17 — Nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives expended in the name of the war on terror pose a single, insistent question: Are we safer?

On Tuesday, in a dark and strikingly candid two pages, the nation’s intelligence agencies offered an implicit answer, and it was not encouraging. In many respects, the National Intelligence Estimate suggests, the threat of terrorist violence against the United States is growing worse, fueled by the Iraq war and spreading Islamic extremism.

In other words, no.

And yes, this has been another edition of simple answers to stupid fucking questions.

Link here: Same People, Same Threat

BTW, that NIE is enough to make even an old cynic like me weep in frustration. What a fucking travesty.

A Day in Iraq

2007-07-16T20:29:00.001-07:00

The Independent sums it up. I'll feel we're making progress when we see front pages like these here in America.

hat tip- Plum P.

Fighting them over there...

2007-07-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

The rhetoric we hear lately from Bush and from his dead-ender supporters goes something like this, "Well, Saddam was AWFUL and you have to admit that if he were still alive things in Iraq would be at least this bad, or probably worse."

Well, first of all, no, I don't have to admit that. Because I'm absolutely certain that as bad as Saddam was, there would not be Shi'ite death squads roaming about Baghdad. There would not be 100,000 plus dead Iraqi civilians. There would not be a million plus Iraq civilians who had fled the country. And above all, if we had not invaded, there would not be 3,600 plus dead American soldiers.

Oh, and add to that death toll the 100 people who died in Kirkuk and Diyala today.

BAGHDAD, July 16 — A suicide bomber in the volatile northern city of Kirkuk on Monday crashed his truck into a compound that includes offices of a major Kurdish political party, killing 85 people. Many victims were women and children, shopping in the busy market next to the political offices, who were engulfed by a large fireball.

Hours later, the Iraqi authorities said, men wearing Iraqi military uniforms stormed into a village in Diyala Province and killed 29 men, women and children. An Iraqi security official, Col. Ragheb Radhi al-Umiri, said the gunmen surrounded the victims and fired into the crowd. The attack occurred in a remote village north of Baquba, he said, and the bodies of some victims were “desecrated” before the attackers fled.

From Bush himself we get the "we gotta fight 'em over there so we don't have to fight them over here!!" slogan, even as recently as last Thursday's presser. What we rarely get is anyone debating the appalling lack of morality (and not to mention dubious legitimacy) of a policy that calls for turning someone else's country into a hell hole in the name of our saftely.

Bad, disastrous policies have bad disastrous results. This is what they look like.

All photos: Slahaldeen Rasheed, Reuters