Oh come on, if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past seven years, it’s that the government almost never lies unless they have something they don’t want us to know about. Isn’t that good enough?

Did somebody say lying chickenhawks?

Cue Billy “Rictus Smirk” Kristol!

Remember, the best way to find out if someone committed an illegal act is to ask them. And the military wants to uncover misdeeds, because they are committed to absolute transparency and honesty. Have some faith in humanity. (Unless said human is asserting something you don’t like, in which case they lie and should be killed.)

Speaking of General Betrayus, I would like to recommend Glenn Greenwald’s latest.

Oh, c’mon. Next thing you know, you’ll be making up some stuff about how the government lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!

Don’t you libtards have any shame?

Similarly, I just got off the phone with a rep from the PR department of the Coca Cola Bottling Company and she stated unequivocally that Coke is indeed both refreshing and delicious. She futher assured me that a) size does not matter and b) these khaki shorts do not, in fact, make my ass look big.

I’d pity them for their credulity if they weren’t such despicable assholes.

Sometime last week, CNN ran a “news” report dealing with Pentagon claims that a number of prisoners who have been released from Abu Ghraib have turned up again on battlefields in Afghanistan. The Pentagon refused to have any of their personnel speak directly with CNN, and refused to let CNN see their data – but they did let CNN speak with an independent analyst who had seen the data, and the analyst swore the data were good.

It’s beyond the absurd at this point.

[…] Sadly, No: […]

So, wait, how many people are in a platoon?

And this “investigation” started when? How long does it take to interview a platoon?

Or the interview with the entire platoon took place at one sitting. “Did you do anything like this?” “No sir.”

Yeah, that’s how I used to get to the bottom of which of my kids broke the lamp or spilled Hawaiian Punch on the carpet. I’d say, “Okay, did either of you two break this lamp or spill that Hawaiian punch on the carpet?” and they’d say, “No! Nuh-uh, we didn’t do it!” And I’d say, “Well, all right then,” and life would continue on its merry way.

Well, I just spoke to a representative of the Great Liberal Conspiracy and he swore that they aren’t a bunch of terrorist-loving, America-hating, homosexual communists.

Yeah, sure. (This sentence is sarcasm, but I don’t know how to do the sarcasm tag thing.)

Liberals. Hmf.

And you wonder why people don’t believe you.

What do you think they’ll do? They’ll declare victory. They’re still patting themselves on the back for “busting” Jamil Hussein and Green Helmet Guy.

I know it is nitpicking but Boylan can’t even write correct Englsh English (and I can’t spell***)!

To your question: Were there any truth to what was being said by Thomas?

Answer: An investigation of the allegations were conducted by the command and found to be false.

Is this a “tell” from Boylan ‘cos he knows that Cheney will render him if he says otherwise. The military have lied so often that they have no credibility especially bloody red tabs (staff officers).

*** Way cool programmer dude, I can spot my spelling mistakes but I just had to try out the strikethrough tag!

So, apparently a platoon consists of 30 – 50 people. Now CY links to the no-gay porn star Matt Sanchez, who says the “thorough investigation” lasted nearly a week!

That’s some thoroughness!

We’re to believe that the same Army that dragged its heels investigating Haditha and Abu Graib fast-tracked a probe into whether callous behavior to another person, cruelty to dogs, and disrespectful handling of body parts occured?

And that they cranked up the investigatin’ machine so fast they interviewed 30 -50 people and came to a conclusion in nearly a week?????

Pull the other one, it’s got bells on.

GAAAAAHHHHH. While all blogistan dances in it’s shorts and party hats, shouting about the TNR article and it’s author, alternately “proving” and “disproving” his “facts”, there cannot be anything more important, can there?

Meanwhile, Congress is taking all of 48 hours to rush through legislation making MAJOR changes to existing FISA law, thereby rendering moot even more of the 4th amendment to our constitution.

They just don’t have time to consider all the implications of these changes.

But wait! There’s disagreement. But there simply MUST be a bill by tomorrow.

That means one of the parties, the president or the congress, will have to back down on their demands.

Based upon recent history, I wonder which party might blink?

Go on, shout about Beauchamp. Sure. You’re losing more of your freedoms, conservatives as well as liberals. Another step away from the jeffersonian model and another step toward the Honecker model. Better start teaching your kids the skills they are going to need to survive in a police state. If you know anybody who lived in East Germany in the ’70s or early ’80s, you might ask them to give you some pointers.

I know. I don’t know what to do about it either. I’ve called and emailed my congresscritters. Hillary and Obama say they are willing to consider using Nuclear weapons against one of our allies. If you are thinking that things are going to get better in 2009, I remain unconvinced…

mikey

Hillary and Obama say they are willing to consider using Nuclear weapons against one of our allies.

I think it was Juan Cole who speculated what the US would do if 2 Iranian candidates for office argued over who would be quicker to nuke the US.

It sucks. It fucking sucks. I emailed my congresscritters too, fat chance, though. My (and yours, too) Senator Feinstein caved.

I’m writing a little country-western ditty: think extra-twangy guitars and extra-drawly vocals. I’m calling it “If’n I have to vote for Hillary Clinton, I’m gittin’ drunk”.

Don’t worry so much about what to do to try to fix our government; it (and by “it” I mean “we the people”) doesn’t want to be fixed. Look to yourself and your loved ones, and do what’s necessary to keep them safe. I don’t think there’s much hope of stopping the storm brewing on the horizon. Just be ready to hunker down and ride it out.

I swear, I never thought I’d hear myself sounding this defeatist. I’m no wimp; I’ve survived things most people probably can’t even imagine. I’m not a coward or a chicken little. I just can’t find much of anything to be hopeful about on the national level.

I know. I don’t know what to do about it either. I’ve called and emailed my congresscritters. Hillary and Obama say they are willing to consider using Nuclear weapons against one of our allies. If you are thinking that things are going to get better in 2009, I remain unconvinced…

Too fucking true. I have talked briefly with my girlfriend. All we could come up with was, make sure our passports were current, and maybe convert money into gold or diamonds or jewelry of some kind, preferably something that can be transported easily.

And I guess getting married might help.

It is stupid for Hilary and Obama to talk about nuking our allies. Why create envy? If we nuke one ally, they’re all gonna want some of what’s on the table, and can we really afford that? Nukes are expensive. Nope, if they wanna get nuked, they gotta do it themselves.
That’s my position.
Of course, maybe a sophisticated negotiator like Clinton could have talks and arrange for them to nuke each-other!

And I guess getting married might help.

For those of whom that is an option…

For those of whom that is an option…

Absolutely Simba. I support homosexuals’ right to marry. I’m just thinking out loud.

Yeah mikey, I am aggravated by that B.S.

Speaking as a guy who grew up in D.C., I’d say the motivating factors (for the Democrats at least) are:

1) do not be in D.C. in August.

2) if not allowing the rethuglicans and their press lackeys demagogue you for being “weak on terror” provides further cover for 1), then by all means vote for Chimpy McFcukstain’s spy even more on Americans act.

It’s sad to think that all those alleged Red Dawn wolverines out there feel safer with Uncle Sam having unchecked authority to spy on them. Sniveling cowards? I’ll take right wing bloggers for $400, Alex!

Indeed, Simba…..which makes me have to ask, yet again…..

Why on earth would any non-heterosexual support the Democratic party? I can understand voting Democratic because the Republicans have your gonads in a vise, but that’s not the same thing as supporting the Dems.

Then again, I don’t understand why any non-heterosexual even stays in this country if they have a choice in the matter. If I had the cash – well, I’d like to say I’d leave tomorrow, but I’ve made commitments I don’t want to back out of. But I would promise to leave by July of next year and not come back.

Also, wait a minute, Obama and Clinton have said that they would consider nuking an ally, not nuking Iran which is insane in an of itself? Have I read that right? Which ally?

1) do not be in D.C. in August.

Holy Flying Spaghetti Moster, that is fucking pathetic. 2. is weak, but 1. is just pathetic.

That, my friend, would be pakistan…

mikey

Atheist, I spent many Augusts in D.C. myself. It’s a good month to go looking in the swamps of Carderock, the C&O canal, etc. for lizards, snakes, and turtles.

/elementary school. OK, maybe some junior school, too (that’s when I got the awesome summer job working in a pet store).

Why on earth would any non-heterosexual support the Democratic party? I can understand voting Democratic because the Republicans have your gonads in a vise, but that’s not the same thing as supporting the Dems.

You pretty much have my philosophy on voting. I vote against Republicans because, like some have said on this site before, the Democrats may be weaselly, slimeball politicians, but they are not batshit insane fascists like the Republicans.

Although, I feel more disaffected by the current crop of Dem candidates than I have since I’ve been able to vote. I wish that Al Gore would run…

It is stupid for Hilary and Obama to talk about nuking our allies.

Agreed, and our non-allies as well. However I think the appropriate response to the question would be and should be: “That is a stupid fucking question and I’m not going to respond to crazy hypotheticals.”

How many in a platoon? At the low end, 18 or so, and 30 to 35 at the high end (The ’50’ above strikes me as beyond the pale for a rifle platoon — mechanized rifle platoons rarely have an authorized strength above 30-35)). If I read aright the entire company was interviewed, and a mechanized rifle company like A/1-18 will have around 90 to 120 soldiers. Unless the company stood down from all other operations, a week is reasonable for such an investigation.

I agree there are reasons to be skeptical of the Army’s findings — and indeed, I am. There are two likely forms of investigation. A formal investigation (as an officer, I once conducted one called an AR 15-6) involves sworn testimony and all of the legal trappings along with a more-or-less independent investigating officer. I doubt that that happened here. More likely the investigation consisted of the commander and his first sergeant talking with each soldier in the unit individually and asking them about each point alleged. I’d be interested in knowing which was done. Please: I’m guessing, based on my Army experience (14 years infantry and PAO) at what most likely happened — I don’t know for sure.

If it is the informal brand, then the troops interviewed weren’t under oath, but were speaking to those who have the power to discipline and punish. For some under such questioning, that brings out the truth. For others, it brings out equivocation or worse. I doubt that those who spoke with TNR would be forthcoming with the 1SG. It’s not that the CO and 1SG would cover up what they found (they might, but most in my experience wouldn’t), but that the troops mostly would dummy up. They know better.

So my experience tells me that while this report perhaps isn’t a deliberate whitewash, it may not be as probative as it appears. Of course, as I have commented elsewhere, my experience also suggests that Pvt. Beauchamp’s stories are heavily embellished, but have some core truth to them (i.e., someone put a skull on his head but not for a whole day and night; mistaking Iraq for Kuwait suggests an unreliable reporter). But I don’t imagine I know for sure. I wasn’t there, and I can imagine a number of characters from my Army years who could do such things, at least to some degree. The trouble is, Beauchamp’s account has too much incongruous detail for me to take it as fully credible.

Nota Bene: grounds for skepticism (of TNR or the Army investigation) do not mean any particular claim has been decisively refuted.

I’m wondering though: so what? There’s so much heat and very little light here. Whether Beauchamp was telling the whole truth, embellishing a partial truth, or dealing in lies doesn’t change anything. It was wrong, on multiple levels, to invade Iraq, and we’re in a national political quandry as to what to do about it. This TNR business is a low-level sideshow.

Not only do they want to give unprecedented powers to the Executive branch of the government, they want to give those powers to an administration that has demonstrated beyond doubt that it’s fucking incompetent!

I can almost forgive them for the politics – its the fucking incompetence I don’t believe.

They’re going to give Bush the powers and he’s going to use them to spy on the wrong people, leave weapons unguarded, misunderstand the wiretaps they actually do intercept, and prosecute people who didn’t do anything while letting the real bad guys go.

Simba’s dead right. Any “support” for the Dems has to be considered a defensive posture, a holding action against the more radical authoritarian, corporatist, theologically driven militarists. You support them because while they suck in a perfect world, more losses to the party of cheney cannot be afforded…

In a sense, the real enemy is the american people. As long as they feel like 9/11 and islamic terror requires the wholesale killing of muslim populations, more military spending at the expense of critical domestic expenditures, using the military inappropriately and in response to distinctly non-military challenges and rejecting diplomacy and initiatives that could lead to peace instead of more violence, they will continue to elect the scariest war mongering authoritarian to protect them. Until they can understand that these actions are actually counterproductive and destructive to AMERICA, they will select for this artificial “security blanket” at the expense of true progress…

mikey

That, my friend, would be pakistan…

Oh yeah, Pakistan. They said they’d fucking Nuke it?!?!

Wow, that’s insane on so many different levels.

1.) As if we had too many friends and allies or something. What, has Italy been too freindly lately?

2.) Once Pakistan becomes a radioactive, smoking hole in the map, what happens to India, or Afghanistan? How does the radioactive fallout influence their attitude toward the US? And, what does Iran think? Do they get scared and stop with the nuclear enrichment? Or do they conclude that they have absolutely no option but to continue was quickly as possible?

3.) The long view is the worst. Pakistan is now a source of much of the radical Islam that the US is supposedly fighting, yes. But a huge radioactive wasteland- that used to be a country- next door would be even more powerful as an incubator for anti-US sentiment.

Whether Beauchamp was telling the whole truth, embellishing a partial truth, or dealing in lies doesn’t change anything. It was wrong, on multiple levels, to invade Iraq, and we’re in a national political quandry as to what to do about it. This TNR business is a low-level sideshow.

But that’s the whole point of the wingnutto-sphere. They spend their time screeching about triva because they can’t admit that the war has been a complete clusterfuck,

And yes, they’ll roll over and play dead as their rights are squelched. They’re probably cheering on the expansion of wiretapping underr the new FISA regime and the expansion of Abu G’s powers.

Sweet, shreiking Jesus. Congress voted to give that lying, sack of shit, AG even more power. You don’t know how much contempt I have for DC democrats right now.

These are the same people who believe Whitehouse press releases. Oh and the cover up of Abu Ghraib never happened…

Simba’s dead right. Any “support” for the Dems has to be considered a defensive posture, a holding action against the more radical authoritarian, corporatist, theologically driven militarists.

Yes, but . . .

The convenient lumping together of groups under a single heading is a part of the problem, whether the group is democrats or muslims or whatever. Is it true that many of the Dems in congress are generally unprincipled and self-interested? Yup. Are some of them unprincipled and self-interested on pretty much everything? Oh, yeah. (I’m looking at you, Hillary.) But is every one of them unprincipled and self-interested on each issue that comes before them? No. A number of congresscritters have shining moments of intelligence, courage and public-mindedness every now and then, some much more often than others (now I’m looking at Feingold — and I’m really missing Wellstone).
I wish we could be disciplined enough to be consistent in our vocal support or condemnation of the words and actions of our elected officials rather than our reliable consistency in supporting/condemning the people (or groups) themselves.

Yeah, I know. That’s much too complicated for mass consumption. *sigh*

That’s true enough, I suppose, Mort…..but on the issue of gay rights, the difference in the amount of ass sucked by the Democratic party and the Republican party would have to be measured by a quantum micrometer. And that is across the board, for each and every federally elected official, with the obvious exception of Barney Frank.

So, where are Hillary and Obama on FISA?

It appears that they just show up and vote with the fringe left.

They’re not going to show any leadership on that issue.

Barack Obama is a showhorse, not a workhorse. He’s just not able and willing to lead on your fringe causes.

I agree with everything you said, mortician. I guess the problem is the party gets to put up the candidates, and only then do we get to choose between them. It would be nice to have some control over the choices. But the way the system is structured, you pretty much get A or B. Either or. Black and white. That seems to be the way americans like it.

I’d happily vote for a rebublican or independent if they more closely represented my views. They tend not to, however. And bush/cheney have gone so far that they’ve exposed some critical flaws in the american system of government. That brings us to a place where the very survival of what we mean when we say america is now at stake. The options are clearer, the choices more stark.

We have no choice but to believe that post bush, a democratic president will be inheriting an office much different from the ones of his/her predecessors. With so much of the population willing to accept military solutions, when we have created an environment where public policy discussions include conversations about torture, cia prisons, using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states with whom WE ARE NOT AT WAR, when we have a government that happily and blithely approves trillion dollar military spending then vetos government subsidies for health care for children in poverty because we don’t HAVE THE FUCKING MONEY, when they can stand right out there and repeal habeas corpus and pretty much everybody shrugs…

Nope. We’re on defense here. The perimeter is shrinking, we’re getting hit everywhere up and down the wire. At this point it makes no sense to pray for room service and clean sheets. You pray to survive. And that’s pretty much gotta be our focus now. Of course, we’re still most likely to lose…

mikey

Is it true that many of the Dems in congress are generally unprincipled and self-interested? Yup. Are some of them unprincipled and self-interested on pretty much everything? Oh, yeah. (I’m looking at you, Hillary.) But is every one of them unprincipled and self-interested on each issue that comes before them? No.

Thanks, SM. I try to make that point every once in a while, myself.

I’ll send another contribution to Victoria Wulsin (OH-not my district) today.

I was disappointed majorly by Obama, but he didn’t say he’d nuke Pakistan. He said he’d invade if he felt the need, but wouldn’t nuke em, which Hillary jumped on as a sign of weakness, proving she’s still the worse of two evils. My current pipe dream/sing myself to sleep hope is that Gore will be so disgusted by all this he’ll have no real choice but to run. Not that Gore is all that n a can of beans, but at least he’s not bloodthirsty.
N mikey’s right. Shit, I still haven’t seen mention anywhere that Bush put out a second Executive Order like the nightmarish one about undermining the war effort in Iraq about fucking Lebanon this week. Fascism is not a paranoid fear anymore, and we’re no longer dealing with pseudo or proto fascism.

The problem isn’t the political parties, it’s the media, and the schools, and even the churches, and all those places where a hint of compassion and/or rationality were at least supposed to be taught. They’ve quite simply stopped telling the truth in the MSM and become a propaganda wing of the military industrial complex. The No Child Left Behind Act has crippled if not demolished the American public school system. We’re fucked as all fucked. If aliens offered me a ride out of here, I’d be gone. I don’t know if the globe will prove big enough to let anyone hide from what’s going wrong here.

I’m afraid Gary’s right. If you care about the constitution you’re on the fringe, and out of the mainstream. Civil liberties do not seem to resonate with a population that, as far as they can tell, still has them…

mikey

Seriously, who or what is Gary Ruppert? A bored parodist of modern consvativism? An grounded eight-year-old commenting from his room PC, with the GI Joe dolls glued to the monitor? An experimental AI project running from a university lab computer which can pick up certain contextual clues from a blog thread, then take these clues and run them through a genetic algorithm to create comments which almost, but not quite, make sense?

We have no choice but to believe that post bush, a democratic president will be inheriting an office much different from the ones of his/her predecessors.

Nah. Post bushler, every republican and all the corporate press will rediscover the wonderful benefits of oversight, the rule of law, and sniffing the panties of whoever wins the Democratic primary.

I guess if I’m going to prattle on, I oughta go do it in my own sandbox, but honestly, NUCLEAR WEAPONS?? As a counter terrorism strategy? What. The. Fuck???

A full on military invasion and occupation of two countries was a whole lot worse than ineffectual against the terrorists. So now we have keep strategic nukes on the table? Against a bunch of guys with funding and an axe to grind? They could live in big cities. They could live in villiages. They could live in camps. They could live in caves.

Nobody, even the most war-loving killer would think that nuclear weapons could serve as a solution to a small, irregular, assymetric terror campaign. And yet, it seems that the belief is, if you’re going to get elected to lead america, you better be willing to threaten death, destruction and disease to millions, if not billions of non-americans.

Gawd, makes a fellow proud of all he’s done for his great country.

[Spits, grunts and walks slowly away]

mikey

How can you doubt Col. Boylan’s word? He’s a soldier.

That’s true enough, I suppose, Mort…..but on the issue of gay rights, the difference in the amount of ass sucked by the Democratic party and the Republican party would have to be measured by a quantum micrometer. And that is across the board, for each and every federally elected official, with the obvious exception of Barney Frank.

My boyfriend points out that it is going to be at least a generation until we get politicians in office who support gay rights. I do think it’s inevitable, though, so really it’s just a matter of time. A friend of ours who follows the popular political culture (e.g. the mainstream media) a lot more than either of us said that we came very close to gay marriage in NYS recently and may in fact have it by the time of the next state elections. Frankly neither of us want “marriage” (and all the baggage that connotes) as much as we would like full legal rights to visit each other in the hospital, non-discrimination laws, etc. etc.

People get lost in the symbolism of marriage and forget about the very tangible legal rights that, if you ask me, are more desirable. I do not have any symbolic need for society or the state to recognize my relationship, regardless of the gender of the other person. If I was straight I’d definitely not have a wedding.

Civil liberties do not seem to resonate with a population that, as far as they can tell, still has them…

I dunno, you do have a point, but then sometimes constitutional issues are not so much fringe as underground. In some ways, I do think that the degree of success of people like Ron Paul, and Kucinich, indicates that a large group, not a majority, does care about the constitution.

In some ways it seems to me that the biggest weapon the MIC has is popular culture. Everyone wants to be badass like whatsisface on 24, and torture the bad guys and/or get real “tough” on “terrorism”.

Y’know what would help make this country open its eyes?
If a crack squad of gay commandos, featuring every ethnicity and led by an illegal immigrant woman from Mexico, hunted down Bin Laden and killed him live on pay per view. All while finding new and creative ways to mock Bush and Cheney. Hosted by Simon Cowell.
Then people might start to get a clue.

diffbrad, I think you’ve found a way to make more than a few heads explode.

Goddam, I’d watch that. And patronize the sponsors…

mikey

2006 did something to Gary. The fact is that he’s just phoning it in.

Everyone, the Dems are the only party that can defeat the Repukes, and that is what is going to happen in 2008. The task for people like us is to move the Dems into a posture where they are ready to undertake the task of bringing America into the 21st century. It is a difficult task, but there are signs of progress every day. Do not despair. That’s all.

Well, the Dems will most likely win the WH in ’08, unless they do something really fucking stupid – like nominate Hillary Clinton.

Oh – have you noticed that Hillary Clinton is running first in the polls among registered Democrats?

She can’t win. The Dems are going to nominate her. The entire country is ready to hand the presidency to the Dems on a silver platter, and the Dems are going to cock it up. Because they are the most spineless, incompetent, out of touch bunch of wankers to surface in the human genome since Marie Antoinette.

I passed up despair a long time ago. I’ve moved on to hopeless, inappropriate laugher mixed with liberal amounts of alcohol. It does the trick for now.

The task for people like us is to move the Dems into a posture where they are ready to undertake the task of bringing America into the 21st century.

OK. But could we please, please, please make sure that this time they get the message that we are electing them for some specific reasons? I mean, it sure would be nice if our votes and our campaign contributions and our vocal support could be unmistakably linked to our expectations. I dunno about you, but I’m worried that “bringing America into the 21st century” is way too easy to misinterpret, given that America’s been pretty busy fucking up said century so far.

She can’t win. The Dems are going to nominate her.

Yeah. Seems likely. She’ll need to duke it out, probably just with Obama and Edwards, but her machine outclasses both of them. My hopes at this point in the game:

1. A late entry of someone like Gore (oh, who am I kidding with “someone like”? Is there anyone else?)

2. She gets the nod, she manages to win, and turns out to be a stealth lefty, sweeping into the whitehouse with righteous fury to undo the damage and . . .

No, you’re right. I got nothin’.

Come, Mort…..have a drink with me! No need to face the misery caused by the utter ineptitude of the Democratic party sober!

I swear, there’s a country western song in this mess somewhere. Something about your party leaving you for some homewrecking bad boy and leaving you to clean up the mess of their last party together in your home….

When it comes to the Democratic leadership, I too am disgusted, but I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I still support the Dems for the mere fact that they’re not total mud-fucking lunatic reactionaries. After six years of Bush my political needs have become very simple.

jem927 said:
I’m wondering though: so what? There’s so much heat and very little light here. Whether Beauchamp was telling the whole truth, embellishing a partial truth, or dealing in lies doesn’t change anything. It was wrong, on multiple levels, to invade Iraq, and we’re in a national political quandry as to what to do about it. This TNR business is a low-level sideshow.

That’s entirely true. But there are a lot of people on the right who’d love to use the Beauchamp flap to create a new Rathergate. They desperately want to discredit him (or plausibly claim to have discredited him) so they can assert that all negative reporting from Iraq is tainted and untrustworthy – which is something they very much want to believe themselves.

The highly esteemed Gary Ruppert said:
Barack Obama is a showhorse, not a workhorse. He’s just not able and willing to lead on your fringe causes

I know, Gary, I know. I was hoping he’d publicly endorse the nationalization of all economic activity, the creation of a dictatorship of the proletariat, and the establishment of an efficient gulag system. Maybe later.

I have to agree with mikey, the whole Beauchamp thing is pretty irrelevant overall. We know that bad things happen in war. A tank ran over a dog? Who gives a fuck? Even if that is true, we know for a fact that some of our soldiers are raping and killing civilians.

I don’t see why people on either side get excited by a report that simply attaches a first-person view to things we know happen (and far worse) all the time. It’s like it isn’t real to people without some compelling narrative and characterization.

I don’t see why people on either side get excited by a report that simply attaches a first-person view to things we know happen (and far worse) all the time.

Random, I think a large part of the public doesn’t know these things happen until they see it on TV or at least read about it. We’re an unusually political group of people, that’s why we know these things happen all the time. And that’s why stuff like the Beaucahmp think can be important.

No, you’re right. I got nothin’

Jeez, Smiling Mortician & Jillian. Why not pretend that something good can possibly happen? Then wait, and give money, or not, and watch what does happen in 2008. And if it’s seriously super-terrible, like Mitt Romney winning or whatever, you can feel horrible then. Why subject yourself to such pain now?

Atheist, I’ve just never been any good at lying to myself.

We are so fucked.

We are so fucked.

I guess perhaps it is a matter of personal taste. Maybe I don’t personally care that much, or don’t let myself care that much, and in that way I escape a feeling of despair. At least until it is completely clear that the situation is bleeding me. It is simply my MO.

I guess your personal way of dealing works for you too, so why should I criticize?

Jeez, Smiling Mortician & Jillian. Why not pretend that something good can possibly happen? Then wait, and give money, or not, and watch what does happen in 2008.

Oh, I’ll go a couple steps further, atheist. You can count on me not just to pretend that something good could happen, but to hope for it. To work toward it. I’ll give money, just like I did in ’06 and ’04. I’ll talk up the candidates I think are onto something good. I’ll vote — and if I don’t have someone I can vote for with any degree of passion, I’ll certainly vote against every rat-bastard on the ballot.

None of which changes the fact that it doesn’t look good . . . although I hear the drinks at Jillian’s house help.

Next summer, I am going to go on a cross-country drive and have a drink with every Sadly, Nosian I can find.

Seriously, who or what is Gary Ruppert? A bored parodist of modern consvativism? An grounded eight-year-old commenting from his room PC, with the GI Joe dolls glued to the monitor? An experimental AI project running from a university lab computer which can pick up certain contextual clues from a blog thread, then take these clues and run them through a genetic algorithm to create comments which almost, but not quite, make sense?

Why, with the magic of Technology(tm) and Teh InterTubes, he can be ALL of those and more!

Gary Ruppert the talking dog! Gary Ruppert the heterosexual Eskimo midget left-handed denture wearer! Gary Ruppert the hyperevolved trilobite! Gary Ruppert the floor wax AND dessert topping!

Next summer, I am going to go on a cross-country drive and have a drink with every Sadly, Nosian I can find.

If you get to the west coast, and decide to keep moving west, pop by Australia. There’s a few of us here too. And Cooper’s Pale Ale is a damn fine brew.

to all my pissed off lefty friends, i have some names for you:

ruth bader ginsburg (tired, has had it, wants to retire)
john roberts (grand mal seizures?)
john paul stevens (a gillion years old)
and souter (wants to retire)

so, unless you feel that the next 30 years should be spent having everything you care about or believe in being shot down by 8 men and one woman in robes, you might want to suck it up, get over yourself, and FUCKING SUPPORT WHOMEVER THE DEMS NOMINATE. i say this as someone who remains deeply ashamed and disturbed by my 2000 nader vote (caveat: i live cali so it didn’t matter) but just stop it. if the dems nominate a semi-sentient monkey you will go out and kill to get that monkey in to office or you are an asshole.

p.s.

boylan has zero credibility, this investigation has zero credibility, this whistleblower has some credibility (mostly, and here watch as wingnut headz explode, because TNR is such rabidly pro-war magazine, so for them to publish such a piece particularly post stephen glass is really telling).

I have already said that, should the Democrats choose to nominate the rotting corpse of James K. Polk, I will cast my vote for the electors for the rotting corpse of James K. Polk.

I take no pride in this. But it is what it is, and we must do what we must do. It’s sickening to me that, for the first time in my life, I lack the courage to vote my conscience. But then again, I no longer believe that anything I can do can make America a good country – I just hold on to the belief that perhaps my actions can keep it from becoming a worse country.

Not really a slogan to rally the troops around, though, is it?

Mark your calendars, Sadly Noites, for next summer’s big event: Yearly Nos!

Music: Dr. BLT
Catering: Annie Angel, Shoelimpy, and Kevin
Keynote Speaker: Gary Ruppert

Mark your calendars, Sadly Noites, for next summer’s big event: Yearly Nos!

Music: Dr. BLT
Catering: Annie Angel, Shoelimpy, and Kevin
Keynote Speaker: Gary Ruppert

Music coordinator Matt T.

Finance/Contributions coordinators a different brad and ifthethunderdon’t

Exotic Dancers: Jillian and Miznicky

Design/Development: Gavin M

Location: HTML Mencken’s Farm

Oh, and drunken, sophmoric commentary – er, let’s call that media relations – provided from the bar in the back by Herr Doktor Bimler, Smiling Mortician and mikey…

Yeah. Seems likely. She’ll need to duke it out, probably just with Obama and Edwards, but her machine outclasses both of them

The only thing that gives me hope is that the Republican slate is so fucking, fucking incompetently BAD that they will seriously fuck it up. C’mon, guys – I mean – Giuliani? Thompson? Are you fucking kidding me?

Okay, let’s get it right:

OBAMA DID NOT SAY HE’D TAC-NUKE PAKISTAN.IF HE FOUND WHERE OSAMA WAS HIDING.
IN FACT HE SAID THAT THAT OPTION WAS OFF THE TABLE.
-THEN- HILLARY CRITICIZED HIM FOR SAYING THAT.

Sorry for the shouting caps-lock, but jumpin’ jehosaphat!
Get yer figgity-facts straight would ya?

I just came back from a great day going to a vintage guitar show, shopping for Hawaiian shirts, and eating a hamburger made of dry aged chopped sirloin, caramelized onions, applewood bacon compote with gruyere and Maytag blue cheese with arugula on a french roll.

With a Lost Coast Brewery downtown brown ale for one of us and a Spanish red for the other.

And a basket full of sweet potato fries.

I’m in heaven, and no fucking way Gary Ruppert can harsh my buzz.

INYOURFACEINYOURFACEINYOURFACEINYOURFACEINYOURFACE
YOUGOTPWNED11!!YOUGOTPWNED11!!YOUGOTPWNED11!!LOLOL
BEAUCHAMPLIEDGOLDSTEINROXBEAUCHAMPLIEDBEAUCHAMPLIED
BEAUCHAMPLIEDGAVINSUXBEAUCHAMPLIEDBEAUCHAMPLIED
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!111111!

Now that’s some thoughtful, intelligent commentary right there. We have much to learn…

mikey

Oh, crud. Goldstein ran out of Klonopin…

Next summer, I am going to go on a cross-country drive and have a drink with every Sadly, Nosian I can find.

Jillian:

Wow, really? Well, if ya stop by Chicago, I’d love to have a drink with ya!

Jillian, I’d be honored.

Yet again, further proof of Rodent’s Law – Bullshit expands to fill the space provided.

I love this new thing we’re doing where civil society – and really, pretty much every organ of government – exists to produce PR for corporate fascists. That entire national defense thing was clearly just slowing the Pentagon down at its real mission: shovelling bajillions of dollars into any capitalist mouth that passes by and pretending this is good for us.

Heil Murdoch!

suck it up, get over yourself, and FUCKING SUPPORT WHOMEVER THE DEMS NOMINATE . . . or you are an asshole.

Deep breath there, Robert. No need to shout. This pissed-off lefty wasn’t planning to do something stupid like voting Republican or not voting at all or, god forbid, throwing my vote away on a no-chance-in-hell third party candidate. I just thought that, y’know, I also had a right to discuss the relative merits and faults of the candidates prior to dutifully casting my vote in precisely the manner you’ve so eloquently described. ‘Cause I sure don’t want to be an asshole.

Not voting at all is a real danger though. Or a lack of enthusiasm being infectious and convincing others to not vote.

It’s really hard to be all “rah rah go team” when the Democrats pull shit like this FISA garbage.

If you get to the west coast, and decide to keep moving west, pop by Australia. There’s a few of us here too. And Cooper’s Pale Ale is a damn fine brew.

I’ll second that, both thats in fact. And wonderful to have Coopers Brewery getting a mention on the intertubes: gives me something to be proud about being South Australian, about.

Of course, your summer will be our winter, so bring some woolies. Maybe long johns too: not because it really gets too cold, but because I like to see blokes in long johns.

It’s really hard to be all “rah rah go team” when the Democrats pull shit like this FISA garbage.

What? You don’t think a slogan like “Vote Democrat! At least we’re not fascist pigs!” is going to draw them in?

What? You don’t think a slogan like “Vote Democrat! At least we’re not fascist pigs!” is going to draw them in?

The slogan totally works for me, Jillian. It’s catchy, it’s energetic, and it has the added benefit of being pretty much true (“pretty much” because if it were really true, we’d have to add something like “we’re just very, very craven” — but then it would lose that snappy rhythm, so best to leave it off.)

Or a lack of enthusiasm being infectious and convincing others to not vote.

I realize this thread is probably dead by now, but I just gotta say . . . Random, I often agree with you but this sort of ominous warning comes too close to thought-policing for my taste. “Clap louder!” is not a command I obey. But perhaps I’m misreading the intent of the comment.

Coopers does make a damn fine lager. Better than our bigger local brewery here in Chicago (Goose Island), though not as good as the little one (Two Brothers).

Yup, if you can’t tell, I’ve been doin’ a lot of drinkin’ these days. These people just broke my heart…. I don’t have any congressmen to try to convince on issues like these; Obama’s gonna make the right call; so will Durbin, probably. I can’t email Hastert to try to convince him… until they find a way to digitize pizza and attach it, he’ll just ignore my email.

I wonder if we will see an attack from the wingnuts on McClatchy Newspapers for this story similar to that on the The New Republic for the Beauchamp.

Here at this searing, dusty U.S. military base about four miles west of Baqouba, Iraqis — including interpreters who walk the same foot patrols and sleep in the same tents as U.S. troops — must use segregated bathrooms.

Some how I doubt they want to publicize that segregation has returned to the US Army.