The surge is working

BAGHDAD, March 30 -- Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Sunday ordered his armed militia to get off the streets in Basra and to cooperate with the government to restore security. In exchange, he asked the government to release prisoners and declare an amnesty.

The Iraqi government quickly welcomed the comments as a move toward restoring calm.

"We'll stop fighting if you free all prisoners and give us amnesty."

"Ok."

This sounds to me as though Al-Maliki has essentially surrendered to Al-Sadr.

I'll bet Bush thinks this is good news.

What fun

Saw this on archy:

As if the idea of colonoscopies didn't sound uncomfortable enough, now researchers are
developing self-propelling probes that crawl inside the colon and grip its sides with the aid of sticky films.

Colonoscopy robots. Just when you thought a trip to the doctor couldn't possibly be any more fun.

And the fuckups just keep on coming...

The Pentagon gave a 300 million dollar contract to a new company run by a 22-year-old and a 25-year-old masseur to supply weapons to the soldiers in Afghanistan, and the supplied shitty weapons.

Holy crap.

Hillary: Do NOT vote for McCain

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) – Hillary Clinton pleaded for partisan unity on Thursday, urging Democrats not to abandon their party to vote for John McCain if their preferred candidate fails to secure the nomination.

Clinton was asked by a questioner in the audience here what she would tell frustrated Democrats who might consider voting for McCain in the general election out of spite.

“Please think through this decision,” Clinton said, laughing and emphasizing the word “please.”

“It is not a wise decision for yourself or your country.”

The crowd applauded loudly.

Clinton stressed that there are “significant” differences between her and Obama, but said “those differences pale to the differences between us and Sen. McCain.”

“I intend to do everything I can to make sure we have a unified Democratic party,” she said. “When this contest is over and we have a nominee, we’re going to close ranks, we’re going to be united.”

Good. I'm sure Obama would say the same, and I'd like to hear him do so, in no uncertain terms.

The Republicans must GO, while we still have a country left. That's job one, and all the internecine squabbling on the planet pales into insignificance next to it.

Random Rant

From NPR news:

Egg McMuffin Creator Invented Breakfast-on-the-Go

Uhhh, guys? People have been getting Egg-And-Cheese-On-A-Roll-To-Go since WAY the hell before the Egg McMuffin.

I mean, I KNOW this is America, and our entire way of life and all-things-good must be credited to megacorporations like McDonald's, Wal-mart and Coca-Cola, but it's bullshit. The local deli and pizzeria had a whole hell of a lot more to do with it than McDonald's. McDonald's took the idea from Joe's Deli. About 30 years after the fact.

"All Things Bright and Beautiful, McDonald's Made Them All."

Sheesh.

McCain on the Housing crisis: Hoover was right

SANTA ANA - John McCain said Tuesday that he understood Americans' anger about the mortgage foreclosure crisis and was open to ideas for addressing the problem, but he rejected the sort of activist approaches proposed by his Democratic rivals for the presidency.

“He said that the best way for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen. In his entire speech yesterday, he offered not one policy, not one idea, not one bit of relief to the nearly 35,000 North Carolinians who are forced to foreclose on their dream over the last few months." - Obama

"It sounds remarkably like Herbert Hoover,and I don't think that's good economic policy. You know, we have a framework of regulation. It needs to be updated and modernized. The government has a number of tools at its disposal that are well-suited for just this situation, and I think that inaction has contributed to the problems we face today, and I believe further inaction would exacerbate those problems." - Hillary

Something you never see on television

Iraqis talking about what THEY think of the American occupation.

The Liberal Media seem to have no interest in that.

ALI FADHIL: That's a big question, assessment. Well, basically, probably, I`ll kind of sum it in a few words.

It's -- we have a country where the government is not functioning after five years. We have too many internal problems. And we have the violence increasing day after day.

We have a huge crisis of refugees inside and outside Iraq. We have a total failure of the -- of the civilian -- the civilian structure and what's happening inside. We have the sectarian divisions increasing. We didn't have that before. Now we have it.

So, basically, my assessment is we have a whole nation called Iraq, now it's wiped out.

CHARLIE ROSE: And Iraq is worse off because the United States came?

ALI FADHIL: It's worse off because the United States came to Iraq, definitely, and because the United States did all these mistakes in Iraq.

And:

CHARLIE ROSE: So where do we go from here? Five years after the invasion of Iraq, what is a wise American policy?

ALI FADHIL: Let me start with telling you what is happening right now, what is the American policy right now in Iraq.

It's so shame to say that America is in Iraq right now, and particularly the State Department and also the Pentagon as well, the U.S. Army in Iraq. They're going back to Saddam's policies in everything. . . . If you, you know, name it, name the most successful project of the surge -- outcome of the surge, the (INAUDIBLE) councils. You know, these insurgents, the Sunnis, even Shiites.

CHARLIE ROSE: The so-called awakening.

ALI FADHIL: Awakening council, exactly. They're giving them money to protect their own neighborhoods. Isn't that the same what happened under Saddam? . . .

Anything [Americans] do -- probably even in good intentions -- is bad for us, everything they do, everything. There's nothing they're doing is right.

And that's what is going to happen. It's just prolonging the diaspora of the Iraqis. We're suffering more and more every day. We need, you know, to start the salvation (ph). . .

SINAN ANTOON: The president today said something really obscene to my mind. He said Iraq is witnessing the first Arab uprising against al Qaeda.

We did not have al Qaeda in Iraq before.We had a ruthless dictatorship.

Oh, dear

Looks like John McCain's chief political adviser has ties to the religiously insane Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

Do you think the McCain groupies in the media will think this is a story?

Nah - of COURSE not.

Exposing The Maverick

Jame Hamsher of firedoglake has filed and official complaint with the FEC about McCain's campaign violations.

"We decided that McCain shouldn't be allowed to get away with this without questions -- lots and lots of questions -- being asked. The hypocrisy of the so-called "maverick" violating a law which he championed because it suits his purposes this time around is horrifying. Even worse is the relative silence of the press on this, given the rank hypocrisy of violations of McCain's "signature" issue and all. Does it get to be your signature issue if you are blatantly violating it in an in-your-face maneuver after being warned not to by the head of the FEC? I think not.

"If the press isn't going to ask the necessary questions, then we have to do it ourselves. You can join in, too -- sign your name to the complaint here. At that link, you'll find a copy of the FEC filing and a list of signatories thus far. And help us get the word out on the need for McCain to be held accountable for any violations of the law that has his own name on it....and any other laws of which he may be in violation."

The McCain-loving media

Here's NBC's political director Chuck Todd on McCain's showing total ignorance of the Middle East.

“Well, what’s odd about the, the stumble is that it — is it a stumble or was it, or was it that this talking point that he’d been, that he’d been using for actually a couple weeks or over a week, where he was talking about sort of almost blurring that the, the enemy of al-Qaeda and the enemy of the, the Shia-trained Iranians and sort of blurring them as one enemy. And the, the question is, did he just sort of — he truncated it to the point where he ended up misspeaking.

“The, the problem, of course, McCain has is that he can’t, you know, he doesn’t want to make it so that he, he forgot it for a minute. You know, he’s — because of the age issue, he can’t ever look like he’s having a senior moment. So instead, he’s better off going ahead and saying, you know, ‘OK, so he misspoke.’ Even if he gets dinged on the experience stuff, ‘Oh, he says he’s Mr. Experience. Doesn’t he know the difference between this stuff?’ He’s got enough of that in the bank, at least with the media, that he can get away with it.

“I mean, the irony to this is had either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama misspoke like that, it’d have been on a running loop, and it would become a, a big problem for a couple of days for them.”

Liberal media, my ass.

Chelsea for President

Chelsea Clinton bristled when an audience member at a rally in Indianapolis asked her if the Monica Lewinsky scandal damaged her mother's credibility.

"Wow, you're the first person actually that's ever asked me that question in the, I don't know maybe, 70 college campuses I've now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business," she said before taking another question.

It's been ten years, and it's about time.

Over there

BAGHDAD - At least 55 people have died in two days of fighting between Shiite militias and U.S.-Iraqi forces in Baghdad and the southern oil hub of Basra, officials said Wednesday.

The burgeoning crisis -- part of an intense power struggle among Shiite political factions -- has major implications for the United States. An escalation could unravel the cease-fire which al-Sadr proclaimed last August. A resumption of fighting by his militia could kill more U.S. soldiers and threaten -- at least in the short run -- the security gains Washington has hailed as a sign that Iraq is on the road to recovery.

The cease fire agreed to by Al-Sadr is pretty much the only reason there's been less killing in the last few months.

The Media's Darling

Media Matters has extensive documentation of exactly the way that the media treat John McCain with kid gloves (Remember, Chris Matthews flat said, "I think that we're his base"). Well worth looking at.

But what I want to kow is WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

It is URGENT that the damned media be forced to be HONEST about things, or none of it matters. It doesn't matter that McCain is a complete joke of a candidate in any sane universe. The press creates perception. If the entire propaganda machine spends the next 9 months combing Obama's speeches or Hillary's statements looking for words to take out of context and beat them with 24/7 while COMPLETLEY IGNORING the genuinely horrible stuff coming out of McCain's mouth, we're doomed.

The TOP PRIORITY of progressives MUST be to change the media narrative. If that doesn't change, nothing else matters.

And I shall call him Mini Me.

This might not be a bad idea. And it's damned good that the powers that be in the party are finally waking up and pointing out that this shit has got to stop.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Democrats, looking for a way out, are pondering a new idea: an unprecedented "mini convention" to bring their punishing presidential season to an early close.

Can we say it?

Or would it be a strategic mistake and a political miscalculation for a Democratic candidate to openly state that George W. Bush is delusional?

As the American military death toll in Iraq reached 4,000, President Bush conferred yesterday with top U.S. officials in Washington and in Baghdad and vowed in a public statement that the outcome of the war "will merit the sacrifice."

It probably WOULD be counter-productive.

But pointing out that he has yet to be right about a SINGLE THING might be a good idea.

A mosaic

4000 Americans Dead.

Im still alive

4000 Americans aren't though.


And they died for a pack of lies from the mouth of a death-loving sociopath.

Bear (Stearns) Market

When things crumble, they can crumble very quickly.

J.P. Morgan is buying Bear Stearns for less than the price of its building, the Fed cut the interest rate - as though THAT will help - and the dollar dropped to records lows, oil shot to record highs, and last night in Europe and Asia, they all sold off like crazy.

As Atrios would say, "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

No Telecom Immunity

The House just passed a FISA bill WITHOUT retroactive immunity.

"I'm just a simple President"

From Think Progress

Bush: ‘I’m just a simple president.’»

In an interview with PBS that aired last night, host Susie Gharib asked the President about rising oil prices. Bush, however, replied that he was “just a simple president” and was unable to explain how his oil policy would actually work:

GHARIB: Well, you’ve pressed OPEC to increase oil production –

BUSH: I did.

GHARIB: And they didn’t do it. Let’s say that OPEC did pump more oil. How much do you think that that would bring down oil prices, by $20, $30?

BUSH: You know, I don’t know. You’re going to have to ask the experts that. I’m just a simple president. But I really don’t know what it would do. I do know that the main problem is supply and demand and excess supply obviously would help.

Because it makes his friends money

One reason Bush gets away with the crap he does is that he is so audacious and so totally without limits that people can't quite get their heads around the fact that he's doing it. And the things that he does seem to make no sense at all, until you reason that it has nothing to do with principles, beliefs or ideology at all. He does whatever will line his friends' pockets (and his own, once he leaves office) and that's his only consideration.

Ozone Rules Weakened at Bush's Behest
EPA Scrambles To Justify Action

The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA.

EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit, according to the documents.

"It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific judgment," said John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

No bias there

From Fox News:

We live in a very strange world

Governor Spitzer's hooker may finally have her music career take off, thanks to being Governor Spitzer's hooker.

Oversight? Who needs oversight?

Because spy agencies aren't unaccountable enough.

President weakens espionage oversight
Board created by Ford loses most of its power

"It's quite clear that the Bush administration officials who were around in the 1970s are settling old scores now," said Tim Sparapani, senior legislative counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. "Here they are even preventing oversight within the executive branch. They have closed the books on the post-Watergate era."

David Patterson?

New York State now has a new acting Governor - and if he crashed into me on the street, I would have no idea who he was. Zero. Wouldn't recognize him. I'd probably curse him out:

"Get out of my way, you stupid asshole!"

"Dude, he's blind!"

"BLIND? Ummm... I didn't realize he was blind...."

"And he's the Governor!"

"He's the Governor?"

He's the Governor of New York State and I had to look up his first name to write this post. I thought it was "Jim."

I need a drink.

Mary Ann is a stoner.

I knew there was a reason I liked her better than Ginger.

Gilligan's' Mary Ann caught with dope

DRIGGS, Idaho - Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," is serving six months' unsupervised probation after allegedly being caught with marijuana in her car.

She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving.

Well, THAT was fast.

Obama wins Mississippi primary, CNN projects


Barack Obama will win the Mississippi Democratic primary, CNN projects. The state has 33 Democratic delegates up for grabs. Meanwhile, CNN estimates show that Obama won last week's Texas Democratic caucuses and will get more delegates out of the state than rival Hillary Clinton, who won the state's primary.

Wish I'd said this.

"But how exactly is it that someone who makes it his business to bust the chops of big wall street titans uses prostitutes? TPM HQ is in Chelsea. And I'm expecting the streets to deluged at any moment now by joyously rioting stock brokers coming up from Wall Street. We do know that this financial industry honchos all have big 'security' offices and have tons of PIs who work for them. I'm frankly shocked they didn't smoke him out before this." - Josh Marshall

Stupid asshole

Elliot Spitzer, Democratic Governor of New York State who, when Attorney General sometimes made a big deal of busting prostitution rings, is being linked to a prostitution ring.

You know, Pataki was a moron and a LOUSY Governor, we FINALLY get rid of him, and replace him with a Democrat, and the guy is STUPID ENOUGH TO GO TO HOOKERS?

He had to have been brain dead.

I have no sympathy. Too Stupid To Be Governor.

Wedge Issue

You know, I can't help thinking that the Democrats can both do some good and drive a wedge between Republicans by using the environment. But Democrats are nuts. They're kind of afraid to make too big of a deal out of the environment. Horrors, some nut on talk radio might call them "tree-huggers." Or maybe "wusses" or something like that. But it's actually one issue that they own which has a lot of bipartisan support.

Today, a bunch of Southern Baptists (of all people) came out in favor of doing something about climate change. And the genuinely creepy Pope Benedict XVI declared that polluting the environment was a mortal sin.

There can't be too much political risk in touting a liberal principle that has the support of Southern Baptists and the Pope, eh?

Guess what? Bush lied.

Yes, hardly news, but as digby points out, every new insider that says the same thing gets added to the record, and every one makes it harder and harder for Bush and his minions to claim otherwise.

Doug Feith, Bush's Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, says that Bush claimed that war with Iraq was inevitable before the weapons inspectors released any finding, and while he was telling Americans that he was seeking a peaceful solution.

Rove in the house

Karl Rove is now part of McCain's campaign.

Some people still hold the Fungal Doughboy in awe, but the fact is that his ability is grossly overblown, and he is responsible for the Republicans' disaster in 2004. He swore that they were going right up until they lost.

One of his first acts was to praise McCain's daughter - whom he once smeared.

Obama Won Wyoming

Easily. But that was pretty much expected.

This may be a more interesting election, though:

Illinois 14th District is voting to fill the seat of former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Porcine and Repulsive). It's early, but as of now, the Democrat - Bill Foster - is significantly ahead of Republican Jim Oberweis.

It would be awfully nice to fill Hastert's seat with a Democrat.

UPDATE: Foster won. Hastert's old seat is now held by a Democrat.

Dow below 12000

Dow falls under 12,000 as job losses roil Wall St.

Bush may well windup the first President since Hoover to leave office with the market LOWER than when he started.

His ass-kissers will look at that, and look at the total disaster that is Iraq, look at the fact that while he was in office, New York got a new skyline, the Gulf got a new coastline, Minnesotans got a new view of the river, we LOST one of our oldest and most storied cities, we lost our allies, we lost our respect in the world, our good name, and our national soul. And they will still SWEAR that he's done a great job. While making excuses, excuses, excuses for ALL of his failures.

While the entire sane world recognizes that he may be the worst President ever.

They knew but did nothing.

An expose of the gross negligence of the Bush administration prior to September 11.

What the hey? Donovan.

Because I can.

Steve Colbert is out of mind

Interviewing Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary:

Colbert: Are you endorsing Hillary Clinton?

Reich: No, I decided not to endorse this round.

Colbert: So, you're endorsing Barack Obama?

Reich: No, I'm not going to endorse anybody. [...]

Colbert: Okay, let me put it this way: if we were at a restaurant together and the waiter brought around the dessert cart, and the choice was ladyfingers or Black Forest cake, which way do you think you'd lean?

Reich: Quite seriously, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would make a great president.

Colbert: Let me put this a different way. If I were a waiter and I were to offer you two different slices of pizza, and one was half-Hawaiian and you weren't entirely sure what it was going to taste like. And the other was plain with cheese and had been under a heat lamp for 35 years, I mean, it had seen everything. Which would you go for?

Reich: I don't think I'd be terribly excited about either of those slices.

Colbert: Which movie would you rent? 'Big Momma's House' or 'Medea's Family Reunion'? Be careful, they are both about strong women who are actually black men.

Reich: Um, gosh. I think I'd try both of them out."

The latest Republican Poster Boy

Steve Kirby may announce this week that he is running against South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson.

Who is Steve Kirby?

A guy who previous business adventures included taking the skin off of dead bodies - which was meant for burn victims - and using it to enlarge penises.

Seriously - is there ANY line that some people won't cross?

McCain's Bigoted Buddy

Nancy Pelosi has demanded that McCain distance himself from John Hagee, which may actually make the media cover Hagee's insane anti-Catholic remarks.

Here's Hagee in all his glory:

Oil prices

OPEC says it's Bush's fault.

Whistle a happy tune.

Foreclosures hit all-time high

More borrowers than ever are losing their homes or falling behind on payments. Rescue efforts have not reversed default trend.

Let's tap dance.

New Billboard

Yes, it's real. From the Billboard Liberation Front. Whom I might call up and ask if they need some help. If I can figure out who they are.

Sweethearts

Hilllary certainly had a nice night.

Texas surprised me. But she took three out of four.

The only real difference, though, is in media buzz and perceived mojo. She only added about 2 delegates more than Obama.

Still she'll probably win Pennsylvania.

My one hope for this thing is that the eventual delegate isn't damaged by the other one going into the General Election.

I have seen Democrats give away FAR too many "sure things."

I am going to bed, because staring at election returns when nothing is happening is starting to make me nauseous.

Elections suck

Reunions between humans and lions, on the other hand, rule.

The couple raised a lion and let it loose it the wild. Then they have a reunion with it.

Per MSNBC:

Clinton ends losing streak with victory in Rhode Island

McCain clinches the nomination

It's pretty much official.

Bush will endorse him tomorrow. Everybody ought to have an albatross.

Obama took Vermont.

Which was expected, but apparently it was by a lot.

McCain also won, but nobody cares.

Make him stop

The phone companies that are tapping your phone? Bush thinks you should THANK them for it.

"Well, my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped from whispering through the fence.
You know every move I make, or is that just coincidence?
Will you try to make my way of life a little less like jail
If I promise to make tapes and slides and send them through the mail?" - Larry Norman, way back in 1973

The Gaza Bombshell

Has the Bush Administration tried to "fix" ANYTHING without making it substantially worse?

After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.

Pelosi Changes Course

Iggy Jr reads the Wall Street Journal so I don't have to.

Mutie.

The God Thing

One thing I like about Obama is that he's able to connect with religion and with religious people without turning into an intolerant asshole to do it. He speaks the language, and understands how to move them. And should he go all the way with this thing, it could really deal a body blow to the sort of small-minded, hate-inspired fundamentalism that too many people have come to view as synonymous with "Christianity."

Obama Says Homophobia Isn't Christian

Obama's rally in Beaumont today was the highest-energy of this Texas swing, with a crowd that was about three-quarters black cheering at almost every turn.

An interesting moment came when he was asked a question about LGBT rights and delivered an answer that seemed to suit the questioner, listing the various attributes — race, gender, etc. — that shouldn't trigger discrimination, to successive cheers. When he came to saying that gays and lesbians deserve equality, though, the crowd fell silent.

So he took a different tack:

"Now I’m a Christian, and I praise Jesus every Sunday," he said, to a sudden wave of noisy applause and cheers.

"I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian," he said, and the crowd seemed to come along with him this time.

Too little too late?

Probably.

But apparently Senator Clinton has finally marginalized the odious Mark Penn and placed her campaign in the hands of someone who knows what she's doing.

Whichever way Tuesday goes, that's good news for the Democratic Party, since Penn has shown a perfect willingness to take everybody else down with him, and he has done nothing to help Hillary Clinton and lots and lots to help John McCain.

Vista Sucks

Great new ad. Especially for Iggy, Jr.

You know what just occurred to me?

Republicans claim to HATE the idea that American taxpayers are expected to finance the Federal Government.

But, under their "leadership," American taxpayers are now financing TWO Federal Governments: their own, and Iraq's.