Hunh. Well that's an interesting claim.
I didn't think Bush had ever polled especially well with African Americans.
April 28, 2006
April 06, 2006
February 22, 2006
Throw ... GEORGE Under the Bus?
The Confidence Man has been watching the UAE-port-management scandal fairly closely.
And most inexplicable dimension to the scandal has been the apparent utterly potically tone-deaf response by the administration.
Now, W. digging in his heels and insisting that as God's Handmaiden, his choices are not to be first-guessed, let alone second guessed -- that's nothing out of the ordinary.
Likewise, to make hollow veto threats -- SOP for W.
But to totally not get the symbolism of the issue, and the mechanics of the political perceptions on the ground -- that's a shocker for the Rove machine.
The strategic answer at which the Confidence Man arrives is this: Rove has decided that it's time to throw W. under the bus.
With his approval numbers pretty much permanently stuck below 40% now (the only thing that would bump them up at this point, frankly, would be another Reichstag Fire, and that's a huge-risk/high-reward proposition) and his having radioactive coattails for the '06 midterms, W. himself is presenting as the greatest obstacle to Rove's putative 30-year/permanent-GOP-majority plan.
We've always known that Kreepy Unka Dick, as incompetent as he is, has nonetheless been the operatively indispensable element of the administration. Last week's shooting controversy has pretty much demonstrated that Dick runs the show and ain't going anywhere -- and recall that Dick has always been a much more solid chit with the American Taliban crowd than W. himself.
No, it looks to the Confidence Man that Rove has decided to get rid of W. -- not in the sense of actually kicking him out of the WH (although we have to say that it is looking more and more likely that Rove's been the one encouraging the Moonbat WashTimes/Insight impeachment-and-dissension-in-the-WH talk), but in the sense of unhitching the GOP's wagon from him. Rove will have the entire GOP running away from W. by May.
And most inexplicable dimension to the scandal has been the apparent utterly potically tone-deaf response by the administration.
Now, W. digging in his heels and insisting that as God's Handmaiden, his choices are not to be first-guessed, let alone second guessed -- that's nothing out of the ordinary.
Likewise, to make hollow veto threats -- SOP for W.
But to totally not get the symbolism of the issue, and the mechanics of the political perceptions on the ground -- that's a shocker for the Rove machine.
The strategic answer at which the Confidence Man arrives is this: Rove has decided that it's time to throw W. under the bus.
With his approval numbers pretty much permanently stuck below 40% now (the only thing that would bump them up at this point, frankly, would be another Reichstag Fire, and that's a huge-risk/high-reward proposition) and his having radioactive coattails for the '06 midterms, W. himself is presenting as the greatest obstacle to Rove's putative 30-year/permanent-GOP-majority plan.
We've always known that Kreepy Unka Dick, as incompetent as he is, has nonetheless been the operatively indispensable element of the administration. Last week's shooting controversy has pretty much demonstrated that Dick runs the show and ain't going anywhere -- and recall that Dick has always been a much more solid chit with the American Taliban crowd than W. himself.
No, it looks to the Confidence Man that Rove has decided to get rid of W. -- not in the sense of actually kicking him out of the WH (although we have to say that it is looking more and more likely that Rove's been the one encouraging the Moonbat WashTimes/Insight impeachment-and-dissension-in-the-WH talk), but in the sense of unhitching the GOP's wagon from him. Rove will have the entire GOP running away from W. by May.
February 17, 2006
1 + 1 ... + 1
John Travolta in Blow Out: "And three people makes a conspiracy, right?"
The Confidence Man has of course been following the whoop-de-do over Unka Dick's postshooting interview with Bret Hume, and Dick's minor revelation that he has the power to summarily declassify government secrets.
The invaluable firedoglake has been putting 1 and 1 together with this revelation in light of Sc0ooter Libby's defense filing last week, in which Scooter's mouthpiece suggested that Scooter had been instructed or given permission to leak certain previously classified facts in the overall effort to discredit Plame and Wilson.
Now, here's where the third 1 comes into play: If, as we can clearly surmise from Dick's revelation and Scooter's allegation, that Dick Cheney himself declassified Plame's NOC status -- and as Patrick Fitzgeral;d has demonstrated in his filings thus far that there was a conspiracy to discredit Plame and Wilson -- then doesn't that detail itself definitively make Dick Cheney part of the conspiracy?
The Confidence Man has of course been following the whoop-de-do over Unka Dick's postshooting interview with Bret Hume, and Dick's minor revelation that he has the power to summarily declassify government secrets.
The invaluable firedoglake has been putting 1 and 1 together with this revelation in light of Sc0ooter Libby's defense filing last week, in which Scooter's mouthpiece suggested that Scooter had been instructed or given permission to leak certain previously classified facts in the overall effort to discredit Plame and Wilson.
Now, here's where the third 1 comes into play: If, as we can clearly surmise from Dick's revelation and Scooter's allegation, that Dick Cheney himself declassified Plame's NOC status -- and as Patrick Fitzgeral;d has demonstrated in his filings thus far that there was a conspiracy to discredit Plame and Wilson -- then doesn't that detail itself definitively make Dick Cheney part of the conspiracy?
February 07, 2006
Reality Is Unconstitutional
The Confidence Man has been closely following the FISA-bility flap regarding the illegality of Bush's domestic wiretaps.
We were intrigued this morning to read Josh Marshall pointing to a potential Constitutional defense of Bush's actions: to wit, that if in fact wiretapping/surveillance powers are vested in the Presidency, then FISA itself may be Unconstitutional per se -- Congress illegitimately constraining the power of the President.
An interesting theory.
But it doesn't go far enough.
The Confidence Man would submit that REALITY ITSELF is inherently Unconstitutional. The President -- this President, in particular -- should be able to flap his wings and FLY should he so desire. Gravity and wind resistance -- and the entire theoretical apparatus that underlies these heretical obloquys -- represent not merely a sop to Our Enemies, but an encroachment onto the powers that rightfully devolve onto the highest office in This Land.
We were intrigued this morning to read Josh Marshall pointing to a potential Constitutional defense of Bush's actions: to wit, that if in fact wiretapping/surveillance powers are vested in the Presidency, then FISA itself may be Unconstitutional per se -- Congress illegitimately constraining the power of the President.
An interesting theory.
But it doesn't go far enough.
The Confidence Man would submit that REALITY ITSELF is inherently Unconstitutional. The President -- this President, in particular -- should be able to flap his wings and FLY should he so desire. Gravity and wind resistance -- and the entire theoretical apparatus that underlies these heretical obloquys -- represent not merely a sop to Our Enemies, but an encroachment onto the powers that rightfully devolve onto the highest office in This Land.
December 28, 2005
Stop Making Sense
WARNING: Irresponsible, tin-hat conspiracy theorizing below.
The Confidence Man has long been utterly addlepated by the Cheney Cabal's foreign-policy and homeland-security strategies.
Since their installment by the Scalia Court, the Cheney Cabal has again and again made bafflingly dangerous, destabilizing, and demented decisions on the international stage. Not a single move they have made has made sense from any sort of strategic or security-oriented standpoint.
Not even the "no-blood for-oil" arguments have ever made entirely convincing sense of the Chen ey Cabal's decisions.
But the Confidence Man has a theory -- one that keeps making more and more sense by the day, especially given recent revelations about the Cheney Cabal's domestic spy apparatus.
The Confidence Man has always lain some credence to the supposition that Dick Cheney and/or his lieutenants had some prior knowledge of at least some general aspects of the attacks of 9/11.
We're not claiming that Unka Dick remote-piloted the planes into the WTC and Pentagon. We're not claiming that he bankrolled the hijackers.
But given the copious documentation of the various intel agencies' knowledge of the soldiers on the ground and the chatter, it is apparent that Cheney knew SOMETHING was going down (figuratively speaking, at least) in the summer or fall of 2001.
Here's our theory: Cheney did, in fact, have someone "on the inside" within a cell including or proximate to the 9/11 hijackers. Cheney's agent was NOT one of the hijackers -- but he did go to ground after 9/11. Cheney knew something was coming down the pike, but didn't suspect it would be quite as catastrophic as it turned out. And when it was as bad as we all witnessed -- and Cheney's man on the inside had disappeared -- Cheney panicked.
Cheney did not panic for his fear at the safety of the US -- he panicked at fear for his own neck. Because the man on the inside had the goods on Dick's foreknowledge of 9/11.
The ENTIRE US security apparatus as mobilized post-9/11, then, has been Dick Cheney's desparate attempt to track down this one man. The kidnappings, the extreme rendition, the torture, the wiretapping, all of it.
The Confidence Man has long been utterly addlepated by the Cheney Cabal's foreign-policy and homeland-security strategies.
Since their installment by the Scalia Court, the Cheney Cabal has again and again made bafflingly dangerous, destabilizing, and demented decisions on the international stage. Not a single move they have made has made sense from any sort of strategic or security-oriented standpoint.
Not even the "no-blood for-oil" arguments have ever made entirely convincing sense of the Chen ey Cabal's decisions.
But the Confidence Man has a theory -- one that keeps making more and more sense by the day, especially given recent revelations about the Cheney Cabal's domestic spy apparatus.
The Confidence Man has always lain some credence to the supposition that Dick Cheney and/or his lieutenants had some prior knowledge of at least some general aspects of the attacks of 9/11.
We're not claiming that Unka Dick remote-piloted the planes into the WTC and Pentagon. We're not claiming that he bankrolled the hijackers.
But given the copious documentation of the various intel agencies' knowledge of the soldiers on the ground and the chatter, it is apparent that Cheney knew SOMETHING was going down (figuratively speaking, at least) in the summer or fall of 2001.
Here's our theory: Cheney did, in fact, have someone "on the inside" within a cell including or proximate to the 9/11 hijackers. Cheney's agent was NOT one of the hijackers -- but he did go to ground after 9/11. Cheney knew something was coming down the pike, but didn't suspect it would be quite as catastrophic as it turned out. And when it was as bad as we all witnessed -- and Cheney's man on the inside had disappeared -- Cheney panicked.
Cheney did not panic for his fear at the safety of the US -- he panicked at fear for his own neck. Because the man on the inside had the goods on Dick's foreknowledge of 9/11.
The ENTIRE US security apparatus as mobilized post-9/11, then, has been Dick Cheney's desparate attempt to track down this one man. The kidnappings, the extreme rendition, the torture, the wiretapping, all of it.
The Moron War on the War on Christmas
Upon some further reflection regarding the Feebs-with-Geiger-counters-in-mosques issue we discussed immediately below, we have come to a tentative conclusion.
It is certain, of course, that Karl Rove has a greasy paw in FOX News' ludicrous "War on Christmas" campaign.
But what strikes the Confidence Man is the timing of the hullabaloo this year.
Yes, as some have noted, the Moron War on the War on Christmas, as with other commercial holiday endeavors, creeeps ever earlier year by year.
However, consider that the NYT's revelations of Bush's end-run around FISA for illegal wiretaps AND the FBI-mosque-radiation-monitoring program both came out at the height of the holiday shopping season -- and that, as the NYT and WaPo reported, the Bushists had been trying to suppress the NYT's reporting of said stories for over a year.
Now, numerous commentators in recent weeks have pointed to the essentially anti-Semitic nature of the Moron War on the War on Christmas.
While the Confidence Man agrees in principle with this argument, we are starting to suspect that perhaps there is a more subtle anti-Islamic dynamic at work in the timing of TMWOTWOX and the media.
TMWOTWOX, we suspect, in its more aggressive deployment this year was intended to prepare the ground for the revelations of the wiretapping and monitoring of mosques.
It is certain, of course, that Karl Rove has a greasy paw in FOX News' ludicrous "War on Christmas" campaign.
But what strikes the Confidence Man is the timing of the hullabaloo this year.
Yes, as some have noted, the Moron War on the War on Christmas, as with other commercial holiday endeavors, creeeps ever earlier year by year.
However, consider that the NYT's revelations of Bush's end-run around FISA for illegal wiretaps AND the FBI-mosque-radiation-monitoring program both came out at the height of the holiday shopping season -- and that, as the NYT and WaPo reported, the Bushists had been trying to suppress the NYT's reporting of said stories for over a year.
Now, numerous commentators in recent weeks have pointed to the essentially anti-Semitic nature of the Moron War on the War on Christmas.
While the Confidence Man agrees in principle with this argument, we are starting to suspect that perhaps there is a more subtle anti-Islamic dynamic at work in the timing of TMWOTWOX and the media.
TMWOTWOX, we suspect, in its more aggressive deployment this year was intended to prepare the ground for the revelations of the wiretapping and monitoring of mosques.
The Jesus Bomb
The Confidence Man reads with mounting horror and disdain the news that the FBI has been infiltrating mosques and Muslim community centers to monitor for radiation.
Leaving aside the issue that the Bushists have NEVER been serious about controlling nuclear proliferation, cracking down on Pakistan and various rogue international nuclear actors, or securing chemical and nuclear facilities in the US, we wish to conduct a little historical thought experiment.
Recall that, in the 1990s, the US was subject to a rash of terrorist acts perpetrated by, on the main, straight, Christian, Caucasian men: Oklahoma City, the Atlanta Olympic Village bombing, abortion clinic bombings, abortion doctor shootings and harassment, the Unabomber (granted, Ted K. was neither a Christian nor straight per se), the James Byrd and Matthew Shepard lynchings (among others), and Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Montana Freemen (these three being Federal assaults on terrorist threats as or more genuine than, say Vincent Padilla or the melt-the-Brooklyn-Bridge-with-soldering-irons ding-dongs), as well as various and sundry un- or under-reported incidents.
The country, at the time, was under assault by a loosely aggregated white/Christian-identity network no less organized or well-funded than al Qaeda -- and no less hostile to classic Western Liberal Enlightenment values of liberte, egalite, fraternite, et al.
Imagine, then, the reaction if Clinton and Reno had justifiably decided to infiltrate CHURCHES in the '90s to monitor radiation levels.
Leaving aside the issue that the Bushists have NEVER been serious about controlling nuclear proliferation, cracking down on Pakistan and various rogue international nuclear actors, or securing chemical and nuclear facilities in the US, we wish to conduct a little historical thought experiment.
Recall that, in the 1990s, the US was subject to a rash of terrorist acts perpetrated by, on the main, straight, Christian, Caucasian men: Oklahoma City, the Atlanta Olympic Village bombing, abortion clinic bombings, abortion doctor shootings and harassment, the Unabomber (granted, Ted K. was neither a Christian nor straight per se), the James Byrd and Matthew Shepard lynchings (among others), and Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Montana Freemen (these three being Federal assaults on terrorist threats as or more genuine than, say Vincent Padilla or the melt-the-Brooklyn-Bridge-with-soldering-irons ding-dongs), as well as various and sundry un- or under-reported incidents.
The country, at the time, was under assault by a loosely aggregated white/Christian-identity network no less organized or well-funded than al Qaeda -- and no less hostile to classic Western Liberal Enlightenment values of liberte, egalite, fraternite, et al.
Imagine, then, the reaction if Clinton and Reno had justifiably decided to infiltrate CHURCHES in the '90s to monitor radiation levels.
When Bush Didn't Lie
During the 2004 campaign, Bush and his proxies frequently derided Kerry's insistence that countering terrorism was on the main a law-enforcement job.
The Bushists insisted on their mechaphor of the GWOT, casting the fight as a struggle between competing armies, not of civilization vs anarchy.
And, as we're now seeing, the Bushists were being entirely honest (albeit misguided and INSANE) during the campaign.
They never had any intention of pursuing legitimate legal means to estop, prosecute, or otherwise disrupt terrorists -- in America or abroad.
The Bushists insisted on their mechaphor of the GWOT, casting the fight as a struggle between competing armies, not of civilization vs anarchy.
And, as we're now seeing, the Bushists were being entirely honest (albeit misguided and INSANE) during the campaign.
They never had any intention of pursuing legitimate legal means to estop, prosecute, or otherwise disrupt terrorists -- in America or abroad.
December 22, 2005
The Wrong Man
Left Blogistan has been a-buzz today with discussion of Ben Wallace-Wells' WaMo profile of Kos.
While the Confidence Man holds no brief for Kos (truth be told, we generally do find him and his Kossacks too shrill to be productive), we do consider ourselves among the blog triumphalists helping to sweep aside the deadwood of print journalism (if we may be so grandiloquent).
We are also, of course, baseball fans.
And being baseball fan and blog triumphalist alike, we know that when Wallace-Wells deploys Bill James as a conceptual metaphor for Kos's activities, we know that he's utterly wrong.
The operative model is, of course, Oakland's Billy Beane.
And the East Coast Establishment, Ivy League hopeful yearning of Wallace-Wells' invocation of the Red Sox' hiring of James and consequent WS Championship is all washed up. James didn't win the Series -- owner John Henry's money (intelligently spent by Beaneiac more than Jamesian GM Theo Epstein, building on a team framework largely inherited from Epstein's predecessor) won the Series.
And, of course, Beane's most famous comment from Moneyball -- "My shit doesn't work in the playoffs" -- would have been a much more apt anecdote to sum up Kos's political efforts in '02 and '04. To wit, Kos, like Beane, was able to utilize new principles of technology, organization, and data analysis to build a cheap, efficient machine to succeed at the margins where the mainstream market was most inefficient -- but ultimately both keep failing at the final test (playoffs, elections).
While the Confidence Man holds no brief for Kos (truth be told, we generally do find him and his Kossacks too shrill to be productive), we do consider ourselves among the blog triumphalists helping to sweep aside the deadwood of print journalism (if we may be so grandiloquent).
We are also, of course, baseball fans.
And being baseball fan and blog triumphalist alike, we know that when Wallace-Wells deploys Bill James as a conceptual metaphor for Kos's activities, we know that he's utterly wrong.
The operative model is, of course, Oakland's Billy Beane.
And the East Coast Establishment, Ivy League hopeful yearning of Wallace-Wells' invocation of the Red Sox' hiring of James and consequent WS Championship is all washed up. James didn't win the Series -- owner John Henry's money (intelligently spent by Beaneiac more than Jamesian GM Theo Epstein, building on a team framework largely inherited from Epstein's predecessor) won the Series.
And, of course, Beane's most famous comment from Moneyball -- "My shit doesn't work in the playoffs" -- would have been a much more apt anecdote to sum up Kos's political efforts in '02 and '04. To wit, Kos, like Beane, was able to utilize new principles of technology, organization, and data analysis to build a cheap, efficient machine to succeed at the margins where the mainstream market was most inefficient -- but ultimately both keep failing at the final test (playoffs, elections).
Brazile Nuts
Donna Brazile, she of the flawless Gore '00 campaign, repeatedly has achieved Shrumian levels of competence.
But the Confidence Man had not previously suspected that she might, in fact, be mentally ill.
This NYT article on black leaders' meeting with Bush provides profound evidence that Ms. Brazile may have suffered massive brain trauma.
Regarding her meeting with Bush to discuss Katrina reconstruction efforts, Brazile was quoted as saying:
"'He gave me information. Like I didn't know that prior to Katrina we may have had too many hospital beds instead of enough,' she said. 'He put that information into my head.'"
Um ... so, one of the problems with Katrina rescue-and-cleanup efforts was that there were TOO MANY HOSPITAL BEDS AVAILABLE?
Now, the Confidence Man can JUST imagine the convoluted, tortuous, utterly-divorced-from-reality-and-genuine-economic-scholarship HBS MBA-speak "market dynamics" argument that one of Chimpy's handlers might have given him to parrot regarding this, um ... theory. The fundamental misunderstanding and misapplication of economic principles is at the heart of the Rove-Abramoff-Norquist GOP.
But for Brazile to swallow it AND regurgitate it for the benefit of the press? That presumes a truly Reaganesque level of mental faculties on Brazile's part.
And ... "He put that information into my head."?!? What is she -- a fucking Scientologist? And undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic? (TomAYto, tomAHto, I know ...) Who talks like that?
But the Confidence Man had not previously suspected that she might, in fact, be mentally ill.
This NYT article on black leaders' meeting with Bush provides profound evidence that Ms. Brazile may have suffered massive brain trauma.
Regarding her meeting with Bush to discuss Katrina reconstruction efforts, Brazile was quoted as saying:
"'He gave me information. Like I didn't know that prior to Katrina we may have had too many hospital beds instead of enough,' she said. 'He put that information into my head.'"
Um ... so, one of the problems with Katrina rescue-and-cleanup efforts was that there were TOO MANY HOSPITAL BEDS AVAILABLE?
Now, the Confidence Man can JUST imagine the convoluted, tortuous, utterly-divorced-from-reality-and-genuine-economic-scholarship HBS MBA-speak "market dynamics" argument that one of Chimpy's handlers might have given him to parrot regarding this, um ... theory. The fundamental misunderstanding and misapplication of economic principles is at the heart of the Rove-Abramoff-Norquist GOP.
But for Brazile to swallow it AND regurgitate it for the benefit of the press? That presumes a truly Reaganesque level of mental faculties on Brazile's part.
And ... "He put that information into my head."?!? What is she -- a fucking Scientologist? And undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic? (TomAYto, tomAHto, I know ...) Who talks like that?
December 16, 2005
That's it. I'm outta here.
The Confidence Man reads with rising gorge the NYT report on Bush's authorization of the NSA to conduct heretofore-illegal wiretaps on American citizens.
But what really renders us bilious is the revelation, buried deep in the story, that the Times SAT ON THE STORY FOR A YEAR.
1. The NYT is DONE. Finis. Kaput.
2. Hmmm ... what major American political event transpired approximately 1 year ago ... hmmm, our memory seems faulty ... hmmm ... let's see, it's now December 2005, so a year ago would have been ... uh, carry the 10s column, uh ... 200- ... 4? Yes, that's it: 2004. Now, what month immediately precedes December? Nnnn- ... Nnnnov- ... Nnnnnnnovem- ... November? Let's see -- 1 + 1 = ... t- ... tw- ... two!
Alright, we'll say it: the Bush Administration convinced the NYT to not publish this story prior to the 2004 election.
Impeach these pigfuckers. Impeach 'em NOW.
And cancel your NYT sub.
But what really renders us bilious is the revelation, buried deep in the story, that the Times SAT ON THE STORY FOR A YEAR.
1. The NYT is DONE. Finis. Kaput.
2. Hmmm ... what major American political event transpired approximately 1 year ago ... hmmm, our memory seems faulty ... hmmm ... let's see, it's now December 2005, so a year ago would have been ... uh, carry the 10s column, uh ... 200- ... 4? Yes, that's it: 2004. Now, what month immediately precedes December? Nnnn- ... Nnnnov- ... Nnnnnnnovem- ... November? Let's see -- 1 + 1 = ... t- ... tw- ... two!
Alright, we'll say it: the Bush Administration convinced the NYT to not publish this story prior to the 2004 election.
Impeach these pigfuckers. Impeach 'em NOW.
And cancel your NYT sub.
December 15, 2005
I dunno 'bout you ...
... but when I hear "Saudia Arabia" and "visa fraud" in close conjunction, I usually think of this ...
December 01, 2005
Hillbilly Orange Alert
Well, this certainly can't be comforting news to Jibbenainosay and his fellow denizens of the cane-break. Killer Soviet Squirrels!
November 28, 2005
Noitacification
Dept. of Figurative Metaphors Literalizing Themselves: US Supreme Court facade is crumbling.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/ap_on_go_ot/scotus_cracking_facade;_ylt=AjNewn1Xzu_kued.8AJE6uKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
... one half expects maintenance men to discover a crude graffito scrawled into the niche from whence the rock fell: "NINO WUZ HEER DEC '00" ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/ap_on_go_ot/scotus_cracking_facade;_ylt=AjNewn1Xzu_kued.8AJE6uKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
... one half expects maintenance men to discover a crude graffito scrawled into the niche from whence the rock fell: "NINO WUZ HEER DEC '00" ...
November 22, 2005
Goose, Gander, etc.
Now, ordinarily the Confidence Man doesn't much go in for the rhetorical trope of "Bush is a hypocrite for accusing others of what he himself is guilty."
But this one seems too obvious to avoid.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/11/22/national/w071342S29.DTL
"'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Padilla Indicted"
'(11-22) 08:04 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held for three years as an "enemy combatant" suspected of plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in this country, has been indicted on charges that he conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas.'
Um ... 'conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas'? That seems like an accurate precis of the activities of the WHIG, OSP, NSA, CIA, Bush, and Kreepy Unka Dick over the last 4 years, don't it?
But this one seems too obvious to avoid.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/11/22/national/w071342S29.DTL
"'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Padilla Indicted"
'(11-22) 08:04 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held for three years as an "enemy combatant" suspected of plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in this country, has been indicted on charges that he conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas.'
Um ... 'conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas'? That seems like an accurate precis of the activities of the WHIG, OSP, NSA, CIA, Bush, and Kreepy Unka Dick over the last 4 years, don't it?
November 21, 2005
For Those of You Scoring at Home ...
Slate's "Explainer" column on Friday dealt with parsing the Woodwardian epithet "senior administration official."
http://www.slate.com/id/2130669/
The Confidence Man has a suggestion--a modified tool to balm Slate's Jack Shafer and other critics of the overuse of "anonymice."
What if an individual news organization were to codify its use of such positional epithets?
For example, the Washington Post could run a box buried deep inside the National or Politics section--and/or, certainly, at the WaPo website, a standalone page--with a list of all of the persons (or, perhaps, positions/offices/departments) fitting under each rubric.
For the first several months of this innovation, the news organization could have an editorial policy of, every first use of an anonymouse, appending a parenthetic: "(see box, page X)" (with a hyperlink on "box" in the online version). Of course, there should also probably be an editor's/publisher's note at the outset of the policy, and thereafter a smaller version accompanying the anonymouse rosters.
After the introductory period, the rosters would stay, but the explanatory note and in-text parenthetics could be deled. (The online versions could, potentially and advisably, retain the hyperlinks to the rosters, perhaps on first use of "anonymous.")
http://www.slate.com/id/2130669/
The Confidence Man has a suggestion--a modified tool to balm Slate's Jack Shafer and other critics of the overuse of "anonymice."
What if an individual news organization were to codify its use of such positional epithets?
For example, the Washington Post could run a box buried deep inside the National or Politics section--and/or, certainly, at the WaPo website, a standalone page--with a list of all of the persons (or, perhaps, positions/offices/departments) fitting under each rubric.
For the first several months of this innovation, the news organization could have an editorial policy of, every first use of an anonymouse, appending a parenthetic: "(see box, page X)" (with a hyperlink on "box" in the online version). Of course, there should also probably be an editor's/publisher's note at the outset of the policy, and thereafter a smaller version accompanying the anonymouse rosters.
After the introductory period, the rosters would stay, but the explanatory note and in-text parenthetics could be deled. (The online versions could, potentially and advisably, retain the hyperlinks to the rosters, perhaps on first use of "anonymous.")
November 19, 2005
The Dumbino Effect
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/11/19/netherlands.dominoes.ap/index.html
Good thing it wasn't a child that knocked down the dominoes! I take it this is a metaphor/foreshadowing of animal-human relations after the Great Bird Flu Pandemic? (And speaking of the GBFP, has The Confidence Man come up with a name for this yet-to-be-or-not-to-be phenomenon?)
Fowl play
Dead bird overshadows domino world record
Posted: Saturday November 19, 2005 12:12AM; Updated: Saturday November 19, 2005 12:12AM
...The sparrow was killed by an exterminator with an air rifle on Monday after it knocked down 23,000 dominoes. The killing was seen by many as an overreaction, and angered animal rights and bird protection groups.
It later emerged that the house sparrow, though common, is classified as an endangered species in the Netherlands.
Good thing it wasn't a child that knocked down the dominoes! I take it this is a metaphor/foreshadowing of animal-human relations after the Great Bird Flu Pandemic? (And speaking of the GBFP, has The Confidence Man come up with a name for this yet-to-be-or-not-to-be phenomenon?)
November 18, 2005
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion
Well. The supporting players are starting to line themselves up nicely for FITZMAS: THE MOVIE.
The Reprehensible Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Moonbatville, OH) erupted in a tirade against John Murtha on the floor of the House today.
http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005/11/jean-full-of-schmidt.html
And thus, we have ourselves another cast member: Donnie Darko's Beth Grant.
http://imdb.com/name/nm0335275/
The Reprehensible Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Moonbatville, OH) erupted in a tirade against John Murtha on the floor of the House today.
http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005/11/jean-full-of-schmidt.html
And thus, we have ourselves another cast member: Donnie Darko's Beth Grant.
http://imdb.com/name/nm0335275/
Dick -- you're FIRED!
Another casting suggestion for FITZMAS: THE MOVIE.
For Dick Cheney, Ronny Cox.
http://imdb.com/name/nm0001074/
Yes, Ronny's a bit, ahem, undernourished to play Our Pulmonary Veep, but ... well, now that we think of it, Kurtwood Smith has gotten a bit pudgy over the course of his televisual sinecure. Either makes an excellent baddie.
And, if we wanted to go the direction of fat-padding, Gregg Henry would be AMAZING as Cheney. And that'd be a nice follow-up to his tv portrayal of the BTK Killer.
(Speaking of which, does anyone else think that "the BTK Killer" sounds like some weird costumed spokescharacter for the merged entity of KFC and Burger King?)
(And, tangentially speaking of Brian DePalma, our colleague Capt. Simon Suggs -- who shall be Going to Croatan shortly -- points out that the most excellent SF Chronicle headline from yesterday ["Police Search for Gary Glitter in Vietnam"] would, with the addition of two offset commas and one word, be an excellent precis of the entire oeuvre of DePalma: "Police Search for Gary Glitter, Girl, in Vietnam.")
For Dick Cheney, Ronny Cox.
http://imdb.com/name/nm0001074/
Yes, Ronny's a bit, ahem, undernourished to play Our Pulmonary Veep, but ... well, now that we think of it, Kurtwood Smith has gotten a bit pudgy over the course of his televisual sinecure. Either makes an excellent baddie.
And, if we wanted to go the direction of fat-padding, Gregg Henry would be AMAZING as Cheney. And that'd be a nice follow-up to his tv portrayal of the BTK Killer.
(Speaking of which, does anyone else think that "the BTK Killer" sounds like some weird costumed spokescharacter for the merged entity of KFC and Burger King?)
(And, tangentially speaking of Brian DePalma, our colleague Capt. Simon Suggs -- who shall be Going to Croatan shortly -- points out that the most excellent SF Chronicle headline from yesterday ["Police Search for Gary Glitter in Vietnam"] would, with the addition of two offset commas and one word, be an excellent precis of the entire oeuvre of DePalma: "Police Search for Gary Glitter, Girl, in Vietnam.")
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