It's official: Rudy Giuliani's bestest buddy and former police commissioner, Bernie Kerik, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion and corruption.
No real insight to offer--go read the ThinkProgress piece if you want to see the rundown on the ignoble history of "America's Cop."
Still, upon rereading the climax of Giuliani's speech at the 2004 Republican convention, when he said:
Spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and said to Bernie, "Thank God George Bush is our President."
it's weird to think that his sycophantic praise for Bush may turn out to be the second most embarassing part of that sentence. Just goes to show you that you can never tell how history will judge an event while it's happening, I guess.
Reached at the church, Shirley Phelps Roper, who is both the daughter of the pastor and one of the attorneys for the church, said that America, and Minnesota especially, have alienated God by its tolerance for homosexuality, and that the bridge collapse was an act of God's vengeance.
Here's my question: isn't it possible that our nation's tolerance for false teachers like the Phelps clan is what's behind these tragedies, and that they themselves are the cause of our nation's tribulations? Perhaps there was an unspoken "...or else" tagged onto the end of that whole "Love Thy Neighbor" thing.
In addition to last week's decision by the largest Sunni bloc to quit the government of Prime Minister al-Maliki, now five more Cabinet ministers have announced they will boycott all government meetings, which seemingly means in practical terms that they are quitting without surrendering their job titles.
The unity government of Nouri al-Maliki is effectively dead (at least the "unity" part). Any hopes for political progress should now be changed--it's time to hope the central government doesn't simply collapse.
Why is it people bleating most loudly about 'partisan attacks from bloggers,' like Anne-Marie Slaughter and Joe Klein, always seem to be the same people who supported the President's idiotic misadventure in Iraq and dismissed the concerns of the millions of people (including most of those shrill liberal bloggers) who were, I think we can all agree, a hell of a lot less gullible?
(As this is damn near completely off-topic for the purposes of the site, I'm going to refrain from front-paging this and instead will simply post it to my personal blog)
Since my wife and I just moved to Alexandria last week, I haven't really had a chance to explore the DC-area social scene. Last night, she and I changed that at the Potomac Yard theater at 11:59.
Yes, we're total "Harry Potter" nerds, and we freely admit it.
I think I've been to the midnight premiers of all five of the movies so far, including "Chamber of Secrets," which came out while I was doing a stint in rural Michigan and had to drive over an hour and a half through the snow to get to the theater.
Actually, it was my second movie of the day--my wife had an interview in Georgetown, so I had spent about an hour and a quarter watching "Transformers" at the Loew's Theater on K Street at 31st (I had little trouble walking out when she called to tell me her interview was over, though the fight scenes were cool enough, I suppose).
I probably should have said something sooner, but I didn't even tell my grandmother until the day before. As of about two weeks ago, I'm graduated. Done. Finished my time, got my paper. B.A., baby. Even sat through an interminable graduation ceremony (Amy Goodman is the single worst graduation speaker I've ever heard, hands down, and I've heard a lot) and took bad photos.
I don't recall seeing any posts about it: did anyone else get their ticket to ride this semester?
Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: Automatics are banned, but when you're able to buy a semi-automatic, that can take a clip with 33 rounds...and, um, I'm not sure yet if they've determined how many rounds were in the clip this individual had, but ...
Carlson: Just so you know, there is no, there is no clip for a handgun that holds 33 rounds.
Helmke: Well, yes there is. I just checked online this morning and they advertise for a clip for this gun, for thirty dollars, over the internet, so...it's, it's, when we had the assault weapons ban, you banned clips with over ten rounds...
Carlson: Just so, just so you know, a Glock, there is, okay, there is no, that is factually untrue.
Glad to know that Tucker Carlson, who obviously would never contradict an expert he invited on his show unless he was absolutely certain that he was right, is so well versed in what fine products are available for Glock pistols.
Except for one teensy little problem--from, of all places, Glock.com (who'd have thought?):
Like no other pistol, GLOCK pistols permit almost unrestricted compatibility of the magazines within a caliber. Standard magazines, for instance, can also be used for backup weapons. Compact and subcompact GLOCK pistol model magazines can be loaded with a convincing number of rounds – i.e. GLOCK 26: up to 33 rounds.
Wait, a Republican pundit using an authoritative tone shot off at the mouth on an issue where he clearly has no expertise, directly contradicting an activist from the other side who was factually correct?
Nah, too implausible. Someone who sounds as certain about something as Carlson did must be right.
There is no longer any middle ground, no longer any third option. Either John Derbyshire is the biggest bad-ass on the face of the earth who, simply by sheer chance and studiously avoiding any personal risk whatsoever during his life, has never had an opportunity to prove his mighty awesomeness; or John Derbyshire is the single most obnoxious, self-aggrandizing, insensitive, delusional jackass on the interweb.
If you liked his comments about how the British Marines taken hostage should have been beaten, you're going to love this.
As discussed on this very site, one-time heir apparent for the Chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) didn't know that al Qaeda was a Sunni organization, and made himself into a national joke as a result, leading to calls from both sides to pass him over for the Intel chair (which he of course was). Some choice comments about the incident worth considering:
CBN's "Terrorism Analyst" Erick Stakelbeck (who may work for Pat Robertson but still thinks it isn't a capital crime to read the Koran):
Call me crazy, but shouldn't the chairman of a powerful government committee devoted to intelligence on our enemies be an expert on such matters? Especially more than five years after 9/11. Apparently Reyes has never heard the phrase, "Know your enemy."
...
In short, Reyes - and any other elected official, Republican or Democrat - who doesn't know the distinction between Sunnis and Shiites at this advanced stage of the War on Terror is simply unfit to assume a leading post dealing with national intelligence. Is it too much to ask for Reyes and his ilk in Washington to do a simple Google search, or perhaps read some verses from the Koran during one of their long weekends?
Juan Cole (whose judgment on Iraq is at least superior to Jonah Goldberg's) offers a strong rationale and solid blueprint for leaving Iraq. Considering his track record so far, in addition to his strong academic credentials, it's definitely worth reading (and, so far as my undergraduate ass can tell, he's making a lot of sense):
Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending. I want Bush to decide. John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security. That's the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.
Senator Kerry denounces American action when other countries don't approve, as if the whole object of our foreign policy were to please a few persistent critics.
But, in fact, in the global war on terror, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush has brought many allies to our side.
But as the President has made very clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition of many nations and submitting to the objections of a few.
...
George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip to defend the American people.
MILWAUKEE - Presidential candidate Tommy Thompson said Wednesday that he wants the Iraqi government to vote on whether the U.S. should keep its troops there. "I'm confident they will, but ... if they do vote no -- they don't want us there -- we should get out," Thompson said, drawing applause.
We've known for some time that John Derbyshire is among the stupidest of the stupid over at National Review Online. Until now, I thought that his sadistic desire to witness suffering in his fellow humans was restricted to brown people.
Turns out, he thinks the hostage crisis in Iran would have been a little more worthwhile with some flagrant brutality inflicted against his fellow Brits:
Once again, it's me and Ralph Peters on the same wavelength, deploring the cowardice of the British sailors and marines kidnapped by Iran. When it happened, I said I hoped the ones who'd shamed their country would be court-martialed on return to Blighty, and given dishonorable discharges after a couple years breaking rocks in the Outer Hebrides (which, believe me—I've been there—have a LOT of rocks). Now, I confess, I wouldn't shed a tear if some worse fate befell them.
The only coherent response I get to these sentiments is: "How do you know what they've been through? How would YOU stand up?" To which the obvious reply is the one Dr. Johnson gave in some similar case: "I may criticize a carpenter who makes me a bad table, though I cannot make a table myself. It is not my job to make tables."
...I nurse a quiet hope that if put to the test, I would stand up as well as any Marine. Whether or not I would, however, is irrelevant. Whether or not I could stand up well to torture, I expect Marines to.
And in any case, there was no evidence of torture or mistreatment in any of the filmed cases I have seen. They look just fine. You can't fake that. The girl sailor had that headscarf on within hours. From what I've heard of torture, even weaker cases can hold out for a few days.
As for the argument that these people might have buckled under threats to hurt their comrades, I should think a soldier's answer would be: "They are soldiers, same as me. They know the risks of service, and they'll answer for themselves."
...
It should be assumed that everything the Iranians say is a lie. If they say: "Do this, and we won't harm your mates," and you do it, they will harm your mates anyway. Of course, this kind of truth is much harder to get across to young people who have been brainwashed from elementary school to believe that their own culture is corrupt, evil, and false, while the cultures of Third World barbarians are morally superior...
Ignoring Derbyshire's completely moronic beliefs on withstanding torture (didn't Khalid Sheikh Mohammed earn respect from interrogators for lasting a little over two minutes during waterboarding?), how should this petulant rant from a career chickenhawk be described by a reasonable observer? He's clearly wishing harm would befall his former countrymen (Derbyshire loved England so much he emigrated to the US and took American citizenship) who have only today been released from captivity. He seems to think that they didn't earn their release, sort of like you don't earn being a year older until someone gives you your birthday spankings (with one to grow on!).
But maybe Derbyshire has a point. He never served his country in uniform, he doesn't put his life on the line to protect the homeland, he knows nothing of combat or captivity, and he's so completely full of shit his high school nickname was "The Walking Lower Intestine," but I'm sure that if he were to be captured and imprisoned by a less-than-friendly power, brave and noble as he is, he'd make them shove red-hot pokers up his arse, wedge spikes under his fingernails, and kill all of his companions before he'd dishonor Mother England by wearing a headscarf.
Is it wrong for me to hope he someday gets the chance to prove himself?
Not going to bother putting this on the front page since it's basically just an excuse to watch one of the coolest men to ever walk the earth call Bill O'Reilly out like the little bitch that he is, but if you've got some headphones or your speakers turned down, here's Snoop Dogg offering his unedited opinion of Bill-O, courtesy of YouTube and Dutch TV. (Do I even need to advise viewer discretion? It's Snoop Dogg--his uses F-bombs like most people use the word "the.")
(UPDATE 4/4: The hostages have been released and will be leaving Iran tomorrow. I'm sure this somehow represents a monumental victory for the right-wingers who were advocating a military solution, and another black eye for dirty peace-lovin' hippies who think diplomacy is still useful.)
Via Digby, here are Mort's thoughts about the Iranian hostage situation:
Kondracke: I've got to say , Tony Blair is not exactly acting like Margaret Thatcher would act under these circumstances. He's acting like Jimmy Carter would act.
Sigh. I wasn't even born at the time but I know that Carter launched a military rescue operation into Iran to try and retrieve the American hostages in Iran. Mr. Kondracke, who was working on The New Republic at the time of the failed Desert One operation, ought to at least realize that he's equating Blair, who is trying to settle this crisis diplomatically, with Carter, who attempted a military solution. Read More »
In addition to BenAdler's thoughts on the hucksterism behind "Planet Gore," I'd like to add to The Editors' thoughts on Jonah "I'm Really Worth Listening To, Really!" Goldberg's new whiny tirade about the Left today.
Goldberg is feeling pissy because he thinks the Left, that massive and always-unified bloc of fifth columnists and diletantes, doesn't spend enough time trying to discredit left-wing extremist footnotes like Ward Churchill.
Conveniently, this highlights an interesting phenomenon I've noticed a number of right-wing commentators perpetuating. There seems to be this school of thought that argues it's better to wildly promote and give countless hours of free exposure to radicals who in no way represent responsible thought or any widely-followed political ideology, than to simply marginalize and ignore them.
They did not credit me for the template, even though the template explicitly requested credit.
They used my own unmodified imagery, specifically for the "Contacting John McCain" table.
As if #2 wasn't bad enough, the McCain crew is actually pulling their image directly from my server on each page load. So every time someone visits the McCain MySpace page, my bandwidth is being used to deliver part of the page! Bad McCain!
So...
Numerous people have written me over the last few weeks to tell me that McCain has been using my code, but up until I realized he was pulling images from my server, I didn't really care. A lot of celebrities including Ryan "Van Wilder" Reynolds and the beautiful Nelly Furtado use my code and I'm totally cool with it.
But then I read the article in today's Newsweek about how politicians are all setting up MySpace pages in order to "connect" with younger audiences. McCain's MySpace page is listed, as are the pages from several other candidates. I think the idea of politicians setting up MySpace pages and pretending to actually use them is a bit disingenuous, so I figured it was time to play a little prank on Johnny Mac.
...
So, the only thing necessary to effectively commandeer McCain's page with my own messaging was to simply replace my own sample image on my server with a newly created sample on my server. No server but my own was touched and no laws were broken. The immaculate hack.
Abortion? The Iraq War? Probably too heavy to joke about. Gay marriage seemed like a more of a non-lethal subject to center the prank around.
So with a few minutes in Photoshop and a quick FTP, a new John McCain was born...
...and The Straight-Talk Express isn't just for straight people anymore.
In my time here on Campus Progress, I've been sure to always highlight when people in government or running for office have done stupid things with guns. From the tragicomic "use your textbook as a shield" platform of Oklahoma state school superintendent candidate Bill Crozier, to the shooting prowess shown inside the Virginia state house by Delegate Jack "Hair-Trigger" Reid, the antics of stupid people with firearms have provided me countless hours of entertainment.
Sorry, but how big of a lapse in common sense does it take for a person, having recently taken his boss's gun because you can't take guns into secure areas like airports or the Capitol Building, to then try to take that same gun into the Capitol Building? A building that offers tours to any crazed psychopath who wanders in or asks his Congressman nicely, and where some of the most important people in the world spend their days, is not a building where you should have firearms wandering freely. If you gotta break the DC carry law, at least leave the gun in the trunk when you go to the Hill.
Phillip Thompson, way to step up (and away from the bag...)
-They improperly edited a story, inserting the phrase “slow-bleed” to describe Democratic proposals for solving the Iraq crisis, then took eleven days to respond to Republican misattribution of that fabricated phrase and clarify that it wasn't a phrase coined by Democrats,
-Just this morning, they erroneously announced Edwards’s campaign was suspending, based on the word of a single anonymous source, shortly before Edwards announced it wasn’t...
…and yet The Politico still wants to brand itself as a “publication by and for political junkies.”
Fair enough, but any junkie will tell you that once a dealer’s burned you a few times, you need to go elsewhere for your fix. The Politico is no more satisfying to a political junkie at this point than a bag of oregano is to Snoop Dogg.
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