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Friday, February 17, 2006
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FEAR THE GOVERNMENT that fears your dildo.
(Via Instapundit.com.)
Heh. The old cliche about a stopped clock being right twice a day applies here; at last Glenn Reynolds says something that makes sense. What he misses is that this is the same impulse that drives this administration to want to know what library books we read, who we talk to on the phone, what we search for on Google, etc. They say they're trying to protect us, but when it comes to real dangers -- global warming, air and water pollution, it's a different story. What we really need protection from is the Bush administration.
2:49:11 PM 
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Even Condi had to admit that the Iraqi economy was better off under Saddam.
The Bush administration on Thursday conceded that key sectors of the Iraqi economy had fallen below pre-war levels because of the insurgency, but insisted it was making enough progress on the political and security fronts to press ahead with reductions in US forces.
Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, told the Senate budget committee that production of crude oil and electricity was down from three years ago. Attacks had also hit oil exports.
According to latest statistics - which Ms Rice did not mention - crude oil production this month is running at 1.7m barrels a day, down from a post-invasion peak of 2.5m in September 2004 that was close to prewar levels.
Ms Rice initially asserted that “many more Iraqis” were now getting potable water and sewerage services. However, under intense questioning from Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, she conceded that although “capacity” had increased, fewer Iraqis were actually receiving those services.
Senator Conrad, citing the special inspector general, said almost all economic indices showed Iraq was better off before the US had invaded. Republicans, too, are sceptical of administration claims of progress. Senator Chuck Hagel told Ms Rice on Wednesday he believed the situation was getting worse.
And count on Rummy to say something mindbogglingly stupid.
Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, told a separate House budget hearing on Thursday that political and economic progress was being made. “For the most part, the country is functioning,” he said. It was not “a pretty picture”, but not everything was horrible. “We’re not there to do nation-building. It’s going to be an Iraqi solution ultimately,” he said.
[snip]
Questioned on a recent Pentagon-commissioned report that concluded the US could not sustain the number of troops required to defeat the insurgency, Mr Rumsfeld replied: “The Iraqi insurgency will be defeated by Iraqis . . . So the question posed is an inaccurate question.”
(Via First Draft.)
2:13:28 PM
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REUTERS/Jason Reed
Ohhh-kay. That's why our ports are going to be "protected" by a UAE-owned company. That's right, a country with ties to terrorism is going to patrol and secure our big ports.
Orwell couldn't make this shit up.
(Via Dependable Renegade.)
2:11:32 PM
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Harry Whittington apologized today for the deep distress he caused the vice president by getting ... you know ... shot by him, according to the Associated Press:CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- The lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip was being discharged from a hospital on Friday and told reporters he was sorry for all the trouble Cheney had faced over the past week.
...
Whittington thanked the hospital staff. He also said he was sorry for all the difficulty the vice president and his family had faced. He said the past weekend encompassed ''a cloud of misfortune and sadness.'' ''My family and I are are deeply sorry for everything that Vice President cheney and his family had to go through this week,'' Whittington said, appearing emotional in front of television cameras. Next up: A private, invitation-only fundraiser will be held at the Armstrong Ranch to provide money for Mr. Cheney's onerous therapy bills. (Only squirt guns and beer allowed on premises.) In other news, Nancy Kerrigan offered an apology to Tonya Harding for ice-skating in her vicinity and asbestos victims offered Halliburton a heart-felt mea culpa for breathing while on the job.
(Via Daily Kos.)
1:12:51 PM
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If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety.
-- Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), quoted by the Omaha World Herald, on Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident.
(Via A Rational Being.)
12:54:24 PM
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10. Kings of the Gospel Highway: The Golden Age of Gospel Quartets — Various Artists (Shanachie 2000)
9. American Primitive Vol. 1: Raw Pre-War Gospel — Various Artists (Revenant 1998)
8. Glory! It’s the … — Staple Singers (Recall 2000)
7. Goodbye, Babylon — Various Artists (Dust-to-Digital 2003)
6. The Best of Dorothy Love Coates and the Original Gospel Harmonettes (Fantasy 1991)
5. Warriors on the Battlefield: A Cappella Trailblazers (1927-1942) — Various Artists (Rounder 1997)
4. Slide Guitar Gospel (1944-64) — Various Artists (Document 1993)
3. Journey to the Sky — The Dixie Hummingbirds (P-Vine 2001)
2. Get Right with God: Hot Gospel — Various Artists (Heritage 1988)
1. Complete Recordings of Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers (Fantasy 2002)
The only one I know is the Soul Stirrers, and it's pretty great.
(Via Outfidel at Dylan Pool.)
11:21:28 AM
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It almost goes without saying, but let's remind ourselves: Suppose Al Gore, back in 1998, had shot someone in the face and chest in a Tennessee hunting accident. Suppose, further, that he had a) not told authorities (or President Clinton) promptly; b) kept the news from the American people for a day, letting word leak out via contradictory stories, initially through a small local newspaper; c) stonewalled for another several days until Gore sat for an interview with a hand-picked journalistic pal; and d) Clinton had pronounced the entire affair totally fine in retrospect. We all know what would have happened. The right wing noise machine would have gone ballistic. Several Congressional investigations would already be in the works, not least a probe into why the local authorities had behaved as they did. But at least some Democrats -- and lots of left-leaning commentators -- would have agreed, publicly, that such behavior was outrageous. Today, with one-party rule and a congressional majority that is a willing doormat/handmaiden to a supremely arrogant administration, we get nothing today but silence. And the Bush-can-do-no-wrong bloggers and columnists are cheering on the administration's behavior. Have Republicans parked their common sense, and consciences, only temporarily until the Democrats return to power? Or is this permanent?
(Via Dan Gillmor's blog.)
Gillmor's right. Remember the fake 'scandals' around Clinton's haircut? "Travelgate" -- does anyone even remember what that was? Let's just forget impeaching a guy over a blowjob. Remember: the Vice President SHOT A GUY! To hear the rightwing noise machine talk, you'd think that people got shot in hunting accidents every day, and that what's surprising is that this is only Cheney's first!
11:19:04 AM
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We have our Freedom Fries they have their "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad." (tip to Jeremy) Iran Renames Danish Pastries Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for"Roses of the Prophet Muhammad." Bakeries across the capital were covering up their ads for Danish pastries Thursday after the confectioners' union ordered the name change in retaliation for caricatures of the Muslim prophet published in a Danish newspaper. "Given the insults by Danish newspapers against the prophet, as of now the name of Danish pastries will give way to 'Rose of Muhammad' pastries," the union said in its order. "This is a punishment for those who started misusing freedom of expression to insult the sanctities of Islam," said Ahmad Mahmoudi, a cake shop owner in northern Tehran....
(Via onegoodmove.)
9:58:21 AM
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Jay Leno scores an interview with Dick Cheney and asks the questions Brit Hume didn't have the balls to ask. Quicktime Video 3.45MB 2'23 Quicktime Required The Tonight Show with Jay Leno...
(Via onegoodmove.)
9:57:38 AM
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Damn activist judge expecting the Bush Administration to actually follow the law. This administration is above the law: U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy ruled that a private group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, will suffer irreparable harm if the documents it has been seeking since December are not processed promptly under the Freedom of Information Act. He gave the Justice Department 20 days to respond to the group's request.
"President Bush has invited meaningful debate about the wireless surveillance program," Kennedy said. "That can only occur if DOJ processes its FOIA requests in a timely fashion and releases the information sought." That's classic. Thinking just because Bush said something that he actually meant it.
(Via AMERICAblog.)
9:49:26 AM
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My friend Chris Mooney has pulled a passage from Fred Barnes' book Rebel-in-Chief describing President Bush's meeting with fiction writer Michael Crichton about global warming:
Though he didn't say so publicly, Bush is a dissenter on the theory of global warming. To the extent it's a problem, Bush believes it can be solved by technology. He avidly read Michael Crichton's 2004 novel State of Fear, whose villain falsifies scientific studies to justify draconian steps to curb global warming. Crichton himself has studied the issue extensively and concluded that global warming is an unproven theory and that the threat is vastly overstated. Early in 2005, political adviser Karl Rove arranged for Crichton to meet with Bush at the White House. They talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement. The visit was not made public for fear of outraging environmentalists all the more.
And the administration's postmodern approach to "truth" rolls forward. If you can't find scientists who agree with you, get a hack novelist! You really can't make this stuff up. (Mooney's critique of State of Fear is here.)
(Via Brendan Nyhan.)
9:26:43 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Steve Michel.
Last update: 3/2/2006; 9:10:02 AM.
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