FUKR

Karl Rove says liberals want the troops to die. Ken Mehlman said what Karl Rove said was true. Andy Card said a lot of people agree with Karl Rove. Looked at the polls, lately? Is 40% a lot of people?

That's pretty funny. I would think an administration that sent troops to war on a lie without appropriate equipment are the people most interested in sending troops to their graves.

He's right. We want to understand.

We want to understand why Osama Bin Laden hasn't been captured? Why did the administration take its eyes off Al Qaida to invade Iraq? I mean, Al Qaida is the enemy Rove himself said we had to defeat. But we haven't.

Instead of defeating our enemies, we went to war against an impotent enemy -- Saddam. And yes, we want to understand. Like, why did they lie to go to war in Iraq? Why is that war still going, unabated? Why are we no closer to victory now, than we were in when Bush declared "mission accomplished"? Why don't our troops have proper ammo? Why aren't there enough boots on the ground in Iraq? Why are we still dying in Afghanistan?

He's right. I want to understand. I don't understand why the administration hasn't called for sacrifice. Why won't war supporters enlist? Why won't they encourage their circle of influence to enlist? Why won't they level with the American people, and give an honest assessment of what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Gee, and here I thought conservatives were big on personal responsibility. Something about taking responsibility for your choices, like the decision to go to war, hyping the WMD threat to the American people, letting Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz run the war, underequipping troops, underestimating troop strength, and promoting and tolerating incompetence in your administration.

Memo to Karl. I think the American people, and even the lapdog media, are catching on to your act. You can no longer manufacture a happy reality in Iraq. You speak for a President and an administration who call themselves conservatives, but whose actions reveal something much more cynical and sinister...fundamentalist freaks who claim to be Christian but worship only Power, who have no shame when it comes to using divisive political ploys and rhetoric to maintain power. Heard of any of these?

1. Sacrificing American troops to score political points.
2. Questioning the willingness of liberals to defend this country.
3. Questioning the patriotism of anyone who dares utter a criticism of the President.

Yet, on September 11th, weren't we all Americans, Karl?

However, in Karl's world, when anything goes wrong, it's the liberals' (code word: Democrat, or anyone who doesn't agree with President Bush) fault, even when Democrats are the minority party. They didn't support the war effort enough. They slander the troops by questioning the policy of torture endorsed by the administration. They wanted therapy for for Osama. That's why Iraq is a mess.

It's clear your losing your grip on your manufactured reality, so your response is to slander patriotic Americans, because they see the disconnect between the words and the actions of this administration.

Resign, you sad excuse for a human being. Then, read this.

FUKR

Friday Cat Blogging

it's hard to get 22 hours of sleep a day.

Friday Cat Blogging

The Future Embrace

Dear Billy,

Thank you for your eloquence and kind words.

From your blue-collar work ethic to your artistry to your undying loyalty to the Cubbies, you represent the best of our city.

I am so very proud that you call Chicago your home.

Love,

Steve

P.S. See you at The Vic on July 5th.

The Future Embrace

Operation Yellow Elephant

Looking for a few good Young Republicans.

Operation Yellow Elephant

Ha Ha Funny, Part 2

Dear Media Kool Kids,

Is this funny, too?

LONDON Jun 18, 2005 — When Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief foreign policy adviser dined with Condoleezza Rice six months after Sept. 11, the then-U.S. national security adviser didn't want to discuss Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida. She wanted to talk about "regime change" in Iraq, setting the stage for the U.S.-led invasion more than a year later.

[...]

In one of the memos, British Foreign Office political director Peter Ricketts openly asks whether the Bush administration had a clear and compelling military reason for war.

"U.S. scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and al-Qaida is so far frankly unconvincing," Ricketts says in the memo. "For Iraq, `regime change' does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam."

As is the case with the Downing Street Memo, I'm sure it is "old news" to all of you that only 6 months after September 11th, Condi was more concerned with Iraq than Bin Laden or Al Qaeda, but feel free to inform the American people when you need to take a break from covering Jacko or missing white women.

Love,

Steve

Ha Ha Funny, Part 2

Ha Ha Funny

No WMD? That's some funny shit, if you're a member of the Washington press corps. No need to cover that Downing Street Memo. It's old news, right? The press corps was in on the joke from the beginning.

Except that they forgot to tell the American people.

Better yet, now that the Downing Street Memo is getting some attention, arrogantly mock a hearing investigating the Downing Street Memo...

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, in an article Friday, suggested that the congressional forum the previous day on the Downing Street memos was something of a joke. In his opening sentence he declared that House Democrats “took a trip to the land of make-believe” in pretending that the basement conference room was actually a real hearing room, even importing a few American flags to make it look more official.

...a hearing that had to be held in a small basement room because power mad Rethugs wouldn't let John Conyers have a proper room for the proceedings.

In other news of Republican Majorities Gone Wild, a new policy of denying hearing rooms to Democrats has been instituted by the Judiciary Committee Majority.

According to today's The Hill, "majority staff recently announced a new policy to deny any request from a committee Democrat for the use of a committee hearing room."

That new edict, instituted in time to attempt to shut down the minority's planned Thursday hearing on the Downing Street Minutes/Memo has forced the Democrats to scramble to find a location for the event.

Is it any wonder we're in the mess we're in?

These arrogant media jerks are more interested in maintaining their regular cocktail party invites and their membership in the D.C. Kool Kids "journamalism" club than expose a President who knowingly misled this country into war.

They are more interested in mocking a hearing about hard evidence that the President knowingly misled our country into war than revealing the reason why the hearing had to be held in the basement of the Capitol building.

They are also more interested in laughing at an offensive joke that over 1700 Americans have paid for with their lives, not to mention the over 12,000 wounded.

No WMDs.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

A fucking laugh riot.

Ha Ha Funny

Guitars. Drums. Voices.

These women rock.

It all made for a dazzling visual experience: Weiss' sticks a blur, Tucker's left leg punching the air while her head thrust back in midwail, and Brownstein pogoing and scissor-kicking with the glee of a teenager playing air guitar to AC/DC in front of the bedroom mirror.

The enthusiasm was justified, given the strength of the band's latest material. The trio played the bulk of "The Woods," and ventured into new territory during "What's Mine Is Yours." The band's normally tightly constructed songs gave way to an instrumental free zone, with Brownstein's feedback volleys answered by massive fuzz-toned bass harmonics from Tucker's guitar. A 15-minute take on "Let's Call It Love"/"Night Light" brought out a head-spinning vocal turn from Tucker, who looked as if she were reliving the passions and deceptions of a lusty encounter. Brownstein's funnel-cloud guitar solo answered, before Weiss restored order with an emphatic snare-drum flurry.

Brownstein's finger-pointing "Entertain" brought the set hurtling to a finish, and the trio was called back for two encores by a near-capacity audience. A cover of Richard and Linda Thompson's English folk-rock gem "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" gave each member of Sleater-Kinney a turn on lead vocals. It was the sweetest moment of an evening devoted to violence of the best sort: a three-headed juggernaut affirming just how much inspiration can still be drawn from guitars, drums and voices.

Guitars. Drums. Voices.

GFY

Dear Dick,

I thought I'd speak in terms you would understand.

Go.

"I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time," Cheney said. "The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

Fuck.

A growing number of senior American military officers in Iraq have concluded that there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 U.S. soldiers during the past two years.

Yourself.

A militant strapped with more than 100 pounds of explosives and disguised in an army uniform blew himself up in a crowded mess hall Wednesday as brutal attacks across Iraq killed more than 50 people.

Love,

Steve

GFY

Saturn Return

The release of Billy's new album, The Future Embrace, is a week away. Check out this interview with Billy Corgan on Pitchfork.

His comments about the ages of 28-31 really rang true with me. I know these years were angst-ridden for me, where I seemed to be questioning every aspect of my life, but once I made it to through, I had this sense of acceptance and contentment. Psychic death is a good way to explain the experience.

Pitchfork: I was actually gonna ask you about God. [Your publicist] Brian and I were actually just talking about astrology...we were talking about going through our Saturn Return.

BC: How old are you?

Pitchfork: I'm 29.

BC: Oh, that's the tough one. Twenty-eight to 31 is the tough period.

Pitchfork: Really? Great.

BC: You have to be really careful because it's so cataclysmic, so life-altering. People do really dramatic things like get married, or they'll get divorced. Your chances of committing suicide go way up. It's basically psychic death. You see the signs of it around 27, and you're still on the out-end of it around 31. Everyone I've talked to who's gone through that and come out the other side walks out of it like, "MY LIFE IS GREAT."

Pitchfork: Like a molting process.

BC: Absolutely, but it's really beautiful. And you see people who don't go through their Saturn Return properly-- my ex-bandmate D'Arcy is a classic example-- and they're like, trapped in hell. They're like in a suspended state; they freeze, because they won't go through the act. They'll do anything to avoid the psychic death. But you have to go through it.

That's why 14 and 15 are such terrible times. Saturn Return is just the return of your planets to their original position.

Pitchfork: Then it happens again when you're 56.

BC: Yeah, midlife crisis. I'm happy to have gone through that, but it was really terrible. In my Saturn Return period, my mom died and I got a divorce.

Pitchfork: It seems like it's been harder for the men I know, honestly.

BC: It could have something to do with the fact that women are sort of more emotional beings while men are kind of like, still working out the, "Well, do I fuck lots of girls, or do I get committed?" They're still on the fundamental primal concepts, while I think women are more apt to deal with those things early.

Pitchfork: So what happened with yours?

BC: Mine occurred at the absolute peak of my career. Smashing Pumpkins were running around playing 200 concerts a year-- making money, lotta babes-- and there was the irony of the high with the low.

Pitchfork: So you were just like, dealing with your psychic turmoil while all this stuff was happening?

BC: Well, I didn't deal with it; that was sort of the problem. Like any form of death, at some point you just have to get up and say yeah I'll take it, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen and sorta chop your head off. It's easy to avoid all that...there's always another moment, another girl, another high, another drug, there's always something to distract you.

My mom's death was the big head-crusher, because I could no longer deny what was going on...symbolically, it was the moment.

Saturn Return

2 Questions

Out of 940. (Via Atrios.)

The attacks continue to be so successful that even now, long after many news organizations, including The Times, have been found guilty of failing to puncture the administration's prewar W.M.D. hype, new details on that same story are still being ignored or left uninvestigated. The July 2002 "Downing Street memo," the minutes of a meeting in which Tony Blair and his advisers learned of a White House effort to fix "the intelligence and facts" to justify the war in Iraq, was published by The London Sunday Times on May 1. Yet in the 19 daily Scott McClellan briefings that followed, the memo was the subject of only 2 out of the approximately 940 questions asked by the White House press corps, according to Eric Boehlert of Salon.

Say it with me. 2 questions out of 940 since the Downing Street Memo became public. 2 questions about hard evidence that the Bush White House had no intent other than war. All the beltway kool kids knew this to be true in 2002 as they know now. Nothing has changed. They still have no interest in telling the Amerkin people the truth.

Look, this is just bullshit. There are two sets of people here. One consists of inside the beltways types and assorted news junkies and the other consists of The Amerkin Public. The former knew the Iraq war was a foregone conclusion by early 2002, but didn't bother to tell the Amerkin Public. They still haven't. I knew the dance with the UN was bullshit and I tried to point it out, but my blog is not all powerful. The American press did not bother to tell people. And, now, they still don't want to bother to tell people.

This isn't about attacking Drum, I've fallen into this trap before myself. Everyone should've known this in 2002. But, they didn't.

It's just like Russert calling the Downing Street Memo the "famous" Downing Street Memo? Famous to whom? To all the fuckers who didn't give a shit enough in 2002 to tell us what was obvious to anyone who was paying attention.

2 Questions

Mr. Popular

Not so much.

Unless of course, you're in the clueless Kool Kids media clique, which is only concerned that Howard Dean is speaking the truth a little too often.

Mr. Popular

I Am Not A Crook

You absolutely must read the rude one's analysis of Chimpy and the Poodle's press conference the other day.

Warning: For any delicate blog readers, the content is rude, but as usual, the rude one nails it.

Here are my favorite excerpts:

Both leaders were asked, "On Iraq, the so-called Downing Street memo from July 2002 says intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy of removing Saddam through military action. Is this an accurate reflection of what happened? Could both of you respond?" Blair responded, essentially, "Yes, yes, quite, now I'll talk about something else that doesn't actually discredit the memo and you can all jolly well go fuck yourselves." Because Li'l Tony denied "facts" were being fixed, and then blathered on about going to the U.N., Saddam being bad, and who the fuck cares.

[...]

Bush then went into blanket denial mode, relying on phrases that he's used a million fuckin' times before: "Nobody wants to commit military into combat. It's the last option. The consequences of committing the military are -- are very difficult. The hardest things I do as the President is to try to comfort families who've lost a loved one in combat. It's the last option that the President must have -- and it's the last option I know my friend had, as well." His brain is like a refrigerator filled with those fuckin' poetry magnets, and you can arrange them any goddamn way you like and find meaning in the words, even if it's just moving the same words around over and over and over.

That great line, about war being "the last option," has been batted around since, oh, let's say, October 2002, when Bush was denying that he was planning a war. Ari Fleischer, in December of that year, told reporters that war was Bush's "last option" and it might become "the only option to protect and to save American lives." And if he had saved American lives, there might not be so many to comfort.

Because this is not to mention the rampaging ego of a man who has to tell us that it's so hard for him "to comfort families." Aww, poor President Bush. Has to give a hug to a widow with three kids whose Army Reserve 35 year-old husband had his intestines ripped out by a roadside bomb blowing the shit out of his poorly armed Hummer. God, the burdens that man has to carry for all of us, for all of us.

And then he followed up his cry of pain for all the comforting he's doing by invoking how eeeeevil Saddam Hussein was, Bush tossin' that shit at us for all his chimpy strength's worth: "And so we worked hard to see if we could figure out how to do this peacefully, take a -- put a united front up to Saddam Hussein, and say, the world speaks, and he ignored the world. Remember, 1441 passed the Security Council unanimously. He made the decision. And the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power." That last line, by the way, has been Bush's defensive mantra since 2003.

In a real democracy, it would become his "I am not a crook."

Infuriated? Sign Conyers' letter to President Bush.

I Am Not A Crook

The Hand That Feeds

Press conference, 07 Jun

BUSH: Well, you know, I read, kind of, the characterizations of the memo, particularly when they dropped it out in the middle of his race. I'm not sure who "they dropped it out" is, but I'm not suggesting that you all dropped it out there. (LAUGHTER) And somebody said, "Well, you know, we had made up our mind to go to use military force to deal with Saddam."

There's nothing farther from the truth. My conversations with the prime minister was how could we do this peacefully, what could we do. And this meeting, evidently it took place in London, happened before we even went to the United Nations -- or I went to the United Nations. And so it's -- look, both of us didn't want to use our military.

Nobody wants to commit military into combat. That's the last option. The consequences of committing the military are very difficult. You know, one of the hardest things I do as the president is to try to comfort families who've lost a loved one in combat.

Downing Street Memo excerpts

Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

[...]

No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.

[...]

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.

Poodle protects Master. Master kicks poodle. Poodle still won't bite master.

But, the Telegraph reported, Blair "is not about to behave in a way that could be characterized as the poodle biting back. 'In private, he gets very angry with Bush about these things but it's not his style to humiliate him in public,' one ally said."
Blair didn't even nibble at the president yesterday. Rather than let Bush take the bullet over the Downing Street memo -- the question was, after all, about U.S. war intentions -- he insisted on blocking the projectile himself. "No one knows more intimately the discussions that we were conducting as two countries at the time than me," he testified on Bush's behalf. "And the fact is, we decided to go to the United Nations."

Rather than repay Blair for his generosity, Bush made clear he would not support Blair's plan to double international aid to Africa and said "our country is taking the lead in Africa."

At the end of the news conference, Blair called on a British journalist, who asked about Africa and climate change. Bush jumped in with a lengthy answer, then ended the session before Blair could put in a word. "Thank you for your question; good to see you all," he declared. Blair gamely took Bush's extended hand.

A Message for Tony

You're keeping in step
In the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine
Because you do
What you're told
But inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold

What if this whole crusade's
A charade
And behind it all there's a price to be paid
For the blood
On which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?
- "The Hand That Feeds", NIN

The Hand That Feeds

Lying Liars

Liars.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who met Tuesday with Bush at the White House, told reporters, "The facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all." Both leaders said they viewed military action as a last resort.

"Somebody said, well, you know, we had made up our mind to use military force to deal with Saddam. There's nothing farther from the truth," Bush said.

Next up, George and Tony explain that 2 + 2 = 5.

Lying Liars

Smoking Gun, Pt. 2

There is a web site dedicated to raising awareness of the Downing Street Memo, which almost cost Tony Blair his job. The memo's authenticity has not been disputed by British officials AND a Senior American official has described the memo as "absolutely accurate."

Here is the key excerpt:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

[...]

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.

Intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. Saddam's WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, or Iran. Hello, American Media? American kids are dying in Iraq for a policy based on deliberately fixed intelligence. And all you are doing is trotting out Nixon's band of criminals to call Deep Throat a traitor and blame him for the Cambodian genocide, or reliably, more 'pervert of the day' coverage?

WTF?!

Smoking Gun, Pt. 2

csh says...

D Lee Rocks!

csh says...

Mobile Fountains

fountains of angst is now mobile. i posted this from my cell phone. how much i'll use this i don't know, but my inner geek is telling me that it will be fun to try out.

Mobile Fountains

Radio, Radio

Air America is back on the air in Chicago, 850 AM.

Morning Sedition. Springer. Franken. Ed Schultz. Randi Rhodes.

Check it out. Reception is weak up in Grayslake, but it's decent in the Lincolnshire area.

Radio, Radio

Be All You Can Be

I love Tbogg's solution to the recruiting crisis. Start with the WarPartyPoliticians, WarPartyActivists, WarMedia, Warbloggers, WarPreachers, and anyone with a W sticker on their car.

We've already addressed this in a specific way earlier today but I really want to help out the recruiters because it's through no fault of their own that they've been dealt such a shitty hand by the Administration. So here you go recruiter guys. You can thank me later.

1. Hang out in shopping center parking lots and walk up and talk to anyone who has a W2004 sticker on their car. Ask to see pictures of their kids.

2. College campuses: Don't bother with setting up a table and hoping students will stop to chat. Instead find out when the Young Americans for Freedom are meeting and show up. Advertise here. These guys look healthy and ready to go.

3. Contact these guys. If their kids are too old, ask about their grandkids then invite yourself to dinner.

4. Try him

and him

and especially him

5. These guys have a pretty comprehensive mailing list. Buy it. Don't waste your time on this guy, but if you do: don't ask.

6. And since you're going to keep women active....these girls?Unemployed.

We are all Fortunate Sons now.

Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no military son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate son, no no no,

Be All You Can Be

Save Our Republic

How?

All this may just be a long-winded way of saying that 9/11 changed everything. But it's still hard to escape the conclusion that the American people have had, generally speaking, plenty of opportunities to learn the filthy truth about this administration and this war -- that is, if they were actually interested in the truth, which many of them (up to 51%, judging from the last election) apparently are not.

What the health of the Republic requires, in other words, may not be a new crop of leakers and whistleblowers, or a fresh young generation of Woodwards and Bernsteins -- or even a more independent, aggressive media. What it may need is a new population (or half of a population, anyway), one that hasn't been stupified or brainwashed into blind submission, that won't look upon sadistic corruption and call it patriotism, and that will refuse to trade the Bill of Rights for a plastic Jesus and a wholly false sense of security.

I'm afraid it has come to this. 51% of the American people have proven that they are not interested in the truth. They are not interested in sacrifice. They are not interested in working with the international community to solve problems. They are perfectly content to see America turn into a theocratic gated community, kneeling before their idiot messiah, where personal wealth is a sign of God's love and individual poverty is a sign of God's disapproval, and personal sacrifice is something that poor people do.

Save Our Republic

Smoking Gun

We now have the smoking gun that Bush was determined to go to war against Iraq regardless of the facts. It's called the Downing Street Memo. What is the American Media response?

Ignore it.

You don't have to. Sign John Conyers' letter to the President.

Smoking Gun