Meet The Republicans

If it's Sunday, it's lying shills for the Bush Administration who can lie away without any Democratic opposition.

Right, Father Timmeh?

Meet The Republicans

5 Star Shuffle Friday

The list:

1. Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and To Be Loved): Bright Eyes
2. Fortunate Son (Live in Boston): Pearl Jam w/Sleater-Kinney
3. Got To Get You Into My Life: The Beatles
4. Step On My Old Size Nines: Stereophonics
5. Friend of a Friend: Foo Fighters
6. Girlfriend in a Coma: The Smiths
7. How Soon Is Now?: The Smiths
8. Alternative To Love: Brendan Benson
9. Why You'd Want to Live Here: Death Cab for Cutie
10. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?: Moby

Is it just a coincidence that Morrissey was picked up by the FBI and British Special Agents for questioning on the same day that 2 Smiths songs appear on the 5 star shuffle Friday?

I think not.

5 Star Shuffle Friday

On the Road

No posting until Sunday.

Here's a parting shot for you to enjoy.

Oh, and try not to shoot anybody in the face this weekend.

On the Road

5 Star Shuffle Friday

Friday Morning Vacation Day edition:

Star Bodies: The New Pornographers
World Leader Pretend: R.E.M.
Take, Take, Take: The White Stripes
Present Tense: Pearl Jam
With or Without You: U2
Delicate (Live in Dublin): Damien Rice
Candle in the Wind: Elton John
The Way We Get By: Spoon
Karma Police: Radiohead
Complete Control: The Clash

Have a 5 star weekend.

5 Star Shuffle Friday

Bring It On

Dear Right Wing Bloggers, Blowhard Radio/TV Propagandists, Assorted Domestic Spy Loving Bedwetters, "Balanced" Journalists,

Present examples of liberal media bias or just shut the hell up.

Prove it. One of the great absurdities of our time is the persistent notion that the traditional media skews left. Reporters buy into it, Democratic strategists and leaders buy into it, and rank and file rightwingers live by it. As I've written previously, the right controls all branches of government, talk radio is dominated by rightwing voices, there's a cable channel devoted to the rightwing perspective (and two others racing to do the same), there's a herd of rightwing pundits spewing anti-left venom across editorial pages, radio, television, the internet, etc., Bush's press conferences are cloying jokefests, and "neutral" journalists echo deep-seated pro-GOP myths.

[...]

So here's my challenge to rightwing bloggers who assail the media for liberal bias (and to journalists who think it's all a he-said-she-said pissing match): Back up your claims. With concrete examples of bias. And without the tautological crutch that any story critical of the administration is proof of liberal bias.

Love,
wilcoholic

Bring It On

Prayers For Cheney

I think I'm going to vomit. Fox News' Neil Cavuto points out that no one is concerned with hhow poor Vice Preznit Cheney feels.

Awwwwww.

I'm worried about him. Let's all bow our heads and pray that Shotgun Dick pulls through.

I know that it's Faux News, but seriously.

Prayers For Cheney

Popular Preznit

Dear Chris Matthews,

Still think that everybody thinks the Preznit is a good guy except for the real lefty whack jobs? If so, it looks like we lefty whack jobs have you smart "journalists" outnumbered.

Love,
wilcoholic

P.S. Do you think Cheney was drunk when he shot that guy?

Popular Preznit

Belated Happy Lolla Day!

Chicago music fans received an extra special valentine yesterday. Lollapalooza promoters announced that the festival is coming back to the Chicago lakefront August 4-6. Everything about it is bigger than last year.

Lollapalooza will double in size when it returns to Grant Park next summer on a bigger playing field that will stretch from Hutchinson Field to the Petrillo Music Shell, organizers announced Monday.

The rock festival's organizers said they will schedule 130 artists to play on eight stages over three days, Aug. 4-6. A Chicago citizens group said the event is expected to bring in at least $800,000 for Chicago parks, and promoters estimated that 225,000 people would attend over the three days.

3 days.
130 bands. (Radiohead's triumphant return to Grant Park? Pumpkins reunion?)
8 stages.
Grant Park from Hutchinson Field to the Petrillo Music Shell.

Don't miss it. See you there.

Sign up for the Lollapalooza email here.

Belated Happy Lolla Day!

Lies and the Lying Liars

Imagine my shock when I saw this Tribune Headline on Saturday:

Ex-CIA Official Rips Iraq War Case

WASHINGTON -- The former CIA official charged with managing the U.S. government's secret intelligence assessments on Iraq says the Bush administration chose war first and then misleadingly used raw data to assemble a public case for its decision to invade.

Paul Pillar, who was the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Middle East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, said the Bush administration also played on the nation's fears in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, falsely linking Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein's regime even though intelligence agencies had not produced a single analysis supporting "the notion of an alliance" between the two.

Instead, Pillar writes in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs, connections were drawn between the terrorists and Iraq because "the administration wanted to hitch the Iraq expedition to the `war on terror' and the threat the American public feared most, thereby capitalizing on the country's militant post-9/11 mood."

The specific critiques in Pillar's 4,500-word essay, titled, "Intelligence, Policy and the War in Iraq," are not new. But it apparently is the first time such attacks are being publicly leveled by such a high-ranking intelligence official directly involved behind the scenes--before, during and after the invasion of Iraq nearly three years ago.

Because of his position, Pillar would have had access to, and likely intimate knowledge about, virtually every piece of Iraq-related intelligence maintained across all agencies within the U.S. government.

[...]

But in his essay, the man responsible for coordinating the intelligence community's collective view of Iraq directly challenged the notion that the prevailing wisdom within the nation's spy services supported the decision to invade. In fact, Pillar wrote, "If the entire body of official intelligence analysis on Iraq had a policy implication, it was to avoid war ."

He also wrote that the Bush administration "used intelligence not to inform decision-making but to justify a decision already made"--to topple Hussein's regime.

In making its case, the administration aggressively promoted pieces of "intelligence to win public support for its decision to go to war," Pillar said.

He also said: "This meant selectively adducing data--`cherry-picking'--rather than using the intelligence community's own analytic judgments."

Can you find the understatement of the year in this article?

"The specific critiques are not new."

Well, duh.

Most people with brains were stating these very critiques before the war started, but they were marginalized by most in the media as naive, weak liberals at best, unpatriotic America-haters/terrorist lovers at worst.

Official intelligence analysis out of the CIA was recommending a policy to avoid war. I guess we can't blame the CIA for this one, Georgie.

Another duh.

I wonder if the Chicago Tribune editorial board will reconsider their whitewash (disguised as "objective analysis) of the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq just a little over a month ago.

After all, Paul Pillar is no mere resident of Left Blogistan or member of the new "angry left" that made Preznit Bubble Boy uncomfortable last week at Coretta Scott King's funeral. He "had access to" and "intimate knowledge of virtually every piece of Iraq-related intelligence maintained across all agencies within the U.S. government."

I won't hold my breath for a Tribune flip-flop, but maybe next time the corporate media can ask some questions before a reckless administration starts an unnecessary war. You know, like, do their job, and not worry so much about upsetting the powerful.

One final request/way to make Bush supporters' heads explode: print off copies of the article above so you can hand it to the Bushian cultists when they talk about war critics seeking to "rewrite history." Then, watch them mutter under their breath something about the "left-wing" Chicago Tribune.

Lies and the Lying Liars

Ignorant Is as Ignorant Does

CNN's newest wingnut, Mr. High Stakes Gambling, Morally Superior Hypocrite says the following:

BENNETT: Here's the standard. Catholicism is as Catholicism does, Judaism is as Judaism does, and by God Islam is as Islam does and what it's doing right now I wouldn't wanted to associated with.

So Mr. Morally Superior we can assume that you think modern Catholicism is all about enabling and protecting pedophile priests at the expense of the faithful?

After all, a religion is as a religion does.

Just wondering, did you ever add Gambling to the latest edition of your Book of Virtues? Or, maybe Hypocrisy?

Ignorant Is as Ignorant Does

Joe Must Go

Why?

Because he loves Sean Hannity.

Because Republican lobbyists are hosting fundraising dinners for him.

Fortunately, for Connecticut residents, there is an alternative to Fox News Democrats. His name is Ned Lamont.

Joe Must Go

Crazy Mary

Lady Mary MacCheney speaks.

Apparently referring to some of the speakers at Coretta Scott King's February 7 funeral, Republican political strategist Mary Matalin stated that "these civil rights leaders are nothing more than racists." Continuing, Matalin claimed that "they're keeping constituency, they're keeping their neighborhoods and their African-American brothers enslaved ... by continuing to let them think that they're -- or forced to think that they're victims." Matalin's comments came during the February 8 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes.

You have to see it for yourself. She actually said, "Civil rights leaders are enslaving their African-American brothers." Yes, Mary Matalin, former Cheney advisor and privileged white woman knows all about the black experience.

Civil rights leaders are enslaving their African-American brothers. As opposed to the White House, which just let African-Americans die in New Orleans. Lied about not knowing about the breach of the levees. The Preznit said, "No one could have predicted the breach of the levees." He played guitar and then went back on vacation while New Orleans drowned. He did a fly by and said everyone was doing a heckuva job. Remember that, Mary?

You are seriously out of your f-ing mind, lady. I shouldn't be surprised. She most recently served as an advisor to Cheney, the same Dick Cheney who voted against the MLK holiday and called Nelson Mandela a terrorist.

The bubble boy Preznit finally gets to hear some truth and all of the sudden Republicans have developed thin skin. Well excuse me.

Ignoring the impending destruction of an entire city and doing nothing to help people rebuild their lives or at least return to some sense of normalcy, that tends to make people angry.

Sending poor American kids off to die or be maimed in a war based on cherry-picked evidence, that makes people angry.

The Republican response, when the President happens to hear some criticism of his policies, at the funeral of a woman who devoted her whole life to social justice?

Civil rights leaders are racists.

My response?

Mary, go Cheney yourself. You, your manufactured outrage, and the soulless party you support couldn't possibly be more revolting.

Crazy Mary

Southern Strategy, 2006

I know you can't say that all Republicans are racists, but I think you can say that racists most likely vote Republican. Don't take my word for it. Read Digby's post about Republican "fake outrage" to the Coretta Scott King funeral.

With the amount of energy expended in that Red State thread deriding blacks for having "no class" perhaps in one respect that is true. But in the sociological sense, it is not. Class is an issue in this country, to be sure. But it is not the same as or the cause of racism. Racism lurks just beneath the surface of our culture. Lurking beneath the surface is an improvement over the blatant violence and legal segregation of the Jim Crow era of 40 years ago, but racism has not disappeared.

The comments and the disgusting picture above are indicative of the racist strain that has been a presence in both political parties but which settled on the Republican side after the civil rights movement. Over the last quarter century this impulse was regulated with coded race speech and marginalization of the worst purveyors of racist sentiment to the fringes of political life. But something seems to be changing. I'm seeing this more often all of a sudden and not just in wingnut sinkholes like Free Republic, but in mainstream blogs like Red State, the constantly recurring discussion of "The Bell Curve" and the pages of the Wall Street Journal where James Taranto writes things like this:

The truth about race that Katrina illuminates, then, is that, at least when it comes to matters involving race, black Americans are extreme political outliers. This is why attempts to play the race card are politically futile: They have to appeal not just to blacks, but to a substantial minority of whites. The Gallup poll results makes clear that the current racial appeals are not resonating with whites.

Southern Strategy, 2006

Republican Ethics Reform

This is what Hastert and Frist must mean when they talk about cleaning up Congress.

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert engineered a backroom legislative maneuver to protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, say witnesses to the pre-Christmas power play.

The language was tucked into a Defense Department appropriations bill at the last minute without the approval of members of a House-Senate conference committee, say several witnesses, including a top Republican staff member.

[...]

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., the ranking minority House member on the conference committee, said he asked Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the conference chairman, whether the vaccine liability language was in the massive bill or would be placed in it.

Obey and four others at the meeting said Stevens told him no. Committee members signed off on the bill and the conference broke up.

A spokeswoman for Stevens, Courtney Boone, said last week that the vaccine liability language was in the bill when conferees approved it. Stevens was not made available for comment.

During a January interview, Frist agreed. Asked about the claim that the vaccine language was inserted after the conference members signed off on the bill, he replied: "To my knowledge, that is incorrect. It was my understanding, you'd have to sort of confirm, that the vaccine liability which had been signed off by leaders of the conference, signed off by the leadership in the United States Senate, signed off by the leadership of the House, it was my understanding throughout that that was part of that conference report."

But Keith Kennedy, who works for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., as staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee, said at a seminar for reporters last month that the language was inserted by Frist and Hastert, R-Ill., after the conference committee ended its work.

"There should be no dispute. That was an absolute travesty," Kennedy said at a videotaped Washington, D.C., forum sponsored by the Center on Congress at Indiana University.

"It was added after the conference had concluded. It was added at the specific direction of the speaker of the House and the majority leader of the Senate. The conferees did not vote on it. It's a true travesty of the process."

Republican Ethics Reform

With Democrats Like Joe

Who needs Republicans?

Well, on Imus this morning, Don Imus interviewed Lieberman. And while I don't have the transcript yet, the gist of the conversation was as follows. Imus asked Lieberman about the fight, and Lieberman alleged that it was all a big misunderstanding and that both men had were interested in getting a good bipartisan bill out of the process. He implied that both men had cleared up the misunderstanding. Imus at that point interjected that McCain stands by his letter, and Lieberman changed course. Lieberman then said that McCain stood by his letter, and Obama stood by his letter, except that Obama probably wishes he were a little clearer.

And then Imus and Lieberman talked about Joe's wife and how she leaves angry diatribes on his voice mail, and that he can just delete them. Finally, Lieberman added that he hopes it's a one day story, on the third day of the story, on Imus. Later in the interview, he bragged about his work with McCain on some legislation. Looks like he made his choice.

Oh, and earlier in the interview, Lieberman agreed with Imus that there was "some nonsense" at Coretta Scott King's funeral.

Nice work, Joe. You can always go work for Fox News Channel when Ned Lamont beats you in the primary.

With Democrats Like Joe

5 Star Shuffle Friday

Here are the 10 random 5 star songs from my iPod this week:

1. Such Great Heights: Iron & Wine
2. So Says I: The Shins
3. Watching The Wheels: John Lennon
4. The National Anthem: Radiohead
5. Breed (Rough Mix): Nirvana
6. Cheers Darlin': Damien Rice
7. Foxey Lady: Jimi Hendrix
8. Safe European Home: The Clash
9. Sympathy: Sleater-Kinney
10. Yellow Ledbetter: Pearl Jam

How appropriate to close with Yellow Ledbetter, one of my favorite songs to end a Pearl Jam show, or in this case, a day.

5 Star Shuffle Friday

Obama vs. McCain

Mr. I Want Everyone to Think I'm a Maverick, but in reality I do whatever the Preznit tells me to do gets all sanctimonious on Obama and plays that old Republican card, the "fake outrage." He must be hanging around Sen. Joe-mentum Lieberman too much.

And, of course Chris Matthews just eats it up, because after all he has proven himself a sucker for "independent/maverick" Republicans like McCain. He just loves it when they play the "fake bipartisanship" game, which means "quick someone call Lieberman to help us whitewash a Republican scandal."

Mean Senator Obama wouldn't play the game, and he also wouldn't stoop to McCain's name-calling or whiney political ploys. Good for him.

Exclusive dialog from Hardball this evening:

McCain: Obama is a mean man and won't help me pass the Preznit's fake ethics reform proposal.
Matthews: I wish I could quit you. Could you dress up in a flight suit for me? I just love it when the Preznit does it.

Obama vs. McCain

Paul Hewson Speaks

You listen.

Bono offered something different by calling for a non-partisan agenda that is both God-inspired AND driven by charity, justice, and equality.

First, Bono challenged the hijacking of God, especially by those who profess to be its keepers. "[R]religion often gets in the way of God," he said. He rejected what some religious people - "God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels" - have done in His name.

Bono's fundamental message, however, was this:

"[W]hatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor."

He used the words of the Bible itself, noting that poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times.

"That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor. 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.' (Matthew 25:40).

Bono makes a last point that really socks it to conventional thinking in the US and the West overall. "Finally," he said, "it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice." We are good at charity, he offered, but we are lousy at justice.

Africa is Bono's marking point. Despite our current level of giving, he noted, "6,500 Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. "This is not about charity, this about Justice and Equality."

In a way that no politician can, but that poets always do, Bono opined, "It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain." Extraordinary.

Paul Hewson Speaks

GK Speaks

You listen.

The disparity reflects differing criterion for what represents "artistic excellence." In Grammy-speak, "artistic excellence" is really about the biggest commercial successes on the biggest record labels. The top 10 biggest-selling albums of 2005 all received Grammy nominations, but only two cracked the top 40 of the critics poll.

[...]

With the Grammys representing an industry that is still not attuned to independent music, let alone Internet culture, it's inevitable that the gap between the big awards show and the Web tastemakers will only widen in the next few years.

This year, only three artists placed high in both Pazz & Jop and Bloggergate, and also received Grammy nominations: My Morning Jacket, LCD Soundsystem and West. And of this trio, only West is nominated in any of the major Grammy categories.

He did it by making an album that appealed to both casual music fans and aficionados, a triumph of pop mastery and artistic daring that defined its moment, and actually has a chance to outlast it. It's possible to imagine discerning listeners catching up to a forward-thinking song such as "Gone" 20 years from now and being blown away. That's the sort of musicmaking that appealed to the bloggers and the critics, while his advocates within the Grammys appreciate West's ability to translate those ideas into eye-popping sales.

As long as all that matters is units sold, the Grammys will not be a valid representation of artistic achievement in music. They may get a few right here and there, by dumb luck, but they will still continue to miss most of the artistically relevant music being made today.

Links of interest:
Pazz & Jop Best of 2005, Village Voice
Pitchfork Top 50 of 2005
My Best of 2005

GK Speaks

Criminal Presidency

It was obviously necessary to knowingly and intentionally break the law and spy on American citizens without warrants. How can you argue with these stunning results?

Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use.

Bush has recently described the warrantless operation as "terrorist surveillance" and summed it up by declaring that "if you're talking to a member of al Qaeda, we want to know why." But officials conversant with the program said a far more common question for eavesdroppers is whether, not why, a terrorist plotter is on either end of the call. The answer, they said, is usually no.

Sounds like you wer stopping all kinds of terrorist plots, George.

Criminal Presidency

The Raconteurs

Jack and Brendan have a side project, The Raconteurs. No tracks available in the U.S. just yet. Looking forward to hearing what they sound like. In the meantime, their web site should entertain you.

The Raconteurs

George W. Nixon

Now this is an ad that should be on during the Super Bowl. And, then immediately following it, Rolling Stones would sing "Sweet Neo-con."

A man can dream.

George W. Nixon

I-L-L

U-G-H. This is our version of Wisconsin-Montana St. Definitely not the ideal way to start the second half of the Big 10 season. It also sort of throws that win all your home games and go .500 on the road plan for winning the Big 10.

Give Penn State credit though. They deserved the W, but it seems like the Illini still get comfortable, lackadaisical, and don't protect the ball. Relying too much on the outside shot against the shortest team in the Big 10 too.

This will serve as a nice wake-up call. How about a little 4 hour practice tomorrow morning Coach Weber?

I-L-L

Re-reads

What books would you like to read again because maybe you think you missed something, maybe you didn't fully appreciate it, or because it is so damn good?

Here's my short list:

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

I'm sure quite of few of them have been banned at one point or another.

Post some of yours in the comments if you'd like...

Re-reads

5 Star Shuffle Friday

Ten random songs from my 5 star playlist on my iPod, as chosen by my iPod*:

Bigmouth Strikes Again (Live): Morrissey
Lucky Man: The Verve
Radio, Radio: Elvis Costello
Down (Live in Mansfield, MA): Pearl Jam
An Open Letter to NYC: Beastie Boys
DARE: Gorillaz
Been Caught Stealing: Jane's Addiction
Revolution: The Beatles
Deceptacon (DFA Remix): Le Tigre
Debaser: Pixies

This was fun. I think I'll make it a regular feature.

*Inspired by/stolen from a regular feature on tbogg.

5 Star Shuffle Friday

Do the Math

Cut $40 billion in social programs so you can spend $70 billion more on Iraq.

And to top it off, while you were cutting $40 billion in social programs, make sure you include a $2 billion giveaway to pharmaceutical companies.

In case you were wondering, the Iraq and Afghanistan war total is now up to $440 billion. In Iraq alone, 2245+ American troops dead, over 10,000 wounded.

Republicans: the party of fiscal responsibility, national security, and um, strong on defense.

Right.

Do the Math

Preznit vs. Homer J.

A SOTU rebuttal for the ages. Here are some excerpts:

“We remain on the offensive against terror networks. We have killed or captured many of their leaders — and for the others, their day will come.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2006

"The lesson is: Our God is vengeful! O spiteful one, show me who to smite and they shall be smoten!!!"
-Homer J. Simpson

“Our work in Iraq is difficult, because our enemy is brutal. But that brutality has not stopped the dramatic progress of a new democracy. In less than three years, that nation has gone from dictatorship, to liberation, to sovereignty, to a constitution, to national elections. At the same time, our coalition has been relentless in shutting off terrorist infiltration, clearing out insurgent strongholds, and turning over territory to Iraqi security forces.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2006

"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!"
-Homer J. Simpson

“I am confident in our plan for victory ... I am confident in the will of the Iraqi people ... I am confident in the skill and spirit of our military. Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2006

"Marge, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen."
-Homer J. Simpson

Enjoy the rest.

(via TBogg)

Preznit vs. Homer J.

Nevermind

That reducing dependence on Middle East oil thing?

Just kidding.

Nevermind

Smackdown

Dear Bill O'Reilly a.k.a. loofah boy,

First your arch enemy and leftist terrorist supporting radical George Clooney gets 3 Oscar nominations after you declared him washed up because of his left wing politics.

Then, there's this.

I have 3 words for you, Billy boy.

Tail. between. legs.

Love,

wilcoholic

Smackdown

Compassionate Conservatism

So sorry poor children, your parents should be rich pharmaceutical company executives who can pay lobbyists to write favorable legislation for them behind closed doors.

The spending bill, which covers a five-year period ending in 2010, will achieve savings of $6.4 billion in Medicare, the health care program for the elderly, through a variety of changes that include higher premiums for all beneficiaries, with steeper increases for the more affluent and a freeze in payments to home health care providers.

In the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled, $4.8 billion will be saved in part by increasing co-payments and reducing payments for prescription drugs.

[...]

At a time Congress is consumed by a lobbying scandal, Democrats complained bitterly that the measure had been written without them, with the help of paid representatives from the drug and insurance industries, and then presented for a vote before they had a chance to review it.

Compassionate Conservatism