we just got the official report tarring bush et al with the initial push that led to torturing prisoners

this is iraq, where torturing prisoners has been official policy for at least 30 years and two regimes now

if this had happened in the US, he'd have been beaten and probably tasered

"I'm shocked, shocked to hear of this"? oh c'mon!

good catch. reminds me of Dennis Miller's comment before the 2000 election, maybe the last funny thing he ever said, in faint praise of Bush:

"Bush surrounds himself with competent people, the way a hole surrounds itself with a doughnut".

of course that turned out to be false also, but it's still funny.

"whoever tosses a shoe at you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well."

put on your sailin shoes

put on your sailin shoes

everyone will

start to cheer when

you put on your sailin shoes

actually, i haven't checked lately but not too long ago, the largest auto exporter from the US was Honda. See, Europe has big protective tariffs protecting their homegrown car industry from Japan, but they don't dare do that to the US because we would retaliate by closing our market to them. so honda makes cars here to ship there. whereas "detroit" makes cars there to sell there, because they wouldn't buy the cars designed and made here.

all the more funny that gm for instance has decided that cadillacs should be rebadged saabs and opels.

and as for all those buicks sold in china (for example), even the ones which are recognizably american models in fact are quite different under the skin; even their biggest V8 engine is smaller than what you can get here.

nope, if you want to sell american cars internationally, you have to rely on our foreign economic rivals because detroit sells american cars that aren't made in america, internationally.

it was the red-states-to-be who created detroit as the capital of the world automotive industry, when the car manufacturers who used to be in the "heartland" (did you ever wonder why the indy 500 is in indianapolis?) refused to hire all the black workers displaced from the south who came up north for work; the detroit manufacturers were glad to get labor who would work cheap and for fewer benefits, and soon Duesenberg and Marmon and Stutz and Overland were out of business.

"Captain, the terrorists have fed the key for disarming the nuclear device to a baby"

"Damn those liberal softies and their stupid rules against disembowelling babies when there's an emergency and millions of lives are on the line!"

i knew it! he's a secret muslim terrorist and he wants a fist fight to break out at the inaugration!

the democrats are republicans. period. even have their foothold in the big urban money centers as republicans traditionally did. most american voters don't want to tell other people what to do and don't want to be told what to do, but would kind of like a bunch of beady-eyed stingy banker types watching their money. classic republicanism.

the current "republican" party, however, is the Paranoid Rage Party, which has always been highly active in American politics in one form or another.

what's missing from current politics is what used to be the democratic party. since the Repeal Emancipation Party broke with them and joined the Paranoid Rage Party, there haven't been enough left to pay for the rental on the name "Democratic Party" and the Republicans-in-Exile took the name over.

You might say the fellow is now bootless.

somebody named weyrich would be way rich?

once a year we could all get together and toss shoes at him. or maybe make it some sort of national holiday and have a designated representative throw shoes at him. kids would like it.

as everyone knows, public approval is one of the least important independent factors in getting elected, after you adjust for PR money spent, media approval, political connectedness, corporate support, etc. all of which lieberman has been able to play like a virtuoso. i keep reminding people; despite usually being a laughingstock, he never loses an election. including 2000. that plus the fact that he appears squeaky clean, both corruptionly and sexually, means we'll continue to see his cute little bassetthound face for a while yet.

what level official will be selected to take the fall? I'm guessing maybe colonel. high enough to make it look serious but still low enough to be a patsy. Unless of course it's a woman, gay, black, asian, or other minority. General Karpinski, for example.

that's the way positive feedback systems work. and why you have to damp them out with negative feedback. it's simple math. i've come to the conclusion that what creates economic crashes/recessions/depressions is mainly a single factor: time without one.

please allow me to introduce myself

i'm a man of wealth and taste

well, wealth, anyway.

"If you need to know where the bomb is wouldn't you condone torture?"

that's about one step up from "If you need to know where the bomb is wouldn't you just make up a location?"

his birth certificate! ha!

Pushing Up Daisies.

Third most stressful thing is moving.

Second most stressful thing is death of a spouse.

Most stressful thing is moving a dead spouse.

he's not going to marry somebody of the same sex, at least it's not destroying the sacred institution of marriage.

"hey handsome, haven't seen you round here before"

"just got out of prison"

"what for?"

"murdered my wife"

"oh, so you're single!"