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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Citizen_X
Published Letters: 327 Editor's Choice: 15
This is sort of on topic. There's a new report in the The Nation online that they're requiring NASA scientists at JPL and Goddard Space Flight Center--who do not work on national security issues, naziflubber or whatever your name is--to submit to detailed FBI background checks. This is supposedly in compliance with a Presidential directive that requires Fed agencies to establish identities of personnel. Note that under the same directive, the DOE is not doing the same sort of background checks on Los Alamos scientists.
NASA scientists suspect that this is Director Michael (what-global-warming?) Griffin's way of intimidating/blackmailing scientists who are outspoken about global warming or other inconvenient issues.
Click on my signature for the link
That means that, for the next five months, the Repubs have got to find some way of depicting Iowa, the ur-heartland state, as Gomorrah-of-the-plains while simultaneously campaigning there. Or, of depicting the (elected?) Iowa Supreme Court as a gang of heinous catamite subversives while sucking up to the Iowa voters. Good luck, wingnuts!
Note to Bebop-o/Celery: while you're up in that part of the world, you have got to get yourself up the road to CBI (itself a wonderful place) and thence on the ferry to Newfoundland. Dey's good folks up on Da Rock, I tells ya. Maybe the tough weather makes 'em both tougher and sweeter at the same time. So get up there and hoist a few under the pink-white-and-green. I promise you won't regret it.
re: virtue001:
ABC News (hardly a bastion of Conservatism) reports:
U.S. officials
AKA "a gang of proven liars,"
say they have found smoking-gun evidence...According to a senior defense official...
Ooh, so certain, he has to remain anonymous!
"There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval," says a senior official.
None of that pesky evidence, but they helpfully provide the conclusion.
Evidence is mounting...
I'll bet it is. But you and I aren't allowed to see it. We'll just have to trust them, just like last time.
Yep, that "American Military Complex" is at it again.
We agree!
You know: His Manly Characteristic (followed by a more explanatory subtitle).
That, of course, is how Liddy referred to Bush's "package" when Bush was dense enough to stroll around on the Lincoln's flight deck without first unhooking his leg straps.
Liddy, however actually is (or was, in his heyday) more of a real tough guy than today's Neocons, having been Nixon's go-to thug. He's the one who--by his own account--planned to cap Jack Anderson for being a pesky journalist. Like I said, he's a thug, not a heroic he-man.
Whatever the title is, can Mark Hemingway's picture be the cover shot?
Kevin Drum:
"I've been thinking about is how badly the liberal blogosphere and the liberal establishment have been outplayed here. . . . We're only seeing the results of Petraeus's PR blitzkrieg now. . . . The general has profoundly outplayed the amateurs on their home turf. . . . Bravo, general. Well played"
I had the mistaken impression that generals were supposed to apply their minds to outsmarting enemy officers, and maybe, in the case of an occupation, to the generation of lasting political solutions for the occupied country. Here Drum learns me different: their job is to be propagandists, first and foremost. So be like Petreus, generals! Concentrate on the stateside PR, and don't worry about whatever's going on over there in...oh, wherever all your troops are!
PS: Props to My Man Godfrey: you captured Rove's putrescent essence as succinctly as possible.
ROFLOh yeah, I'm going to accept as definitive the opinions of a group where
* 46% have a HS diploma or LESS,
* 20% aren't even registered to vote,
* 50% Democrat- 40% Republican net.
Ha ha, stupid Americans! Let's make sure that as few as possible of them are allowed to vote (especially, you know, the black and poor ones). What good can come out of such wooly-headed thinking as theirs? Nothing but "a pile of organic mulch."
[A pet peeve about interpreting poll results: when a poll gives conflicting answers, isn't it likely that most of the conflicts come form different respondents? In other words, conflicting answers don't mean so much that "Americans are confused"--some are, surely--but that, to a larger degree, "Americans are divided."]
Anyway, for God's sake, don't let Americans think that it's their government, or something. Otherwise, you might get more results like this:
* 50% Democrat- 40% Republican net.
That would be your Bush Legacy right there, shooter.
Seriously, does everybody's brain turn to Bush-like mush after they work there a while? What the hell is "the dimension which everybody captures it?" What did any of that mean (or, what is the "stand-up-to-do-what")?
And is it even possible to be an "anonymous" official if you're speaking to a room full of reporters? Come on, reporters: out these idiots!
Remember, U.S. Americans, the verb is: secure the population. Do it for the Iraq!
Because Schaller, who has a good point hidden in there somewhere, keeps mashing the two ideas together. Talking about white males, or white southern males, or non-union vs. union white males--fine, those are clearly defined categories. But when we start talking about "NASCAR dads," or "security moms," or the "soccer" types, or whatever, we're confusing the isue with--well, not even stereotypes, but lazy-bored-media memes, for god's sake. At times, he seems to be defining Teh White Males as Those Guys Who Aren't Going to Vote Democratic Anyway. Yes, by all means, don't bother with those guys.
I nearly typed "NASCAR dadaists" up there. That may be my demographic.
No, godammit, we would expect Clinton to vet her before the representatives of the American people: the United States Congress.
But of course, the Bushies don't consider anyone who voted against them to count, at all.
Just because some watery tart lobbed a wedge of tofu at you...
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
