NYShooter:"but the story we’ve been told to believe isn’t it."

I don't know who's telling you to believe it, the Administration certainly isn't, neither is the media, and neither Joe nor Salon are telling anyone they must believe anything.

"Now here the tricky part. We’re asked to believe that Dick Cheney, “uber-patriot,” concludes that the appropriate punishment for Wilson’s writing an unfriendly letter-to-the-editor, is to perpetrate the highest level of treason and betrayal that an American citizen can commit."

1. Dick Cheney is not, nor has ever been, an "uber-patriot." Maybe the Red-State media put that frame around him, but it ain't so.

2. Wilson's "unfriendly" letter destroyed one of the few sort-of-legitimate-seeming reasons for the whole invasion. Cheney needed the support of the educated intelligentsia, and Wilson was screwing it up.

"He had to know that every career person in the Government, especially in the military and/or intelligence, would recoil, and be repulsed by committing this treason"

And they would be terrorized into cowed silence, which was the whole point.

"Beyond that, he knows the law, "

He also knows from experience ( i.e. Ford, H.W.Bush ) that the President controls all Federal legal enforcement. And he knows the President can issue blanket retroactive pardons, like Ford and H.W.Bush did.

"The standard answer is that he’s arrogant, o.d’d on hubris, and thinks “he’s above the law.” "

Dick Cheney doesn't think he's above the law, he's knows he's above the law. And at 18% approval, you think he really cares what anyone thinks about him?

Untouchable.

so I would call him "Judge Scalia" too.

Clearest case of the Peter Principle ever...

"Keep thinking like such, and we lose a city. "

You one funny dude!

Has anyone seen Detroit lately? It was just here a minute ago!

Oh, there it is! I hate it when I lose things.

Gates knew he was damn lucky to be in the right place at the right time to set up a toll booth on the great IBM Personal Computer Stampede.

But aren't we lucky that our system supports setting up toll booths so a few people can get extremely rich?

And lucky if the extremely rich people just happen to be generous and high-minded.

The word is a term of honour to old hands.

It's a junky hipster term to most.

It's an evil cyber-terrorist to know-nothings.

Just avoid the word, ok? Leave it for the pseudo-tech-hipsters in the MSM.

( assuming you're not one... )

"Can we please retire the idea that men don't also have their selfhood constantly called into question,"

Well sure, except that women aren't typically in danger of being called queer for the sin of infatuation with someone of the same gender...

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

with a bit of bland pund-a-spin thrown in. Pretty standard stuff these days.

And someone's got to report these events,

And *I* for one didn't know Hilary's pantsuit color matched Obama's tie, a fact truly worth knowing.

Seriously.

Worth about 2 or 3 cents of the subscription cost.

"During McCain's time as a POW he was offered an early release."

And the source of this tale? John McCain.

John McCain's a real war hero, just ask him, he'll tell you how heroic he was.

Good luck finding any independent, disinterested verification of his heroism.

Thanks for the nice link, NotOrbitBoy, but the data does nothing to show that John McCain's captivity story came from anywhere besides McCain.

It does show that the military is more then willing to believe a favorite son's tales of woe and give him medals and citations. No surprise there.

In your second link Phillip Butler says:"This heroism has been played up in the press and in his various political campaigns."

also:"John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity. More that 600 of us did the same."

and:"I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate."

Phillip Butler's piece is titled "Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain" and although he seems to support the heroic McCain saga, he's not saying he witnessed any particular heroism, and he doesn't think McCain is special.

Being ex-military, he would never diss a fellow officer. I bet he knows more then he's saying here.

This is great for Obama, by countering Clark he gets to demonstrate his fealty to the God of Militarism, which will go a long way to soothing the fears of undecided know-nothings.

This "controversy" is so good for Obama, it could very well have been intentional.

If Atheists are angry and dogmatic, it's because of arrogant and dogmatic religious indoctrination they were subjected to as children.

Religion invented rigid dogma, not science.

But I'm not so harsh on believers; humanity hasn't evolved very far beyond running around naked with sticks and stones. Maybe in another 10,000 years we may outgrow our need for a cosmic daddy.

Darwin was painfully aware of the reaction religious avatars would have to his theory. It's why he worked so hard to assemble hard data, and waited almost 20 years before publishing "The Origin of Species."

nuff.

to stake out a clear position on every stupid little controversy the MSM whips up.

The right-wing has beat up the media for so long, only liberals can be made fun of. And they better keep quiet about it.

Let's see a Salon comic of McCain in the Hanoi Hilton with bamboo shoots in his fingers screaming "Aaauugh! Enough! OK! I'll support single payer health coverage!!"

Funny, no? Why not, Mr Kamiya?