Little Billy Kristol is all plump-in-the-crotch with this one.
"We are now winning the war. To say this was not inevitable is an understatement ..."
"Petraeus pulled it off. The war is not over, of course. Too quick and deep a drawdown--which some in the Pentagon and elsewhere in the Bush administration are, appallingly, pushing for--could throw away the amazing success that has been achieved. Still: It is as clear as anything can be in this world, where we judge through a glass darkly, that General David H. Petraeus is, in fact, America's man of the year."
Or they don't like a certain Iraqi politician? Or they don't like what's being served for lunch at the local deli?
Sounds like Little Billy Kristol is pushing for a Mission Accomplished II (which I suppose we get both Bush and Cheney in flightsuits) and a Wall Street-Ticker-Tape parade for the Golden Boy General.
I'm sure this will be a heavily-buzzed topic of conversation on the next Weekly Standard cruise (the Ad hanging over Little Billy's love note) and, who knows, maybe the victorious General will be on-board as well.
Can't you just see The General pulling some aging neocon out of the audience, one poured into the tuxedo bought thirty-years ago, to give some razzle-dazzle demonstration of "the surge"?
The neocons, freakshow and dittoheads on board will eat it up like happy soup. There'll be shouts from the crowd for Petraeus to run for the Senate, run for President. Surely, if he can "win Iraq", he can easily knock some sense into Washington.
Quickly, the crowd will begin foaming, delirious that are in the same room with the Golden Boy General, and it won't be long before the catcalls come for a "surge into Iran".
And Little Billy Kristol crashes through the swinging doors, all dolled up in his little cheerleading uniform and ... Well, let's not go there ... It would take us into a Russ Meyer-Meets-Tim Burton-Meets-David Lynch-Meets-John Waters-thing and that is too sick and twisted to conjure up, even for a satire piece ...
"Consider that work the secret thirteenth companion to Solnit's 12 book choices below -- her "secret library of hope" -- which offer a reader encouragement not to curl up in despair when faced with a grim world. And here's a bit of small-scale synergy that brightens my own life. My favorite bookstore on the planet, City Lights in San Francisco, is putting up a "Secret Library of Hope" window display of Solnit's suggestions, with most of the books specially stickered and available inside (along with this essay).
While I am tempted to quote more, better you go and read for yourself.
"Seemingly lost in the woods of deceit and banality, bereft of hope, we are confronted by Rebecca Solnit and her astonishing flashlight. In a jewel of a book that is poetic in substance as well as style, she reveals where we were, where we are and the step-by-step advances that have been made in human rights, as we stubbornly stumble out of the darkness." --Studs Terkel
It is well-timed, and very much needed, the bolstering of hope in the times we live in (and we will have another "hope" or "hopeless" post in the upcoming days).
In what will likely become an annual tradition, The Garlic has had its ear to-the-ground, wide and far, to bring to you the Sounds of Christmas. Who's listening to what to get into the holiday spirit (and I do realize, using the phrase "holiday spirit" versus "Christmas spirit" may bring upon me Bill O'Reilly's war machine)
Okay, it's five-days out, and you're starting to panic.
Even though - this year - you started your Christmas shopping back in June, there's still a few names on your list (certainly, at this date, the "borderline" friends or family).
Now, you could cop-out, and give one of those ubiquitous gift cards (you know, the one's that lose value after a certain period of time, or penalize you if you misuse it in some fashion), but that's not your cup of tea.
You want something cool, something hip, something obscure, that only YOU could fine, something that will make you a star in the eyes of the receiver.
Well, you've come to the right place.
For the first time, The Garlic is entering the fray, with some clutch recommendations, items that will surely look swell under someone's Christmas tree.
You can never go wrong giving a book, and the first tome from America's greatest political satirist is waiting for you.
“Barry Crimmins uses his sharp sense of irony as a political weapon. In his hands, the subversive joke is the first small act of resistance.”—Billy Bragg
“Like a mixture of Tom Paine and Mark Twain, Crimmins mixes politics and humor with savage results.”—Michael Blowen, Boston Globe
“He breaks down reality in a hilarious way. He seems ticked off at everything, and when you hear him, you agree. One of the few political comedians who are really good.”—Steven Wright
This product is not endorsed by Tiger Woods (Just wanted to take care of the housecleaning first off).
If your Holidazed shopping leans towards the bizarrely funny, unique, or unusual, old Ding Ho buddy and Boston comedian, Mike McDonald, and his comedygolf.com present, “The World’s Funniest Golf Balls”.
McDonald, a 25 year Funnyman and contemporary to Denis Leary, Steven Wright and Lenny Clark has been seen on Showtime, HBO and the Comedy Channel and entertained our troops in 40 countries while touring with the USO. This year, Mike has applied his comedy Super Powers to a gift you can give America’s 27 million golfers, and these hilarious hip packages spare no duffer on your list from a laugh.
Fans of the Soprano’s can Whack the Hitman Golf Balls. The Axis of Evil lets you to “Take your favorite Dick-tator for a Drive”,...or get a special Christmas “Package” filled with Gay golf balls that “Cannot be hit straight”. Give your freshly divorced friends some “Swing Therapy” with Ex-Wife and Ex-Husband golf balls while Catholics can “Resurrect their Games” and receive “Deliverance from Sand Traps” with Miracle Balls. Chanukah fans are not left out in the cold. They can grab a sleeve of the “Chosen Balls”….
Everything is made in the USA and USGA approved so we’re sure they’re not filled with Chinese lead and Plutonium
Perhaps you would prefer to give the Gift of Music? ... Well, we've got two tremendous recommendation for you
Laszlo Gardony
Larry Gordon has often said that "when God was ready to make the first, perfect, jazz pianist, along came Laszlo Gardony".
Banging the keyboard in his native Hungary at five-years-old, it didn't take long for Gardony to grow into a much-sought player, working with a who's-who of Jazz, and other genres, including the Boston Pops, the Danish Radio Big Band and The Wayfaring Strangers.
You can't go wrong with Laszlo Gardony, be it standards, or his impressive body of original compositions.
If you never had the opportunity to catch Ella, Sarah, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, et all, than you should make all effort to indulge in their torch-carrier, vocalist Shawnn Monteiro.
Shawnn Monteiro is the real deal.
Let me restate that - Shawnn Monteiro is THE REAL DEAL!
Born of Jazz royalty (her father, bassist Jimmy Woode, played with Duke Ellington, among others; And her godfather is the legendary Clark Terry), Shawnn can hit it with the best of them. Be it scat, standards or knocking out a ballad, you will be enthralled listening to Shawnn Monteiro, instantly knowing you are listening to a future legend.
It will soon be time to get hip to The Savvy Girls of Summer, two ladies from Seattle, who will be taking the country by storm in 2008, with the publication of their book, "Are Diamonds for Everyone?".
Deidre and Jackie merge baseball and life, in their own, unique way, and you can share in it as well.
Whether you just want to spiff-up your own work, of, perhaps you have a business and need a professional graphics artist, to build or upgrade a website, layout a book or magazine, or create a unique logo, perhaps cartoon character.
If so, give yourself the gift of Sean Collins, and his Tenten71 graphic services.
Tenten71 provides affordable graphic design services in print design, web design, Flash, and illustration. If you're looking for a professional artist who can take your ideas and turn them into a creative, beautiful and productive result, you've found him.
"Romney first misted up when recalling how he felt when he heard his LDS Church admitted blacks to the priesthood in 1978. And, then, a day later, he misted up when he talked about how he felt in seeing a casket of a fallen soldier killed in Iraq and imagining it could have been one of his sons.
Fortunately for Romney, his two eye-mistings in two days happened when Jay Leno and David Lettermen were in re-runs due to the writers’ strike. And there is a larger political danger."
But Joe doesn't offer, perhaps, the only explanation - Is John Boehner now a consultant for the Romney campaign? Is he giving Make-Up Mitt crying lessons?
So Make-Up Mitt has to up-the-ante (or, perhaps he forgot to cry during his speech), and get all misty with Little Timmy Russert, on 'Meet The Press', telling of the first time he cried, about learning his church was now - suddenly - accepting of blacks;
I was driving home from, I think, it was law school, but I was driving home, going through the Fresh Pond rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I heard it on the radio, and I pulled over and, and literally wept...
Hmmm ... I was born-and-raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts ... I wonder if Make-Up Mitt pulled over at the IHOP (though, it could have still been a Howard Johnson's back then) or the liquor store, because those were the two most prominent establishments on either side of the rotary (and he didn't say he pulled into the Fresh Pond Mall, which would have been about 200-ft from the rotary) and in the direction he would have been heading, going home, up to Belmont.
We should mention that the Fresh Pond Rotary, with its' heavy, peak-time traffic, where one could wait double-digit minutes before someone will let you through, has been known to frustrate drivers, perhaps, to the point of tears.
But we digress.
We're not here to talk about urban planning and gridlock, but rather to point out the continued pandering of Make-Up Mitt.
If he thinks he can pass off policy and positions by sprinkling a few tears on them, think again.
But then again, we already rated Make-Up Mitt's chances of winning the presidency;
“It's very, very slow,” says an executive at one of the few houses left in the bidding. Early reports had predicted a $3 million sale, but some insiders are wondering if Mr. Barnett has had trouble getting to that number. He declined to comment.
His female counterpart, the doyenne of the Freakshow, plagiarist extraordinaire, Ann Coulter is having the air popped from her balloon.
Mr. Rove isn't the only conservative meeting a backlash. The latest tome by right-wing scribe Ann Coulter, If Democrats Had Any Brains They'd Be Republicans, hasn't caught fire with book buyers.
The title spent just four weeks on The New York Times' best-seller list—compared with 12 for her previous book—and has sold 97,000 copies in the last 10 weeks, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70% of the market.
Hmmm... Maybe Coulter has to out a covert CIA agent and Rove needs to don an eyepatch to start the climb out of their self-made muck, to win back the hearts and minds of the Dittoheads?
No doubt, we'll probably see a great deal of these two on the Fox News Network... Nothing a few softball smear sessions can't cure ...
The incredible display of both passion and, something not seen in the U.S. Congress in recent years, leadership, a dogged refusal to not cave in, stand up and say "No More", Senator Chris Dodd, and his threatened filibuster, forced the hand of Give'em What They Want Harry Reid this evening, with Reid tabling the FISA bill, containing retroactive immunity for the Bush Grindhouse illegal wiretapping accomplices, until next month.
In his closing speech Dodd vowed to filibuster again in January if telecom amnesty is still part of the FISA legislation. This speech should be watched by every student, every member of Congress as well as all Americans who value their civil liberties. No matter which presidential candidate you support, you can’t get around the fact that this is what REAL, American leadership looks like. Bravo Senator Dodd, BRAVO!
Now, it ain't a done deal yet, as you can bet your private Social Security account, the Bush Grindhouse will lawyer this up long past the time they leave (preferably via indictment, or impeachment).
It's only one battle, not the whole shebang, but for tonight, bask in the glow of good triumphing over evil.
(I guess Orrin Hatch will have to sleep more nights with the boogeyterrorist under his bed)
Watching the FISA debate on C-Span 2, and Senator Chris Dodd's filibuster, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), in growing passion, and increasing fearmongering, is defending the Bush Grindhouse in their practice of illegal wiretapping, and their call for immunity for the Telcom accomplices.
In his rambling, Hatch, citing the danger of lawsuits from citizens who have been illegally wiretapped, that it would put our national security in jeopardy, that it would expose classified information, offered this gem, something that fits like a glove to the Bush Cronies;
"There are people in this country who just love to expose classified information, regardless of who it harms ..."
Perhaps, while Senator Dodd is engaged in his filibuster, the rest of Congress can, in shifts, do something very practical, and, by all accounts, something very much needed.
Heck, they have pull, so they could probably get one of the big trailers to come and park in front of Capital, or find an empty office the docs can set up in for this.
Why eyesight and hearing tests?
Well, it seems an overwhelming number of people in the country (and probably just as many outside the country) have seen and heard that The Commander Guy, and his Grindhouse cronies, illegally wiretapped American citizens - clearly in violation of the FISA Act - and, in the process, numerous telecommunication companies carried out the work for this illegal wiretapping (one didn't - Qwest).
Now, many of these elected members of Congress (and, certainly, not all) are intelligent people.
So, if they can not reasonably, and cognitively, understand that this illegal wiretapping has gone on, it must be something medical, like eyesight and hearing (particularly the older congressman).
The monthly magazine gave the awards to lawyers who made the most news, said editor and publisher Edward A. Adams.
"Think about Time magazine's Person of the Year," Adams said in an interview. "In years past they've named people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin. So we're not suggesting by these awards that these are the best lawyers in any sense of the word. We are saying they are the most newsworthy — and perhaps also the best."
Most newsworthy?
What an understatement!
I expect, in years to come, the name "Crony General Alberto Gonzales" will be listed in dictionaries, under the word "corruption" and, perhaps, double-dipping with the word "incompetent".
It was a good chat, lasting close to 20-minutes, and clearly, Mr. Moyers has some respect (and appreciation) for Olbermann's work, particularly his Special Comments.
At one point in the interview, Olbermann explained how he resisted management, after delivering his first Special Comment;
"I didn't know if I was going to be gunned down as I came out of the building or put in a black car or, you know, or lauded or whatever. People, for the most part, were ecstatic about this. And our ratings went up immediately. And the reaction from management was-- "Can you do one every night?" And I said, "No, I can't do one every night. I don't want to turn into that either." I don't want to be silent here. But I don't want to turn this into a manufactured thing. And they said, "Well, how 'bout once a week?" And I said, "No, you're not following me. It has to be organic." When I get angry on the air, it's because I'm angry about that particular subject and because of the revision of this country that has been done under our noses for the last seven years against the will of the people."
