Retro Garlic: Hey, We Had That Idea First!

This isn't the first time a news event has converged with something we had here on The Garlic, and, we love it, everytime it happens.

Today's installment is a doozy!



Could Airborne Bears Catch Bin Laden?

Could parachute-wearing bears sniff out Osama bin Laden?

That's one suggestion the Pentagon has received from someone who noted, quite correctly, that a bear's sense of smell is much more powerful than a bloodhound's.

"Overnight, Parachute some bears into areas [bin Laden] might be," the innovator wrote. "Attempt to train bears to take off parachutes after landing, or use parachutes that self-destruct after landing."

The bears-in-the-air idea, and scores of others, came from people who clicked on the "contact us" button on the Defense Department's Web site, which allows the general public to ask questions or make suggestions.

Not that the Pentagon needs any particular help in the idea department. Not long ago, for example, the agency spent $2 million to find out whether honey bees could be relied upon to sniff out roadside bombs.

Go check out the article, as there is more off-the-wall suggestions.

And, we should note, perhaps, inadvertently, the Pentagon let out a clue to a long-standing problem.

There were experimenting with honeybees?

Ah, yes, The Retro Part;

Developing Story - Polar Bears Added To Iraq Options ...Bush Administration Wavering On Polar Bears; Considering Employing In Iraq, War Against Terror ...Rove Claims He Also Has “The Science”, Says Bears “Will Do Fine In Desert Heat”

Bonus Riffs

Andrew Sullivan: Colbert Bait

Balk, at The Awl: Send In The Ursine Parachute Brigade!

Breaking News! ... With DisneyBaghdad, Bush Says “Nobody Wins Hearts and Minds Better Than Disney ...Disney, With Secret Contract, Working With White House, Military On Building Baghdad Moats ...‘Pirates of the Caliphate’, Other Attractions To Mask Security Measures; State Dept. Touts “DisneyBaghdad Will Pay For Itself”

Lackawannabes ... The Bunch of 'Em!

This is a post we intended to get up earlier in the week

We've slowly entered into the zone, of thinking about what stopped The Shadow President, Dick Cheney, from using one of his assassination teams, to take out The Commander Guy.

Afterall, he nearly deep-sixed his hunting buddy there, a few years ago, and with that, he wasn't even really trying very hard.

Look at all the opportunities he had, if not in the White House, itself, then down on the ranch, with all the time Mr. Ek-A-Lec-Tic Reading Man spent there.

A mortal bicycle mishap, a freak drowning, and the clearing brush horrible accident, all things that the Cheney Death Squad could pull off, without raising an eyebrow as to it being anything but tragic.

I mean, Mr. Court-Appointed President (H/T Barry Crimmins) seems, much like a Texas Inspector Clouseau, tripping all over himself, but in the process, totally upsetting, and ruining, the dastardly plans of Cheney.

News broke on this last Friday (but got pushed off the radar by The Birthers, and The Blue Dogs), how it was given to debate of using the U.S. Military to shuffle off to Buffalo, and round-up a group of wannabe terrorists, the people that became known as the Lackawanna Six.



Well, it wasn't so much a debate, but rather, Shadow President Cheney looking to take a long piss on the Constitution.

From the NYT;

Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants.

[snip]

A decision to dispatch troops into the streets to make arrests has few precedents in American history, as both the Constitution and subsequent laws restrict the military from being used to conduct domestic raids and seize property.

The Fourth Amendment bans “unreasonable” searches and seizures without probable cause. And the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally prohibits the military from acting in a law enforcement capacity.

Yeah, and guess who The Shadow President got to say it would be okay - None other than the Crony General, and Mr. Torture, John Yoo.

And here's Professor Jonathan Turley, on 'Countdown' Monday evening, with guest host Lawrence O'Donnell.

Constitution no obstacle for Cheney ... Prof. Jonathan Turley talks about allegations that Dick Cheney sought to deploy U.S. troops in Buffalo, N.Y. to arrest the Lackawanna 6.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Now, it would sure be nice, to see President Obama, come alive, with fire and animation, the way he did responding to the Skip Gates - Officer Crowley Debacle, with holding The Bush Grindhouse accountable for their crimes.

If we don't see perp walks and indictments before the end of this first term, then he doesn't, no matter what else he succeeds at, deserves a second.


Bonus Links

Glenn Greenwald: The Cheney plan to deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil

Steven D: Thank God Bush Was Lazy

Zandar vs. The Stupid: It's Just A Goddamn Piece Of Paper

Peace Piece

Legend has it a DJ at KJAZ, in San Francisco, played this tune all day long, over-and-over, the day JFK was shot.

Seems like it would fit in here, on this day, as well

Peace Piece - Bill Evans

The Anatomy of Idiots

Too bad, if this ever gets made into a movie, Otto Preminger and Duke Ellington aren't around to direct and score it.

Catching up from the week, there was a minor fru-fru with the Right Wing Freak Show, over the case of Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein.

Hussein was the recipient of the Bush Grindhouse brand of justice, held for allegedly aiding terrorists (or, a terrorist himself, if you
are in the RWFS, or an official RWFS Flying Monkey).

From Wikipedia;

On September 17, 2006, it was reported that Hussein has been imprisoned by the United States military since April 2006 without publicly known charges or hearing because of "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations resolutions.[1] Hussein was taken into U.S. custody on April 12, 2006 from the Iraqi city of Ramadi and has since been held without charge.[1][2] On November 20, 2007, the US military announced that they would soon be bringing criminal charges against Hussein, and would be turning the case over to Iraqi judges. [3] On April 9, 2008 an Iraqi judicial panel ordered his release, ruling (according to the AP) that he was covered by an Iraqi amnesty law.[4] On April 14, 2008 the US military announced it would release Hussein from custody by April 16, 2008, saying only that "he no longer presents an imperative threat to security".[5] [6]

That's the proverbial "Reader's Digest" version of it.

To get a more detailed account, a most delicious take-down of the RWFS, run, don't walk over to Media Matters and ...

Eric Boehlert's "Michelle Malkin and the warbloggers get everything wrong -- again"

Here's a tease of it;

"What's so amazing -- and truly frightening -- about the Bilal Hussein story is that the U.S. government may have actually turned to warbloggers for information. At least one source even allegedly credited the laughable Jawa Report blog for helping put Bilal Hussein behind bars for two years while the U.S. military in Iraq pondered his fate. That warbloggers are right less often than a stopped clock is one thing. That CENTCOM officials have apparently deputized the clueless Inspector Clouseaus in the War on Terror represents a national embarrassment."

And a "Batman" style POW!;

They all dutifully typed up the military's dark claims about Hussein and pounded their chests about how warbloggers had uncovered a terrorist inside the AP. But when the Army decided Hussein no longer posed a threat, the warbloggers all played dumb. (Trust me, it's an art form for them at this point.)

That's bad enough. And if warbloggers had simply ignored the Hussein news last week, that would have been one thing. Instead, those who did acknowledge the development tried to insist they were still right about Hussein's terrorist ties and that he'd simply been released on a technicality.

Need more?

Here's an endorsement from Pale Rider, over on Blue Girl, Red State;

Eric Bohlert then goes on to give one of the most detailed examinations of the "reality-challenged" crowd--complete with excellent links a-plenty and enough smart commentary and observation to go around. I love pieces like this--you can lose yourself in them for an hour, see documented and detailed lies, distortions and misadventures, and it just reinforces why we do what we do here.

And for a little historical context (actually, Bohlert links to this in the piece) from Glenn Greenwald's "The "credibility" of the right-wing blogosphere";

These right-wing bloggers operate at a level several beneath the National Enquirer, literally. They simply fabricate facts and recklessly and maliciously launch serious accusations against the media whenever doing so advances their political agenda.

Read "Michelle Malkin and the warbloggers get everything wrong -- again".

It will be a good primer, kind of like stretching out and limbering up, before the Fall Election.


Bonus RWFS/Flying Monkey Riffs

A Headshot Guide to the Right-Wing Blogosphere - The Village Voice's visual election-season manual from Tom Tomorrow

Mirror, Mirror ... She's Still The Sickest! ... But The Bush Grindhouse Is Gaining Ground ... Follow-Up On The Graeme Frost Conflagration

There's Sucker's Born Every Minute ...

Where's Ernest Borgnine when you need him?

"The morning after always looks grim if you happen to be wearing last night's dress"

Bush Grindhouse Launches "We Want Angel Back" Approach Over Telcom Amnesty

In the Sam Peckinpah masterpiece, "The Wild Bunch", the classic finale is set up with Pike Bishop (William Holden), Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine), Lyle Gorch (Warren Oates) and Tector Gorch (Ben Johnson) confronting the Mexican General, and his soldiers, with the demand "We want Angel back", their fallen, and tortured, comrade, and, within minutes, a ferocious, blazing, epic gun battle erupts.

Today, the Bush Grindhouse is giving their version of "We Want Angel Back", with a fusillade of Op-Eds, demanding that Congress give The Commander Guy the right to illegal wiretap American citizens, and to give the telecommunication companies immunity and amnesty from any lawsuits arising out of the illegal wiretapping.

In The Washington Post, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, pens "Partners In the War On Terror: Telecommunications Firms And the Senate's FISA Bill", which Glenn Greenwald, in Salon, characterizes it as "Jay Rockefeller channels Dick Cheney's fear-mongering to urge telecom amnesty".

Over in Ruppert Murdoch;s Wall Street Journal, a trio of heavyweights - Mr. Civiletti/U.S. attorney general under President Jimmy Carter, Mr. Thornburgh/U.S. attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and Judge Webster/former director of the CIA and former director of the FBI - don't pull any punches, kick starting it right in the headline with "AT WAR - Surveillance Sanity: Companies that help protect the U.S. against attack deserve immunity from frivolous lawsuits."

Hmmm ... Let's get this right ... Trampling the Constitution and violating our civil rights = "frivolous lawsuits".

Basic sum-up of them - If we don't let The Commander Guy do whatever he wants, and if we don't let the telecom companies off the hook with lawsuits, terrorists are going to come to your house and kill you.

And, in case you missed it, the ground cover for todays attack got laid down yesterday, with Neocon Pimp Norman Podhoretz throwing a dementia fit about how we have to attack and bomb Iran, and if you don't go along with that, Anyone Who Doesn’t Want To ‘Bomb Iran’ Is Appeasing ‘Hitler’.

Glenn Greenwald chimes in on this one as well, with "Hitlers, Hitlers and more Hitlers" and Steve Benin, over at The Carpetbagger Report works the thematic geography angle with "Connecting 2007 Iran to 1933 Germany".

Here's Some Sanity

Hitting on both Telcom/Wiretapping battle, and the drumbeat for war with Iran, were two exceptional Op-Eds this past weekend.

In this past Sunday's The New York Times, the Op-Ed page carried both Studs Terkel, and their own Paul Krugman, these gentleman, essential hitting on similar themes - Fear ... Ignorance ... An abusive, over-reaching, fear-mongering government.

Check them out;

Stud Terkel - The Wiretap This Time

Paul Krugman - Fearing Fear Itself

Oh yeah, if you have never seen "The Wild Bunch", you don't want to know how it ends.

Top Ten Cloves: Ways President Bush Wants To Improve The Terror Watch List

News Item: More Than 755,000 on US Terrorist Watch List

10. Debating whether or not to add the Extraordinary Rendition people onto the list

9. Have White House lawyers make sure he owns copyright to list, so, when he leaves office, he can sell the movie rights

8. Still trying to figure out how to use, before the 2008 elections, the Terror Watch List to supress the Democrats' votes

7. Needs to get on top of David Addington, to bury the paperwork; The memos from Cheney everyday, adding thousands is getting to be too much

6. If the legislation doesn't get passed, will be adding gays to the list, if only, to stop the weddings

5. Rolling out a "Frequent Detainee Program"

4. Needs to hire more people, to capture critical comment writers on liberal blog sites so they can be added to the list

3. Actually likes the Terror Watch List; Don't need to go to the FISA Court to put someone on it and tap their telephones

2. Approve RNC request to use it as a fundraiser - Big, six-figure donors get to look through list, see if there's anyone they know on it

1. Things have gotten better, and less confusing, since he listened to Laura and changed his other list to "Scary Movies To View" up in the living quarters

Bonus The Decider/Commander/Shakespeare Guy Links

"And Now We Come To The Sanity Clause ..."

"Anyway, look, nobody has accused me of being Shakespeare, you know?"

Top Ten Cloves: Ways To Tell If You Have "Bush Fatigue"

Yet Another "I'm Shocked ... Shocked To Find Gambling Going On Here ..."

Jeez ... They're not even trying to hide it, to act surprised ... Make an effort at not being blatantly overt ...

In our latest installment of "I'm Shocked ... Shocked To Find Gambling Going On Here..." (Second one this month), the Bush Grindhouse is up to it's usual tricks ...

In the AM

Bush Wants $46 Billion More for Wars

In the PM

Worried Bin Laden Urges Iraq Insurgents to 'Unite'

That's right, boys and girls, just as The Commander Guy digs in to batter the Congress again with his Invasion and Occupation Funding requests, right off the presses comes a brand-spanking-new Osama bin Laden tape.

And we have to give the spinmeisters some credit ... They're updating their fearmongering ...

Since we've been beaten over the head, via the PetraeusReportPalooza, on how the surging is working, and things are getting better in Iraq ... And those little bon mots tossed around last week, with no real ownership, but just enough oomph to get it in the headlines, on how AIQ, to use the lingo, is all but vanquished ...

So, they can't have OBL (more lingo usage) spouting off with new threats, boastfully. They've gotta have him sweating ... Nervous ... And, as you see above, it's a "Worried Bin Laden" today ...

I can just picture Cheney, and Hadley and assorted other Neocronies, sitting around, putting the finishing touches on it.

"Concerned ...Let's say he's concerned"

"No, Mr. Vice President, we need something more telling ... Remember, the surge is working, we've got them on the run."

"You're right ... You're right ..."

"Let's say he's worried ... Worried conveys just enough weakness that our people can embellish on, in the PR's, etc ... We can tweak all the numbers to show that he has cause to be worried, etc ... Let's us show our strength ... "

And then they all clink their Caffeine-Free Diet Sprite cans together in a toast ...

I know it’s a week early, but much like when the little children come around in their Halloween costumes (rumor has the "No Health Insurance" is the hottest get-up), try to act scared and surprised ... You want to make them feel good.

Bonus They're Out There Links

Crooks and Liars: Bush Says No To Children And Yes To War - Bin Laden Tape Shows Up Just In Time

Think Progress: Days After Claiming U.S. Less Safe Due To Iraq War, Counterterrorism Chief Suddenly Resigns

Truthout: Olbermann: Bush Used Bogus Terror Threat to Scare Votes for FISA Bill

Crooks and Liars: Keith Olbermann Updates The Nexus Of Terror And Politics - Creating Terror Scares

Well, He Isn't The Shakespeare Guy ... And She Ain't No History Girl ...

With the day I had, I needed some light, easy pickin's ...

Maybe he was just being "Ek-A-Lec-Tic" ...

Maybe she was being forgetful ...

I can't help but wonder if it is, when you're Constitution-stomping, pre-emptive-war-loving Neocon, is the air they breath different? Does their food contain nutrients and vitamins not available to regular folk? Is it in the water they drink? Or is it just part of the daily drone of living in the unreality world they inhabit?

The Commander/Decider Guy surely must be getting tired of tasting his own foot.

In an staged event to hawk his "No Child Left Behind", the Compassionate Conservative served up this;

"Childrens do learn," Bush tells school kids

And this comes on the heels of his United Nations speech, in which his speech - the marked-up, phonetic-enhanced version - was posted on the U.N. Website.

Too bad he didn't have that at his "No Child Left Behind" gig ...

But Wait, There's More!

Our shining, soon-to-be-seen-on-a-milk-carton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice must be getting desperate for some attention.

It has been a bit rough for her lately, with the Pope blowing her off, and, yet again, another article questioning who's sleeping in her bed popped up.

But, considering she's a Stanford gal, pretty well-educated, been around the block, so-to-speak, did she really have to resort to the over-used talking points to make her point, pumping up a dead terrorist far beyond what he probably ever dreamed of, with this gem;

Rice Compares Zarqawi To Ulysses S. Grant And Robert E. Lee

Holy mashed metaphors Batman!

I think, before their next public appearances, both of them need to spend some extra time on The Google.

Bonus Dynamic Duo Links

Our Girl Condi Gets A Theme Song - Neocons and Lovers

New Garlic Song: Bush Could Write A Book

Leave Freddie Alone, He Knows His Symbolism - As Good As The Red Paint On An Old Pick-Up Truck

Well, he is an actor, and he does know how, and when, to hit his marks.

The Aqua Velva Man, in all of one day of being - finally - an official candidate for the Republican nomination for President, poked a stick into The Commander Guys', as well as the entire right-wing freak show, beehive, on the latest videotape from the still-hanging-on-the-wall Wanted Poster, Osama bin Laden, by characterizing it as;

"Bin Laden is more symbolism than anything else," Thompson said while campaign in Iowa Friday. "I think it demonstrates to people once again that we're in a global war."

WOW!

That's enough to get kicked out of the RNC, and have your bathroom stall privileges revoked.

But they need to lay off Freddie.

He's a pro at symbolism ... Just ask'em about his red pick-up truck...

Bonus Big Guy Links

Media Matters: Wash. Post, CNN reported on Thompson's pickup truck without noting it was a leased campaign prop

Glenn Greenwald: Chris Matthews on Fred Thompson's sexiness and smells

Boston Globe: Not all would put a heroic sheen on Thompson's Watergate role

Breaking News! Thompson Responds To FEC Charge, Claiming He's Now Moving Into "Testing Executive Privilege" Phase; Also Invokes "The Cheney Principle", Saying "He's Not Part of The Campaign"

Juan Cole: Bush's incompetence gives al-Qaida new life

Newsweek: The Ongoing Hunt for Osama bin Laden; Into Thin Air

The Aqua Velva Man

It Will Make A Nice, Keepsake, Photograph ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

In at least one way, our poll last week was too easy.

As our Garlic Poll Voters discerned, The Decider/The Commander/The Shakespeare Guy almost always (well, Donald Rumsfeld might still be sitting by the telephone) gives his biggest flunkies and fuck-ups the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award.

The way to succeed in the Bush Grindhouse is to fail. Fail miserably.

Perhaps Chertoff knew, in his gut, all along, that he wouldn't be fired, hence, allowing him to offer his "gut feelings" about the terror threat facing the country, not fully understanding the confusion he would cause by doing so.

After all, we have the Color-Coded Terror Alert Chart, with the occassionally-accompanying Duct Tape and Plastic warning added ... And now we have a "Who's On First" routine being played out by the Bush Grindhouse on just who Al Qaeda is and which Al Qaeda were fighting, based on the lasted NIE report released last week.

So, Michael Chertoff, "gut away" as you will, and know that at the end of the rainbow, a nice, shiney medal awaits your meritorious service.

When you get that medal hung around your neck, it will make for such a nice, keepsake, photograph, all those people down in New Orleans can hang on the wall of their toxic, FEMA-provided trailer.

(The Garlic wants to let the NBA, and investigating authorities, that referee Tim Donaghy has had no dealings or connections to the Garlic Weekly Poll and, to the best of your knowledge, has never gambled on the outcome of any of our polls).

The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll July 15 - July 22, 2007

The reason President Bush didn't fire Michael Chertoff was ...

1. Already promised him he'll be getting a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award Tally 31%

2. Can't divulge reason, invoking Executive Privilege Tally 30%

3. Had his own gut feeling that Chertoff would follow him home Tally 24%

4. Still in the middle of Hurricane Season; Needs someone to blame in case U.S. hit big again Tally 14%

This week’s Poll - Where's Condi Rice? Is she ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote

"Anyway, look, nobody has accused me of being Shakespeare, you know?"

Rough Day... Hot, humid and still reeling from the Michael Moore - CNN - Dr. Sanjay Gupta steel cage, no-holds-barred, my-sister-my-daughter, tussle ...

And what was with the Baseball All-Star Game last night ... Pimping Willie Mays around in a pink Cadillac? ... Throwing baseballs into the stands? ...I guess it comes down to, the "Say Hey Kid", even with the title of "greatest ever", you have to pay your own freight ...

But all this takes a back seat to the launching of the Summer 2007 Bushapalooza.

And the take-away, Quote-of-the-day?

"Anyway, look, nobody has accused me of being Shakespeare, you know?"

No shit, Dick Tracy!

Yeah, and nobody is accusing - or confusing - you with being a competent President, either.

Speaking in Cleveland yesterday (is there something about a president, plummeting to 29% approval, having to go to a city whose river once caught fire, to give a speech?), and The Decider/Commander/Shakespeare Guy banged the Sept 11th and al Qaeda drum like a certain toy rabbit selling batteries.

Now, was this meant to create his own line of fear, to obfuscate his accountability, or to try to dampen the bad news pouring out of the country he invaded and is occupying?

A verbal volley to to keep the members of his party from running out the back door?

Or, was it meant to compliment the Human Terror Alert, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and his idiotic, gastronomic pronouncement that "I don't know, something might happen ... I got a feeling in my gut"

Good thing Chertoff doesn't have arthritis - if his bones start aching, what does that mean - Armageddon?

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

I don' know, it seems that the Good Ship Neocon is taking on water.

Maybe they're feeling the pressure. Or, perhaps they've had too much exposure to lead.

I mean, if we pull out of Iraq, and all goes to hell, what future president is going to run to the PNAC or AEI to get their war-mongering advice and Invade Any Country Starter Kit?

Just last Friday, Secretary of War Cheerleading, the Weekly Standard's William Kristol (or "Krazy Kristol" as Michael Stickings over on The Reaction likes to call him), in a Time Magazine Op-Ed, rolled out the emotional duct tape, blaming everything, from the Bush Grindhouse, to Bosnia to Rwanda to Afghanistan, saying our only problem was that "Today we're moody again ..."

And Iraq.

"The key question, of course, is the fate of Iraq. A decent outcome--the defeat of al-Qaeda in what it has made the central front in the war on terrorism and enough security so there can be peaceful rule by a representative regime--seems to me achievable, if we don't lose our nerve here at home. With success in Iraq, progress elsewhere in the Middle East will be easier. The balance sheet is uncertain. But it is by no means necessarily grim.

And that was backed up, by his fellow "Bring It On" cheerleader, Fred Kagan, of the AEI:

"The worst that can be said of [the escalation] at this point is that the results have been mixed. I frankly think the results are less mixed…We can argue about statistics, but at the end of the day, that argument is not going to get us anywhere right now. … Whatever you can say about the current strategy, it has not failed."

The Sunshine Boys

Then, enter this week, stage right, the tap dancing, fear mongering, "al Qaeda's everywhere" team of Chertoff and Bush

With the Republicans baling out on their titular party head, Iraq, and the rest of the area going up in smoke, Vice President distancing himself in some other branch of government, his commutation of Libby looking more like he is attempting to buy, at least, one friend, they'll be rolling out the props again ... It's Bushapalooza time!

If Kristol and Kagan don't push him along, the Congressional investigations and subpoenas will certainly give us more over-the-top rhetoric, more body parts of the DHS Secretary sounding alarms, more check-your-closets-and-under-your-beds for terrorists, more speeches, like the Cleveland one, of Bush threatening "your children and grandchildren".

Geez, too bad he isn't a Shakespeare guy ... There's enough comedy in this tragedy to make it interesting, though we're sitting, getting antsy, waiting for the final curtain to fall on this show.

Links

Eugene Robinson: "Resolute Amid the Wreckage"

William E. Odom: "Supporting the Troops" Means Withdrawing Them"

Keith Olbermann Video: "Impeach Bush, save the troops?"

Glenn Greenwald: "Our broken political discourse"


"One Brain ... One Gut ... Let's get together and feel all right ..."

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff Feels In His Gut

News Item: Homeland Security chief warns of 'increased risk’; Chertoff bases 'gut feeling' on history, Al Qaeda statements

10. Michael Moore is totally wrong and a threat to our national security!

9. If we pull out of Iraq, al Qaeda will surely follow us home

8. Best to wait until the second generation of the iPhone before buying one

7. The President was absolutely correct to commute Scooter Libby's sentence

6. That Crony General Alberto Gonzales really didn't know about the FBI's Illegal Wiretapping civil liberties and privacy violations

5. Agree with NBC's David Gregory, it's only right that we should listen to Ann Coulter's messages

4. In such an emergency as a terrorist chemical or biological attack, Duct Tape will work very, very well

3. Has to side with Cheney ... VP not really part of the Executive Branch

2. Pretty sure the Simpons live in Springfield, Illinois

1. That he'd do really well on the new "Singing Bee" show

Bonus Links

Larisa Alexandrovna: The Devil and the Ouija Board

Videos of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff meeting with Tribune editorial board

Crooks and Liars: Chertoff should be fired

Bonus Links II

The Reaction: Fearmongering from the gut

Philadelphia Will Do: Rick Santorum Would Very Much Like It If You Blew Up And Couldn't Vote Democrat

Chairman Thompson Responds to Chertoff’s “Gut Feeling”


Heckuva a job there, Cherti!

Minced Garlic - New Keith Olbermann Special Comment Slams Giuliani: "Republicans equal life; Democrats equal death?"

Maybe it was the couple of days off ... Or that baseball season is back ... Or, that he had to endure "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani for eight-years.

MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann came out with a full head of steam with a new Special Comment this evening, "Republicans equal life; Democrats equal death? Rudy Giuliani exploiting fear for power and personal gain. A special comment about Rudolph Giuliani’s remarks at a Lincoln Day dinner in New Hampshire."

And it didn't take long for him to get the heat turned up - like, about 10-seconds into it;

"Only in this America of the early 21st century could it be true that the man who was president during the worst attack on our nation and the man who was the mayor of the city in which that attack principally unfolded would not only be absolved of any and all blame for the unreadiness of their own governments, but, moreover, would thereafter be branded heroes of those attacks ..."





Then, about a another 10-seconds later;









"And if you somehow missed what he was really saying, somehow didn’t hear the none-too-subtle subtext of “vote Democratic and die,” Mr. Giuliani then stripped away any barrier of courtesy, telling Roger Simon of politico.com:

“America will be safer with a Republican president.”

How ... dare ... you, sir?

“How many casualties will we have?” — this is the language of Osama bin Laden."

Now, something else is going on here, beyond Giuliani's pandering to the lowest common denominator (and do the heralded base Republicans really eat this up like happy soup? What fucking sheep they must really be if they do).

Bush and Cheney have been doing it the past week, or so. Now Giuliani.

Is Rove, and the RNC, spooked by the "lost emails" and the thought of getting their sorry asses hauled into a Senate hearing? Is the Lincoln Group and WHIG on Spring Break? Or are they just trying to save a few bucks by recycling old smears and spin?

"This is not the mere politicizing of Iraq, nor the vague mumbled epithets about Democratic “softness” from a delusional vice president.

This is casualties on a partisan basis — of the naked assertion that Mr. Giuliani’s party knows all and will save those who have voted for it — and to hell with everybody else.

And that he, with no foreign policy experience whatsoever, is somehow the messiah-of-the-moment."

Olbermann then skewers Giuliani, and the Republicans, with a gattling-gun list of "Which Party ... ", which I will let you read or watch (links below) to get the full effect.

"Call attention to the casualties on your watch, and your long, waking slumber in the years between the two attacks on the World Trade Center.

Become the candidate who runs on the Vote-For-Me-Or-Die platform.

Do a Joe McCarthy, a Lyndon Johnson, a Robespierre.

Only, if you choose so to do, do not come back surprised nor remorseful if the voters remind you that “terror” is not just a matter of “casualties.” It is, just as surely, a matter of the promulgation of fear.

Claim a difference between the parties on the voters’ chances of survival — and you do bin Laden’s work for him."

Links

MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Olbermann Special Comment: Rudy Giuliani exploiting fear for power and personal gain

Watch The Video of Olbermann Special Comment: Rudy Giuliani exploiting fear for power and gain

"Unexplained Incident" Shuts Down Mount Vernon After Bush Speech

DHS, Geologists Stumped; Theories Include First President Spinning In Grave Cautiously Viewed

President's Day festivities at Mount Vernon were cut short after an unexplained incident took place after President Bush delivered a holiday speech.

Secret Service agents and officials from the Department of Homeland Security swarmed over the sprawling grounds, quickly ushering the President into his limousine and clearing the area of visitors and tourists.

Late into the evening, floodlights lit up the area, where crews set up command tents and officials could be viewed examining the ground with sophisticated equipment.

White House and DHS officials offered little comment beyond that there was "an unexplained incident" and the Secret Service, according to their policy, would not comment at all.

President Bush used the holiday speech to commemorate the 275 anniversary of President George Washington's birth, marking his first visit to as the Chief Decider to Mount Vernon. In doing so, Bush likened his own struggles with his occupation of Iraq to Washington's battles in the Revolutionary War.

"Today, we're fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life," said Bush.

"And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone."

It was shortly after the speech that President Bush, and the First Lady were whisked away, and the grounds were cleared.

Within minutes, the area was roped off and saturated with emergency vehicles, large trucks and equipment. Briefly, military helicopters and jet fighters patrolled the skies above Mount Vernon.

One government geologist, speaking off the record, told The Garlic "we're stumped".

"The only working theory we have been able to come up with," continued the geologist, "is the unexplained phenomena of the first President spinning in his grave."

Government officials cautiously speculate that President George Washington was spinning in his grave following President Bush's speech yesterday at Mount Vernon.