It Takes A Neocon To Raise A Legacy ... They're Drinking The Kool-Aid Again ...

It's turning into a mini Neoconpalooza today!

We offered earlier, what it would be like to be stuck on a boat full of Neocons (see our post "Where's Ernest Borgnine when you need him?")

And, lo-and-behold, before the second cup of coffee (fair-trade-bought-beans) can get cold, we have a couple of Legacy-Writing Drafts to chew over, that is before we smash them both with "The Hammer".

Legacy #1 - The Don't Call Him Dick For Nothing

First, there's the big, fat, wet kiss The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes plants on Darth Vader's cheek (and not either one above his neck), with his "Cheney Speaks", portraying a staunch and resolute, fearless Vice President, just doing his job (you're on your own as to supplying a barf bag);

"It had to be done. It was a--once you made the decision, once the plane became hijacked, even if it had a load of passengers on board who, obviously, weren't part of any hijacking attempt, once it was hijacked, and having seen what had happened in New York and the Pentagon, you really didn't have any choice. It wasn't a close call. I think a lot of people emotionally look at that and say, my gosh, you just shot down a planeload of Americans. On the other hand, you maybe saved thousands of lives. And so it was a matter that required a decision, that required action. It was the right call."

And, perhaps, an insight to the question, inadvertently supplied by Hayes, of who the real President was/is;

"Shortly after 10:00 P.M., Cheney, along with his wife and top two aides--Libby and Addington--walked back upstairs from the bunker and out the diplomatic entrance of the White House to the South Lawn, where Marine Two, the vice president's helicopter, was waiting. Joined by three Secret Service officials, a military aide, a communications expert, and Cheney's doctor, they took off under cover of darkness, an unusual precaution. The departure itself was a violation of longstanding protocol: No one takes off from the South Lawn other than the president. Their destination was kept from all but a handful of the most senior White House officials."

And;

"Less than thirty minutes later, another tradition was discarded when Cheney and his family settled into the Aspen Lodge at Camp David, the facility typically reserved for the president."

And what's so good about building up one legacy, is you get to throw someone under the bus.

"On February 15, 1991, George H.W. Bush had urged Iraqis to overthrow Saddam Hussein ...

Those comments and the subsequent failure of the United States to support the rebellion would have lasting consequences. "The Shia had been treated for centuries as second-class citizens, governed by the Sunnis, and in recent decades the Baathists, under Saddam Hussein. They had been encouraged, in '91, to rise up, and did, and were slaughtered for their troubles. Nobody came to their assistance," Cheney says.

Many Iraqis assumed that the United States refused to remove Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf war because the United States wanted him to remain in power ..."

And in case Cheney was impressed with the first big, wet, kiss, Hayes puckered up in closing out;

"And then Cheney paused, his words and his emotions tangled in his throat. He started to speak and then, choking back tears, stopped again. Reporters exchanged quick glances as if to confirm that they were seeing what they thought they were seeing.

For the man who had repeatedly evaded questions about how those attacks affected him personally, this was his answer."

Legacy #2 - When In Doubt, Pucker Up

But wait, not to be left behind, and under a sun-drenched, cheery title of "On The Brighter Side", TWS's main man, the warrior who put the destruction in the WMD's, the hawk who will measure the Bush Presidency by how well he carpet bombs Iran, Little Billy Kristol throws his hat in the ring for writing The Decider/The Commander/The Shakespeare Guy's legacy, the uplifting scolding that we've had it all wrong, with his "Why Bush Will Be A Winner" (okay, we'll wait a minute, while you grab the Hayes Barf Bag ... )

"Let's step back from the unnecessary mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds that have characterized the Bush administration. Let's look at the broad forest rather than the often unlovely trees. What do we see? First, no second terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- not something we could have taken for granted. Second, a strong economy -- also something that wasn't inevitable.

And third, and most important, a war in Iraq that has been very difficult, but where -- despite some confusion engendered by an almost meaningless "benchmark" report last week -- we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome."

First, throw some garlands down on the domestic front (after all, you'll want to secure those library donations from the Isolationist Conservatives as well as all the others);

"So on the two biggest pieces of domestic legislation the president has gotten passed, he has been vindicated. And with respect to the two second-term proposals that failed -- private Social Security accounts and immigration -- I suspect that something similar to what Bush proposed will end up as law over the next several years."

And;

"And if you're a conservative constitutionalist, putting Roberts and Alito on the court constitutes a huge accomplishment."

The War? Everything's coming up roses;

"What about terrorism? Apart from Iraq, there has been less of it, here and abroad, than many experts predicted on Sept. 12, 2001. So Bush and Vice President Cheney probably are doing some important things right. The war in Afghanistan has gone reasonably well.

These Waziristan havens may well have to be dealt with in the near future. I assume Bush will deal with them, using some combination of air strikes and special operations.

We are routing al-Qaeda in Iraq, we are beginning to curb the Iranian-backed sectarian Shiite militias and we are increasingly able to protect more of the Iraqi population.

Iran is a problem, and we will have to do more to curb Tehran's meddling -- but we can. So if we keep our nerve here at home, we have a good shot at achieving a real, though messy, victory in Iraq."

And Kristol isn't adverse to puckering up himself;

"Following through to secure the victory in Iraq and to extend its benefits to neighboring countries will be the task of the next president. And that brings us to Bush's final test.

The truly successful American presidents tend to find vindication in, and guarantee an extension of their policies through, the election of a successor from their own party. Can Bush hand the presidency off to a Republican who will (broadly) continue along the path of his post-9/11 foreign policy, nominate judges who solidify a Roberts-Alito court, make his tax cuts permanent and the like?"

Send In The Hammer

But, it's Sunday, so we can count on - and he delivers, as usual - Frank Rich to come hammering home (Stanley Tools, take note), to save the day by turning the reality channel back on, as he continues his relentless pounding of the Bush Grindhouse in "Don't Laugh at Michael Chertoff";

"But even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Last week, as the Bush administration frantically tried to counter Republican defections from the war in Iraq, Mr. Chertoff alone departed from the administration's script to talk about the enemy that actually did attack America on 9/11, Al Qaeda, rather than Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the jihad-come-lately gang Mr. Bush is fond of talking about instead. In this White House, the occasional official who strays off script is in all likelihood inadvertently coughing up the truth.

The White House's game is to create a new fictional story line to keep the war going until President Bush can dump it on his successor. Bizarrely, some of the new scenario echoes the bogus narrative used to sell the war in 2002: an imaginary connection between Iraq and the attacks of 9/11. You'd think the Bush administration might think twice before recycling old lies, but things have gotten so bad in the bunker that even Karl Rove is repeating himself.

The capital's entire political debate over Iraq - stay-the-surge versus "precipitous withdrawal" - is itself pure hot air. Even though felons and the obese are now being signed up to meet Army recruitment shortfalls, we still can't extend the surge past next April, when troops for Iraq run out unless Mr. Bush extends their tours yet again. "Precipitous withdrawal" (which no withdrawal bill in Congress calls for) is a non sequitur, since any withdrawal would take at least 10 months. Rather than have the real debate about how to manage the exit, politically panicked Republicans hope to cast symbolic votes that will allow them to tell voters they were for ending the war before they prolonged it."

Regrettably, these won't be the only legacy drafts we see coming out of the TWS barn, they have an almost inexhaustible supply of Kool-Aid, as well as another farm-produced by-product.

And it will take all the Frank Rich's out there to keep them on the ranch, not letting them stray too far.

And just in case it isn't the Kool-Aid, Hayes and Kristol, you can follow the same advise we gave John Fund, as well as Dorothy Rabinowitz and Richard Cohen ...


Bonus Links

Webb Rips Graham As ‘Politician Trying To Put His Political Views Into The Mouths Of Soldiers’’

Kristol: ‘We’re Not In A Civil War’ In Iraq, ‘This Is Just Not True’

Glenn Greenwald: Still more White House secrecy -- this time in the Tillman investigation


Bonus Links II

Crooks and Liars: Bush Iraq policy controlled by Bill Kristol

The Guardian: Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran; Military solution back in favour as Rice loses out; · President 'not prepared to leave conflict unresolved'













Get ready for some big, wet ones, boys, Kristol and Hayes are calling ...

Where's Ernest Borgnine when you need him?

"You! Preacher! Murderer! I started to believe in your promises, that we had a chance. What chance?"

Det. Lt. Mike Rogo (Ernest Borgnine)

This is like the Poseidon Adventure, but only the ship stays afloat and it's the passengers who have sunk.

The Independent's Johann Harri writes about taking a National Review cruise.

"The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is just a myth – and as for Guantanamo Bay, it's practically a holiday camp... The annual cruise organised by the 'National Review', mouthpiece of right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans."

If this didn't have some stark implications on our national politics, and the direction of the country, it would be outright slapstick.

As it is, it is very, very humorous

Ship of fools: Johann Harri sets sail with America's swashbuckling neocons

Bonus Links

Larisa Alexandrovna: Send Liberals to "Gas Chambers."... Astonishing Right-Wing Extremism!

Richard Silverstein: Lib Journalist Crashes National Review Cruise

Rachel Sklar: TNR Sails The Seas With Eric Alterman The National Review

Of Lawrence Welk and Disappointments ... We Yield To Others This Evening ...

The Lawrence Welk Part

As the friends, and regular readers know, we have some cumbersome tasks that we deal with everyday on this end, and Saturday's always seem to add a bit more to it ...

For one, there's the unpredictability of energy - and the dementia - of my Aunt ... It can be smooth sailing, or, you hear every second of the clock tick off, in slow-motion ... Today was somewhere in-between ...

And, being Saturday means it's a "Lawrence Welk Evening" ... Having added over a year ago, a baby monitor to keep closer track of what is going on downstairs, the Champagne Music Man is the only thing that disrupts the endless blathering of TVLand ...

And tonight was a 2-hour Welk ... Including a retrospective on the entire band, and how they came into it (and every week, it makes me think of Lenny Bruce's bit, "The Sound").





The Disappointment Part

It's been 10-days now, and I haven't seen one report yet of the Citizen's Arrest The Garlic called for.

I mean, is it interrupting your summer vacation?

Allowing Bush and Cheney to roam, unindicted and unincarcerated, is just too much. They are both still dangerous, very dangerous, and the country is in peril.

Chiefly do to the above-mentioned Lawrence Welk part, I couldn't get enough time to finish writing a piece on what still needs to be done to clean up the Bush Grindhouse, and get this country back on track.

Look for it in the next day, or two.

Yielding To Others

Just one from the menu of items to take out Bush & Co. Think Progress has a wonderful post today;

The Ever Changing Definition of ‘Mission’ In Iraq

Over on The Reaction, two posts of note to look at.

First is Michael Stickings' pointing out Iraq's PM Nouri Maliki' charge of "international interference" as his excuse for the lack of that big wave of democracy that is supposed to sweep over the country ... Check out "Maliki's progress" ...

And there's Edward Copeland's "Everything may be held against them", talking about The Commander Guy's "executive privilege frenzy"


Salon's Joan Walsh sums up "Bush's worst day ever?" ...


While a Nobel Laureate adds her voice in calling for the Impeachment of the President.


Lastly, to end on a high note, podcasting will soon be coming from Barry Crimmins, which you can read about in "Two, two... two posts in one" (that includes a fine riff about "Uncle Phil and Dad - Wars Never End").

Minced Garlic - New Keith Olbermann Special Comment ... All hail the prophetic gut!

Last evening, we had another Special Comment, "All hail the prophetic gut!", from our anchor-hero, Keith Olbermann, on MSNBC's 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann'.

The gutless wonder, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, was the target and it was less rage, by Olbermann, and more, ohh, humor.

At various points, with Olbermann smiling and grinning, it appeared that he had to stifle just laughing outloud.

We riffed on this the other day, with a Top Ten Cloves: Other Things DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff Feels In His Gut, and, in noting The Commander Guy morphing into The Shakespeare Guy, while he launched another fear-laden Bushapalooza, we had to note that, it was a "Good thing Chertoff doesn't have arthritis - if his bones start aching, what does that mean - Armageddon?"

Olbermann came out swinging, not only hitting on Chertoff, but taking a sharp swipe at the Bush Grindhouse;

You have by now heard the remark — instantly added to our through-the-looking-glass lexicon of the 21st century, a time when we suddenly started referring to this country as “the homeland,” as if anybody here has used that term since Charles Lindbergh or the German-American Bund in 1940.

Michael Chertoff’s “gut feeling.”

A little further into the Special Comment, Olbermann recounted elements of his Watch The Video of his excellent "Nexus of Politics and Terror", rattling off;

We used to have John Ashcroft’s major announcements.

We used to have David Paulison’s breathless advisories about how to use duct tape against radiation attacks.

We used to have Tom Ridge’s color-coded threat levels.

Now we have Michael Chertoff’s gut!

And he brought it home with "only five possible explanations for Mr. Chertoff’s remarkable revelations", that being letting his gut replace policy and competence, leading off with;

"Firstly, Mr. Chertoff, you are, as Richard Wolffe said here the other night, actually referencing not your gut but your backside — as in, “covering it.” CYA."

After calling Chertoff a "hunch-driven clown", what else was left, but to give a hearty, Homeland salute.

"All hail the prophetic gut!"

Links

Watch The Video of Special Comment: Michael Chertoff's gut

Read Olbermann: All hail the prophetic gut!; Explaining Michael Chertoff’s counterterrorism stomach

"I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person ..."

This may have to become a new, reoccurring feature

No shit, Dick Tracy!

It was Iraqi Iraqi Mid-Term Progress Report Day (Report Card Day comes in September), and, most likely, both the Bush Grindhouse and the Iraqi Government (well, whatever they are; Perhaps, if you have seen the movie 'Le Roi de Coeur' - King of Hearts - we can understand how the Iraqis modeled their parliament) were burning the phone lines, to get their stories straight.

It sure seems like the policy is "Well keep standing up, while they sit down".

In his press conference this morning, to crow about the possible, and slightly below 50%, positive marks, The Decider/The Commander/The Shakespeare Guy, answering the one and only question about his Quid Pro Quo bailing out of convicted felon, former Advisor to the President and Vice President Chief of Staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter" Libby, engaged in this startling response;

Q If I could just switch subjects for a second to another big decision you made recently, which was in the Scooter Libby case.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q You spoke very soberly and seriously in your statement about how you weighed different legal questions in coming to your decision on that commutation. But one issue that you did not address was the issue of the morality of your most senior advisors leaking the name of a confidential intelligence operator. Now that the case is over -- it's not something you've ever spoken to -- can you say whether you're at all disappointed in the behavior of those senior advisors? And have you communicated that disappointment to them in any way?

THE PRESIDENT: Michael, I -- first of all, the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision. Secondly, I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn't ask them during the time and I haven't asked them since.

I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person, and I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, I did it. Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But it's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House, and it's run its course and now we're going to move on.

Quick, someone call the Webster Dictionary folks, and have them insert Bush's picture under the words;

Clueless
In Denial
Head Up One's Ass

Secondly, I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn't ask them during the time and I haven't asked them since.

What the hell is this?

Is he inferring that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, somehow, in some way, coerced the testimony and statements implicating Cheney and Rove, and possible, himself?

Was he confusing Fitzgerald's method of conducting a lawful and legal investigation, following established U.S. laws and procedures, with the methods he has approved for interrogating prisoners at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib?

Does he believe that the "people throughout my administration" were tortured by Fitzgerald, therefore, the testimony they offered is unreliable and not to be believed?

" ... that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person ..."

Again, this in not some inanimate object.

We pointed out before that there was a real victim, a real person, that suffered terrible consequences as a result of "somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person ..."

"That person" is Valerie Plame, now former, covert CIA Agent, exposed, thanks to Bush, Cheney, Libby and Rove.

The persons that leaked her name, exposed her, blowing her covert cover include;

• Dick Cheney
• Scooter Libby
• Karl Rove
• Ari Fleischer
• Ricard Armitage
• Robert Novak
• Matthew Cooper
• Judy Miller

Wake the fuck up there, The Decider/The Commander/The Shakespeare Guy!

You'll be getting us thinking. Talk like this will have us adding, derisively, "Sherlock Holmes Guy" to you and your self-produced moniker list.

Bonus Links

Glenn Greenwald - Excerpt from Chapter 4 of A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency

Garlictorial: Happy 4th of July ... Okay, It May Be Down To This .... Citizen's Arrest!

Bonus Links II

Crooks and Liars - Bush blames Saddam for the US attack of Iraq and says: “there is a war fatigue in America”

Bonus Links III

Joe Conason - It's finally time for Bush to answer questions about Libby; Why not start with releasing the transcripts of Bush and Cheney's interviews with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald?

Washington Post: Commuting Libby's Sentence "Fair," Bush Says; For First Time, President Acknowledges Role of an Administration Official in Leak of CIA Operative

"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!

MLB All-Star Game ... Get Your Handy Baseball Primer, Right Here!

Don't be left out this evening.

Maybe you're hosting or attending a Major League Baseball All-Star Game party ... You'll be around hardcore fans and you know jack-shit about baseball ... You're nervous, fear-filled sweat pouring off you, like a Senator caught with a hooker...

No way can you work your Blackberry discreetly, searching through baseball sites or Googling the lingo, so you can be hip and flow with the conversation ...

Well, fear no more ...

Just read The Garlic's legendary essay;
Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?

You won't blurt out anything like "why don't they call it 4th base", or wonder the big deal between a starting pitcher and relief pitcher ... You learn the difference between "dugout" and "bullpen" ... Designated hitter and pinch hitter ... And why a battery in baseball has nothing to do with a perpetually-moving toy bunny, banging a drum ...

Get ready to enter the riveting and arcane world of baseball.

Here's just a small sampling of the testimonials that poured in.

“As you may know, I had to make a pretty big decision this past weekend and your baseball piece really helped chill me out and relax – Thanks!”
Katie Couric , NBC Today Show ... CBS Evening News


“While I enjoyed reading your ‘Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?’, I fear it could fuel an upswing in illegal immigration, unless this government starts protecting our borders.”
Lou Dobbs, CNN


Since I’ve been in a letter-writing mode lately, thought I’d drop you a note to say how much I enjoyed the baseball essay and how much I learned from it. Perhaps, someday, we’ll have the game over here (and with the stadium lights powered by our new nuclear energy!)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of Iran

I am going to give you a scoop.

After recently reading your post “Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?” I just had to quit Rocketboom, so I could begin my new career in baseball right away!

Amanda Congdon
Former Internet News Star

Bonus Links

Breaking News! ... Baseball Bombshell Expands Steroid Scandal; Giants’ Bonds Tests Positive For Landis Testosterone; Cyclist Said To Be Kingpin Of Lucrative Doping Ring, Selling His Own DNA
Politics and Sports Collide; Paperwork Mix-Up Has Feingold Censuring Bonds and MLB Investigating Bush
South Dakota Not Waiting, Bans All Home Runs; MLB Mulling Changing Status Of Home Runs In Wake Of New Bonds Allegations
Second Palmeiro Bombshell: Tests Positive For Cialis
Wheaties Official Breakfast Cereal of MLB; Box To Feature Steroids; Drops Bombshell In Break From Tradition Established in 1934

Introducing The Reaction!

Good Morning Garlic Fans

We have news, of sorts, to relay to you and it's pretty good (well, I certainly think so).

Michael Stickings, founder and chief writer of the blog north of the border, The Reaction, has invited yours truly to join his ranks as a guest blogger.

The Reaction says it is "A liberal blog on politics, philosophy, and culture -- sustained by Socratic pretensions, Straussian undertones, and an Arnoldian dedication to human excellence."

What that boils down to is that The Reaction is one, kick-ass blog.

On any given day, Stickings, along with the co-and-guest bloggers, including Libbby Spencer, Capt. Fogg and Edward Copeland (who has a killer film blog of his own) can be informative, ranting, silly, thoughtful, musing, prescient, or just downright raging.

It could be riffing on current events, highlighting the evil of The Commander Guy, despairing over Darfur, entertaining, with illuminating posts, such as the reoccurring "Signs of the Apocalypse" and "Just another day in the life and death of Iraq".

Even without the conflict-of-interest status as a guest blogger, I strongly recommend that you bookmark The Reaction and add it to your daily or weekly reading.

You won't be disappointed.

Peace
JTD

Go To The Reaction

Oxymoron of the Day: Karl Rove at an Idea Festival

Okay, Okay, I know, I know ... We could leave off the "oxy" part ...

Kind of had to do a double-take ...

A Smear Festival ... A Lying-About-Going-To War Festival... A Character Assassination Festival ...An Election-Rigging Festival ... A Covert CIA Outing Festival ... A U.S Attorney-Firing Festival ... A Math Festival ...

Those would be more plausible ... But an Ideas Festival? ...

Knock yourself out ...

Links

Karl Rove Gets Cheered and Jeered in Aspen

Rove Wins Hearts and Minds in Aspen

Rove takes questions on Iraq, CIA case

Rove speaks

Bonus Links

Rove Doing His Part to Help Shape a Positive Legacy for Bush

New book alleges Rove held secret Abramoff meetings; Stepfather's gay life explored

White House In Crises, As Rove Takes Credit For North Korean Nuke Test; Sources Say ‘Bush’s Brain” Weary From Sinking Polls, Fundraising; Too Tired To Come Up With New October Surprise

Trick Question - Which one is the brain?

For All We Know, Maybe Scooter Did Throw A Hissy Fit ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Move over Tenet, there's another lackey that's going to get his ...

At least, that is, if our Garlic Poll voters were advising The Commander Guy.

But wouldn't have been so sweet, to see the Scooter Man, tears running down his cheeks, slumped down in the back of the limo, crying out for his "Cheney, Cheney" ... And scaring the bejeezes out of television viewers, Mary Matalin with a screeching tirade on how unfair it was that Scooter had to go to jail ...

Ahhh, but that could only be a thought ... The reality came thundering down in the Quid Pro Quo delivered last week.

Who knows ... The Medal of Freedom could still be in the cards for Libby ...Some of the other guys who hatched this thing - now up to 4,000 casualties - already got one ... I mean, why should he be singled out as one of the only screw-ups not to get it?

Underlying Crime? ... Take Your Pick ...

The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll July 2 - July 8 2007

Instead of giving Scooter Libby clemency, President Bush Should Have ...

1. Treated him like others and award Libby the Medal of Freedom Tally 38%

2. Told him to throw a hissy fit, like Paris Hilton, so he could get House Detention Tally 26%

3. Handed him a Presidential Toothbrush for his prison stay Tally 23%

4. Pull some strings and let him serve his time in same prison as Jack Abramoff Tally 13%

This week’s Poll - President Bush believes that Executive Privilege is ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote

Retro Garlic: Sorry Rita, We Tried ... 7 New Wonders of the World Chosen

We don't know how close the voting was ... Maybe you were in it, fighting neck-and-neck ...

But, alas, Rita Cosby, you got pushed out - again.

The new 7 Wonders of the Worlds were announced and our daring and dashing news gal didn't make the cut, as The Garlic reported back in March 2007, that she still had a shot.

The Winning Wonders included;

• Chichén Itzá, Mexico
• Christ Redeemer, Brazil
• The Great Wall, China
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Petra, Jordan
• The Roman Coliseum, Italy
• The Taj Mahal, India

Perhaps it was the Olbermann comment, but we thought that would win you some sympathy votes.

Your dogged pursuit of former JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr surely must have brought some people over to your side of the column.

First you had "The Voice", then, inexplicably, you didn't.

And if only Dan Abrams didn't get cold feet, and launched that 24-Hour Anna Nicole Smith channel, you'd be sitting mighty pretty.

No response from Cosby, or her representatives, on not becoming a new World Wonder, or the speculation that Cosby will parlay her efforts into going after a new 7 Wonders of Nature title.

Links

7 New Wonders of the World Chosen











Dogged Pursuit but no title

Let's Hear It For The Quid Pro Quo ... New Garlic Song - Hush Little Libby

Well, we had to do something to feat the remarkable occasion, before the end-of-the-week.

It's not every day you witness the President of the United States work his end of-the-deal of a Quid Pro Quo, which, as we all know, is what down this past Monday afternoon.

The Bush Grindhouse was in peril.

One of there loyal own was about to be carted off to jail, despite the Bush Grindhouse's efforts to pack the courts with "their kind of judges".

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby did his part, back in 2002-2003, exposing covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame, kept doing his part, lying and obstructing justice during the subsequent investigation, in the Grand Jury, and completed his part during his trial earlier this year, by not calling his boss, the Vice President to testify, and by not testifying himself.

And he waited, if not nervously, patiently, through the sentencing and through the appeal to remain free on bond.

Then, without warning, The Commander Guy morphed into The Commutation Guy and Cheney could rest easy in his Secret Bunker, perhaps his first night, in many, without sleeping with the defibrillator nearby.

The Quid Pro Quo was complete.

Scooter Skates.

So, if he is going to skate, he needs a soundtrack, something he can groove and sway to as he rolls off into the sunset,

Everybody, sing along, it's an old school lullabye!

Hush Little Libby

Hush little Libby don't say a word
Cheney's gonna get your sentence deferred

If that Decider does his thing
It'll piss off the whole left wing

If the left wing bites our ass,
Cheney's gonna buy you a looking glass

If that looking glass gets broke,
Our asses will be covered by the Neocon folk

If those Neocon folk don't push,
We can just blame good ol' George W. Bush

And If George Bush doesn't fold his tent,
We can easily win this arguement

If the spin we spin won't bark,
Rove'll get Fredo to fire another shark

And if this deal just won't go down,
You'll still be the sweetest little liar in town

Bonus Links

Elizabeth de la Vega: Bush's Real Fourth of July Message to Nation: Unprintable

David Shuster dismantles Fouad Ajami’s comparison of Libby to our fallen soldiers

Impeachment Fever: America's Got It!

Update

John Dean: Bush’s Commutation Conflicts With His Own DoJ Guidelines














Libby and the Scooterettes

Of Blackboards, Chalk and Legacies ... The Constitutional Crises Continues

Okay, so it's been a holiday week, I should stifle my impatience that Congress hasn't filed the Impeachment papers, or the call for a Citizen's Arrest has gone down yet.

Everyone must be waiting for a clean news cycle to spring into action.

The Blackboard and Chalk Part

So much for the faulty memory.

It appears I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby remembered very clearly, that he better hustle his ass off and pay the $250,000 fine related to his felon conviction - and within 72-hours of being bailed out by The Commutation Guy - before anyone gets the wiser and messes up his "Hush and Keep Quiet" deal.

And, as Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise!", we have a legal kerfuffle brewing, thanks to The Commander Guy (just at the moment he was morphing into The Commutation Guy).

The presiding Judge, His Honor Reggie Walton, has pointed out to the Bush Grindhouse, of said felon, Scooter Libby, that the statute doesn't accommodate probation if a convicted felon doesn't serve any part of his sentence.

The Scooter Man didn't serve any part of his 30-Month sentence.

The Bush Grindhouse still insists that the commutation was legit and Libby is not receiving any special treatment.

So, speculation is this will be settled in the following manner;

Scooter Libby will stay after work, and write on a blackboard:

"I WILL NOT LIE OR OBSTRUCT JUSTICE" 500 times.

There. Done. Punished.

The Legacy Part

Boy, the legacy building is really tough these days, especially when you break the law, cloak your work in secrecy and, otherwise, don't do anything positive.

And he can't, technically, claim getting elected President on the Legacy Ledger - that was handed to him by the Supreme Court.

So, you compensate, right?

You build a new Iraq Embassy that could probably house a few dozen Spruce Gooses' (and, apparently, following Mr. Hughes' lead in using, how should we say, different materials).

You keep sending in troops - and even more mercanaries - to a war that was long lost.

And there's the arm-twisting whatever remains of his deluded supporters, to kick in big-time, for a presidential library.

The only mystery or suspense about what would be housed in a Bush Presidential Library, with his (or Cheney's) penchant for burying everything, is if there'll be a copy of 'My Pet Goat' in it.

But thanks to Glenn Greenwald yesterday, The Uniter/The Decider/The Commander Guy can peek at what awaits him, as he shallowly and embarassingly cuts the ribbon (assuming they don't put that out on a No-Bid Contract) on his post-Presidency whatever-you-call-it building.

The tragic collapse of America's standing in the world

And there's this caveat;

And in what is perhaps the most tragic aspect of the Bush legacy, large numbers of people around the world, over the last six years, have abandoned their belief in U.S. democratic values -- the exact opposite result, literally, of our ostensible objective in everything we have done in the last six years

Maybe we need to get Bush to write on a blackboard 500 times;

"I WILL NOT LIE, COOK INTEL, START PHONY WARS, ILLEGALLY WIRETAP, EXPOSE COVERT CIA AGENTS, FILL THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WITH CRONIES, ISSUE ANYMORE SIGNING STATEMENTS, OR IGNORE THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS"

Send chalk to:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Bonus Links

Lewis Libby owes his freedom to our corrupt political elite

Late Nite FDL: News Flash! They Don’t Hate Us for Our Freedom.

Washington, Lincoln Most Popular Presidents: Nixon, Bush Least Popular

Update

Arianna Huffington: Oh, the Hardship: It Takes Libby Nearly Three Days to Pay His Quarter Mil Fine

Frank Rich: When the Vice President Does It, That Means It’s Not Illegal