Tuesday, May 13, 2003

The Manchurian Candidate revisited Amazing isn’t it how the librul media simply can’t find the time to tell us that the Chinese “Mata Hari” was a prominent and prolific GOP fundraiser?   And this was not peripheral either, she was involved BIG TIME (as Cheney would say) both in fundraising and in smearing Clinton and Gore – to wit, she was sleeping with the FBI agent in charge of the Buddhist “fundraising” scam – and believe me, the scam had nothing to do with any fundraising (of which there was none) but in manufacturing false innuendo against Democrats.   Atrios at Eschaton has been great on this, but Josh has really picked up the ball here, here, here and here.   Why would the Chi-Coms prefer the GOP in charge?   Or do they just prefer numbskulls… particularly a corrupt, privileged numbskull whose dad used to be ambassador to China (as well as head of the CIA)? 9:53:37 PM

The Manchurian Candidate Sounds like Dubya to these folks, who know propaganda, intimidation and the cult of personality first-hand.   Brezhnev, Bush and Baghdad by Nina Khrushcheva   Many Russians who fled Brezhnev's USSR because they could not speak freely are in a state of shock in today's America. One is Roman Kaplan, an intellectual from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and the owner of the "Russian Samovar," a famous New York City restaurant for Russians and East Europeans (visitors and immigrants alike), which he opened in 1986 together with two icons of the Soviet immigration, the late poet Joseph Brodsky and the dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. "America was our dreamland, the last frontier of freedom," Kaplan said. "Where do we go now? I can't believe I left the Soviets thirty years ago to end up in Brezhnevland here!"   In 1991 I too left the Soviet Union to embrace America's freedom (not so much political--Gorbachev's glasnost was in full bloom then), but a freedom to be myself regardless of politics. Today I ask myself the same question, "Where do we go now?"…   George Orwell was right: "All propaganda lies even when it tells the truth." As much as newspeak was a signature of the Kremlin, it is an equally apt description of today's White House. Its resolute war message is similar to Brezhnev's insistence on the superiority of socialism: Both lack public debate and are handled top-down. 9:36:31 PM

Here’s a Dem I could vote for… …why aren’t more of them going on the attack like this?   Sen. Bob Graham, a Democratic presidential candidate, accused the Bush administration Tuesday of laxity in the war on terror, and said its failure to dismantle al Qaeda contributed to the deadly attack against U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia….   Graham also charged that the administration had failed to act on information that might have averted the September 11, 2001 attacks. "That failure to act contributed to September 11 and the failure to act today continues [to put] Americans in a vulnerable circumstance," said Graham.   When pressed on what the administration knew before September 11, Graham said he could not be specific because the information is still classified. He said the administration is labeling much information as such because it is "embarrassing" to the White House.   Are they waiting for the teacher to award them the presidency for good manners and perfect attendance? After all, look where it got Al Gore… 9:26:44 PM

If the media is so damn liberal …then why aren’t they yapping about this?   The 75th Exploitation Task Force, as the group is formally known, has been described from the start as the principal component of the U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. The group's departure, expected next month, marks a milestone in frustration for a major declared objective of the war.   Leaders of Task Force 75's diverse staff -- biologists, chemists, arms treaty enforcers, nuclear operators, computer and document experts, and special forces troops -- arrived with high hopes of early success. They said they expected to find what Secretary of State Colin L. Powell described at the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 -- hundreds of tons of biological and chemical agents, missiles and rockets to deliver the agents, and evidence of an ongoing program to build a nuclear bomb.   Scores of fruitless missions broke that confidence, many task force members said in interviews.   Gee, even our own guys can’t find what Junior and Powell and Blair claim was as obvious as the nose on your face… but you wouldn’t know this from watching the nightly news, would you?   U.S. Central Command began the war with a list of 19 top weapons sites. Only two remain to be searched. Another list enumerated 68 top "non-WMD sites," without known links to special weapons but judged to have the potential to offer clues. Of those, the tally at midweek showed 45 surveyed without success.   Task Force 75's experience, and its impending dissolution after seven weeks in action, square poorly with assertions in Washington that the search has barely begun.   But they didn’t lie to us about a blow job, now did they – so I guess all is forgiven… NOT! 9:22:08 PM

Small pox anyone? Why does it sound from this article as if the whole small pox inoculation scam was something the GOP tried to piggy-back on 9/11?   Maybe because even health care workers are refusing to sing up for this tin-foil-hat lunacy?   And what does it say when the administrators feel they have to coerce people to take the inoculation – using bully tactics straight from the Karl Rove (if you don’t you’re as bad as Saddam or Tom Daschle!)?   Why? Won’t logic suffice?   Remember, this whole scam is brought to you by the same people who devised the swine flu vaccine scenario under Ford… there, now don’t you feel better?   Didn’t think so… 9:13:37 PM

Who’s smackin’ who? No doubt you’ve already heard about this story – the sportwriter with the quick lip and brain cramp.   I agree with many that what Ryan said was stupid, arrogant and he deserved to get called on it. Heavens knows the airwaves and print media are already awash with too much venom and too little content.   That having been said I also agree with what seems to be the majority that of the punishment was far too harsh. A month suspension without pay? This is way out of line - a heartfelt, public apology, perhaps a column devoted to examining why what he said was wrong, stupid and gratuitous would have been enough. As many have noted, Kidd himself was not subject to anything as stringent (although he did spend a night in jail and is subject to continuing public shame).   However, I have to laugh when people attribute the Globe's overreaction to the power of "liberals" to enforce Political Correctness. This is the same Globe that shielded and coddled Mike Barnicle, right? This is the same Globe that seems intent to make a mountain out of a mole-hill with regard to John Kerry's Jewish heritage, right?   It sounds to me like someone at the Globe had a bead on Ryan and is simply using this as an opportunity to act on it, rather than some mythical "all-powerful liberals" enforcing PC silence. After all, if Ryan had "only" said that he wanted to smack Barbara Streisand, Hillary Clinton or the Dixie Chicks he might well have had his own program on radio, MSNBC or Fox by now in addition to his regular Globe gig. 9:05:19 PM

Sorry - I've been busy But I will be back soon - promise! 8:01:16 PM