Thursday, June 10, 2004

G8 Vacation The G8 Summit is currently being held in Sea Island, Georgia, the "playground of the Southern rich." However, the vast majority of journalists covering the Summit are being housed 80 miles away in Savannah, Georgia, at the International Media Center. A couple of pool reporters were invited to Sea Island itself, where they enjoyed neck and back massages from Andrew Card, lounged in a seven-bedroom house with sunroom, jukebox, and pool, and watched to their delight world leaders dressed in business casual, racing around in golf carts. Postscript: New Haven, CT, is about 80 miles from New York City. Perhaps that's where the GOP should put reporters during the convention. 5:13:05 PM    comment [] False Christs After reading this article on the coronation of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, attended by a good number of U.S. congressmen, I would suggest that the Rapture Index raise the "False Christ" category to a 5. Cut to the ritual. Eyes downcast, a man identified as Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) is bringing a crown, atop a velvety purple cushion, to a figure who stands waiting austerely with his wife. Now Moon is wearing robes that Louis XIV would have appreciated. All of this has quickly been spliced into a promo reel by Moon's movement, which implies to its followers that the U.S. Congress itself has crowned the Washington Times owner. But Section 9 of the Constitution forbids giving out titles of nobility, setting a certain tone that might have made the Congressional hosts shy about celebrating the coronation on their websites. They included conservatives, the traditional fans of Moon's newspaper: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA.), Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and Republican strategy god Charlie Black, whose PR firm represents Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. But there were also liberal House Democrats like Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) and Davis. Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) later told the Memphis Flyer that he'd been erroneously listed on the program, but had never heard of the event, which was sponsored by the Washington Times Foundation. Rep. Curt Weldon's office tenaciously denied that the Congressman was there, before being provided by The Gadflyer with a photo depicting Weldon at the event, found on Moon's website. Surely the Rapture is just around the corner. Trust me, read the article. [Link via Atrios] 1:14:41 PM    comment [] Reagan Fries? Following the precedent set by Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, the Ronald Reagan Freeway, and the U.S.S. Reagan, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R - Tennessee) has introduced a bill to rename the Pentagon the "Ronald Reagan National Defense Building." I wonder what Grover Norquist's Reagan Legacy Project has next on the agenda. [Link via Cursor.] 12:58:37 PM    comment []

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