A Bruce Willis Moment?

Will George Bush's 'Walter Cronkite' moment come from Bruce Willis? Today's Daily Dish:

Things must be pretty dire for the Republicans if even Bruce Willis is bailing on them.

...

"Please write this," said Willis, who has voiced support for the war in Iraq and appeared at the White House with President Bush. "I'm always being accused of being a Hollywood Republican — but I'm not!"

Finally!

As a small business owner, I have gotten so sick of GOP yap about how great the economy is doing, and the press dutifully reporting it as if it were true.

Finally someone reports that not everyone agrees: GOP talk of vibrant economy rings hollow

In the Ohio River Valley, where people decry high gas prices, stagnant wages, lost jobs and factory closures, many don't buy the claim that the economy is humming along.

"Outrages upon human dignity"

Josh:

If you were to pick the single greatest hypocrisy of the Bush Presidency, wouldn't it have to be this: that the man who ostentatiously claims Jesus as his favorite philosopher (he of "do unto others as ye would have them do unto you" fame) would say, in all seriousness, "Common Article III says that there will be no outrages upon human dignity. It's very vague. "What does that mean, 'outrages upon human dignity'?"

You know, with most people, you could say "oh, that's one of those things where you'll know it when you see it." Unfortunately, Bush needs it spelled out. Keep in mind this is the guy who thinks farting on subordinates is funny.

Bargion

This is my new pet. His name is Bargion. He's a Gnorbu. I have no idea how to feed him. I tried to give him a toy and he screamed and ran away. Perhaps I'm not the best person to care for Bargion, but he's mine now. Get your own neopet here.

Woooooot

Yeah.

You Are Most Like John F. Kennedy

You live a fairy tale life that most people envy. And while you may have a few dark secrets, few people know them.

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

What neopet are you?

If I were a Neopet... I'd be a Kacheek! Kacheeks are a shy little species that live in the lush meadows of Neopia. They will avoid violence whenever possible and love to make new friends.

Which Neopet are you? Visit http://www.retrograde.org/quizzes/neopets/ to find out!

Moats are back!

Trenches plan to secure Baghdad

Iraq's interior ministry has announced plans to increase security in Baghdad by digging trenches around the city, and surrounding it with checkpoints.

Buy stock in portcullis manufacturers.

Football more appealing than lies.

ABC's agitpropudrama eschewed by viewers in favor of football.

So, lessee... ABC spends 40 million dollars to curry favor with a regime that only thirty percent of the people approve of? Shareholders, how do you like that investment?

New Kid in the Hall

Oh, he didn't say that! Saddam:

"Congratulations! you are in a cage, Saddam," witness Ghafour Hassan Abdullah said as he stared at the ousted president. Hussein later lashed out at "agents of Iran and Zionism" in the courtroom and vowed to "crush your heads."

Improve your life by lying

Lies and the lying liars:

U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren't counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country's sectarian violence.

In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution.

That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July.

City Administrators, take note. If you want to 'prove' that your city's homicide rate hsa gone down, just stop counting women victims, since 'homicide' is clearly 'the killing of a man'.

Or if you don't think that will fly, say your 'murder' rate went down by reclassifying everything that did not involve a firearm as a 'homicide'. See how easy it is?

Happy 40th, Star Trek

Gridlock looking pretty good

New polling:

Respondents were asked "next year, it is possible that the country will have a Republican president and a Democratic Congress. Do you think that is more likely to result in more cooperation between the two parties or more likely to result in more gridlock and stalemate in the government?"

Seventy percent expect "gridlock and stalemate" while 27 percent believe there would be "cooperation between the two parties." Three percent had no opinion. Half the sample, or 502 people, was asked the gridlock question.

Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said they think it would be good for the country "if the Democrats in Congress were able to conduct official investigations into what the Bush administration has done in the past six years." Forty-one percent said such probes would be bad for the country. Half of the sample was asked this question, also.

At the same time, 69 percent said Bush should not be impeached or removed from office, with 30 percent saying he should be impeached or removed from office. One percent had no opinion. A total of 1,004 adults was asked the questions about impeachment.

People think a democratic congress will result in gridlock and yet... suddenly that looks a lot better than the alternative.

The most amazing part is the 30% who think he should be impeached. Without any actual charges being on the table, the sheer stench of incompetence and corruption is enough for 30 percent. What would that figure be with some proof that the war that 69% of the population opposes is illegal?

Mine's bigger

Alpha males cluster around a collection of phallic symbols, eager to identify with the largest.

Personal DNA

Considerate Inventor

Bush's bestest friends

The Saudis:

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Officials are considering an unprecedented proposal to ban women from performing the five Muslim prayers in the immediate vicinity of Islam's most sacred shrine in Mecca. Some say women are already being kept away.

Yeah, I judge people by who their friends are. You do too. So why are we propping up these dinosaurs again?

Cooper. Anderson Cooper.

Just when I thought there was an upper limit to Anderson's adorableness, nasty gossip Radar outs him as a former CIA college intern. He acknowledges the connection on his own blog. Fave quote: "Oh, yeah, in case you're interested, after I graduated college, I briefly worked as a waiter, but I decided not to make a career out of that job either."

Eat the Press' Rachel Sklar puts it best:

Second scoopy day at RadarOnline: Today, they add to our Anderson Cooper fantasy fodder by revealing that actually, that might be a gun in his pocket: Turns out our AndyCoop once trained to be in the CIA! Apparently young Anderson spent his summers after sophomore and junior year at Yale at Langley "in a program for students interested in intelligence work." No word on whether he packed heat. Apparently that was it for Anderson, who decided against a career of parachuting into treacherous situations in war-torn regions abroad. Oh, wait.

Let's face it - the only reason no one's made a movie of his life yet is because there are no actors good looking enough to play him.

These guys run the country?

From Sully, via Wonkette:

Soon after Rove moved into his new office in the West Wing, previously occupied by Hillary Clinton, he invited three top Catholic priests to conduct a ceremony to purge the room of evil spirits. "It was an actual liturgical ceremony," says participant Deal Hudson. "We sat at the table, we prayed. A priest said a series of prayers, including a blessing."

Although I guess I'm a fine one to talk... if Karl Rove were ever in a room that I had control over, the first thing I'd do after he left was light the sage stick and smudge, smudge, smudge.

Bogeyman, no.

White House backs Rumsfeld, says he's no bogeyman

War criminal? yes.

Tony Snow, motherfucker of invention

Well, pardon my language, but honestly...

"There have been some in the Democratic Party who have argued against the Patriot Act, against the terror surveillance program, against Guantanamo. In other words, there are some people who say that we shouldn't fight the war, we should not detain -- we shouldn't apprehend al Qaeda, we shouldn't detain al Qaeda, we shouldn't question al Qaeda, and we shouldn't listen to al Qaeda. In other words, they're all for winning the war on terror, but they're all against -- they're against providing the tools for winning that war.

In other words, Tony, there's not a thing wrong with dictatorship and you wish people would quit pretending there is. You asshole.

War Criminals try to legalize war crimes

Fuck. Just fuck it. These guys can't get any sleazier, can they?

The US War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a felony to commit grave violations of the Geneva Conventions. The Washington Post recently reported that the Bush administration is quietly circulating draft legislation to eliminate crucial parts of the War Crimes Act. Observers on The Hill say the Administration plans to slip it through Congress this fall while there still is a guaranteed Republican majority--perhaps as part of the military appropriations bill, the proposals for Guantánamo tribunals or a new catch-all "anti-terrorism" package. Why are they doing it, and how can they be stopped?

Pathetic

Simply pathetic. The FBI, unable to catch terrorists, decides to just make their own.

Court papers show that Stewart is a convicted rapist with a long arrest record for other serious crimes. On April 11, with FBI cameras rolling, Stewart and Batiste sat in the Miami warehouse and discussed opening a shop to sell marijuana and drug pipes. They smoked marijuana as they talked, and Stewart revealed his plan to build a Moorish nation of 10,000 people.

Stewart wanted to make his wife, whom he called Queen Zakiyaah, an ambassador of the Moorish nation so she could not be detained by U.S. authorities. He said Moorish soldiers would wear green uniforms and become expert with bows and arrows. They would undergo night training that included jumping from a bridge into water 20 feet below.

Bunch of guys with arrested development sitting in the treehouse pretending they're Robin Hood battling the Sheriff of Nottingham. Oo, scare me!

Must Read

I Know This Little Boy In New Orleans

Size doesn't matter

Friends protest Pluto's demotion

Seriously.

Too little, too damned late

From NYTimes:

Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, is struggling to steer the Republican Party to victory this fall at a time when he appears to have the least political authority since he came to Washington, party officials said.

I'd enjoy the schadenfreude more if he hadn't already done so much to damage the country that there's no telling how long it's going to take to fix it.

John is SUCH a tease

From Americablog:

Republican DUI offender running for Senate in Washington state Not to be confused with the married Pennsylvania Republican who tried to strangle his mistress, or the Republican congressman who likes to send sexually suggestive emails to underage male pages (that scandal hasn't broken yet - but I've seen the emails).