Thursday’s Mini-Report

February 1, 2007

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Many of you spoke about Molly Ivins’ death in yesterday’s Mini-Report, but I wanted to add what a loss this is to the American discourse. Ivins was nothing short of a national treasure. Her combination of wit, strength, and intelligence was unrivaled in the national media. To say that she will be missed is a spectacular understatement — Molly Ivins was a once-in-a-generation voice, taken from us far too soon. There are plenty of tributes available, but I found the Texas Observer’s to be the most inspiring.

* In more encouraging news, doctors treating Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) said today that he’s “using limited full sentences and initiating conversation with his family and therapists” — and is able to read. Philip Marion, director of George Washington University Hospital’s Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, said Johnson was put through a reading test that showed “he is comprehending written material and successfully following written commands,” according to the news release from Johnson’s Senate office.

* My other gig has changed names. Starting today, the Daou Report on Salon.com is officially The Blog Report.

* Former Vice President Al Gore has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize by some pretty serious people.

* Right-wing blowhard Rush Limbaugh has also been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize by some pretty unserious people.

* Virginia moved forward on Wednesday to apologize for slavery, something no president or legislature has done.

* Apparently, when the media tries to read Hillary Clinton’s mind, they end up contradicting themselves.

* Wal-Mart apparently came up with a scheme to cut its own taxes by several hundred million dollars by paying itself rent for its own stores, and then claiming a deduction in the 25 states in which it’s legal.

* Congrats to Shakespeare’s Sister’s Melissa McEwan for her new job as a blogger for John Edwards’ campaign. (On a related note, because a couple of readers have asked, I almost certainly will not be working for any presidential campaign in ’08).

* Congrats also to Glenn Greenwald, whose blog has been picked up by Salon.com. Glenn joins a select group — Kevin Drum, Andrew Sullivan, Mickey Kaus, James Wolcott — whose sites have made the transition from solo blogs to in-house blogs for a major publication. (Should any high-profile publications be interested in picking up The Carpetbagger Report, my door is always open….)

* Rick Santorum argued that, as a result of nationalized health care, cancer survival rates in Canada are a third of what they are in the U.S. Unfortunately, Santorum doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

* News about Ground Zero illnesses don’t get nearly the attention they deserve: “After five years, doctors have definitively established a link between work at ground zero and chronic respiratory illness; a study published last fall by the largest monitoring program for post-9/11 workers found nearly 70 percent were likely to have lifelong breathing problems. But experts have been slower to officially link deaths to the exposure, saying it is easy to misinterpret some diseases, like cancer, as being connected to ground zero when other factors may be at play.”

* At least someone is benefiting from Bush’s economy: “Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion.”

* And, finally, here’s your Bushism of the Day: “And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.”

If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

So what’s this I hear about some al Qaeda Teen Hunger Force planting bombs in Boston? Did Homeland Security raise the terror level for those little electronic images of bin Laden giving us the finger? Or was this just another example of corporate terrorism at work. Why does Time Warner hate America? Can we bring the troops home to protect the homeland from guerilla marketers, I mean they are guerillas aren’t they? … so many questions.

  • (Should any high-profile publications be interested in picking up The Carpetbagger Report, my door is always open….)


    Resistance is futile. The CarpetBorg will eventually assimilate the entire blog-o-sphere. Crooks and Liars? Check. Political Animal? Check. The Blog (nee Daoa) Report? Assimilated. As a loyal drone of the CarpetBorg collective, I’ve got no complaints. It’s the natural order of things.

    But seriously? It’s just a matter of time.

  • Old Glory no longer stands for what it used to. The braindead honkey still hasn’t grasped the fact that his country was given away. We are living in the transition of dissolution, nothing more. When Honkey people no longer have influence, ye olde Constitution will be little more than ancient toilet paper, but the boobs dream on, as does any pot smoker. More jobs are vaporizing as US Tax Returns are now being processed in India. The gates are wide open and we are “defending” America by waging war on the other side of the planet. Perhaps it’s time for Congress to declare a moratorium and revamp the entire government so that it is a REAL democracy, not just hype and sophomoric babble, and let the people VOTE on whether they want to blow up the rest of the world and contaminate them with degeneracy. Otherwise it’s idiotic to impose a democracy on others which we do not have ourselves.

  • (Should any high-profile publications be interested in picking up The Carpetbagger Report, my door is always open….)

    But what publications would be worthy?

    Vanity Fair? nah.

    Harpers heh.

    The New Yorker? maybe.

    Actually the last one isn’t too bad…

  • petorado, i too was waiting for the open thread to touch on the Boston hysteria. Now, I know if I was a terrorist (which, just to be clear to the NSA types monitoring my keystrokes, I am not) I’m sure that I’d call attention to my bombs by putting modernized Lite-Brite screeens on them of a moon man flipping everyone off. The extra time, effort, and cost would be well worth it just to add the insult to injury.

    Not.

    this whole thing strikes me as extremely silly. all of the over-the-top rhetoric about how terrible Turner was to do this. . . I’m sure it never once crossed their minds “could some paranoid people look at this and think it is an explosive device?” geez, some of the energy drinks in long, slender, dark colored cans look like pipe bombs, too. when i see those in some skatepunk’s hands should I call in an F-16 strike?

    seriously, when Aqua Mutant Ninja Spongebob or whatever it is shuts down a major city, the terrorists really have won.

  • RIP Molly. We will never see your like again, and I will honor your memory by doing whatever I can to make sure the Democrats pound wooden stakes through the slimeballs you went after with such flair. I will do as you asked in your final column:

    We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, “Stop it, now!”

    Her editor speaks most eloquently of her:

    http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins.html?columnsName=miv

  • #1 petorado: They committed the unforgivable sin of showing the people entrusted with the public safety as world class buffoons. Judging from what the DA said, they want to hammer those 2 guys over it.

    That said, Time-Warner has some explaining to do, and should be responsible for whatever costs Boston’s Bozo Squad incurred. Outdoor advertising usually requires a permit, and is reviewed for zoning. If T-W went through these steps, they’re home free. Boston’s idiots look even dumber. If they didn’t? Hammer them. I’m fed up with people who think they have a God given right to slap an advertisement anywhere they can possibly reach. But blaming 2 employees for Boston’s stoopidity only makes Boston look stoopider.

  • Gore winning the Peace Prize is amazing. Europe’s candidate for the President of the United States. At least we’d be back as “Leader of the Free World” if he won.

  • Regarding the business in Boston, quite frankly I am not going to get my knickers in a twist defending World Class Stoopid. As someone in “da biz,” I have to say – Terrorist Schmerrorist, the fooking moron at Turner who said yes to this stupidity needs to be thrown from the roof of the building, several times to be sure he’s dead. I can just imagine the Ivy League halfwits masquerading as “studio executives” who approved this. From what I have heard from friends who live in Boston, the two nitwits who were hanging the stuff around the city pretty much hung themselves when they were shown on television laughing about it in court. And people wonder where the term “Generation Y-bother” comes from. They were pretty aptly described as “the kind that hang out on craigslist looking for a gig to pay for drugs with.”

    In a world full of too goddamned many stupid people, one can only hope these two can be prevented from spawning.

  • On another site, someone noted that Rush’s a member of the board of the organization that is nominating him for the Nobel Viagra Prize. So, in a roundabout way, Rush is nominating himself.

    Why doesn’t Ex-sen Sperm, Lube’n Shit do what most defeated pols do and disappear into obscurity? It used to burn me up that what RW assholes like him spread all this shit about Canada’s HC system. Yes, it is NOT perfect. I’d be the first one to say that. However, it does the basics rather well so I can’t complain.

    Oh well, I can’t get to whipped up about it. Who can take a guy who is the byproduct of anal sex all that seriously anyway?

  • #10 Tom? As much as usually agree with about every word you say, I can’t see hanging these 2 kids out to dry. How can you not laugh at the jaw dropping stoopidity of shutting down a major US city because some Barny Fief mistook a vintage Lite-Brite toy for a ‘terrorist device’?

    For me, the only question is whether T-W had the proper permits – which I seriously doubt. We’re not talking about a local rock and roll band stapling fliers to telephone poles. There’s no excuse for T-W not to get the required permits. They should pay out the nose for it, too.

    But the 2 kids? I agree they didn’t help their cause, but you have to admit the whole thing is pretty funny.

  • a study published last fall by the largest monitoring program for post-9/11 workers found nearly 70 percent were likely to have lifelong breathing problems

    Wow, great job leading during that time, Rudy Giliani. He’s like a pre-Katrina Chertoff or Brown, or Bush.

    What did he read instead of My Pet Goat?

  • And, finally, here’s your Bushism of the Day
    CB, did it occur to you that he might have been very serious about it, and that it is the one thing he has done well in his entire career?

  • Re: the thing in Boston,

    Cops shouldn’t always fuck someone else over as the scapegoat for their own over-reacting. If we have bad cops people should get to know about it and we should have better cops. I can’t blame all those guys who heard by word-of-mouth what someone else told them was going on, but at some point someone should have said, ok, this is getting out of hand, this is not for real at all. Someone should have called a halt to the thing.

  • Right-wing blowhard Rush Limbaugh has also been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize by some pretty unserious people.

    First, Nobel Peace Prize nominations are supposed to be kept secret. As such, they are impossible to verify, and easy to claim. That goes for Gore, too.

    Second, here’s an interesting way Rush Limbaugh is an asshole: on Wednesday, he debunked global warming by pointing to a news story about deep snow in Anchorage, Alaska driving moose onto city streets. Now, Rush was actually making a legitimate point that anecdotes about the weather are not evidence of global warming. Fair enough. What I wonder, since I didn’t hear his show today, is did he follow up on another story from Anchorage, about ice sculptures melting after one week in above-freezing temperatures? (It was 41 degrees F in Anchorage on Tuesday.)

  • Rush Limbaugh wasn’t nominated. It should be put in quotes ala “nominated”. This is the same way we ended up with the douchebag doctor in the Schiavo case claiming to be a Nobel nominated medical doctor for his work on rehabiliatation, and people that didn’t know any better assumed it meant something. He was nominated by some congressmen.

    At least the people claiming Gore was nominated choose a group that actually has the official power to nominate. Also it appears as if there are on record quotes from them saying they nominated him which gives it a pretty official impritatur.

  • Don’t worry, CB … this place will get picked up some time (although the Daou Blog Report kind of gives you a forum already, so … ).

    Just allow comments and, within those, HTML. That’s all I ask.

  • (“using limited full sentences and initiating conversation with his family and therapists” — and is able to read.)

    Even at this stage, Sen Tim Johnson is in better condition than the president.

    • Comments are closed.