Friday’s Mini-Report

June 1, 2007

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Presidential Counselor Dan Bartlett, a key Bush insider for more than 13 years, announced this morning he will resign effective July 4. Bartlett has always struck me as a rather unimpressive hack, but my all-time favorite Bartlett moment was when he insisted, last October, that the White House had “never” had “a stay-the-course strategy.” It’s been that kind of presidency.

* Everyone on earth seems to realize that Alberto Gonzales needs to resign, but the embattled AG announced today that he intends to stay on through the end of Bush’s second term, in a “sprint to the finish line.” He said in a speech, “I know that I only have 18 months left in my term as attorney general, and that really does not feel like a lot of time to accomplish all of the goals that are important to me.” Reporters were kept away from the AG before and after his speech, and he did not respond to questions.

* Disputing widespread rumors about internal divisions, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Dick Cheney is completely on board with the administration’s diplomatic outreach to Iran. It was unclear whether she was trying to convince us or herself.

* Reader K.Z. has been trying to warn me that tensions between Kurds and Turks are getting increasingly serious, and I think he might be right: “Turkey’s top general said Thursday his army — which has been massing troops on the border with Iraq — was prepared to attack separatist Kurdish guerrillas in a cross-border offensive. Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said the military was ready and awaiting government orders for an incursion, putting pressure on the government to support an offensive that risks straining ties with the United States and Europe and raising tensions with Iraqi Kurds.” How does a tragedy get worse? This is certainly one way.

* Karl Rove was involved in the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D)? Apparently so.

* It looks like CNN’s Lou Dobbs doesn’t take criticism well. This week, after a critical piece in the NYT on Dobbs, the CNN personality referred to the paper as “commies” and “fascists,” before launching a wildly misleading defense of his xenophobic reports.

* The Bush gang thinks they might get another chance to name a Supreme Court nominee. Scary thought.

* The CIA won’t let Valerie Plame publish information that the CIA has already declassified.

* When Glenn Beck watched “A Beautiful Mind,” he apparently didn’t pick up on the scene in which John Nash succumbed to paranoid schizophrenia.

* Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has something to hide.

* Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) also has something to hide.

* Only one more season for Battlestar Gallactica? Apparently.

* I often wonder how some of these guys managed to get their own television show: “On the May 31 edition of Fox News’ The Big Story, host John Gibson said he was ‘mesmerized’ by what he called ‘[t]he TB Man story.’ … ‘It seems every time a story pops up about somebody who has suddenly contracted some strange or incurable disease, it’s somebody who is either from the third world, or was traveling through some godforsaken hellhole, and somehow managed to contract ooga booga fever.'”

* The Connecticut Post wants Lieberman and Shays to shut up about Iraq. Wouldn’t that be nice.

* Was NASA administrator Michael Griffin “kidding” about global warming? I don’t think so, but check out this page, and click on the red “listen” button near the top of the page. Does it sound like he’s kidding?

* Bushism of the Day: “We understand the fright that can come when you’re worried about a rocket landing on top of your home.” So true, so true.

* And finally, Sen. Wayne Allard’s (R-Colo.) office issued a press release yesterday saying, “First responders in Colorado have recently provided critical services in the face of blizzards and tornados. Since I don’t think first responders have really done anything significant in comparison to their counterparts who have dealt with real natural disasters, I have no idea what else to say here.” Allard spokesman Steve Wymer sent out a correction 23 minutes later that said. “Please pardon my typo in the first version of this release. I sincerely apologize for the error.” Oops.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Those who trash others are always outraged to be on the receiving end. Poor Lou Dobbs. Boo hoo.

  • Battlestar Galactica is the best thing to hit TV in at least 15 years, and it’s scared me at time how into the show I’ve gotten. But I’m not unhappy to hear that Season 4 is the end. A good portion of the last season was way, way below the (very high) bar they’d set for themselves in the first two years; in fact, the good stuff in Season Three was almost entirely concentrated in the first four and last two episodes. With the finish line in sight, I’m confident they’ll give the show the sendoff it deserves.

    (Of course, it’s going to be a little less exciting since we already know that Cheney is the 12th Cylon.)

    On another note, glad that CB points out the absurdity of the CIA–I’m guessing the “political” leadership, that is–quashing Plame’s memoir for the heinous sin of publishing information that’s already in the public domain. It’s like they think all of us work on the same memory hole/doublethink wavelength that they’ve embraced.

  • “it’s somebody who is either from the third world, or was traveling through some godforsaken hellhole, and somehow managed to contract ooga booga fever”

    That is so bloody offensive on so many levels. But Albino Rat boy Gibson is SOOOOOO right. It’s never the white self involved asshole who travels to Greece against doctor’s orders.

  • “Disputing widespread rumors about internal divisions, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Dick Cheney is completely on board with the administration’s diplomatic outreach to Iran. It was unclear whether she was trying to convince us or herself.”

    Uh oh, looks like the government with the foreign policy that speaks with multiple voices is struggling with multiple voices internally.

    Someone call a psychiatrist.

  • I’ll say Gonzales has some “goals he hasn’t accomplished yet.” A permanent repeal of habeas corpus, expanding the unwarranted surveillance database, getting those pesky U.S. attorneys to suppress Democratic votes and stop investigating Republican corruption, yada yada yada. So much to do, so little time.

  • Battlestar Galactica was not among my favorites because people who face death daily learn to crack jokes or the suicide rate goes way up.

  • * The Bush gang thinks they might get another chance to name a Supreme Court nominee. Scary thought.

    Beyond “scary”. Those of you who are believers, had better pray hard that the 4 judges who are holding the fort continue in robust health for at least the next 19 months. OTOH, if Scalia or Thomas wanted to retire/go into private sector, I’d have no objections.

  • I thought it might be great to continue “Battlestar Galactica” after they get to earth. I just hope none of the crew are carrying galactic TB.

  • In a fit of masochistic foolhardiness I listen to the whole of the ‘Bushism of the Day’ link. It was misery to the nth degree. I don’t mind their bonhomie and mutual back-patting, if that’s what they need, but what made me cringe and sweat was Blair at the end. If you haven’t listened to it — don’t, except you may not quite appreciate the misery I feel.

    Blair, in valedictory mode, in the space of a few minutes made The Bat seem, by comparison, an exemplar of coherence and eloquence, so you can imagine how abysmally bad it was. He spluttered and stumbled and dodged around the truth that he could not speak to the point of almost choking.

    The sound of what he could not say all but burst my eardrums. What he could not say was that the primary and only uniting force of the Blair-Bat alliance was religion. What they consorted to inflict on the world was none other than a religious war. It’s often been observed that the invasion of Iraq was driven by Crusader zeal. At root it is undoubtedly so, however it may be dressed up in fancy disguise. How these villains can utter the word ‘peace’, which they do repeatedly, and not be struck dead on the spot is beyond my comprehension.

    They applaud each other’s courage yet are incapable of voicing their true motivation, which is a pernicious form religious do-goodery. They claim lofty idealism for the benefit of humanity, yet fail to level honestly with the people in front of them. It makes me sick.

    They extol democracy, yet ignore the wish of their citizens when it is voiced unmistakably. The extol freedom, yet devise ever nastier forms of torture, repression and incarceration. They extol justice, yet obstruct, deny and remove the rights of others.

    Does power really corrupt, or are we collectively paying a devilish price for unrecognized or unidentifiable sins? Why are there so few good leaders? I can think of maybe half a dozen at most: Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mahatma Gandhi, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Javier Solana, Kofi Annan. There must be more. Blair and The Bat, for me, are not among them.

  • I cannot get with Battlestar Galactica. I keep waiting for the establishing shot of the bobblehead doll who’s POV the show is shot from. The hand held, jittery cam works for a show like 24. In outer space? Where are those ‘internal dampeners’ when you need them?
    Science fiction takes a giant step backwards.

  • Battlestar Galactica was not among my favorites because people who face death daily learn to crack jokes or the suicide rate goes way up.
    Comment by Jessica Flowers — 6/1/2007 @ 5:56 pm

    The same could be said about people who have to face the daily news wrought by the Bush Administration.

    A stiff upper lip will only leave you cleft-fallen….
    Er, I mean crestfallen…

    Humor = Serenity

    Serenity… is what it is all about baby…

  • Was NASA administrator Michael Griffin “kidding” about global warming? I don’t think so, but check out this page, and click on the red “listen” button near the top of the page. Does it sound like he’s kidding?

    Here’s one way to find out:

    Ask him: Did human beings once frolic with dinosaurs?

    What?
    You think that is an unfair question?
    Nah… they asked him that when he applied for the job….

  • “On the May 31 edition of Fox News’ The Big Story, host John Gibson said he was ‘mesmerized’ by what he called ‘[t]he TB Man story.’ … ‘It seems every time a story pops up about somebody who has suddenly contracted some strange or incurable disease, it’s somebody who is either from the third world, or was traveling through some godforsaken hellhole, and somehow managed to contract ooga booga fever.’”

    How else do you expect them to maintain their cred (with the backwoods bigots, I mean)?

    They have to say stuff like this.

  • Only one more season for Battlestar Gallactica?

    Good. Thanks God!!!

    This last season wasn’t even as “good” as the absolutely-dreadful third season of original Trek (remember the “Yangs” and “Coms” episode?). Talk about a failure of writing!! I turned off half the episodes because it was that or throw up, and I am still trying to answer WTF? to that season ender. Talk about “we ran out of ideas and just threw this one up there,” god that was bad! The first episodes of the season, when they made us look at Iraq – with the humans as the Iraqis and the Cylons as the United States – were what makes great science fiction great. And the rest was just a balloon with a slow leak.

    As an example of what I am talking about as to why the BSG ending was awful, allow me to point you to the example of the season ender of “Heroes.” Right up to the last minute, when Nathan arrived to save the day, one wasn’t sure what would happen, but as each point was made, you said “Yeah! right!” And particularly so with the end with the brothers – it had been set up in episode 1 and carried through. That’s how you do it when you know how to frickin’ write. Surprising? Yes. But completely “right” because it was always there.

    I doubt I’ll be wasting my time on that last season. There’s enough bad crap out there, I don’t need to watch the crapification of something I really loved.

    YMMV.

    Yer Hollwierd Reporter

  • “Please pardon my typo in the first version of this release. I sincerely apologize for the error.” Oops.

    Translation:

    Not only am I an insulting dickhead, I’m an insulting dickhead who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word typo.

    This little episode sums up everything I loathe about the ReFucklicans. To these arsehats Personal Responsibility means “Things my personal assistant is responsible for doing.” They’re such moral blackholes they can’t think, much less say “My gods, I fucked up badly.” or “That was a shitty thing to say/do, can you please forgive me?”

    They say “You misconstrued my comments.” or call written statements “Typos.”

    Here’s a “typo” for ya: Fuck you, you fucking fucks!

    Damn, my fingers slipped.

    Re: Turkey. Yeah. Things have been unpleasant for a while and got ugly when the Turkish accused Kurds of the bombing. Now we’re speeding along towards hideous.

    Thanks to the Commando Guy it will be easy for Turkey to say “Hey, we think these guys are connected to this bombing or they know someone who is or anyway they’re terrists, so bombing runs will begin in five hours.” And the occupying forces will be able to do what about it?

    Oh yes. Nothin’.

    The only thing that could make this worse right now is the pResident opening his big fucking mouth. If Turkey does invade I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted some sort of counter attack. Perhaps a few bombs will “accidentally” land in Iran.

  • “it’s somebody who is either from the third world, or was traveling through some godforsaken hellhole, and somehow managed to contract ooga booga fever”

    In 1986 I picked up “ooga booga” fever in that godforsaken hellhole Chicago, Il. I found that that the US has a large investment in a long-standing nation-wide system of treatment for TB.

  • “We understand the fright that can come when you’re worried about a rocket landing on top of your home.”

    That very thought used to keep awake at night, but ever since I stocked up on duck tape and plastic wrap it hasn’t bothered me. Or maybe it’s the comfort of sleeping with all that canned tuna under the bed? Whatever.

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