If Only This Were True...

... and John Kerry wasn't pretty much endorsing the president's misguided efforts in Iraq. Instead, in a sane world, he'd be truly committed to peace, and might really dress this way.

Beyond Explanation

What is "beyond explanation"? Why I find this oft-printed photo of John Bolton to be so damn funny.

The whole adjusting-the-glasses thing gives him a certain owlish absurdity. Like a cartoon character. Like his entire head was assembled like a Mr. Potatohead: Noggin, white mustache, glasses, right hand to hold glasses, and giant hair thing that looks very much like an enormous wig -- each a separate molded plastic piece, assembled into what has become the worst nomination for a senior diplomatic post in the history of the human race. It's ridiculous moves like this (of which there have been 343,762,234,774,234,2134.45adfa,453,123.05 since 2001) that convince me of the president's desire to bring about a global religious war -- the Biblical end of days or something. Crazy.

Zell Miller Doll

Kinda funny.

War? What War?

"Today on MSN - Donuts: Worse than Bagels?"

Transparent, Yet Unreported

Meant to write something about this earlier. Remember last week when The New York Times published a long piece about the torture and killing of two detainees at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan? President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the U.S., as he should have, in advance of his trip to meet with President Bush.

But then - surprise! - a day later, an anonymous U.S. official just happens to show The Times a secret memo that criticizes Karzai for the increased poppy production in Afghanistan (a country which, by the way, he has surprisingly little control over). SLAP! The papers are filled with stories about poppy production as Karzai lands in the U.S., taking the focus off the ugly fact that the United States tortures people.

That, my friends, is classic "crisis communications" that our White House has been so adept at in recent years. That's what happens when you fill your press and communications staff with people who come out of -- or go through the revolving door from -- corporate PR.

(By the way, Scott McClellan finally backed away from his claims about the Newsweek story's impact. That's also typical -- a week or so after milking some PR value from a lie, the WH quietly backpedals, and if it's reported, it's buried on page A-324234. Nice.)

Yep, 60 Bullets Oughta Do It

Hey, another great self-investigation by the military! And with a wholly predictab-- er, wholly reasonable outcome! (Be sure to note the part about reloading. That's sure to be overlooked by Iraqis, yessir. No problem there.)

Oh, Thank Goodness!

"'Runaway Bride' indicted" - It's an ongoing comfort to me that we always put the resources of the police and court system to the best possible use. Thanks, guys!

Hoo Boy, This is Funny

Don't ask, just go here.

"Global Religious War" - Coming Soon to a Planet Near You!

N.C. Church Calls For Koran To Be Flushed Down Toilet - The Council on American-Islamic Relations is demanding a church in North Carolina take down a sign that reads "The Koran needs to be flushed." The pastor of the church - the Rev. Creighton Lovelace - defended the sign saying "My creed is the Bible, which tells me I am supposed to stand up and defend my faith. I don't hate Muslims, I just hate their false doctrines." Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR responded by saying "Christians often ask themselves, 'What would Jesus do? I don't think Jesus, who is loved by Muslims and mentioned frequently in the Koran, would use such hate-filled and divisive rhetoric." (democracynow.org)

"America, 2005: In a Nutshell"

Current top headlines on the home page of CNN.com:

"Senate confirms Owen for circuit court"
"Number of millionaires hits new record"
"Indiana executes killer who wanted to give liver to sister"
"U.S. unleashes 'surprise' offensive in Iraq"
"Amnesty slams U.S. on human rights"
"Who will be the new 'Idol'?

What a disaster. Fortunately, there's a way out of the madness if you scroll further down the page: "NASA seeks oxygen source on the moon"

CUT TO: Shein constructing rocket ship in basement...

Fixing the Formatting...

This default blog layout will have to suffice until I can fix up the old template. It didn't display properly on Macs; missing a tag (or twenty) somewhere. Let this be a lesson to you kids out there: Stay in school! And don't cut class, 'specially on the day you're learning about blog formatting!

Remember the Film 'After Hours'?

This dude's story has a bit of that, though he wasn't an innocent like in that film.

Documentary about 'The Third Man'

Interesting tale of how this classic post-WWII film was made.

Everything About This is Just Plain Wrong

(CNN) -- A teacher who served more than seven years in prison for raping one of her sixth-grade students is now married to that former student.

Yoda Has Not Aged Well

The little Jedi appears to have strayed from his strict Jedi regimen.

A Growing Chorus?

Keith Olbermann adds his voice to the call for Scott McClellan to resign. Not that anyone in the history of this administration has resigned (or been fired) for misdeeds; you only lose your job when you tell the truth about things like how much the Iraq war will cost or how many soldiers it will take to secure the country etc., ad infinitum, and on and on...

I Am Both Outraged and Speechless

The cynical hypocrisy pouring forth from the mouth of White House press secretary Scott McClellan on the issues surrounding the Newsweek story about alleged interrogation practices is truly a new low in American politics. Blaming a news magazine for tarnishing the "image" of the United States is beyond preposterous in the wake of the Iraq war and this administration's policies in its so-called "war on terror."

Further, the claim that the media shouldn't use anonymous sources flies in the face of the administration's own careful use of unnamed sources -- on a daily basis -- to promote its policies. As I suggested earlier today, it was part of the PR strategy in the run-up to the Iraq war -- and we know how truthful those sources were.

Journalists and media organizations must move away from stories that are only single sourced, particularly if the source is anonymous. But for the White House to place the blame for the poor (understatement heavy) view of the United States among the world community is simply preposterous and counter-productive.

Not to mention that our very own chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers, said a few days ago that the violence in Afghanistan had nothing to do with the Newsweek report -- indeed, and this is perhaps the most revealing twist, the Pentagon did not refute the Newsweek claims when given an opportunity before the story ran. Then, 10 days later, after a source suddenly got cold feet, they pounced.

Disgusting.

P.S. I guess I'm not speechless. But man, I am angry.

Diversion to the Max!

"We appreciate the step that Newsweek took yesterday," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "It was a good first step. And what we would like to see now is for Newsweek to work to help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region, and Newsweek certainly has the ability to help undo what damage can be undone."

While offering few specifics, McClellan said Newsweek should explain "what happened and why they got it wrong, particularly to people in the region."

"They can also talk about policies and practices of the United States military. Our United States military goes out of its way to treat the holy Koran with great care and respect," he said.

CUT TO: Copies of the Koran being treated with "great care and respect" while so-called detainees (aka "human beings") are sexually abused, subjected to torture and near-torture, and "rendered" to foreign countries where they can really have the screws put to them.

Believe me, Muslims around the world don't need this episode to feel fanned by the Washington-fueled flames of a global religious war. When it comes to Guantanamo, the "policies and practices of the United States military," as McClellan says so benignly, have been in violation of international law, contrary to American ideals, and simply despicable.

We'll see how the facts play out in the flushing incident; the Newsweek story was about a pending Pentagon report. There's a bit of nuance required to understand the media story here, but it's entirely possible the incident(s) actually took place. Defense attorneys for several of the detainees have reported similarly outrageous conduct by interrogators.

Worth Reading (and Forwarding)

The so-called "Downing Street Memo," in its entirety, with news and context. Read it and share it.

A good question, of course, is why it took the major U.S. media a full 10 days to properly report on this. I have yet to read or hear a good explanation for that.

Another Question

Why, I wonder, does the United States lack credibility as it tries to downplay the Newsweek story about alleged desecration of copies of the Quran during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay? Is it because of the [INSERT LARGEST NUMBER KNOWN TO MAN] times it has not been truthful?

Next, it's quite interesting and hypocritical for the administration to condemn Newsweek for using anonymous sources. After all, in the run-up to the Iraq war, there seemed to be a single-sourced story (anonymous Pentagon source, usually) every day trumping up the fictitious reasons for war. The administration seemed to have no problem with that.

Finally, we'll see how the facts play out, but Newsweek -- and the rest of the media -- should have long ago stopped using single, anonymous sources for stories except in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Remember in "All the President's Men" when "Woodstein" worked like mad to get multiple sources to confirm facts? Ah, such a quaint notion of responsible journalism, ain't it?

Question

Hmmm. Condoleeza Rice jets off to Iraq for an unplanned surprise visit just as our "ally," Uzbekistan, is mowing down people by the hundreds. The press quickly give zillions of column inches and photo space to her trip over the weekend, taking the spotlight off of Uzbekistan to some extent. Coincidence? If you think so, you haven't been paying attention to the Bush administration's communcations and media strategy for the past four years.