First Contact

A previously uncontacted indigenous tribe on the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Photos from the National Indian Foundation, a government agency in Brazil, which tracks such tribes and seeks to protect them from encroachment. A noble cause-- but we gots to think the fly-bys are going to f*** their minds up a lot more than a wayward chicle harvester!

Stoned

Hillary must have been to think that this photo was a good idea... or to think she still has a chance of winning the nomination.

A Higher Loyalty

Kudos to Scott McClellan for coming clean on what the rest of the world knows: that the Bush administration misled the nation (and itself) into the "strategic blunder" that is Iraq while consciously making “a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.”

We must admit, we felt like McClellan was the biggest stooge of all when parroting that stuff back in real time. In that role, however, we will give him a free pass for not speaking up at the time, unlike, say, Colin Powell.

Loyalty, not the lack of it, is what has been the single biggest problem with the Bush administration all along. Loyalty is what makes people ignore the facts in front of them. Loyalty is what might make the same dumb-ass policy decisions happen again in, say, neighboring Iran. Loyalty to anyone, including President Obama, has to take a back seat to the truth... so it feels good to get at least a small snippet of it from the inner circle of Texas-style cronyism.

The Good Old Daze

“We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don’t remember.”

President Bush, responding to allegations of cocaine use, as overheard by former press secretary Scott McClellan

Once a Frat Boy...

This one says it all

Sex, Consumerism, and the City

We saw some promos for the upcoming Sex and the City movie and were, frankly, disgusted by the wardrobe changes, the thousand-dollar shoes, and the raw, unadulterated consumerism... are these really the role models we want for our wimmen?

(Editor's note-- Use of possessive only intended in the general sense)

(Editor's disclaimer-- We must confess-- we have tried to watch-- and enjoy-- Sex and the City with an open mind on at least two separate occasions, to no avail. Lauren Hutton said it right today on Today: it's a show written by (male) sluts encouraging women to be the same. As such, we can't help but feel that it is aiding and abetting the enemy, much like those annual "bin Laden-preaching-from-a-cave" shorts do for religious fanatics. As a friend of ours once said, "She (his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend) even used a line from the show-- ver batim!")

Hillary's Nadir

Nadir, not Nader. Means lowest point. Ever. Here's what she had to say today about staying in the race:

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."

And here we thought she was hanging around until Obama revealed a love child co-propagated in a swordfight with the Reverend Louis Farrakhan. This makes it sound like she's just been waiting for the brother to get shot. And you know damn well that this has been the biggest fear of many blacks voting for Obama, and that there are plenty of wackos out there willing to do it.

She doesn't just need to apologize to the Kennedys-- intentional or not, she owes this one to Obama.

see Hillary hit rock bottom here

To the Right of Israel...

Apparently, the Bush list of "appeasers" would include the Israelis themselves, as evidenced by the open acknowledgment of talks with Syria in Istanbul, the most serious in eight years.

To the Right of Himself

Witness the actions of the Bush administration itself:

Libya: held direct talks with the Kaddafi government, which acknowledged responsibility for the 270 deaths on Pan Am flight 103

North Korea: sent envoys and a "warm and fuzzy" presidential letter to the gov't which tested a nuclear bomb in 2006

Syria: Despite withdrawing its ambassador, the US maintain contacts with this "rogue nation"

and, finally, the coup de gras:

Iran: US diplomats participated in talks with Iranians at a conference in Iraq

According to one Bush administration official, "I'd rather be right than consistent." If only his boss could be either.

culled from the NYT

The Death of Conservatism?

According to George Packer, there is "little life" left in the movement that "Goldwater began, Nixon brought into power, Ronald Reagan gave mass appeal, Newt Gingrich radicalized, Tom DeLay criminalized, and Bush allowed to break into pieces." In the article, Packer says that John McCain's appeal is that he doesn't present himself as such, and quotes David Brooks in saying that McCain is "certainly not" a "conventional, establishment, old-style conservative candidate."

Fair enough, but McCain is definitely pandering to the right, especially when it comes to the courts and the judges that will inhabit them. According to Jeffrey Toobin, of The Nine fame, would-be President McCain has made "an implicit promise" that he will appoint "Justices who will eliminate the right to privacy, permit states to ban abortions, and allow the execution of teen-agers." Toobin has stated elsewhere that, once set in motion, Roe v. Wade could be undone in a year's time, its name becoming mere options for ovum-seeking sperm too tired to swim. Thus, even if conservatism is waning, its effects could linger for generations to come... literally.

in this week's New Yorker magazine

Going to the Courthouse...

Kudos to the California Supreme Court in its ruling that denying gays the right to marry is unconstitutional. We believe that homosexuals should have the same right to be miserable as everyone else. On a more serious note, isn't marriage the perfect antidote to the stereotypical "wanton, indiscriminate sex" that seemed to be behind much of the aversion in the first place? As far as speculation over a "constitutional amendment" banning gay marriage goes, who are we to judge the rights of others? That's what the courts are for.

(Editor's disclosure-- We haven't always supported gay marriage; we must admit that in our youth we felt that, while homosexuals should be afforded the same rights and protections, it should be done under a different name. Our position has evolved over time into its current form: namely, the old adage that "separate is inherently unequal")

related commentary here

Bumper Sticker of the Day

WAR

doesn't determine
who's right
only
who's left

Go Back in Your Hole!

This is what Dubya had to say during Israel's 60th-birthday celebrations, a thinly-veiled barb at Obama:

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Of course, as the Obama camp argues, the Bush foreign policy has done more to strengthen and embolden Iran, and threaten Israel, than any degree of talking could ever purport to do.

Of course, despite these loud proclamations, the US is holding lower-level talks with Iran and Syria.

Of course, two years ago, John McCain, despite echoing these statements as of late, is on record for promoting talks with Hamas.

And of course, if we start making comparisons to Nazism, we could make parallels to wall-building and ghettoizing as well.

The NYT's take on Bush's words and video of McCain's

"...Pull Out, Like Your Father Should Have"

This a quote from our one of our Education correspondent's students, or, more specifically, from one of his students' posters for the 1967 March on the Pentagon. This particular message was for LBJ, but wethinks it could apply to Dubya as well... with 3 clarifications.

1. Pulling out at this point would be a messy operation (interpret as you will), and is impossible to do in a complete sense-- in other words, some of the swimmers have already made it upstream, and Damien is on his way.

2. If his father had avoided the "pickle tickle" with bride Barbara, the neo-cons may well have found another stooge to do their dirty work.

3. His father didn't have to pull out of Iraq, because he never went in; as James Baker has said, people used to ask him why they didn't push on to Baghdad in 1991, but "nobody ever asks that question anymore."

In fact, in retrospect, Bush Sr.'s foreign policy is one Republicans and Democrats would do well to emulate.

As for the poster, said correspondent was impressed and went back to the faculty room with thoughts of putting it up on the wall; he only reconsidered after proclaiming, "We have a winner!" and getting a blanched response from a woman with the same name as his mother.

posted by our Education correspondent, reporting from the hallowed high school halls of [CLASSIFIED]

...and There Ain't No Santa Claus Neither

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."

Albert Einstein, in a letter that surfaced this week

see also: Einstein's marriage contract

Further Proof

Celebrating 60 Years of Oppression

Happy Birthday Israel!

Happy Catastrophe!

(hey, it rhymes!)

to Israel's Palestinian brothers... like it or not, you're all in this together.

Play Golf Not War

To show his "solidarity" with the familes of Iraq war dead, Dubya has announced his abstinence from golf. He is quoted as saying, "playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Now watch this drive.

from Da Post

Kancho!

This word means "fore" on a Chinese golf course. In Japanese, it means "enema." Hence, it can lead to guffaws on the links... or sheer, unbridled terror.

Mountain Momma

Well (no surprise, no surprise), it looks like Hillary is going to win West Virginia in a convincing fashion... not the least of which is due to WV's demographics of white, rural, largely uneducated voters. Indeed, as things heat up, it's becoming pretty clear that we are a racist country, something Hillary seems to be milking. It shouldn't be a surprise, considering 30 years ago half the states wouldn't even allow interracial marriage. But, hey, I suppose that's what you get with a democracy... even the idiots who think Obama is a Muslim have a say.

And it's there where the press (and Hillary, as she comes to terms with role as runner-up) have a responsibility... they should clearly say that he isn't a Muslim, and that it shouldn't matter if he was; for they are not part of the ignorant masses, and don't have the excuse that they don't know any better.

Paint it Black

After North Carolina and Indiana, it seems that Obama is back on track to win the nomination. As for the general election, the more McCain shows his age, the more and more things move in Obama's favor as well. While we are obviously pleased with the developments, let's wait see what fruit loops come out of the woodwork to try to bring him down; rest assured there are folks out there who are freaking out about such a possibility. After all, they didn't make it the "White" House for no reason.

Hillary's Secret Plan to Help Obama

We will admit, we had gotten to the point where we visibly retracted with hatred and scorn whenever Hillary would open her mouth, a feeling exacerbated today when we were told that she was campaigning in North Carolina with a southern accent. But we must put aside any latent misguided misogyny and give credit where credit is due. With her gas-tax rebate proposal, Hillary has gone out of her way to pave Obama's way to the nomination. If the voters don't take her up on this overt self-sacrifice, well, then, they deserve each other.

Consider:

1. She brought the debate back to the issues at precisely the time that Obama needed to put the Reverend Wright issue behind him.

2. By blatantly pandering, she allowed him to take the high road, and act presidential in the process.

3. By aligning herself with John McCain, she sets up a scenario where he can continue the same argument into the fall, and expose the once straight-talkin' McCain as the panderer he has become.

So, bless your heart, Hillary! We take back those bad things we had been saying about you. Well, some of them, anyway.

Cheerleader-in-Chief

Yes, the man served as a male cheerleader at Andover and Yale, and seems to have put this part of his education, at least, to use with his upbeat evaluations of the economy and the war. The following (disturbing) words show him in full swing:

"Kick ass! If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them!"

GWB, during a White House videoconference on Fallujah, April 2003

He went on to say, "We must be tougher than hell! Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking."

as quoted by Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who referred to it as "a kind of confused pep talk”

Heckuva Job, Laura

Is it just us or... what the hell is Laura Bush doing giving a press conference on Myanmar? It's almost like she's trying to gain experience so she can run for president some day. But... is it a good idea to politicize the situation when the death toll is in the tens of thousands? Is it a good time to keep referring to the country by its colonized name, Burma? And, however well deserved, is it the best time to award the Congressional Gold Medal their biggest dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi? If there's one thing the Bush administration shouldn't be lecturing people on, it's their response to natural disasters!

The press conference took a creepy turn when questions turned to Jenna's impending wedding. Is this really the time to be talking about frivolous things like family nuptials and limestone altars? We mean, that sounds like the sort of non-political stuff that only a first lady should be dealing with.

Letter to the NY Times that Wasn't Published

To the Editor:

The first section of Monday's New York Times was bookended by two articles ("Her Dream, Branded as a Threat" and "Pariah Diplomacy," April 28) that illustrate the root of the colossal failure that is US policy in the Middle East.

By remaining ignorant of the Arab language and the various cultures and ideas that accompany it, we are destined to continue objectifying an entire region— and suffering the consequences. By stifling moderate Arab and/or/nor Muslim voices such as Dubai, Mahmoud Abbas, Debbie Almontaser, and, yes, Jimmy Carter, we create a vacuum for the more radical ones to step into.

And by refusing to listen to them, we end up stuck in situations that are in neither the US's nor Israel's long-term interests, such as Iraq and the Palestinian Territories, without an exit strategy.

original articles here and here

Letter to the NY Times that Wasn't Published, Part Deux

To the editor:

What does a brother have to do to get a letter published?

Worst Ever?

At least according to the American people... 71% of them.

[INSERT ALFRED E. NEUMAN PICTURE HERE]

according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey

Nelson Mandela-- Terrorist

At least according to the US government!

Read it here