Yet he has all the tools   ¶ 10/31/2005 08:38:00 PM 0 comments

  Sticky wicket This is part of the reason why I say the support system for Fitzgerald pushing the investigation (and prosecutions) does not exist.  ¶ 10/31/2005 08:33:00 PM 0 comments

  Fitzy, if only... In my vision of the world, hypocrites and liars would be shown for what they are. Alas, that's not always the case. Nor does it happen damn near enough, I have cynically noted.

Via Billmon, we see several of my lefty brethren picking up on the same theme I've written about: What's up with Fitzy halting play on the one yard line? Is it simply wishful thinking that Bushco would get its comeuppance with this matter?

I can't really say that I'm objective on the subject of Shrub et alii. I've always figured them to be pretty transparent and most of their spiel intended purely for the rubes. They've always struck me as a group talkin' the talk they wouldn't walk. They've sent others to die with words they would never live by. I'm cynical but I find their jaded moral relativism despicable.

I'm not gettin' my hopes up for philosophical redemption on this one. I just don't see the support system in place for Fitzy to take the case of criminal disclosure of classified information to its logical/legal end. Right now it would appear that Cheney, and others, very much had their hands on the wheel of that. I've misinterpreted the special prosecutor's motives before but I don't see him as being willing to take the steps that would bring down an administration.

No, I can't see the point in the pretense of objectivity or denying how loathsome I find Bushco. I just want to be practical about it.  ¶ 10/31/2005 05:35:00 PM 0 comments

  Sucker-punched in the liberal guilt This webzine doesn't seem to provide article specific links; we're talking about "Myth of Northampton: Poor See It Differently"

The city of Northampton is rather gay friendly (gotten national attention for that) and it seems that there is an assumption that pays the liberal dues.  ¶ 10/30/2005 08:42:00 PM 0 comments

  Fitzy needs to come clean There are quite a few things that the SP uncovered that some of us would like to see made public. Fitzy chooses not to speak of them and his announced reason is not without some merit (but he's also seen up close how Bushco plays hardball, you gotta wonder how that fits in).

Lost in all the hurrah is his initial appointed duty, to find out if there was criminal disclosure of classified material. A further explanation of why the grand jury did not prosecute on that is needed. One of the last minute activities of the investigators working for him was to ascertain if Ms. Plame's CIA role was general knowledge.

I'm of the feeling that most of the undisclosed matters can be written off as wishful political fodder. His initial task deserves, however, a thorough examination of whether it was followed through to completion.  ¶ 10/30/2005 12:18:00 PM 0 comments

  Mobuzztv mention Oh yeah, in the NYTimes also.

Really glad to see a little more traction on this. I was thinking about writing to Jim to see what was up about revitalizing the effort since the site hadn't been updated in almost a month.

I have been wondering about what I could do next.  ¶ 10/29/2005 08:52:00 PM 0 comments

  Variation on 9-11   ¶ 10/29/2005 03:59:00 AM 0 comments

  Responsible Hosting- anti-phishing These guys shutdown a phisher as soon as I forwarded a copy of the email. Very cool.  ¶ 10/29/2005 02:01:00 AM 0 comments

  Miers out Lame excuse; Shrub will now be more widely perceived as vulnerable and somewhat imprudent.  ¶ 10/27/2005 03:07:00 PM 0 comments

  Cracks in Web 2.0 No kiddin' but it was kinda loose to begin with. The notion that if everyone has a chance to say something the conversation will be improved is not without merit. You have to beat the Pareto effect first and keep the filters from making that insular.  ¶ 10/27/2005 02:54:00 PM 0 comments

  Look who's talkin', now "He's a vile, detestable, moralistic person with no heart and no conscience who believes he's been tapped by God to do very important things."

I thought the contradiction of moralistic with no conscience pretty well summed up Shrub.

I was wrong; a Republican operative talking about Fitzgerald.  ¶ 10/25/2005 11:49:00 PM 0 comments

  A means doesn't make a matter Just because you have a way of saying something doesn't mean you have something to say. I offer this this blog as being an example (sometimes). One of the reasons for keeping it short.  ¶ 10/25/2005 11:23:00 PM 0 comments

  A bit more to go According to the IISS, we're years away from leaving Iraq. Shrub says we can honor the sacrifice of the 2000 American soldiers already dead by completing the mission. How do we acknowledge the mistake of sending them there?  ¶ 10/25/2005 09:35:00 PM 0 comments

  Now with even less political bias, comrades! Some amusing stuff.  ¶ 10/24/2005 08:43:00 PM 0 comments

  One way to blunt the impact of blogs   ¶ 10/24/2005 05:48:00 PM 0 comments

  Rare but understandable The greatest criticism is coming from his own party. They're a little worried about having another chance like this; Shrub has bungled things and '08 ain't lookin' that great.  ¶ 10/23/2005 11:49:00 PM 0 comments

  Ombudsman on Miller Well, if it looks like the journalists are turning on each other, just wait to the Repugs start. There's already talk about Libby being thrown to the lions.  ¶ 10/23/2005 11:10:00 PM 0 comments

  Something so right makes me say I was so wrong I had a lengthy draft which I have deleted in light of this item. I was wrong about Fitzgerald and this does an excellent job of showing of why I was wrong.

What more can I say?  ¶ 10/22/2005 08:59:00 PM 0 comments

  No Kiddin' Astrology equals Intelligent Design. And Christian idiots want to teach this in science class.  ¶ 10/22/2005 05:32:00 PM 0 comments

  Easy Install I caught the Freespire/Linspire deal for a free copy of Linspire. I haven't installed my workhorse printer (an older Canon inkjet), yet. But an amazingly easy install so far. I wanted to get to know something about Linux so this may have been just a little too easy. No device drivers to download; CD-writer and USB ports recognized, etc.  ¶ 10/22/2005 02:43:00 PM 0 comments

  Who is PETA to say that love is wrong? What a man (wearing bra and panties) does in the incomplete privacy of his backyard with the family pet is not the business of Rick Santorum or PETA. Who are they, or anyone else, to say that sleeping in the doghouse with your love-interest is wrong?  ¶ 10/21/2005 09:10:00 PM 0 comments

  Good News Guardian reporter has been freed.  ¶ 10/21/2005 04:22:00 PM 0 comments

  Victory is ours in the war on terrorism   ¶ 10/21/2005 01:19:00 AM 0 comments

  Cult of Dell I bought another refurbished Dell from the DFS eBay store. This one will get a Linspire installation and we'll see what I can do with the XP Pro license.

I won the auction on a GX240 for about $150. I know PC shipments are up 17% this quarter but I still think there is something wrong with the reasoning that allows the going price for these three year old units (with no support) to be in the $200 or more range.  ¶ 10/20/2005 09:07:00 PM 0 comments

  Good Questions I find the questions about the timing of Wilson's op-ed piece with when her meetings with Libby about Wilson began to be the most interesting.  ¶ 10/20/2005 07:50:00 PM 0 comments

  Kurtz needs a clue There are some that feel Howie has a difficult time enough sorting out his own ethical dilemmas. He certainly can't see the problem with Miller.

Yes, there are those trying to make political fodder of the Plame case with the prospect of two senior WH advisors looking at indictments. Also, rightly so I think, there are those upset with Miller about her coverage on the WMD issue. It was shoddy work that in the years to come will stand far above Rather's Memogate in damaging the trust of journalists. But the kicking she is getting from inside the journalistic community is well deserved for her lack of scruples, even now. I say this as one who defended the principle she went to jail for to others who simply wanted Rove frog-marched out of the WH.

Kurtz is missing that journalists are rightly peeved at Miller. A bunch of them defended her and her decision to go to jail. We have all felt that a journalist should not be put in jail for doing his or her job. We defended Miller for being one of us and expect her to act as one of us. Now we see that she did not feel accountable to the system of editorial checks and balances that do a very good job usually of preventing the kinds of mistakes she made. Her story after the jail-house ordeal leaves us wanting her to act like a journalist. Instead we are left with the feeling that she is still covering for a malicious leaker and her role as a Washington insider is more important than her job as a journalist.  ¶ 10/18/2005 05:09:00 PM 0 comments

  The racism of low expectations   ¶ 10/17/2005 11:01:00 PM 0 comments

  Ironic This is a joke. Every journalists' organization should sweep the self-serving twit Miller under a rock. A very large rock.  ¶ 10/16/2005 12:32:00 AM 0 comments

  E&P's Mitchell Scores the Miller Saga Right I had a glimmer of hope that the NYTimes would acquit itself (and journalism as a whole) with its story upon the release of Miller. The hope lingered as I took the further testimony of Miller to be a reasonable cause for delay. That expectation has been washed away. The NYTimes is now engaging in organizational CYA for the poor way it handled Miller (and her work).

Miller is lying about the appearance of "Valerie Flame" amongst the notes from her meeting with Libby. My understanding, at this time, is that we are to take as the truth that the name appeared amongst the notes from that meeting though Libby didn't supply it and that Miller has no recollection of how she got that name. It is a bit of a stretch I admit but the only reasonable conclusion I can come to is that Miller was a willing participant in the WMD deception and this is the price she must pay to keep that a secret (although I give it a chance that it wasn't until later that she became a co-conspirator).

Just about every day I read something that claims this or that spells the doom of journalistic MSM. It's all pretty much rant. This is one of those cases that not only has potential for playing in the death of a thousand cuts but also seriously harming the one quality that can mean the survival of journalism, professionalism. The staff of the Times is already showing the signs of discontent. The NYTimes is reputedly one of the flagships of orthodox journalism; their poor handling of Miller and lack of transparency on this matter is not an inspirational example. If this is the best of the best, then the rest of us might as well just be hacks.  ¶ 10/16/2005 12:26:00 AM 0 comments

  One happenin' political babe   ¶ 10/15/2005 02:53:00 PM 0 comments

  Repug politics   ¶ 10/15/2005 03:09:00 AM 0 comments

  Troubling Trend I'm not altogether sure if Bushco will be able to regenerate for the '08 elections and signal a continuing expansion of the neocon philosophy. Beyond that, I find the role of American technology companies in repression to be even more troubling.

Update: Whoops; almost forgot to mention that Google, the fine folks that host this blog, are a profit driven tool of oppression.  ¶ 10/15/2005 02:40:00 AM 0 comments

  Follow your bliss I could rub a magnet on the left side of my head or just continue to be the merry warrior.  ¶ 10/15/2005 01:57:00 AM 0 comments

  RAmen Touched in the noodle.

Ain't it all.  ¶ 10/14/2005 04:25:00 PM 0 comments

  Secret Agency Head So it will be a crime to reveal the head of a US government agency?  ¶ 10/14/2005 03:51:00 AM 0 comments

  And the chorus goes 'round and 'round "Please, MSM, string all these stories together so we can all collectively mess our pants at the thought of swarthy Arabs or Bushco being out of power. And if you don't, you're obviously biased."

This is so disingenuous. What about all the trust and unquestioning faith we're supposed to have in Bushco handling these matters? The only use the right has in the "investigative" abilities of the media are for the purpose of propaganda.

Remember, this is the crew that was upset because some air marshal didn't ice the crew for the Syrian Wayne Newton.

Sorry kids, they're fascists that thrive on fear.  ¶ 10/13/2005 02:47:00 AM 0 comments

  Joy Ride The plane was stolen; there wasn't any connection to terrorism as the Bight Bling Blogs were postulating earlier.

Those ninnies will believe anything, they believed Shrub.  ¶ 10/12/2005 11:00:00 PM 0 comments

  Well said. "Yes, we should fight to win, and as quickly as possible. And, no, Americans should not be called on by coddled elites to fight gruesome wars spawned by grandiose academic theories, then exploited by political cynics for electoral convenience."
  ¶ 10/12/2005 02:49:00 AM 0 comments

  The end of the gravy train, anyway It is now coming into perspective why Robertson was talking about it being the end times.  ¶ 10/12/2005 12:05:00 AM 0 comments

  And the lamb shall guard its hind "They start barking and hissing," the priest said, "so you've got to get them blessed and out of there."  ¶ 10/11/2005 11:04:00 PM 0 comments

  Intelligent Design? Apparently, this little deviation from homo sapiens was all part of the plan. Designed dwarf elephants to go with them: Even knew there would be a blockbuster movie made from it.  ¶ 10/11/2005 09:48:00 PM 0 comments

  Told ya, it was 'em damn hippies The New Yorker has an article on one of my favorite themes.

Kids, it was goofy and wrong then, the same is true now.  ¶ 10/11/2005 05:17:00 AM 0 comments

  Taking one out of the Bushco playbook "...but it could be suspiciously like that", said Robertson

$10 says it ain't the end of the world. False prophets do more harm to faith than any number of theme parks and rollercoasters can make up for.  ¶ 10/10/2005 04:57:00 PM 0 comments

  Told you The NYC terror threat smelled from the beginning and now it seems it was nothing. Several questions remain.

Some in the media sat on this story because they were asked to. What I've read of the reasons they were given points to them making the right call under the circumstances. I hope they call to account the officials that waved them off because I don't know if I'd make that same choice the next time. The claim was already being met with some official skepticism and the delay enabled Bushco timing for impact with Shrub's most recent speech.

Another important question concerns Bushco thinking. They seem to be rather desperate to reach for such a small tidbit of unfiltered, ground-level intelligence. One might say it was keen sight were it not for all the stinking elephants unseen in the Oval Office.  ¶ 10/09/2005 09:26:00 PM 0 comments

  CompUSA Auctions This is a follow-up to an earlier posting I made to complaints.com. Some time has elapsed since I first wrote. I wanted to be at least as certain as I was when I made my initial complaint. After about 60 days of putting the computer through the paces, I feel I'm able to speak with some confidence.

My earlier experience was pretty bad; bad enough that the web merchant from corporate contacted me. They were dissatisfied with the performance of the team and didn't want to let that stand as my final impression of CompUSA Auctions. Trust me, it would have most likely been my final impression.

After some back and forth, the team twisting my arm with a charm offensive, I decided to give them another whirl. I had written here about my earlier experience and told them I would write about what the team was doing to correct our experience. I was assured that retraining would take place with the customer service team on following up with communication. I didn't want to see anybody fired so I was really glad that the team management would take these kinds of positive corrective measures. There was still the question of the technical abilities of the CompUSA operation. I wanted to give them a fair test on that aspect by getting a unit out of normal flow and not one that had been given any special attention.

My refurbished HP computer was shipped very quickly (in less than a day), arriving well packed and in good condition (the original Medion Disney computer I would have taken for new had I not known better). I hooked it up, finding that the software had been installed (a great time saver): All I had to do was burn my recovery discs and I was on my way to computing fun. I use the computer for some work related tasks, also, but it is truly a joy (almost fun) to work with a capable, smooth running computer. I am, frankly, amazed at the way the CompUSA Auctions team turned around my feelings on this.

I wasn't just soured on CompUSA but also the idea of buying refurbished computers. I know new computers can have problems and you need to cover your due diligence in any purchase. I believe, now, that you can find worthwhile bargains in buying a refurbished computer; 60 days of trouble-free operation have convinced me.

I really have had a complete change of heart on these matters. This experience has been illustrative of the underlying theme in resolving consumer complaints: That it is in the mutual interests of consumers and business to resolve these problems. Just keep on trying.  ¶ 10/09/2005 07:51:00 PM 0 comments

  High Cost of Religion Grated cheese be with you.  ¶ 10/08/2005 02:53:00 PM 0 comments

  NYC Threat- Here we go again, more lies FBI doubted credibility of threat. Shrub lies to us: Did it before and will do it again.

Fear-mongering is Bushco's way of inflating their importance and covering their corrupt ways.  ¶ 10/08/2005 11:57:00 AM 0 comments

  Via FARK and the Urinal-World Rushdie at Harvard-on-the-Kaw.

Lawrence is a strange sort of nexus of Kansas and the rest of the world. I like them both. Hence, Lawrence is pretty cool.  ¶ 10/08/2005 02:10:00 AM 0 comments

  Whoopee!!! It's not much of a stretch to say that I learned to read (beyond the Dick and Jane shit) from science fiction. "Serenity" comes at a time when I've been thinking about the interplay of some of the Libertarian values of sci-fi and Hippie culture with the current political culture.

I think a comparative piece on "Starship Trooper" and "Serenity" would be really neat.  ¶ 10/08/2005 01:49:00 AM 0 comments

  A dog in this fight Get 'em  ¶ 10/08/2005 01:28:00 AM 0 comments

  This Smells Raising the threat level has grown tiresome and predictable- this could be the new take on it. Let's wait and see if there really was a credible threat.  ¶ 10/07/2005 04:57:00 PM 0 comments

  Patriot Act- Biz will get Shrub's ear The Chamber of Commerce isn't exactly a group Bushco can make out to be a bunch of lefty terrorist sympathizers.  ¶ 10/07/2005 04:06:00 PM 0 comments

  Messed-Up If this is true, really messed-up. Get a grip.  ¶ 10/07/2005 02:36:00 AM 0 comments

  Turd Blossom Hits the Fan If he talks his way out of an indictment, he is the prince of darkness.

But seriously, that's most likely what he is trying to do. Good luck with that, sparky.  ¶ 10/07/2005 12:02:00 AM 0 comments

  What a change Those on the right are tearing Shrub quite the new one. George Will suddenly has a problem with Shrub saying, "Trust me". One thing I can trust Shrub to do is make crony appointments; been doin' it. Why would they expect a change?  ¶ 10/06/2005 04:19:00 PM 0 comments

  "Crunk is good?"   ¶ 10/05/2005 10:50:00 PM 0 comments

  Miers touched by an angle She fed Shrub Bin Laden PDB, "Harriet, you're doin' a heckava job".  ¶ 10/04/2005 08:00:00 PM 0 comments

  I hope Kahle will insist on access for all Yahoo participating in this.  ¶ 10/04/2005 12:13:00 AM 0 comments

  Wait to the religious wars really break out In their zealotry, they are blinded to where they march. I really liked the attempt at the Act Up association.  ¶ 10/03/2005 11:43:00 PM 0 comments

  Miller; Limited scope Friedman has kinda got somethin' here. My guess is that she didn't write about the ordeal, as Cooper did, because of a desire to further refine her excuses. Things seem to be pointing to her talking to Scooter Libby as in her previous capacity as administration hack.  ¶ 10/03/2005 11:00:00 PM 0 comments

  Schuster on Faux News They had an agenda!!??  ¶ 10/03/2005 10:41:00 PM 0 comments

  Shrub Punts on Court Nominee This appointment is vulnerable.  ¶ 10/03/2005 09:53:00 PM 0 comments

  Blight Bling Blogs Blare Bomb Bull Echo chamber still intact.  ¶ 10/03/2005 08:42:00 PM 0 comments

  Google's researcher outlines plans for China Lick dictatorial bottom.  ¶ 10/03/2005 08:11:00 PM 0 comments

  Web 2.0 Let's give this a whirl-

• User control of the harnessed collective intelligence.

  ¶ 10/03/2005 05:40:00 PM 0 comments

  Freedom of the internet There's quite a bit swirling about these days that impacts deeply on the freedom of the internet. If you wanna consider me unpatriotic, fine but I'm a big fan of fair and the idea of things being overrun by U. S. cultural imperialism didn't appeal to me. There's some talk now about the 'net becoming fragmented and losing the universality that was a big part of it. I watched an interview the other day of Brewster Kahle. He talked about his impression that once someone could gain control of a part the of internet, they'd be able to work their way back strangling it a bit at a time. I put that into the context of concerns I've seen about the backwards flow of the China effect on the internet.

The EFF and I have a lot of concerns about what's going on here with the 'net. We need to work hard to make sure the 'net stays free. This post @Rconversation points at some possible shortcomings on our part but it remains clear that the U.S. is the one that can and should stand up to keep the web a place of intellectual and political freedom.  ¶ 10/02/2005 08:00:00 PM 0 comments

  I've been fooled by the internet. But... Ad Nags got me. When Adam was a little coy about it at first...

So I can kinda understand that Sully was fooled by some spoof pictures.

But I'm not going to be fooled into believing that Sully is a liberal.  ¶ 10/02/2005 06:11:00 PM 0 comments

  Is Shrub a Co-conspirator? Well, that depends on your definition of "is".  ¶ 10/02/2005 05:44:00 PM 0 comments

  Turd Blossom- Shrub and I like the name   ¶ 10/02/2005 04:30:00 PM 0 comments

  Jury Foreman Speaks Out The Repug spin machine that swung into work for DeLay is getting tripped-up by the facts. Earle prosecuted more Dem's and now the grand jury foreman is talking about stacks of evidence.

He's a citizen that tried to do his earnest best to fulfill his civic duty. When the Right slimes people like that as unthinking tools, it is an insult to all the regular guy citizens that Repugs say they champion.  ¶ 10/02/2005 03:49:00 PM 0 comments

  UN indictments of Journo's confirmed Lawyers in an earlier, related case were accused of similar actions.  ¶ 10/02/2005 02:18:00 PM 0 comments

  Iran warns on oil Mullahs make the big threat. Right behind the Saudi's in exports, they might do it just to screw with the world oil market.  ¶ 10/01/2005 10:52:00 PM 0 comments

  Good for tourism Dead-Eye can shoot you for anything a lawyer can twist into "reasonably believe". Let's see, uh, "There were news reports..."  ¶ 10/01/2005 08:02:00 PM 0 comments

  On the radar- compelled to respond "There is one thing I would take Bennett to task for: first saying that he doesn't believe our abortion-crime hypothesis but then revealing that he does believe it with his comments about black babies. You can't have it both ways."
Steven Levitt

All the meatless verbiage aside, Bennett chose that example to put forward. Spinning it afterwards doesn't amount to squat.  ¶ 10/01/2005 01:31:00 PM 0 comments

  Meanwhile, back at reality ranch The lil' Cowboy in Chief said Saturday he is encouraged by the increasing size and capability of the Iraqi security forces, touting progress on a key measure for when U.S. troops can come home.

The upbeat remarks in Bush's weekly radio address came two days after the top commander in said only one Iraqi battalion is ready to fight without U.S. support.  ¶ 10/01/2005 12:34:00 PM 0 comments