FOX News' Entitlements

From the good folks at Media Matters comes the news that Howard Kurtz went on Glenn Beck's show and said that Fox News is "entitled" to be a Bush "cheerleader" and "misinform[] our society". Naturally enough I have a couple of points to make about that.

First of all, he is absolutely right from a legal point of view. There is nothing at all that says that a news channel has to actually report the news in anything like a truthful fashion. As a matter of fact there is case law that says the contrary. From what I can tell, this would be true irrespective of whether there was a return of the Fairness Doctrine at some point in the future.

However, it seems to me that there is an ethical obligation that an organization that calls itself a "Fair and Balanced" news gathering entity should actually act according to the principles that it espouses.

And no, I am not holding my breath.

DON RUMSFELD in GQ

This has been sitting around as a draft for a couple weeks until I calmed down enough to say something that wasnt just a string of 4 letter words but it doesnt look like that will happen so I leave the reading of it as an exercise

OFF THE RECORD WITH DON RUMSFELD: GQ Features on men.style.com

ACC orders commandwide standdown

Should I be feeling vaguely uncomfortable about this or is it just a "normal" reaction to a colossal fuck up? Call me paranoid, but I will be very alert on Friday.

Thoughts on the 'NYT' Op-Ed by Actual Soldiers

By now, everyone that pays attention knows that two of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote 'NYT' Op-Ed have died in Iraq. That would be tragic enough except that you also get morons like Dave Rye adding their steaming bit of stupid to the pile.

Remind me again how Republicans support the troops?

My Senator

I am just so proud to be living in Connecticut and know that I have the honour of having one of the most delusional folks currently in the Senate as my very own. Today, the illustrious Sen J. Lieberman thought that the most important thing to ask Gen Petraeus was if he wanted the authority to pursue bad guys into Iran.

How the hell did anyone vote for this moron?

Congressman Robert Wexler, 19th District of Florida

From Crooks and Liars via The Young Turks

This is what a leader looks like when someone is feeding him a line of bullshit.

Go say something nice to him

Rudolph Guiliani - Shameless Asshole

Imagine my shock when I tried to link to Rudy's website today and instead only get this .

I know that I shouldn't be surprised at anything this fool does but holy shit this takes balls.
[updated with appropriate video]

Guiliani's Foreign Policy Advisor's Take

Oh yes, I really want this guy advising a president if this lunacy is the kind of that is in his fevered brain.

It is impossible at this point to predict how and when the battle of Iraq will end. But from the vitriolic debates it has unleashed we can already say for certain that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did not do to the Vietnam syndrome what Pearl Harbor did to the old isolationism. The Vietnam syndrome is back and it means to have its way. But is it strong enough in its present incarnation to do what it did to the honor of this country in 1975? Well acquainted though I am with its malignant power, I still believe that it will ultimately be overcome by the forces opposed to it in the war at home. Even so, I cannot deny that this question still hangs ominously in the air and will not be answered before more damage is done to the long struggle against Islamofascism into which we were blasted six years ago and that I persist in calling World War IV.

I was going to include a link to the press release announcing the connection with Rudy but well .. see this post

Angry Soon To Be Ex-husbands

My advice to Sara Evans' soon to be ex-husband is to shut up, accept that his wife doesn't love him anymore and figure out a way to spend the settlement money. Doing obnoxious shit like this just makes him look like a child.

Anita Roddick R.I.P.

Anita Roddick had a lot of faults but I have to think that she did her best to make the world a better place, even just a little. I am not sure if I believe there is a Heaven anymore but on the chance that there is I would like to think that she is the kind of person that would end up there .

Jon Swift on Petraeus

Jon Swift only posts sporadically but when he does it is always worth reading.

My biggest fear is that something not far from this will become the actual take on what is happening in which case Democratic Party Leadership will need the assistance of this.

Odd Couple

According to the CBC Belinda Stronach and Tie Domi are no longer a couple. For my American readers (cough cough .. like anyone reads this) this is roughly the equivalent of finding out that Condi Rice has just broken up with Terrell Owens.

Hand Scans

I saw this the other day and thought it was so cool that I passed it along to my VP. I never pass anything along to my VP unless he has asked for it in a memo so I hope I am still employed on Monday

4 Moncton teens killed in head-on crash

I have a horrible feeling that this is going to turn out to be a case of playing highway leapfrog based mostly on this part of the story

"The three girls that were in the car that was being passed were actually friends of the victims, so we were able to get statements from them,"

The stupid things that teenage boys do to impress teenage girls shouldn't be punishable by death .. sigh

Jodie Foster -- Smart Person

Jodie Foster has a new movie coming out shortly and she gave a rather interesting interview to LA Weekly

There was a time in Jodie Foster’s life when she was on the verge of giving up acting. She no longer found it rewarding, this business of saying someone else’s lines as if they were her own; she found herself wishing for a profession that would challenge her and make use of her considerable analytical gifts

----snip-----

She figured this out, she says, and rededicated herself to her work.

She was 12 years old.

I am 45 and I don't have that kind of self awareness