No More Dirty Tricks! Join The Courage Campaign’s Conference Call

Good idea

I found out about it at Crooks and Liars and have shamelessly grabbed the video as well as the title of the post

Thoughts On Success in Iraq

I have had a bit of a conversation with a commenter in another thread that started out talking about a light hearted post from the folks at Sadly, No and it has got me thinking about what would it take for a successful outcome in Iraq. In other words, what is success and how would we know it if it smacked us in the face.

To this end I have come up with the following, not exhaustive, list of things that I think would show that there was something that reasonable folks could say approached success for the current adventure in Iraq.

• There is a new front page for The Baghdad Bulletin
• Refreshing this page a month apart gives the exact same list
• This page says simply "done"
• This page gives a 404 error

I Heart Pink too

h/t to Crooks and Liars for this new video.

Bill O'Reilly - Worst Person In The World - Ever

I shouldn't be surprised when Bill O'Reilly says something stupid and/or racist but I have to admit that this (via Media Matters) took me by surprise due to the absolute complete lack of self awareness that is shown.

"I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship."

How would it be possible to say something like that and not realize that a) it is racist and b) someone is going to call you out on it?

Rachel Maddow' on the Values Voter Debate

Rachel is wonderful

Cenk Gets It Just Right

Cenk Uygur, as he so often does, get it just right on the bullshit of the last few days in the Senate.

I love that Cenk is completely pissed off at this crap and not ashamed to show it. At this point, if you are not pissed off at what is going on you are completely out of touch with reality!

Rudy Giuliani -- Fascist?

From the nice folks at TPM Election Central comes this brilliant piece of thinking from my favorite Presidential Candidate for the American Fascist Party.

"Whether you agree with the war in Iraq or you don't; whether you agree with the surge or you don't; Democrats even came back from Iraq and said that he's having more success than anybody had thought.

"So to attack the man's integrity, and honesty, and decency, is in my view indecent. It passed a line that we should not allow American political organizations to pass."

I had made myself a deal that I wouldn't write anything in this blog that would make my 12 year old shake her head at my language when she saw it but what the fuck would possess someone that wants to be the head of the most powerful supposedly free country in the world say something as fucking stupid as that? (Sorry Erin)

Hardball

There's been lots of hand-wringing about what Senate Democrats should do about Iraq, all of it premised on the idea that they need either a filibuster-proof (60-vote) majority or a veto-proof (67-vote) majority. To which I can only say, "Huh? Howzzat again?"

Anything that can be ridden on the Defense Appropriations bill (or on a continuing resolution) doesn't need 60 votes in the Senate. It needs 51 votes in the Senate, or 218 in the House, that will stand firm.

From Mark Kleiman comes some wisdom on how to approach not just the war but every single issue where we are on the right side of the issue and where the public agrees with us. As I have said before, it is time to make them pay for every single bad vote they make.

I AM CANADIAN

And stuff like this makes me proud of it.

I went to high school down the road a bit at West Kings and Central Kings was our bitter rival but DAMN!! Well done!!

Accountability?

From the Speakers office comes word that there will be Hearings on Blackwater.

Which is the more likely response..

"Mr Chairman, I invoke Executive Privilege on the grounds that the President has to be able to get unbiased advice from mercenaries"
or
----sounds of helicopters in the background ----

Yes, I was just paranoid

Glad that this was just my paranoia acting up

Giuliani Appropriates An Image

Imagine my shock that the biggest poseur in the Republican Presidential sweepstakes is once again using the image/work/reputation of someone else as if it was actually his to do with as he wants.

So we posed the question to Petraeus' spokesman, Colonel Steven Boylan: Does General Petraeus condone the use of his image in political ads? He emailed this reply:

"General Petraeus has not condoned the use of his photo in political ads. Use of his photos in recent ads was without his consent or advance knowledge."

We've emailed the Giuliani campaign for comment about this, asking whether Petraeus should have been informed of the use of his image in a political ad in advance. We also asked whether the ad would continue to remain posted now that Petraeus's spokesperson has confirmed that he "has not condoned" its use in any political ad.