White House Re-Org

So CNN is reporting that Scott “I’m not constipated, this is just my face” McClellan (along with Treasury Secretary John Snow) may soon make announcements telling us that he's looking forward to spending more quality time with his family, which we all know is code for “I’m quitting/getting fired.”

While some GOPers are saying McClellan’s job is still secure (since he and Bush are apparently really tight), still others are saying that they’re not happy about the job Scotty’s done with regard to selling the war to the media:

"There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the state of communications, the daily communication from the podium, the congressional communications and strategic communications from both in and outside the White House," said one White House insider.

If you ask me, Dubya’s doing Scott a favor. No longer will Scott have to stand in front of the White House press corps, passing along the latest bunch of Bush lies and idealized rationalizations about Iraq or anything else.

Don’t be fooled: This re-org isn’t about breathing new life into this administration – that’s what they’d like you to think. Rather, it’s all about putting in the folks who can provide the best spin. There won’t be any significant changes in the way Dubya runs (and I use this term loosely) the White House – Rove and Rumsfeld’s jobs are said to be protected from the shake up – it’s just going to be repackaged.

The better to blow sunshine up our asses, my pretties.

(Cross-posted at the Bring It On! diaries.)

You forgot Poland!

Call me a narcissist, but I decided to Google my blog to see what ranking I had in the search results. Cocky bastard that I am, I typed in "You Forgot Poland" and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button.

Needless to say, my ego was brought back down to Earth, because what came up was not my blog, but this listing in Urban Dictionary. Apparently the phrase to which this blog owes its namesake has permeated the American lexicon (no thanks to me), as follows:

What you say to a person when you have been one-upped by said person in an argument or debate of some sort. Pretty much just lets you try to get the last word in when you have no other retort.

Person A: "Oh man! We got jumped by like twelve guys and kicked all their asses!"

Person B: "Actually there were three; Steve McPeterson, Dave Ellis, and that guy that works the Wendy's drive-thru."

Person A: "Well, you forgot Poland."

Actually, there are several meanings - this one happens to be the second one - my personal favorite. I may have to try to work this one into everyday conversation, heh heh.

Oh no he didn't.

Some right-wing talk radio guy whom I've never heard of, some fool named Neal Boortz, remarked that the hair of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (who is black) made her look "like a ghetto slut," among a whole slew of idiotic things.

And on his website, he says she looks "like ghetto trash."

From Media Matters:

On the March 31 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Neal Boortz said that Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) "looks like a ghetto slut." Boortz was commenting on a March 29 incident in which McKinney allegedly struck a police officer at a Capitol Hill security checkpoint. Boortz said that McKinney's "new hair-do" makes her look "like a ghetto slut," like "an explosion at a Brillo pad factory," like "Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence," and like "a shih tzu." McKinney is the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Georgia.

His rationalization for making inane and racist comments like this?

I've endured years of "bald" remarks. I'm entitled.

You're entitled to an ass whippin' is what you're entitled to. Don't EVEN.

(Props to Dave at Seeing the Forest for the link.)

911 calls from 9/11 released

Partial transcripts of 911 phone calls handled on Sept. 11, 2001, were released today. Partial, because the voices of the callers trapped at the WTC were redacted.

The Times and family members hoped the audiotaped calls would reveal details of what happened inside the towers and whether 911 operators misdirected the victims. The Sept. 11 commission had concluded in 2004 that many operators didn't know enough about the attacks to give the best information to those trapped.

There was also some surprise that the operators weren't able to give enough advice about what to do about inhaling smoke, etc.

The goal of getting these transcripts released was to see if 911 operators possibly misdirected the victims. Misdirected how? From what I can tell, the 911 operators were as dumbstruck by what happened as anyone else was. Maybe I'm missing something, but what could a 911 operator possibly do in that situation other than advise them to stay calm? Was there a "magic word" somewhere that could have averted further disaster?

More importantly, why were the callers' words edited out? Why were the transcripts not complete? That just seems odd to me.

You KNOW I'm loving this.

(Mad props to Armitage Shanks for the heads up.)

Chicken Little

"The globe is warming! The globe is warming!"

Just when you think he's reached the height of idiocy ...

(Thanks to Think Progress for the link.)

More spies, please!

As part of their just-announced national security platform, Democrats are saying that they’ll add more special forces and more spies to help capture bin Laden. There’s no timetable for bringing the troops home, except to say that this year will be THE year in which Iraqis assume full sovereignty.

This is nice and all, but why didn’t Democrats come out stronger on national security a year ago? All this pussyfootin’ around is giving the GOP just the ammunition they need to slam Democratic Party efforts to elucidate their national security platform:

"I trust in the common sense of the American people to see these efforts for what they are: misguided political attacks that are simply a bob-and-weave effort by those who have no real solutions or proposals of their own," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.

"This is more of the same from the party that opposes this president's effort to keep our country safe," said Tracey Schmitt, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman.

Better late than never, I guess, since polls show Bush’s approval rating in the 30s, and that more Americans consider themselves more Democrat than Republican according to this AMERICAblog post.

Update: The Carpetbagger Report just posted his commentary on this, along with a .pdf of the actual 130-page strategy.

No longer crack-ish

... Whitney’s allegedly up to fully blown cracked out status.

SUPERSTAR Whitney Houston has spiralled into a world of squalor and degradation on deadly crack — as the shocking pictures in today's Sun newspaper reveal.

It shows the disgusting mess in the singer’s bathroom after a drug binge. Drug paraphernalia including a crack-smoking pipe, rolling papers, cocaine-caked spoons and cigarette ends are strewn across the surface tops.

But Whitney, 42, no longer cares.

Do I have to go on a rant about how Bobby Brown ruined Whitney? Do I? Don’t make me.

(Photo credit: My favorite guilty pleasure. Photo copyrighted 2006 by News Group Newspapers Ltd. and/or its licensors.)

If only I were this lucky

As some of you know, I started a hiking club to basically find people who would want to go on hikes with me. And I have to say that I've enjoyed all of the hikes we've been on so far (yes, even this one), but I can't say we've ever encountered something like this:

John Suhrhoff found the Louis Vuitton bag on a Sausalito park bench during a lunch stop in the scenic city following a weekend hike.

Inside the bag, police say, was a treasure trove: a 12-carat diamond ring, pearl and emerald jewelry, a Cartier watch and roughly $500 in Canadian and American cash. The contents were worth a cool $1 million.

Turns out the purse belonged to one very lucky Shahla Ghannadian, who was in town with her husband for her daughter's wedding.

The Ghannadians told the Marin Independent Journal of Novato that their flight to Toronto was scheduled for Sunday evening, so they decided to visit Sausalito. The town is known for its waterfront views of San Francisco and is a tourist hub.

Shahla Ghannadian briefly left her husband in charge of the purse, which contained jewelry she wore at the wedding, according to the paper.

No comment. (snort)


P.S. Suhrhoff returned the purse.

Doughboy Revisited

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted on Karl "Doughboy" Rove.

Apparently now Doughboy is more than willing to sell out Mr. Go Fuck Yourself, providing Patrick Fitzgerald with materials crucial to the Valerie Plame leak investigation:

According to one source close to the case, Rove is providing information on deleted emails, erased hard drives and other types of obstruction by staff and other officials in the Vice President’s office. Pentagon sources close to Rove confirmed this account.

Could this be the three-months delayed "Fitzmas" we've been waiting for? Will these newly "discovered" emails, files, etc. shift the blame away from Scooter Libby and onto Cheney himself?

I don't know what image is disgusting me more: A) The fact that Karl is - according to Steve Clemons at the Washington Note - "cooperating enthusiastically" with Fitzgerald, meaning that there's gotta be some egregious wrongdoing here, and that Doughboy is going to cut himself a deal, or B) That Cheney truly is the source of the leak and yet, will get off anyway?

Damn, that was way cynical of me, wasn't it.

(Props to Susie at Suburban Guerrilla for the link.)

More holes than Swiss cheese

I thought the Patriot Act and the wire tapping and the blahdy blah blah were all supposed to make our country a safer place. And yet, investigators were able to enter the U.S. (via the Mexican border) with enough radioactive material to make two "dirty bombs. From Reuters:

Two teams made simultaneous entries at the U.S.-Mexican border and the border with Canada carrying radioactive material in their vehicles in December 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in the report on its investigation.

The congressional watchdog agency said the test was designed to examine potential weaknesses related to radiation monitors that have been installed at U.S. border ports of entry, the GAO said.

The monitors worked. But the investigators, posing as employees of a fictitious, still got past the border patrol with fake paperwork authorizing them to transport the material, the report said..

"The CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) inspectors never questioned the authenticity of the investigators' counterfeit bill of lading or the counterfeit NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) authorizing them to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive sources," the GAO said in a letter to Sen. Norm Coleman, chairman of a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee.

"We believe the amount of radioactive sources that we were able to transport into the United States during our operation would be sufficient to produce two dirty bombs, which could be used as weapons of mass disruption," the letter said.

Mind you, this breaches in our border security happened in December. 2005. What if this was the real thing and not an investigation?

Feel safer yet?

Tell me where the light is

By the way, I caught a snippet on MTV of the video for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new single, "Gold Lion." Please believe I downloaded it and the Diplo remix from iTunes straight away. This song has a fuller, richer, produced (but not overly so) sound than anything you might find on Fever to Tell. Am loving it.

I adore the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their new album comes out on Tuesday, and I am giddy. They're also playing the Warfield 4/28 and 4/29.

Note to self:
1. Find out if tickets are sold out.
2. If not, buy them, and
3. Find someone to come with.

(Photo credit: Yeah Yeah Yeahs page on MySpace.)

RE: Ben Domenech

Now, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but this thought just crossed my mind: What if Ben Domenech's brief stint as the appointed right-wing blogger at the court of WaPo was a setup all along?

The motive by the "vast right-wing conspiracy": To discredit bloggers in general and to attempt to diminish the ever-growing influence of progressive blogs to help incite change and reinvigorate the Democratic party?

I'm just saying. There's gotta be more to it than the Washington Post hiring a blogger with a history of plagiarism - easily found via Google search - to be quickly devoured by the progressive blogosphere and leading to his resignation three days later? I say there's gotta be more to it, because quite frankly, how could the WaPo be so ... stupid?

And let's say, for the sake of argument, that my theory is correct. Most likely, Domenech's resulting trashed reputation can be considered collateral damage. An innocent lamb led via the GOP to the slaughter by the progressive blogosphere, etc. But what if he - Domenech - was privvy to the whole plan? Did Domenech agree to be the patsy? A sort of right-wing fanatical version of the - dare I say it - Islamic modern-day martyr/suicide bomber? Because let's face it, his career as a writer is pretty much shot.

And will the nuclear fallout from Domenech's brief notoriety affect the reputation of all blogs? Even this, my humble, G-list blog?

Discuss.

(This is what happens when I take a mid-day nap, mind you. I really should be in bed right now.)

Panda hater

Not everyone loves them some pandas:

When Chinese officials unveiled a pair of cubs early this year, calling them "a gift" to the island, the people of Taiwan went wild. Polls say more than 65 percent of Taiwan's population are in favor of accepting the mainland's offer [regarding the "56-year armed standoff between mainland China and Taiwan").

But Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, is urging his government to say no. He fears that the pair would be what the press is calling "Trojan pandas." Skeptics see the animals as a perfect symbol for Beijing: no matter how friendly they look, watch out for their claws. They say it's no coincidence that a mainland-run contest gave them the names Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, echoing the Mandarin word for "reunion": tuanyuan.

Not me man, As you all know, I loves the pandas.

If it bleeds, it leads

Last week, Bush and Mr. Go Fuck Yourself criticized the media for underreporting the "good stories" that come out of Iraq, and that the media should do a better job about providing a fair balance.

CBS Journalist and Naomi Watts look-alike Lara Logan addressed this charge on CNN today, saying:

KURTZ: But critics would say, well, no wonder people back home think things are falling apart because we get this steady drumbeat of negativity from the correspondents there.

LOGAN: Well, who says things aren't falling apart in Iraq? I mean, what you didn't see on your screens this week was all the unidentified bodies that have been turning up, all the allegations here of militias that are really controlling the security forces.

What about all the American soldiers that died this week that you didn't see on our screens? I mean, we've reported on reconstruction stories over and over again…I mean, I really resent the fact that people say that we're not reflecting the true picture here. That's totally unfair and it's really unfounded.

...Our own editors back in New York are asking us the same things. They read the same comments. You know, are there positive stories? Can't you find them? You don't think that I haven't been to the U.S. military and the State Department and the embassy and asked them over and over again, let's see the good stories, show us some of the good things that are going on? Oh, sorry, we can't take to you that school project, because if you put that on TV, they're going to be attacked about, the teachers are going to be killed, the children might be victims of attack.

'Oh, sorry, we can't show this reconstruction project because then that's going to expose it to sabotage. And the last time we had journalists down here, the plant was attacked. I mean, security dominates every single thing that happens in this country….So how it is that security issues should not then dominate the media coverage coming out of here?'

I agree that in order to remove any sort of bias on the aggregate level, there needs to be a balance of reporting the good and bad stories. But what if there are more bad stories coming out of Iraq than good? If American soldiers are dying in Iraq, if a large number of Iraqis are systematically tortured and killed by insurgents (like this weekend, for example), well, guess what, people. That's NEWS.

Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, explains it this way:

But I think what the administration is trying to say is, it's not just whether you're reporting on the casualties -- they're there, sure -- but we're trying to make a case that these deaths are meaningful, that there is a good reason for doing what we are and for people paying the ultimate sacrifice, and the media isn't communicating that.

So basically, the Bush administration is asking that the media rationalize Iraq War casualties.

The administration's attempt to become editor-in-chief of every single media outlet is preposterous: Media's job is to serve as a check on government - not provide assistance in internalizing and disemminating the government's agenda. When that happens, that's called propaganda, not journalism. (Are you listening, FOX News?) To blame the media for helping lower public approval of the war is off base: As casualties increase, public opinion decreases. And although the media informs people about casualties, you can't deny that people are dying. Sure, it would be nice to see feel-good stories of a soldier receiving a medal for something he did, or a school being built in an Iraqi city destroyed by war. But as long as people are dying over there, not one positive story is going to make me feel better about this war, no way.

(Props to Peter Daou, who got me all riled up.)

UPDATE: Steve Young at the HuffPo adds to the discussion and brings up a great point about Michael Moore.

Fruit Cocktail

Why does Gwyneth Paltrow hate children so much? Emphasis mine:

Gwyneth Paltrow is reportedly eschewing the temptation to have a full on fruit cocktail of a family (Her daughter, as you all probably know, is named Apple and her husband is... not without his own fruitiness.) by choosing to name her next baby, a boy, not Kiwi or Mango or Cumquat, but after her godfather, Steven Spielberg. And no, he won't be named Steven. Or even Speilberg. Or Rich. He'll be named Mortimer, because not only can Gwyneth Paltrow not fake an English accent, she is also incapable of calling people by their proper names. "Uncle Morty" is the nickname she bestowed upon her godfather as a child. Again, not Mortimer.

(Courtesy of my favorite guilty pleasure, Nothing but Pink Socks and a Sombrero, with gut-busting regular feaures, such as "Trann-ay or La-day?", "Who the What?", and "Guess that Nipple.")

Have a great weekend everybody.

Huh?

As if the Dubai Portgate thing wasn't enough to cause the Bush administration some drama:

In the aftermath of the Dubai ports dispute, the Bush administration is hiring a Hong Kong conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere.

The administration acknowledges the no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. represents the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.

Freeport in the Bahamas is 65 miles from the U.S. coast, where cargo would be likely to be inspected again. The contract is currently being finalized.

The administration is negotiating a second no-bid contract for a Philippine company to install radiation detectors in its home country, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. At dozens of other overseas ports, foreign governments are primarily responsible for scanning cargo.

Even though I'm somewhat happy some folks in the Philippines will get some work out of this deal, I still have to ask: Why is the Bush administration outsourcing to other countries responsibilities that are integral to our national security? After everything that has gone down on our soil (9/11), and the ever-tightening noose around our civil liberties (Patriot Act, FISAgate, etc.), I'm just a little surprised that there is so much trust in foreign governments to basically look out for the safety of the American people. I mean, this current administration, one that revels in secrecy and outright lying doesn't even trust its own people to begin with. How does this make sense?

Am I missing something here? If this is a "different kind of war," and if we have to change our way of thinking from a "pre-911" to a "post-9/11" mindset, why is the tendency - as it appears - to relinquish control over something that could directly effect how terrorists can infiltrate our country?

Cognitive dissonance, anyone?

(With inspiration from John at AMERICAblog.)

Let's go hiking!

To my delight, the proposed seven-mile hike at Purisima Open Space Preserve turned out to be five-mile semi-moderate stroll through gorgeous and lush redwood forest, due to closure of the Soda Gulch portion of the loop. Recent rains caused many portions of the trail to become squishy and muddy, which only added to the fun.

Speaking of fun, Am joined us on her first hike with the group and held her own with the faster hikers. She definitely gets the award for “hiker with the best trail snacks” – those pb&j sandwiches were delicious!

Actually, Joice wins the joint award for the bag of fresh strawberries. Yum.

Anyway, back to the hike!

Up until now, our humble little hiking club hadn't had any run-ins with animals while on the trail. On that day, banana slugs greeted us at every turn, along with a lone salamander, whom we named “Purisma Sally.” Some discussion was had regarding the proper etiquette when pouring water on a salamander. The main point of contention - if I remember correctly - had to do with P.H. levels in water vs. a salamander's skin.

I kept walking.

For those of us who felt up to an additional 3 miles, an out-and-back hike to Bald Knob noted a 15-degree differential from the cool, damp canyon, which gives you an idea of what a elevation distance of 1800 feet really feels like.

As I continue to go on these hikes, I find that my edge is about five miles. As my recap from the Mt. Tam hike shows, anything longer than five miles, and I begin to curse the ground I’m walking on. Every step forward is a mini struggle to contend with.

I suppose this means I need to continue to push myself.

Until then, I'll remain content in the fact that although I hadn't hiked since Mt. Tam, I managed to pull through this one quite nicely. My chest did not feel like it was going to explode this time. Progress?

I wholeheartedly recommend Purisima as a hike we'll need to revisit sometime soon. The lush canyon, tall redwoods, and creekbed reminded me of the sensory overload I suffered at Mt. Tam from taking in all of my gorgeous surroundings. It was truly beautiful. I'd be curious to do that same loop during the summer.

Farewell for now, Purisima - we'll be back. Until then, Hikemeister Doug provides us with yet another wonderful slide show from our hike. Enjoy!


(Photo credit: Doug)

You can lead a horse to water ...

... but you can't make him pull out the troops during his term in office, apparently.

Bush is saying now that U.S. troops will stay in Iraq "for years," and that it's up to the next president to decide when it's the right time for withdrawal.

Bush has adamantly refused to set a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Asked if there would come a day when there would be no more U.S. forces in Iraq, Bush said, "That, of course, is an objective. And that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."

Pressed on whether that meant a complete withdrawal would not happen during his presidency, Bush said, "I can only tell you that I will make decisions on force levels based upon what the commanders on the ground say."

White House officials worried Bush's remarks would be read as saying there would not be significant troop reductions during his presidency. They pointed to comments Sunday by Gen. George W. Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, who said he expected a substantial troop reduction "certainly over the course of 2006 and into 2007."

Wow. How convenient. Not only will the next president inherit an ever-growing deficit, but now he/she will also inherit a poorly planned, poorly executed, and poorly run war in the Middle East.

Again, it looks like Bush will emerge from this disaster of a presidency unscathed. Pity.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Coolness!

You all probably already knew this, but I just found out today. And I'm SO very excited to hear that the new span on the Bay Bridge will have a pedestrian/bicycle pathway from Oakland to Yerba Buena island.

Of course, the only article I could find about this was this one, which highlights the concerns some people have that we're now providing suicidal folks with yet another bridge from which to end it all.

Honestly, I don't know how I feel about this, and my tendency in this situation is to be a bit selfish ...

(Photo credit: Caltrans)