Very, very sad.

Appreciations: Spalding Interrupted: "In 'Swimming to Cambodia,' Spalding Gray quotes his mother, who committed suicide when she was 52 and who always said, 'Think of the starving Koreans.' When his obsessions begin to overtake him in that monologue, he reflects on 'the therapeutic joys of living in New York City. It always works. As soon as you think you're crazy, all you have to do is look over your shoulder.' But at a certain point for Mr. Gray, it was no longer possible for him to look over his shoulder for someone worse off than he was. Starving Koreans no longer did the trick. They never do if you're as depressed as Mr. Gray was for much of his life. He disappeared on Jan. 10, and his body was found in the East River on Sunday. "

The Onion A.V. Club | Pootie Tang: A Look Back With Director Louis C.K.: "Chris [Rock] asked me if there was a movie in it. Because the first time Pootie was on the show, Pootie's promoting his movie Sine Your Pitty On The Runny Kine, so we always joked that someday that movie should be made. "

Ah, one of my favorite movies - "Pootie Tang" - gets the Onion treatment. Say it wit' me, "Sine Your Pitty On The Runny Kine."

Ralph Nader Does It Again: "If Mr. Nader didn't learn anything from the 2000 election, the voters certainly did. People might have voted for him once under the impression that sending a message was more important than picking the next president. We doubt very much that they will make the same mistake twice."

Amen. To the 2000 Naderites, to whom we owe so much, if you want to send a message, use Western Union, not the bloody ballot box.

Moyers to Leave PBS to Write a Book: "Bill Moyers, the television journalist, author and social commentator, plans to leave his weekly PBS magazine 'Now'' after the elections to write a book about his former boss, President Lyndon B. Johnson, the public broadcasting network said yesterday. "

Saddening. Moyer's "Now" was the best news program no one ever heard of, probably because PBS scheduled its broadcast for freepin' Friday night.

Bush's War Against Nuance (washingtonpost.com): "There is something childlike about the 'Meet the Press' transcript. The repetition. The simplistic thinking. 'Saddam Hussein was a danger to America,' the president said repeatedly. But how? He had no missiles that could reach our shores. He had no nuclear weapons program. He did not play ball with terrorist outfits or, for that matter, they with him. 'The man was a threat,' Bush said. How? How? How?
'He had a weapon,' the president insisted. But he didn't, remember? That was the whole point of David Kay's report. Oh, but Hussein was a madman.
The president does not do nuance -- that we know. But the failure to come up with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is not a nuance. It is a massive reversal of fact, hot turned into cold, tall into short. Bush's inability or refusal to come to grips with the new facts is not the product of a poor performance or an errant tongue, but of a troubling insistence that his beliefs cannot be wrong. That -- nuance be damned -- makes him look like a dope. "

With barely any politeness, Cohen calls Bush a "dope."

ESPN.com - MLB - A-Rod to get Big Apple introduction Tuesday: "NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez is coming back to New York, the city he left when he was 4, and moving onto the biggest stage in town -- Yankee Stadium.
Baseball's highest-paid player, and perhaps its most talented, was finally and officially dealt to the New York Yankees from Texas on Monday after commissioner Bud Selig approved the record-setting swap.

'I'm pretty excited. This is a big, big one,' Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said at the team's minor league complex in Tampa, Fla.
'It ranks with when we signed Reggie,' he said, a reference to slugger Reggie Jackson."

Spring training begins this week, and Steinbrenner has gathered the Gods of Baseball to his Mount Olympus. An astounding deal. I'm an Orioles fan, and expect the O's to perform above 0.500 (at the minimum) this season, but it may be that we'll only busting our behinds to contend with the Red Sox for the wild-card berth.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Health of Nations: "he Economic Report of the President, released last week, has drawn criticism on several fronts. Let me open a new one: the report's discussion of health care, which shows a remarkable indifference to the concerns of ordinary Americans � and suggests a major political opening for the Democrats.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 82 percent of Americans rank health care among their top issues. People are happy with the quality of health care, if they can afford it, but they're afraid that they might not be able to afford it. Unlike other wealthy countries, America doesn't have universal health insurance, and it's all too easy to fall through the cracks in our system. When I saw that the president's economic report devoted a whole chapter to health care, I assumed that it would make some attempt to address these public concerns.
Instead, the report pooh-poohs the problem. Although more than 40 million people lack health insurance, this doesn't matter too much because 'the uninsured are a diverse and perpetually changing group.' This is good news? At any given time about one in seven Americans is uninsured, which is bad enough. Because the uninsured are a 'perpetually changing group,' however, a much larger fraction of the population suffers periodic, terrifying spells of being uninsured, and an even larger fraction lives with the fear of losing insurance if anything goes wrong at work or at home. "

The Economic Report of the President, which came under fire for praising overseas outsourcing, apparently also says "So what?" to the uninsured. Kerry should lift lines from this report extensively for his campaign ads.

An Insolent Puppet Roils Canadian Politics: "An Insolent Puppet Roils Canadian Politics
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Published: February 16, 2004


ORONTO, Feb. 15 Conan O'Brien came to Toronto last week, and he nearly started a civil war. Just kidding, sort of.
On a taped segment on Thursday night's 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' on NBC, the puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visited the Winter Carnival in Quebec City and touched the third rail of Canadian politics by telling the Quebecois they ought to learn English since they live in North America.

'So you're French and Canadian, yes?' Triumph asked a passer-by in a Continental accent. 'You're obnoxious and dull.'
If that were not enough teasing along the delicate cultural divide between Francophone and Anglophone Canadians, the puppet told another: 'I can tell you're French, you know. You have that proud expression, that superior look.'

And of a third, rather plump, man the puppet asked: 'Are you a separatist? Maybe you should try separating yourself from doughnuts first.'"

Many of you may already be aware of my fascination with Triumph, and now he's the cause of an international incident!

Newsday.com - Insurgents Kill 22 In Daylight Raids: "Fallujah, Iraq - In broad daylight, scores of gunmen firing mortars and throwing grenades stormed Iraqi security posts in this city yesterday, freeing prisoners while killing at least 22 people, mostly Iraqi police."

I think I'm losing track: is this the fourth, fifth, or even sixth attack this week? The operational tempo and the efficacy (both tactical and political) of the attacks is impresive. And the daring of going after Abizaid himself should call into question any characterization that Iraq is a reasonably secure place.

Newsday.com - Bush Goal Was Dodging War: "What matters to all our senses is that he is a president who struts around as a war hero, who dodged Vietnam and most of the National Guard drills and who with less shame than anybody we have had maybe ever, sends your kids to a war that he ducked as if he was allowed to do it by birth. "

Jimmy is white-hot and pot-on.

Opinion Earnest Dumas - February 13, 2004: "Give George W. Bush credit. Who would have dreamed that he could get by with a political maneuver so brazen as putting Laurence Silberman in charge of an 'independent' commission to investigate the intelligence failures leading up to the Iraq war? The country should be boiling with outrage but hardly a whimper was heard.

Putting Vice President Dick Cheney or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in charge of the inquiry would have been too transparent, but even they do not have Silberman's record of protecting the Bushes from scandal and punishing their critics. Whitewater aficionados on both sides will recall Silberman's role in the campaign to destroy Bill Clinton. When the commission's work is done - long after the election - Silberman will see to it that much of the blame for anything requiring blame will be borne by, who else?, Bill Clinton. Silberman's co-chair is former U. S. Sen. Chuck Robb, picked for his reputation as a malleable man who never rocks the boat.

Silberman is a federal judge but he has never let the black robes or the code of judicial conduct stand in the way of getting dirty when he needed to. He has been a political loyalist first and a judge fifth. "

The Silberman connection. Bushies can only play with a marked deck. And the press, with the exception of the Arkansas Times, have not picked up on Silberman's glaring thralldom to the Bushies. Didn't anyone in the press read Brock's "Blinded by the Right," where Brock describes being mentored by Silberman.

Newsday.com - Bloomberg Fails to Ask Why: "In a State of the Union speech, Bush said that Saddam tried to get uranium from the country of Niger and blow us away with a nuclear bomb. Afterward, the Bush people said the speech was essentially right although it had some wrong. It did. This could be put in three letters: Lie.

After that, from Washington there was one long, whining lie about weapons of mass destruction. If this Saddam had them, he would have used them in the first 20 minutes of the fighting. He had none. A man called Blix from the United Nations inspected Iraqi arms, including trucks found one week apart and empty. Nothing. Colin Powell got up at the UN and, reading whatever it was that Bush and his people gave him, he said the trucks were there on one day to carry away biological weapons before the inspectors arrived and that is why we have to bomb Baghdad.

The news reporters of the nation, the Pekingese of the Press, never questioned a single, solitary sentence of his presentation. All agreed it was a great moment for America. In doing so they stained themselves forever as cowards."

Thanks, Jimmy (Breslin), for saying it the Big Apple Way. I loved "Pekingese of the Press."

baltimoresun.com - Working solution: "THE SAME administration that's atwitter over programs to promote responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage among the poor turns a cold shoulder to the neediest working moms and their children.
It apparently hasn't occurred to some lawmakers that improving child care and temporary assistance programs also helps foster the kind of stability that sustains families.
Marriage has many acknowledged benefits, but America won't conquer poverty by marrying off the poor. What will make a difference is equipping any who are ambitious and eligible for help with the tools and resources to advance to gainful employment - one of the goals of successful welfare reform programs.
Yet President Bush's latest budget request adds no new money for family assistance grants or child care. And for going on two years now, Congress has been too bogged down in politics to renew legislation supporting the nation's welfare reforms. After multiple extensions, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program now is extended in its current form until March 31. "

I love the Baltimore Sun. When you've had a belly-full of right wingnut sanctimony, remind them how their lie actualy works.

The President�s Guard Service: "The payroll records released yesterday document that he performed no guard duties at all for more than half a year in 1972 and raise questions about how he could be credited with at least 14 days of duty during subsequent periods when his superior officers in two units said they had not seen him. "

So, the New York Times editorial page finally gets it!

TOMPAINE.com - FINALLY, THE TRUTH ABOUT BUSH'S MILITARY SERVICE RECORD: "After Bush got his wings in June 1970 until May 1971, he is credited with a total of 46 days of active duty. From May 1971 to May 1972, he logged 22 days of active duty.
Then something happened. From May 1, 1972 until April 30, 1973 -- a period of twelve months -- there are no days shown, though Bush should have logged at least thirty-six days service (a weekend per month in addition to two weeks at camp). "

Got the goods on George W., again. This is one of several coherent and accurate summaries in blogspace of Bush's failure to complete his National Guard service, and is based on material obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (with scanned images, even). This item also explains the provenance of the "torn document" the White House misleading uses to prove Bush completed his service.

So, the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR have failed to discuss these documents with anything like accuracy or investigative acumen. The proof is right there if you want them, everybody, and you can make your own judgements. And getting these documents didn't cost $80 million like when all the world was a twitter about a land deal (Clinton was exonerated >>twice<<, remember) and a private infidelity.

Lastly, if it's disrespectful to the National Guard to question Bush's "service," than what kind of disrespect does the Guard endure to have this preening coxscomb don a flightsuit when he couldn't be bothered to complete the last 2 years of service he owed the Guard?

Ralph, haven't you done enough damage? Nader's saintly aura is difficult for me to understand, especially with regard to environmental policy. When I worked environmental policy in DC in the late 80s and early 90s, Nader and his organization was practically non-existent on the major issues, like Superfund reauthorization, drinking water standards, and hazardous waste managament. I once contacted Nader's group to invite them to join a coalition, and was told that his group does not work with coalitions. Quite a disappointing attitude in a so-called progressive. Other Nader fiascos over the years have made me increasingly appalled, so it's not that I simply dislike him, or that he's a self-righteous maniac, it's that Nader is dangerous. By the way, don't forget that Nader was greeted with a standing ovation six months after the 2000 election when he appeared before the conservative lobbying coalition known as the Wednesday Group, hosted by Grover Norquist. E-mail Nader at info@naderexplore04.org to tell him to stay out of this year's presidential campaign. Don't worry, you won't be doing anything The Nation hasn't already done. Check out the link below for an enjoyable video, and more information.

Ralph Don't Run

Salon asks how far Bush's AWOL violation will contribute to his demise, but in the meantime here is a nice summary paragraph of the issue.

Salon.com News | Bush's missing year: "The story emerged in 2000 when the Boston Globe's Walter Robinson, after combing through 160 pages of military documents and interviewing Bush's former commanders, reported that Bush's flying career came to an abrupt and unexplained end in the spring of 1972 when he asked for, and was inexplicably granted, a transfer to a paper-pushing Guard unit in Alabama. During this time Bush worked on the Senate campaign of a friend of his father's. With his six-year Guard commitment, Bush was obligated to serve through 1973. But according to his own discharge papers, there is no record that he did any training after May 1972. Indeed, there is no record that Bush performed any Guard service in Alabama at all. In 2000, a group of veterans offered a $3,500 reward for anyone who could confirm Bush's Alabama Guard service. Of the estimated 600 to 700 Guardsmen who were in Bush's unit, not a single person came forward. "

Here's an answer to a question from the 2000 election that always bugged me, "Why didn't the 2000 Boston Globe articles on Bush's AWOL status not get picked up by more media outlets?" Robinson, the reporter who broke the Globe story, says the press felt it had sufficiently vetted Bush, and didn't want to revisit an issue they missed. I can agree with that, especially since the recent reporting in places like the Washington Post has hardly been an improvement in terms of accuracy. But I still wonder why such an obvious headline-maker like Bush being AWOL would get soft-pedaled. Maybe the press needs to hear things like this first from the Washington Times.

Boston Writer on the AWOL Story That First Broke in 2000: "Asked why so few papers followed up on his reporting for the May 23, 2000, Globe story, Walter V. Robinson told E&P, 'When a newspaper has done a thorough scrub on someone and not found anything, then somebody else reports it, they are not exactly eager to follow up. Other news organizations are not inclined to credit their competition, particularly if they have done their own look at the candidate.'"

My friends, Stereolab will be touring the West Coast (SF: March 30-131; Seattle: April 2). If you go, tell me how it is.

.. stereolab : tourdates ..

Here, Krugman adds it all up: 1) Plame affair; 2) September 11 stonewalling; and 3) crookedly partisan inspectors general (L. Jean Lewis). Then asks, "What the heck is the matter with us?"

Op-Ed Columnist: Where�s the Apology?: "Still, the big story isn't about Mr. Bush; it's about what's happening to America. Other presidents would have liked to bully the C.I.A., stonewall investigations and give huge contracts to their friends without oversight. They knew, however, that they couldn't. What has gone wrong with our country that allows this president to get away with such things? "

Wow, just a few weeks of steady Democratic campaign coverage and the mainstream press seems to be finally catching up on what we've known for over a year: the White House cherry-picked its intelligence estimate for Iraq's WMD. Editor & Publisher gives an overview of national editorial pages and their response to the Kay report and the possibility that the White House cooked the books.

Editorials Question Bush's Role in 'Cooking' Up a War: "An E&P survey of the top 20 newspapers by circulation found that as of Wednesday, 13 had run editorials on Kay's resignation as chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq last Friday, and his statement that no WMDs exist in Iraq, and likely did not exist in Iraq during the U.S. run-up to war.

Nearly all of those papers blamed intelligence failures for the miscalculation and called for a full probe. But eight of the 13 -- most of which supported the war -- also raised the issue of White House deceit and its possibly blind pursuit of intelligence that fit its plan for war. "

Absolutely, bloody-well right! Does Bush have to declare martial law before impeachment crosses enough people's minds?

Salon.com | The blue dress of Baghdad: "As David Kay's admission makes clear, the president misled Congress into approving his preemptive war. So why is there no talk of impeachment?"

So, David Kay thinks that it's not Bush who owes an explanation to the American people, but that the intelligence community owes and explanation to Bush (from NPR)! With Kay and the White House looking to scapegoat the intelligence community, the intelligence community is calling the bluff and daring the Congress to investigate the WMD intelligence assessment. Will the wider press figure out that >>this<< is a story?

Salon.com News | The CIA revolt against the White House: "for almost a year, the White House has been quietly fighting a contentious battle at home on the national security front -- against the U.S. intelligence community itself. Vocal retired intelligence officials, and anonymous active ones, have protested repeatedly that the White House has coerced intelligence agencies to rig findings and analysis to suit administration aims."

This interesting superlative was embedded an in article from the much-respected Baltimore Sun about the decline of neighborhood taverns (probably along with bowling leages, right, Professor Putnam?). It's right next to the B&O Railroad Museum. Gotsta go!

sunspot.net - maryland news: "Patrick's, at Pratt and Schroeder streets, is one such saloon. It has belonged to the Rowley family since 1847, and it has operated at its current location since 1862. It claims to be 'America's Oldest Irish Pub.'

'McSorley's is 20 years younger than us,' Patrick Rowley contended from behind the handcrafted 1860s bar desk, referring to the famous Lower Manhattan alehouse."

Where, oh, where is Spalding Gray? Let's hope for the best.

7Online.com: Spalding Gray Becomes An Official Missing Person: "The last time his family saw him was Friday, January ninth. There have been subsequent reports that he was seen on the Staten Island ferry later that night. His wife fears he may have tried to jump off the boat.
Spalding has tried suicide several times, including an attempt in late 2002 to jump off a bridge. A passer-by talked him down.
The actor had grown despondent following a 2001 car accident that left him with injuries from which he has yet to recover fully. "

Alas. Canya frippin' believe that I've never been?!

The Bottom Line, a Historic Nightclub, Calls It Quits: "Bottom Line, the Greenwich Village music club that was a launching pad for the likes of Bruce Springsteen and other rock stars, shut its doors on Thursday after almost three decades as a music industry landmark, its lawyer said yesterday."

And, of course, The Daily Howler does a better job than I could.

Peter Jennings begged Wesley Clark. Please, general--just fake the facts: "Peter Jennings begged Wesley Clark. Please, general�just fake the facts:"

This exchange really hooked me at last night's New Hampshire debate, and regards a comment that Michael Moore made at a Clark rally calling Bush a "deserter." Granted, Moore is a loose cannon, but what the heck does Jennings mean that the charge is "... not supported by the facts." Thank you, Pete, for that bit of editorializing greasily sandwiched within your question, but is there a difference between a "deserter" and someone who is AWOL? Because the latter was substantiated by the Boston Globe in a detailed article in 2000, with documentation posted by The Smoking Gin website. In fact, Bush representatives have >>never denied<< the charge or presented exculpatory evidence, so far as I know. Whatever could Peter mean . . . ?

Also, Clark's response was canny and avoided the traps Jenning set.

FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - Transcript: N.H. Democratic Debate: "JENNINGS: I get General Clark and Senator Edwards this time.
General Clark, a lot of people say they don't you well, so this is really a simple question about knowing a man by his friends. The other day you had a rally here, and one of the men who stood up to endorse you is the controversial filmmaker Michael Moore. You said you were delighted with him.
At one point, Mr. Moore said, in front of you, that President Bush � he's saying he'd like to see you, the general, and President Bush, who he called a 'deserter.'
Now, that's a reckless charge not supported by the facts. And I was curious to know why you didn't contradict him, and whether or not you think it would've been a better example of ethical behavior to have done so.
CLARK: Well, I think Michael Moore has the right to say whatever he feels about this.
I don't know whether this is supported by the facts or not. I've never looked at it. I've seen this charge bandied about a lot.
But to me it wasn't material. This election is going to be about the future, Peter. And what we have to do is pull this country together. And I am delighted to have the support of a man like Michael Moore, of a great American leader like Senator George McGovern, and of people from Texas like Charlie Stenholm and former Secretary of the Navy John Dalton.
We've got support from across the breadth of the Democratic Party, because I believe this party is united in wanting to change the leadership in Washington. We're going to run an election campaign that's about the future. We're going to hold the president accountable for what he did in office and failed to do, and we're going to compare who's got the best vision for America.
JENNINGS: Let me ask you something you mentioned, then"

A Boston Globe exclusive. So, if this is the conduct of Senate GOP staffers (what, no subpoenas yet?), is there any sense of propiety left the Congressional GOP?

Boston.com / News / Nation / Infiltration of files seen as extensive: "From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics."

And the crap is about to hit the same fan.

Op-Ed Columnist: Democracy at Risk: "A recent Zogby poll found that even in red states, which voted for George W. Bush, 32 percent of the public believes that the election was stolen. In blue states, the fraction is 44 percent."

In case you missed it last night, here's the link to the excellent and disquieting Frontline report on the WMD hunt and the donut hole they found. Interesting interviews with Kay, just as he resigns from the Iraq Survey Group.

frontline: chasing saddam's weapons | PBS

Kinsley on the State of the Union and the so-called conservative philosophy.

The Compassion Puzzle (washingtonpost.com): "So, to sum up: Talk loudly. Carry a big stick anyway. Spend money. Borrow to pay for it. Fiddle the books. I guess that's a governing philosophy of sorts. "

More truthsaying on the State of the Union

Op-Ed Columnist: The Other America: "'For the sake of job growth,' said Mr. Bush, to the loud applause of the Congressional bobbleheads at his State of the Union address, 'the tax cuts you passed should be made permanent.'
Job growth? That's the weirdest thing Mr. Bush has said since he told a CNN discussion group, 'As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards.'
Nearly 2.5 million jobs have been lost since Mr. Bush became president, and the most recent employment statistics have made a mockery of the claim that tax cuts for the rich would be the engine of job growth for the middle and working classes."

Conason picks up one of the more obvious falsehoods of the State of the Union.
Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal: "Why we're in Iraq: WMD-RPA
Last night, the president had little to say about the weapons of mass disappearance that were the main topic of last year's State of the Union address -- and what he did say was, in a word, pathetic:
'We're seeking all the facts. Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day ...' "

Hooray for . . . USA Today?! So at least someone there figured a reality check was in order. I wonder: why aren't any of these simply called "demonstrablelies?" My favorite:

USATODAY.com - Behind the address: "What Bush said: Search teams have 'identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities' in Iraq. 'Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day.'
Context: The Bush administration has struggled to explain why weapons hunters have found no chemical or biological weapons in Iraq in 10 months of searching. On the eve of the war, President Bush said there was 'no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.' He said terrorist groups could acquire weapons from Iraq and use them against the United States. A search effort led by CIA appointee David Kay has turned up no weapons and no evidence of any advanced weapons program, raising questions about the quality of U.S. intelligence and the Bush administration's justification for war in Iraq."

I can say confidently, and by far, that the State of the Union last
night was the most nauseating in my life, and I'm including Nixon.
Giving the speech a run for its money was National Pansy Radio's
utterly lame non-coverage this morning. What's the matter NPR, were
there too many demonstrably false statements in the speech for you to
crack a few source materials and do some real reporting? And just
when I think Cokie Roberts's commentary couldn't be any more
superficial and inane, she delivers a career performance this
morning. That's your last State of the Union, mofo.

Bad taste in my mouth,
REY

Hi, everyone. Just started my first blog. Bring it on!