Gratuitous Video Feed
Posted on | August 27, 2008
Led Zeppelin: “Bonzo’s Montreux”
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | August 27, 2008
“Thou sodden-witted lord, thou hast no more brain than I have
in my elbows.” —Troilus And Cressida, 2.1.45-47
Gratuitous Video Feed
Posted on | August 26, 2008
Chris Cornell: “Burden in My Hand”
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | August 26, 2008
“I think thy horse will sooner con an oration than thou learn
a prayer without book.” —Troilus And Cressida, 2.1.17-18
Gratuitous Video Feed
Posted on | August 25, 2008
The Who: “Join Together”
Just Don’t Call It a Timetable
Posted on | August 25, 2008
A few months ahead of the November election comes the news that President Bush has suddenly discovered a need to pull troops out of Iraq. This was the war that we had to have, and had to keep fighting, but it seems that that was then.
In agreeing to pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraqi cities by June, and from the rest of the country by 2011, President Bush has apparently consented to precisely the kind of timetable that, when Democrats called for one, he dismissed as “setting a date for failure.” Bush can call it an “aspirational goal” until he turns blue, but a timetable is exactly what it is, thank you very much.
Bush has repeatedly warned that politics and public opinion should have no role in the decision about when to leave Iraq, but apparently he just meant American politics and public opinion. A clear majority of Americans has favored a withdrawal timetable for several years now, putting anti-war Democrats in control of Congress in 2006.
Bush ignored them. But in the end, he bowed to the will of the Iraqis’ elected representatives. After five and a half years of occupation, it was their turn to put a gun to Bush’s head: The timetable was the price they demanded for agreeing to let American troops remain in the country beyond the expiration of a United Nations mandate in December.
Bush’s acquiescence pulls the rug out from under Republican presidential candidate John McCain, whose position on Iraq was largely identical to Bush’s — pre-backflip. In some ways, the new timetable is even shorter than the one proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama….
But Bush’s real accomplishment here is that he has stalled long enough that none of the deadlines he has now agreed to will be on his watch. This will all be somebody else’s problem.
Oh, it’s a little late in George W. Bush’s political career to feign surprise that someone else will be left to clean up the mess. He has played the dilettante with the short attention span all his life, as student, airman, oil executive and governor. He’s full of fail, and now we come to the end of his disastrous reign as Boy King of America, in which he did more damage than anyone can repair.
Shakespearean Daily Kiss
Posted on | August 25, 2008
“He would pun thee into shivers with his fist, as a sailor
breaks a biscuit.” —Troilus And Cressida, 2.1.40-41
Oil-Soaked Rags Catch Fire
Posted on | August 24, 2008
It’s a little late in the Bush-Cheney Era to start crowing every new smoking guns–too many of those have simply been ignored by the Legislative and Judicial Branches, the media, and the citizenry–but here’s a tawdry little bolus that floated to the surface of Sen. Ted Stevens’ indictment. The senator seems to have used Vice President Dick Cheney to repay the many considerations shown him by an oil executive:
In a conversation secretly tape-recorded by the FBI on June 25, 2006, Stevens discussed ways to get a pipeline bill through the Alaska Legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing the senator with about $250,000 in undisclosed financial benefits. According to a Justice motion, Stevens told Allen, “I’m gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, ‘Look … you gotta get this done’.”
Two days later, Cheney wrote a letter to the Alaska Legislature urging members to “promptly enact” a bill to build the pipeline. The letter was considered unusual because the White House rarely contacts state lawmakers about pending legislative matters.
Read Cheney’s letter here. This is how deals are struck these days. Ted is the longest-serving Republican in the US Senate, with decades of experience in corruption. Dick is a former petroleum and energy executive with a lust for secrecy, money and the blood of kittens. A marriage made in heaven!
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | August 22, 2008
“Why, this hath not a finger’s dignity.” —Troilus And Cressida, 1.3.204
Homes, Sweet Homes
Posted on | August 21, 2008
Are you feeling tired? Unappreciated? Unable to recall how many homes you own? You might be Senator John McCain:
All told, the seven properties at which the McCains can rest their weary heads after long days on the campaign trail are valued at nearly $14 million, according to two separate research documents obtained by RAW STORY…
Estimates of how many homes McCain owns based on examinations of property records in those states put the number between seven and 10, but a precise number is difficult to pinpoint depending on how one defines a distinct home. The properties often are owned by holding companies or trusts controlled by McCain’s wife Cindy, an heiress to her father’s beer distributorship fortune believed to be worth up to $100 million…
The McCains famously like to vacation on their Sedona ranch — in fact, the Arizonan senator is heading there this weekend for a few days away from the campaign trail. The 15-acre ranch where McCain hosted members of his press corps this year holds six separate houses, so does that count as one home or six?
In Phoenix, the McCains’ primary residence is a nearly 7,000 square foot condominium worth about $4.66 million. The McCains purchased two condos in 2006 and knocked down some walls to create the massive space in a high-rise that features valet parking, a rooftop swimming pool, personal spa services and on-staff housekeepers, among other amenities.
Whenever John or Cindy want some sun, sand and surf, they simply need to jet off to either of their two beachfront condos in Coronado, CA, worth a combined $4.8 million, according to property records. Coronado, a small island near San Diego boasts the second best beach in the country…
There’s also the matter of the McCains’ daughter, 23-year-old Meghan. While many 20-somethings are lucky if they get a car for a college graduation gift, Meghan’s present for finishing at Columbia University was a $700,000 loft in a hip section of downtown Phoenix.
Watch McCain’s campaign keep trying to paint Senator Obama as the out-of-touch elitist. Laugh. Watch mainstream media outlets assist. Cry.
keep looking »
