A little bird tells me that Rosen could tell the feds some very interesting stories about AIPAC’s political fundraising machine — stories that would not sound entirely out of place at Tom DeLay’s trial.

The 51st State Revisited

by anna missed (lifted from a comment)

This image keeps running through my head of all those generals lined up at the hearings spewing out these military-speak answers to bureaucratic double-talk questions, all skirting around why the worlds most sophisticated military/intelligence complex cannot, for all its worth, deal with a few thousand guys in tee-shirts with AK47s.

It seems they all are lost in an eddy of prima-facie question and answer dance with death played to an eternally skipping record — I cannot see why they bother — it’s s as if the wheels of government have concluded we be best hypnotized by mixing the look of creditability and credulity into a real life government sponsored remake of Last Year at Marienbad we are all then forced to watch and endlessly ponder, year after fucking year.

And its not as if this is some new and novel quandary, we have history here, 15 years of history in Vietnam, millions dead, and all justified by the same parade of gasbag clowns just as oblivious to the trail of death and destruction left behind like some back ally abortion left in a trash can.

I’m really sorry for those that have to endure this mind-bending pantomime, either in real fact or mental distress, enduring, until the trickle of awareness finally, and blindly filters down into the dark recesses of dolthood toddling atop a fat beer fart somewhere in some pickup truck somewhere, or as a reborn thunderstruck revelation stroke of brilliance moment by some geek as he helicopters into a very important meeting at some think-tank somewhere.

Man….Oh Man.

Scrap of Paper

Going Backwards

Each time has its Lingua franca. A language widely used to communicate in cultural exchanges between different countries and populations.

Greek, Latin, French, German have been used as such in the western hemisphere. Today the lingua franca is English. It sneaks itself into the native languages. It is modern, hip and cool to use it.

Walk through any European city and you will see lots of English words used in public space. There are "Sales", "Beauty Shops" and "Happy Hours" everywhere.

So when I saw this sign in front of an ‘elite’ bar in a hip part of town in Hamburg, Germany, I was awestruck by the use of German. I have seen "Happy Hour" signs in Turkey, Spain, France, Poland and elsewhere throughout Europe. I never noticed one announcing a ‘happy hour’ in the native language.

Maybe this is just an aberration. But it also could be something else.

After WWII the European cultures have been dominated by the Anglo-american. Is this about to change?

III. Another Partisan Fanatic

—

II. Pinch and Judy Show

—

But it would be funny if after all his posturing and protestations of innocence, DeLay shuffled into the courtroom and copped an Agnew. Still, stranger things have happened. It might also be the prudent thing, if, as some rumors have it, one or both of DeLay’s co-conspirators have started singing to the grand jury.

I. Enter the Turd Blossom

Coming Soon to a Nightmare Near You

But the ghost of Ronald Reagan can rest easy: the civil rights rollbacks of the 1980s are surely safe in Judge Roberts’ hands, and might even be extended, albeit probably not as aggressively as he and his band of anti-soul brothers once hoped.

Roberts Rules of Order

Teamster Player

Just another …

III. Ken Starr on Steroids

—

II. Shorter Washington Post

—

I’m worried that one day I’m going to point out something like this — and no one is going to have the slightest idea what I’m talking about.

I. Down the Memory Hole

Bashing Brownie is the whitewash. Mr. Horse Butt Inspector is now the designated fall guy — a human biowaste container for disposing of all the Cheney administration’s post-Katrina failures.Quiz Show

The Lord shall repay the evildoer according to his wickedness.

Who Says God Is Dead?

Moore’s Law

Atrios cites from today’s Tom Friedman column The Endgame in Iraq (NYT pay content)

That will become clear in the next few months as we see just what kind of minority the Sunnis in Iraq intend to be. If they come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won’t, then we are wasting our time. We should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind.

Given that the auto makers are, in a sense, the oil industry’s biggest customers, I bet the Cheney administration would have been willing to comp them.

General Morons

Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)
President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina, Sep. 2, 2005

The White House yesterday confirmed, that even four weeks after Katrina hit the gulf coast there are still underserved shelter where people are in dire need of everything from mattresses to pants and unskilled labor is in short supply.

Cont. reading: Underserved Shelter

It appears that in the Army of Looking Out for Number One, “honor” now has approximately the same meaning as “cover my bureaucratic ass.”

Men of Honor

Blessed No More

In USNews.com "White House Week" column there is this piece small piece which leads me to some questions.

When in Doubt, Shoot the Staff

Conservatives chafing at President Bush’s Hurricane Katrina spending plan and depressed with his low poll numbers are beginning to blame his top staff for moving too slowly to reverse the slide. Indeed, some suggest that the president needs to bring in new top staff to invigorate his administration. "He needs a new group of people with energy and ideas around him," says a GOP strategist with ties to the White House. "They’re like a dying cellphone battery." Ever since the re-election campaign ended, the president’s supporters have worried that his top staff was worn out. It’s a feeling administration staffers have often concurred with. But White House insiders balk at calls for changes, claiming that the president knows exactly what his political situation is and has a long-term plan built on new initiatives that will drown out the critics next spring.

What is Bush’s long-term plan? What new initiatives  could possibly drown out critics? A Spring Offensive?