the 'bul

AMDOM STUFF
* "Recall the assessment of Al Gore during the 2000 election, or John Kerry during the 2004 election. Both were roundly criticized by conservatives (and many swing voters) for being "too smart" or "thinking he was smarter" than them. That the president being more knowledgeable and intelligent than the voters ought to be a prerequisite for the job is a concept completely lost on Americans who are increasingly proud of their own stupidity ever since our current commander in chief made it fashionable." LINK

* whats with the "free pollard" movement at the laurabush hecklings? look for that one in the near future... praps they are trying to pre-empt rozen's punishment - sweet.

* "Just a day after Defence Department official Larry Franklin was arrested on charges of passing classified information in the service of Israel, America's Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte was the guest at a pro-Israel event, where he praised Israel as an American ally.
Such is the degree of America's blindness to Israel's espionage activities in the United States." LINK

* dbrooks argues that moderates are our only possible saviour, before promising to not support moderate positions. LINK

* if blinky gets murdered, does cheney automatically lose his position as president of the senate? perhaps we should recruit democrat food-tasters for blinky. must like bagels.

* "Chapter 11 Presidency: A morally bankrupt president in charge of a bankrupt agenda, economy and country." LINK

* this is hadleys replacement at nsc (and guru on war with nthkorea): " In an essay on the Web site of the Claremont Institute, a group promoting limited government, Crouch scorned additional gun restrictions after the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School. "The sources of this anarchism," he wrote, "are 30 years of liberal social policy that have put our children in day care, taken God out of the schools, taken Mom out of the house, and banished Dad as an authority figure from the family altogether."" LINK

* the galloway hearing was amazing for another reason - apart from galloway - and thats the absolute incompetence of levin and coleman - and i dont mean in an 'emperors got no clothes' moment, but their professional competence. even if galloway had been meek and mild and wasnt a meanie, levin & coleman were apparently atrociously illprepared that they would have embarrassed themselves even then.
levin went out of his way to make this stupid case (paraphrased):
levin: you arent alleging the dox are forgeries?
g'way: i havent seen them
levin: i know that you are denying the allegations, but you arent alleging the documents are forgeries
g'way: i dont know how to answer! ive told u, the information is incorrect and i havent seen the documents - u wont give them to me. i cant say whether they were forged or woteva, cos i dont know how or when or why they were made.
levin: ok - i just wanted to get u on the record saying that you havent specifically alleged that the documents are forged.

wtf is that?

and then levin wanted to get g'way on record as to whether or not g'way would be 'troubled' if he someone he knows got some oil$ from saddam. g'way responded appropriately cos he'd just been asked a stupid question - levin kept coming back to the same question 'would u be 'troubled' by xyz?'

so thats the level of preparedness we get from levin - 'i know you havent said anything on the topic, but i just wanted to confirm that you havent explicitly alleged the dox are forged' and 'would u be troubled if xyz were true?' - that was the lamest shit ever! even if g'way was compliant and friendly, where do these questions get anyone? would you be 'troubled'??? wtf? galloway invoking the mccarthy-era 'i am not and never have been...' was brilliant.

and of course, coleman is coleman. but levin looked like willy loman.

* the other day i pointed to a harsh new article by isikoff wrt MEK - cannon
argues that maybe the admin knew this new article was coming, and thats why we got our little 'newsweek' episode. its an interesting-ish theory, altho seems outta all proportion - perhaps isikoff is working on some other pieces as well... cannon's theory actually fits nicely with the question i was pondering the other day - ie. did the egadmin create the entire situation, or did they reach back into history to find something they could be outraged about?

* do non-americans refer to the senate as the greatest deliberative body in the world? do non-senators?

* the filibuster deal seems to have everyone upset - i dont really have much of an opinion other than to say it wouldnt surprise to see the deal break down in the near future - it seems kinda temporary. itll be rendered irrelevant at the first bump.

* is anyone in istanbul tonite?

* "Dr. Dean came to the interview with Tim Russert carrying written notes, which he consulted as he ran through some of the ethics accusations that Mr. DeLay is facing involving improper fund-raising and foreign trips possibly financed by a lobbyist." LINK
notes? good grief. thanks adnags u idiot.