Good news! We finally have a reason to invade Iraq!

[shereads]

At last, Iraq has become a terrorist training ground. Now I can sleep at night. Bombs away.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

 

[cantdog]

And the U.S. has become a religious nutball training ground.

From the descriptions, though, the training in Iraq is in successful insurgency, not terrorism. It was, in Afghanistan, for sure.

 

[shereads]

And the U.S. has become a religious nutball training ground.

You have a problem with that, Chairman Mao?

 

[cantdog]

I find the 700 club less appalling than some of the television shows. And the red faces on the old men when they see my pastor are amusing, too. It's like observing the monkey house.

 

[shereads]

CBS fires four executives and Dan Rather ends his career in disgrace after running a story based on uncomfirmed information.

The White House fires zero executives and George W. Bush wins a second term after starting a war based on unconfirmed information.

Something's not quite right.

 

[BlackSnake]

CBS fires four executives and Dan Rather ends his career in disgrace after running a story based on uncomfirmed information.

The White House fires zero executives and George W. Bush wins a second term after starting a war based on unconfirmed information.

Something's not quite right.

Well, atleast someone is striking out at half truths.

Do anyone remember the airline accident a few years back? I think in was in FL planes crashed into trees or something. I think they said it was pilot error. I don't think they did a blood test on him to find out. Because it happened on more than one plane, it had to have been the fault of the FAA. The Repubicans should have done something, but they were too busy giving themselves a tax break.

 

[cantdog]

I don't see the logical flow from one idea to the other, shereads. Have you been raiding the medicine cabinet again?

Maybe "sleeping at night" is the common link. But no, that just leads to the medicine cabinet.

Anyway, relying on pols to investigate themselves is futile. Rummy is still here, despite the torture issue, and the prez has proposed the torture lawyer Gonzales to be the new Attorney General. So there seems to be a Bozone, a zone of immunity given off by the bozos in charge. A super power! Bozoman defies common sense! Able to leap nimbly out of difficulty by refusing to investigate himself!

 

[Boxlicker101]

And the U.S. has become a religious nutball training ground.

From the descriptions, though, the training in Iraq is in successful insurgency, not terrorism. It was, in Afghanistan, for sure.

I would call it mostly terrorism. Attacking a military target is not terrorism. Planting a bomb in a mosque or night club or train depot or other place where civilians willl be killed or maimed, or attacking pipe lines or other infrastructure is terrorism.

Besides that, since most of the so-called insurgents are not Iraqi, at least not the leaders, it is more like invasion.

 

[shereads]

Well, atleast someone is striking out at half truths.

Do anyone remember the airline accident a few years back? I think in was in FL planes crashed into trees or something. I think they said it was pilot error. I don't think they did a blood test on him to find out. Because it happened on more than one plane, it had to have been the fault of the FAA. The Repubicans should have done something, but they were too busy giving themselves a tax break.

You were in favor of that, as I recall. You helped reelect him, and cited taxes as one of your deciding issues. I hope it's worth it.

 

[shereads]

Anyway, relying on pols to investigate themselves is futile. Rummy is still here, despite the torture issue, and the prez has proposed the torture lawyer Gonzales to be the new Attorney General. So there seems to be a Bozone, a zone of immunity given off by the bozos in charge. A super power! Bozoman defies common sense! Able to leap nimbly out of difficulty by refusing to investigate himself!

That's so not fair. The torture lawyer has issued a revised opinion on torture for public consumption, that's vastly less permissive than the private one that some leftist leaked to the press.

On the issue of self-policing the White House, where are we with the Plame/Joseph Wilson investigation? Is it over with already, like the anthrax mystery, and I slept through it?

Idea: We put CBS in charge of firing the people who "rushed to press" with the Iraq invasion. CBS is in a firing mood.

Edited to add: I think Gonzales will win the appointment to Justice by a tidy margin, not because he thinks torture is a good American value but because he doesn't sing and hasn't said anything yet about the naked statues. "Anybody but Ashcroft." Hard to argue with it.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

CBS fires four executives and Dan Rather ends his career in disgrace after running a story based on uncomfirmed information.

The White House fires zero executives and George W. Bush wins a second term after starting a war based on unconfirmed information.

Something's not quite right.

Mapes and Rather deserved to get fired. I feel sorry for the others, I think they were scapegoated to protect CBS's president.

I'll venture a guess, and say that the whitehouse dosen't operate with a profit motive being the bottom line. Witness Bush's investment of "political capital". At CBS when someone screws up this badly, a public bloodletting is de rigure. Have to appease those nelson households.

 

[shereads]

New episodes for Leonard Nimoy's "Unsolved Mysteries":

1. Where is Ahmad Chalabi? If there's evidence that he was a spy for Iran while on our payroll, why isn't he under arrest? Last month I did a Google search for Chalabi and came up with months-old news.

2. Anthrax. Remember anthrax, the unfriendly surprise in the mailbox? Are we still tracking down those evildoers or did they get away with it? Inquiring minds want to know.*

3. Wilson's wife. CIA agent, outing thereof by White House source. Qualifies as treason under the law. Whassup with that investigation?






*R.I.P. guy from the National Inquirer

 

[cantdog]

Mapes and Rather deserved to get fired. I feel sorry for the others; I think they were scapegoated to protect CBS's president.

I'll venture a guess and say that the White House doesn't operate with a profit motive being the bottom line. Witness Bush's investment of "political capital".

At CBS when someone screws up this badly, a public bloodletting is de rigeur. Have to appease those nielson households.

shereads:On the issue of self-policing the White House, where are we with the Plame/Joseph Wilson investigation? Is it over with already, like the anthrax mystery, and I slept through it?

Colleen has seen through the smoke to the real nub at the CBS thing; it is typical for Colleen to discern while others are deceived.

Shereads, they wish you and 40 million other awake Americans would forget the name "Plame." But I would like to know. Didn't some committee appoint a special subcommittee to see to that?

Anthrax scares meant that the congress was kicked out of their offices by a genuine terrorist attack at exactly the moment they had to vote on the PATRIOT Act. It's a good goddam thing I'm not paranoid. Then I'd know who to blame for the anthrax, mister man!!

 

[shereads]

Colleen has seen through the smoke to the real nub at the CBS thing; it is typical for Colleen to discern while others are deceived.

Shereads, they wish you and 40 million other awake Americans would forget the name "Plame." But I would like to know. Didn't some committee appoint a special subcommittee to see to that?

Anthrax scares meant that the congress was kicked out of their offices by a genuine terrorist attack at exactly the moment they had to vote on the PATRIOT Act. It's a good goddam thing I'm not paranoid. Then I'd know who to blame for the anthrax, mister man!!

They went after Brokaw and the National Inquirer. Where is the connection? My first thought was Scott Peterson, but the anthrax mailings pre-date the murder. Who else would have made the network news and the supermarket tabloids? Michael Jackson? The Queen?

Chelsea Clinton?

I think we have our killer.

 

[cantdog]

That's the caliber of the investigators on the case right now. It's sad, isn't it?

 

[shereads]

Attacking a military target is not terrorism.

The bombing of the Cole? The attack on U.S. Marines in Lebanon?

If the IRA attacks a military target, it's not terrorism? If Timothy McVeigh had bombed an Air Force base instead of a federal office building, wouldn't he still have been a terrorist?

If I had to define terrorism I'd call it an attack on a target selected for political reasons, by a para-military group without allegiance to any government.

At any rate, I don't think the point of the Washington Post article is to define the Iraq insurgency as terrorism, but that Iraq is now hospitable to terrorists and terrorist recruitment as it was not under Saddam. His brutality was a nasty way to prevent the rise of an Islamic theocracy. It's ironic, isn't it, that of all the brutal dictators the U.S. might have removed to promote democracy and create lucrative business opportunities, we targeted the enemy of our worst enemy.

What Osama couldn't do, and Iran couldn't do, we did for them.

"There must be a pony here someplace."

~ Punchline to a joke involving an enormous pile of horse dung and a boy with a shovel.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

They went after Brokaw and the National Inquirer. Where is the connection? My first thought was Scott Peterson, but the anthrax mailings pre-date the murder. Who else would have made the network news and the supermarket tabloids? Michael Jackson? The Queen?

Chelsea Clinton?

I think we have our killer.

There is an almost ritualistic distrust of the media among those in power today. A solid belief that the media is liberal and out to get them.

For those who wish to find something good in a situation, that distrust is a pretty clear sign thatt hey don't think they have sufficent control over the media yet to prevent embarassing disclosures. that, in and of itself is encourageing.

For those who don't see much percentage in looking for the silver lining, CBS just handed the Bush administration a coup money couldn't have bought. Absolute prrof positive the media is liberal, biased and so anti-bush they have abandoned all pretext of journalistic integrity.

I mean, if you were Carl Rove, worrying about your boy's service record and his propensity to dismiss the media out of hand, you couldn't have scripted this any beter.

1. We take an award winning executive who we believe has harbored a strong liberal biase. We pair her with a significant media personality we have accused of liberal biase on several occasions.

2. She is going to prepare a segment just before an election. Her source is a known democratic supporter who hates Bush's father. he comes up with documents he claims to have gotten from a mysterious lady named Ramierez. Those documents are terribly damageing to the current president.

3. She calls the Kerry campaign to clear some things up. Ignored the fact that none of the document experts she goes to can authinticate the documents, but take shelter in the fact none of them can positively indicate they are fakes. She uses her reputation to quiet internal questioning of the documents and the report airs.

4. Questions rise immediatly after the report airs and Both Rather and CBS vigorusly defend the report without bothering to investigate.

5. Experts refuse to back up CBS, saying what they have all along, they canneither authenticate nor refute the authenticity of the documents. The man who provided the documents crayfishes. A quiet but extensive hunt for the mysterious Mrs. Ramierez by CBS proves futile. The call by Mapes to the Kerry campaign comes out. The timing of the report dovetails perfectly with GOP assertions it was meant to influence the election.

Game, set and match. CBS ends up looking like at best, a slipshod outfit, reporting gossip as fact. At worst, they are the quentisential liberal media bogey man. Mapes is fired, her career probably ruined. Rather steps down, his credibility shot. Anything coming out of the main stream media can be dismissed now and those who support the GOP won't even question it. Anyone attempting to raise legitimate questions about GWB's service record will be painted as a die hard liberal, beating a dead horse. I mean, this was the quientessential slam dunk.

Bush's service record is laid to rest. His disdain for the main stream media is justified. Two highly critical journalists are disgraced. A news outlet critical of the administration is totally and decisively discredited.

I don't know if I should be in awe of the Stupidity and rank amatuerism CBS displayed or if I should be in Awe of the good fortune of the administration. In any case, disent in the main stream media is going to be muzzled. Executives will probably require proof positive of any claim, perhaps even more proof than could legitimately be expected.

 

[rgraham666]

This is turning out like all wars.

It's not going to be won by the intelligence and skill of the victors. It's going to be lost by the foolishness and idiocy of the losers.

 

[shereads]

This is turning out like all wars.

It's not going to be won by the intelligence and skill of the victors. It's going to be lost by the foolishness and idiocy of the losers.

The White House is "playing down" expectations for the election. Quote: "It's the results that matter, not the numbers."

Except that they forgot to give Colin Powell the script. On one of the weekend shows, he said a low voter turnout will look like a victory for the insurgency.

Really? Will it? Ya think?

The question isn't whether the 2/3 of the country who won't vote, either by choice or because they have no access to a secure polling place, will recognize the legitimacy of the election. It's whether the winning candidates will survive to take office.

We've dug a bottomless pit.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The bombing of the Cole? The attack on U.S. Marines in Lebanon?

If the IRA attacks a military target, it's not terrorism? If Timothy McVeigh had bombed an Air Force base instead of a federal office building, wouldn't he still have been a terrorist?

If I had to define terrorism I'd call it an attack on a target selected for political reasons, by a para-military group without allegiance to any government.

At any rate, I don't think the point of the Washington Post article is to define the Iraq insurgency as terrorism, but that Iraq is now hospitable to terrorists and terrorist recruitment as it was not under Saddam. His brutality was a nasty way to prevent the rise of an Islamic theocracy. It's ironic, isn't it, that of all the brutal dictators the U.S. might have removed to promote democracy and create lucrative business opportunities, we targeted the enemy of our worst enemy.

What Osama couldn't do, and Iran couldn't do, we did for them.



"There must be a pony here someplace."

~ Punchline to a joke involving an enormous pile of horse dung and a boy with a shovel.

I was referring specifically to actions in Iraq. I would consider the attack on the Cole to be an act of terrorism but the attack on the Marine barracks was not. This was a combat area and the building was a military target. One of the most incredible acts of stupidity I have ever heard of was leaving that highly visible target unguarded like the way it was. There was a sentry but he was prohibited from having bullets in his gun, making it and him useless.

 

[hunting_tiger]

There is a certain agency that in the 80ies educated a freedom fighter that has turned into a monster called Osama Bin Laden.

Newsweek Magazine said the Pentagon, in Washington, is drawing up possible proposals to send US special forces teams to advise, support and train hand-picked Iraqi squads to target Sunni rebels.

Curious cats wants to know if history is repeating itself here.

 

[shereads]

There is a certain agency that in the 80ies educated a freedom fighter that has turned into a monster called Osama Bin Laden.

Newsweek Magazine said the Pentagon, in Washington, is drawing up possible proposals to send US special forces teams to advise, support and train hand-picked Iraqi squads to target Sunni rebels.

Curious cats wants to know if history is repeating itself here.

Training freedom fighters in third world countries happens to be something we're good at. Naturally, some of them acquire more power than we might have intended and become brutal dictators or dangerous freelance lunatics, but does that have to mean the glass is half-empty?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Hi Sher.

 

[shereads]

Hi Sher.

Hi, Abstalker. This doesn't count as real stalking, by the way. It's a sincere effort, but so far you haven't tied up my PM box with suggestions that we should exchange confidential information. Just because you're you, and as a sign of trust, I'll go ahead and post my full name and mailing address. (Promise not to hunt me down and harm my rabbit, if I ever get a rabbit.)

Susan Tortellini
The George Clooney Estate
Rural Route 5
Como, Italy 00812

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Hi, Abstalker. This doesn't count as real stalking, by the way. It's a sincere effort, but so far you haven't tied up my PM box with suggestions that we should exchange confidential information. Just because you're you, and as a sign of trust, I'll go ahead and post my full name and mailing address. (Promise not to hunt me down and harm my rabbit, if I ever get a rabbit.)

Susan Tortellini
The George Clooney Estate
Rural Route 5
Como, Italy 00812

You bitch, You told me you were from Pakistan!!!!

I'm not going to touch your animals....oh no, I have worse things in mind for you if you ignore me Sher....I'll find out where you are....and then I'll stand outside you house...SHER and then...then...I'll sing Broadway showtunes while interpretive dancing SHER!!!!