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We have the enlightening observation from Robert McClelland (emphasis added):
By now you’re probably aware of the efforts of Alan Dershowitz and other right whinging blowhards to provide justification for the Israeli government murdering civilians in Lebanon. The crux of their argument is that since Lebanon is a democracy they’re ultimately responsible for its actions or lack of action against Hezbollah and therefore legitimate targets. This argument has been heartily endorsed by right whingers like Dumbnation’s Damian Penny and KKKate McMillan; who also seems to think Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, makes a good source of information.
Hmmmmmmm ... simple civilians being ultimately responsible for the actions of their country's military forces? An interesting proposal, given that, when the idea was floated not that long ago regarding whether or not it was morally justifiable for a suicide bomber to kill Tony Blair, the wingnutosphere went positively batshit crazy with outrage.
So, if I understand this correctly, mere civilian citizens who have no control over terrorist forces in their midst are to be considered fair game, while the civilian leaders who actually control their country's military are totally out of bounds. Fascinating. I'm sure I could appreciate this more, as soon as I have my brain replaced by a cauliflower.
Oooooooh ... this has some potentially ugly consequences:
Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, and Newt Gingrich finally come to the same conclusion that the left side of the blogosphere reached years ago: Condoleezza Rice is incompetent.
Oh, shit. Let's not let that get around or you just know what's gonna happen:
And, as I recall, that was kind of creepy the first time.
A little levity with your morning croissant:
As the world's leaders gathered, the Middle East burst into flames. How President Bush handled the biggest foreign challenge of his second term.
Thank God for Newsweek. Otherwise, I'd have to get all my satire from The Onion.
Oops. Just another dead Canadian. Nothing to see here, move along, right, Steve?
Clambering out of one snake pit only to step bravely into the next one, the adorable Ms. Z touches on the subject of incendiary devices; specifically, the allegations that Israel is using white phosphorus munitions against Lebanon.
Ms. Z links to CNN's Anderson Cooper who, for someone who is usually on the ball, muffs this one badly when he claims (emphasis added):
We're hearing charges from Lebanon that Israel is using bombs containing phosphorus, which is an incendiary substance that can cause severe burns. Here's the raw data.
White phosphorus is a colorless substance with a garlic-like smell. It ignites when exposed to air. It's primarily used as smoke screens or signaling devices. The United States and Great Britain have used it in Iraq. White phosphorus is not specifically banned by the international rules of war.
Unless of course, you're using it against civilian populations -- then it sure as hell is out of bounds:
Protocol III
Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons.
Geneva, 10 October 1980
...
Article 2
Protection of civilians and civilian objects
1. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects the object of attack by incendiary weapons.
2. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons...
As you can read (unless you're a total cementhead or Damian Penny), it's not enough to simply not explicitly target civilians, is it? Point 2 makes it clear that it's illegal to use those weapons against even clearly military targets if they're in a civilian area. But that's not the real issue here, is it?
No, the real issue here is that the same wankers who were howling with outrage over Saddam Hussein's alleged stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction or chemical weapons, and shrieking that, holy fucking shit, he's a monster, he gassed his own people, are suddenly seriously cool with dropping incendiary devices on civilian populations. As Juan Cole so aptly put it:
The US military is puzzled about the outcry over the use of white phosphorus at Fallujah. After all, a 500-pound bomb is also destructive. My guess? You can't go to war against Saddam on the grounds that he has stockpiles of chemical weapons, and then turn around and use incendiary bombs of a sort that much of the world regards as a form of chemical weapon. It is the hypocrisy factor.
No shit.
You know, someone really should take Damian Penny aside and explain to him the basic concept of a "thought experiment."
First, the lead-in:
Dirty bandages hid the worst of 8-year-old Zainab Jawad’s swollen, bloodied nose Monday. Her arm, fractured in two places, was strapped to her chest.
Stretched out on a bed at Najem Hospital, Zainab squeezed her brown eyes shut as memories of the attack flooded back, some of her words muffled as she fought sobs.
A day earlier, Israeli bombs destroyed her family’s home in the southern village of Ayta Chaeb. Then rockets slammed into the family’s car as they fled.
“I don’t want to remember, but I can’t help it. What I remember most is the sound, the sound of the planes, and I was scared because I thought there were so many. I fell asleep last night, but all I could hear in my sleep were planes.”
Zainab’s aunt was in the next bed. Her mother, Usra Jawad, and 4-year-old brother, Mohammed, were across the hall. Mohammed’s eyes fluttered as he slipped in and out of consciousness; his leg was in a cast to his hip. His mother’s leg was in traction, with steel pins in several places.
The week before, Usra Jawad’s three sisters visited her village to see the new family home. When the bombing started, the four sisters fled in a car with the two children, hoping to reach their parents’ home north of Tyre.
But rockets hit their car. Two of the sisters, both teachers, were killed.
“Now I have no house. My sisters are dead,” Usra Jawad said. “I can’t do anything.”
So far, so good. And then we read:
Jawad Najem, a surgeon at the hospital, said patients admitted Sunday had burns from phosphorous incendiary weapons used by Israel. The Geneva Conventions ban using white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in civilian areas. Israel said its weapons comply with international law.
Note that fascinating non-denial denial. Not "We don't use phosphorus weapons," rather, "We comply with international law." Which brings us back to a piece I wrote a few days back in which I suggested it might be interesting to have the residents of Wankerville ahead of time take a position on what they would consider non-measured or over-the-top military action by Israel. One imagines that, if the topic of phosphorus incendiary weapons had come up then, a few people might have drawn the line.
As it is, though, now that it appears to have happened, one guesses that those same wankers suddenly don't have a problem with it. I'm just speculating of course since, as we all know, it would be irresponsible not to.
THE JOY OF SEMANTICS. Given Israel's curiously-worded denial, one might wonder if they're taking a page from their American mentors in playing some clever word games:
During and immediately after the invasion, US officials denied claims that napalm weapons were being deployed. However, as military personnel and journalists in Iraq quickly presented evidence of their use, by August 2003 Pentagon spokesmen were forced to admit that MK-77 firebombs had been dropped. Past denials were justified on the grounds that questioners had used the term 'napalm' instead of 'firebombs' or 'MK-77s'. The US claims to have destroyed all its stocks of 'napalm' and argues that the MK-77 cannot be included in this term. However, the Pentagon admits that the MK-77 is an incendiary with a function 'remarkably similar' to that of napalm.
See? It wasn't napalm after all. And international law breathes a huge sigh of relief.
AFTERSNARK: Apparently, whatever you might think of incendiary devices that are illegal under international law and that violate the Geneva Conventions, one is still entitled to be outraged by ball bearings.
So conservatives are still capable of outrage; they just prefer to ration it carefully.
Ah ... it's all clear to me now:
On March 16, conservative pundit Dick Morris told Sean Hannity things were going better than people thought in Iraq, arguing “what is going on is not a civil war.”
Now, Morris believes that there is civil war in Iraq but argues that it’s a good thing. Appearing on the O’Reilly Factor last night, Morris said “a civil war is progress, because it means it’s no longer a war against us.”
In short, having destroyed the country and inspired uncontrolled ethnic cleansing, George's work in Iraq is done. Next stop: Lebanon.
There's this:
MEDIA STRAINS TO PORTRAY BUSH AS ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN MIDEAST CRISIS ...
But wait! That can't be right:
U.S. won't pressure Israel for quick end to violence: Rice
The United States is looking for a "sustainable peace" in the Middle East and won't pressure Israel for a quick end to its military campaign in the region ...
Thank heavens for the mainstream media; otherwise, I'd never know what was going on.
And this time, we really, really mean it:
Rice calls for 'new' Middle East
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the time has come for a new Middle East and an urgent end to the violence hanging over the region...
"It is time for a new Middle East,” she said. “It is time to say to those that don't want a different kind of Middle East that we will prevail. They will not.”
That's right -- Middle East 3.0, from the folks who brought you Middle East 2.0. But don't worry -- we're pretty sure we've got all the bugs worked out this time.
Apparently, Iraq is so last week:
Meet Winston:
Winston is a Nom De Plume for a Canadian based Pro-America Iranian neo-conservative, seeking a democratic regime change in Iran! Winston is also a supporter of the Global War on Terror & President Bush's policies in the middle-east.
Meet reality:
Iran activist 'snubs White House'
Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji declined to meet White House officials during a visit to the US, he has told the BBC.
Mr Ganji said he had been invited to discuss the current situation in Iran. The White House declined to comment.
He said he rejected the offer because he believed current US policies could not help promote democracy in Iran.
In a speech last week in Washington DC, he also criticised US policy in Iraq, saying: "You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it".
Sometimes, it's easy to see the appeal of conservatism. 'Cuz actually knowing stuff is, you know, hard work.
May 5, 2006: The incomparable Glenn Greenwald recognizes the coming talking point:
Conservatives try to distance themselves from "Bush the liberal"
Yesterday, I referenced an article in National Review by Jonah Goldberg in which Goldberg argued that the two most glaring examples of failed Republican presidents -- Richard Nixon and George Bush -- weren't conservatives at all, but were actually liberals. I characterized this claim as "dishonest" because, as I pointed out, virtually no conservatives were claiming that Bush was a "liberal" when his popularity ratings were in the 60s and he was perceived as some sort of heroic, beloved political figure. It is only now that his approval ratings are reaching historically low levels, and it is becoming unavoidably apparent that his presidency is dying and failed, that conservatives are seeking to claim that Bush's failure is not a failure of conservatism because -- as it turns out -- Bush was really a liberal all along. Alas, Bush's failure is simply the latest instance of the failure of liberalism.
July 26, 2006: It takes Adam Daifallah only a couple of months to clue in:
Conservative circles here in Washington have been abuzz with William F. Buckley's admission to CBS News that he doesn't believe George W. Bush is a "conservative."
Coming soon: Adam is shocked to learn that something's up in Lebanon and, by God, he's going to find out what it is.
For the geeks in the crowd, American chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has just announced a purchase of Canadian graphics chip designer ATI for $5.4 billion.
For the non-geeks, well, here's ATI's "Ruby":
God, I love high tech.
Apparently, I suck. Must be a slow news day or something.
You know those folks who keep telling you there's no such thing as a stupid question? Sadly, they're wrong.
All right! Party time!
Canada and its lumber industry have won an important victory against punitive American duties in the U.S. Court of International Trade.
In a ruling issued Friday, the U.S. trade court upheld a Canadian claim that the U.S. Commerce Department illegally continued to charge anti-dumping and countervailing duties on lumber after a North American Free Trade Agreement ruling determined there was no basis for them.
Yeah! Fuckin 'A! I'm cranked! You're cranked! We're all cranked! Um ... well, OK, maybe not all of us (emphasis added):
Federal International Trade Minister David Emerson was unavailable for comment but his communications director said the ruling changes nothing.
"The fact is this decision can be and most likely will be appealed rather quickly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal circuit," Robert Klager said from Ottawa. "The final outcome of that probably wouldn't be learned until mid-2007."
Ya know, I was kind of hoping for a little more enthusiasm from the home team. With friends like these ...
Well, of course there aren't enough left-wing progressive blogs covering things Canadian, so I don't mind at all when another one shows up.
Far be it from me to gaze longingly on the tasteful aesthetics, the tags feature, the user registration, or gnash my teeth jealously over the Google and Amazon ads. I'm a grown-up, I can take it.
I know. Friday cat blogging. That'll even things out. Here, kitty, kitty ...
And just when you thought the feel-good sports story of the year couldn't get any better, it does.
The U.S. military: when you absolutely, positively have to kill someone overnight.
I'm fairly sure this violates something in the Geneva Conventions:
Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to "kill all military age males," according to sworn statements obtained by The Associated Press.
The soldiers first took some of the men into custody because they were using two women and a toddler as human shields. They shot three of the men after the women and child were safe and say the men attacked them.
"The ROE (rule of engagement) was to kill all military age males on Objective Murray," Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard told investigators, referring to the target by its code name.
I'm guessing that's why they called it "Objective Murray." Calling it "Objective Kill All Military Age Males" might have aroused a few suspicions.
Well, this should be a big morale boost to our brave troops over there:
The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan today described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.
The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time" if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people.
So ... is anything going well? Ah, yes, here we are:
The government admits that Helmand province is about to produce a bumper poppy crop and is now probably the biggest single source of heroin in the world.
Excellent. So they still might be killed in a spontaneous firefight or assassinated by local warlords but look on the bright side -- you'll probably never get a better deal on some high-grade smack.
So what's wrong with this picture?
Humm, Israel using leaflets to warn, vs. Hezbollah using ball bearings to kill... you decide who's the real guilty party here.
Ah ... those would be the new precision, laser-guided, medium-range ballistic leaflets from Lockheed Martin, would they?
Man, I gotta get me some of those.
For several days now, one of the raging debates is whether the Israeli response to the capture of two of their soldiers has been "measured." Not surprisingly, the majority of Wankerdom, from Prime Minister Cowboy Hat on down, thinks that response (which included the killing of eight Canadians) was perfectly appropriate. And what's aggravating is that any attempt to debate the issue is doomed to utter failure for a very simple reason.
As long as the wankers have the benefit of hindsight, it goes without saying that any Israeli response will be defined as appropriate. As it stands, the fact of eight dead Canadians doesn't seem to have set off any alarm bells in Wankerville, which suggests that all of those folks have somehow rationalized that ugly fact.
But what if it had been, say, 10 dead Canadians? Chances are, there would still have been a rationalization, perhaps involving pulling in more examples of Hezbollah atrocities. 20 dead Canadians? No problem, I'm guessing -- just keep digging further and further back into history to balance the scales. 50? Same deal.
See how this works? As long as conservatives have the benefit of hindsight, arguing about whether the Israeli response was "measured" is pointless, as those conservatives will always be able to defend their position after the fact. So the trick is to take that loophole away from them, and that's surprisingly easy to do.
The trick, quite simply, is to ask the wankers to define, ahead of time, what would constitute an Israeli response they would finally accept as inappropriate and over the top. If they're not bothered by eight dead Canadians, what about 10? Or 20? Or 50? Or 100? At what point, you can ask them, would they have finally admitted that something here was dreadfully wrong and inappropriate? And, amazingly enough, that's a perfectly valid question.
Naturally, the wankers will disagree and refuse to answer such a question, claiming that it's "hypothetical" or that the question doesn't make sense. They would be full of shit. Simply, it's logically absurd to categorize something as "measured" unless you can define what that word means. It's logically idiotic to describe something as appropriate unless you are prepared to explain at what point it becomes inappropriate.
As a real-life analogy, say you're haggling over the price of a new car, the salesman makes an offer, and you respond that that price is "too high." The salesman counters by asking, "All right, what wouldn't be too high?", to which you respond confusingly, "I have no idea" or "That's not a fair question." As you can see, what you just did here was indescribably asinine, since it's meaningless to describe something as "too high" unless you know where the dividing line is between too high and not too high. Similarly, it's ridiculous to speak of something as "measured" unless you're prepared to explain where the breakpoint is; otherwise, you're just spewing meaningless, undefined gibberish. Which brings us back to all of this wanker inanity.
Rather than debate the appropriateness of what's already happened (an argument the wankers will always win), they should be forced to define ahead of time what is and is not an appropriate Israeli response, in relatively precise terms. First up -- how many Canadians would have to have been killed for them to have condemned the Israeli attack? Come on, let's have a number. And not only do the wankers have an ethical obligation to supply such a number, they're now involved in a no-win situation.
First, if they pick a realistic but fairly low number (say, 25), it's not hard to imagine that the next Israeli attack might, in fact, kill enough additional Canadians to exceed that value, at which point, based on their own stated position, they now have to admit that Israel's response is no longer "measured." The other option is to pick a ludicrously high number (say, 1000) that almost certainly won't be reached, but this just makes them look like total assholes for obvious reasons.
In any event, that's the challenge to any citizens of Wankerville who want to take a shot at it. If you think the reaction by Israel until now has been "measured," then I want a clear and precise definition of what you would consider to be not measured. With numbers, so we can record those definitions for posterity and pull them out to beat you with when the time comes.
The comments section is open and submissions are welcome, with the caveat that I will, with no apologies whatsoever, delete any entries that consist solely of whining, snivelling wankeritude about how this is unfair.
I'll call that the "Pete Rempel" rule.
AFTERSNARK: If you propose this sort of challenge to a wanker, almost certainly their reaction will be that that's unfair and how on earth are they supposed to be able to put an actual number on when something becomes inappropriate?
Well, in the first place, if they can't come up with a fairly precise definition of what they're blathering about, they really shouldn't be blathering in the first place, should they? But if they still have trouble with the concept, it helps to start with an extreme example and take it from there.
As a thought experiment, let's imagine that the Israeli Air Force, without warning, attacks and sinks a ship carrying Canadian evacuees out of Lebanon, killing all 500 Canadians on board. The Israeli justification is that they heard a rumour that there were two mid-level Hezbollah terrorists on board trying to sneak out of Lebanon and, while they had no confirmation, they figured, better not take the chance so they sunk the ship and killed all those Canadians just to play it safe.
Is there anyone who would argue that that was a measured and appropriate military action? (Sadly, while I'd like to think the answer to that is a no-brainer, with the collection of loons over at the Blogging Tories, you just never know, do you? But I digress. Onward.)
I think it's safe to say that most people would agree that the Israeli action in that situation would be, shall we say, slightly over the top. But as soon as a wanker is forced to concede that, you've at least now put some bounds on where the measured/non-measured breakpoint is, haven't you? You've established that, apparently, eight dead Canadians is fine, while 500 is not so fine. At that point, you just start shrinking the interval and see where you end up.
To recap, anyone who uses the word "measured" should be forced to define just what they mean by the term. And is there any Canadian journalist who would be willing to put such a question to Prime Minister Photo Op?
Or is that asking just a bit too much of our intrepid press corps?
Dear Pete:
You know, after your government gives almost the entire Canadian media the finger, it takes one serious amount of nerve to bitch and moan when that same media have to go elsewhere for their information.
Just this once, I'm going to agree whole-heartedly with the Blogging Tories and commend PM Stephen Harper for his personal devotion to humanitarianism in accompanying his government plane to Lebanon Cyprus to pick up Canadian evacuees.
Personally, the combination of Stephen Harper, a slow-moving plane, a war zone and numerous rocket-powered munitions is something that doesn't happen nearly often enough for me.
Apparently, Joanne (whoops, Suzanne) is just a bit peeved:
The front windows of New Brunswick’s Right to Life office in Fredericton have been smashed, and a sticker reading “choice” affixed to the front door, reports The Daily Gleaner...
"We tried to be a witness in a quiet way, but the protest made some people erupt and someone has taken their anger out on us because of where we stand on the issue," Ryan continued. "It's unfortunate there are people so disturbed that they would need to turn to violence and destruction."
This is disappointing since, as we all know, vandalism solves nothing. The proper course of action is, naturally, to form a human blockade and scream endlessly at those you disagree with.
Or simply kill them. I've heard that works, too.
You have to love them, just for the name.
Now this is too fucking delicious for words:
Coulter Jokes to Reporter About Mailing White Powder to 'NY Times'
According to a published report, Ann Coulter has (in jest, we assume) claimed to have sent that mysterious white powder to The New York Times.
Reporter Jacob Bernstein, in a "Memo Pad" item in today's Women's Wear Daily, wrote that he received a message from a New York Times source saying that Friday's powder mailing -- which included an Xed-out Times editorial and what ended up being corn starch -- "makes all of Ann Coulter's comments a little less funny. I wonder if she considers herself at all responsible when lunatics read her columns and she says that we should be killed."
Coulter, whose column is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, has "joked" that maybe terrorist Timothy McVeigh should have blown up the Times building and that maybe Times Executive Editor Bill Keller should be executed.
"Memo Pad" sent an e-mail to Coulter's AOL account and according to Bernstein, received a reply claiming that she was the sender of the mysterious powder.
"'So glad to hear that The New York Times got my letter and that your friend at the Times thinks I'm funny,' she wrote back. 'Good luck in journalism and please send me your home address so we can stay in touch, too.
So, Steve ... what's your take on this? You at all worried that Ann might know where you live? And you too, Joel. Got any juicy quotes for the liberal media?
I mean, it was only a few days ago that threatening people's well being was too reprehensible for words. I'm guessing the rules have suddenly changed.
It's never so much of a clusterfuck that PM Steve Harper can't make it worse (emphasis added):
Micromanagement by the Prime Minister's Office and a lack of resources in Lebanon contributed to the confusion and anguish at Beirut's port Wednesday as Canadians trying to flee Israeli bombardments watched boats chartered by other nations sail away, leaving them behind.
It is expected, ultimately, to be the largest removal of Canadian citizens from a crisis zone ever arranged by the federal government. But, as early as Sunday, there were complaints about delays in arranging ships to carry people to safety, as well as lineups and inaction at the Canadian embassy.
The perception of inaction was exacerbated by the lack of information flowing last week about Canadian efforts to organize a response.
In fact, Foreign Affairs staff realized last week that there was an emergency situation involving tens of thousands of Canadians brewing in Lebanon.
But federal sources say there was an edict handed down by Sandra Buckler, the Prime Minister's communications director, dictating that the situation was to be kept under wraps.
Attaboy, Steve. You're doing a heckuva job.
This is the last time, I swear, since beating up on poor Andrew is kind of like slapping paraplegics out of their wheelchairs: it's not difficult, and it's even less fun. In any event, take it away, Andrew (all emphasis tail-waggingly added):
It seem like there's been broad condemnation of President Bush's veto of a bill that would use federal money to research stem cells ... US law allows stem cell research, so long as it is not federally funded.
Then, of course, there's reality:
The House on Wednesday failed to muster enough votes to override President Bush’s veto of a bill to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research... Bush on Wednesday rejected the legislation that could have multiplied the federal money going into embryonic stem cell research, ... Bush was making good on a promise he made in 2001 to limit federally funded embryonic research to the stem cell lines that had been created by the time.
As the saying goes, Andrew, you're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.
BONUS SNARK: What would I do without the somewhat popular TBogg? Probably have to develop some actual talent and, God knows, that sounds like work.
Back here, we were having some light-hearted, harmless fun with Conservative Elitist Andrew Smith, who appears to have a real talent for following up something stupid with something even stupider. To wit:
I think adultery should be a criminal offense.
Let's follow the logic and see where this takes us, shall we?
First, given that the Religious Right is frothingly opposed to the "redefinition" of marriage to include same-sex marriage, it's safe to conclude that those same RRs feel that it is the Church, and no one else, that should have the right to define what "marriage" represents. In short, the Church clearly wants to "own" the concept of marriage, as it were. With me so far?
But if that's the case, what does it mean to commit "adultery?" If the institution of marriage is defined exclusively by the Church, then the act of adultery represents nothing more than a violation of Church doctrine, and what this has to do with the Criminal Code of Canada is, I confess, a bit of a mystery.
Is Andrew seriously suggesting that the Canadian legal system be used to punish religious transgressors? What a novel idea. And once the courts deal with the adulterers, perhaps it can take care of those who, say, take the Lord's name in vain. Or, better yet, those who worship some other God. Oooooh, that would be delightful -- criminalizing non-Christianity. (Although, technically, we atheists should be safe as we don't actually worship a different deity, as it were, per se.)
In short, if the Church wants to claim the entire institution of marriage, then they hardly have the right to ask the State to help them police it. You don't like adulterers? Tough shit. The last time I looked, that's what the general concept of ex-communication was for.
In a nutshell, look after your own house and leave the rest of us the hell out of it.
The Republican Party: Protecting America, one photoshopped image at a time.
It's so rare when a blogger and his commenters deserve each other so profoundly. Enjoy it.
CATEGORIES! GET YER CATEGORIES HERE! Oh, man, this is just too cool not to share. From "Sadly, No," we have the various levels of wanker denseness, giving us D, FD, CFD, Steve and Steve's commenters although, being the magnanimous type that I am, I'm willing to debate the proper placement of "CFD."
Actually, no, I'm not.
And in his ongoing efforts to emulate George W. Chimpster, PM Stephen Harper has decided to make a total clusterfuck of emergency rescue operations in the midst of a major disaster:
Canada's effort to get its citizens out of Lebanon degenerated into chaos Wednesday as twice as many people as expected showed up to board evacuation ships that hadn't yet arrived.
I'd suggest that we might see Steve clearing brush any day now, but I'm pretty sure that's what he has Peter MacKay for.
I swear, it should be illegal for me to be enjoying this as much as I am.
These days, there's no quicker way to be labelled an "anti-Semite" than to complain about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, or that country's approach to diplomacy (read: bombing the crap out of everyone they don't like.)
It doesn't matter how adamantly you try to explain the distinction between your attitude toward the Jews as a people versus the Israeli government's treatment of other populations -- according to those on the Right, you're just a Jew-hating, anti-Semite and that's the end of the discussion.
This is more than a little ironic since those very same hard-right conservatives suffer from exactly the opposite problem -- while they will staunchly defend Israel (the country), when it comes right down to it, they don't much care for Jews (the people).
As a recent example, remember this? Of course you do. Reading all of the news reports, it seems that one could conclude that the very same people (on the Right) who couldn't be happier about the current Israeli bombing campaign just couldn't wait to drive those nasty kikes out of town. How curious. How odd. And, of course, it just gets better.
Go a little bit further to the right, and you end up deep in white supremacist country. You know -- the Aryan Brotherhood, cheery folks like that who like to sport swastikas and the like. Under the circumstances, it's pretty ballsy for serious conservatives to accuse those of us on the Left of anti-Semitism. But, when you think about it, the apparent contradiction is pretty simple to understand.
It's all about Armageddon. The "End Times." Which means that all of those rabid, fundamentalist loons can embrace the state of Israel, even while they continue to despise the Jews that live there. It's really not that difficult a concept, once you think about it.
As one final example, one need look no further than this morning's Globe and Mail, and a column by right-wing whackjob Marcus Gee, in his piece predictably entitled "Why we must stand with Israel." Predictable, but just a bit odd since, in that entire piece, Gee refers to the state of Israel by name some sixteen times, yet does not use the word "Jew" or any variation of it even once.
OK, that's not quite true, as you can read in Gee's very last sentence:
What the world needs to do is recognize the new reality and stand with Israel as it combats this remorseless enemy -- a threat not just to the Jewish state but to the whole democratic world.
So Gee finally manages to choke out the word but, as you can see, he is simply referring to the "Jewish state" -- that being Israel, of course. That's impressive, isn't it? Writing an entire column about Israel and managing to avoid referring to its inhabitants even once. That, folks, takes talent.
And that's why Marcus is a professional columnist and you're not.
BONUS SNARK AT NO EXTRA CHARGE: It's trivially easy to find prominent examples of right-wing anti-Semitism. Here, we learn of the SBC's Dr. Bailey Smith, claiming that "God Almighty doesn't hear the prayers of a Jew." Yow. Getting a bit territorial there, are we, Doc?
And, of course, there's the staunchly pro-Israel Rev. Jerry Falwell, who nonetheless has claimed that the anti-Christ is probably alive today, and is a male and Jewish. Is it irresponsible to speculate that it's Jeffrey Goldberg? I'm guessing it would be irresponsible not to. But that's just me.
How 'bout this one?
I am against divorce, unless it is under the most extraordinary circumstances – such as if a man abuses his wife or a woman commits adultery.
Go ahead ... top that.
Who else? Seriously, take a minute and appreciate -- I mean, truly appreciate -- how badly Jinx/Jason misunderstands PZ's point.
How the fuck do people this stupid even remember to breathe?
Not surprisingly, James Wolcott has plenty to say about George's improvisational grope of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, none of it good.
God only knows what kind of diagnosis we would have been getting from Charles Krauthammer if it had been Al Gore.
When their fingers are typing. For instance, what's wrong with this picture? (Emphasis added for the hard of thinking.)
SD Abortion Ban Supporters Get Death Threats
QUOTE:
South Dakota state Rep. Roger Hunt pushed ahead with the bill in spite of nasty opposition in the House. Now he says he and his family are getting harassing phone calls.
"We've received some at home, and we've gotten emails," he told Family News in Focus. "The governor did arrange for the state highway patrol and local county sheriff to pass through our neighborhood more often than usual and look for things, but I haven't had anybody actually initiate any actions.
You have ten seconds. Go.
You know what grinds my gears? It's those tax-and-spend Conservatives, always blowing the taxpayers' money on the stupidest things. Like this, for instance:
The Conservative government plans to evacuate at least 20,000 -- and as many as 50,000 -- Canadians from Lebanon to Cyprus by cruise ships, starting tomorrow, authorities said yesterday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the government has chartered six cruise ships, each with a capacity of 600 to 900 passengers, to start picking up Canadians at the port of Beirut as of midday. They will ferry evacuees back and forth for at least three days, possibly more...
The plan is to have chartered flights at an airport in Cyprus to fly people back to Canada, Mr. MacKay said, although that part is still a bit sketchy and depends on numbers of people and the capacity of the airport.
For now, Canada has chartered three planes.
So ... six chartered cruise ships, plus all of the essential crew, making, what, possibly 50 round trips, maybe more. Then there's the three chartered airplanes, and all on whose tab? Why, yours and mine, of course. The Canadian taxpayers'.
You know what would have been cheaper? Picking up the phone and calling Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, maybe along these lines:
"Hey, Ehud? It's Stephen Harper. Stephen. Harper. H-a-r- ... right, that Stephen Harper. Listen, about this massive attack on Lebanon. Well, funny story, you actually killed at least seven Canadians so, the thing is, I'd like you to stop. Seriously, just knock that shit off. And I mean, right fucking now. Are you reading me? Because if you don't, I will personally come over there and kick your sorry ass all the way to Damascus and back. Are you getting all this? No, I don't give a good goddamn who started it! What are you, eight years old, fer Chrissake!? Now you knock off that shit right this instant or I swear, as God is my witness, I am going to bitch-slap you from here to next Passover. Are we clear on this?"
I figure that conversation would take at most a couple of minutes so it would be waaaay cheaper than those ships and planes.
Heck, if Stephen was patient, he could wait a couple more hours and get the evening rates.
Well, it's about time that George W. CrotchBulge told it like it is:
Bush told Blair: "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over."
It might be labeled the shit heard round the world, but I'd like to think of it as some much needed clarity from the President on the issue. While President Bush is not known for his skills with the English language, he's summed up the way to resolve the crisis almost perfectly in this instance.
And when George gets down and speaks his mind, well, what can possibly go wrong?
WHATCHU TALKIN' SMACK 'BOUT, WILLIS? Apparently, there are a couple Blogging Tories who think it's just awesome for George to be laying' down the law, Texas-style -- none of that pansy-ass, pussy-footing around, as it were.
Sort of like how George made it clear that, dadgummit, he would fire anyone in his administration that leaked information about the identity of a covert CIA officer. Whoa, hang on ... he really meant that he would fire anyone in his administration who committed a crime related to leaking information about the identity of a covert CIA officer.
OK, bad example. But you know what I meant, right?
A leading question to be sure, but certainly not out of bounds based on an amusing online survey currently running at Damian's site -- "Who's the Worst Person for America?"
Amazingly, all of the candidates are liberals but I'm sure that was just a coincidence, right, Damian?
P.S. I'm sure it's entirely unintentional irony that, if you supply your e-mail address when you vote, "you will also begin receiving exclusive newsletters from Ann Coulter, Bob Novak and Newt Gingrich ...". Well, we were in the neighbourhood already ...
AFTERSNARK: Hey, Damian, do we get to do write-in votes?
All right, this is just plain creepy and hideously inappropriate behaviour. Not sure if that represents the next stage of this particular affliction, but I'm sure Charles has a diagnosis for it. Right, Charles? Charles?
Given the current context, this article is probably a worthwhile read. Whether you agree with it or not, it should at least give you something to think about.
Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required. I'm sorry ... was that in bad taste? So sue me.
Uh oh ... apparently, things in the wankersphere start to get ugly as soon as you introduce shades of grey.
Immediately upon reading this:
The Girl Guides of Canada are shelving their wholesome image in a surprising recruitment campaign, in favour of provocative photographs of young women.
In one ad, a fictitious popstar named Candi promotes her songs Naughty Girl and Taste Me Again. At the bottom of the ad, a girl guide points her finger in judgment to emphasize the tagline: "Why Girls need Guides."
all that came to mind was:
Clearly, I need to get out more often.
"In the wake of 9/11 ... ever since 9/11 ... given the thousands who perished horribly on 9/11 ... everything's changed since 9/11 ... hey, how dare you use these recent, unfortunate deaths for political grandstanding!?"
This is every discussion with a wanker that you've ever had.
BONUS TRACK: If you have nothing better to do and have time to kill, go here and start reading. After a while, some of the names might seem familiar. (The fun starts just below halfway down, if you're pressed for time.)
Shorter Backseat Blogger: "Considering a different perspective ... what a novel idea."
Shorter Damian Penny: "I knew I could work Nazism in here somewhere."
Shorter dissonance and disrespect: "You need to be careful about that drunk driving stuff. It has a bad habit of leading to blowjobs, which makes you entirely unqualified to hold public office."
Shorter Jesse Gritter: "Now watch me write bad things about progressivism without understanding that either."
How far would you have to read into the following to realize you'd come to the wrong place?
Fascinating post and comment at The Maverick Philosopher this week. Bill asked his readers to spell out exactly what is meant by the term ‘Biblical inerency’. ...
Sometimes parody just writes itself, don't it?
Whoo hoo! It's freakin' party time! (All freakin' emphasis added.)
The White House on Tuesday slashed its forecast for this year's budget deficit to $296 billion, crediting its tax cuts for the improvement, but Democrats said the deficit's size was nothing to boast about.
The updated projection for the 2006 fiscal year was $127 billion lower than the $423 billion shortfall the White House forecast when it unveiled its budget in February, but only slightly below the $318 billion dollar gap of 2005.
And why might you want to hold off tapping that keg just yet? How about this from 2004?
How does the idea of the deficit getting $70 billion bigger translate into fiscal success? It's easy, when you combine Washington's bizarre budget accounting rules, the increasingly superheated campaign season, and some Orwellian rhetoric. You see, last February, President Bush projected the deficit for this year would hit $521 billion. Now, thanks to a growing economy, the Bushies figure it will come in $76 billion below that number. Thus, we have a whole new way to game the budget debate: Overestimate deficits at the beginning of the year, come in below that forecast, and declare victory.
Ouch. Or there's this from January of this year:
One administration official who briefed reporters on the deficit while requesting anonymity said the White House forecast was released early in part to blunt pressure to increase spending.
The release of the record deficit figures also may allow the White House to boast if this year's actual shortfall turns out to be lower than the estimate, as was the case last year.
Robert Reischauer, president of the Washington-based Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, suggested the White House is setting itself up to ``overestimate and then gloat that the deficit is lower than projected, acting as if the mis-estimates represent a true deficit reduction.''
And what kind of terrorist-loving, America-hating, commie, pinko, leftist rags are pumping out this defeatist swill? I'm glad you asked. You can find that first excerpt here, and that second one here.
What? You were expecting "Mother Jones" or something?
They like me! They really, really ... oh, wait ... no they don't. And, yet, life goes on. Go figure.
You know what the problem is these days? Liberal bloggers. Yeah, that's the first thing that leapt to my mind.
What can you possibly say about this?
``In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place,'' Bush said.
And how precisely does this aid in the stopping of the violence, one might reasonably ask? One would think that, after understanding has been gotten, there is still the need for some concrete, you know, actions.
In any event, if you're predicating the success of any venture on its understanding by George Bush, I think you can assume you're doomed to failure before you even pull out of the driveway.
There are times when you do something totally clueless and you pray that no one finds out about it and that it just disappears quietly into the dustbin of history.
This is not one of those times.
You remember that little discussion we had about the notion of fear? I rest my case.
Go ahead ... admit it ... you've fantasized about this, too.
P.S. If you think the above is just a wee bit tasteless, then you might first want to come to grips with right-wing screech harpy Ann Coulter:
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."
Then you can fuck off. The order is entirely up to you.
Now here's an interesting development: Commander Codpiece has made it clear he has no intention of getting into the middle of this thing:
President Bush rejected Lebanon's calls for a cease-fire in escalating Mideast violence on Friday, saying only that Israel should try to limit civilian casualties as it steps up attacks on its neighbor.
"The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
But that's odd. After all, given the potential for this spiralling entirely out of control, one would think Bush would have at least a little incentive to get everyone to step back and take a deep breath. What might explain this? Oh, wait ... this might:
Although I do not have independent confirmation, I heard the rumor from a well-placed source that Secretary of State Rice attempted to increase pressure on Israel to stand down and to demonstrate "restraint". The rumor is that she was told flatly by the Prime Minister's office to "back off".
Suddenly, it all becomes clear, as George sees the possibility that, if he tried to intervene, he would be told to fuck right off in a very public and humiliating way. I'm pretty sure his ego wouldn't take kindly to that, so he's just going to sit this one out. Better to watch the Mideast tear itself apart than let your pride take a beating.
P.S. If you want a good idea of just how out of control this is getting, you might want to check out Juan Cole. Or you could subject yourself to the predictable idiocy of folks like Michelle Malkin and remain as stupid and misinformed as ever. The choice is yours.
P.P.S. And for those unspeakable dumbfucks who think Israel's unrestrained bombing of civilian areas is just ever so peachy, those folks might want to think just a little longer term, as Cole explains:
Americans have to understand that when Israel goes wild and bombs a civilian airport and civilian neighborhoods in Beirut, a lot of the world's Catholics (Lebanon is partially a Catholic country) and its 1.4 billion Muslims blame the United States for it. Israel is given billions every year by the United States, including sophisticated weaponry that is now being trained on the slums of south Beirut. It should also be remembered that Bin Laden said, at least, that he started thinking about hitting New York when he saw that 1982 Israeli destruction of the skyscrapers or "towers" of Lebanon. How many future Bin Ladens are watching with horror and rage and feelings of revenge as Israel drops bombs on civilian tenement buildings? When will this blow back on Americans? (I mean blow back in other ways than an already painful further spike in petroleum prices).
You want "blowback?" When those "future bin Ladens" go looking for asses to kick, what do you think they'll do with something like this?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper Thursday condemned the abduction of Israeli soldiers by Hamas and Hezbollah, saying he supported Israel's right to "defend itself" and characterized its response to the kidnappings as "measured."
I'm guessing life for Canadians in general just got a lot more interesting. And a lot less safe.
Let's see ... first, there's this. And this. Then there's this. Followed up, of course, with this. So ... is anyone thinking that our own Stevie Boy might be wondering about his future after politics?
Feel free to connect the dots any way you want.
You all remember this creationist wingnut, right? No? No matter. You can still appreciate the entertainment value here.
For no obvious reason, my iced, hazelnut, no-foam, double frappuccino tastes particularly good this morning.
Going for snark, and settling for illiteracy. Some things never go out of style, do they?
NEVER MIND, JOKE'S OVER. Wayne had simply misspelled the word "something" in his post title and, now that he's quietly fixed it, the original link doesn't work. It was cheap humour on my part. Carry on.
[Moved to the top just 'cuz I'm feeling unspeakably cruel today.]
Geez, dude, you could at least throw me a link or something. Think of the children. Think of the orphans. Think of my SiteMeter stats.
Mostly my SiteMeter stats, of course.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, man, I think I just wet myself. In making a pompous, condescending ass of himself, our good buddy Wayne had used the "Ann Coulter defense" on behalf of Steve Janke:
Steve made the comment in jest, but a certain moonbat has taken great offense.
It was obviously a joke, but moonbats don't have a sense of humour ( or sense ).
And who arrives in Wayne's comments section to set him straight but Janke himself:
To be honest, Wayne, I wasn't joking at all.
It's moments like this that make it all worthwhile. If I had a tail, it would be wagging.
NO, STOP ... I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Just read eb's comment. I swear, I can't think of anything to add that wouldn't be indescribably mean-spirited.
Why, yes, my echo chamber is amazingly comfortable. Why do you ask?
AFTERSNARK: Jason Mattera's dislike of Campus Progress might be a wee bit personal. Yeah, that Jason is a real piece of work.
What a curious development:
In his latest column, Stephen Harper offers an update from Ottawa. "It's been quite a ride," the PM reports. Since the election, the new Conservative government has made progress "on all of our five priorities -- from cleaning up the federal government, to cutting taxes, cracking down on crime, supporting families, and strengthening our country at home and around the world."
Read that list again.
Notice anything?
Maybe not if you don't live in Ottawa. But in the capital, everybody who read that list spotted it immediately. Harper is playing Hide-the-Priority. And he's being pretty clumsy about it.
The fifth item in his list was never among the five priorities the Conservatives campaigned on. The fifth Conservative campaign priority was: "work with the provinces to establish a Patient Wait Times Guarantee." Harper has replaced it with this business about "strengthening our country."
And it's not a typo. He lists his priorities, newly amended, at the top of his column. Then he lists them again further down. There's the federal accountability act ("cleaning up the federal government"); the GST cut; the tough-on-crime stuff; the $1,200 in annual payments to parents of young children. And then once again, where health care used to be, Harper announces he's "begun work on uniting the country and making sure Canada's voice is heard internationally." ...
The Report Magazine column isn't an anomaly. It's part of a trend. You can still find the health care commitment if you go looking for it on government websites. But it has vanished from the government's "push" product -- the messages it sends out through speeches, broadcasts and written opinion articles. During a cabinet meeting in Quebec City at the end of June, the PM read a statement congratulating himself for "significant progress in addressing the priorities of Canadians." He listed four of the five priorities, but not wait times.
Ah, but I'm sure that we're just mistaken. Nothing to see here ... move along:
It was about this time that the pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and took up their residence there. Again the animals seemed to remember that a resolution against this had been passed in the early days, and again Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case. It was absolutely necessary, he said, that the pigs, who were the brains of the farm, should have a quiet place to work in. It was also more suited to the dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon under the title of "Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty. Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing-room as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds. Boxer passed it off as usual with "Napoleon is always right!", but Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments which were inscribed there. Finding herself unable to read more than individual letters, she fetched Muriel.
"Muriel," she said, "read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?"
With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out.
"It says, 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,"' she announced finally.
Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so. And Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective.
"You have heard then, comrades," he said, "that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too! But not more comfortable than we need, I can tell you, comrades, with all the brainwork we have to do nowadays. You would not rob us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?"
The animals reassured him on this point immediately, and no more was said about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds. And when, some days afterwards, it was announced that from now on the pigs would get up an hour later in the mornings than the other animals, no complaint was made about that either.
AFTERSNARK: And the revelation continues to spread.
Jesus Christ ... does "Esquire" not have any fucking editors???
... is apparently overrated. Well, that and their integrity, but we'd already established that.
Regardless of what you might think of our neighbours to the south, it's still true that America is the land of endless opportunity in that, even if you are completely and utterly mentally retarded, you can still rise to the level of, say, Republican congressman senator, or ... or ... um ... well, that's pretty much it, I guess.
Well, that or pro-life advocate. You don't really need a link for that last bit, do you?
It's not like some people need any advice from me, but (emphasis added):
Is it just me, or does it seem that the CBC is blatantly, openly anti-Israeli these days? The reason I ask, is that when I was scrolling through my RSS reader just now, I saw this headline from cbc.ca: “Israel air attacks kill dozens in Lebanon” Note the use of the word attack. I’m not disputing that it was an attack, ...
Rule number one for the terms of intellectual engagement: an argument typically requires the involvement of an actual opponent. Debating only yourself generally leads to not getting invited back to the better dinner parties.
Whoa ... apparently, the wankersphere (or at least the Crazy-Assed Racist Redneck part of it) is all a-flutter over something that went right:
It was a picture-perfect pre-dawn Wednesday and a picture-perfect launch at White Sands Missile Range.
Hundreds of miles above southern New Mexico, it was a picture-perfect impact between two missiles...
The pre-dawn art show was the result of the third of five tests planned at White Sands Missile Range to determine the effectiveness of THAAD — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile. And military officials said the test went better than they could have hoped.
"This was phenomenal," said U.S. Army Col. Charles Driessnack, the project manager for the Missile Defense Agency's THAAD program. "It performed as expected."
"All that's left to do," continued Driessnack, "is to force North Korea to launch their missile attacks against the U.S. from White Sands early in the morning, and we are so going to kick their asses. Seriously."
Those who don't remember history are condemned to continue looking like total cementheads:
Israel says Hezbollah plans to transfer the kidnapped IDF soldiers to Iran:
Israel has concrete evidence that Hezbollah plans to transfer the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted Wednesday to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Thursday.
And if you don't buy that, well, then, Iran has WMDs, so we still have to nuke them. And if you don't believe that, well, they have these Jews and these badges ...
Once upon a time, Canada's Charles McVety was adamant that "Canada needs a Ralph Reed," but it now seems as if this was all based on a misunderstanding, given the recently-revealed details of what is being described as "mortgaging old black people." The problem, of course, is that Canada doesn't really have all that many black people.
Now if we'd been talking about mortgaging aboriginals, well, OK, then. At least there would have been a market.
Ah, so we finally have a resolution to that whole abortion/"The Onion" flap, in which Pete is introduced to satire and doesn't recognize it. As Pete now explains,
My article was a joke, which obviously thousands of you didn't get, all the while accusing me of being the stupidest person on the planet.
OK, then, so Pete's not the stupidest person on the planet -- he's just amazingly unfunny. I don't know, Pete ... at least when you were an idiot, you had an excuse for not being funny. But now ...
"(1) It's absolutely an awesome, totally excellent deal but (2) even if it sucks, it's the only one we can get." I think we are now comfortably on to Phase Two.
From back here, we have the indefatigable Mr Kennedy (Kennedy), who seeks to enlighten us on the civility of ideological debate in his own special way:
So now McCuntlan is now threatening the children of people whose politics he disagrees with.
First it was Fuck The Jews and now....
Like I have always said: No one hates like the left does. No one. From Howard Dean to Ward Churchill to Cindy Sheehan to Mikhail Moore to Randi Rhodes to Al Franken to Jack Murthafucker to Sven Robinson...and it goes on and on
And when I say "special," I don't really mean that in a good way. More like a "Everybody's a winner and gets a medal for just participating" kind of way. If you see where I'm going.
And while countless wankers are still all cranked up about mere blog comments regarding doing unspeakable things to peoples' children, the U.S. Army is actually going out and doing something about it. No news on whether they blogged about it, of course.
What part of "Everybody hates you" is giving you difficulty? Well, OK, maybe not everybody. But I'm betting Rick's wife was a bit pissed.
In which our hero, Dr. Dawg, armed only with clear thinking, cogent arguments and the lance of mere reason, wanders into the circle jerk that is Steve's comments section and asks:
I won't defend [Deb] Frisch--she's clearly unhinged--but Robert has a point: why no outrage from you and others when Ann Coulter and others urge the US to commit genocide? At least Frisch has the excuse of being unbalanced in the clinical sense. What about Coulter?
to which commenter "Mac," in a seriously kick-ass display of what passes for right-wing snark that must just have them howling down at Dino's Beer and Peeler Bar, retorts:
Dr. Dawg, it appear [sic] you're hellbent on changing the subject. I wonder why that would be, hmmm?
which proves beyond any doubt that the good Dr. Dawg simply doesn't understand the rules of ideological discourse here, which are that, if Lefties suggest that the current CPC government appears to have some corruption problems, the proper response from the Right is to, of course, lash back savagely, howling on incessantly about the Liberals and the sponsorship scandal while, if anyone on the Left attempts to make an ideological comparison of that nature, they are naturally just being weaselly and evasive and changing the subject.
But that's just because those two situations are totally different. Totally.
From the comments section over at Steve's place, we have commenter "None":
Ever noticed that when a liberal says something way out of line they then say its all a joke?
Um ... yeah. I wonder where we learned that trick.
OOOOOH ... BONUS: Apparently, the light is finally starting to dawn:
Ann Coulter is no stranger to controversy, but her latest adventures have several newspapers questioning whether carrying her syndicated column is worth the trouble. The Shreveport (La.) Times is currently leaving the decision of whether or not to keep Coulter up to its readers. But the first newspaper to officially drop Coulter’s column since the latest uproar began seems to be The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she had appeared for about 14 months.
Opinion Page Editor Doug Neumann told E&P, “Our decision was made before the plagiarism allegations. It did come after the publication of [Coulter’s] book, but I would say it didn’t directly play any role on our decision.”
Which is as it should be. I was never overly impressed with the recent allegations of plagiarism. I mean, this is Ann Coulter we're talking about -- not exactly a bottomless pit of original punditry. It's more satisfying to see her get canned just for being a horrible human being, although replacing her with David Limbaugh doesn't exactly raise the intellectual temperature in the room, if you catch my drift.
P.S. Sadly, even though I've made it clear that he's not welcome here and keep deleting his comments, Canada's "Embassy of Conservative Maturity" insists on leaving the same comment over and over on this post.
You keep using that word "maturity," Pete. I do not think it means what you think it means.
As much as I didn't feel like revisiting this issue, there's just a little too much to say to let it go by, so you'll forgive me if I decide to rip Canadian wanker Steve Janke a new one for being the insufferable dick that he is.
First (and I'll try to keep this part brief since there's so much more that needs to be said), it takes a special kind of right-wing assholitude to be waxing apoplectic these days over the appalling and totally unacceptable sentiments of one Deb Frisch, who dumped a pile of disgusting comments in the comments section of one Jeff Goldstein. (You remember Jeff Goldstein, right? You better, otherwise you're in for a serious cock-slapping. But I digress. Onward.)
It's fairly amusing to see the entire citizenry of Wankerville working themselves into a high dudgeon over the comments of one complete non-entity that most of us had never even heard of before. To read Steve's bullshit, you'd think he'd only just now ventured forth from his comfortable bubble to find that, heavens to Betsy, the blogosphere can be an unpleasant place! All that profanity and vulgarity! Why, it's enough to purely give one a case of the vapours, isn't it?
That's some nerve you've got there, Steve, considering the toxic cesspool you and your neo-con wank colleagues live in, with a constant stream of hate-filled bile from some of your best friends. I mean, really -- Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Kate McMillan ... oh, my, the list does go on, doesn't it? And yet, here you are, clawing your way through all of that right-wing nastiness and getting your nutsack in a knot over some utter nobody. That's some pretty selective outrage, don't you think, Steve? But that's not why we're here. Oh, no, there's a bigger issue at hand.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, you have to be pretty much a complete jackass to have written the following:
But back to our friend [Robert] McClelland. In my response to McClelland's nastiness, I mentioned my 5-year-old daughter in the context of knowing right from wrong. I wish I hadn't now. For the first time, I feel nervous knowing that McClelland knows I have young children.
To which one can only respond, fuck you, Steve, you lying sack of crap. As I already suggested in an earlier post, there is not a single person on the planet that genuinely believes that you're afraid of Robert McClelland. Not you, not me, not anyone. You know as well as I do that you don't have the slightest fear of Robert doing anything to your precious family but that doesn't stop you from being the despicable douchebag you are and throwing the suggestion out there.
No one's afraid of Robert McClelland, just as no one is legitimately concerned for their personal safety from Deb Frisch. You can think whatever you want of them in terms of wingnuttery or moonbattery or whatever catchy phrase the kids are using these days, but to suggest that you're actually in fear of them is indescribable rubbish. Because when it comes to fear, Steve, no one knows actual fear like those of us on the Left.
You want fear? Let me explain fear, Steve, you pompous prat.
Fear is wondering whether a bumper sticker on your car is going to get you fired. Or maybe arrested.
Fear is wondering if wearing the wrong kind of t-shirt is going to land you in handcuffs.
Fear is wanting to exercise your right to free speech and free expression in the United States, but ending up in a razor wire-surrounded detention center instead. Or maybe just getting the crap kicked out of you by an unhinged neo-con supporter while being held down by three Secret Service agents.
Fear is to want nothing more than to be treated with fairness and consideration, and being driven out of town by a wave of psychotic, religious whackjobs.
Fear is just doing your job as a journalist, and suddenly having your personal information splashed all over the Internet, with suggestions that you should be "hunted down" and taught a lesson.
Fear is never knowing if you're going to be murdered just because you're gay or because you're the wrong kind of doctor.
And, finally, fear is being a judge in the United States when prominent right-wing bloggers are openly calling for your execution, while others are simply murdering your family members.
Don't talk to me about fear, Steve, you insufferable twit. You don't have the foggiest idea what the word means, when one of the biggest issues for you and your brain-dead friends is whether two guys you've never met and will never know have the right to get married. Ooooooh, that's frightening, isn't it, Steve? One wonders how you and your buds can even sleep at night, lying there in mortal dread for the sanctity of your marriages, or scared witless that someone is going to force your kids to learn about evolution, or something equally horrific.
Don't talk to me about fear, Steve. Not until the day that you are genuinely afraid that some crazed atheist who doesn't like you will actually try to murder your kids. Then, and only then, will you have the right to join the discussion.
Until then, Steve, do us all a favour and shut the fuck up.
First, PZ Myers points out (quite correctly) that a disturbing number of Christians are demented fuckwits. One should now be able to sit back and wait for Jinx's response as he defends his demented fuckwit colleagues.
This should be good.
Let's see if I can explain this for the intellectually impaired. If I drag you outside and beat you senseless with an axe handle, that's a personal attack. If, on the other hand, I simply suggest that you are so stupid, it's a miracle that you can remember to breathe, that's just making fun of you.
If you still don't understand the difference, I and my axe handle would be happy to try to beat it into you.
(Cue humour-impaired wankers, getting all cranked up about how liberals want to beat right-to-lifers to death with axe handles. You know it's coming.)
Well, well, well ... look who's an America-hating, security-destroying, terrorist-loving, traitorous little weasel after all:
Columnist Robert Novak said publicly for the first time Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove was a source for his story outing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
And Karl Rove sucks, too.
Apparently, even howling-at-the-moon batshit crazy has a shelf life.
AFTERSNARK: The Great Society has a slightly more complete transcript. Well, slightly more entertaining, anyway.
Exercise for the reader: What is wrong with this picture?
(Major props to earlier commenter Steve, for allowing the rest of us to indulge our unhinged, deranged moonbat feelings of innate intellectual superiority. And just plain snarky contempt. That, too.)
P.S. You realize of course that, using the right-wing principle of hysterical, hyper-ventilating over-generalization, we can now safely conclude that all pro-lifers are this stupid. Hoist. Petard. QED.
P.P.S. Oh, Jesus. Someone really is too stupid to slink away quietly.
P.P.P.S. I will admit, though, that I'm jealous of this guy's sitemeter stats. But the price is just way too high. I figure I'll get my blog traffic the old-fashioned way. Now, there has to be a naked picture of TBogg's wife around here somewhere ...
