BURN, BABY, BEIRNE: If it’s cold in New York, is global warming all wet? In fact, many readers wrote to remind us that warming theory predicts increased extreme weather of all varieties. Almost no pundit is really prepared to discuss the science of climate change. But even our current slackers and harlequins know that a few days of snow in New York can’t cool off the fever about warming. But clowning clowns of the pseudo-con press united when Gore gave his speech about warming (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 1/16/04). It was cold outside, so Gore had been burned. Indeed, to Kate O’Beirne of the Capital Gang, Gore’s speech was the “outrage of the week:” MARK SHIELDS (1/17/04): Kate O’Beirne. O’BEIRNE: With the exquisite judgment we have come to expect from Al Gore, this week he appeared in New York to blast President Bush for his inattention to the pressing issue of global warming. Gore’s attempt to turn up the heat on Bush was on the coldest day in New York in memory: Minus 1 degree. Solid scientific evidence and a unanimous Senate that rejected the Kyoto Treaty are against Gore on this phony issue. So too is Mother Nature. Poor lefty Al Gore. It’s cold way out there. There’s little chance that Kate has a clue about the science of climate change. But she eagerly joined in the clowning clownistry which seemed to be the real ’rage last week.

Speaking of which, I admit it, I am not a good person.  I am genuinely enjoying the fact that our own Little Roy Cohn, not altogether unlike Emma Bovary, is finally, painfully waking up to the fact that the political figure to which he has betrothed himself so profoundly and abjectly during the past three years has been using him for kicks, mocking his assignations while professing his true allegiance to those who would stigmatize gays as less than human and even rewrite the U.S. Constitution to prevent their becoming—Andy’s own words—“free at last.” 

The ironies are too thick and laden with multiple metaphor to unpack here.  (I wonder how many slaves fell—politically speaking—for Jefferson Davis…)  And I haven’t even mentioned the drunken-sailor spending spree that used to define exactly what a conservative isn’t—at least in the days before Karl Rove ran the country.  My heart almost goes out to the guy.  Being the world’s most famous gaycatholictoryMcCarthyiteGAPmodel ain’t as easy as it used to be.

What the hell is a “weapons of mass destruction-related program activity?”  And what is its relationship to statements like these:”Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”
–Dick Cheney Speech to VFW National Convention, Aug. 26, 2002

“Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.”
–George W. Bush Speech to U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 12, 2002

“We know for a fact that there are weapons there.”
–Ari Fleischer Press Briefing, Jan. 9, 2003

“I’m absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We’re just getting it just now.”
–Colin Powell Remarks to Reporters, May 4, 2003

By ALEX WILLIAMS

Published: November 20, 2005

JA RULE stopped by a party at Shaquille O’Neal’s mansion in Miami Beach the Friday night before last as a favor to the host, who asked him to grab a microphone and rock the house to surprise his guests. He obliged, he told friends, but for only two numbers. Ja Rule, the platinum-selling rapper accustomed to Madison Square Garden, could not afford to strain his vocal cords. He had an important gig the next night. He was playing a Miami steakhouse. The occasion was a bat mitzvah.

 

NYTIMES

http://tinyurl.com/rgxa3

I know many of you have seen this list countless times, and for that I offer my apologies; however, the hypocrites on the far right never fail to bristle with a mixture or embarrassment, anger, and self-righteous indigantion whenever I post it. I hope you’ll indulge me once again.
I hope you’ll please remember the following names:



 Democrats

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan.
 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.

* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor,
 Vietnam.

* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.

* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze
 Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.

* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze
 Star, Korea.

* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star &
 Bronze Star, Vietnam.

* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.

* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve,
 1968-74.

* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army
 Reserve 1979-91.

* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star
 and seven campaign ribbons.

* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam,
 DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier’s Medal.

* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple
 Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.

 * Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne,
 Purple Heart.

* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in
 Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.

* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.

* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57

* Chuck Robb: Vietnam

* Howell Heflin: Silver Star

* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.

* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments.
 Entered draft but received #311.

* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy. Graduate of Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.

 * Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953

* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal
 with 18 Clusters.

* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII.




Republicans

* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.

* Tom Delay: did not serve.

* Roy Blunt: did not serve.

* Bill Frist: did not serve.

* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.

* Rick Santorum: did not serve.

* Trent Lott: did not serve.

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the
 last by marriage.

* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to
 teach business.

* Jeb Bush: did not serve.

* Karl Rove: did not serve.

* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. “Bad knee.” The man
 who attacked Cleland’s patriotism.

* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.

* Vin Weber: did not serve.

* Richard Perle: did not serve.

* Douglas Feith: did not serve.

* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.

* Richard Shelby: did not serve.

* Jon Kyl: did not serve.

* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.

* Christopher Cox: did not serve.

* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.

* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight
 instructor.

* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year
Air National Guard tour of duty; got assigned to Alabama so he could
campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.

* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a
non-combat role making movies.

* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting
was over in Korea.

* Phil Gramm: did not serve.

* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of
Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.

* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.

* John M. McHugh: did not serve.

* JC Watts: did not serve.

* Jack Kemp: did not serve. “Knee problem,” although
continued in NFL for 8 years.

* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National
Guard.

* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.

* George Pataki: did not serve.

* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.

* John Engler: did not serve.

* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army
base.

Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.

* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a
’pilonidal cyst.’)

* Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.

* Michael Savage: did not serve.

* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.

* Paul Gigot: did not serve.

* Bill Bennett: did not serve.

* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.

* John Wayne: did not serve.

* Bill Kristol: did not serve.

* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.

* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.

* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.

* Ralph Reed: did not serve.

* Michael Medved: did not serve.

* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.

* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at
things that don’t shoot back.)



By: SergeantD on November 13, 2005 at 06:18pm

On Crooks and Liars

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Lou-Dobbs-Blogs-Klein.wmv

Andrew Sullivan pisses Eric off as well…..er as usual

 

Yes, I’m harping on this but the guy did call me a traitor to my country: Look at the situation plainly:  I’ve offered to give $10,000 to any AIDS organization the newly anti-Bush pundit Andrew Sullivan so chooses if he can prove an extremely serious accusation he made against me after 9/11. Andrew, who is HIV positive and likes to discuss this fact with reporters, has not deemed to reply.

This can only mean one of two things. Either Andrew does not care about the victims of AIDS who are not as wealthy as he is enough to bother with my publicly offered contribution—with the added bonus for him that someone he deems “hateful” is out ten grand–or he is a liar who casts about wild accusations he cannot support against people for saying pretty much what he is saying today.

Which is it Andrew?  Do you not care about your fellow HIV sufferers enough to bother to get them ten thousand bucks or are you just an irresponsible McCarthyite liar?  Same question for your superiors at Time, by the way….

Ps. I don’t actually expect Andy to admit he was wrong any more than I do his ex-buddy, W. But he might wish to make amends to all of the folks he slandered, you know, the late Ms. Sontag and the rest of the “decadent coastal elites” manning (and wo-manning) the “fifth columns” with whom he now agrees about Bush, by making out a check of say, $5K to the AIDS organization of OUR choice.

 

Alterman

Eavesdropping
Overheard in New York
www.overheardinnewyork.com
Amusing verbatim accounts of stuff people say to each other in public. Anybody can submit; just email your (brief) transcript to the editors for consideration. Overheardintheoffice.com is equally hilarious. Warning: on both sites, some material is not suitable for children, and profanity, stupidity or bigotry is generally kept intact.

Cars
Jalopnik, Autoblog
www.jalopnik.com, www.autoblog.com
Crazy about cars? Between these two blogs, you should be able to feed the beast within. Jalopnik’s scribblings have more personality (“Volkswagen continues to tease us like the self-hating louts we are, releasing another teaspoon’s worth of details on its yet-unnamed convertible….”) while Autoblog delivers industry news straight-up (“Hybrids are Hot: Honda sells 100,000”). Bonus link: 10 Hot Vehicles for Techies, from the new cars.cnet.com.

Celebrity Slams
Go Fug Yourself
gofugyourself.typepad.com
A daily shredding of the sartorial choices of Hollywood stars, complete with photographic evidence. To wit: Parts of Courtney Love’s new, larger body “are sort of sloshing around, uncontained, like a Big Gulp spilling all over your gear shift when you take a turn too fast.” Chloe Sevigny proves “high-waisted pants are the spawn of Satan’s sewing machine.”

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1072872,00.html

Read more: Gridskipper, best

Best of the Week That Was

Toronto Subway Buskers – Mumbly interviews with near-indigent artistes.

Chowhound Sold – Grandaddy of eating forums sells itself.

Jacktracker: Day 5, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. – Big Jack stays put, Mini-Jack hits the shore.

Gawker Stalker Google Map – Celebrities cartographed.

Vegas Hooters: No Knockers – Hooters hotel hosts highbrows.

United Premium Cabin Upgrade Puts Squeeze on Steerage – Rich folk just need to lie down.

No Crusading Please – Dubai metalheads not interested in tasting Saxon steel.

Stewardess Uniform Freak – Hundreds of fly girls, dressed and on display.

Dueling Architects – Someone had to build Kitchen Stadium.

St. Pat’s Evidence, Beerless – Just enough and exactly too much Irish in you.