Again, Pakistan

From the earliest days of our blog, we've noted that al Qaeda was not governed from Iraq, but from the Pashtun areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The Iraq war debacle is a 6-year diversion from the fight against the group that attacked us on 9/11. Dumbya and Dead Eye never finished the job, and al Qaeda was allowed to rebuild and reconstitute itself in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The Obama Administration appreciates the problem, and is focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to minimize the chances for another, more serious 9/11. Complicating things immensely is a fragile regime in Pakistan, where the civilian government has little or no control over the military and intelligence organizations, much less its territory. Pakistan is insisting that it has firm control over its nuclear weapons, and publically the Administration is going along with those assurances. Hopefully, signs that Pakistan is taking on the Taliban in the Swat valley will be more than just a show, and be the beginning of real progress.

Winky's Followers Target Mittens -- Literally

We love it when the Rethugs start to circle the wagons and begin firing inward. The latest example is a video from Winky's militia, taking, um, a shot at Willard/Mutt/Muff/Mittens Romney, presumably in retaliation for Mittens' dig at Winky over the weekend. Don't you love the way the wingnuts take the idea of assassination so lightly?

Oddly, the two of them are all surface and no substance - like the figures on the top of a wedding cake. A perfect match!

UPDATE: Speaking of circular firing squads, Senate Rethug leader Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell has his own fellow Kentucky Rethug Senator Bunning to worry about. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

(Photo: Winky, loaded for bore)

Weiner Savage Banned in Britain

Right-wing hate radio crackpot Michael Weiner (aka Michael Savage) has been banned for travel to Britain. (Pause here to snicker) The savage Weiner was put on Britain's "name and shame list" which will keep him out of Britain indefinitely. Others on the list announced recently by the British Home Secretary: a neo-Nazi, an Arab extremist, skinhead and KKK leaders, and a homophobe "pastor." The savage Weiner is in good (that is, bad) company.

(Photo: The Brits sure know how to Pick-a-dilly: the savage Weiner)

It's Cinco de Mayo

Take off the surgical masks for a while, and go have a cerveza. Salud!

In-Specter-Clues-0

Several Democrats have warned newly-minted Democratic Sen. Arlen "Weather Vane" Specter that if he doesn't shed some of his Rethuglican positions, he'll face a challenge in the Democratic primary next year. Former Democratic National Committee chair Gov. Howard Dean and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka are indicating that Specter's acceptance as the Democrat's Senate candidate isn't a given, especially if he goes against the union-backed Employee Free Choice Act and against Obama's health care proposals. He's already voted twice against the Obama Administration, so the signs aren't good that Weather Vane has a clue about which way Pennsylvania political winds are blowing.

Quote of the Day

"I did not say I'm a loyal Democrat." -- Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen "Weather Vane" Specter, on Sunday's "Meet the Press," when asked by Dancin' Dave Gregory whether he told President Obama that he was a loyal Democrat.

This makes it a lot easier for loyal Democrats like Rep. Joe Sestak to run against Weather Vane in the Democratic primary. And let's hope the Obama Administration doesn't put all their eggs in Weather Vane's basket on any issue.

Villager Cokie: "Journalistic Ambien"

Jack Shafer at Slate.com has a razor sharp piece on Villager emeritus Cokie "Okie Dokie" Roberts' NPR stints. We've long noticed Cokie's (hmmm, coke - e) narcotic effect on Steponaflagpinopolous' Sunday morning gas bubble, This Week. Rarely one with an original thought, Cokie likes to parrot whatever last month's conventional wisdom was, attempting to sell it as fresh insight. Shafer hits the Villager on the head when he refers to Cokie's morning radio rap as "journalistic Ambien." One hopes that drivers listening to her won't fall asleep at the wheel.

"From Derangement It's A Small Step To Madness"

In contrast to the increasingly intolerable WaPo editorial page (soon to be renamed the L Street Journal?), we have the NY Times, now 100% Wee Willie free. In particular, see today's op/ed by Frank Rich, taking on the potential for hubris in the Obama Administration and Villager fickleness, and the crystallizing of the Rethugs into a rump party of angry crackpots and delusionals (the latter nicely summarized by Rich).

From today's WaPo. Watch what you step in. (Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Rudy Toot Toot's Not Friends With "Fruits"

Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani ducked the wedding of his gay "friends" and former roommates, Howard Koeppel and Mark Hsaio yesterday in Connecticut. The former New York mayor had stayed with the gay couple in their Manhattan apartment while going through a messy divorce from his wife, Donna Hanover, back in 2001. So much for loyalty.

Rudy Toot Toot did his utmost to portray himself as a hero to the American public, despite denying firefighters the necessary communications equipment which would have saved lives on September 11, and who earlier had the city's emergency operations headquarters relocated to near ground zero so that he could be closer to his mistress. Images of him walking aimlessly around lower Manhattan trying to communicate with authorities after the Twin Towers collapsed merely reflected the result of that selfish decision. So much for courage.

Jack Kemp

We are saddened by the death of Jack Kemp, former Republican VP candidate, congressman and HUD Secretary, who died yesterday at age 73 from cancer. It was in his role as HUD Secretary under Poppy Bush that W. Hackwhacker had the opportunity to observe him professionally. Kemp was a supply-side Reagan Republican who also supported immigration reform and helping the poor, minorities and disenfranchised. His heart was generally in the right place even if his politics weren't. In that sense, he was much more the model of the "compassionate conservative" than Dumbya could ever be.

We don't see many of his kind left in his party. We regret that just as we regret his passing.

Great! Another WaPo Wingnut

With this morning's op/ed, "Detroit's CEO in Chief," the WaPo introduces its latest "free market" wingnut, Eva "Hoover Was Right!" Rodriguez. Whoopee! Just what the Post's readership was crying out for: another right-wing columnist, this one concerned about big bad gummint fouling up the auto industry. Whazzat? I was under the impression the "free market" meatballs had done that over the past 30 years.

Why add another Rethug, and why now? One can only assume George Will, Michael Gerson, Kathleen Parker, Charles Krauthammer, Wee Willie Kristol, Fred Kagan, and Paul Samuelson were feeling surrounded by the likes of... Eugene Robinson, E.J. Dionne, and Harold Meyerson??? Chalk this up as another win for Fred Hiatt and Marcus Brauchli, the Rethugs running the Post these days. Rodriguez, who began her career in Miami, represents the Fulgencio Batista wing of the Rethug party. We look forward to her next op/ed on Obama's surrender to the Castro regime.

Whistling Dixie

Now it seems like one-third of Georgia Rethuglicans are mulling over secession from the U.S., at least according to a new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll. Some 32% of Georgia Rethugs think it might be a good idea for Georgia to become an independent country. (Pause for derisive laughter) Without a doubt, these were probably the loudest voices shouting "traitor" at anyone who opposed Dumbya and Dead Eye. Now who are the traitors, peckerwoods?

Well, the U.S. would certainly be better off without the inbred, low-IQ, trailer park, tea-bagging Klan followers in the Georgia Rethug movement. Better still if they formed battle lines and challenged the full force of the U.S. Army and Marines -- see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

They are the "dicks" in "Dixie."

Praise Th' Lord, And Pass Th' Waterboard

One of the more interesting phenomena of American life is the fact that people who identify as fundamentalist, conservative Christians are the most likely to support military adventures abroad and, it now appears, torture. In a survey conducted by the Pew organization, 54 percent of the Bible-thumpers said that torture was "often" or "sometimes" justified in the interrogation of suspected terrorists. Ah yes, such good Christians.

Actually, listening to the sermons of Southern evangelical or pentecostal "ministers" would break any terrorist quicker than waterboarding.

Supreme Decision

Now that Justice David Souter has announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, President Obama has some interesting choices. Most are betting that he'll go with one of many highly qualified female jurists, including Judge Sonia Sotomayor (2nd Circuit Court), Judge Diane Wood (7th Circuit Court), and Elena Kagan, Solicitor General and former dean of the Harvard Law School. Whomever the President selects, please make it a fairly young, healthy person.

The only disappointment is that Souter voted with the liberal bloc of the Supreme Court, so Obama's appointment wouldn't alter the Court's 4 liberal, 4 conservative, 1 swing vote makeup. Now if we could arrange the departures of right wingers Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas from the Court, what a day that would be.