Stop Your Self-Rightousness ...

... please.

Yes, I think Hollywood exploits certain events for its own financial interests, but judging from the reviews and personal accounts of "United 93," that does not seem to be the case here. This time, it seems, Hollywood actually might have got it right.

And the people who bitch about a movie being made about the plane that didn't end up crashing into anything that day really, really ought to consider how the two-word phrase "Nine-Eleven" has been whored out by just about every politician on both sides of the Mississippi. It's revolting enough to cause nausea among anybody with the slightest amount of common sense.

My long-standing argument has been that some people in this great country of ours believe that our own sensitivity trumps anybody else's sensibility. I'll repeat that until I die.

But nobody else in the world has an ounce of sensitivity for us anymore—nor should they.

We suffered a massive tragedy of unbelievable proportions and we—as a country, as a nation—squandered that political capital by invading a country completely unrelated to the incident.

If 9/11 means anything to the rest of the world anymore, I'd be fucking stunned.

And I sure hope that makes somebody as angry as it makes me.

Know It When You See It ...

... and why this CNN piece made Tom Tomorrow justifiably angry one week ago ... :

"The report, which analyzed data from governments, research institutions and international agencies, found higher newborn death rates among U.S. minorities and disadvantaged groups. For African-Americans, the mortality rate is nearly double that of the United States as a whole, with 9.3 deaths per 1,000 births."

... and if you can actually stomach that, then you should really see what an ass Tony Snow made of himself today.

Really nice guy.

Stirred, Not Shaken

The supposed "shake-up" of the Bush Administration couldn't be less encouraging (or much of a "shake-up") if the president were actually trying.

So the whole Andrew Card thing was rather meaningless and Tony Snow replacing Scott McClellan was a double bonus for Bush: Perform a mercy killing at press secretary by letting McClellan go, and then replace him with a pundit from Fox News. Bingo!

Now, perhaps you remember our friend Michael Hayden. An inspiring record of great service to our nation in the military——and, well, actually still serving in the military.

That wouldn't really be a problem——what with his involvement in the current NSA spying on Americans and that whole P.R. mess——if he weren't just nominated to head the goddamned Central Intelligence Agency.

Yes, a man who takes orders from the infallible Donald Rumsfeld and seems to advocate the executive branch being above the law is supposed to be the right person to lead a civilian agency that Dick Cheney has already done everything to totally undermine for political capital.

I'll take gin ... up ... olives. And please——really shake the shit out of it.

Hmm ...

Random Toothpaste Finding

Yeah, Right

Sonny Bono's widow, Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA), says that—get this—her annual congressional salary of $165,200 won't be enough to pay for her one kid's college education at the University of Southern California. Oh, and they need satellite radio and Bluetooth technology for their two new cars.

Wow, heartbreaking isn't it? Here's some helpful advice: make your spoiled brat who likes to "live life on the wild side" get a fucking job. It worked for the rest of us.

"I'm Not In The Intelligence Business"

Yeah, Rummy. No shit.

To his credit, he takes the questions but just forgets to give an answer. Then the guy they planted in the audience follows up by buttering up Rumsfeld before (I assume) lobbing a softball. So just recently, we had Tyler Drumheller on "60 Minutes," and now Ray McGovern—both of the CIA—both saying the White House was lying. Not "being misled," lying.

And again, those were Rumsfeld's exact words. From the March 30 episode of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos in 2003 (11 days into the war):

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera): Finally, weapons of mass destruction, key goal of the military campaign is finding those weapons of mass destruction. None have been found yet. There was a raid on the Ansar al-Islam camp. A lot of people expected to find ricin there. None was found. How big of a problem is that? And is it curious to you that given how much control US and coalition forces now have in the country, they haven't found any weapons of mass destruction?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Not at all. If you think, let me take that both pieces. The area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is, is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat. Second, the kernel facilities, there are dozens of them, it is a large geographic area. It is the Ansar al Islam group has killed a lot of Kurds. They're tough, and our forces are currently in there with the Kurdish forces cleaning the area out, tracking them down, killing them or capturing them, and they will then begin the site exploitation. The idea from your question that you can attack that place and exploit it and find out what's there in 15 minutes. I would also add that we saw from the air there were dozens of trucks that went into that facility after the existence of it became public in the press, and they moved things out. They dispersed them and took them away. So there may be nothing left. I don't know that. But it's way too soon to know. The exploitation is just starting.

"Somewhat"? At least he was right about the "eploitation," you know, "just starting."

Now let's ask when it fucking ends.

Please.

The Sad Truth

Josh Marshall really nails the depressing reality about Iraq.

Good Catch

Andrew Sullivan linked to a rather telling photograph of Denny Hastert that got snapped on Thursday.

A Contest

"This, by the way, is the same Washington event where Bush previously charmed many (and horrified others) by pretending to have trouble finding Weapons of Mass Destruction (after we'd started to realize they weren't in Iraq), and wandered the room looking under tables. Really cute, huh? They should send videos of that to the families of soldiers killed."

Excuse me, but does this point not just completely outrage you? That bit of insight comes courtesy of this post from Chris Durang at The Huffington Post in regards to Steven Colbert's appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.

The contest: I'm seeking the best suggestion for a new title for Mr. Bush, because "President" just isn't cutting it and relatives won't let me use the string of four-letter words I'd prefer to precede this moron's surname with.

Secondly, do I open this contest to Republican friends or will that decision only end up getting me punched in the face again?