Or ...
HAS MEGYN KELLY DYED HER HAIR A DIFFERENT COLOR?
I don't know if you'll be able to make it through seven minutes of Erin Burnett (I failed to make it through two), but it's definitely worth seeing what Taibbi has to say.
Thanks again, liberal media!
(h/t: Jim Newell)
... still not done with Robert McNamara. This is righteous.
I had never heard of Project 100,000 before. It is hard to imagine anything more distasteful. Even if you're disinclined to kick the corpse of McNamara around, read Galloway's piece for what it says about the chickenhawk mentality writ large.
(h/t: Attaturk)
TBogg catches a couple of truly unbelievable statements from two people who are so reprehensible that I hate even typing their names: Bill Kristol and Michael Goldfarb.
Ah, well. Let us add a little link juice by making those names the hyperlink, in the hopes that future Googlers who are unfamiliar with these slugs will start learning about them there.
Fox News had a quick story up on Friday, reporting:
The Obama administration has asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon's budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent -- about $55 billion -- a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.
To which I say hooray, if true.
However, although there has long been a sense that Obama would like the Pentagon to have a smaller slice of the pie, I still, two days later, haven't been able to find any independent news of this particular claim. About the only mention I can find (that isn't just repeating the Fox story as gospel, I mean) is this bit from Reuters [emph. added]:
The Obama administration last week directed the U.S. Defense Department to make substantial cuts to a budget proposal prepared under the leadership of Defense Secretary Robert Gates for fiscal year 2010, which added more than $60 billion, according to InsideDefense.com, a trade publication.
Fox News said the White House was seeking cuts of more than 10 percent, but U.S. officials declined to comment.
Rather than relying on a single anonymous source (though that never causes problems, right?), it's probably best to wait for a little more verification before drawing any firm conclusions, I'd think.
How say you, Greater Wingnuttia?
MEDIA BLACKOUT: still not a peep out of the mainstream media (other than Fox News).
[...]
Update III: Tommy emails: "We're all dead men walking."
[...]
Update X: As of 10:02AM, no mainstream media outlets -- other than Fox News -- are reporting on this debacle. Although the wheezing New York Times ("Obama Cultivates Military") and the Philadelphia Inquirer ("Army announces rise in suicide rates for 2008") found time to report on more important issues this morning.
-- Doug Ross
... the terrorists are praising Allah while plotting their next move.
-- The Jawa Report
This should make America’s enemies happy, including the American Left …
Well, if Obambi goes ahead and repeals don’t ask don’t tell, allowing openly gay men and women to serve, the cost of paying soldiers will go down, since 10% say they would not re-enlist or extend their service, and another 14% would consider not re-enlisting or extending their service.
-- Stop The ACLU
“Billions for free abortions on demand, expanded welfare programs and general pork for the buying of votes, not one PENNY for defense!”
-- Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiler
So while he can spend trillions to combat STD's, build golf courses, and prop up Hollywood, national security seems to be low on the priority list.
[...]
Sleep tight America, there may not be too many days left or nights that you can.
-- Jammie Wearing Fool
Then we begin to sense a theme …
... those would be weapons systems that actually employ people, create jobs, and help defend the nation. That may not be as sexy, figuratively and literally, as buying billions of condoms …
-- Ed Morrissey/Hot Air
President Obama wants to spend a trillion dollars on welfare, condoms, international STD prevention, 600,000 new government jobs and handouts for illegal immigrants...
-- Gateway Pundit
When someone says “The Pentagon needs more Stealth Bombers,” this president seems to think they’re talking about Bill Ayers.
[...]
Just last week, Obama swore: “I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”
With what?
Condoms?
-- Cold Fury
And yet there's all this money for condoms and bee insurance, apparently.
-- Ace of Spades
And if it's not condoms, it's that other dreaded C-word.
Missile defense has shown to be very successful under Bush. Some are saying it is operational now. But I'd expect that to be shelved as Obama does everything possible to make us weaker and less secure. Instead of deploying the ultimate anti-ballistic missile weapon, Obama instead makes nice with Putin in a most Carter-esque way.
-- Environmental Republican
Strategic retreat, indeed. B. Hussein Obama hinted at such a retreat in his interview with Al-Arabiya, looking back thirty years (the Carter administration) to a purported U.S.-Arab Golden Age.
-- The Texas Scribbler
But really, this all just part of a larger plan, right?
It Begins, The Dismantling Of the Military
-- Say Anything
OBAMA MAKING GOOD ON PROMISE TO WEAKEN OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE
[...]
THIS SHOWS WHAT OBAMA'S REAL PRIORITY REALLY IS: WEAKENING AMERICA.
-- The Astute Bloggers
(Thanks to Maru at WTF Is It Now?!? for the moving pic.)
[Added] See this later post for more solid numbers.
The bombings will continue until good will improves
-- Thoreau/Unqualified Offerings
(cf.)
I've come across a couple of my favorite bloggers' contests for best wingnut posts of the year. The categories are many. Gobs of great bad reading.
Andrew Sullivan:
Andrew also has some categories that are not wingnut-focused:
Actually, the Yglesias and Mental Health Break Awards do not feature bad writing. All categories are defined on The Daily Dish Awards glossary page.
The Poor Man Institute:
Categories are defined on the nominations page. Not all categories are yet open for voting. Links will be added when they are (and I notice). If you're impatient, you can check The Toot for yourself.
(h/t to Twin for reminding me about the Sullys. Which is not what he calls them, for reasons passing understanding.)
One of the harder things to take, as both a hardcore Obama supporter and an atheist, was his agreeing during the campaign to participate with John McCain in the so-called "pastor's forum" hosted by Rick Warren at his Saddleback Church. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing -- this reaching-out philosophy of Obama's, as hard as it is to tolerate sometimes, is the way forward. The event was a good chance for him to connect with an audience that, at that point, had probably not heard from him beyond whatever unflattering and out-of-context sound bites the McCain campaign and Fox News (pardon the redundancy) had aired.
However, it is important not to forget who Rick Warren really is. Betty Cracker watches a clip of his appearance on perpetual blowhard Sean Hannity's show:
Of course Hannity is a warmongering thug who hasn’t the faintest idea how foreign policy power functions in the country he is so transparently eager to bomb. Nothing new there. But can we stop pretending Rick Warren is a moderate now? He is also either shockingly ignorant about what the bible actually says or willing to twist its message to appeal to Hannity’s troglodyte core audience. My money’s on the latter. No respectable politician should ever take this creep seriously again.
If you've ever seen the smug mug of Michael Goldfarb and thought to yourself, "Now, there's an aging frat boy who needs a good slap," then you'll enjoy the Greatest PWNAGE of ALL TIME.
(h/t: Andrew Sullivan)
[Added] Revenge of the nerds! (And don't miss the comments, especially the one pointing to Beth's logo.) Breaking: Now official!
Thanks to a heads-up from Eastwest in the BloggingHeads.tv forum, I was made aware of the latest good work from the great investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh.
Here is the direct link to the Hersh interview show page on Fresh Air. The interview ran yesterday.
Here is the direct link to Hersh's 7 July 2008 story in the New Yorker. The article appears in this week's print edition.
I urge everyone to listen to the interview and read the article ASAP, to pass the links along, and to start making some serious noise. Blog about it. Paste the links into other forums. Email them to everyone you know. Tell your friends. Call your Congress people. Write to your news sources. Demand follow-up. This is some truly scary shit from a reporter whose credibility could not be higher.
If you're momentarily pressed for time, here is the gist of the story. Recently, Bush issued a highly classified Presidential Finding concerning the alleged looming danger that Iran poses. On the strength of this, he went to Congressional leaders, and asked for and received $400 million in secret funding earmarked for CIA and Special Forces operations inside Iran. These ops are aimed at stirring up unrest in Iran with the aim of destabilizing the government. There are also plans for taking out Iranian air defense systems to ease the path for American bombers, and hopes of capturing kidnapping scientists and engineers involved with Iran's nuclear programs. There are strong hints that Israel is also considering first-strike actions against Iran. Hersh suggests, finally, that Bush and Cheney are interested in provoking Iran into doing something rash in response, which would give them a casus belli.
The Congressional leaders, including House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both Democrats, were among those who caved to Bush's request. Hersh doesn't know why for sure, but he thinks it has to do with their concerns about the Democrats appearing "weak on terror" during the homestretch of the presidential election. It's also possible, he thinks, that a combination of laziness in reading the reports, a less than honest story told by Bush, and a bunny-like and unquestioning acceptance of whatever Bush told them were at play, as well. Hard to believe that Bush lies and Congressional Democrats are invertebrates, I know, but there it is.
Hersh sees Bush's recent easing up on North Korea as possibly part of the this plan, speculating that Bush will attempt to spin this as North Korea was reasonable, so we were able to come to an accomodation. Iran, on the other hand …
All this, of course, despite the recent National Intelligence Estimate that strongly asserts that Iran has backed off on its nuclear weapons development.
Hersh lists several factors that he believes contribute to the Bush/Cheney thinking here, among which are: boosting John McCain's chances in the election (can you say October Surprise?), worries that a President Obama would be much more interested in pursuing diplomacy with Iran (despite the fact that most Americans agree with this idea), and a belief that things are going so well in Iraq that it makes sense to take the next step. He does not say so directly, in the interview at least, but there is an undercurrent in his words that suggests that many people in the administration and the Pentagon believe that Cheney has truly lost his mind.
[update] Thanks to pod2 in the Comments for noting that Seymour, despite his brilliant reporting, was never a good speller. I have changed Hersch to Hersh throughout out of respect for his one shortcoming.
In support of a dream, I have added my name to a petition to urge Michael Goldfarb to put his rifle where his cannon-sized mouth is. I encourage you to do the same. Who knows? Might work.
Goldfarb, if you don't already know, is the Online Editor of The Weekly Standard. He is but one of many in that cesspool of neocon "thought" who thinks the answer to all questions of foreign policy is more bombing. His shallow attitude and lack of any military service is characteristic of the frat-boy mentality of so many supporters of the Bush/Cheney way of doing things. Goldfarb is all for boots on the ground everywhere, provided his feet don't have to be in them.
If you'd like a taste of why I find him so repugnant, his most recent appearance on BloggingHeads.tv should serve. It's also worth watching to see what happens when he has to debate someone who actually has a clue; in this case, Robert Farley of LGM.
BTW, there are other people with the same name (e.g.), unfortunately for them.
From McClatchy on Monday:
Cheney cites 'phenomenal' Iraqi security progress as bombing kills 40
Amazing how often the facts serve as their own editorial comment with the Bush Administration.
(h/t: MoJo)
(Updated below)
One of my all-time favorite authors, Richard Rhodes, is one half of the latest diavlog over on BloggingHeads.tv. He's got a new book out, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race. If it's even half as good as his last two on the topic of nuclear arms (The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun), it'll be great.
Rhodes is talking with Joseph Cirincione, who has a new nuke book of his own out. I don't know Cirincione, but he sounds smart, and Rhodes praised his book.
The discussion mostly focuses on the "threat inflation" that characterized the Cold War. You'll be amazed at the parallels and actual connections with the current War on TerrorTM.
It's about an hour long. You can watch it as a stream, or download the video or audio-only files for later use. Highly recommended.
Update
2007-12-14 20:39
In a similar vein, you might also enjoy this (audio) interview of Bob Drogin by Moira Gunn. Drogin has a new book out about Curveball, the dubious sole source that the Bush Administration used to make its case for invading Iraq.
