Whiskey Fire

Us and Them

So I'm watching this new HBO show, The Leftovers, about what Small-Town Heartland America would be like if 10% of the population just up and disappeared.

The general thesis seems to be that everyone would go fucking bananas and would be traumatized and irrational.

On a perhaps related note, is it to be supposed that there exist any non-traumatized Iraqis?

One thing that has always killed me about smug war-pundits, is the utter blindness to the obvious mental health consequences for the hypothetically grateful bomb-accepting locals. 9/11 was a gutshot; suppose you live in a country where war and terrorism are just how it is? Suppose you grew up there? You'd be far more fucked up than you already are, which is pretty disgusting right now anyhow, redsnout, just saying.

On the other hand, Victor David Hanson hasn't had someone throw percussion grenades at his horrible noggin every day for nine decades, which is not only a damn shame, but also makes one inquire, what's his fucking excuse?

Eternal Flame

Just had a brilliant idea: Why not make November 22nd* American Firearms Day? We can each take a few moments to remember the Freedom & Liberty brought to this country by armed crazies wandering the streets while we gloss over the millions murdered, dead or permanently damaged because people like you are trusted w/ firearms in these United Snakes & to remind us all that were it not for guns, we wouldn't need guns!!

Although, in all fairness, to be balanced & objective, no skin off our teeth, so whatevs:

I remember when I was five

We were sittin' in school when the teacher cried

She told everybody that the President died

But that didn't bother me 'cause I was still alive!

Cobbled together from ranted droolings chez moi & a Twit.

Hey Patriots: Let's make 22 Nov. American Firearms Day, to celebrate the Freedom & Liberty guns have brought America. No? How about June 6?

— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) November 22, 2013

---

*April 14th? Wait, use this list.

Unknown Unknowns

Via Steve M, here's Michelle Malkin scooping the Legacy Media.

Right.

Twitter is good for a lot of things. HTMLM here correctly identifies its chief virtue.

But for events like the Boston bombings and the manhunt, it's a complete cesspit; wading into it is like being attacked by a million shouty Steve Doocy Mini-Mes.

Anyway, congratulations, 95% of the Internet -- you managed to out-squalid the New York Post.

MAS. Mileage, of course, varies. But having to wait a few hours in order toknow the truth is hardly too high a price to pay to avoid wading through sewage.

The only people who need Constant Updates are law enforcement and anyone with public safety duties. The only people who deserve Constant Updates are the families of victims.

It's natural to want Constant Updates, but you know, some perspective?

MUCHO MAS. See what you find when you dip into Twitter just for a second? It's bobbing for road apples:

Truly, the American Right has suffered a million 9/11s since Monday, and are the Real Victims in this tragedy.

Gah.

No more Twitter for me today!

All Hallow's Filler

— "Honey, Boo!" Bouffant

(Racial) Purity Troll

What the right wing everywhere would like you to understand (or else):

It is always necessary to destroy the village before you save it.

This goes far beyond the dismal sphere of economics, the economy, deficits, budgets, debt ceilings, &c., about which the less typed the better.

The (alleged) Masonic Murderer of Oslo hadn't the guts to join a [EUPHEMISM ALERT] private military contractor [END ALERT] & visit the homeland of terror to cut off his imagined Islamist enemy at the roots. Nor did he bomb a mosque, or plug any of the jihadis already terrorizing the (fantasy) Norway in which he lived.

No, he attacked his own government, & shot, in the coldest of blood, the very Nordic, European, yada-yada-yada people he claimed to defend. Turned on his own when they weren't pure enough for him: They were not real Norwegians.

The phrase "Norway's Oklahoma City" has been heard; the apter comparison is to the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

What this may mean is, as usual, anyone's guess.

Anyone?

- M. Bouffant

An Armed Society Is A Civil Society

Much "civility" claptrap issuing from the usual sources (white guys, old & privileged, in the Puffho).

Look, the shooter was a paranoid & delusional schizophrenic. The sudden introduction of the civility for which wretched old honkies (Of whom, in the interests of disclosure, I am one, 'though not wretched in the way Fineman, Paul Helmke or other media villagers are.) pine into "the discourse" would not have made George Wallace's proverbial dime's worth of difference to the young man alleged to have killed & wounded his fellow humans in a Tucson parking lot.

Attention has been paid to Arizona's recent passage of a concealed weapons carry law & to Sarah Palin & others (Rep. Giffords' opponent in the recent election among them) using violent, gun-oriented imagery & rhetoric to play to their threatened, fearful base, but (especially considering Arizona's attitude toward the medically indigent) the first place we should look in the finger-pointing process is Arizona's treatment (if any, ha ha) of its mentally ill population.

Beyond the state's apparent assurance that every disturbed paranoid (who is a legal resident) can get at least one gun.

M. Bouffant (In addition.)

No One to Crush Them

Terror! Is there anything more frightening?

Ed Driscoll of Pajamas Media spent all afternoon in hysterics over a whole bunch of nothing involving some Muslims on an airplane, when you'd think he'd be better employed hunting down whoever the bastard was who stole his chin. 

Amid the general asininity, two points are salient, by which I mean, remarkably dumb. First:

And if this run was popular before, it’s certainly becoming the go-to flight, to test the limits of airlines security.

Which is a very stupid thing to say. Driscoll had just noted, OMINOUSLY, that this incident occurred on the same Amsterdam-Detroit route the undiebomber failed to assplode. Why Al Qaeda would be perpetrating "terrorist dry runs" on this particular flight, of all possible flights, is rather mysterious. You'd think they would not need further recon. Also, this incident had, in fact as opposed to fond imagination, nothing to do with "testing the limits of airlines security." Though I suppose this may be merely another example of the sublime perfidy of the Musselman, innocence being the supreme evidence of guilt, and whatnot.

Second:

As Mark Steyn wrote shortly after Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab’s underwear failed to detonate:

Islam is bilingualism on steroids. When the community reaches the size it’s now at in Yorkshire or Malmo or Rotterdam, it has the ability to self-segregate and you wind up on the road to “two solitudes,” parallel societies. (That partially explains the second- and third-generation disassimilation Derb references.) For example, we think of Amsterdam-to-Detroit as a flight between two Western cities. But if you’re Muslim it’s a flight between two outlying provinces of the dar al Islam — the fast Islamifying Amsterdam and Dearborn, Mich.

And, for obvious reasons, the Islamists want to blow up airplanes full of Islamists going back and forth between their own "provinces." For. Obvious. Reasons. Reasons that cannot be shared because of reasons of Notional Security reasons. This is reasonable.

Anyway it really is very remarkable how many successful Dry Terrorist Runs the Islamicists have managed to pull off, once you look into it. They are everywhere! Clearly we need to exterminate all the brutes, including that Scottish guy in the arm sling. He's the ringleader, or "Imam," and would very likely have whiskey on his Koran as he tries to weasel out of a check.

The Doubting Doubtness of the Doubter

by Monica_A

I had no interest in seeing the new Clint Eastwood film "Invictus". Sitting in a theater for two hours and some odd minutes reliving a really dark chapter of history doesn't appeal to me. That is until I heard a clip from the movie. To set it up: Nelson Mandela is imploring the African National Congress not to change the colors, logo or song of the South African rugby team, which were closely identified with the Apartheid regime. Mandela's reason: the country needed to be unified and this team was its best hope. Could any of us transcend out hatred and desire for revenge against our enemies in the name of country first? Could we stand up for someone or something that had a role in taking 27 years of our lives? I'm not that godly. 

This started the ol' thinking machine to working'. The United States as it stands on 12/09/09 is a fucking wreck. The Titanic ain't got nothing' on us. I suspect we're pretty much like the South Africa Mr. Mandela inherited: busted and broke!  So the question rattling around in my pea brain is this: is Obama's reluctance to pursue Bush Co. criminally the result of his wanting to unite these fractured states he has been elected to lead?

While it would please one segment of the population to have Bush answer for his crimes, is this the best way to go: forgiving those who have wronged us and moving on to the next? Is it okay for the Justice Department (the Department of Law for those Palintologist) to back John Yoo in his effort to have lawsuits resulting from his torture memo dismissed? If I choose to believe this is the way forward, is it right?  These questions bring me to another film I had no interest in seeing, "Doubt" with Meryl Streep. If you are not familiar with the film or the play, it concerns a nun's suspicion that a priest maybe molesting a young boy and her unyielding effort to find out the truth. Not to give too much away the nun played by Streep expresses doubt in herself and her decisions. That is where I am today, friends. I have doubts. I want to believe in Obama and his reasoned decisions, but I also want blood. I want the Republicans to answer for eight years of ineptitude. But at what cost ?

I have doubts, Sister James. I have doubts.

She Sells Sanctuary

by Ripley

There's been a lot of flippity-flappity lately over the news that some detainees will be brought to NYC to face federal charges regarding terrorism.  I don't have a terribly strong opinion on this particular issue, though I do think the concept of Military Tribunals for non-military actors is kind of bizarre - we don't send military personnel to civilian courts when they commit crimes on base or against other military personnel.  Frankly, the whole thing strikes me as the very definition of kangaroo courts designed to ensure that the accused are found guilty.  Whatever - I'll leave it to the law talkers to shake out the details.

However, I was shocked - shocked! - to see what Dick Cheney's biggest fan had to say the other day. [via Crooks and Liars]

He's going to give them a public platform where they can spew venom, where they can preach jihad, where they can reach out and recruit other terrorists. And it is totally unnecessary.

When the attorney general says that he's bringing them to justice, he's ignoring the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked 11 months ago to be executed for Allah. He asked to plead guilty and be executed. We should have said, "All right, you've got it."

Wait a minute... WTF?!?  Liz Cheney, former law talker, former State Dept. employee, current daughter of Dick Cheney is advocating that America aid suspected terrorism conspirators in achieving martyrdom?  Are my sexy, crystal blue eyes deceiving me?  Let me read that again.

He's going to give them a public platform where they can spew venom, where they can preach jihad, where they can reach out and recruit other terrorists. And it is totally unnecessary.

When the attorney general says that he's bringing them to justice, he's ignoring the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked 11 months ago to be executed for Allah. He asked to plead guilty and be executed. We should have said, "All right, you've got it."

Odin's balls, I did read that correctly!  Liz Cheney is stating, on national TV, that we should assist suspected terrorists achieve martyrdom.  What's that phrase the wingnuts are always throwing around when they don't like something and they want to sound oh so formal and constitutiony?  Oh yeah, "...providing aid and comfort to the enemy... (!!!)"  Dear lord, could you ask for a more blatant call to make martyrs of these suspected terrorists?  At the hands of the US Gov't, no less???

I gotta tell ya, Liz - your weak-kneed claim that these absolutely guilty, no doubt about it, terrorists might "preach jihad and reach out and recruit other terrorists" pales in comparison to your outright suggestion that America should engage in the non-freedomy business of creating martyrs for the cause of Islamic extremism and jihad.  You should be ashamed of yourself.  I don't think there are too many red blooded Americans who would like to see more martyrs who will be celebrated for their roles in attacking America while your father was Vice-President.  At least not here in the Heartland.

It's also a bit odd for a person who's worked as an attorney to call for the execution of someone without a trial.  Then again, you worked in the Bush administration, so maybe you've lost touch with some of the fundamentals of the legal system. 

And, speaking of your background, since we are:

In 2002, Cheney was appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, a pre-existing vacant post with an "economic portfolio," which is a mandate to promote investment in the region. Amid reports, including a New York Times editorial by Paul Krugman, saying that the job was created especially for her, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that she had come recommended by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The Times (London) reported that Cheney's appointment was "the most intriguing sign that America is getting serious about Middle East reform" and that the appointment was "a measure of the seriousness with which the administration was taking Middle East programmes for literacy, education, and reform." The appointment followed publicized policy divisions between the Vice President's office and the State Department on Middle East policy. In that position, she was given control of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, designed to "foster increased democracy and economic progress in a troubled region." The program spent $29 million in 2002, increased to $129 million in the following year. Cheney's task was to channel money to pre-screened groups, some of which were not identified publicly for fear of retaliations from extant governments they sought to undermine. For the budget year 2004, the project sought $145 million.

How's all that democracy and economic progress working out in Iraq?  $145 million sure paints a lot of schools, doesn't it?  Oh, and there's this:

Cheney signed on in June 2007 to serve as one of three national co-chairs for Fred Thompson's 2008 presidential campaign. The other co-chairs were Spencer Abraham and George Allen. In a press release issued at the beginning of his campaign, Thompson said he was "very pleased to announce that former Senators Abraham and Allen, as well as Liz Cheney, will serve as co-chairs of my national leadership team." Thompson added: "These distinguished individuals bring wise counsel and invaluable experience to my campaign leadership team, and they will play a critical role in helping spread my consistent conservative message across America."  After Thompson dropped out of the race, Cheney announced on January 27, 2008 that she would work for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, serving as a senior foreign policy advisor.

Y'know, I get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, Liz Cheney doesn't really know what she's talking about.  Her career in the Bush/Cheney adminstration is pretty dismal, especially for someone who had such a sweet ride doing, well... nothing to speak of.  And I, for one, can't take seriously any person who would suggest that America abandon its basic respect for the law and set up a terrorist recruiting office in Cuba. 

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked 11 months ago to be executed for Allah. ... We should have said, "All right, you've got it."

You know what America really should say?  "Hey, Liz - shut the fuck up!"

[Update] - via Eli at Multi-Medium:

Iraq’s Baghdad Trade Fair ended Tuesday, six years and a trillion dollars after the American invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and one country was conspicuously absent.

That would be the country that spent a trillion dollars — on the invasion and occupation, but also on training and equipping Iraqi security forces, and on ambitious reconstruction projects in every province aimed at rebuilding the country and restarting the economy.

Yet when the post-Saddam Iraqi government swept out its old commercial fairgrounds and invited companies from around the world, the United States was not much in evidence among the 32 nations represented. Of the 396 companies that exhibited their wares, “there are two or three American participants, but I can’t remember their names,” said Hashem Mohammed Haten, director general of Iraq’s state fair company….

(…)

American companies are not seeing much lasting benefit from their country’s investment in Iraq. Some American businesses have calculated that the high security costs and fear of violence make Iraq a business no-go area. Even those who are interested and want to come are hampered by American companies’ reputation here for overcharging and shoddy workmanship, an outgrowth of the first years of the occupation, and a lasting and widespread anti-Americanism.

By all means, keep bringing Liz Cheney on to your talky-talk shows.  America needs more insight from her beautiful mind.

Rip -

A Cluttered Mess

Via Jonathan Schwartz. John Hockenberry recalls in a talk at MIT what it was like at NBC in the dark days of the selling of the Iraq War. As Aaron Swartz has it:

You may or may not be aware that there was a real strong full-court press to sell the media -- and I'm not pro- or against it at this particular point, but there was a process in place where individuals in the media got access to the individuals involved in the planning of the war. There were generals who came in, there were former secretaries of defense, Schwarzkopf spent a whole lot of time giving sort of off-the-record, quiet briefings. And the generals would sort of bring in a certain group of editors and reporters and I went to all of these briefings.

Swartz then paraphrases:

At one of them, Hockenberry explains, a well-known pollster told about a briefing he gave to all the senior officials at the White House about how the polling data from the Arab world showed that America's negatives were simply off-the-charts. Everyone was quiet. Condi asked a few technical questions and then finally Karl Rove spoke up. "Well, that's just until we start throwing our weight around over there," he said.

Hockenberry was stunned and thought they should do a piece on what this revealed into the mentality of the war's planners. But NBC News didn't think this was a very good idea. America wanted the war to happen; their job was just to wait and see how it turned out. "We're not particularly interested in the story," Hockenberry explains. "We're a process that's trying to maintain people in front of the set, so in a certain sense media at that point was doing its own kind of shock-and-awe that went right along with the war's shock-and-awe [because] the business is just to grab eyeballs."

I'm going to go have a drink now.