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May 31, 2006
Tucker Carlson's New Look
When Tucker Carlson first appeared on television sans bowtie a few weeks ago, I thought it was curious that he had chosen to step outside his norm and leave his silly, geek-pride affectation at the door.
But now that Tucker seems to have shed the bowtie for good, it has become evident that his new, "casual" open-collar look is simply a new affectation to replace the old. I don't know if he is a born-again, style-maven wannabe or what, but Tucker's new look reminds me of the kid in high school who proudly wore a pocket protector with a vengeance... until one day when he showed up instead sporting a shaved head, Doc Marten's and an Exploited t-shirt, and all the real punks (i.e. those of us who had undergone that same transformation months or years earlier) called him "poseur."
What happened the Tucker Carlson we knew and loved to hate?
Posted by MJuhre at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)
May 25, 2006
Bush Eliminates the SEC Disclosure Rules
Bush signed an "official memorandum" giving John Negroponte, who oversee the CIA and the NSA, the authority to waive SEC-required financial disclosures for companies that are working on secret projects for the government, Business Week reported Wednesday.
Now, I understand why the Bush administration wouldn't want its secret projects to become public via SEC filings, but um, generally a financial line item on an income statement does not disclose national security. What is concerning is, on the surface, this gives Negroponte (who, under Reagan, was heavily involved in America's covert and illegal war in Nicaragua) and by proxy (the financially savvy must forgive the pun), the Bush administration, the ability to authorize any company to withhold elements of its financials -- all they have to do is say that those items must remain secret for national security purposes. Can someone say Halliburton, for starters?
But this "official memorandum" baffles me. Forgive my lack of understanding of American civics, but what is this verses an "Executive Order" and what kind of power does it have? Is there any check against this administration.
Add this memo to the more than 750 Presidential signing statements Bush has tacked onto the laws passed by Congress (these statments basically say "I sign this law but am not bound to follow it") and you really have no Republic left. The American Empire has officially begun and has unofficially begun to fall.
I usually don't like simplistic visual parodies like this but these days we have no need for complex metaphors. It's finally most useful to aim low:
Posted by MJuhre at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2006
US Supplies 200,000 AK-47s to Terrorists
Approximately 200,000 AK-47 assault rifles that the US shipped to Iraqi security forces have disappeared and may have been smuggled to terrorists, The Daily Mirror has reported.
The four planeloads of weapons, which were to be secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia, have vanished. Though the weapons were supplied by the US Department of Defense, the delivery "was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders."
It just goes to show that private contractors really are more efficient than government beauracracies. In this case, it seems those contractors got paid by the US, and sold the weapons off on the side, perhaps to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "Al Qaeda in Iraq" group. Where can we buy stock in these contractors? An entity that knows how to double or triple the value of its own deals is an organization I want a piece of!
Posted by MJuhre at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2006
Fascism Finally Goes Mainstream
Okay, I'm not sure the headline for this blog post really works, but it's what popped into my head.
But this is very interesting to me. The fact that the NSA is trying "to create a database of every call ever made" in the United States doesn't really surprise me.
But who would guess that USA Today, the McDonald's of newspapers *, would have the scoop that the Bush adminstration has continually lied about its domestic spying program, let alone actually run the story?
Check it out here.
*[Anyone who thinks "the McDonald's of newspapers" is harsh or out of line should have seen the newspaper's "Mass Appeal" ad campaign, in which the news outlet compared itself to a hamburger...No I'm not kidding. USA Today! NSA Tomorrow! ... Okay that's just more nonsense]
Posted by MJuhre at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2006
Go Away
This morning I have little time, but think you should check out these two stories on Alternet:
Stephen Colbert: New American Hero -- When Colbert turned up the heat on Washington's elite,
he revealed the big split between those basking in power and those fighting for change.
--By Don Hazen
The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington -- Who can pass up a scandal involving poker, hookers
and the Watergate building?
--By Molly Ivins
Posted by MJuhre at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2006
Culture Freak Projected Terrorist Threat Calendar
It's starting! I made the above DHS threat-level prediction calendar on April 20, knowing it was only a matter of time before something would trigger me to post it.
Well, yesterday the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning about terrorist surveillance of mass transit systems (aha, that's why there were so many cops around Penn Station yesterday -- I knew something was up!).
Why? Because people were arrested in Europe taking pictures at subway stations ... seven months ago.
The White House spin machine is gearing up for election year with a dirty-tricks rehearsal. Luckily, I don't think there is much that can keep their poll numbers from spinning out of its continual downward spiral. Oh. That is, unless someone in the administration gets the idea to nuke Los Angeles and blame Iran for it. Something like that doesn't altogether out of the question. (I'm glad the Houston Chronicle had the notion place the DHS warning under its "Political News" category (see image below), since clearly it is nothing more than political posturing.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke told the Associated Press Wednesday there was no specific or credible intelligence to indicate U.S. transit systems are being targeted, and he described the notice, sent Tuesday, as a routine reminder for transit authority operators, state security advisers and police to remain on guard.
Uh huh. Ya know what else happened yesterday? The United States lost its death penalty case against 9/11 plotter Zacharias Moussaoui. Moussaoui, the only person to be charged in connection with 9/11, received a life sentence instead.
Posted by MJuhre at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2006
Bush Administration Plame Game Undermined Iran Intelligence
Yesterday on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Washington correspondent David Shuster confirmed rumors that Valerie Plame had been working on Iran nuclear proliferation intelligence before she was outed by the Bushies, and that there are now hints of a future Rove indictment.
See the video here at The Center for American Progress.
Posted by MJuhre at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)
Colbert Coup Leaves Press Corps Cold
If you somehow missed Stephen Colbert tearing the ass out of George Bush and the press corps at this year's annual White House [Radio and Television] Correspondents Dinner, go to ThankYouStephenColbert.org to see Colbert's address in three parts (if you're pressed for time -- watch part 2).
The same group that, two years ago, laughed with George Bush at his outrageous joke ("Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere!"), now laughed at Bush as Colbert lampooned the president and his administration.
But when Colbert turned his jokes on the journalists themselves, their reaction was more muted. While you could always some laughter after each joke, much of Colbert's "praise" for the journalists didn't sit well.
"Over the last five years you people were so good over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, [and] the effects of global warming -- we Americans didn’t want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out."
The press is still trying to figure out how to cover a roast that focused on them.
The Washington Post wrote that Bush and company were none amused by the Colbert's satirical, truth-to-power speech. It also said that Colbert "made no friends in the crowd when he advised them to remember the rules of covering the White House: 'The president makes decisions . . . the press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions.' In your spare time, he advised them, 'write that novel you got kicking around in your head -- you know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction.'"
Posted by MJuhre at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)