This New Blogger Seems to be Hung-up

My previous small post got caught in an endless loop, after 2 hours it was still telling me it was trying to publish. There is no way to hold posts for publishing. I don't like this new system. I also have more trouble formatting.

I may try to revise this mess after I get back from visiting my Dad.


More Late Night Comedy

"President Bush flew over Iraq in Air Force One, saw the devastation and said 'Don't worry about this, we'll get whoever did this.'" --Craig Kilborn

"This Sunday is Father's Day -- a little hint for President Bush's twin daughters. If you haven't gotten your dad a present yet, I know he'd love it if you could find some weapons of mass destruction." --Jay Leno

"This week President Bush insisted he is absolutely convinced that Saddam had a weapons program. Of course he was absolutely convinced that he won the 2000 election, so I don't know." —Jay Leno

"All week, Hillary Clinton has been saying that she has no intention of running for president. See, this is kind of like her version of 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman." —Jay Leno

"The Justice Department has barred a group of gay employees from holding their annual gay pride event at the department's headquarters. The move was a part of Attorney General John Ashcroft's new 'Don't ask, Don't be gay policy.'" —Conan O'Brien

"Earlier this week thousands of angry Iraqis marched in the streets, demanding that the new Iraqi government be selected by a majority vote by the citizens. Oh shut up! We don't even do that in this country." —Jay Leno

"According to President Bush, 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' is just a figure of speech meaning 'A defenseless nation overflowing with crude oil' — that's all. This reminds me of a time in college when my buddy told me 'Hey man, you gotta come to this party. There'll be a ton of hot chicks there.' But when I got to the party there wasn't a hot chick in sight — just a bunch of dudes and a keg of crappy beer. So me and my buddy named Briton got out of there as fast as possible and told ourselves that all the hot chicks were probably destroyed before we showed up." —Craig Kilborn

"Wal-Mart stores are going to begin concealing the covers of some women's magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Redbook because they think they're too provocative. Wal-Mart made the move after the company received complaints from Iran's ruling conservative Shiite government." —Conan O'Brien

"The Senate is now considering increasing government subsidies for corn growers to produce more Ethanol. If we produce enough Ethanol we can postpone our next invasion of a Middle Eastern country for two to three years." —Jay Leno

"On his way back home from the Middle East, Bush had Air Force One fly over Baghdad — for an hour. That shows how desperate Bush is to find weapons of mass destruction. He's now looking for himself." —Jay Leno

"The stock market had a great rally. The Dow broke over 9,000. See what happens the minute Bush leaves the country for a few days. The economy goes back up again." —Jay Leno

"President Bush set foot on French soil for the first time since the start of the Iraqi war for the G8 Summit in Evian, where thousands of protesters were there to meet him. For those of you who don't know, the G8 Summit gives other nations in the world a chance to express their wishes before we ignore them completely." —Craig Kilborn

"In Washington, the FCC voted to allow big media companies to own more television stations and newspapers. They believe that this improves the American peoples' ability to get a single viewpoint rather than be confused by a bunch of different ones." —Jay Leno

"President Clinton wants a law that allows former presidents to run again for president. I think that's a great idea. Talk about a return to the golden age of comedy." —David Letterman

"Ari Fleischer announced last week he was resigning as the Bush administration press secretary in July. Fleischer has earned a reputation as an evasive mouthpiece for the president, who stays on message using ambiguous half- truths — or as they are known at the Bush White House — 'freedom lies.'" —Jon Stewart

"The United Nations has approved the removal of sanctions on Iraq. The lifting of the sanctions will let the Iraqis have a chance to have things they've never had before — like medicine and weapons of mass destruction." —Conan O'Brien

~~~~~~~~~~

Some fantastic stuff at Daily Kos

McKiernan's dilemma

The US faces a grim series of realities and some military choices.

* We have no allies in Iraq.

* It's not just the Baathists.

* We are isolated.

And The Consequences of Rumsfeld's Mouth

Next part - Bremer's dilemma

Rumsfeld's arrogance assumed the US didn't need any stinkin' UN plutocrats. Or any of that Shinseki's meddling. Well, they needed both. The reason the US is moving so slowly is that there is less emphasis on making Iraq work, than making Iraq work according to the PNAC plan of free markets and a pro-West government.

That kind of fantastic thinking benefits one group above all else: the Shia clerics. They get nominal US support and are allowed to form their own power bases while the US is unable to prevent it. In a supreme irony, while US troops die in attacks from shadowy guerrillas, the shia clerics benefit from a Saddamless Iraq where they can openly organize and arm. In the end, unless things change rapidly, Wolfolwitz's team B mentaility may well deliver up Iraq as an Islamic Republic as Iran slides into secularlism.

Anothe Kos

"You call Donald Rumsfeld and tell him our sorry asses are ready to go home," Pfc. Matthew C. O'Dell, an infantryman in Sergeant Betancourt's platoon, said as he stood guard on Tuesday. "Tell him to come spend a night in our building."

On guard at checkpoints and hospitals, Sergeant Betancourt has found himself alarmed even by the approach of a child.

This was Daily Kos blogging the NY Times


And Still More - The disconnect


What the American military and civilian command seems to think is that they've landed in occupied France and the population was filled with only victims. Well, Iraqis may have hated Saddam, but the Americans have no support. The exiles are screaming at them to hand over power in a meaningful way and they are being ignored. The Americans are being told that the sweeps are enraging Iraqis and violating their dignity.

The exiles may or may not be naive about their role in Iraq, but they know their people and they're screaming that this is just making more guerrillas.

Imagine running around Fayettville, NC with these tactics. How long would it take before the locals would start sniping at your patrols.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally Leaving that much better blogger - more at the NY Times:

The Heresy That Saved a Skeptic

Elaine Pagels reexamines Christianity and Gnosticism.


and Did You hear the one about the suicide bomber?

The hotest comic in London? She's is a devout Muslim virgin.

~~~~~~~~~~

Natasha has a collection of Better Bloggers

~~~~~~~~~~

Teresa Nielsen Hayden on Recurcsive Iraqi Museum Updates and great comments from readers.

So, by Sullivan's logic, I suppose that if a drunk driver smashes into a minivan, but none of the six people in the van dies, we should apologize to the drunk driver for arresting him?

Sure, Andy....

~~~~~~~~~~

Her husband blogs on on the flag burning amendment violating not only the Bill of Rights but the Ten Commandments.

"By elevating the flag to an object of transcendent veneration--an untouchable idol--the proposed amendment strikes at the core of Jewish, Muslim and Christian belief systems."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Daily Howler is documenting lies in Margaret Carlson's new book and her obvious failures as a columnist. Anyone Can Grow Up proves that she hasn't.

3 Parts so far and an additional mostly correction.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh061103.shtml

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh061203.shtml

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh061303.shtml

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh061403.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~

And finally The Progressive Movements First 2004 Primary

It's important because the winner gets Money from Move-On

http://www.moveon.org/