New York to Wal-Mart: Drop Dead

Ha ha! Poor little Wal-mart is sad because New York doesn't want them. Our unions are too strong and our people are too snobbish for their bullshit labor practices and craptastic merchandise, so they're giving up.
Stay the fuck out of my city, bloodsuckers. I love New York.

Elections have Consequences

Check out this awesome clip of Barbara Boxer totally emascualting, in the best possible way, Sen. Inhofe (R-Big Oil) during Al Gore's testimony. Now tell me it doesn't make any difference that the Dems won in November.
I heart Boxer.

Confessions-R-Us

God, I feel like there was something I was thinking about this weekend... what was it? The Attorney General, maybe, and how he was going to have to resign and possibly worse because he, and many memebers of his department, lied to congress under oath? No, maybe it was the mold growing around soldiers at Walter Reed? No, that wasn't it either. God, was it the fourth anniversary of the war today? Maybe. Damn! What was it... HOLD ON! Who cares! Wow!! We got another terorist to confess!! Whoopee!! Torture works! Gonzales is vindicated! We've already got all the terrorists now! We don't even need bin Laden. Who's he?
Now wait, didn't the last guy confess to some of these things? Well, no matter. Oh, by the way -- did you know that some dude has already been tried and found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Daniel Pearl? Isn't it weird how they didn't mention that when KSM confessed to it? Now where was I?

Chat with us... maybe

A new program allows any website to have an automatic chatroom associated with it. Here's ours.

Can't promise any of us will be on at any time... but could be fun if it happens!

The Ides of March

Beware!
So today comes the news that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed (in a closed military tribunal with no lawyers present after 3 1/2+ years of detention) to:
- planning 9/11 "from A to Z"
- the 1993 WTC bombing
- the Bali bombings (sad! Bali cry!)
- the shoe bomber
- personally beheading Daniel Pearl
as well as plans for something like 30 other attacks, including assassinations of various presidents, destroying Big Ben, Heathrow, the NYSE, a bunch of bridges, NATO HQ in Brussels, killing the Pope, etc. etc.

So, like, dude was busy. Sort of... suspiciously busy. Like, if he's doing all this, what was bin Laden doing? And, um, how come they're telling us this today? If they've had him in custody since 2003? A lot of questions, I'd say. Interesting, too, that after they've had years to do whatever they want to him, they got a confession. Wow, you don't suppose they tortured him or anything? It's not at all possible that maybe the confession is a wee bit exaggerated, not to mention, oh what's that word I'm looking for? COERCED.

The funny thing about it (if you can call anything that is representative of a once proud country in ruins because it grew fat and complacent and is now no more than an unstoppable bully imposing its neocon ultra-christian madness on the world...) is that everywhere you look on the web where people are commenting on the confession you see the same exact reaction -- "Was he on the grassy knoll too?" "He also confessed to being Anna Nicole's baby daddy" "Also: kidnapped the Lindbergh baby" etc.
No one believes this shit anymore.

Torture Guy

It's funny. We keep waiting for some sort of smoking gun that will pull the wool from the eyes of the public, or pull back the curtain, or pull something, so that the creepy evil of the administration is exposed once and for all, and the impeachments can begin. But I really think we have to look aroud and say that there is no such thing as a smoking gun with these people. They've been firing off rounds for years, and they're still here. Unless something big changes (and in a good way --- how likely do you think that is?) no one's frog marching out of the White House in disgrace.
That said, there are some stories that seem like they might inflict enough damage to actually make a difference. I think that this whole US Attorney thing is one of them. Check out what the Times is saying and see what I mean. Now they've been railing for a while against Torture Guy, but there's some especially hard language here. Like, they accusing him of lying under oath. Word is that Gonzales ain't retiring, but we'll see. I'm sure he has no plans to, but plans change.
The reason this is important, other than it's always nice to see their mendacity brought into the light of day, is that it hilights the utter steaming pile of crap that is the USA Patriot Act. The fact that there are memos blatently spelling out that powers granted in the dead of night by the Patriot Act are being used for nothing but raw political power, if properly reported and framed, could be a real step in repealling some more or all of it. Which is something we should all be working our asses off for, myself included.
So if you're looking for an angle on this US Attorney thing, there it is.

The Mole in Winter

Everywhere I look this week I see things about Dick Cheney, the mole man. (Seriously -- doesn't he look like the King of the Mole People? Like he shouldn't be outside during the day?) The WaPo talks about his waning influence, Time about his setting star, rumors on the internets that he may resign in the next few weeks.

I'm sorta of a mixed mind about this. On the one hand, nothing is more obvious than Cheney's evil, and it fills me with a soft, glowing joy to see these stories of hardship. The world can only benefit if he is no longer pulling the strings. On the other hand, it makes me wonder. Isn't it convenient that the story is now The Fall of Cheney instead of OMG A TOP TOP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL WAS FOUND GUILTY IN FOUR FELONY COUNTS? Because as much as I hate Cheney, I really don't want him to be the fall guy for Bush, you know?

The times, they change

Some interesting (and some mind-blowing) facts. Basically, we are hurtling toward the Matrix.

glumbert.com - Shift Happens

Come again?

Cheney has blood in his veins?

Apparently, face-shooting Cheney's "blood" has revolted and formed a huge clot in his left leg.

This man's blood has tried everything to escape his evil, desiccated body. Can you believe he's only 66? He has suffered four heart attacks and has a pacemaker; he had quadruple bypass surgery in 1988 after his third heart attack; and he had an operation to remove blood clots in his knees in 2005. By rights, his heart, if it exists, should have stopped beating long ago.

"Clots themselves are not life-threatening but can be dangerous if they become wedged in the lungs or other organs, which can in severe cases be fatal." Let us pray.