Monday Stuff

"Worst Persons" (some generic Fix Noise hairdo tells us that "low-income" people will have "low-income" babies unless they have more taxpayer-funded abortions, even though the poor also pay for them through their premiums - hilarity always ensues when attractive looking white people decide to lecture their audience about that dreaded, filthy underclass that threatens to invade their dinner parties while they pass the sweet and sour shrimp; Glenn Beck has his nightly paroxysm over global warming - I hope he ends up being chased all over an ice floe by a polar bear; but Mayor Russell Wiseman of Arlington, Tennessee takes it - this is one for the books, people - because he believed Obama purposely scheduled his speech on Afghanistan last week to pre-empt "A Charlie Brown Christmas"...sometimes there truly are no words)...

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...and the greeting for a happy '09 needs to be updated, but otherwise, I thought this was appropriate to kick off the holiday stuff again, as a follow-up to the "Worst Persons" finalist if for no other reason.

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2009 - Pt. 2)

On we go (Part One is here, and I also posted over here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Stewart Parnell, owner of Peanut Corp. of America, who repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself before the House subcommittee holding a hearing on a national salmonella outbreak blamed on his company, as noted here (the story tells us that “the outbreak has sickened some 600 people, may be linked to nine deaths - the latest reported in Ohio on Wednesday - and has resulted in one of the largest product recalls of more 1,800 items”).

The story also tells us that Parnell “urged his workers to ship bacteria-tainted products, pleading with federal health officials that he should be able ‘turn the raw peanuts on the floor into money’.“

As I said to a friend of mine, Parnell and Sammy Lightsey, Parnell’s plant manager, should both be tied to chairs with their mouths pried open so they could be force-fed their contaminated peanuts.

And of course, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy.

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Repug Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, for all of the utterly tiresome episodes noted in this post; so as of now, he’s not going to run in 2010, creating another possibility for a Dem seat, but he decided not to support the stimulus, and now, without a cabinet post, he may end up with zilch – not real bright career moves here, people.

Do-Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Florida Governor Charlie Crist (and any other Repug) who actually supported the stimulus (here, though of course he would walk away from that later)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Grant Exton, the executive director of the Arkansas Concealed Carry Association, who said allowing concealed weapons in churches would not make churches more likely to have volatile situations, but adds that that is not his point (link expired - sorry).

"It's a problem of (the government) telling churches what to do in an area of moral issue, where that should be none of their business," Exton said. Of 48 states that allow concealed carry, 42 let churches make the decision, Exton said.

"We have the government in an area that it shouldn't be," he said.

Uh – right.

Read this, brainiac; it tells you that Arkansas is one of the 48 states that allows “concealed carry.”

So what is your point, exactly? Besides promoting yourself and your cause at the expense of innocent victims of gun violence, I mean?

The bill sponsored by state rep Beverly Pyle (another numbskull) would end up forcing churches to post signs saying that guns aren’t allowed, if they wisely choose to keep them out of church. Which would lead to the inevitable court challenge to get them INTO church (this whole episode being nothing but an idiotic attempt to overturn the 1995 concealed carry permit law, which specifically prohibits concealed weapons in places of worship - John Phillips, pastor of Central Church of Christ in Little Rock, was the only sane person in this story, IMHO...he spoke out against the bill).

Remind me never to contemplate actually living in the state of Arkansas (I posted on this here).

(Fortunately, the bill died in the State Senate - here.)

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

A dual citation to Virginia House Repug Eric Cantor and Baby Newton Leroy; the former for following the latter’s obstructionist course in the U.S. House from the ‘90s here (meanwhile, the country makes up its own mind here)

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

George Will of the WaPo, who claimed in a February column that "according to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979," an assertion which happens to be patently false (kudos to TPM Muckraker for calling Will on this here, and Fred Hiatt of the WaPo receives a dishonorable mention for helping Will get away with this - in a related vein, Will would look like an ass on this subject later over the hacked University of East Anglia Emails here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

George McGovern for opposing the Employee Free Choice Act (here...as noted in the post update, though, he did the right thing by bailing on the CPAC conference)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Cartoonist Sean Delonas of the New York Post for comparing President Obama to a dead chimp (here - unbelievable)…

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominees

The DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team and coach Dave Rohlman; what a story this is.

His team (the Barbs?) was playing the Milwaukee Madison team, whose captain, Johntel Franklin, lost his mother before the game. The game had started, and Franklin showed up from the hospital and was mobbed by his teammates; they and the coach asked Franklin if he wanted to sit with them on the bench for the game. Franklin said no – he wanted to play.

The problem is that, since Franklin wasn’t on the pre-game roster, the rules state that, if he were put in, the Milwaukee team would have to be penalized, giving DeKalb two free throws.

That’s what happened. And DeKalb player Darius McNeal missed both on purpose.

Class.

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Former Senator Man-On-Dog himself here for stating that the Qur’an was written in “Islamic,” which doesn’t happen to be a language – any wonder why he was voted out of the Senate?

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

A dual citation: one to Rick Santelli, on-air editor for CNBC, who called Americans who face losing their homes to foreclosure "losers" who don't deserve government help (here), and the other to Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, whose bank received $25 billion in bailout funds from the government, though he refused to tell CNBC anchor Melissa Francis how the bank is performing this quarter and also said the following…

"I don't think just because someone's underwater they say I don't have to stay there. But they're supposed to pay the mortgage, and we should teach the American people, you're supposed to meet your obligations, not run from them. Because you have a mortgage doesn't mean you should run away as it goes down."

As Bugs would say, what a maroon, at the very least (here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

The Arizona-based punk rock band The Awful Truth here for putting a photo on its album of police officer Erik Hite lying on the ground after he was shot during a chase (Hite later died). And to boot, the photo was the property of the Daily Star newspaper, who sued the band (so they’re insensitive idiots and possibly guilty of copyright infringement also – nice work).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Repug Sen. Jim “I Hear Voices” Bunning, for predicting that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be dead from pancreatic cancer in nine months here (OK, so he apologized here, and fortunately he was wrong also, but is it too much trouble to spell her name right?)

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Utah Repug Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. here for criticizing his congressional party members for opposing the stimulus (and, predictably, earning their wrath in the process)…

The “Just To Prove He Doesn't Walk On Water” (Before His Poll Numbers Fell Somewhat, I Mean) Citation

In his address before Congress in February, President Barack Obama claimed that the U.S. “invented the automobile,” which technically isn’t true (here); Germans Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach produced a four-wheeled automobile with a four-stroke engine in 1895, and Henry Ford didn’t build the “Model T” until 1908.

Cheapskate Of The Year

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who refused to pick up the tab for dinner with the Bushies (here)

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

“Diaper Dave” Vitter here, for calling on Blago-appointed Illinois senator Roland Burris to resign due to the latter’s answers concerning his fundraising work for the former profanity-spewing Illinois governor which, inconveniently for Burris, happen to run contrary to what he said prior to confirmation (at least Burris didn’t associate with a prostitute after caterwauling about “family values” during those supposedly awful Clinton days and remain in his seat anyway like Vitter did).

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

I'm sure Colorado is a great state, and it's plenty gorgeous I know, but it sure has two scummy Repug politicians to chastise here: first is State Sen. Dave Schultheis, who says here that HIV testing for pregnant women rewards "sexual promiscuity" here...and State Sen. Scott Renfroe, who equated “homosexuality as a sin with murder” here.

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Los Alamitos, CA Mayor Dean Grose, who sent an “e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title ‘No Easter egg hunt this year’”; he resigned, but he’s still an idiot (here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Dem Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey for still supporting that idiotic embargo on Cuba (here)…and way to help the whole “divided Dems” narrative along, Bob (here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

Repug U. S. House Rep Zach Wamp of Tennessee for saying health care in this country “is a privilege, not a right” here (I’m particularly steamed about that after having watched “Sicko” as I recovered from a sinus infection)…same for Bushie Andrew Card here.

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown for condemning Proposition 8 (here)

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, who pronounced excommunication of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion in Brazil after being raped, as noted here (dishonorable mention to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Catholic church's Congregation for Bishops, who defended Sobrinho).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Warren Buffett, for opposing the Employee Free Choice Act here (“card check” my ass)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Andrew Malcolm of the LA Times here for trying to sanitize Dubya’s abuse of signing statements (h/t Atrios; so many reasons with this guy, including this also for mocking an unemployed man - what an a#@hole - but this will do for now)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Chuck Norris, another wingnut proposing an armed insurrection against the United States here (how appropriate that his “call to the troops” will be broadcast on Friday the 13th).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Former Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota; continuing the campaign for his seat in Congress after it has long since been lost is one thing, but posting the credit card numbers of your donor database online (along with the three-digit security codes) is a whole other level of stupid, I must admit (here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Justin Cardinal Rigali for this

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Ari Fleischer, for STILL trying to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11 (here)…

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Former Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Pat Burrell, a member of the ’08 world championship team who was not resigned by the team after the season; Burrell, in a typically odd coincidence in sports, ended up signing with the Tampa Bay Rays, the team the Phillies beat in the World Series – he gets the nod here for taking out a full-page ad in the Philadelphia Daily News in March thanking the fans for supporting him and the team…class.

Update 12/31/09: And by the way, former Eagle and current Denver Bronco Brian Dawkins deserves a Do Gooder citation for doing the same thing as Burrell did in today's issue of the Philadelphia Daily News, thanking the Eagles fans for their expressions of appreciation upon his return to town for the recent game between his current and former teams that the Eagles won 30-27.

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

CNN’s John King for his “fluffarama” of an interview with Deadeye Dick (here)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Dana Perino, for trying to give her old boss credit for the recent stock market rebound here (uh, Dana, he’d been gone for almost two months, OK?).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Chip Reid of CBS News (here), for asking Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if it was OK to attack Deadeye Dick Cheney after the former veep from hell expounded at lunatic length already against the new administration

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

Just Plain Folks Sarah Palin Dontcha Know, who rejected half of her state’s stimulus funds (here), and would-be felon Larry Kudlow of CNBC for setting a dollar bill on fire (here)

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Albert Haynesworth, former star defensive tackle for the Tennessee Titans who had signed a $100 million contract with the Washington Redskins, though that didn’t prevent him from an indictment for driving recklessly with an expired vehicle registration here (numbskull).

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Federal judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., who blocked a Bushco rule allowing people to carry concealed loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges (here - and in a flashback, she also deserves credit for this)…

The “Get A Life, Will You, People?” Citation Of The Year

The New York Times reported in March on Scott Veazie of Washougal, Wash, who, along with a bunch of other “Trekkies,” built chairs designed on the one in which Captain James T. Kirk sat in the original “Star Trek” series (oh, excuse me…I mean, “Trekk-ERs” - here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Israeli President Shimon Peres for calling on the Iranians to topple their government immediately after Obama sent them a message calling for a fresh start of sorts here (I mean, if Peres wants to say that any other time, fine, but just chalk this up to yet another moment when our “allies” the Israelis play us for saps – and by the way, speaking of Israel, does anyone know what the $#@! is going on with Ariel Sharon? Is he hooked up to tubes all over the place like Darth Vader or something? Not trying to make fun if the man is very sick - just wondering).

Most Ignored Anniversaries Of The Year (Including By Me, Unfortunately)

Amadou Diallo died 10 years ago on February 4th (and I think this was the 13th anniversary of the death of Ron Brown and the 10-11 people on that plane in Croatia in April – it was also the 25th anniversary of the death of Marvin Gaye on April 1st). Also, the Phillies and the Cubs played that 23-22 game on May 17, 1979, and the 30th anniversary of the Riverfront Stadium disaster outside the Who concert in Cincinnati, Ohio that killed 11 occurred on 12/3.

More later...

Sunday Stuff

If all of this is true, then what the hell was the point of that speech last week (glide slope?)...



...and after I read Frank Rich today on this topic (here), I happened to find out that yesterday was the 62nd birthday of Jim Messina, the less-famous half of the duo of Loggins and Messina (the career of Kenny Loggins took off into the stratosphere after they broke up), and I immediately thought of this song (and believe it or not, this was actually the "B" side of the classic-rock staple "Your Mama Don't Dance" - and Stephen Stills had a hand in this song, by the way).

There's no video here, only the words and music, which speak for themselves (and I wish songs like this were still being written and performed now).

Today's CNN "Foto Funny"

Gee, I didn't know that Congressmen James Clyburn (left) and Jim McDermott (right) now served in the U.S. Senate.

And remember, I found this on CNN.

...

We'll have to "leave it there."

Update: CNN replaced the pic - tee hee.

A Lesson In Prior Restraint

A friend of mine who actually still reads the paper edition of the Bucks County (PA) Courier Times noticed this item on November 11th…

(Thumbs Down) To members of the House of Representatives who voted for the so-called "Affordable Health Care for America Act" - which, in reality, isn't affordable. The House-passed health care reform measure is now in the Senate where cost-containment must be the focus.

Voting in favor of the House bill were Bucks County Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-8, and Montgomery County Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, D-13.

Problem with the bill, which 39 party-bucking and reality-based Democrats refused to support, is that it does little to rein in the rising health care costs that pose a growing and potentially ruinous financial threat to middle class Americans and small businesses.

At first glance, the opposite appears to be true. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the measure would reduce federal deficits by more than $100 billion over a decade. But the House excluded $250 billion in estimated Medicare payments to health care providers over the same time span, the non-partisan CBO found.

The measure also doesn't address tort reform. In our view, reform that does not impose some sort of limits on malpractice suits would fail to address one of the chief culprits driving health care costs so high - defensive medicine.

We're not opposed to health care reform, just reform that won't reduce the back-breaking costs of health care. Let's hope the Senate will produce a measure worthy of being called reform.

In response, he wrote the following on or about the day that the “Thumbs Down” was published (and here is more information on the cost of health care reform legislation that the Courier Times chose to ignore, of course)…

Concerning the “Thumbs Down” segment of the Courier Times on November 13th, despite the paper’s reasoning, I’m at a loss to understand why those who voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act somehow earned the wrath of this newspaper.

For starters, the paper chides the lawmakers for approving the nearly $250 billion in estimated Medicare payments to health care providers over the coming decade. But according to Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, these aren’t "Obamacare costs." “The money,” Chait tells us, “would be spent whether health reform happens or not.”

Chait also tells us that “more than a decade ago, Congress tried to control Medicare costs by restricting payments to doctors. But the reimbursement cut has proven unpopular. So every year, Congress appropriates more money to fill the hole and keep the doctors happy.”

The paper also criticizes the lawmakers for not including “tort reform” in the health care legislation. However, Anne Underwood of the New York Times reported last August that “according to the actuarial consulting firm Towers Perrin, medical malpractice tort costs were $30.4 billion in 2007, the last year for which data are available. We have a more than a $2 trillion health care system. That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1 to 1.5 percent of total medical costs. That’s a rounding error. Liability isn’t even the tail on the cost dog. It’s the hair on the end of the tail.”

And in the matter of the cost of the House health care bill, the Courier Times doesn’t note the impact of the public option. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote, “the bill does include a ‘medium-strength’ public option, in which the public plan would negotiate payment rates — defying the predictions of pundits who have repeatedly declared any kind of public-option plan dead. It also includes more generous subsidies than expected, making it easier for lower-income families to afford coverage. And according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, almost everyone — 96 percent of legal residents too young to receive Medicare — would get health insurance.”

Also, I believe it’s telling that the paper apparently didn’t even consider the impact of the bill on those without insurance, which was addressed in a column by Rep. Patrick Murphy only days before the “Thumbs Down” column. To refresh our memories, Murphy told us about a woman who lost her coverage when she lost her job and was denied when she sought coverage on her own because of a “pre-existing condition” known as pregnancy.

We also learned of a man whose wife was denied coverage because she took blood pressure medication, and another man who lost his coverage when he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. To me, the need to right these wrongs far outweighs the $250 billion cost that would be paid out to doctors anyway regardless of which party ran Congress.

Also concerning cost, the New York Times recently quoted Gerard Anderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He pointed out that health care spending in countries such as France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland actually slowed; they had higher incomes and higher costs, but more government involvement and, according to Anderson, “can control their costs better than we can.”

And as long as we’re talking about numbers, let’s look at the most catastrophic of all. According to a Harvard medical study from September of this year, “the lack of coverage can be tied to about 45,000 deaths a year in the United States — a toll that is greater than the number of people who die each year from kidney disease.”

Health care reform, including a strong public option, is a need our country has failed to address for nearly 70 years. This has occurred primarily as a result of fear mongering and misinformation sponsored by business interests, primarily insurance and pharmaceutical companies, conservative activists, and sympathetic media outlets. And I don’t believe that the cost we have paid in ruined lives, inefficient outcomes and decreased global competitiveness from ever-more-burdensome obligations to companies small and large is one that we will ever be able to calculate.

It truly is unsustainable, and we allow such madness to continue at our peril.

Well, editorial page editor Guy Petroziello called him yesterday about the Guest Opinion prior to publication (three-to-four-week delays for publication of Guest Opinions isn’t unusual, by the way).

Petroziello criticized the fact that my friend dismissed the issue of the $250 billion reimbursement, and he also said he created a “straw man” argument on the matter of tort reform. Guy said that he emphasized “defense medicine” (multiple tests, redundant procedures, etc.) and my friend read into that to mean that Petroziello was talking about litigation costs instead.

Well, call me crazy, but when you hear the phrase “tort reform,” do YOU think of doctors ordering multiple “CYA” tests to insure themselves against a lawsuit? What I think of is the cost of a malpractice award.

So basically, the Guest Opinion isn’t going to be printed in its current form, unless my friend can rewrite it somehow to Petroziello’s liking, which he would do if somehow a day became 30 hours long, given all of the other holiday season stuff going on right now. But he really isn’t inclined to do that anyway because he thinks his point is valid, even if Petroziello doesn’t.

Of course, the paper has no problem printing wingnut nonsense about “death panels” or stuff about how Patrick Murphy supposedly isn’t a good Catholic because he supports choice, which, despite everything, is still the law of the land.

Memo to the Courier Times: one day your primarily wingnut audience will die out, and by then, it will be way too late to make a “left turn” in the hope of trying to keep yourselves financially above water. And you will only have yourselves to blame.

Friday Stuff

Rachel Maddow presents the sound of John Ensign turning on one of the last friends he had in the Senate, and the allegorical story of China telling us that it's time to return "little butter stick" (don't worry - nothing to warn the kids about...yet)...

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...and RIP Eric Woolfson of the Alan Parsons Project (this is the only video I know of in which a dot matrix printer appears, and hopefully there are no others - and no, this isn't an out take from Monty Python's instructional flick "How Not To Be Seen").

Friday Mini-Mashup (12/4/09)

(And I also posted here.)

The Moonie Times tries to smear our chief executive again; hilarity ensues (here, with the headline telling us that convicted Jordanian embezzler Ahmed Chalabi, from whose fairy tales for the benefit of gullible Bushies the Iraq nightmare took shape, has “cozied up” to Obama).

And what exactly has Hide The Chalabi done?

…(Chalabi) has sent the U.S. leader "sincere congratulations" for winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Well, even though he’s a little late with his congrats here, I merely have four words I must say now in response:

OBAMA MUST RESIGN IMMEDIATELY! (snark mode off)

This links to a petition from Daily Kos diarist wade norris, who, to his credit, is concerned that, with the acquisition of NBC/Universal by Comcast, the Philadelphia-headquartered cable behemoth will try to push Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow off the air.

Well, Comcast Executive VP David Cohen said the following about that (here)…

I mean, we’re totally committed — really really — to letting Keith Olbermann be Keith Olbermann, and we don’t have any problem with that. But in this world — we saw Jeff Immelt get dragged into something. Jeff Immelt was committed to letting Keith Olbermann be Keith Olbermann too, and all of a sudden, for a month, he’s a national story. So I think that’s going to be an adjustment for us. That’s going to be a challenge for us.

I think the fact that MSNBC is projected to earn $365 million in revenue this year (here) will help Cohen and Comcast live with whatever inconveniences they may have to deal with as a result of the “butting heads” between K.O. and Bill Orally of Fix Noise.

Also, I regret that I didn’t link to Marc Stier’s great post earlier on why the merger is a bad idea (never a good thing when two outfits of this size hook up), but I think what’s really driving this is Comcast’s insatiable appetite for on-demand programming and trying to implement some sort of new scheme to pay for web content. First, last and in between, this, typically, is all about the almighty buck.

Though anything is possible, Comcast knows that MSNBC’s “left turn” (not total I know, hence the continued presence of “Uber Alles” Buchanan and Joe Scar) has been good business. They would be utter fools to mess with that.

Finally, though I utterly detest Joe (“He’s With Us On Everything But The War”) Lieberman as much as anyone, can someone explain to me how, despite his continual obstruction on health care, among other issues, he could still enjoy an approval rating of 49 percent here (with 50 the magic number of when it officially becomes extremely difficult to vote out an incumbent)?

And can someone also explain to me how we can seriously claim to have a shot at knocking off Holy Joe when we can’t even effectively play defense on behalf of Chris Dodd (his accomplishments are noted here, and Dodd did the right thing again today here)?

I defer to My Left Nutmeg on matters such as this, but it is a continual source of amazement to me (and I keep waiting for Dodd’s “come to Jesus” moment when he answers all of the nagging BS questions about his supposed preferred Countrywide mortgage and whatever other peccadilloes the Murdoch Street Journal has drummed up once and for all).

I say this as someone who watched the eminently capable NJ governor (who didn’t play the political games with vigor, I’ll admit) Jon Corzine lose to prosecutorial appointee Chris Christie not long ago (can’t wait for the independents to turn on the new gov when he starts racking up deficits), and as someone who watched our local slate of Democratic candidates get swept by an admittedly-energized wingnut base.

Anybody who’s still sitting on his or her hands about Dodd had better get off of them and realize what’s at stake here if he loses. And if that dreaded event happens, you can be sure that the other “independent” Senator from that state will have a good laugh.

Seriously, we have work to do, people.

Update 12/11/09: All the more reason to support Dodd based on this (God, what hideous trolls in the comments from CNN; we'll have to "leave it there")...

Thursday Stuff

The Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal happened 25 years ago today (intense stuff; no way to sanitize this, nor should I, really)...



...I'm not sure how I can follow that, but I'll try with this absurdity from U.S. House Repug Louie Gohmert of Texas (though this supposedly involves a matter of faith, Bishop Thomas Tobin could not be reached for comment, nor could Former Senator Man-On-Dog, who is still given column space in that pitiable waste of time that bears an ever-fading resemblance to a publication once called The Philadelphia Inquirer; and by the way, what the hell does the estate tax have to do with losing a family farm anyway?)...



..."Worst Persons" (former Bushie and Freedom's Crock warmonger Ari Fleischer criticizes the whole notion of a playoff for college bowl football teams - not quite a subject matter expert on this, I'll admit, and I wouldn't care except for the fact that Ari called the playoff "an Obama scheme"...sure it's not an "ACORN" scheme? Time to re-read your talking points from Frank Luntz, Ari; Gretchen Carlson of Fix Noise gushes with praise over Derek Jeter - I guess I should hate him because the Yanks are champs, but I don't - without noting a rather laughable conflict of interest; but Carlson, Steve Douchie and Brian Kilmeade try to claim that Jon Stewart is now a global warming denier - HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!)...

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...and as long as I noted something about sports earlier, I guess I should stay with that and dedicate this little number...



...to this guy (wonder if he'll "keep his putter covered" now?).

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2009 - Pt. 1)

Yep, it's the time for "year-end" lists once again (getting a jump on some people with this, I'll admit, partly because posting will get flakier through the month), and I'd better start getting this wrapup for 2009 together because I have a lot of stuff; like last year, it will probably take me up to New Years Eve to get to it all, so here goes (and I also posted, more or less, over here).

(And by the way, unacknowledged hat tips are probably owed here to Eschaton, The Daily Kos, Think Progress, Huffington Post, Open Left, Democracy Arsenal, and a few other sites here - many thanks)...

Whiner Of The Year Nominee (And Probable Winner)

Yep, Hangin’ Judge J.R. returned for his bi-yearly ritual of bitching about his salary (here, funny when you consider how he screwed up administering the oath of office to Obama)…

January Grinch Of The Year

Brian Tierney of Philadelphia Newspapers tells Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to cut city payroll by 5 percent for a staff of 23,000 city employees (no particular suggestions on how to do that, of course; Tierney, the “bottom line” guy that he is, doesn’t realize that he’s trying to run government like a business, which, as we know, worked so well for Bushco...here and here)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

Incoming (as of January) Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein and outgoing chair “Jello Jay” Rockefeller for opposing Obama’s nomination of Leon Panetta to head the CIA, particularly given the fact that they both have a better record of supporting Bush nominees (here - I also see that DiFi dimed out Harry Reid on the "seating Obama replacement Roland Burris" thing, but to be honest, I think Reid “screwed the pooch” by refusing to seat Burris without knowing that Blago, warts and all, had the upper hand there – DiFi made up a bit on the Panetta thing, BTW, and Rockefeller has thus far stood tall on the public option in the seemingly-never-ending Senate health care reform grind)…

The “You Knew This Was Inevitable” Citation

In light of the financial stimulus packages requested for the financial services and auto industries, Think Progress tells us here that “Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt have asked Congress for a $5 billion bailout, arguing that their industry is also one of the ‘nation’s most important businesses’.” (here - insert your scatological snark here).

The "No One - Except Everyone - Could Have Foreseen This Either" Citation Of The Year Nominee

“Mississippi, Hotbed Of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Rate Of Teen Pregnancy” (here)...

The "Prolonging The Agony That Would Eventually End, But Not Soon Enough" Citation

Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao for this...

The "Too Smart To Work In This Business" Citation

To eventually terminated WaPo columnist (who was scooped up immediately by HuffPo) Dan Froomkin for this...

From The “Paybacks From Mother Nature Are A Bitch” File

Mike "Heckuva Job" Brown, formerly of FEMA, gets it for this...

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Rep. Milton Patterson, a Chicago Democrat, who cast the sole vote against impeaching embattled Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (final tally was 114-1…guess the “present” vote by fellow State Rep. Elga Jefferies was counted as one of the 114 – here).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, who was indicted on charges that she accepted illegal gifts during her time as mayor and City Council president, including travel, fur coats and gift cards intended for the poor that she allegedly used instead for a holiday shopping spree (she was eventually convicted on one of four counts, noted here).

Do Gooders Of The Year Nominees

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, for telling the Smithsonian to change the wording of a sign next to a portrait of President Bush that says his time in the White House was "marked by a series of catastrophic events" including the "the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq" (here).

And it should be noted that the director of the portrait gallery (Martin Sullivan) agreed with Sanders and said he’ll change the sign – a Do Gooder citation to him also.

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

IL Repug Rep Mark Kirk, who said here that it’s “time to take out the trash” In Gaza; as Brandon Friedman of VoteVets says, “People who throw around such cavalier remarks have never watched a civilian bleed to death on a battlefield after being cut down in the crossfire”...

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, considering the reason for his retirement (here - he would reappear in an impartial role in the Philadelphia Eagles' fiasco with Michael Vick later)...

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Glenn Beck, for citing the fictional congressional testimony of “24” character Jack Bauer as a supposed defense for torture (I know, considering this is Beck, I have to “grade on a curve” here, but this is truly ridiculous...so many other reasons, I know).

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Dem Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island for this…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Evan Thomas of Newsweek, who said here that torture “may work,” even though he said in 2006 that it didn’t (should have quit while he still made sense).

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, as noted here (he landed that US Air jet in the Hudson River, for the benefit of the five people on earth who don't know that...even though he is a true hero, he would end up squeezing those proverbial "15 minutes" to death)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominees

The criminals who vandalized the Arizona home of Eagles QB Donavan McNabb by burning messages into his front lawn in support of the Arizona Cardinals football team here (the Cards beat the Eagles in the NFC Championship game...how far away that seems now - aside from the obvious stupidity and maliciousness of that act, the fact that the team moved from St. Louis and never even bothered to change either their nicknames or their uniform colors is ridiculous as far as I’m concerned; maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never seen too many cardinals…i.e., that species of bird…in a desert).

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, who urged the U.S. to pursue former President George W. Bush and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on charges that they authorized torture and other harsh interrogation techniques (here)...

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Merrill Lynch, for paying out $4 billion in bonuses from TARP funds (here)....

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Former Bushco speechwriter Marc Thiessen for this (haven’t checked on his military experience, but I’ll bet it’s zero).

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Russ Feingold for this…

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Yusef Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, for recording a cover of “The Day The World Gets ‘Round” by George Harrison for the children of Gaza (heard about this on ‘XPN in these parts...he would launch a tour after three decades later in the year)

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Phil Gingrey of Georgia (surprised?) who apologized for his criticisms of Flush Limbore and Sean Inanity (here...I don’t know who’s worse, actually: Gingrey or the idiots who voted for him).

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Cleveland drum major and firefighter John Coleman for this (what a ridiculous overreaction by the corps)…

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Dem Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota for saying here of the stimulus package that “very little (was) done to help the financial sector”; as Atrios quite rightly asked, “how many trillion do we have to give them??”

The “And Windows Vista Really ‘Bites’ Too” Citation

As noted here, Bill Gates “opened a jar containing mosquitoes during a talk Wednesday at the Technology Entertainment Design conference in Long Beach, California,” trying to drive home the threat of malaria.

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

Justice John E. Wallace Jr. of the New Jersey State Supreme Court, who ruled here that officials in Lawrence Township could not ban the display of a 10-foot inflatable rat on free speech grounds (the rat is a national symbol used by organized labor to signal a dispute).

Dregs Of The Year (And Fashion Fascist) Nominee

Former Bushco Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who complained to “Inside Edition” here about Obama not respecting some imaginary White House dress code by the new president’s taking his jacket off in the Oval Office, or something.

Hmmm, let me think here; wasn’t Card the guy who, along with Abu Gonzales, traveled to John Ashcroft’s hospital room in an attempt to strongarm a desperately sick man into signing a statement that Bushco’s warrantless surveillance (illegal at the time of the visit) was OK?

And wasn’t Card the guy who said here that Dubya would give John Kerry “the respect of more time” before conceding the presidential election in 2004 (as if that’s a decision for Card to even make or have a say about)?

Yeah, he’s a swell guy, isn’t he? Based on this, though, just call him Andrew “Cheeseburger Boy” Card (heh heh).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep “Mullah Pete” Sessions of Texas (of course), for saying (in essence) that the Repugs should adopt the tactics of the Taliban (here).

Dregs of The Year Nominee

Dem Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, for all the reasons Atrios notes here (I should compliment her for calling those Wall Street geniuses who very nearly wrecked our economy “idiots,” but the Eschaton post, noting this mythical “bipartisanship” McCaskill seems to be pursuing, explains why she ends up as a net negative on the stimulus bill before it was eventually signed into law)

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Collectively, to the Virginia state legislature for allowing bar patrons to enter with guns (real swift) AND defeating a measure by Dem Governor Tim Kaine to enforce background checks on anyone purchasing a gun at a weekend “sportsman’s show,” as the New York Times tells us here (trying to stem the flow of gun traffic from VA to Washington, D.C. – responsible for half of the guns used in crimes in our nation’s capital – and also for crimes in NYC, though I don’t know what the percentage is there…pathetic).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who said that "this is a spending bill, not a stimulus bill," here.

You know, I’m sorry, but at this point, anyone who advanced the idiotic “it’s a spending bill, not a stimulus bill” notion was a liar, a crook, or a stone-cold moron (or any combination of the three).

Dregs Of The Year Nominee

Tennessee Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen, who, as a one-time potential candidate for Health and Human Services Secretary under Obama (with Daschle out - Kathleen Sebelius was eventually named and confirmed), said here that "advocacy groups don't matter nearly as much as the pharmaceutical groups, the hospitals, the doctors' groups…”

What an asshat.

Do Gooder Of The Year Nominee

It's hard to give it to Snarlin' Arlen Specter, especially since I support Joe Sestak for the Senate in his place, but I have to for returning fire on Laura Ingraham over Specter's vote in support of the stimulus here (Update 12/7/09: and if it weren't for Joe Sestak, he probably wouldn't say this either, but give him credit for saying it just the same)

More later...

Wednesday Stuff

By the way, 55 years ago today, Joseph McCarthy was censured by the U.S. Senate...in this clip, the references to "Zwicker" and "Stevens" have to do with his hearings into alleged Communists (they were always alleged) in the U.S. Army - also, the "Alger/Adlai" slip has to do with trying to link Democrat Adlai Stevenson to former FDR New Dealer Alger Hiss, who maintained his innocence until his death - Hiss was convicted of perjury, by the way, not espionage...interesting historical quirk to yours truly that Hiss outlived Nixon, with the latter beginning his political career on the back of the former...the reference to the "Democrat" candidate by McCarthy is boilerplate Repug garbage also, of course...and sadly, as we know, McCarthyism lives on)...



...oh, and yeah, there's that health care thing going on too, besides Afghanistan (and happy birthday to Harry Reid; here's my greeting - go to reconciliation on this, or prepare to lose your job)...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

..."Worst Persons" (Planet Bachmann has another problem with math and percentages; Lou Dobbs has a problem with recognizing the leader of the free world, as reality slips further and further away; and Bill Orally pulls his own "Alger/Adlai" number, updated as "Osama/Obama," for I would guess the two millionth time)...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and here's a video that has absolutely nothing to do with anything I've just said.

An Obama-Rama Afghan Speech Wrap-Up

I found a bunch of stuff out there that I just wanted to comment on regarding President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan last night (and I also posted here).

First, Media Matters tells us here about the decidedly mixed reactions from the corporate media chattering class, which is unsurprising I know.

All I would ask in response, though, is that, if things continue to go badly in Afghanistan now, the media at least extend to the Obama Administration the courtesy of concocting warm and fuzzy story lines despite what I’m sure will be tanking poll numbers (here are those for the Iraq surge; basically, do the same thing for Obama that they did for Former President Numbskull, as noted here).

Also, it seems that there has been some “push-back” from former Bushie Don “The Defense Secretary We Had, Not The One We Wish We Had” Rumsfeld over whether or not he ignored the request of his generals for additional troops (here), which I think is particularly amusing (in a “gallows humor” kind of way, I’ll admit) considering this.

Also, if you want the starkest proof you can imagine that the Afghan war was given short shrift in favor of Dubya’s Not-So-Excellent Iraq Adventure, click here, scroll halfway down the page to the green “Calling for Backup” graphic on the left, and click on it to expand it.

And not to be outdone among the “loyal opposition,” fellow Bushco alum Michael Gerson asks the following about Obama and the Iraq escalation here: “Can’t he just admit the surge worked?”

Um, I would say “asked and answered” based on this (and of course, Gerson can’t resist critiquing the speech because he didn’t write it, chastising the parts that are “self-referential”…it’s called lending a touch of humanity to the most difficult decision faced by a commander in chief, you shill).

Also, I give you former Laura Bush employee Andrew Malcolm here, who criticized Obama because “out of 4,582 words (of the speech), not one of them was victory.”

My, how clever.

In response, I should note that Dubya’s speech announcing the surge (here) contained nearly 3,000 words, many sentences and paragraphs and did in fact mention victory – twice. And given the Gallup poll I noted above, I think it speaks volumes as to how out of touch he was given that he used the phrase “coming home” only once and “return home” not at all.

Update 12/4/09: Too dumb for words - again (h/t Atrios)...

And finally, though we all hope and pray for a good outcome despite the evidence to the contrary, I have to tell you that this is not a good sign.

Tuesday Stuff

And to think, there was a time when this clueless meat sack actually contemplated running for the U.S. Senate from PA - "enemy camp," huh?...



Update 12/4/09: My cat has more common sense than Tweety (here).

...and in response to the speech tonight, I sought out an antiwar song, and I thought this seemed to fit, even if some of the pics of "The King" are a bit incongruous here.

Tuesday Mashup (12/1/09)

No honor among Repugs, I guess; this story tells us the following (about Maurice Clemmons, the alleged murderer of four police officers near Tacoma, Washington, among others)…

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has seen his promising presidential bid implode after it was revealed he pardoned a four-time cop-killer.

The man most likely to benefit: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who comfortably fits into Huckabee's role as "dull white guy" and plausible alternative to Crazy Sarah Palin.

So we shouldn't be surprised T-Paw was eager to talk about Huckabee's misfortunes.

…

As noted by Polinaut, Pawlenty appeared on Laura Ingraham's show Monday. When he was asked about Huckabee, T-Paw drew a sharp line of distinction to let everybody know he never pardoned any cop-killers--or anybody else for that matter--when she pressed if he would have pulled a Huckabee.

"No, on those facts, no I would not," T-Paw batted the softball. "And in Minnesota I don't think I've ever voted for clemency. We've given out pardons for things after everybody has served their term, but again usually for more minor offenses, but clemency certainly not or commutation of sentence certainly not."

Well, as noted in the comments, apparently money laundering and drug-and-gun running are “minor offenses” to Governor Pawlenty Of Nothing; this tells us the following about Frank Vennes Jr., who apparently engaged in these activities, and who is, at the very least, a "T-Paw" acquaintance…

This relationship is especially relevant in light of Pawlenty’s recent donation of nearly $86,000 from his defunct gubernatorial campaign fund to Minnesota Teen Challenge (MnTC), a controversial Christian chemical dependency program that was once closely affiliated with Vennes and allegedly lost millions on account of that affiliation.

Like his Republican cohorts Norm Coleman and Michele Bachmann, Pawlenty’s connections to Vennes are intertwined in several ways: campaign contributions, a request for a presidential pardon for Vennes’ federal crimes, and now, MnTC, where Vennes and Pawlenty’s wife, Mary, served on the board of directors together.

…

Vennes and his family have contributed thousands of dollars to Pawlenty’s gubernatorial campaigns. Kimberly Vennes (Frank’s wife), Gregory Vennes, Stephanie Vennes (Gregory’s wife), and Colby and Denley Vennes, who have shared an address with Frank and Kimberly, each donated $2,000 to the Pawlenty for Governor Committee in 2002. Frank, Kimberly, Gregory, Stephanie, Colby and Denley Vennes each contributed $250 to Pawlenty in 2004 and $2,000 apiece in 2006.

…

Coincidentally, the same year the Vennes money started to flow into Pawlenty’s campaign coffers, Pawlenty’s name appeared in a request for a presidential pardon for Vennes sent by Senator-elect Norm Coleman.

…

The roles of Pawlenty and Eibensteiner in seeking a (presidential) pardon for Vennes are unclear. A Freedom of Information Act request did not turn up pardon letters from either one, and Pawlenty’s office did not immediately respond to requests for an explanation.

The pardon Coleman, Pawlenty and Eibensteiner sought was for Vennes’ conviction in 1987 on federal charges of money laundering, cocaine distribution and illegal firearms=2 0sale, to which he pleaded guilty and no contest.

So technically, Pawlenty is right in that he didn’t actually pardon Vennes, but despite this “meaning of the word ‘is,’” nuance here, I would say that this connection with Pawlenty and fellow Repugs Coleman and Moon Unit Bachmann have made T-Paw’s “moral high ground” disappear rather quickly.

Also, I have a “two-fer” from The Weakly Standard; here is the first (with the wankerific Matthew Continetti opining in the second paragraph below the italics)…

Despite the public jousting, significant action was occurring behind the scenes Monday evening as Reid, D-Nev., and Baucus huddled to plot strategy with top White House and Cabinet officials including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, along with former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, Obama's first pick for HHS secretary before his nomination was derailed.

Even the most strident backers of health care reform are wondering what the secretary of the Interior is doing at these behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Through one of the easiest Google searches of my life, I found the following story from The Denver Post…

WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar returned to his old Senate haunt Wednesday in a unique role as White House fixer, tasked by President Barack Obama with helping to pass health care reform.

…

The move pulls Salazar from his already heavy schedule as head of the Department of Interior, a sign of both the urgency of the health care reform debate for the administration and the calculation that the Colorado Democrat's strong ties with centrists could help move votes.

"You don't send heavy hitters like this until the final stage, and only if you're feeling you can't get it any other way," said Julian Zelizer, an expert on Congress at Princeton University.

Senate Democrats say that while the effort became more public on Wednesday, Salazar has been working for some time behind the scenes, through a series of consultations and discreet meetings with his former colleagues.

He returns to his old chamber with the imprimatur of a Cabinet secretary and the advantage of a direct link to the president.

And here is the second item, including the following (concerning renewing the SALT Treaty – a link to the Wikipedia article tells us that Dubya and our ol’ buddy Vlad Putin negotiated a comparatively weaker “SORT” Treaty in 2002 as opposed to renewing the SALT Treaty)…

We need to be extraordinarily cautious negotiating this new treaty. We could inadvertently put ourselves in a dangerous position -- similar to the end of the Carter years -- where the Russians have a significant strategic advantage over the U.S. and NATO. President Reagan was smart about treaty negotiations. He bargained from a position of strength, he didn't sacrifice his most important bargaining chips (like European missile defense) before negotiations took place, and he would never consider weakening America's strategic security in exchange for photo ops and soaring speeches in Olso (sic).

Oh, please (and check your geographic references next time, OK?).

In response, the Wikipedia SALT article tells us the following…

(SALT II) was a continuation of the progress made during the SALT I talks. SALT II was the first nuclear arms treaty which assumed real reductions in strategic forces to 2,250 of all categories of delivery vehicles on both sides. SALT II helped the U.S. to discourage the Soviets from arming their third generation ICBMs of SS-17, SS-19 and SS-18 types with many more (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads).

…

(As part of the negotiations), the USSR could exclusively retain 308 of its so-called "heavy ICBM" launchers of the SS-18 type.

An agreement to limit strategic launchers (such as 308 of the “heavy ICBM” type) was reached in Vienna on June 18, 1979, and was signed by Leonid Brezhnev and President of the United States Jimmy Carter. In response to the refusal of the U.S. Congress to ratify the treaty, a young member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Gromyko, "educated him about American concerns and interests" and secured several changes that neither the U.S. Secretary of State nor President Jimmy Carter could obtain.

Six months after the signing, the Soviet Union deployed troops to Afghanistan, and in September of the same year senators including Henry M. Jackson and Frank Church discovered the so-called "Soviet brigade" on Cuba[citation needed]. In light of these developments, the treaty was never formally ratified by the United States Senate. Its terms were, nonetheless, honored by both sides until 1986 when the Reagan Administration withdrew from SALT II after accusing the Soviets of violating the pact.

So, as opposed to the Russians supposedly having “a significant strategic advantage,” it sounds like everybody observed SALT II even though the USSR invaded Afghanistan (why does that sound familiar, I wonder?), until The Sainted Ronnie R voided the deal years later (though he would sign the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty with Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987).

I just wanted that on the record in response to yet another wingnut cheap shot against Jimmy Carter, who played a major role in developing the “Agreed Framework” in the ‘90s under which North Korea would have ultimately dismantled its current nuclear program (or that was the intent...they didn't manufacture plutonium anyway), though the agreement was scuttled in 2002 by Reagan’s “son” (with apologies to Ron Jr.).

Update 12/3/09: I forgot that I'd posted about this subject earlier here - oops.

And speaking of Afghanistan, the Murdoch Street Journal inflicted the following assault on informed discourse (here)…

President Obama unveils his new Afghanistan strategy today, and in the nick of time Senator John Kerry has arrived with a report claiming that none of this would be necessary if former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had only deployed more troops eight years ago. Yes, he really said more troops.

In a 43-page report issued yesterday by his Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Kerry says bin Laden and deputy Ayman Zawahiri were poised for capture at the Tora Bora cave complex in late 2001. But because of the "unwillingness" of Mr. Rumsfeld and his generals "to deploy the troops required to take advantage of solid intelligence and unique circumstances to kill or capture bin Laden," the al Qaeda leaders escaped.

This in turn "paved the way for exactly what we had hoped to avoid—a protracted insurgency that has cost more lives than anyone estimates would have been lost in a full-blown assault on Tora Bora."

The timing of the report's release suggests that Mr. Kerry intends this as political cover for Mr. Obama and Democrats, and some in the press corps have even taken it seriously. But coming from Mr. Kerry, of all people, this criticism is nothing short of astonishing.

In 2001, readers may recall, the Washington establishment that included Mr. Kerry was fretting about the danger in Afghanistan from committing too many troops. The New York Times made the "quagmire" point explicitly in a famous page-one analysis, and Seymour Hersh fed the cliche at The New Yorker.

So “the Washington establishment that included Mr. Kerry was fretting,” huh? What thorough sourcing!

In response, this tells us the following…

In the 2004 presidential campaign, Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry accuses the Bush administration of allowing bin Laden to escape Afghanistan in late 2001 by not sending enough US troops to contain him when he was trapped in the Tora Bora region. The New York Times publishes an op-ed by Gen. Tommy Franks, the former head of US Central Command. Franks writes, “On more than one occasion, Senator Kerry has referred to the fight at Tora Bora in Afghanistan during late 2001 as a missed opportunity for America. He claims that our forces had Osama bin Laden cornered and allowed him to escape. How did it happen? According to Mr. Kerry, we ‘outsourced’ the job to Afghan warlords. As commander of the allied forces in the Middle East, I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator’s understanding of events doesn’t square with reality.… We don’t know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time; still others suggested he was in Kashmir. Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives, many of whom were killed or captured, but Mr. bin Laden was never within our grasp.” Franks is a vocal supporter of Bush’s reelection. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/19/2004] Shortly after Franks’ comments, four Knight Ridder reporters who had been at Tora Bora during the battle revisit the issue. They discover that “Franks and other top officials ignored warnings from their own and allied military and intelligence officers that the combination of precision bombing, special operations forces, and Afghan forces that had driven the Taliban from northern Afghanistan might not work in the heartland of the country’s dominant Pashtun tribe.” [KNIGHT RIDDER, 10/30/2004] Author Peter Bergen asserts, “There is plenty of evidence that bin Laden was at Tora Bora, and no evidence indicating that he was anywhere else at the time.” Bergen cites after-action US intelligence reports and interviews with US counterterrorism officials that express confidence bin Laden was at Tora Bora. He notes that bin Laden discussed his presence at the Tora Bora battle in a audio message released in 2003. [PETERBERGEN (.COM), 10/28/2004] In 2005, Gary Berntsen, who was in charge of an on-the-ground CIA team trying to find bin Laden (see September 26, 2001), will claim that he gave Franks definitive evidence that bin Laden was trapped in Tora Bora (see Late October-Early December 2001).

Oh, and you can be sure that Dubya remembered the favor Franks did for him here…

Also, this tells us that Kerry called for more troops in Afghanistan in 2007, as well as a change in mission to help reduce civilian casualties and a new policy to address the growing opium crisis. He also called for an Afghanistan Study Group. What was Bushco’s response?

Cue the sound of crickets…

And as a result, Dubya’s successor now will likely increase our troop presence in that country nearly four-fold from what the Bush-Cheney gang allocated for the war that actually mattered (or at least that will happen based on the news leaks of Obama’s speech tonight that are virtually everywhere; I’m all out of outrage at the moment, particularly since the whole awful matter has been decided – besides, Bob Herbert stated my sentiments more eloquently here today in the New York Times).