The first post-Saddam Prime Minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, has told the UK newspaper The Observer that post-Saddam Iraq is beginning to look unfortunately like Saddam's Iraq in terms human rights abuses. Story here  And we all know what that euphemism "human rights abuses" means--imprisonment, torture, secret policing activities, and the like.  

Allawi accuses his fellow Shias in the government of being responsible for death squads and secret torture centers

Back to my last deal on Christmas, and my #$#)@(#@) Radeon 9800 bites the dust....

So private e-mails between Republican lobbyists (and soon to be convicts) Michael Scanlon and Jack Abramoff called their Indian clients "idiots," "losers," "morons" and "monkeys."

And people assume that this is a bad thing, that the two richer-than-rich lobbyists were denigrating the character of their clients.  But lets look at this more closely. Could these simply be terms of endearment?

In a depressingly large number of media stories these days, there are statements that appear contradictory, or which are so obviously questionable that you can't believe the author didn't follow up to clarify.

I came across this one in a story on Rick Santorum titled "The Path of the Righteous Man," by Mike Newall, from Philadelphia City Newspaper, 9/29-10/05, 2005:

"Rick's father was the chief of psychology and his mother was the chief of nurses"--the former head of personnel at the VA hospital where the Santorums worked in Butler, PA.

"They were good people, a well-principled, blue-collar family"--A childhood friend, describing Rick Santorum.

Could someone tell me how the chief of psychology at a VA hospital, and the chief of nurses at the same hospital, somehow comprise a "blue collar" family?  What the Hell does blue collar mean these days, that someone actually works instead of getting all their money from investments?

Quick quiz:  who recently made the following statement:

"Look, Hurricane Katrina showed how bad disasters can be, and there's an incredible need for individuals and businesses to understand how important preparedness is.  So if I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses _ because that goes straight to the bottom line _ then I hope I can help the country in some way."

It isn't often that I find myself sympathetic to Republicans, but, come on, you have to feel for a party faced with a new scandal EVERY day.  Along with those scandals comes the need to raise money to defend the scandaleers.  After all, you wouldn't expect the scandaleers to use up the money they improperly acquired to defend their acquisition of it, would you?  Where's the profit in that?

No, the Republicans need a BIG idea, one that can cover all the scandals, big and small, coast to coast, no matter what the underlying sleaziness may have been.  One big "thon" to cover DeLay, Abramoff, Ney, Noe, Norquist, Frist, Reed, Blunt and the many other scandaleers, known and unknown.  So, to all my Republican friends, I offer the following idea; take it, it's yours, you need it:  hold a televised Corruptathon.

Sniffling, coughing, the first signs of the flu big eating at me, along with a mild fever, I was on the way into work and was listing to NPR's Morning Edition, and yes, I almost wrecked the truck!

Guess what, WTW fans! Here's your chance to be so annoying to dear old falafel it's not even remotely funny!

Just wanted people to know that I have undertaken the duties of administering WTW.  An odd choice, to be sure, since I know very little about the web and blogging, but I'll do my best.

If anyone has been delaying submission of stories or diary entries while waiting to see what happens with he site, delay no more.  Its operating as it always did, and I'll be checking it every so often to take care of admin details.

I also encourage visitors who don't usually submit to consider creating an account and submitting their ideas.  Diary entries are automatically displayed within the Diaries section, and may be moved to the front page.  Regular stories are evaluated by site members after submission.

This is the chronological sequence of my e-mail communications with a retired Army colonel on whether it is traitorous to publicly call for removing American troops from Iraq, as Representative Murtha did. The e-mails between us are verbatim; nothing added, deleted, or altered, with the exception of removing any reference to his name and the URL for his blog.

Read Older Articles