Quotes of the day: torture in many ways

Today is a bumper day for crap & nonsense from the many White House denizens.  A few days ago it was the difference between "goals," "strategy," and "tactics."  Today, it's torture....

The party of ideas and values, at your disservice

Quite a week for Republican campaign ads, boy, quite a week. Election as mud wrestling, mud slinging, and yes, once again, stupidity

Quote of the day:

Just this week we learned the promising news that Iraqi forces could control their own security within 12 to 18 months. As the president understands, working in concert with Iraqi leadership will win this war. I stand with the president and fully believe in this mission and our commitment to the men and women of our Armed Forces who are serving in Iraq and all around the globe fighting everyday to preserve our own rights and freedoms.
Dennis Hastert, in a press release following Bush's press conference yesterday.

[Two points: 1. Info about Iraqi troop readiness obviously travels much faster in Hastert's circles than info about the potential harassment of House Pages; 2. It sure is convenient that we "now" know that the Iraqi forces "will be ready" but that this readiness will not occur until well after the election.]

What's today's message from the president? Forward!!!

Don't ask why I know this, but the president managed to use the word "forward" a full 15 times in his press conference today. Fifteen times.  Number of times he said "backward": zero.

The monthly grim reaper report on layoffs

The *Bureau of Labor Statistics today released its report on "mass layoffs" for the month of September.  No, it isn't really getting better.

*The BLS release includes (at the end) a table of all mass layoffs from October 2002 through September 2006.

Ideas missing in action

Amazing how fast some slogans and concepts drift out of date and out of the public consciousness.  It's the fate of many ideas assocated with the president and his friends, especially over the last year to a year and a half.  Seems to me that the following are definitely now MIA (missing in action):

Quotes of the day:

In the past few years, all Americans have faced real challenges, ranging from the war to catastrophic hurricanes. But these challenges do not change, nor should they diminish, the fundamental facts about our economy and our progress in the war on terror. As the election draws closer, take a break from the rhetoric and consider the facts. They clearly demonstrate that the Republican approach is working for America.
David Dreier, Republican congressman from California.

[Any more doubts that the sleazy and/or insane get readily elected and reelected in the United States?]
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Conrad [Burns] wouldn't do something crooked, so how in the world this Abramoff slipped in some funny money, I don't know. Conrad would not do something that devious or that crooked. He's a better man than that.
Chuck Hauptman, 84-year old Billings Montana geologist, explaining how he knows that Montana Senator Conrad Burns did nothing wrong in his dealings with Jack Abramoff.

[Any more questions on how the sleazy and/or insane manage to get elected and reelected in the United States?]

Wonder if "the education president" even reads about this

Simple question for every single American who works for a living: has your income gone up 35% over the last five years?

If not, it's gonna be harder to pay for college for your kids, according to a study just released by the College Board.

Quotes of the day:

If Bush and Cheney were being sincere, then they're lying to themselves; if not, they're lying to the rest of us. My money is on the latter.
Columnist Eugene Robinson, addressing recent statements by Bush that "We've never been 'stay the course' " and by Cheney that the Iraqi government is doing "remarkably well."

Both [the leaders of North Korea and Iran] are like Hitler, who was willing to see his own people decimated and his own country reduced to rubble rather than quit when it was obvious to all that he could not win. If you can imagine Hitler with a few nuclear weapons to use to vent his all-consuming hatreds in a lost cause, you can see what a nuclear North Korea or a nuclear Iran would mean for America and the world.
Thomas Sowell, conservative columnist, playing "the Hitler card" as he laments something or other about the fact that the Democrats appear poised to take back congress, or that the media care more about Foley than N. Korea and Iran, or.....

In Case You Were Wondering....

Here's a royal cutie I found over at YouTube. Guess who it stars? Guess what it says?.........