The Birds

UPDATE!: Suggestion provided by Substance McGravitas


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The War Criminal Post

Shorter: G. W. Bush gave speeches about Freedom™! But Obama has ignored the ordinary people of the arab world whom I and my fellow chickenhawks, liars, torture enthusiasts, and genocide fans pretend to care about whenever it suits our purpose.


I see Fred Hiatt and Jackson Diehl have neglected to mention much of Elliott Abrams' history. I can't imagine why.

One Abrams specialty was massacre denial. During a Nightline appearance in 1985, he was asked about reports that the US-funded Salvadoran military had slaughtered civilians at two sites the previous summer. Abrams maintained that no such events had occurred. And had the US Embassy and the State Department conducted an investigation? "My memory," he said, "is that we did, but I don't want to swear to it, because I'd have to go back and look at the cables."

But there had been no State Department inquiry; Abrams, in his lawyerly fashion, was being disingenuous. Three years earlier, when two American journalists reported that an elite, US-trained military unit had massacred hundreds of villagers in El Mozote, Abrams told Congress that the story was commie propaganda, as he fought for more US aid to El Salvador's military. The massacre, as has since been confirmed, was real. And in 1993 after a UN truth commission, which examined 22,000 atrocities that occurred during the twelve-year civil war in El Salvador, attributed 85 percent of the abuses to the Reagan-assisted right-wing military and its death-squad allies, Abrams declared, "The Administration's record on El Salvador is one of fabulous achievement." Tell that to the survivors of El Mozote.

But it wasn't his lies about mass murder that got Abrams into trouble. After a contra resupply plane was shot down in 1986, Abrams, one of the coordinators of Reagan's pro-contra policy (along with the NSC's Oliver North and the CIA's Alan Fiers), appeared several times before Congressional committees and withheld information on the Administration's connection to the secret and private contra-support network. He also hid from Congress the fact that he had flown to London (using the name "Mr. Kenilworth") to solicit a $10 million contribution for the contras from the Sultan of Brunei. At a subsequent closed-door hearing, Democratic Senator Thomas Eagleton blasted Abrams for having misled legislators, noting that Abrams's misrepresentations could lead to "slammer time." Abrams disagreed, saying, "You've heard my testimony." Eagleton cut in: "I've heard it, and I want to puke." On another occasion, Republican Senator Dave Durenberger complained, "I wouldn't trust Elliott any further than I could throw Ollie North."

Even after Abrams copped a plea with Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh, he refused to concede that he'd done anything untoward. Abrams's Foggy Bottom services were not retained by the First Bush, but he did include Abrams in his lame-duck pardons of several Iran/contra wrongdoers.

UPDATE: The question I'd like to ask at 11 A.M. on Tuesday is:

"Are there any Reagan or Bush era war crimes enablers who HAVEN'T yet gotten an Op-Ed in the WaPo?"

But I'm sure this would not get past the mods. How about the slightly more subtle:

"Do you think we'll see the release of any CIA prisoners that were renditioned to Egypt?"
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Church of the Ladder Day Saints

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Robobama's SOTU Tomorrow

Any Predictions?


And, now, they're coming for your Social Security. They want your fucking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street.

And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all from you, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it.


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Spring is sprung

The grass is ris...


Just kidding. You want spring, you need to go see Aunt Snow.




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Detritus for Friday, January 21, 2011

I couldn't find a good live video of the above, so here's another one from The Clash:



In the orbs department, I recommend a visit to the Goobie.



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Lazy Wednesday

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Sarah Palin Day, 2011

In further celebration of Mooselini's Day, 2011, I offer the assembled this youtuber, brought to my attention by fellow Buckeye Statianersian Blue Girl:



ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

UPDATE!:


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Got The Kroger Lobster Blues

Can't run, can't hide, can't even pinch back.

UPDATE!: Of course, Rock Lobster:



UPDATE2!: I'll give you fish...


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Doctor?

I need a firestick!



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Orbs and Dinner

Orbs:



Dinner:



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No fly list, or Guantanamo Bay?

I'm inclined towards leniency, meself. IF she promises to clean up her website and cut the Zsa Zsa Gabor impersonation.
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Invisible Eyes and Spiders

You have to use your imaginations, folks.





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Letter to the NY Times - Vitriol in Politics

Dear Mr. Brisbane (E-mail: public@nytimes.com)

I am writing to draw your attention to an article in the N.Y. Times on Saturday, "Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics" by Carl Hulse and Kate Zernike.

The authors make the statement, "Not since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 has an event generated as much attention as to whether extremism, antigovernment sentiment and even simple political passion at both ends of the ideological spectrum have created a climate promoting violence."

This is an example of false equivalence. There is one end of the ideological spectrum that has made a fetish of guns and "2nd Amendment solutions" to political disputes, and that end is represented by the G.O.P. The authors mention Sarah Palin's target map, and the Tea Party disruptions at health care Towns Halls in 2009.

There are many more examples the authors could have used. For instance, on November 29, 2010, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, circulated a PowerPoint presentation to his colleagues in which he compared the Obama administration to the Nazi regime in Germany and likened himself to Gen. George Patton, bragging, "Put anything in my scope and I will shoot it."

Where are the examples of this sort of rhetoric coming from the left? As Paul Krugman wrote yesterday, "Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P."

When you blame everyone, you hold no one accountable. The G.O.P. has gone too far, and they ought to be called to account for their violent rhetoric.
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Orbs from Friday Night

The new camera machine is orb-capable.

UPDATE: I am tempted these days to buy things at the grocery store that I've never bought before, just because. Here we have a jicama and a couple of turnips. (Yes, they're all orb-shaped, but that's a coincidence!)


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The Agony of the Feet

Smut Clyde's Hippopotamus (from comments on last post):


A 12th century Crocodile:


Any Questions?


Update: Smut's Croc:


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The WaPoop welcomes Boehner

In related news, an orange alligator has been sighted in Florida.

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Take that, Kathleen!

These are the five candidates for Republican National Committee chair (including current chairman Michael Steele). Look upon them, and despair (Yeah you, Mend_D).
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Sideling Hill - stop for photos

I've posted highway cam of Sideling Hill before, this time I stopped on the way back to Ohio.







Of course, you need to be playing tunes as you speed west on I-68 (turn these up to 11!):






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Mickey Mouse Mambo

I was just watching the Lawrence Welk Show, and thought "What better way to start the New Year!"






This is my brother's Canon 30D with a Canon 70-210 zoom lens I bought for my EOS-650 back in the 1980s. (It was nice of Canon to keep our family in mind as they maintained this compatibility.) The G12's built-in lens doesn't have quite enough power to get good shots of the birdies on our feeder at the range they'll allow you to approach.




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