Concerto for blunt instrument

An irregular heartbeat from d.o. to you. Not like a daily kos, more like a sometime sloth. Fast relief from the symptoms of blogarrhea and predicated on the understanding that the world is not a stage for our actions, rather it is a living organism upon which we depend for our existence.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Fox News internal memo: smoking gun blows hole through "fair & balanced" myth




It goes without saying that Faux News is merely a Repugnican noise machine, but an internal memo published on Huffington Post truly makes the case for anyone who happens to have spent the past decade or so off-planet. The memo tells Faux employees to "be on the lookout for statements from any Iraqi insurgents, who must be thrilled at the prospect of a Dem-controlled congress".




News Hounds (We watch FOX so you don't have to) did a follow-up to see if any Faux gasbags got the memo. Sure enough, Martha MacCallum's "Live Desk" carried the bosses' fetid water and dumped into America's livingrooms. The report generated some 95 comments. Also, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann did an interview with film-maker Robert Greenwald ("Outfoxed") where both referred to the internal memo as a "smoking gun". Greenwald stated: " I really think they’ve crossed a new line here. In the year I spent studying them, in the memos we got from "Outfoxed" we compiled them. But to do it immediately after the election and to make these kinds of accusations and then to force the facts to fit what they want it to fit, really to me has brought them to a new line. If they were journalists they would be ashamed. But they’re not. "





Well......surprize!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

In the forest of monstrous egos

In the forest of monstrous egos
we eat our young, frequenting
the very finest fires with
an eye toward the next camp
and the mirror, mirror on the wall
reflecting all the best people
whose clothes don't make the man
or woman who knows what's best
for himself or herself or yourself
or rules the roost on a factory farm
of your worst fears, strutting
in some splendid suit
of pin-striped armor
lawless, you spoke out against the
end of history, the
start of another torturous round
while inflating, no, over-inflating
the wheel you run over others
and their unworthy ideas, unlike
yours or your associates, though
theirs aren't quite as good
as yours, are they?

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The knives are out in the GOP: Where’s Karl?




As U.S. war criminal and former Secretary of Defense, Don Rumsfeld falls on his sword and far-right Repugnicans begin looking about for other warm bodies to throw under the bus after their defeat at the polls, we can't help but ask: where's Karl? Helloooooo, Karrrrrrllll, come out, come out, wherever you are!



Maybe the architect of the Bush regime, the "genius" all the rightwing pundits lauded all these years, has finally run out of gas. Certainly the Emperor is not pleased, as was made clear during his remarks to the press in the wake of the mid-term elections:



>>REPORTER: "And also, Mr. President, may I ask you if you have any metrics you'd be willing to share about your reading contest with Mr. Rove.



THE PRESIDENT: I'm losing. I obviously was working harder in the campaign than he was. (Laughter.)



AUDIENCE: Oooooh! " <<



Google searches of the past few hours come up with only one sign of life from the disgraced Karl Rove. The "genius" makes the prediction on CNN that, "Many of these seats that the Democrats won are going to be one-term congressmen". Isn't this the guy who predicted a Republican victory in the mid-terms?

Friday, November 03, 2006

Saddam convicted....so?




Various news reports [1], [2] indicate that the verdict in Saddam Hussein's trial will be announced possibly on Sunday.......just in time for the midterm elections in the U.S. Saddam's lawyers are accusing the Bush regime of orchestrating the presumed conviction in order to boost the Republicans' poor poll numbers. Instead, Chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi is requesting a delay in the verdict saying, "We have requested at least a two-month adjournment to allow us to complete our presentations in the case in which our defense rights have been violated and in which our clients have been denied full legal defense."



It seems a stretch imagining the "surprise" announcement of the verdict, or even of a death sentence, would give much of a bounce to the GOP. Most voters no doubt expected such an outcome and the seemingly endless number of Republican scandals, scams and sins have pretty much taken the wind out any sails that might take them over many of the finish lines first on Election Day. If the long awaited October Surprise is rather the November Surprise of saddam's verdict, who is going to be surprised? Granted, there will always be a number of hardcore right-wingers ready and willing to raise the flag and cast their vote for the likes of the neo-cons regardless of their miserable record in office and their subversion of the U.S. Constitution. And there are always fair amounts of people who are easily led by the nose to the voting booth on a whim.



Surely announcing the forgone conclusion of Saddam's verdict won't move that many voters. It could, however, provide a suitable cover for explaining another November Surprise: a strange poll-defying swing to Republicans in vote counts in those states where the majority in the U.S. House and Senate will be decided. Surprise! Another stolen election!



Election Defense Alliance



Ruckus defends the vote