Consequences

There is plenty of evidence that Bush and his policies have wrought havoc on the country, from undermining disaster preparedness to scarring the image of America and its values abroad. Two recent stories catch a couple recent pieces of evidence that -- surprise! -- decisions have consequences:

1. Anger against the US presence in Iraq has become so intense throughout the MidEast region that the conflict is now a money-maker for Al Qaeda...

   In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.

   (Read the whole thing, especially the grim if compelling quote from Kevin Drum.)
   
   
2. In a cheerier vein for the Opposition, Bush's insistance on using every Congressional recess as the excuse to appoint more unqualified extremists to empty posts has finally riled Harry Ried to action.

   We hear that over the long August vacation, when those types of summer hires are made, Reid will call the Senate into session just long enough to force the prez to send his nominees who need confirmation to the chamber. The talk is he will hold a quickie "pro forma" session every 10 days, tapping a local senator to run the hall.

   His fellow Senators aren't too excited about losing their lush summer vacation, but this puts a wrench in Bush's game and makes a pretty clear statement about the need to respect both the players and the process...

A better mousetrap?

Or rather, is it possible to improve on the glory that is peanut-butter? (Say, with banana or curry?) Bring it on!!

In related news, companies are likely to do better and give better stock returns if they -- wait for it -- focus on customer service. From your lips...

(via boing boing)

Them's our boys!

A short video over at BagNewsNotes makes the point that there are some reasons for keeping soldiers from blogging and posting to YouTube -- we might see the grim loss of perspective that gets a person through a hellish couple of years...

Stop the war, I wanna get off!

Trying to have it both ways

John McCain is busy talking about Iraq and defending the President's policies, but he apparently can't be bothered showing up for the votes on the matter -- just too busy for the important stuff, or trying not to leave a paper trail that could be held against him if things get even worse?

(via Talking Points Memo)

Quote of the week

The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp.

Charles C. Krulak (commandant of the Marine Corps, 1995-1999) and
Joseph P. Hoar (commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, 1991-1994)

(via Talking Points Memo, and others)

To each his vice

I was going to do another little sheepish post to admit that I'm spending time every day playing Kingdom of Loathing (see my little clip of their cartoon monsters in the footer to this blog), but I think I'll roll that in with another art project display. In preparation/practice for the Philadelphia puzzle that we made for our niece, we made another puzzle for our own amusement using some classic images from KoL:


A little tricky, since it's a black-and-white stick-figure game (see the logo 2nd from left in the upper row, which is an adventurer with sword and martini in hand), but these seemed to work pretty well, and it makes us giggle. We're particularly proud of the brainsweeper (top right), which is essentially a disembodied brain in a lab jar, animated on a set of broom feet.

Yay for Spouse and the jigsaw! Yay for weekend fun!

Don't let the door hit ya'...

A writer at Slate provides an apt reflection on the passing of Jerry Fallwell (on Tuesday). (Man, I'd never heard the quote on feminists! like a parody of a chauvenist!)

(via Follow Me Here)

We are governed by thugs

The latest evidence -- Card and Gonzales tried to get Ashcroft to approve warrantless wiretapping from his hospital bed, where he was barely conscious, and only armed guards prevented them. yeesh.

Yesterday's absence

We had a primary election here in Pennsylvania yesterday, and it was a big one in Philadelphia, with an open mayoral primary and all the City Council members up for reelection (as well as lots of judges and other offices, and a list of ballot questions as long as your arm). Anyway, I worked the polls all day, which was its usual blend of rewarding and exhausting. And the results were a mixed bag of the sort I suppose you always get if you're interested in more than one candidate. So I wasn't here, and now I am, but with a lot of catching-up to do on life, news, and all the rest, and perhaps a few days' rest needed to regain my connection to it all.

Meantime, meet our next mayor, Michael Nutter! whoot!

Anxiety sells

That is, female anxiety, as demonstrated by J. Goodrich at The American Prospect in her piece called How the Media Skew Gender Research (token reg. required). She notes the wealth of studies showing the benefits of equal parenting by men and women, which get no media attention, as opposed to those that raise questions about the "dangers" of day-care, or which show gendered differences in Internet usage, which get blown all out of proportion in widespread media coverage.

A difference of at most six percent became an absolute gulf between the sexes, and the media exclaim, "Women are relational, men are factual!"
. . .
Over and over again, studies that appeal to anti-feminists and social conservatives gain media traction, while the ones that come to opposite conclusions languish in obscurity.

It appears that the goal is to grab the attention of already nervous affluent women, but Goodrich notes that this slant feeds the needs of conservatives (and patriarchy promoters) quite nicely. Worth keeping in mind, the next time some of this junk social science hits the airwaves.

(via Echidne, Goodrich's night job)

Quote of the day

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

- Yasutani Roshi,
Zen master (1885-1973)

(via A.W.A.D.)

Predators are overrated

How can I tell? Because this tortoise rules the yard, driving cats before him like the wind...

(p.s.) Lots of fluff at the moment, because too much politics going on locally. Hopefully I make it to/through next Tuesday...

Wisecrack of the day

From Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo:

Richard Perle lays into George Tenet on Post OpEd page (appropriate venue). Like a cage match between See No Evil and Evil.

hehehe

Left me speechless

It's been a while since we've had a good parody song about the Bush whitehouse, and this one seems to fill that gap admirably...

Thursday photos -- family fun

No cats today -- instead, a silly wooden puzzle (of the clumsy toddler type, where the pieces drop down in) that Spouse and I made for our niece, Sophie this spring. Classic Philadelphia sights of varous types (please tell me you were able to guess them!)...




Hope your 3rd birthday was a good one, Soph!!

Well, now this *is* something!

That is, it appears that some of the "missing" emails contain evidence of deliberately obscuring Karl Rove's role in the replacement of US Attorneys around the country with Administration loyalists. More here.

Meanwhile, over on Gonzales' end of the mess, he turns out the A.G. broke his oath of office almost immediately upon taking it. These guys really have no shame.

Tee hee

This post captures perfectly the interior conversation of the average pet-owner (here with a dog, but we cat owners get much the same, in different tone). I laughed out loud and alarmed my office-mates...

(via Medley)

Update: um, now the link is right... yeesh.

In case you wondered

President Bush's handling of national disasters demonstrates that he's a putz. That our states are facing such hurdles without their National Guard contingents is more evidence of the folly of this ceaseless war. I don't think we can make it another 2 years -- Congress, save us!!

Today's giggle

...comes from the incomparable McSweeney's:

The Names of Snow White's Seven Dwarfs
After Being Prescribed Paxil, Ritalin, Prozac,
Lithium, Provigil, and Benadryl.

(via MindHacks)

Antidote

A little late-day cuteness to offset the grim news elsewhere:

puppy!

kitty!

(Yeah, and that's Pasha over at right, at around 5 weeks...)