CAFTA/ SHAFTA (and other exercises in futility)

Well hell, I've moved (again!), that's why I haven't posted. You'd think one of these days I'd figure out that moving always takes longer than I think it does.

So now here I am (temporarily) in Florida, the Sunshine Hurricane State. The state flag: a blue tarp.

And not one, but two politicians named Bush.

In the meantime, there is all manner of things Rove. There is John Roberts, who looks like some kind of Stepford husband/judge and who may have scary views on individual rights. There is the usual cynical exercise that passes for policy-making, like the passage of the Central America "Free Trade" Agreement in the House tonight. Personally, I think every Democrat who voted for CAFTA should be targeted for defeat in the next election. And that includes my own representative, Jim Matheson, who has managed to hang onto his endangered seat in this (that is, Utah), the reddest of red states, by toeing the conservative line.

What the hell does Utah stand to gain from trade with Honduras? I mean, we send them Mormons and they send us...what?? It's an ideological ass-covering in the case of Matheson, who dares not offend the rural redneck majority in his district, I guess.

Got lots of news to catch up on. Later....

Why They Call 'Em Sheep

450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths

Making The World a Safer Place (sort of)

I think this can only be placed under the category of WTF??

Iraq Signs Military Pact With Iran

Responding to the suggestion that the thaw in ties with Iran would anger Washington, [Iraqi Defense Minister] Dulaimi said: "Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries."

I suppose I should be heartened that some independence, if not democracy, is taking hold in Iraq.

(But I'm not.)

R.I.P.

Governor Jeb Bush today ended the farcical investigation into the circumstances of Michael Schiavo's 911 call after the Florida state attorney found no cause to suspect that criminal activity was involved in Terri Schiavo's collapse.

About time. Rest in peace, wackjobs. Not that you will be deterred by anything so straighforward as a complete lack of evidence.

Only Sorrow

There are lots of things that can be said or speculated about--about the conduct of the "war on terror", about what the response of the British and American public will be, etc. We'll know more in the days to come. I don't have the heart for politics or the assigning of blame today...only sorrow.

We're All Londoners Today

The law of unintended consequences?

The Left Coaster has some interesting commentary on how the outing of a double agent by the Bush administration may have caused the collapse of a British investigation into a network of Al-Qaeda cells last fall.

What Goes Around...

Are you kidding me?

Says Judith Miller:

"A promise of confidentiality once made must be respected, or the journalist will lose all credibility and the public will, in the end, suffer."

Excuse me?? Credibility? I think you lost that, Judy, when you allowed yourself to be used as a government shill to hype non-existent WMD. Now the public is suffering on account of the con job you facilitated. So excuse my total lack of empathy.

It's not that I think the principle of confidentiality isn't important or that it should only apply to journalists whose work I respect. And I can't claim to understand the fine points of all the speculation about what Miller knows and who she told, or what someone might have told her. But as someone pointed out earlier today, it's one thing to protect a source who comes forward to reveal a crime. It's another when coming forward is the crime.

And Judith Miller's martyr act doesn't change the fact that she's a hack. She and Robert Novak are two of a kind: except that she has pretensions to journalistic integrity, and he doesn't even have that.

It Just Makes You So Proud

Bush Falls Off Bike in Scotland

What I want to know is, was he eating a pretzel at the time?

I mean, I know I shouldn't laugh--being somewhat of a klutz myself--but jeez, the guy is a menace to humankind and he can't ride a bike down the sidewalk without running into someone?

Ah, the banana-lity of evil.

(insert sound effect here)

like I said...

My Brain is Compromised!

...baked and bludgeoned by summer heat into an inert mass, incapable of formulating even basic sentences about Supreme Court nominees, the price of gas, or the Atlantic hurricane season. It's been too long, I know. Forgive me. Better yet, put some cracked ice in a large plastic bag and apply it to my head. Please.