Sadly, No!

Egad. I know y’all hate it when I pat Sully on the head for writing something non-wingnutty, but I do have to praise this piece for it’s grade-A quality shrillness:

What the Bush administration wants is to introduce vagueness to get away with exactly the same barabarism they have deploying illegally for the past five years. They must be stopped. And eventually, they must be prosecuted for war crimes.

I said, GodDAMN that’s good shrillness.

Y’know, I would never in a million years vote for Sullycons like Graham, Warner or McCain. They share the same disastrous views as the Bush administration on preemption and American exceptionalism, and none of them have expressed many regrets about sending our military into a catastrpohically-conceived war in Iraq. But I will say this: they oppose torture, and for that they meet the very minimum standards I have to consider someone a human being. If they can keep fighting and deal Bush a big loss here, the country just might start inching back toward sanity. I can dream, can’t I?

So a bunch of left-bloggers met with Bill Clinton on Tuesday, and here’s one of the photos that resulted:

We’re excited that the supply of Atrios pix has skyrocketed (his is the barely visible cut-off head above, naturally, but there are other shots from the same series). Indeed, for over a year, we’ve been using the same funny-looking reddish picture that everyone else has, assiduously (but futilely) trying to fix the color balance and sharpness.

Above: A Very Atrios Fitzmas

But then of course, in this life, somebody always pops up to be an ass about things, and not infrequently it’s our wingnut pals, who are dumb and ridiculous and are a bunch of loonies and are bad. But who are at least, to their credit (and our everlasting entertainment!) consistent.

That’s Jessica from Feministing in the middle of the group pic, and Ann Althouse went into one of her characteristic passive-aggressive tizzies, accusing Jessica of having tits whilst in proximity to Bill Clinton — which means something very concrete and specific to the wingnut ugh-brain, since they understand the eight years of the Clinton presidency primarily in relation to the three words, ‘Monica,’ ‘Lewinsky,’ and ‘scandal.’

But that wasn’t ridiculous enough. Next Dr. Helen Smith, the wife and blogging cohabitué of Glenn ‘Perfesser Corncob’ Reynolds, moved in and took over this incredibly serious topic, about which much needed to be said.

In a recent post, Ann Althouse rightly pokes fun at a picture of a group of left-leaning bloggers who met with and posed with Bill Clinton. Professor Althouse points out the irony of a female blogger from a “feminist” blog standing in front of Clinton posing in a rather provocative stance. When the blogger, Jessica, comes to protest on Professor Althouse’s blog that she is being judged for her looks (yes, she is pretty clueless), she gets this dressing down from the professor:

[…]

Ladies and gentlemen, right-blogger and T-shirt model Dr. Helen Smith:

Above: A little nip in the air?

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boob. Thankyew, try the veal.

Wow. The Republicans keep getting hilariously more desperate. Their latest gambit is rallying the conservative base by attacking Rosie O’Donnell:

DEMS’ “ROSIE” VIEW ON WAR ON TERROR

Cut-And-Run Defeatocrats Across The Country Take Their Cues From Hollywood Friends And Advisors

“The View’s” Rosie O’Donnell Claims Radical Christianity “Just As Threatening” As Radical Islam And Says U.S. “Bombing” Innocent People…

My God! Rosie thinks the U.S. has “bombed” innocent people in Iraq? Holy crap! Doesn’t she know that all of our planes and tanks are equipped with Terror-Seeking Missiles that only hit the evil civilians???

The Powerline Boys have found yet another group of anti-American elitists suffering from extreme Bush Derangement Syndome. This time, it’s the Pentagon’s military lawyers:

Elements of the JAG Corps — career government military lawyers — exert, in my view, an undue amount of influence on how this country will fight the war on terrorism. And not for the good. Along with their former JAG colleague and current mouthpiece in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, they have spearheaded the movement to provide gold-plated process to terrorists who are hell-bent on killing as many Americans and other Westerners as humanly possible.

Duly noted. I will add the JAGs to my personal list of groups that hate America. This list already includes:

-The CIA
-The State Department
-The Media
-The Miller brewing company
-The Democratic Party
-Europeans
-Mexico
-Arabs
-Persians
-The Chinese
-All other swarthy non-white peoples

Or put another way: the .000000000000001% of the world’s population that agrees with Powerline is right, while the rest of us are wrong.

UPDATE: Buh-doing! How did I forget to add the gays? Well, I’m fixing that right now:

-The gays

Thanks, Marq.

Gavin adds: You forgot Venezuela, college professors, Hollywood, the teachers’ unions, the ACLU, environmentalists, and the UN. But I don’t know what all this new fuss is about, personally. They only ever had like one hit.

Above: This week’s focus of roistering conservative bwaa-ha.

Next time it’s liable to be spontaneous outrage over Fingerprintz or Wreckless Eric. Conservatives are weird.

I’m a bit indisposed lately, so I have to do little drive-bys here and there for the time being.

These are some things that are good. There’s a vital but seldom-honored distinction between ‘things that one likes’ and ‘things that are objectively good.’ (People often confuse the two, but it’s a fact of human life that we all, as humans, like a lot of crap and fail to love a lot of things that we know we ought to.)

Exhibit A. I like this, sure enough (Vancouver, BC punk from back in the day), but what’s objectively good is the drumming. Chuck Biscuits was 15 when this was recorded, in 1979, and although the band is miming, he hits most of the rolls just as he did in the studio. He’s one of those rare, infuriating drummers whose dynamics are so snap-on that they could sound amazing banging on cardboard boxes. Trust me that the stuff he’s doing is really difficult — he takes no shortcuts. Bérubé might have something to say here, because honestly Michael, would you want to follow this guy on a bill? Me neither.

DOA – ‘World War 3’ promo video (4:23)

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Today’s Wall Street Journal finds Daniel Henninger in a bit of a funk, as he laments public reminders that bin Laden has not yet been apprehended, flattering descriptions of the terrorist leader’s confident bearing among small groups of his followers, and the daily body-count reportage from Iraq. It all makes him, quite frankly, more than a little cranky:

If this is the available public context, then serious people have to assemble an understanding of terror as best they can. It isn’t easy. In his comment on the ABC movie, Lee Hamilton said that “news and entertainment are getting dangerously intertwined.” But given the alternative, it makes sense to me if people seek a better sense of the obsessions and compulsions inside Islamic terrorism in movies such as “United 93” or ABC’s remarkable “The Path to 9/11.”

Or, as this column’s sub-head puts it, “Movies do a better job covering the war than the news media do.” (I’ll remind you, if only for additional emphasis, that this man is assistant editor of the editorial page at arguably the world’s most superb English-language newspaper.)

Thankfully, the wide-screen edition of Daniel Henninger is now available.

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Dear Democrats:

Here’s a nice simple answer to give voters when they ask why you’re opposing Bush’s warrantless wiretapping/kangaroo court bills:

“This President screws up everything he touches. Do you really want to give him more power?”

It’s simple, it’s blunt, and it also has the virtue of being true.

Bush’s attempt to create kangaroo courts for terrorism suspects has mercifully been dealt a temporary setback in the Senate:

A rebellious Senate committee defied President Bush on Thursday and approved terror-detainee legislation he has vowed to block, deepening Republican conflict over terrorism and national security in the middle of election season.

Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, normally a Bush supporter, pushed the measure through his Armed Services Committee by a 15-9 vote, with Warner and three other GOP lawmakers joining Democrats. The vote set the stage for a showdown on the Senate floor as early as next week.

This issue is going to require all hands on deck. Bush and his cronies are trying to make supporting kangaroo courts and detainee abuse prerequsites for battling al-Qaeda. It is a thoroughly despicable and cynical maneuver, but it is also one that should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention for the past six years. These people are ruthless scum who will try to maintain their power at any price.

The question is, how will we citizens respond to this administration’s crazed fear-mongering? Will we bravely stand for the principles of human rights that this country has espoused for the past 230 years? Or will we cravenly allow our government to commit any number of horrific acts in the name of keeping us “secure?” In a must-read New York Times piece this morning, Bob Herbert wrote the following:

There was a time, I thought, when there was general agreement among Americans that torture was beyond the pale. But when people are frightened enough, nothing is beyond the pale. And we’re in an era in which the highest leaders in the land stoke — rather than attempt to allay — the fears of ordinary citizens. Islamic terrorists are equated with Nazi Germany. We’re told that we’re in a clash of civilizations. […]

The character of the U.S. has changed. We’re in danger of being completely ruled by fear.

There is still time to change course. We have not yet become a nation of bedwetters who hide behind the government at the mere suggestion of a threat. But we have to act now. Anything less than full-throated opposition to this administration’s plans will be looked upon as historical cowardice by future generations. All hands on deck.

[A Day By Day remix.]

Because people like Muir think that they’re ‘entitled’ to 9/11 as their cultish emotional lodestone.

The caption would be nearly identical (Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., Confirmed dead, World Trade Center, at/in building), except that Wayne was an accountant there instead of an executive secretary. And there’s more that isn’t nice to speak about.

The remains of [Lynne’s] brother, Wayne Russo, 37, of Union were identified six months after Sept. 11. His remains were found at the landfill, but the family does not know what was found, only that his entire body was not recovered.

And that’s why.

I’m not going to ask whether Muir knew her, or whether he did what many right-wing bloggers did and selected someone to ‘honor’ from a list of those killed on 9/11, looking up names on the Internet and claiming others’ feelings as their own. I’d actually, probably, prefer not to know. Because while I couldn’t describe Wayne’s family’s suffering, I’ve gone five years without having any idea where and when it’s proper to mention Wayne’s death, and the act of mentioning it now makes me want to go hide in a hole. With a big bag of Funyuns and an AM radio softly playing a Yankees game — which was Wayne’s only major fault as a person.

Not the Funyuns, the other thing. But admittedly, Phil Rizzuto lived nearby, and the kids in Union used to go visit him. I might forgive that.

[One pic below]

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Why are Republican Senators the only people taking a visible public stand against Bush’s attempt to create kangroo courts? Check it:

Several Republican senators are stepping up their opposition to the Bush administration’s plan to authorize military trials for suspected terrorists, with one calling a key part of the bill “ill-advised.” […]

Among other provisions, the administration’s bill would redefine the U.S. interpretation of part of the Geneva Conventions — a move Graham called “ill-advised.”

“I’m begging we don’t cross that line, because we need not to,” said Graham, who serves as a judge in the Air Force Reserve.

McCain’s office also released a letter from retired Army Gen. John Vessey, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Reagan administration, opposing the administration bill. Vessey told McCain the measure “would undermine the moral basis which has generally guided our conduct in war throughout our history.”

“In my short 46 years in the armed forces, Americans confronted the horrors of the prison camps of the Japanese during World War II, the North Koreans in 1950-53 and the North Vietnamese in the long years of the Vietnam War, as well as knowledge of the Nazis’ Holocaust depredations in World War II,” he wrote. “Though those years, we held to our own values. We should continue to do so.”

Say, it’d be nice if a Democrat could forcefully make this exact same argument and stick to it. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

P.S.- I don’t want to hear any excuses from you guys about not wanting to look “weak on terror.” Y’know what makes you guys look really weak? Letting Republicans take the lead in keeping Bush in check. That is pathetic. Grow a pair and stand up for your beliefs.