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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Wow: Marsh's amazing second ace
via Beeb
Holey Shit! 2 Aces on the same hole in the same tournament...

Graham Marsh made history at the Senior British Open on Saturday by becoming the first player to fire two aces at the same hole in a tournament. The Australian holed in one at the par three 11th for the second time in three days at Royal Portrush. He used a nine iron at the 170-yard hole in the first round and an eight iron in Saturday's third round. His feat earned him 340 bottles of wine and moved him to five over for the championship, seven shots off the lead. Marsh's achievement has never been done before on the European Tour, the US PGA Tour, the European Seniors Tour or the US Champions Tour.
Well, I guess he has the 11th hole nailed, heh. 17 to go for a round of 18...
Posted by: .com || 07/25/2004 3:56:46 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just 2? Ha! Big deal!
Posted by: Kim Jong Il || 07/25/2004 23:04 Comments || Top||


Britain
Has the English government gone insane?
Children to get jabs against drug addiction.
Ministers consider vaccination scheme.
Heroin, cocaine and nicotine targeted.
A radical scheme to vaccinate children against future drug addiction is being considered by ministers, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Under the plans, doctors would immunise children at risk of becoming smokers or drug users with an injection. The scheme could operate in a similar way to the current nationwide measles, mumps and rubella vaccination programme.
Except that these drugs affect the entire nervous system, blocking receptors throughout the body. Paging Dr Frankenstein.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/25/2004 10:46:55 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Has the English government gone insane?
Yes.

They have more loonbats per square inch of government that we ever did, even during the Clintoon debacle.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 12:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred, Steve - cleanup on aisle 2 and 3, please. :-p

Don't know how that happened.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 12:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, Barbara, I guess what you tell us three times is true :-)

This isn't the first time I've heard about this specific technology, and it sounds interesting, but I'd suggest a LOT more testing, over a long time period, would be in order concluding that the treatment is safe.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 07/25/2004 20:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Ack, I meant "before concluding that the treatment is safe."

I don't know how that one happened...

Anyway, I had a frightening thought: do they know if this treatment would work on the endorphins from exercise as well?
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 07/26/2004 0:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Reading "Under Blair, the Labour party has moved to the right" didn't make me laugh ... then I read this.

I'd rather cry.
Posted by: Edward Yee || 07/26/2004 0:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Is there a vaccine for Socialism?
Posted by: ed || 07/26/2004 0:51 Comments || Top||


Europe
"The Riddle of the Sphincter" ... Did an enema kill Napoleon?
THE enduring mystery surrounding the demise of Napoleon Bonaparte has just been given another twist. The official verdict, supported by an autopsy, was that l'Empereur died of stomach cancer on May 5, 1821, at the age of 51, while in exile on Britain's South Atlantic island colony of St. Helena. But French conspiracy theorists suspect that Napoleon was slowly poisoned, either by the British - true to their perfidious nature - or by his confidant, Count Charles de Montholon, who was supposedly in the pay of French royalists opposed to the emperor's return to France.
After all I've seen of late, I'd put money on the French guy.
The scientific evidence for this is a chemical analysis conducted in 2001 on a lock of hair cut from Napoleon's hair after his death that found huge traces of arsenic. But, according to next Saturday's issue of the British weekly New Scientist, all are wrong. "Medical misadventure" by Napoleon's over-enthusiastic doctors was to blame, according to forensic pathologist Steven Karch at the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Department. Every day, the doctors gave Napoleon an enema to relieve his symptoms of a sick stomach and intestinal cramping. "They used really big, nasty syringe-shaped things," Karch says lyrically.
Still in use among the French, I hope.
This, combined with regular doses of a chemical called antimony potassium tartrate to induce vomiting, would have left poor Boney perilously short of potassium. This can lead to a lethal heart condition known in English as in French as "torsades de pointes" in which the blood flow to the brain is disrupted by bursts of irregular heartbeats. Karch's theory is that any arsenic in Napoleon's body that may have come from smoke or other environmental sources would have made him more vulnerable to torsades. But that on its own would not have sent him to meet his maker.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Zenster || 07/25/2004 1:30:00 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reassuring to know the Fwench have always been full of sh*t. I think Chiraq needs an enema too - killer or otherwise.
Posted by: BH || 07/25/2004 19:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll bet this is from the Onion. Everybody knows they didn't use enemas in France because you don't need them in a country of perfect assholes.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/25/2004 19:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Napoleon actually escaped to America, married a Louisiana widow and got involved in American politics. If there isn't such a theory, I shall invent it myself.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 07/25/2004 20:00 Comments || Top||

#4  I heard he actually died when he stuck a pistol in his belt, accidently pulled the trigger, and blew his bone apart.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 20:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually he changed his name to Frank after the move and invented 'Frank's Hot Sauce'
Posted by: dorf || 07/25/2004 20:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Deacon - I though Mr. Davis's comment was hysterical, but you are the clear winner! :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 20:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Damm, I wanted to suggest one of these for chairman Arafat.
Posted by: FlameBait93268 || 07/26/2004 0:14 Comments || Top||


Armstrong Kicks @ss and divides opinions in France
Updated: Saturday July 24, 2004 4:07PM

PARIS (AP) -- As Lance Armstrong races toward unheard-of Tour de France glory, France is torn. Many resent a brash Texan muscling in on their beloved cycling classic. But how can you hate such a champ? "Face it, the man is amazing," Sebastian Bizeul, a medical technician, put it. He reflected a broad national sentiment. Of course he'd prefer to see a Frenchman on top, he said. But it's a fair fight. Barring some mishap, Armstrong is expected to win on Sunday, his sixth Tour de France victory in a row. No one has won more than five.
Qu'el horruers!
"This stuff about drugs, his aloof manner, his guards, it is all minor if you care about the sport," Bizeul said. "He has worked hard, and he is grand champion. You've got to give it to him." Henri Leconte, a retired French tennis great, wrote a glowing tribute in the daily, "Le Monde," calling Armstrong's image of being distant and prickly a fabrication of the media. "He is, above all, absolutely normal," he wrote. "He is very kind, generous and respectful of others. ... He has his heart in his hand, and his fight against cancer proves it." And, Leconte added, "He had the decency to learn French. He loves France."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Zenster || 07/25/2004 11:57:22 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey Zen, Like most cyclist (I no longer do hard stuff but I know numbness) The vast majority know what is required and admire the effort of even the water carriers.

Hey, dude. I didn't get to tell you about the 1971 Raleigh Record A guy gave me a few years ago. Mint! Steal wheels, base components, British racing green with a Worths leather saddle. My current eye is for those machines that were of base price, mass produced, and mass discarded. keep an eye out bro, thats where the music is being played. Cheap, clean Peugouts, Raleighs, Italvegas, Varsitys. Base models, the baser the better!
Posted by: Lucky || 07/25/2004 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  "He had the decency to learn French. He loves France."

Some kind of unconditional love, no doubt. Lance is a true champion. If he wins No. 6, I hope that he takes the honor graciously and then GTFO never to return. The French cannot collectively appreciate a true champion. Lance Armstrong is a great athlete and person of the type that comes along only once a century or so. If the French cannot appreciate such a human treasure, then it is their loss.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/25/2004 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Base models, the baser the better!

When you can get a date with one ... Oh, bicycles, we were discussing bicycles.

This reminds me very little of the pre-Raleigh Carlton frame I built up with full Gran Sport Campagnolo group for my little sister. Same root beer frame color as my Bianchi, as opposed to their team color "celeste," otherwise known as "cat puke green."

The Italvegas, Italas, and Motobecanes were all very decent frames. Your Raleigh Record was actually a bit better than run-of-the-mill.

My Bianchi is hung with components that all came out of the same 60s vintage era. I managed to obtain an in-the-box Record derraileur for shop price. Another search turned up the Campy cranks and chainwheels (with fresh still-square gear teeth) from another old Bianchi to replace my Ambrosio cotter style arms. The Ambrisio cranks were unusual in that they bored out the bottom bracket's spindle in order to reduce overall weight. Some Fiamme red label rims, Trois et Trois double butted spokes to match the Columbus double butted tubing, early model Campy fingertip shifters, a Silca hand pump with a Campy tip, steel Campy seat post, cloth handlebar tape, Campy cable housings and clasps. Christophe toe clips ... am I leaving anything out? Oops, the Regina Oro rear high ratio cluster and brass linked chain. Campy high flange hubs with quick release skewers.

I narrowly missed out on acquiring a set of 1968 vintage Campagnolo "No Name" brakes. They were from among the very first sets of brake systems sold in America. Campy did not emblazon their name on the front caliper in case the first shipments did not ::hack cough choke:: sell. They are the only other brakes I will put on my bike besides the original Universals.

I'm still lusting after some Campy built Cinelli reversible hubs. Ask me about them if you are unfamiliar.

Yes, I'm a bike snob. I can still remember my pals ushering me into a friend's bedroom to show me a poster of a large peleton. I took one look at it and said, "Feh, cheap bikes!"

They all started laughing and pointed out how there was a nude woman on every bike in the photo. Meanwhile, my girlfriend standing behind me was glowing with pride.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/25/2004 1:16 Comments || Top||

#4  If he wins No. 6, I hope that he takes the honor graciously and then GTFO never to return.

AP, I'd agree with you except that I'd like to see Lance go back and snag No. 7 just so his record stands as unassailable for several decades. America (and France) deserves it. In that order.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/25/2004 1:20 Comments || Top||

#5  The French love winners and aspires to someday be one themselves. Lance demonstrates the very fabric of the American "can do" spirit and is a role model for our children. A profile in courage.
Posted by: Capt America || 07/25/2004 1:23 Comments || Top||

#6  You realize that we have a rider poser running for president. Could he be the next (French looking) Armstrong? He speaks and likes France too.
Posted by: Capt America || 07/25/2004 1:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Charles Johnson discusses the Tour over at LGF in a posting entitled-get this-"The Texas Chainring Massacre".
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 07/25/2004 1:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Carltons, I know them well, rode a straigt gauge 531 to Frisco once then sold it to a UPS guy.

A true storey that has a Lanceian attachement. The guy I rode that tour with was a big guy, 6'4" 225 lbs, and wanted to race. He shaved his head, trained hard, (I always beat his ass up most, no all, climbs) I raced a little, cat 4 stuff. So anyways, He put a large 58t chainring on his bike (an Angel Rodriguez 531db) and started to be like a butterfly. Sucking wheel (my specialty) started to be harder!

Well Steve got faster, married, had a kid, got faster and went racing. But before he went racing, while he and I were training he told me he had a problem with his nuts. His mom was one of those religious types that forbade doctoring, don't ask me. I didn't know squat what his porblem was and just blew it off and finished our ride. Two weeks later, or so. Steve went and raced a crit. He stayed with the pack until he crashed. His testicles screamed in pain, thats what he said, but he was more concerned with getting back on and chasing. He was really pissed at the guy who tried to help him off as the guy jamed up his gears and Steve lost a few seconds getting everything straight.

He finnished the race off the back. He knew something was wrong. On his trip back home he stopped into a sport medicine clinic in Tacoma. Testicular cancer. Steve lasted 2 years. I remember taking a video tape of Greg Lemonds Worlds Championship to watch with him in hospice.

He was a great guy to train with, anybody here would love to hang with this guy. When I heard Lance had the same cancer years later, I said 2 years and then your dead. Jeesh!
Posted by: Lucky || 07/25/2004 2:00 Comments || Top||

#9  The French love winners

That would explain their extraordinary degree of self-loathing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 07/25/2004 10:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Of course Armstrong is doping, the Americans have ways of making it undetectable by normal science. He must be in cahoots with the CIA, and the Pentagon, who are able to make it look like a jet liner crashed into the Pentagon... and don't forget those Jews!!!!

//phrancophile
Posted by: Asedwich || 07/25/2004 19:35 Comments || Top||

#11  Everybody knows Lance gets his drugs from Halliburton.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/25/2004 19:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
American Evita [book] portrays Hillary Clinton as an abusive adulteress
Posted by: rex || 07/25/2004 20:48 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Bush-haters do Kerry no favors
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Staff | July 25th, 2004

A POPULAR conceit of the left is that political hatred is a sickness of the right, one to which liberals are largely immune. "Just who are these Clinton haters," asked Time magazine in April 1994, "and why do they loathe Bill and Hillary with such passion?" It answered, in effect: That's just the way conservatives are. The article quoted historian Alan Brinkley: "Liberals tend to value tolerance highly, so there's a greater reluctance to destroy enemies than among the right."

That was a whopper even in 1994, a year when Republican leader Newt Gingrich was routinely vilified as a McCarthyite and a racist. Ten years later, with a storm of Bush hatred raging among liberal Democrats, the notion that the left is too high-minded to savage its opponents is about as plausible as the claim that the moon landings were staged in Hollywood.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 07/25/2004 8:27:34 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Luckily, the Dims won't take his advice.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 20:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Jacoby's the Globe's token conservative. He gets suspened every couple of years for making too much sense.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/25/2004 20:47 Comments || Top||

#3  We need more reasoned minds like Jeff.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 07/25/2004 21:58 Comments || Top||

#4  If the Democrats take enough of a spanky that they have to engage in introspection, we will be a much stronger country. Our effort in the WOT could have been quite a bit more effective, had the opposition not been tossing caltrops about, ceaselessly beating the Abu Ghraib drum and basically encouraging the American people to think we are failing. Hopefully the American people will punish them for their actions so that maybe Joe Lieberman can fhashion them into a responsible opposition that works for the betterment of all.

Posted by: Super Hose || 07/26/2004 1:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Naaaaahh, I don't buy it. Pop on over to Slate.com and check out some of the Fray posts. Search for the word "hate" or similar terms in negative posts and the vast majority of these posters will have a little picture of GWB near their names, indicating voter preference. I would instead characterize most of the liberal posts I've seen as being "concerned", "worried", "energized", or perhaps even "shrill." But it's not hatred, not usually. The less we hyperbolize about these things the better. Jeff, get a grip.

Now, two objective observations about the Right in this country: They do tend to go to emotional extremes on issues, and they do tend to project. By which I mean, blame the other side for the thing they just did, or are planning to do. "Liberal-controlled media" is a good example of this. There are a number of popular conservative-themed TV and radio programs on air and not a single liberal-themed one. If the liberals control the media, they're doing an excellent job of impersonating conservatives.

Chalk it all up to bad spin.

Best thing you can say about hate language is, it drags us all down. It should be vilified wherever it comes from, no matter the source. So not everything Mr. Clinton or Mr. Kerry says is just shit, and not everything Mr. Bush says is pure gold. Use your head, as always.
Posted by: Mister Write || 08/24/2004 4:59 Comments || Top||


GREAT Bitch-Slap of Gorebot
Interesting editorial on why Bush is keeping Cheney on the ticket. Real reason for posting: Her (inadvertent?) bitch-slap of Al Bore (see last line).
Severely EFL.

*snip*
Former congressman Vin Weber sheepishly allows that, when he was elected to the House in 1980, one of his first acts was to vote against Cheney for a GOP leadership post — because the proud Reaganite thought his Wyoming colleague was the moderate in the race. He later appreciated that Cheney was "in every respect one of the most principled conservatives in Congress." Weber points out that Cheney's vast previous experience on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and at the Pentagon explains why President Bush has avoided the pitfalls that have tripped up others who also made a virtue of being from "outside the Beltway." He's convinced that if a Democratic president enjoyed such an "ideal partnership" with his vice president, liberal historians would be celebrating a "historic advance in American governance that has finally made the vice presidency a serious institution rather than a holding tank in case of a catastrophe." Dick Cheney meets with heads of state while they are still breathing. [emphasis added]
*snip*
As Glenn says, Ouch!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 7:38:27 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I think he is cute as a button," VP Cheney of John Edwards.

Too many Johns, so little time.
Posted by: Capt America || 07/25/2004 20:35 Comments || Top||

#2  It takes someone with a high degree of self-confidence to assemble a team of Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and Rice. There is not a Sandy Berger to be found on Team W.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/26/2004 1:05 Comments || Top||


Prostitutes converging on Boston for Democratic convention
Reuters. Link courtesy of Steve Den Beste, who notes, "Man, you just can't make up stuff like this." EFL.
Security officers won't be the only professionals coming to Boston in unprecedented numbers for the Democratic National Convention. Practitioners of the world's oldest profession
[Note to the euphemism-impaired: "Practitioners of the world's oldest profession" = "prostitutes." Other synonyms: strumpets, hookers, ladies of the night, streetwalkers, ladies of negotiable virtue.]
are seeking reinforcements to help service some of the 35,000 visitors -- plus untold numbers of police reinforcements -- expected in the coming week when Democrats name Sen. John Kerry their presidential candidate.
There's a particularly high demand for curvy, plus-sized, dark-haired girls who are willing to be called "Monica."
"Every convention brings in more people, and women fly in from all over the country to work it," said Robyn Few, a prostitute on probation who runs the Sex Workers Outreach Project, an advocacy group. "There will be girls from California and from the South in Boston this week," she said. "I hope a lot of women make a lot of money and make a lot of men really happy."
"Just don't get in the car with Ted Kennedy, especially if he's driving over a bridge."
. . . For weeks, escort services have plastered advertisements in magazines and on the Internet asking women to work the convention. Even local strip clubs are putting out the word that more women are needed. "We are looking for more girls right now," said Frank Caswell, who runs the Foxy Lady club outside Boston. "Obviously, hospitality and beauty are expected and the girls must bring something that is enticing to see."
Comment away, kids--this is too good to pass up!
Posted by: Mike || 07/25/2004 7:22:26 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are they coming in from the battleground states ?
Posted by: crazyhorse || 07/25/2004 19:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Enough about the media. What are business people doing?
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 07/25/2004 19:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Hell, I thought this was a story about Ted Kennedy. Guess you mean the other kind of prostitute.
Posted by: BH || 07/25/2004 19:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Why are they surprised the delegates are coming to the convention?
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/25/2004 19:51 Comments || Top||

#5  I lived in Boston for 2 years (1991/92) and was propositioned by a prostitute only once. I really don't think I'm THAT bad looking. You just can't make this stuff up. I have been watching the preliminaries to the convention of and on today on Fox and it has been extremely entertaining. I can't believe all the moonbats! I hope the GOP convention is this entertaining.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 20:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Two Johns. Thousands of hookers.
How appropriate.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/25/2004 20:37 Comments || Top||

#7  tu3031: ROFL! You nailed it. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 20:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Extra security staff, they're going to search Sandy Berger's pants.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 07/25/2004 20:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Hey, Atomic. I wonder if they'll find Jimmy Hoffa in there?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 21:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Hey, Atomic. I wonder if they'll find Jimmy Hoffa in there?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 21:00 Comments || Top||

#11  Hey, Atomic. I wonder if they'll find Jimmy Hoffa in there?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 21:00 Comments || Top||

#12  Don't know what happened there. I only hit the submit button once, I think. Must be the Del Patron.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 21:11 Comments || Top||

#13  Happened to me earlier, Deacon, on another thread.

I think the new server may have a slight stutter. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 21:20 Comments || Top||


'No-Show John' Burns Beantown
EFL
New York Post, July 25, 2004

So far, John Kerry has been an onlooker at his own convention.
And how is this different from the rest of his life?
Every day last week, the already-dark mood of his hometown grew surlier, as the extent of the convention's massive disruptions of daily life became ever more apparent. But the man who would lead the Free World essentially went MIA. He's hiding so his poll numbers will go up; everytime he opens his yap and gets big press, his numbers dive.
*snip*
Meanwhile, in the sweltering city, the heavy lifting of actually averting total chaos was left to two local pols — Boston's Democratic Mayor Thomas Menino and GOP Gov. Mitt Romney.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 12:23:08 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Mark Steyn Gets Into Sandy Berger's Pants
EFL. (No hat tip - I actually found this one myself! :-p)
We can nitpick forever, but what's changed?
BY MARK STEYN, July 25, 2004 (Chicago Sun Times)
I'll get into Sandy Berger's pants, crowded as they are, momentarily. But let me sneak up on them in a roundabout way.
You do it, Mark. I ain't going near them!
A few days ago, I woke up to find an e-mail from a pal enclosing the following UPI story:
"Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday."
"Isn't that GREAT NEWS?" asked my friend, rhetorically. Well, the story didn't pan out, and a couple of hours later he e-mailed again to apologize for the premature yelping and high-fiving, and adding that he hadn't meant it was GREAT NEWS Saddam had nukes, only that it was GREAT NEWS because it would ruin John Kerry's and Michael Moore's day.

True. And that sums up perfectly the rotten state of domestic politics in America. A frivolous uncivil civil war is draining all the energy away from the real war.
Preach it, brother! Shout it from the rooftops!
Take, for example, Max Cleland, Vietnam veteran and former Georgia senator.
No thanks.
Last week, speaking in his role as Kerry campaign mascot, he said Bush went to war with Iraq because "he basically concluded his daddy was a failed president" and he "wanted to be Mr. Macho Man" so he "flat-out lied." Blistering stuff, huh? Would this be the same Max Cleland who voted to authorize war with Iraq in the U.S. Senate? Perhaps, as he's so insightful about the president's psychology, he could enlighten us as to his own reasons for wanting war with Iraq? Any daddy hang-ups there, Mr. Macho? ...

And that's really what Americans should be asking. Aside from the letterheads, what's changed? The 9/11 report is fine and dandy if you want to know what went wrong that morning. But at least those underperforming federal mediocrities had an excuse: They didn't know it was 9/11. What excuse did Sposato and her colleagues have six months later when they were mailing out the al-Qaida visas? And what are those federal agencies like now, three years on? My sense is that the administration has found it very difficult to change the complacent bureaucratic culture Max Cleland wanted to preserve.

And here's where I have some sympathy with Sandy Berger and his overloaded pants. By his own words, he's guilty of acts that any other American would go to jail for. He "inadvertently" shoved 30-page classified documents down his pants and then "inadvertently" lost them at home and then "inadvertently" returned to the National Archives to "inadvertently" take another draft of the same 30-page document and "inadvertently" lost that, too. He "inadvertently" made forbidden cell phone calls from the room with the classified documents, and he "inadvertently" took more suspicious bathroom breaks while in the Archives than that Syrian band took on that L.A. flight that was in the news last week. If the former national security adviser has an incontinence problem, that at least explains where he was during the '90s when Osama bin Laden was growing bolder and bolder on his watch.
Ouch!

But, if Berger was simply covering his buns (literally), I don't care. The minute the decision was taken to convene a 9/11 commission during election season, it was obvious that it would boil down to who was most to blame for the day -- the eight months of the Bush administration, or the eight years of Bill Clinton -- and, given the Clintonian penchant for playing fast and loose with the rules, Sandy Berger wandering out with his pants stuffed tighter than Al Gore's jeans on that Rolling Stone cover has a kind of tacky inevitability about it. Who screwed up worst should have been left to the historians, which means when the war is over...

What matters is where we're headed, not where we were. And, in that respect, John Kerry is still looking through the rear window. Not so much because of his remarkably poor choice of advisers -- Joe Wilson (the Politics Of Truth fraud), Max Cleland (with his schoolyard cries of "Liar, liar!") and Sandy Berger (with his pants on fire) -- but because Kerry's prescriptions (the U.N., the French) are so Sept. 10. A holiday from history is one thing. The Democrats are now embarked on a holiday from reality.
Ain't it the truth.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 11:50:03 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


DNC to re-create an episode of South Park
Media members, already perturbed by long security lines, may find themselves waiting in line for something nearly as important. As the majority of the print reporters arrived Saturday at the FleetCenter for the Democratic National Convention, tongues clucked when they saw the restroom facilities that they will be using for the next week. Twenty portable restrooms, like those used on construction sites, are lined up in front of the media pavilion to service nearly 1,200 members of the print media who will be working around the clock. That's about 60 serious coffee-drinkers per toilet...
Maybe the journalists will start launching themselves at the podium using a giant rubber band.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/25/2004 10:40:42 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Second story to mention Demo's trying to cut costs.What happened to all that money that's been flowing in?
Posted by: Stephen || 07/25/2004 20:51 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if Peter Jennings has his own piss boy?
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/25/2004 20:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Somehow this doesn't strike me as one of the Dems' more savvy moves.

Piss off the MSM? That could have some serious impact.
Posted by: Dave D. || 07/25/2004 21:01 Comments || Top||

#4  It's in Sandy Berger's pants.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 21:12 Comments || Top||

#5  I like the last line, calling them Porta-Johns.

So which kind of Johns are on the ticket? The kind that hire hookers or the kind that get pissed on?
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/25/2004 21:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Mr. Davis - Both. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/25/2004 21:22 Comments || Top||

#7  The Democrats know they can bully and degrade the media any way they like.
What are the mediots going to do? Spin toward Bush?
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 07/25/2004 21:34 Comments || Top||


Moore, Kucinich, Gore, Jackson, Dean to Take Back America
via CNSNews (h/t Lucianne)
I hope this isn't a dupe - the line-up is truly amazing.

Michael Moore to Speak in Boston During Democrat Convention
By Robert B. Bluey - July 23, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Filmmaker Michael Moore will join fellow liberals Howard Dean and Jesse Jackson in Boston next week for three days of events designed to rally the Democratic Party's left, members of whom will be in town for the nomination of John Kerry as the party's standard bearer in this year's presidential race.

The Campaign for America's Future is organizing the "Take Back America" events. The group held a conference in Washington last month that brought together more than 2,500 attendees who vowed to defeat President Bush on Nov. 2.

Moore, director of the Bush-bashing film Fahrenheit 9/11, and Dean, the former presidential candidate and Vermont governor, will kick off the events next Tuesday. Starting at 2 p.m. each day, attendees will hear from an assortment of other prominent liberals.

"There is a broad movement for progressive change that is pretty independent of the Democratic Party, and it's going to continue no matter who wins this election," said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. "We're interested in fostering and energizing that activist base. We know we have our work cut out for us, even if the White House changes hands."

The "Take Back America" events begin only a day after independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader leaves Boston. Nader has outlined his own slate of events appealing to liberal voters. But it's the invitation of Moore that has created a buzz in Boston. A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party told the Boston Herald that having Moore in town "adds a lot of excitement to everything else going on."

Moore's anti-war film has generated nearly $100 million at the box office, and has also served as a rallying cry for Democrats. He has become a favorite of liberals, even though he has been accused of distorting some facts in the documentary.

Hickey said he was unconcerned about Moore's appearance becoming a possible liability for Kerry, who has distanced himself from controversial liberals, including Moore and billionaire financier George Soros. "Michael Moore has gotten the mass media to ask questions that they were never asking about Iraq before his film," Hickey said in defending Moore's invitation. Besides, Hickey said, the Democratic National Committee welcomes satellite groups to hold events throughout convention week. He said about 1,500 people have already signed up to take part in the events, which exceeds the 800-person occupancy limit at the Royal Sonesta Hotel.

On the second day of events, attendees will hear from U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and former ambassador Joe Wilson, who accused the Bush administration of exaggerating claims about Iraq. Wilson, however, has recently been discredited by both a U.S. Senate investigation and a report from a British commission.

Former vice president Al Gore is slated to speak on the third day, along with Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) and Steve Rosenthal, chief executive of America Coming Together, a group that has been criticized for using convicted felons for its door-to-door voter registration effort.

Missing from the "Take Back America" roster is Soros, who spoke at the Campaign for America's Future conference in Washington. It was at that event that Soros equated the abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The Washington conference also featured NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who created a stir by singling out Republicans as enemies of black Americans and comparing conservatives to the terrorist-sponsoring Taliban government that once ruled Afghanistan. Republicans have dismissed such attacks, including actress Whoopi Goldberg's vulgarity-laced remarks about Bush earlier this month, as hateful and full of anger.

"The progressive movement," Hickey responded, "is inspired by a vision of a better country and hope. The anger simply comes from the fact that we've got an administration that is stymieing that hope and is thwarting people's larger vision for this country."
Oh yeah, progressive... as in permanently stuck in 1969. This will be fun!
Posted by: .com || 07/25/2004 4:24:27 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In my opinion, one of the worst things we have done as a nation was to allow ourselves to believe that with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, we had "defeated Communism."

We did not defeat Communism: it's alive and well all over the world, including right here in the USA.

At a high school reunion a few years back, I ran into a fellow I'd been friends with in school; he had gone on to Yale and become a Marxist- a real, industrial-strength moonbat. At the reunion I asked him whether he was still a Communist.

His reply:

"Yes, but we don't call ourselves 'Communists' anymore because of the negative connotations; we refer to ourselves instead as 'Progressives' so people won't freak out".

I should have shot him while I had the chance; but I was unarmed at the time.
Posted by: Dave D. || 07/25/2004 11:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sick of the "Take Back America" meme. I get the feeling that after 8 years of Clinton, the donks see the White House as their own little occupied Palestine.
Posted by: BH || 07/25/2004 19:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I hate that "Take back America" theme, too. Take it back from whom? Did somebody steal it? If they mean from the conservatives I'd say we always had it and the extreme liberals never had it. If they mean the "vast right-wing conspiracy" howcome I don't have my membership card?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 20:06 Comments || Top||

#4  This week, in this town, is really gonna suck!
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/25/2004 20:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Get stuffed, Michael Moore.

The regressives progressives of the '30s and '40s were way into eugenics. The regressives progressives of today are into causes just as evil.
Posted by: Korora || 07/25/2004 20:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Deacon and the rest of my RW fellow travellers, here's the site where we go for all our of VRWC needs including membership cards:
Right Wing Conspiracy
Posted by: GreatestJeneration || 07/25/2004 20:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Jen, that's priceless! I've ordered a t-shirt and a bumper sticker as well as a membership card. Many thanks!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/25/2004 20:41 Comments || Top||


Berger's Service to America
Via Instapundit 7/21 or so.
1999 report regarding Shady Berger's sevice to America. The mans a slime ball. There is an interesting photo of Shady with Maddy and Slick at the source.
President Clinton has defended his National Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, against demands for him to resign over the alleged theft by China of US nuclear secrets. Eighty opposition Republicans earlier wrote to Mr Clinton saying they wanted Mr Berger to resign. "Mr Berger has failed in his responsibility as this nation's national security advisor by not properly informing you of the most serious espionage ever committed against the United States," the lawmakers said in the letter. They said he knew of concerns about Chinese espionage, but delayed taking action. Berger: 'We acted appropriately'

In his first public appearance since the publication of the damning congressional report, Mr Berger said he was not considering resigning. "I believe that personally and within the White House, we acted appropriately when this information was brought to our attention," he said. And on Thursday President Clinton said he had full confidence in his security adviser. Mr Berger, who has been a strong advocate of expanding trade ties with China, is a long-standing ally of the president. When questioned on the US television network, PBS, Mr Berger said he took proper action when he was told about two cases of security lapses at a weapons laboratory in 1996, although he did not tell the president until a year later. When investigators returned in 1997 with more detailed information about broader and more systematic problems, Mr Berger said he then briefed Mr Clinton. "We swiftly acted to implement the most sweeping reforms of counterintelligence in the labs in history," he said. The Republican Party's attack over the Chinese espionage claims had previously focused on the Attorney General Janet Reno for allegedly refusing to authorise telephone taps on suspected agents.
I thought that Hazel O'Leary's recent brewhaha was like a message from God. "Hey look, remember?"
Posted by: Lucky || 07/25/2004 12:18:33 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Luckt - In response to your post yesterday, here's all I've been able to come up with - sorry.
Sandy1
Sandy2
Sandy3
Posted by: .com || 07/25/2004 2:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Nationwide Dot! Way to go. Call a press conference and get this shit out. I tell ya. As soon as I heard the idea I knew you were the right guy at the right time. Get it out there! Did I say, very cool, yet?
Posted by: Lucky || 07/25/2004 2:20 Comments || Top||

#3  I gotta reinstall Photoshop - I did these with Xara which is great for vector graphics, not bitmap stuff. PShop is the magic for bitmaps. Just haven't gotten around to putting it back on after scraping my machine down to bare metal last week, heh. Call me Abu Lazy.
Posted by: .com || 07/25/2004 2:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Abu Lazy! Oh man, way to go.
Posted by: Lucky || 07/25/2004 2:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Lucky - Put Photoshop down and did this one in a few minutes - so much easier with PS to do bitmaps, heh. Has a little more "flair" to it.
Posted by: .com || 07/25/2004 3:38 Comments || Top||


Russia
Judges deny Khodorkovsky request to drop charges
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2004 23:40 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred, doesn't this hurt Soros? Is Khodorkovsky one of his buddys?
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/26/2004 1:38 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Dream of wind power flags
Posted by: tipper || 07/25/2004 10:57 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  >So the net contribution of wind power to the electricity grid is minuscule. It is estimated that to match the output of one nuclear power station would require a "farm" of wind turbines the size of inner London.<

Bwaaahhaaaaa! Even though this fact was well known by anyone with the slightest scientific honesty, they still blew a wad of cash on it. And will probably continue to do so as long as energy policy is based on environmentalist fantasies.

Fusion Power is the answer and it's decades away. Till then, its nukes, gas and coal. Get use to it.
Posted by: DaveMac || 07/25/2004 11:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Worse than that is the realization that commercial confusion has been just 10 years away for the last 40 years. BTW, Den Beste has some interesting things to say abt alternative pwr... so long live coal/oil/nukes.
Posted by: N Guard || 07/25/2004 11:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Just look at the fiasco with the proposed wind farm off of Cape Cod and Nantucket. great idea till it would of ruined Teddy's view of the ocean (locally we had a radio contest to cast new characters for the "Andy Griffith Show" and Teddy got pegged as Otis). The solutions to the Fusion problem lok to be decades away unless somebody makes a breakthrough in the field. And this would most likely come from the people working with Frarnsworth style reactors. The current work at princeton and elsewhere is more devoted to producing Phds IIMO. Maybe we should turn over the Fusion research to the navy with the proviso that they be working on something that can fit in a ship. As for fission the Pebble Bed Reactors look to be a good bet in the terms of operating simplicity and safety. Plus there is always Space Based Solar. But one of the smartest things we could do is to re-instate the tax credits for increasing the energy efficency of our homes through being able to write of upgrades like new windows or insulation.
Posted by: cheaderhead || 07/25/2004 12:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Dream of wind power flags? Heck, I thought all flags were wind-powered!
Posted by: Mike || 07/25/2004 19:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Pity we can't put a few windmills in the Fleet Center for the Democratic Party Convention
Posted by: Brutus || 07/25/2004 21:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Brutus - better not. You'd blow the grid.
Posted by: PBMcL || 07/26/2004 0:13 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Tsvangirai fights on for fair polls
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2004 00:35 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



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