Lunatic Fringe Irony

Those on the left had a point when they pointed out the irony of someone supposedly pro-life, Eric Rudolph, killing abortion providers. Now some of that same irony has been switched, as some folks who are supposedly against the violence in Iraq just beat up a National Guardsman they came across walking down the street.

I've always believed that the whack jobs on the outer fringes do not represent the movements that start them, and it's not exactly good logic to use such isolated incidents as a hammer against those on the other side. It's an unfair tactic, though useful I'm sure, because any movement can be taken to it's illogical extreme.

Yea, I Get Tagged on a Book Meme

A few days back, Dolphin, who seems to think it his job to prevent right-shift from occuring here at Digital Nicotine (which to be honest, is something I don't mind) tagged me with a book meme. Here are my answers. Note: Holy books are too obvious, so I won't mention them.

1. One book that changed your life.
That's one heck of a question. I'd have to say that C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, which I read my freshman year in college, is the closest. It is the best defense of my faith I have ever read. So intelligent, so concise in it's argument.

2. One book you have read more than once.
The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells. When in elementary school, this is one of the very first 'big boy' books that I read. I have since read it three or four times, all from the same paperback I bought in fifth or sixth grade. A good fast read. A classic in sci-fi.

3. One book you would want on a desert island.
If a compilation, a complete anthology of Shakespeare. If one piece of work, then I'll go with Homer's Odyssey. First of all, it starts with Odysseus stranded on a desert island. But also, if I have one book to read over and over and over again, I would want a challenging piece of epic poetry, slow to read, one that rewarded repeat readings.

4. One book that made you laugh.
Maybe the funniest book I've read is A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the greatest comic protagonist in literature. A must read.

5. One book that made you cry.
Dolphin's selection would be in my top five (Elie Weisel's Night) but I would go with Tess of the D'Urbevilles, by Thomas Hardy. I love Hardy, but man his books will frustrate you like nothing else, and this book, to be honest, will piss you off.

6. One book you wish you had written.
Dubliners, James Joyce. The short story taken to some of it's greatest heights.

7. One book you wish had never been written.
I thought about making Mein Kampf this selection, but I realized that since Hitler would have succeeded in his murderous desires with or without this book, I decided not to make it my selection. The Communist Manifesto, while the inspiration for a lot of pain in the 20th Century, was an honest attempt to deal with the growing pains of the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, I go with The Turner Diaries, a novel written in pure hate, that inspired Timothy McVeigh to plot the Oklahoma City bombing.

8. One book you are currently reading.
Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury. Just started it, so can't say too much about it right now.

9. One book you have been meaning to read.
The Turner Diaries... just kidding. I have not read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, so I'll go with that.

10. Tag five people.
I tagged five people last time I did a book meme, so I'll just let folks know that if you are on my blogroll, or are simply reading this, consider yourself tagged, and to start compiling your list.

Plamegate: The Real Scandal

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek wrote a piece in Newsweek confirming that Richard Armitage, who was then the Assistant Secretary of State, was the leaker of Valerie Plame's identity.

Let me highlight some parts of the article.

"Armitage, a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters, apparently hadn't thought through the possible implications of telling Novak about Plame's identity."

So it wasn't Karl Rove diabolically revealing Plame for malicious purposes to silence political opponents, but someone engaging in gossip. What a let down for the conspiracy crowd. Next...

"The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case, underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.

This coming from Michael Isikoff and his co-author on an upcoming book, David Corn of The Nation. That is the real irony in this article. David Corn was one of those administration critics, writing thus at his blog:

The Wilson smear was a thuggish act. Bush and his crew abused and misused intelligence to make their case for war. Now there is evidence Bushies used classified information and put the nation's counter-proliferation efforts at risk merely to settle a score. It is a sign that with this gang politics trumps national security.

You were so damn wrong, David. And now you're going to make money selling a book that you wrote showing how wrong you were. I do appreciate the ballsyness of such a shameless move, I must admit.

Back to the Newsweek article:

But officials at the White House also told reporters about Wilson's wife in an effort to discredit Wilson for his public attacks on Bush's handling of Iraq intelligence. Karl Rove confirmed to Novak that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and days later offered the same information to Time reporter Matt Cooper.

Good try, Isikoff, but your own earlier paragraphs rebut this. Can't let go of that Rovian conspiracy dream, can you. Rove confirmed Plame after is was brought up by Novak. Confirming something that is brought up to you by a reporter is not the same as actively seeking to discredit someone. And once realizing that a secret is out, telling that unsecret secret to Cooper of Time Magazine is absolutely harmless.

Taft, the State Department lawyer, also felt obligated to inform White House counsel Alberto Gonzales. But Powell and his aides feared the White House would then leak that Armitage had been Novak's source—possibly to embarrass State Department officials who had been unenthusiastic about Bush's Iraq policy.

Colin Powell was concerned that the truth of Armitage's dumb ass mistake might be used to embarrass his wing in the administration, so he didn't tell his boss, the President, the truth. While at the same time keeping his boss silent did have the effect of embarrassing the White House for something they did not do. Not exactly a Profile in Courage.

So Taft told Gonzales the bare minimum: that the State Department had passed some information about the case to Justice. He didn't mention Armitage. Taft asked if Gonzales wanted to know the details. The president's lawyer, playing the case by the book, said no, and Taft told him nothing more.

Alberto Gonzales, playing the case by the book, said no? Looks like all that talk about Gonzales being a lackey for Bush was complete and utter bullshit. Repeat: bullshit. When push came to shove, Gonzales did the right and ethical thing, and should be commended for that. Don't expect much commendation from the conspiracy-driven left on this one, though.

My one question though in all of this is, when did Isikoff and Corn know all this? Sure, Armitage has been a source of rumor on this for a long time, but when did these two so-called reporters have enough facts to confirm those rumors?

As purveyors of the truth and watchdogs of government, as we so often hear people in the media call themselves, didn't they have a duty to report that Armitage and Powell kept secret the fact that the leak was nothing more than an accident because of intra-departmental squabbles?

How long did they know all this? Did they wait until maximum damage was done to the Administration, which neither one, especially Corn, was a fan of. Did they, like Colin Powell, hold a secret for political reasons?

Or did they hold that secret, and kept from the public the truth, so to later on sell a book?

That's the real scandal in all this.

Kentucky State Fair: Epilogue

The State Fair ended Sunday. It was a good fair, at least for me personally, for I made a decent number of sales. I was exhausted afterwards. Yesterday driving around town running errands I found myself becoming irrationally angry. I think it was something to do with decompressing from all the human contact, some of it infuriatingly silly, that I engaged in over the past ten days.

That last day at the fair I found out about the plane crash in Lexington that killed 49 people. I tried to think of something appropriate to say, but couldn't. It sucked, people died who shouldn't, and I won't try to use it to make some post pontificating on existential questions yada yada yada.

Overall, I enjoyed the fair. I got to check out the cattle, got to smell the country hams, and got to buy some glass knick-knacks for the girlfriend and for my grandmother. On that last day, I made sure I ate me some funnel cake.

A good fair indeed. Hope you all enjoyed the posts.

Kentucky State Fair: My Culinary Limit

I have eaten frog legs. I have eaten squid tentacles. I have eaten livercheese sandwiches topped with Miracle Whip and a leaf of iceburg lettuce. They're all delicious.

I have eaten crawfish. I have eaten raw fish. I have eaten gumbos with ingredients unknown. And at the fair I have eaten fair foods certain to expand my gut. But my boss the other day gave me something to eat that pushed the limits of my culinary curiosity to their outermost bounds.

The Fried Twinkie.

Take a Twinkie. Put it on a stick. Cover with a batter similar to a corndog's except sweeter, and deep fry that sucker. Then sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve.

I am a brave soul. I nibbled, I took some tentative bites. But I got maybe half way before the I had to stop. My boss didn't finish hers either. The richness was just too much -- just too damn much. I have found my limit, and it is expansive, but it does not extend to The Fried Twinkie.

Kentucky State Fair: A Queer Encounter

It is not uncommon to run across local celebrities at the State Fair: disc jockeys, local news personalities, and such. Usually you take a second glace when you recognize the person walking past, you try not to make them uncomfortable by staring, and you think to yourself, "Hmm, they look different in real life."

So far I've run across three newspeople, John Yarmuth, the Democratic challenger for Congress and publisher of the local alt-weekly, and a Col. Sanders' look alike.

Then last night I'm walking through Freedom Hall to get to my car to leave, and the North American Horse Show is going on inside. I walk through the concourse, exit Freedom Hall where all the smokers are gathered outside, and first thing I see as I walk out the door is Carson from Queer Eye taking a drag off a ciggarette.

Whoa! Didn't see that coming.

I do a cartoonish double take, am stuck in my shoes for a second, and then manage to keep on walking, at this point scoping out to see if any other of the Queer Eye guys are around. Nope, though it is obvious that the guys he is sharing a smoke break with also swing from the other side of the plate. Fashion conscious homosexuals tend to stick out at the Kentucky State Fair.

I don't realize I'm staring until he looks in my direction, so I turn my eyes. I'm sure he gets tired of people gawking at him. And I walk along, amused at the pure randomness of what I just saw.

But could you imagine the television possibilities: 'Queer Eye for the Kentucky State Fair Guy?' That would get some ratings.

Three Guesses

Three guesses who Tim at Daily Snark is talking about:

"He really should stick with what he does best, looking like white trash while knocking up chicks."

Kentucky State Fair: At Least it Wasn't 'The Lumberjack Song'

Our booth at the State Fair is near the Family Stage. The Family Stage is where free shows are put on, generally meant for families taking the kids to the fair. Magicians, hypnotists, and kid-friendly comics perform throughout the day. By sneaking out from the booth for a few moments, and peeking around a corner, I can check out what is going on.

The Family Stage is also the setting for the Fair's Talent Show, where those under 18 get to experience the thrill of performing before the crowd. One act I witnessed was a troupe of girls clogging. Another was some girls doing what I believe is called jazz dance while singing old Motown standards. A young ballerina spun across stage another time.

The dancing was usually better than the singing. It wasn't that great. Sure you got little kids singing, which is cute. But most songs sung by the older kids are those Glee Club type songs only middle school music teacher think kids like to sing, and regular people like to listen to. So over the top happy, so ridiculously cheerful with their lyrics. But then, once as I snuck around to check out what was going on, I heard these sappy lyrics:

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

All these kids, in their early teens, have these great big smiles on their faces, looking all sunny and bright. All the grandmas and grandpas in the crowd are just sitting there loving it. Mom and dad are video recording their youngin's, and country folks with Get-R-Done t-shirts pass on obliviously, stopping to check out the performance. While I, I am laughing my ass off while a nearby janitor stares at me wondering what's so funny.

These kids are singing Monty Python.

While laughing I can't help but wonder. Who's in on this? Is this an intentional parody of the other performers? Who here has seen Life of Brian? How many parents in the audience know that their kids are performing a piece originally sung by Eric Idle during a crucifixion scene, for Pete's sake! Do the kids themselves even know? Who here is aware of the lines obviously edited out: "Life's a piece of shit, When you look at it." Who came up with this, and where can I go to shake his hand?

That made my day. That and the Col. Sanders look-alike.

Kentucky State Fair: The Colonel's Ghost

We have a large van at out booth with TVs on it. While walking around to the back of it to check on something I turned a corner, and saw something that, I kid you not, literally made me jump back in shock and swear.

Colonel Sanders.

White pants, white shirt, black string bow tie, black horn-rimmed glasses, cotton-white hair, funny looking cotton-white beard. The whole damn package. It was like I was staring at Harlan Sander's ghost.

He was walking around pushing an elderly woman, I believe his mother, in a wheelchair to the different vendors and booths. I stared, and then smiled. The girls at the T-Mobile booth stared, and then giggled. People passing by did doubletakes and pointed as the man on the fried chicken bucket walked around the exhibition center.

When the old man walked by ten minutes later, I had to go up to him. He said that he had entered a celebrity look-alike contest at the Fair. The blue ribbon hanging from his neck showed that he was the winner.

That old man was enjoying every minute of his quasi-celebrity, and I don't blame him. The fun he caused for those he crossed paths with, simply by his scary resemblence to that locally bred fast-food icon, was way too good.

Mad props go out to that Col. Sanders look-alike. Mad props, indeed.

Kentucky State Fair: A Bobby Hill With No Hank

Three of us are manning our company's booth. The second-in-command of warehouse, the head of receiving, and myself. We're all in our late twenties. Our booth has plenty of space, where people can walk around, check out our product, watch Peter Gabriel ride a bike on stage while singning Salisbury Hill (lot cooler than it sounds) and grab free marketing crap like balloons, pens, and beer coozies with our logo on it.

Some guy in his late twenties walks up and starts attempting to talk shop with us, showing off how much he knows about our product and such. This guy is a weenie, and he's hitting on receiving girl, telling her that if she wants to sell our product, it would work better if she wore a low-cut shirt and black tight-fitting pants. This is hilarious because she has been dating warehouse guy, who is standing next to her, for the last six months, and warehouse guy is just watching this tool hang himself with his own rope.

While this spectacle is going on, this guy's younger brother (cousin? son-in-law? whatever) who is 12 or 13 is talking to me. This kid is fat. Not just chubby... fat. He starts talking to me, trying to act all cool and stuff, and I humor the kid at first. He reminds me of Bobby Hill.

You know how on King of the Hill, Bobby will often make his dad, Hank, cringe? Not very macho or masculine. Given to the silly and trivial. In a word: soft. Instead of playing sports he watches too much TV, plays too many video games, eats too many fruit pies, and laughs at too much lame, cliche' ridden comedy. Hank wishes his son was into football, girls, and other such manly pursuits. But while Hank has his prejudices about what a boy (and man) should be (a mix between John Wayne and Tom Landry) he is also a real and serious person not given to fads, trivial pursuits, and silly idle whims. He is solid and old-fashioned, in the best sense of the terms, and he guides his son best he can.

Well, this kid was Bobby Hill, but he, judging by the way his older relative was acting, had no Hank Hill over him. Bobby will be influenced by Hank and be okay, while this kid, he may have no chance.

He was rude and annoying. He took a balloon, blew into it, and let out the noise to create a fart sound, and then asked me what I had ate. Not amused, I gave the typical leave-me-alone shrug at this point, and tried not to encourage him. He did the trick with the balloon again. Asked me what I ate... again. Still not funny. A few minutes later after wandering around he 'snuck up' on me, and did the balloon trick a third time. This time he mentioned that it sounded wet and that I might need to check my underwear.

I'm guessing it was about this same time that his older relative was suggesting to my co-worker what sort of shirt she needed to wear to sell our product.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the fart joke. I laughed at farts in third grade, and I still laugh at them today. That scene in Blazing Saddles where the cowboys are sitting around the campfire eating beans? Classic. But I had enough sense, and upbringing, as a child to know not to go to grown-up strangers I just met in public, make farting noises, and then laugh at my cleverness.

This kid doesn't. He has Bobby Hill tendencies, but no Hank Hill role-model to correct him. While annoyed with the kid at the time, there is upon reflection a sympathy for the lessons he will have to learn for himself, in painful embarrassing ways, since it is obvious nobody raising him has taken the responsibility for themselves.

Kentucky State Fair: The People You'll Meet

While I'll try to avoid delving into a second-rate Jeff Foxworthy bit, the people watching at the Kentucky State Fair is something else. Only a digital camera would do justice, so instead of trying to describe certain people, I'll just give general insights.

~ In what will from hereon be known as Lee's Rule: The more likely a woman is to wear a Tweety Bird shirt in public, the less likely that woman will be attractive.

~ To the young ladies: jean cutoffs, kinda short and tight, are sexy. Jean shorts, so short and tight your thighs swell out of the frayed bottoms like bratwursts, not so sexy, no matter how good your legs may actually be.

~ Men, while it is a slight fashion faux pas to wear calf-high white socks with shorts, it is much worse if you then wear penny loafers with those socks. But, it is exponentially worse if those penny loafers are camoflaged. That's right, camoflage penny loafers.

~ I saw a little girl walking around in a bathing suit top and shorts in the commercial vendors sections. She had a tattoo painted on her -- on the small of her back! Some mother allowed a tramp stamp to be painted on her elementary school-aged daughter! Wow.

Ky State Fair: Day One

~ My partner who was supposed to work with me for most of the evening comes up to us: "I just won tickets to meet Montgomery Gentry." Not only to meet the duo, but front row tickets as well. She called up her mother, and she left to go to the concert, leaving me by myself at the booth for most of the night.

~ We had planned to have a live feed at our booth to showcase our product, but instead, all we have is a recorded Peter Gabriel concert that lasts about 2 and a half hours. That's it. For ten days, one concert. It's a pretty cool concert, with Gabriel and his whole art-rock concepts and such make for interesting viewing, the first couple of times. Ten day? Ugh.

~ All around the fair, the winners of the various county fair pageants were walking around with tiaras in their hair. The winners, all in their late teens, ran the gamut from girlishly cute, to business professional serious, to model-esque, to headturning stunning, to she-has-be-related-to-somebody-important-in-the-county.

~ Likewise, the Little Miss and Mister pageant winners were all being dragged around by their parents. This on the day that the killer of JonBenet Ramsey may have been captured. ('May' being the the important word.) To be fair, when I poked my head into the pageant, the girls looked more cute than the tarted up pedophilia-lite that was Miss Ramsey. But what sort of dad lets his wife talk him into letting his son be in a pageant, even if the kid is like six? Something strange about seeing a boy walking around with a sash on saying Mr. Cornfield County 2006.

~ For lunch I had a jumbo hotdog. For dinner a pork butt on a stick. Both were overpriced. Both were really good.

Kentucky State Fair: Prologue

Tired of politics? Prefer to talk about funnel cake, prize winning hogs, and people with unfashionable hair?

It's Kentucky State Fair time, loyal readers, and I get to sell my company's product. Today my boss, a technician, and myself went out to finish up our booth. We're next to other vendors selling glass knick-knacks, T-Mobile cell phones, whirlpools, and sheds. Tomorrow at 2pm I go in for my first day, the first of eight I will be out there during the ten day event.

I'll report what I see each day, and hopefully this will turn into a fun experiment.

Corliss Lamont

Just found an editorial in the Waterbury AmericanRepublican (CT) that is essentially a hit piece on Ned Lamont. And not a very good one. So strident it borders on the ridiculous. Most of it tries to imply that since Lamont has some recent ancestors who were far left, maybe Ned himself has a red streak as well.

Not red-state red; more sickle and hammer red.

It's an idiotic argument. After all, Ron Reagan is the progeny of Ronald Reagan. But what I found interesting was the editorial's discussion of Ned Lamont's granduncle, Corliss Lamont. I did some research on Corliss, and the editorial had the basic facts on him right.

Corliss Lamont was director of the ACLU from 1932-54. Corliss Lamont was also National Chairman of the Friends of Soviet Russia.

Civil liberties. Soviet Russia. Civil liberties. Soviet Russia. That's an odd mix.

According to this letter from a fellow-traveller, written to Corliss while he was ACLU director, Corliss knew the fraudulence that were Stalin's show trials during his purges, yet kept his mouth shut, and continued to cheerlead for the Stalin-led USSR in the US.

ACLU director. Silent on Stalin's show trials. ACLU director. Silent on Stalin's show trials. Another odd mix.

And after donating $1 million dollars to Columbia University, they named a professorship after him: The Corliss Lamont Professor of Civil Liberties.

Heh. Glorious irony.

I want to emphasize I am not trying in anyway to suggest anything about Ned Lamont due to the actions of Corliss Lamont. Why I'm mentioning all this is just to point out some of the outright absurdity and contradiction perpetrated by many on the far leff, personified in this one man.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

You know that whole hypothetical debate concerning the ticking bomb scenario? Turns out it's not so hypothetical anymore.

Torture was more than likely used to stop the British terror plot once authorities got word it had been bumped up due to an arrest of a fellow potter.

Good points on the subject here.

For All You Dog Lovers... Don't Read This

Headline: 60 Puppies Die in Tractor-Trailer Fire in Massachusetts

How sad is that?

Independent Coffee Houses Versus Independent Bars

John Hutcheson mentions that a Starbucks is moving into his area, and some commenters to his post lament that other, independent, coffee shops have tried to succeed in the area, but have failed.

While the ubiquity of Starbucks is now common knowledge bordering on cliche', I've noticed that the same pattern with another sort of establishment specializing in the serving of beverages, namely the bar, has never emerged.

There are chains to be sure -- Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's come to mind -- but nothing like a Starbucks. Most of the watering holes I know of are either independent, or run by folks in the community who may own two or three in town. And both BWW and Applebees are more restaurants that feature a bar than actual pubs.

Not that I'm complaining. I like walking into a bar opened a few years after FDR ended Prohibition, or checking out an unknown establishment, to feel what the atmosphere is like. Blue collar, preppy, hippy, biker, sport, redneck, neighborhood, up-scale, and depressing are a few adjectives that come to mind to describe drinking holes I've been to.

For comparison, if you've been in one Starbucks, you've been in them all.

Kinda glad that nobody has figured out the formula to franchise the bar like the coffee house, bookstore, pharmacy, and restaurant. I remember when a Cheers-themed bar tried to come to town a few years back. I never set foot in it, and apparently I wasn't alone.

It closed in under a year.

Update: And thinking about the independent coffee houses that I have been in (because I also will indulge in the occasional over-priced snooty coffee) even they, while being independent, often have the same feel as a Starbucks. The same kind of music playing, the same kind of art on the wall, the same soft lighting, the same kid sporting the hip glasses... all the same.

Bush Hatred

From a new Fox News poll.:

"Regardless of how you voted in the presidential election, would you say you want President Bush to succeed or not?"

Republicans: Yes 90%, No 7%, Don't know 2%
Democrats: Yes 40%, No 51%, Don't know 9%
Independents: Yes 63%, No 34%, Don't know 3%

51% of Democrats don't want Bush to succeed, while US troops serve in Iraq?

I'm speechless.

HT: Ace

Update: Benefit of the doubt here, cause I can see the rebuttal coming. "Just because I don't want Bush to succeed, doesn't mean that I don't want us to succeed in Iraq or in stopping terrorism in general." First of all, the logic of such a proposition is much too tangled. The success and/or failure of either is tied with that of Bush's untill January of '09. The 40% of Democrats who answered Yes to the question, who probably don't like the guy either, realized this basic concept.

So of that 51%, I am thinking of two options. The kind option: Emotion clouds the basic logic of those responding. The malicious option: Bush failure is more important than welfare of American or Iraqi people. The post I hat tip to itself links to two different liberal writers who flat out state the malicious one. This is poison.

Paranoia, Paranoia, Everybody's Coming to Get Me

Brittney over at Nashville is Talking, did a blogger round-up of different views on the foiled British airliner terror plot. She was also kind enough to include mine. But reading over the various commentaries, a disturbing trend quickly developed.

"Weird that we get another terror alert right after the second round of midterm primaries— just like we did after the first round." ~ CorrenteWire

"But, move along folks, nothing to see here. Look! Shiny, sparkly terror plots! It must be an August thing, especially during election years." ~ MRD Talk

"The timing of these alerts is interesting to say the least. I wondered how long before the November elections Karl Rove would wait before ratcheting up the fear level in response to the republican's shitty poll numbers." ~ Democratic Veteran

I won't fall into the trap of trying to debate conspiracy theorists. It's a sad, pathetic way to view life. I remember once almost choking on my beer when somebody I was talking to at a bar actually said that the moon landing was faked. But I'll put this out anyway, despite my better judgement:

Scotland Yard, a year and a month removed from the 7/7 subway bombings that killed 52 Brits, could care less about the American election cycle. Or about the reelection of a Senator from a New England state.

Codewords

A scary plot to blow up planes was just busted in Great Britain. This AP story gives the details. But it leaves out some things, and forces the reader to read between the lines. Like this paragraph:

The suspects were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said. (italics added)

"Homegrown"... "South Asian"...

You know two words that did not appear once in the entire 34 paragraph story?

Muslim. Islamic.

So we now have to speak in code when discussing Islamic terror in polite company. How insulting to us, and ultimately, especially insulting to Muslims. I guess Muslims are such a simple people that they can't bear to hear their religion's name referenced in a news article about terrorism.

Why doesn't the AP just go all the way? From now on the above quoted paragraph should read as such:

The suspects were "you know, those people" though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with "you know, those people's" community, the official said.

Lieberman Fallout, Seven Bullets

Joe Lieberman lost to Ned Lamont by four points, 52% to 48%. The repurcussions are plenty, so I'll handle them bulleted.

~ Democratic leaders are already throwing their support behind Lamont. And they should. While they may like Joe, and while Lamont may have support from those in the blogosphere they may be ambivalent towards, he did win their nomination fair and square. But if the leadership and prominent pols cross from support and legitimate critism of Lieberman stances to gutterball tactics in a close race, it could do serious long-term damage to the party.

~ By losing by only 4 points, Lieberman can run as an independent with some legitimacy. Had it been an 8-10 point loss, not so much.

~ To use a baseball analogy, the GOP should settle for a double here, and not swing for the fences. Dems are divided, and may have the embarrasment of Lieberman winning the general election. The GOP has practically no chance. There will be too much pressure for Lieberman to drop out if polls show his participation will be one as a spoiler that gets a Republican elected. The only exception to this is if going into election day, there is an essential three way tie. That is the only circumstance that the GOP can win.

~ If Lieberman wins and gets to fraternalize in the Senate chambers again among his former party members... AWK-ward.

~ Lamont's win is not an anti-war mandate for the nation. But it is an anti-war mandate for the Democratic party. It is now officially an anti-war party.

~ The results of the general election will correlate with the upcoming Democratic primaries for President in 2008. If Lamont wins or loses in a tight race, then Hillary Clinton's main primary challenger will be on her left, like a John Kerry or Russ Feingold. If Lieberman wins soundly, or the unlikely happens and the GOP wins, then her challenger will be on her right, like a Mark Warner or Evan Bayh.

~ My prediction for the general election:

Lieberman (I) 40%
Lamont (D) 35%
Alan Schlesinger (R) 24%
Rex L. Camino (I) 1%

Campaign Photographs

Just for the record, here's the notorious photoshop of Joe Lieberman in blackface. And here are some pictures of the woman who did that photoshop, Jane Hamsher, helping Lieberman's primary opponent, Ned Lamont, film a commercial for the Internet. She was also a big speaker at the recent DailyKos gathering.

I won't play the game of pretending to be horribly offended by all this. Instead I'm oddly amused by the idea that somebody working so intimately in a big-time senatorial campaign, that does not involve David Duke, thought that photoshopping their opponent in blackface was a good idea.

Deuce Bigalow: Jewish Giggolo

Actor Rob Schneider has taken a brave stand on principle following the recent Mel Gibson scandal. In an ad in Variety magazine, Schneider says:

“I, Rob Schneider, a half-Jew, pledge from this day forth to never work with Mel Gibson-actor-director-producer-and anti-Semite.”

And in that spirit...

I, Lee at Digiral Nicotine, pledge from this day forth to never date, marry, or drunkenly make out with actress Christina Applegate after associating herself with a radical animal rights group like PETA.

Her loss.

PS: I'm hoping against hope that Schneider's ad was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, for I would hate to think that Richard the Copy-Machine Guy actually takes himself seriously.