Bush's Sacrifice


I'm speechless. Not surprised. Just aghast. The full transcript of the latest Bush interview is here.


Q Mr. President, you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it really is. I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.

Q Mr. President, was there a particular moment or incident that brought you to that decision, or how did you come to that?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life. And I was playing golf -- I think I was in central Texas -- and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, it's just not worth it anymore to do.

Monday Workplace Blow-Ups (A.K.A. 'WE'LL DO IT LIVE!!!')

Oh my, Keith Olbermann is going to have a field day with this. Many thanks to Crooks and Liars and YouTube user, OllieZiggy, for making this go viral.

This is an early 1990's video of Bill O'Rielly blowing-up on the set of Inside Edition. He yells at a poor kid on the set for a poorly-written script on the teleprompter. On one hand, I have to point out that although Bill is a misogynist, pill-popping (or cocaine-snorting) asshole of the first order, he does a pretty good job re-wording the gibberish that was given to him. On the other hand, how has he been able to last in this businesses? And was this the audition tape he used for The Factor?

Bill-O: "FUCKING THING SUCKS!!!"

UPDATE: Of course CBS had the video removed from YouTube. But it has been duplicated enough. Expect Keith to do something with it this week. He can't resist. You can download the QuickTime / MP4 version here, thanks to Crooks And Liars. Over 400,000 people watched the video on YouTube before it was taken down after just a few hours this morning.

Commenters at C&L noticed how this could be the best viral tirade video since David O' Russell blew-up at Lilly Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees. It is known that Lilly Tomlin has a strong personality (Brooklyn!) and is not the easiest person to work with. But she's no Joe Pesci. She finally made David O' Russell snap after probably more than a day of exchanges like this. But it reveals who the asshole is, and he is not liked within the industry, despite making one of the greatest films of the 1990's. As the NY Times pointed out in a long behind-the-scenes story, Russell put fellow auteur Christopher Nolan in a headlock over losing Jude Law from the set of Huckabees. Back in 2003, there was no YouTube. But now, this set rehersal video is just as famous as the movie.

Welcome to bigger movies, Mr. Schwartzman. Get your foot off that desk, and get away from Mr. Director. The girl cowering on the far right reveals a lot. Surely she had seen this behaviour before.


Worse than Johnny Mac

I think George Clooney explained Russell best. It isn't worth working with him or others like him at your workplace.


PLAYBOY: What made you want to do [Three Kings]?

CLOONEY: David Russell wrote as good a script as I've ever read. I fought to get it. He wanted a lot of other actors before me. They went to Mel and to Nic Cage. I wanted to work on this movie. David is in many ways a genius, though I learned that he's not a genius when it comes to people skills.

PLAYBOY: Did you learn about that the hard way?

CLOONEY: I did. He yelled and screamed at people all day, from day one.

PLAYBOY: Did he yell at you?

CLOONEY: At me often --- and at someone daily. He'd throw off his headset and scream, "Today the sound department fucked me!" For me, it came to a head a couple of times. Once, he went after a camera-car driver who I knew from high school. I had nothing to do with his getting his job, but David began yelling and screaming at him and embarrassing him in front of everybody. I told him, "You can yell and scream and even fire him, but what you can't do is humiliate him in front of people. Not on my set, if I have any say about it." Another time he screamed at the script supervisor and made her cry. I wrote him a letter and said, "Look, I don't know why you do this. You've written a brilliant script, and I think you're a good director. Let's not have a set like this. I don't like it and I don't work well like this." I'm not one of those actors who likes things in disarray. He read the letter and we started all over again. But later, we were three weeks behind schedule, which puts some pressure on you, and he was in a bad mood. These army kids, who were working as extras, were supposed to tackle us. There were three helicopters in the air and 300 extras on the set. It was a tense time, and a little dangerous, too. David wanted one of the extras to grab me and throw me down. This kid was a little nervous about it, and David walked up to him and grabbed him. He pushed him onto the ground. He kicked him and screamed, "Do you want to be in this fucking movie? Then throw him to the fucking ground!" The second assistant director came up and said, "You don't do that, David. You want them to do something, you tell me." David grabbed his walkie-talkie and threw it on the ground. He screamed, "Shut the fuck up! Fuck you," and the AD goes, "Fuck you! I quit." He walked off.

It was a dangerous time. I'd sent him this letter. I was trying to make things work, so I went over and put my arm around him. I said, "David, it's a big day. But you can't shove, push or humiliate people who aren't allowed to defend themselves." He turned on me and said, "Why don't you just worry about your fucking act? You're being a dick. You want to hit me? You want to hit me? Come on, pussy, hit me." I'm looking at him like he's out of his mind. Then he started banging me on the head with his head. He goes, "Hit me, you pussy. Hit me." Then he got me by the throat and I went nuts. Waldo, my buddy, one of the boys, grabbed me by the waist to get me to let go of him. I had him by the throat. I was going to kill him. Kill him. Finally, he apologized, but I walked away. By then the Warner Bros. guys were freaking out. David sort of pouted through the rest of the shoot and we finished the movie, but it was truly, without exception, the worst experience of my life.

PLAYBOY: Did you resolve things? Would you ever work with him again?

CLOONEY: Life's too short.

Follow-Up On The Former Guantanamo Detainee Turned Suicide Bomber

By Dhalgren

Last Week, Archetype posted a link to a story about a man who was freed from Guantanamo, and years later, blew himself up in Iraq, killing many civilians with him. Looking at the Wingnut response to the story, I finally realize that Archetype was pointing out that the US had produced a terrorist - not catch a terrorist and then let him go. Clif at Sadly, No! explains how Paul (”Deacon”) Mirengoff over at Powerline overlooks the use of the word "detainee" and argues that the detainee was a terrorist from day one.....or in case he wasn't, he still wins his argument!

Foo!

According to My Life in San Andreas>, I made it to mission # 66 today. I'm now over 50% complete. And I now like this mean-spirited classic.


I got another gang story to tell.
Peep, about how a black nigga was born in hell.
And right then and there it's no hope
cause a nigga can't escape the gangs and the dope.
Damn
And when its black on black, that makes it shitty.
Can't survive in the Compton city.
And fool thats bet.
Cause when you grow up in the hood, you gots ta claim a set.
Geah
Its not that you want to but you have to.
Don't be a mark, cause niggas might laugh you
straight off the mutherfuckin block.
Can't deal with bustas so they asses get clocked.
Geah
who gives a fuck about another.
Only got love for my fuckin gang brothers.
Geah
but I'm young so nobody would wonder
That the hood would take me under.

[scratching: always strapped and eager to peel a cap
The hood done took me under.]

Now I'm a few ages older
got hair on my nuts and I'm a little bit bolder.
And puttin in work, I has to do my fuckin part,
I'm down for the hood and its planted in the heart.
Foo
At school slappin on the girls asses
Fuck the white education so I skip a lot of classes.
Cause ain't no teaching a nigga white reality.
Teach me the mutherfuckin gang mentality.
Pop pop pop, drops the sucker
if he's from another hood I gots ta shoot the mutherfucker.
Geah
I'm in it to win it and can't quit.
Foo
And ready die for this shit.
One times can't fade the gang tuff.
Puttin my foot in your ass to make times rough.
I'm the neighborhood terror but I never wondered
that the hood would take me under.

Chorus:
+[police is hot, so I'm watching my back...]

I guess I'll watch my back cause niggas jivin'
Times heard this brother pulled a 187.
Who I thought was my homie dropped the dime.
So I gotta peel his cap with the nine.
Foo
so if its on then its on, fuck ya G,
because how the odds are looking, its either him or me.
So I loads up the strap and I step
cause my brain cells are dead and all I think is death.
Revenge. That's what its all about.
See the sucker, take the mutherfucker out.
Stare the fool down with the eye contact.
He try to swing so I draw on him with the gatt.
Blast was the sound that one times heard uh
Nigga 25 to life for the murder.
Was it worth it I've always wondered.
Maybe if the hood didn't take me under.

Billions Per Month.....For What, Again?

Ex-Guantanamo inmate in Iraq suicide bombing: TV

So Iraq is the breeding ground for terrorists, huh?

Looks to me like our boys in 'Uba are doing a fine job at it as well. I wonder if we can fire off another 500 Million per month to combat the "enemy combatant combatants"........

....hmmm sounds like Jimmy Two Times from Goodfellas..."I'm gonnah get the papers, get the papers."

Can we go back a second, 500 Million per month......500 Million. Wow. I guess you really don't get what you pay for these days. I cannot even imagine what it would take to actually buy every single homeless person a home, but I bet that 500 Million bucks per month might cover that and get them all a nice wardrobe, a decent transit system that could cross a new infrastructure of tracks and bridges, as well as things like food and proper health care.....

.....you know, to make them viable candidates for all those jobs we keep shipping all over the world.

Happy F*cking Earth Day…State of the Nation and Beyond

By Archytype

Introduction

I suppose many of you have heard my rants and ravings about these things for a number of years. Yes, I am a greenie. Perhaps not the absolute devout that some may be, but my biggest contribution I can make to the cause is to keep getting “smaller” as far the impact goes while getting louder (perhaps my biggest “asset”) where those that
need to hear will hear. There will be many chapters and all of them will be revisited from time to time. But this is to remove the veil and the passivity that pervades this discussion. Kid Gloves will not be employed here….

In the eyes of a vast majority of Americans, environmentalism is the realm for the pot-smoking vegans in Northern California who ride solar-powered bikes to the organic wine farms or the 60’s draft dodging cast offs who really hate America anyway (love it or leave it, man) and apparently want to destroy it by advocating for smaller cars and higher fuel standards….FUCKERS!

Well, ummm….perhaps not. Environmentalism is THE new economy. En Vogue! Tre Fab. Its HOT. Al Gore is making fucking movies for crying out loud so it must be real right? Leo-D drives a fucking Prius, shouldn’t we all? Well, hang on a moment. Leonardo DiCaprio and ESPECIALLY Al Gore isn’t in the position to change anything really. Al isn’t the President (he lost…or whatever the hell happened in 2000, the year we all got fucked!). He is a Hollywood shill now. So he is no more an influence for the environment than Michael Moore is at changing the auto industry practice of destroying communities that depend on their income. Remember he DID fucking FLY to the Live Earth Concert. So did Leo. And so did every "artist" that performed that day. They bought green carbon offsets though.

Ah….blood does wash off don't it?

So with that I will begin the (hopefully) regular piece to this blog with the open shot across the bow. Warning….I don’t censor (starting right after the title…). Fuck you. If you can watch my fucking planet rot in place as you get into your fucking SUV post-your 5 min yoga while sipping slave-waged-picked lattes from WhereeverBucks backing out of the driveway of a 4400 sf house you and your fucking yapper dog live in, then you sure as shit are in no position to curb my language.

And for Christ sake pick up after that little fucker!

Chapter ONE - Food For Fuel

Roger Cohen: Bring on The Right Biofuels (NY Times - registration required)

As I keep saying....apparently to the void, we (the collective jingo-centric A.D.D. voting stock of Americans) have absolutely no idea what we are doing anymore. Leaves on streams. Rice, soybeans, and corn are the most abundantly grown crops in the world. They are also a large part of the problem. They come at the expense of biodiversity, a key to the planets ability to combat a number of things including specie extinction (us included). But then again, at least its food for fuck sake. As soon as you begin taking farmland that should be dedicated to producing food for an ever expanding world population and giving it over to t producing a crop source for fueling our transportation and energy needs you begin to see why so many in the agricultural world and the organizations that deal with issues in third world countries are in full bloom panic right now. We cannot feed the world with what we currently grow, so let’s chop the food production by 35-40%? And this doesn’t alarm people?

"But wait are you saying that we should stick to oil?"

No. I am not saying this.

"So, Ethanol is good right?"

Indeed, it is a good thing to reduce the extraction of oil to burn in terribly inefficient cars, yes.

My turn to ask questions, so why do you think we should turn to ethanol?

"I dunno."

So burning our food, doesn’t this sound like a bad idea?

"Maybe….but what do we need with all that corn anyway?"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………!

The Boston Globe: Proposed Wind Farm Draws Few Foes In Hull

For the benefit of diversity (and economy competition, something that drives prices down…garsh!) we can look into a number of different and sustainable energy producing means such as the highly contested wind strategies and others like the tidal technologies that are now available and ever developing that may alleviate some of the major drawbacks from the wind powered infrastructure.

For one, I think the general public could use another option (and given our geographical and geological advantages, why not) and additionally competing technologies push for innovation to advance more quickly as well as gain access to a wider array of funding opportunities not to mention become more affordable.

These are good things in a world of perpetual increases in energy costs.

But worse is embracing any one idea that would rob Peter (oil) to pay Paul ("eco-fueling") in lieu of two major pieces of shifting:


1. Conservation.

  • Mandatory efficiencies for ALL forms transportation and not token responses to quell the eco-crowd roar. I am talking NO car under 60 MPG and Nothing BUT hybrids to start.

This is the REAL discussion that should be happening at every possible turn. Our ridiculous appetite for energy. I realize that this has been discussed in dribs and drabs but satiating the appetite only prolongs the illness. That illness is the REAL issue. The illness being our lack of restraint and conservation. As someone who was asked (on behalf of the Boston Society of Architects - Committee on the Environment) back in 2001 to review the forthcoming National Energy Policy, I was struck by the fact that there were no mandates for scaling back use (from the lack of public transportation funding to overall self-discipline measures). We just keep throwing money at ideas to deal with the ever expanding need. Things have not changed in the 7 years since its release. As we may already know things are much, much worse.

Of all things, that is the least sustainable strategy, no matter how "green" the technology gets.

Another HAS to be a look at how we do things. There is something absurd about sitting in two-hour traffic jams flying solo listening to NPR yelling, “right on” to reports on energy crisis and want to remove us from Iraq.

2. Localized Mass transit investment.

  • READ THIS: BUSES are bad. Why? They sit in traffic with everyone else. Why is this so hard to understand? Make transit actually efficient and people will use it. Cities will densify logically.

I know, trains are about as reliable as the ability for our President to properly read a teleprompter, but fuck is it not a good idea to put a bit more thought into your commute? That brings me to one of the tenants to a truly sustainable strategy, transit. Public transit especially. We collective look at the 3rd world as lesser, but they also have a lot right. They do not have access to capital the way we do so that has to be clever about it. Use mass transit to move people who cannot afford autos. It is their necessity. It is ours.

These were the two giant holes in the 2001 National Energy Policy. It was great at putting the “cards on the table” but very bad a advocating real solutions to the UN-sustainable thirst for energy. It started with the excused requirement for energy plants (particularly in RED states) to put scrubbers on the stacks. That was 2001; the requirements still have not been restored.

Chapter TWO – Green is Still Greed….and greed is still good.

Who Killed The Electric Car?


The Chevy Volt concept car, 2007

So GM wants me to believe that they never really killed the electric car they just thought the market wasn’t right? Hmmmm. Interesting, didn’t they CRUSH all the cars? They did. They didn’t give them to communities of the poor, to perhaps stimulate interest and educate the public at the roots about technology that could be extremely affordable for those who may be interested in things like, oh say, affordability.

Nope.

They Fucking crushed them.

Did I mention they crushed them? They fucking crushed them. Crushed. Am I clear? CRUSHED. Not donated, not gave away. Nothing. This is as fucking mind blowing as ANY network not picking up Arrested Development after that shit-stain network FX (Fox) dumped it. Destroyed any trace of them.

But wait, they are trying again. Oh its OK then. Forgiven. I want to give thanks for your advert in The New York Times magazine announcing how fucking green you are. I am sure it has nothing to do with the ever exponential quarterly losses you are taking for market share.

Since the 1970’s energy crisis, which looks like fucking child’s play compared to now our collective fuel economy has worsened. Worsened. How? Well, sure cars got bigger again. That’s what we Americans are all about, bigger, better faster. Like the environmental degradation. We are the best. But hey at least China is catching up and soon will pass us faster than the jobs our American companies gave away to them in the name of that all American capitalism.

Fuck, thank GOD (no, no please, thank GOD….) Wal-Mart is open 24 hours.

Still think we are free? I know, Bitter party of one?

No. I am not bitter, I love getting fucked in the ass with a steam locomotive and not given the courtesy reach around. I guess I just have standards. Jeffery, Love me.


Chapter THREE – I love my country, but I don’t trust our government.

Here is all the evidence we need that our government and George Bush (who doesn’t just hate black people, he hates all people) is out to get us. And by us I mean anyone NOT invested in carbon-based fuel investments.

The Boston Globe: EPA Scientists Compliain About Political Pressure

So the EPA was strong-armed? Huh, really? Come on? This is all very shocking. America (and the rest of the sycophants that emulate us) continues to have that 4 year old mentality, if I just pull the covers over our heads the big bad stuff will just go away. Well, guess what? It won’t. But at least they won’t have to do much to wrap up the bodies, just look for the television sets in their homes.

Yeah, it’s the fat lump in the barker lounger that was reaching for the remote when they gasped their last breath.

Chapter Four – So where do we go from here?

I know, I know….this sounds horrible. I am being an alarmist. How terrible of me, please allow me to apologize. Oh wait, its fucking true. These things are our future.

FUCK THE CHILDREN, Whitney!

Its not being an alarmist, its just plain ole fucking alarming how little we ALL COLLECTIVELY DO NOT GIVE A SHIT about our own well being and future. NONE. How inspiring are we all that we ALLOW the government WE ELECT to strong arm the very oversight bodies charged with protecting our and the planet's health, safety and welfare for the sake of glossing over how bad they have fucked us over the years?

How proud we all must be….a government of the people...for the people….by the people.

Wow.

We suck.

Where is the fucking ribbon for that to put on my fucking car?

Hey, someone cue Lee Greenwood!

GTA IV Trailer Wrap-Up

As 9 million copies of GTA IV are sold, and over $400 million in revenue will be collected, we want to review the 4 trailers used to promote the game during the last year. This is because I don't own a PS3. And these trailers are good. And the second one is simply great.


Trailer # 1: "Things Will Be Different"
When this trailer was released last summer, it seemed that GTA IV would be ready for Christmas. I was at South Street Seaport waiting for a ferry to Sandy Hook beach in Jersey. I was looking up at a monitor at a Game Stop store, and my jaw dropped. I'm sure Rockstar took care of Godfrey Reggio, Philip Glass, and Ron Fricke for this.


Trailer # 2: "Looking For That Special Someone"
Like the latest Star Wars trilogy, the second trailer is usually the better one, or in this case, the best. The editing is impressive for a video game trailer. The music is perfect. The song is "Arm In Arm (Shy Child Mix)" by The Boggs, a Brooklyn punk/electronica/rock band. Can't get it out of my head now after downloading it.

Walking arm in arm, and we're on our way.
Dressed in my best lest you guess my age.
Let your fingers linger through the coming day.
We're on our way.


Trailer # 3: "Move Up, Ladies"


Trailer # 4: "Good Lord, What Are You Doing?" A.K.A. "Everyone's A Rat"

Victories!!!1!


The Yankees lost Friday and Saturday to Baltimore.

The Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Newcastle United defeated their arch-rivals, Sunderland, 2-0 Sunday. And Kevin Keegan is still hungry for more victories before the season ends in 3 weeks.

The Bruins forced a seventh game against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Game 7 to be played Monday night in Montreal.

And she finally did it. Danica Patrick won the Indy Car race at the Twin Ring Motegi. It is the first victory by a female driver in any major racing series.

And Australia's Will Power won the final Champ Car race in Long Beach. An era of turbocharged, open-wheel racing has ended. Remember that CART was the most watched motorsport in the US back in 1995.

Catching Up With TIVO

Bill Maher, New Rules, February 15th 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, February 22nd 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, February 28th 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, March 7th 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, March 21st 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, March 28th 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, April 4th 2008.

Bill Maher, New Rules, April 11th 2008. This will go down as his best New Rules of the Spring season. He attacks the Catholic Church aggressively, or, as Bill Donohue would say, he engaged in 'Catholic Bashing.' Go Bill! That's Richard Clarke laughing hysterically during the Magic Johnson bit.
Copyright 2008 Time Warner / HBO.

The US Has No Plan To Defeat al Qaeda

Yes, that's the title.

So there you have it. This report was released today by the General Accountability Office. It couldn't be more plain. The report is drawn from several government agencies. Although the primary role of the GAO is to track government expenses, this extraordinary report details hhow billions have gone to Pakistan to help us exterminate al Qaeda, and virtually nothing has been done to accomplish that goal.

The executive summary couldn't be more plain:

The United States has not met its national security goals to destroy the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in Pakistan's FATA region.

FATA is the region along the 373-mile-long Pakistani-Afghan border. It stands for Federally Administered Tribal Region. It is over 10,000 square miles. It might where Osama bin Laden is hiding.

The report concludes:

We conclude that the National Security Advisor and the Director of the NCTC, in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and State, and the Administrator of USAID, the intelligence community, and other executive departments as deemed appropriate, implement the congressional mandate to develop a comprehensive plan using all elements of national power to combat the terrorist threat and close their safe haven in Pakistan's FATA region.

Bush and Rice had six years to exterminate al Qaeda. Six years. We have seen the largest, most inexcusable failure to defeat an enemy of the United States in this country's history.

And the wingnuts think we're 'winning.' And they boast the we liberals want to offer al Qaeda counseling and therapy, rather than destruction. The truth is now clear. The Bush administration never had a plan to win. What say you now, wingnuts?

UPDATE: Emptywheel has an excellent timeline outlining the failures of Bush's War on Global Terrorism.

This Used To Be My Playground


Just wanted to make a comment about the Mets home opener on Tuesday April 8th. Besides the fact that the Mets weaknesses in the bullpen revealed themselves, in addition to some mismanagement by Willie, the home opener was marred by a mean-spirited atmosphere.

Or to put it another way - the Mets fans are bitter. There were several fistfights in the upper deck, resulting in at least 12 arrests. There was a lack of support from the 56,000 fans who braved cold winds as the sun went down. Most of the fights I saw were cases of Met-on-Met violence. And as my friend D said, "This place has become Yankee stadium."

I know what he meant. Shea used to be a positive, friendly place to see a ballgame. But as this year's home opener proved, 2008 is going to be a year of anger, bitterness, booing, and sadness. It's going to be a long season, friends. My local National League team is in a world of hurt.

And to add insult to injury, the Mets were Rickrolled. That's right. Victims of a British-born Internet prank.

Paging Congressman Waxman, Part 2

On Monday I reported that government employees spent thousands outside of the offical procurement process. Well, Hope Yen of the AP has written a follow-up story, revealing that the improper purchases go beyond the VA and Homeland Security. Unauthorized purchases occurred at the GSA as well. Remember, the GSA is the government's procurement agency, manging government real estate, buying government cars, and responsible for buying all technology hardware and office supplies. It's not thousands anymore, it's millions of dollars wasted.

Didn't Congressman Waxman call for GSA chief administrator Lauita A. Doan to resign a year ago?