Ana Marie Cox takes one for the team

Wonkette live-blogs last night's Ft. Bragg speech:

8:04: Second mention of 9/11. We're going to be soooo drunk.
8:05: "Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed." Unlike most Americans, I could have prevented it.
8:08: We heart Fox lower thirds. Some we've seen: "Bush: We will take fight to the enemy." "Bush: Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war." "Bush: We're helping the Iraqis build a free nation." "Bush: Has incredibly big penis."

I'm glad someone is getting hammered watching Bush speak--so we don't have to.

Reactive foreign policy

"I don't know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt as I watched the twin towers crumble to the earth, a side of the Pentagon destroyed and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble"--Karl Rove on the reponse of "liberals" to the 9/11 tragedy (WP)

That's great, just the kind of guy we want with his finger on the big red button. I dunno, maybe I'm a liberal--I think moderation and restraint are good qualities to exemplify if you are the type of person whose decisions tend to affect the lives of millions of Americans and non-Americans around the globe.

Not to disrespect the dead, but--

Cardinal Sin dies in Manila (AP via San Jose Mercury News)

That is an awesome name.

Stopped laughing

U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan (WP)
"Bush administration officials working behind the scenes have succeeded in weakening key sections of a proposal for joint action by the eight major industrialized nations to curb climate change."

Lobbying from Within (NYT editorial)
"Whereas the word lobbyist once connoted those who hung around in lobbies to buttonhole powerful politicians when they emerged from the inner sanctums, these modern-day lobbyists occupy the inner sanctums themselves."

If I wasn't laughing so hard I'd cry

Former Bush Aide Who Edited Reports is Hired by Exxon (NYT)--"Philip A. Cooney, the former White House staff member who repeatedly revised government scientific reports on global warming, will go to work for Exxon Mobil this fall, the oil company said yesterday."

They were impressed with his editing skills.

NPR hipster street cred gained in drops, lost in buckets

NPR tries so hard to be hip, upping its coverage of issues that are supposed to interest young people and even streaming rock shows at the 9:30 Club in realtime on its website. But somehow, it doesn't always ring true. As when host Renee Montagne mispronounced the name of the annual Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee in a segment of today's Morning Edition*. Montagne pronounced it "BonnAHroo" when any young music lover worth her salt knows it's BONNaroo.

It's kind of like walking into Cafe St.-Ex and ordering a CHY-may. No amount of premium denim will buy your way out of that jam.

*The mispronunciation has since been corrected on the NPR website, I notice.

Tenn. Police Arrest 144 at Cockfight

Just another lazy Sunday afternoon in East Tennessee. (AP via NYT)

Cooney resigns

CEQ chief of staff Philip Cooney, the White House staffer who doctored documents on climate change, has resigned (NYT). Amazing; this may be the first time a Bush administration official has actually resigned after screwing up in his or her job. Resigned for screwing up, that is, rather than "to spend more time with my family" a la George Tenet. Disproves my theory about executive branch job security.

House Republicans vs. Big Bird

Oh man, it is on. If you really want to piss off volvo-driving, latte-sipping liberals, try to de-fund public broadcasting.

"A House subcommittee voted yesterday... to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which passes federal funds to public broadcasters -- starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB's budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million." (WP)

Of course, this is just the latest step in a long-running campaign to undermine public broadcasting, which is clearly the tool with which the gay atheist feminist socialist liberals are going to successfully brainwash America. If you feel like delving into this story or signing a petition, visit Common Cause, FAIR, or Media Matters.

Breaking non-news, part II: Americans not complete idiots

WP: A WP/ABC poll finds that a majority of Americans do not believe the president's claims that his plan to restructure social security would help the program long-term without reducing benefits for the elderly. "The poll found that 56 percent said the president's plan to couple new personal retirement accounts with a reduction in guaranteed benefits for most Americans would cut the overall retirement income of seniors."

In other words, Americans say that the president's plan to cut guaranteed social security benefits for most Americans would probably cut guaranteed social security benefits for most Americans.

Breaking non-news

Hey check it out--can you believe a White House CEQ staffer (and former American Petroleum Institute lobbyist), Philip Cooney, doctored reports on global warming to subtly discredit the whole concept of climate change? Why would Our President or His Staff do such a thing?

Wonkette's Greg Beato puts it best: "Our five-day forecast: Healthy Penguins Restoration Act coming soon, plus a big promotion for Cooney."

Check out the NYT story for images of Cooney's kindergartenish scrawl on the margins of climate change reports.

Astroturfing in the digital age

Today the WP's Robert MacMillan resolves the mystery of why AU's College Dems president, Laura Reznick, appears in a campaign photo for Republican NJ gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler. Turns out his PR firm Photoshopped the candidate into photos of a screaming crowd at a Howard Dean rally, which happened to include Reznick.

Seriously--we expect PR guys to digitally modify photos. No big deal. But why the hell would you pick a Dean rally? Given the odds that someone in the crowd is recognizably the opposite of Republican?

Separation of church and state

I highly recommend checking out last week's edition of This American Life, "Godless America," for a discussion of the religious ultra-right wing's issues with this fundamental principle, in their own words.

In a Laura-Hillary death match, Hillary would win

It's never too early for bitter progressives to start second-guessing the Democrats' electoral strategy in '08. (Alternet)

All the President's girly cocktails

As predicted, the Washington Post is in full-on self-obsession mode following the confirmation of Deep Throat's true identity. Some interesting articles can be found in its Deep Throat Special Report. But I have to tell ya, it's Thursday night, and my mind is on: fancy girly cocktails. So thanks to the Post for alerting the public about the Ritz-Carlton Washington's new drink--"the Deep Throat." Definitely a better name for a cocktail than "the Mark Felt."

I have reconstructed this drink based on the Post's description:

Shake 1 part vodka, 1 part creme de cacao, 1 part cream with ice. Serve in a chilled martini glass with--this is the clincher--a Hershey's Kiss at the bottom.

Cheers!