Is it bad that I'm spending my birthday blogging? There's got to be something wrong with that.
First of all...Go Mizzou! Missouri whooped up on Mississippi, 34-7, in a game that really shouldn't have been that close. Missouri has a swagger this year, and it's something they didn't have with Brad Smith at QB, but they still might not have quite enough killer instinct. It should have been a lot worse, but they dilly-dallied around a bit. That said, it's an absolutely wonderful feeling to actually be disappointed that we only beat an SEC team by 27. Happy birthday to me.
Alright, so what did this weekend bring in the blogofascosphere...
A nice Sunday morning prayer from Steven D (Booman)...
Not that you don't already know the answer to your question, Christy (FDL), but no, it doesn't include anything about the debacle of Tora Bora. Or, from what I've heard (though I could be wrong), the August '01 PDB. Really, when you spend so much time and money getting the perfect lighting for the scene where Sandy Berger and Madeline Albright are pushing Monica's head down under Clinton's desk in the Oval Office while calling Osama from his cell phone to let him know where he could hide, you might have to cut other scenes. I'm sure they were in the original script. But then again, the fact that Berger and Albright are actually outraged about proven lies must mean that those proven lies are actually true. Or something (Lefarkins).
Oh, and are they still claiming this is based on the 9/11 Commission report (Avedon)? Can't say I'm surprised to learn that somebody like David Horowitz is a hero to the makers of the "film" (Mannion). Well...thank Harvey Keitel for small favors, I guess (Atrios). I'm really glad that The Wolf from Pulp Fiction isn't one of "them"...at least not totally. Oh, and count Thomas Nicoletti as one of the good guys as well (C&L).
But needless to say, I'll be boycotting (as much as possible) whoever pays for advertisement during Monday's Part II. And I hope CBS now realizes just how weak (Greenwald) they are for having pulled the Reagans documentary a couple years ago. And just how transparent Repubs are for pretending to be outraged at the Dems' outrage.
TBogg sets the rules for Monday's 9/11 Observance.
Meanwhile, Left Coaster explores the lessons of a different 9/11.
Uhh...why are just now hearing about this (Mercury Rising)?
Okay, I'll admit that these are a bit cheesy, but these "Abe and George" commercials (Great Society) are actually pretty good. I'd like to see more people actually taking on this kind of subject matter instead of the typical "As Senator (or Governor, or Rep, or whatever), I'll do good stuff and avoid dicey topics" commercials.
Wolcott links to some phenomenal writing by Simon Jenkins at The Guardian. It's so good, in fact, that I'm going to quote it here too.
I had totally missed Al-Sistani more or less retiring from attempting to accomplish things via political means. As Debate Link said on Monday, that cannot be good."What has changed, grotesquely, is the aftershock," Simon Jenkins writes in The Guardian, delivering a splash of cold reality. "Terrorism is 10% bang and 90% an echo effect composed of media hysteria, political overkill and kneejerk executive action, usually retribution against some wider group treated as collectively responsible. This response has become 24-hour, seven-day-a-week amplification by the new politico-media complex, especially shrill where the dead are white people. It is this that puts global terror into the bang. While we take ever more extravagant steps to ward off the bangs, we do the opposite with the terrorist aftershock. We turn up its volume. We seem to wallow in fear.
"Were I to take my life in my hands this weekend and visit Osama bin Laden's hideout in Wherever-istan, the interview would go something like this. I would ask how things have been for him since 9/11. His reply would be that he had worried at first that America would capitalise on the global revulsion, even among Muslims, and isolate him as a lone fanatic...
"In the event Bin Laden need not have worried. He would agree, as did the CIA's al-Qaida analyst in Peter Taylor's recent documentary, that the Americans have done his job for him....
"I would ask Bin Laden whether he had something special up his sleeve for the fifth anniversary. Why waste money, he would reply. The western media were obligingly re-enacting the destruction and the screaming, turning the base metal of violence into the gold of terror. They would replay the tapes and rerun the footage ad nauseam, and thus remind the world of his awesome power. Americans are more afraid of jihadists this year than last.
I assume if Donna Brazile (Interesting Times) were a senator, she'd be one of those who tripped over herself to hug and fawn all over Joementum when he returned to the Senate after stabbing Dems in the back repeatedly. But hey...she says bloggers deserve a folding chair! She's progressive!
This is why it's really not even worth trying to pin down Dick Cheney (AMERICAblog). He won't acknowledge that he's pinned down, and he'll just stare at you until you change the subject.
And this is why I love Billmon. He does the dirty work so nobody else has to. While I was enjoying a lovely football game on a lovely afternoon, he was reading the latest Intelligence Committee report, cover to cover.
I do love that the liberal media has managed to paint the challenge of Lieberman as a rising-up of the Extreme Left while nobody's paying attention to Lincoln Chafee getting challenged in a neighboring state...especially since they're pretty much going to sacrifice a Senate seat by taking him down. At least in Connecticut, it made tactical sense (Digby). Maybe making sense is what's so extreme about the Lamont challenge?
Olvlzl nicely summarizes the effect of presidential pardons (Echidne). Meanwhile, Len Hart nicely summarizes the current onslaught of recycled lies and talking points. (11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Lie Your Face Off to Retain Power, as Long as Thou Art Religious (Attaturk).) I must say, even though I knew to expect it, it's still caught me off-guard that they're all but using the same commercials as four years ago. In Missouri, you can't escape (Fired Up! Missouri) Progress For America's "They. Want. To. Kill. Us. And. Democrats. Are. Pussies." commercial...it's on every day and on every channel. And it's only the beginning (Susie). I just hope and pray that people don't fall for it this time, but that might be too much to ask...especially in Missouri. And meanwhile, Al Qaeda hearts the GOP (Gadflyer).
Finally, someone organizing a movement against the evils of MSB (Main Stream Beer) (Alicublog). Thanks, MM...you insane, hateful harpy...
I wonder how many factory jobs $18.5 million could have paid for (First Draft)?
Dana Blankenhorn reminisces about muscular liberalism (a foreign concept to me). Meanwhile, Alter Destiny reminisces about the '80s.
But...I thought withdrawl timetables didn't work (Upyernoz)?
And finally, what a bunch of fat pigs (Pandagon)!
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