You have to be joking...

A couple of years ago, I wrote a rambling, incoherent entry about the miserable state of the Democratic party. This was right after John Kerry failed to beat Bush in the '04 Presidential election. Here's a bit:

"Dear Democrat,
Well, what we were afraid of has happened. George W. Bush has won a second term and will likely continue misguided foreign policy, record spending, and an atrocious environmental record. Guess who's to blame for the loss though? You got it, we are! When are we all going to wake up and realize that we can blame the "radical right' and "conservative Christian's" all day long and get nowhere? I learned a very important political lesson last night. You can have a crooked administration in power but if you don't offer a more viable option, YOU WILL LOSE! We tried with Gore four years ago and now we tried with Kerry. Look where it's gotten the party. We actually lost seats to continue a tri-fecta for the Republicans. How many more boring senators should we trudge out? Is Christopher Dodd interested?"

Now, take a close look at the very last question above, then read this from CNN.com today:

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd said that he is eyeing a presidential bid in 2008, joining a packed field of Democrats considering a White House run.
The Connecticut Democrat outlined his decision in Tuesday editions of The Hartford Courant, his state's largest newspaper.
"This is the right time for me," he told the paper. "This is the right thing to do."
Dodd, who turns 62 Saturday, is serving his fifth term in the Senate."

Lord help the Democratic party.

Scumbag Part II...

"Nothing worse than a woman-know-it-all..."

These are the words of recently disgraced (and potential criminal) congressman Tom Delay, Republican from Texas while speaking to Chris Matthews on "Hardball" (ie.. Softball) on MSNBC. His comments were in response to Mr. Matthews off camera remarks about a "great" new focus poll about Democrats. Apparently in the survey, Hillary Clinton didn't do very well (Matthews take) and Matthews told Delay "I'll send it to you, it's great stuff". It was great to see where Chris Matthews falls in the political spectrum. I've been trying to get a handle on this guy for years and now I know he might as well go over to FOX news where he'd fit right in with the rest of their right wing commentators. It was really a disgusting display between these two.
I knew who I was going to vote for in the next election anyway, but now I can see there's going to be so many in the right wing AND the mainstream media (in places I didn't expect it from) that are going to try and derail Hillary Clintons historic attempt to be the first woman President this country has ever had. It's sad that there are still small minded (or small... well... you get the point) men in this country that are so threatened by a strong, smart woman.

On a different note, John McCain, a man I used to respect politically is now grovelling to the lunatic right wing base of his party. Apparently he's trying to convince them that "Hey, all that maverick-I stand up for my priciples stuff is not me! I'll do whatever you want as long as I can have the nomination". It's really sad to see McCain pimp himself out to the same people that destroyed his nomination bid last time.

And in Ann Coulter news, in response to the huge demonstrations on immigration:

"It was fascinating being here for the demonstrations this weekend," she said with a snotty Darien sneer. "I guess that's why I didn't get clean towels in my hotel room this morning."
Ann continued: "I haven't seen so many agitated Mexicans since the World Cup Soccer Games were in L.A."

Wait a minute, maybe Delay is on to something...

Barack Obama...

“… to the degree that we brook no dissent within the Democratic Party, and demand fealty to the one, ‘true’ progressive vision for the country, we risk the very thoughtfulness and openness to new ideas that are required to move this country forward. When we lash out at those who share our fundamental values because they have not met the criteria of every single item on our progressive ‘checklist,’ then we are essentially preventing them from thinking in new ways about problems. We are tying them up in a straightjacket and forcing them into a conversation only with the converted. Beyond that, by applying such tests, we are hamstringing our ability to build a majority. We won’t be able to transform the country with such a polarized electorate.”

Yes...

From Espn.com, courtesy of Scoop Jackson...

KG and Oprah:
How do you make Mother Moses cry? In a year when ball players were getting press for "str8 stupidness" it seemed strange that Kevin Garnett's written appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show went notice-free.
He wrote her a letter. They gave her the letter on-air as a surprise. In the letter, he said he wanted to donate something to her Angel Network, which was building houses for those who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina. His pledge: To build one house per month for the next two years. That's 24 homes! Two seasons of "Extreme Makeover." Financially funded by one person … with no commercial return on his donation. A gesture that should have landed him on the cover of Time alongside Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono as Persons of The Year. A gesture that made Oprah -- read it again, Oprah -- break down.
But still, no member of the media wrote a story about it. USA Today scripted a blurb; ESPN.com made a mention. But overall -- nada.
Now, let Kevin Garnett or any other athlete run a stop light; let them miss a practice unexcused; let them miss a child support payment -- Bam! Lead story on "SportsCenter," forum discussion on "Rome Is Burning," breaking news on CNN.
In an era when it is too often publicly asked: "Where are our kids' role models?"; in a society that is starved for areas of positiveness to come from our professional athletes; in a world where we have been conditioned to believe that every one of these young superstars is unappreciative, ungrateful, undeserving and a void soul, a situation arose that could have shifted the entire perception of their existence. What Kevin Garnett did was just that big.
But guess who dropped the ball? Us. The media, for not saying anything about it, and the public, for not demanding that we do.
The moral of this story: How do you make the media not pay attention to you when you are a superstar athlete? Do something humane.

In the pursuit of fairness that this blog always strives for (and rarely achieves), here's a good post defending Howard Dean. From The Huffington Post:
12.15.2005

If Any Dems are Upset at Dean, They Should Look in the Mirror
In yesterday’s edition of the Hill is a story detailing apparent tensions between some Members of Congress and Democratic Chair Howard Dean. At issue are recent comments by the Governor on what should be done about Social Security and Iraq. Some Hill staff and Members grouse that by wading into the policy arena, Dean has broken a commitment to avoid talk about issues in favor of focusing on money and party building.

Said one unnamed aide, “There were serious concerns when Gov. Dean took over that he understand what his role was and what it wasn’t. There were meetings with the congressional leadership and Mr. Dean where it was discussed and the governor implied that he understood what his role was and was not, that he was the mechanical part of the party, not the standard bearer or message person. Subsequently, there have been episodes that have been concerning.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked for Governor Dean’s bid for the White House and have a lot of warm memories of that campaign (as well as an ulcer that I take medication for, to be fair). However, I tried to read this story objectively.

The record of the party in the 2006 elections will make or break Dean’s chairmanship. Should the Democrats not make a competitive showing, it will give his opponents in the party establishment the rope they need to hang him. The Governor knows this. He has done an incredible amount of work to get the party infrastructure and grassroots networking close to where it needs to be for the party machine to be fully effective. In less than a year, he’s done what no other chairman thought of doing – placing a handful of staffers in every state in the country. His record of fundraising is better than most party chairmen have done at this point after a presidential election – no small feat considering how tapped-out donors were from the Kerry campaign.

What the party lacks now is a coherent and detailed message on key issues, and the Governor knows this.

His low point as chairman, to me, was his appearance on Meet the Press a few weeks ago, particularly this exchange:


DR. DEAN: We have an alternative agenda. We made it very clear. We want a strong national security based on telling the truth to our people at home, our soldiers and our allies. We want jobs in America that'll stay in America, and we believe that renewable energy is one of the areas where we can do that. We want a health-care system that covers everybody, just like 36 other countries in the world. We want a strong public education system. And most of all, we want honesty back in government. I think that's a pretty good agenda.

MR. RUSSERT: But those are words that will appeal to people. But when you go behind them, for example, what is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for?

DR. DEAN: Tim, first of all, we don't control the House, the Senate or the White House. We have plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections.

He went on to admit, when pressed, that the party didn’t have specifics yet. Knowing the Governor, my feeling is that his gut was probably churning having to say something like this. During the campaign, and during his tenure as Governor, it was his staple to not bring up a problem and pin it on someone, unless he had a plan on how to do better. It’s the hallmark of any good candidate or party. Howard Dean looks at Ken Mehlman being able to rattle off the Republican position on issues, and knows his party looks weak in comparison in regards to detailed plans and positions it can provide. He knows plans, not platitudes, no matter how right or wrong, are what attract voters.

And so, with a party still fractious and arguing over what positive agenda to adopt as a position on Iraq, Social Security, ethics and a host of other issues, Howard Dean began to lay out some plans. On Social Security, he said he favored raising the cap protecting salaries of over $90,000 from being taxed. On Iraq, he began to support the notion that there should be a phased redeployment, sooner rather than later. Are they perfect plans? Maybe not. But the point was, finally, a lead Democrat was offering a positive agenda.

If Democrats on the Hill are upset, all they need do is look in the mirror. If there wasn’t an enormous and obvious gap in positive and forward-thinking messaging, there would be no void for the Governor to fill. The added benefit would be that voters might actually start to find more appeal in the party. Yes, even as disastrous as the GOP has been, voters still are not preferring Democrats at the level they should be.

In response to the Governor’s statements, Congressman Earl Pomeroy told a reporter that Dean should “shut up.” My advice to Pomeroy and other Democrats who really want to see the Governor walk in lock step is all to themselves shut up and lock themselves in a room for however how long it takes to come up with a positive, detailed, and unified agenda. Until they do so, I expect that the Governor will continue to speak.

Fairweather Fan...

"I wonder how I'd look in Laker yellow..."


Now that they've lost their last three games (all in the closing minutes), it looks like this team is coming back to .500. My original prediction. Last nights loss to San Antonio was a heartbreaker. They had their shot to beat the best and came up short again. I hope Kevin Garnett gets to wear a championship ring someday. I just don't know if he'll ever be standing at center court in Minnesota to receive it. My prediction on Garnett is that he's an obvious hall of famer but he'll struggle for a ring like many before him. Barkley, Malone, etc...

Tony Snow of FOX...

From Tony Snow of FOX "News"...

" In resisting President Bush's infinitely variable approach to the ever-shifting situation in Iraq, Democrats have reverted to form. The cries for benchmarks and deadlines merely embody their weird faith in plans."

I never believed my parents when they told me to have a plan in life. Now I have proof. Hardy har har.

Congrats...

Congratulations to the #21 Maryland Terrapins for their win over #6 Boston College in mens hoops. Great quality win.





Not so much for the #2 Texas Longhorns who were spanked by the #1 Duke Blue Devils by 31 points. Anyone still doubt the talent on this Duke team?

SHUT UP!!!

From San Antonio's WOAI:
Saying the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean predicted today that the Democratic Party will come together on a proposal to withdraw National Guard and Reserve troops immediately, and all US forces within two years.

Oh how freakin terrific and wonderful. Howard Dean has opened his big mouth yet again. Instead of concentrating on raising money for the '06 elections, we get yet another stupid quote from the mouth of Dr. Dean. It seems to me that Howard Dean is to the Democratic party what Terrell Owens is (sorry, was) to the Philadelphia Eagles, a bad teammate with potential that constantly sticks his foot in his mouth at the worst possible time just to see his name in the paper. Mr. Dean needs to realize that just because a majority of Americans want to bring the troops home as soon as possible, this doesn't mean that a majority of Americans want us to fail in Iraq. That's just simply put, stupid. Even if it were a true statement (which it is most decidely not), it was a stupid comment that will come back to haunt him and the Democrats in '06. I was very supportive of Howard Dean as DNC Chairman when it was first announced. I was hoping that he would be the kind of figure that could raise a lot of money for Democrats on his name recognition while keeping a low profile in the media. Instead, everytime I turn around it seems Dr. Dean is in the news saying something controversial and giving ammunition to the far right wing to beat us over the head with. These are the comments that make Americans think you are weak on defense. You can be against the war. We all know you were against it from the start. You can be against the way the thing has been handled every step of the way. Please don't say we are going to fail though. That's not the right message to send to our military and the American people, and it's not the sort of rhetoric that's going to help us gain any traction in '06 or '08.

A few thoughts on Harriet Miers...

Conservatives are "on the ledge" so to speak over President Bushs latest Supreme Court nominee. A few thoughts from them:

"It is important that Miers not be confirmed unless, in her 61st year, she suddenly and unexpectedly is found to have hitherto undisclosed interests and talents pertinent to the court's role. Otherwise the sound principle of substantial deference to a president's choice of judicial nominees will dissolve into a rationalization for senatorial abdication of the duty to hold presidents to some standards of seriousness that will prevent them from reducing the Supreme Court to a private plaything useful for fulfilling whims on behalf of friends." -George Will

"I'M DISAPPOINTED, depressed and demoralized." -William Kristol, Editor of "The Weekly Standard" and frequent contributor to Fox news.

Harriet Miers credentials are, shall we say, modest. By consensus, she's a distinguished attorney and highly capable presidential aide. She was a major player in Texas legal circles, serving as the first female head of the State Bar of Texas. President Bush's introduction on Monday smacked of resume padding. She was on the Dallas City Council and tried cases before judges. And, President Bush noted, as head of the Texas Lottery Commission Miers "insisted on a system that was fair and honest." That's a bit like saying that, as head of the water authority, she insisted tap water be fit for human consumption; it's the right position but hardly a profile in courage. -Jonah Goldberg

As a card-carrying member of the conservative conclave, I would not have made Miss Miers my first choice … or my thousandth. In fact, I would associate myself with Brother-in-Christ Patrick Buchanan's searing preachment at Monday's services concerning her wane qualifications for the high bench. -Tony Blankley

But her qualifications for the Supreme Court are nonexistent. She is not a brilliant jurist -- indeed, has never been a judge. She is not a scholar of the law. Researchers are hard-pressed to dig up an opinion. She has not had a brilliant career in politics, the academy, the corporate world or the public forum. Were she not a friend of Bush, and female, she would never have even been considered. -Pat Buchanan

"There are a lot more people - men, women and minorities - that are more qualified in my opinion by their experience than she is," -Trent Lott

Time for Impeachment...

I'm calling for impeachment. I'm not being cute or joking around. I'm deadly serious. It's time for all of them to go. I've had enough.
This is from Netscape.com (CNN.com)

"When FEMA assembled 1,400 firefighters, it held them for sexual harassment training and assigned them to hand out fliers instead of rescuing people. Fifty of them were told to stand for a photo op with President Bush. Good use of resources?

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had begged for more firefighters to help with search and rescue operations and put out blazes around the city. The Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] assembled 1,400 firefighters last Sunday at the Sheraton Hotel in Atlanta.

But instead of being sent to New Orleans to rescue survivors, they were told that they would be community relations officers, hand out fliers and distribute a telephone number, 1-800-621-FEMA, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

A FEMA spokeswoman was quoted as saying that firefighters who are complaining about their flier-distribution assignment should reevaluate their commitment to Americans as well as firefighting.

"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," a Texas firefighter told the Tribune. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."

On Monday, 50 firefighters were flown quickly to Louisiana for their first assignment, which was to stand next to President Bush while he toured the area, the Tribune said.

Good use of resources?"

I've been holding off on writing about the nightmare that's engulfed the southern coast, and actually had been trying to give a fair shake to the way the administration has handled the relief efforts. No more. This administration does not give a damn about it's citizens and it has proven it in the past week. I'll admit that my first reaction to this tragedy was less than sympathetic to the people in New Orleans, Biloxi, etc... I have done a complete 180. Initially my first response was one of "Well, these people were warned it was coming, they should have left the area." I could not have been more ignorant. After doing some research, (which is what I should've done before opening my big yap to start with), I learned that New Orleans has a poverty rate that hovers around 30%. This in turn means that a lot of people had no means to get out before the storm hit. Where would they find the transportation? Where would they stay? Could any of these people afford a 100$ a night hotel? The answer is of course not. They were simply left there to drown as the water came rushing in to the area.

On to the "response" of the federal government if you can call it a response at all. There are three main people that need to lose their jobs immediately, President Bush, Head of FEMA Michael Brown, and Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. How can it take FIVE days to get people water? I'm not even talking about food, blankets, medicine, etc... How is that even a remote possibility that something like that could happen? How does it take FIVE days to mobilize the National Guard to conduct some law and order? The short answer is that it doesn't. Please read:

"In Sept. 1999, while duly elected President Bill Clinton was on a working trip to New Zealand to meet with the Chinese president, Cat3 Hurricane Floyd started menacing the Carolina coast. What did he do? He declared the Carolinas a Federal Disaster Area before Floyd struck, mobilized the National Guard and military, cut short his working diplomatic foray, and flew home early to manage the natural disaster..."

The White House has already ramped up it's spin machine (read: Karl Rove) and started to blame local officials for the screwups that have happened. As if any local or state agency could manage a disaster in the size and scope of Katrina. That's what FEMA was created for. It's job is to manage and protect it's citizens in a disaster such as this. Many federal officials are saying that FEMA and other agencies couldn't enter New Orleans, they're saying there was no access. This is a bald faced and blatant lie. We're supposed to believe that CNN, FOX, NBC and all kinds of other news agencies can get in there to broadcast, but the federal government can't? The National Guard can't? FEMA can't?

One of the main things that can be taken from this tragedy for the people all over the nation that weren't directly affected is this. You are on your own. The current occupiers of the White House don't care any more about you than they do the White House dog.

Quotes from the last couple of days:

"Get off your asses and let's do something!" -New Orleans mayor to Federal officials.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." -The Presidents mama, Barbara Bush after visiting the Astrodome where thousands of evacuees were being housed.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." –President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi

"We've lost our city, I fear it's potentially like Pompeii." -Marc Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, now serving as president of the National Urban League.

"It's downtown Baghdad, it's insane." said tourist Denise Bollinger, who snapped pictures of looting in the French Quarter.

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on Good Morning America, Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina.

"I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR's All Things Considered, Sept. 1, 2005

"Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter) —President Bush, touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

"(The bureaucracy) has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area." -Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish near New Orleans

"Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? -ABC's Ted Koppel in response to FEMA director Mike Brown saying he just learned about the roughly 15,000 people stranded at the New Orleans convention center.

"The governor and the president let thousands of people die and they let them die on their roofs and they let them die in the water, we got left. They didn't care." Resident of southeastern Louisiana Verlyn Davis Jr.

"ABOUT TIME BUSH!" -A sign on a boarded up window.

Cindy Sheehan update...

There was an interesting turn to this story today. A neighbor of President Bush is allowing the protesters (who had been camping in ditches) to come on to his land to continue their protest. This man is a Army veteran who disagrees with what we're doing in Iraq and out of concern for the safety of everyone is allowing the "circus" (as I called it yesterday) to use his land. So it appears this protest will continue for quite a while longer.

That's enough now...

During a slow news cycle, the press have picked up on the story of a mother, Cindy Sheehan, who lost a son serving in Iraq and is now holding a "vigil", "protest", "sit-in", or whatever you want to call it, outside the Presidents ranch near Crawford, Texas. She's claiming that she will not leave until she get's some face to face time with Dubya and have him answer some questions on why her son was sent there in the first place. I think all reasonable people can agree that what she's gone through is the most difficult thing in life to get over, the loss of a son or daughter. Even more reasonable people can agree that her son was killed unneccesarily due to the bungling of an occupation in Iraq by this administration. Having said that, that's enough. It's time for Mrs. Sheehan to leave and bring the circus she and the press created with her and go home. For better or worse, Bush has told the American people many times what he thinks he invaded Iraq for, although most sane people can see that he's made the problem much worse in the long run. Cindy Sheehan will never get the answers or resolution she's looking for from this. The residents that live around Dubya's ranch are getting very restless and I'm afraid it won't be much longer before someone get's hurt on either side of the debate, either the war protesters or the groups that have shown up to show support for the President. Just yesterday one of Dubya's supporters thought he'd get his point across by running over with his truck the makeshift memorial of white crosses that has been put up to honor our troops. What a disgusting display by this man. He was arrested by Crawford police and they deserve praise for throwing this vile, little, "man" behind bars. It's time to end this thing and go home, everyone. If I was a parent living in the area, I would be concerned for the safety of my children with the increase of traffic and chaos in the normally quiet area.

The Wisdom of Tom Barnard...

"There is no poverty in America."

-KQRS Morning Show Host Tom Barnard

Ann Coulter's Wisdom of the Day...

"It's always good to remind voters that Democrats are the party of abortion, sodomy and atheism, and nothing presents an opportunity to do so like a Supreme Court nomination."
-Ann Coulter

John Roberts...

Who knows? That seems to be the prevailing thought on President Bush's nominee to replace retiring judge Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. This pick seems to have been driven by the President needing a quick confirmation. Mr. Roberts has only two years experience on the federal bench, which of course means he has very few cases in which Democrats can point to and say "See, look at this, he's a right wing nut job." This was a wise pick by President Bush for this very reason. Not many major case decisions virtually ensures his confirmation to the highest court in the land. That's what it's come to now though. The climate in Washington is so partisan that Mr. Bush can't even nominate a qualified candidate (not that Mr. Roberts is unqualified by any means, he is by all accounts more than capable,) that may have more experience for fear of a long drawn out confirmation hearing (In all fairness though, Mr. Bush is the number one reason things in Washington are as partisan as they are). From what I've read, there were many more experienced choices for the President to choose, but he chose Judge Roberts due to his limited case history.

It's interesting that within hours after Bush picked Roberts as his choice, I was indudated with e-mails telling me how horrible this pick was for the country. MoveOn.ORG and others tell me Mr. Roberts is a (gasp) conservative. Really? I assumed Bush was going to nominate Dr. Howard Dean. Give me a break people. Like it or not, when Bush won the election we all knew that he was going to be nominating at least one, maybe two, justices. Before we all go forward and act like we know what we're talking about and flame Mr. Roberts, let's let some facts on his judicial record come forward. Also, let's not forget that while Bill Clinton was President his nominees were both approved, (both liberals, Ginsberg and Breyer) and they were granted a fair and respectful hearing.

Karl Rove...

Once in a while I come across a piece that I wish I could of or would of written. The following is one such piece found on Keith Olbermann's blog at MSNBC. It deals with Karl Rove's leak to Time magazine. It's quite possibly the best blog post I've seen this year if not ever. Re-printed without any permission whatsoever.

• July 11, 2005 | 11:39 a.m. ET

Karl Rove: Soft on terror (Keith Olbermann)

SECURED UNDISCLOSED LOCATION -- Karl Rove is a liability in the war on terror.

Rove -- Newsweek’s new article quotes the very emails -- told a Time reporter that Ambassador Joe Wilson’s trip to investigate of the Niger uranium claim was at the behest of Wilson’s CIA wife.

To paraphrase Mr. Rove, liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers; conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared to ruin the career of one of the country’s spies tracking terrorist efforts to gain weapons of mass destruction -- for political gain.

Politics first, counter-terrorism second -- it’s as simple as that.

In his ‘story guidance’ to Matthew Cooper of Time, Rove did more damage to your safety than the most thumb-sucking liberal or guard at Abu Ghraib. He destroyed an intelligence asset like Valerie Plame merely to deflect criticism of a politician. We have all the damned politicians, of every stripe, that we need. The best of them isn’t worth half a Valerie Plame. And if the particular politician for whom Rove was deflecting, President Bush, is more than just all hat and no cattle on terrorism, he needs to banish Rove -- and loudly.

Because it’s starting again. I was in the checkout line in a supermarket last night when one of New York’s countless little old ladies barked out something at the cashier: “Miss? Who does this bag belong to?” Uncomprehending, the checkout woman blinked at her. The older woman pointed at a gym bag that had been left near the store’s entrance, on a ledge below the delicatessen cabinet. Gefilta fish is an unlikely terrorist target to say the least, but the woman was absolutely right. “We’re supposed to report unattended bags. There could be a bomb in there.”

Silly, right? As silly as it would’ve been before last Thursday in London if somebody on the Underground had said to a fellow passenger, “There’s a bag of something here that doesn’t seem to belong to anybody.”

You may not have lived through a Time of the Bags in your hometown, but I did, and I don’t want to go through it again. In the jittery New York of October, 2001, I once came within seconds of getting Yankee Stadium evacuated, because there it was, resting against the railing of the visitors’ dugout: a small backpack surrounded by hundreds of reporters who were all carrying their own backpacks. I asked several of my colleagues about it - none saw it placed there nor knew to whom it belonged. I called out loudly; nobody responded. The two or three other reporters with whom I’d been chatting suddenly announced I was in charge.

Gee, thanks.

I did the calculations: the Stadium was filling up. There were hundreds on the field, thousands already in the stands. The bag had a Super Bowl logo on the side - if designed to fit in with the environment, it was ideal. As my colleagues’ faces got whiter and whiter, I said I’d give it 30 seconds and one more shout. I saw a policeman about 20 feet to my left. The process wouldn’t take long. I gave one final shout seeking the identity of the owner. A goateed ESPN guy ambled over. “I’m pretty sure that’s, what’s his name, he’s down the other side of the dugout.”

We didn’t call the cop. We called What’s His Name. He was from the Bay Area and though an otherwise intelligent man, he simply hadn’t yet had to consider exactly what was meant by the phrase “unattended bag.” He sheepishly reclaimed it.

Not an hour later, I was finishing up dinner with one of my colleagues who had shared my Near Bag Experience. He had a press seat way out in leftfield and didn’t want to take his bag with him. So he promptly stuffed it under a desk in the Yankee Stadium press room. He’s a friend, and I swore at him as you can only swear at a friend. He took the bag with him.

We’re back in those times, thanks to the London attacks. Needless to say, the 2001 bag at Yankee Stadium was no more threatening than the 2005 bag at the Associated Supermarket. But if we’re going to have to live our lives looking for them, I damn well don’t want political morons in positions where they can deliberately screw up counter-terrorism measures. I know we already have to live with the idea that they’ll do it accidentally.

Any time I’ve criticized the current administration here or on the air, I’ve gotten the same idiotic emails from the same idiotic people who’ve never been touched by terrorism. They brand me a liberal who doesn’t understand that terrorists want the next unattended bag to be filled with WMD. Their position is incredible on its face; in the light of the confirmation of the Karl Rove revelation it would assume the quality of farce, were it not so deadly serious.

And the bottom line is this: in the metaphoric department of the war on terror, Karl Rove not only leaves bags unattended - he does it intentionally.

E-mail: KOlbermann@msnbc.com

"Bias"...

A couple of years back, CBS insider Bernard Goldberg came out with his supposedly scathing indictment of how the "liberal" media in this country operates with his book entitled "Bias". The fact that he worked at CBS news for many years made people stand up and take notice at the claims he was making. Mr. Goldberg is back with a new book, "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America" and this time the only "Bias" that comes across is the bias Mr. Goldberg seems to harbor for Democrats, liberals and celebrities. With this new book, Bernie Goldberg finally lets everyone know where his allegiance lies and it's most definitely along the conservative, republican side of the aisle. For the sake of the reader of this blog, here's the list:

1 Michael Moore
2 Arthur Sulzberger
3 Ted Kennedy
4 Jesse Jackson
5 Anthony Romero
6 Jimmy Carter
7 Margaret Marshall
8 Paul Krugman
9 Jonathan Kozol
10 Ralph Neas
11 Noam Chomsky
12 Dan Rather
13 Andrew Heyward
14 Mary Mapes
15 Ted Rall
16 John Edwards
17 Al Sharpton
18 Al Gore
19 George Soros
20 Howard Dean
21 Judge Roy Moore
22 Michael Newdow
23 The Unknown American Terrorist
24 Lee Bollinger
25 James Kopp
26 Dr. Martin Haskell
27 Paul Begala
28 Julian Bond
29 John Green
30 Latrell Sprewell
31 Maury Povich
32 Jerry Springer
33 Bob Shrum
34 Bill Moyers
35 Jeff Danziger
36 Nancy Hopkins
37 Al Franken
38 Jim McDermott
39 Peter Singer
40 Scott Harshbarger
41 Susan Beresford
42 Gloria Steinem
43 Paul Eibeler
44 Dennis Kozlowski
45 Ken Lay
46 Barbara Walters
47 Maxine Waters
48 Robert Byrd
49 Ingrid Newkirk
50 John Vasconellos
51 Ann Pelo
52 Markos Moulitsas
53 Anna Nicole Smith
54 Neal Shapiro
55 David Westin
56 Diane Sawyer
57 Ted Field
58 Eminem
59 Shirley Franklin
60 Ludacris
61 Michael Savage
62 Howard Stern
63 Amy Richards
64 James Wolcott
65 Oliver Stone
66 David Duke
67 Randall Robinson
68 Katherine Hanson
69 Matt Kunitz
70 Jimmy Swaggart
71 Phil Donahue
72 Ward Churchill
73 Barbara Kingsolver
74 Katha Politt
75 Eric Foner
76 Barbara Foley
77 Linda Hirshman
78 Norman Mailer
79 Harry Belafonte
80 Kitty Kelley
81 Tim Robbins
82 Laurie David
83 The Dumb and Vicious Celebrity
84 The Vicious Celebrity
85 The Dumb Celebrity
86 Chris Ofili
87 Sheldon Hackney
88 Aaron McGruder
89 Jane Smiley
90 Michael Jackson
91 Barbara Streisand
92 Kerri Dunn
93 Richard Timmons
94 Guy Velella
95 Courtney Love
96 Eve Ensler
97 Todd Goldman
98 Sheila Jackson Lee
99 Matthew Lesko
100 Rick and Kathy Hilton

Wow! So an editorial cartoonist (Ted Rall), is screwing up America more than Tom Delay, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson, Sean Hannity etc... C'mon Bernie, we can see right through you you're so transparent. Now, I don't disagree with Bernie on some of these names. Many probably belong there, but my god the lack of politicians and talking heads from the conservative side of the aisle is astonishing! Don't tell me that Jimmy Carter is screwing up America more than a Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. I don't buy that.

Kudos to Bill O'Reilly and some others in the right wing press...

Yes, you actually read the headline correctly. Kudos to Bill O'Reilly and some others in the right wing press. I never thought I'd see "kudos" and "right wing press" in the same sentence on my blog, but that's sometimes how life works out. You may have read (or not) that Ed Klein has recently released his "tell-all" biography on the life of one, Hillary Clinton. It's filled with playground gossip, third hand sourcing, and the kind of innuendo that will make Kitty Kelley blush. I refuse on this blog to repeat such garbage that he prints in the book. He has no first hand sources, and he himself has started to back off the more salacious details he prints. Much credit is due to Bill O'Reilly (won't have Klein on his show), Clinton hater Dick Morris (says the book doesn't belong in public dialogue), and others on "that side" of the political aisle have weighed in with their distaste and disgust for the book. The main reason for much of their reluctance in this case is the absolute lack of credible sources. From Yahoo news in response to the claim that Sen. Patrick Moynihan "despised" Hillary:

"The (Sen. Patrick) Moynihan example alone is a case study in journalistic fraud. Klein claims he spent "several hours interviewing Mrs. Moynihan" for the book. Yet Moynihan's daughter Maura reveals in the New York Observer that "my mother hasn't seen Mr. Klein in over 20 years." Klein, Maura Moynihan writes, "puts quotes around statements that were never uttered." Absent invented conversations, Klein's reliance on anonymous sources has raised more than a few eyebrows. USA Today and other mainstream newspapers have refused to print the numerous accounts that can't be independently verified. A Washington Post review notes that Klein "repeats rumors and then footnotes them to a prior author who references the rumors."

This type of thing not only proves he's a shoddy journalist but a liar as well. Unfortunately, there are others on the right who have called it "required reading" (Tony Blankley), and who will have no problem promoting the "book" on their show. I remember a few months back how "up in arms" theses same folks were about Dan Rather and the forged documents. Why are we not seeing the same outrage over these baseless charges? In this instance, they have proved themselves to be complete shills for the right wing. We always knew that though didn't we? These people, in my opinion, are blatant sexists who just can't stand a powerful woman and will go to disgusting lengths to try and discredit her. To close on a positive note though, this increases my respect for someone such as O'Reilly who refuses to give air time to this "yellow" journalist.

We also can't let the publisher off the hook for this libel. Here's their quotes on the the book:

Sentinel, the two-year-old conservative imprint of the Penguin Putnam publishing house that published Klein's book, has stated as its goal: "Just as the Swift Boat Veterans convinced millions of voters that John Kerry lacked the character to be president, Klein's book will influence everyone who is sizing up the character of Hillary Clinton." Similarly, the New York Post reported on April 12 that Sentinel spokesperson Will Weisser "said he hoped that The Truth About Hillary would do to Clinton what the Swift Boat Veterans bestseller did to Kerry. 'That would be our fondest wish,'

'Nuff said.

Tooting my own horn...

My original post from a couple weeks back:

"Now that I've proven I'm one of the best "pickers" in the land (proof would be that when EVERYONE was predicting a Suns championship, I knew they'd lose to a decent team at any point along the way)... Here's my prediction for the Finals. Spurs in seven. Take that to the sportsbook and tell 'em to run it 'til they run out of paper."

Congrats to the Spurs. An organization the Wolves can never even hope to be. Nuff said.