Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Cheney Conundrum


Image licensed under Creative Commons by Mick Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Cheney Conundrum: Dick's latest media foray could be his last (that is, before his attorneys and handlers clamp a Denver Boot on his tongue...) and its making us ask the question; "Just how dumb is he?" and, further, "Just how dumb are we?".  Boy, some of us just aren't grasping the Cheney Conundrum - and that means the heavy hitters like Keith-O, Rachel, Chris Matthews and more... Or maybe we just missed a report from David Corn or Chris Hayes (we like Chris...).  JoeNBC seems a little too quiet, maybe he gets it...Joe is, after all, conservative...but still a professional...

GET IT?  Get what?  You may ask.  What Countdown has aired on the primetime (last night AND the night before...) is video of apparently Dick Cheney stepping on his own...er, sword...and possibly foisting himself on it.  How?  By the tacit admission that he supported *enhanced interrogation techniques (i.e., waterboarding) and some other potential war crimes.  We - try to momentarily forget that we are leftofleftliberalefties - firmly believe that he has really set himself up here and just about every other high-level persons-of-interest in the former Bush Administration for war crimes prosecution or violations of the Geneva Convention.

Further, these "confessions" were obtained from a person who apparently was not tortured nor subjected to waterboarding nor *EITs.  Yet, this person has apparently put himself and others of his ilk in jeopardy of a war crimes trial (or military tribunal) - with possible punishments and fines and other sanctions.  Therefore, by his own administration's "definitions" he has made himself a war criminal, or loosely defined, a bit of a terrorist himself.  Yet, his confession(s) and/or admissions were obtained without mention of habeas corpus, without rendition (extraordinary or otherwise), without restraint, without punishment, without military detention, without EITs, without waterboarding and without torture.  The man has clearly given us information without benefit of his own tightly adhered-to embrace of EIT and other illogical means of extracting confessions and/or verdicts.  Without delay.  Without restriction.  With freedom of speech and liberties guaranteed under a Constitution and Bill of Rights that his kind appear to have willingly usurped.

Lets try this again.  This man Cheney was not waterboarded, nor subjected to any form of EIT that we know of.  Nor is he under threat of such or any physical harm or torture.  Yet he appears to have willingly admitted and/or confessed to "terroristic" forms of war crimes and tortures by himself and by his own members of his administration.  Now isn't that extraordinary?  Its extraordinary that a proponent of extrajudicial means of obtaining punishments and extreme measures need not have been subjected to them now nor in the past nor in the future.  Its extaordinary that he is going around town promoting such means live and on-air.

In other words, he's just contradicting himself.  Over and over and over.  He's a living walking contradiction.  And an alleged war criminal.  Its supremely ironic.  The man has publicly disproven his own argument of what he stands for and continues to support.  The man is running rings around himself logically.  Yet, here he be.  He exists despite himself.  He should have collapsed into a black hole of irony by now.  Or at the very least, the Bush Administration should appear out of a wormhole and render him unto a secret POW camp in the past.  Which is where they should be.

Get it yet?

Bit.ly: http://bit.ly/aqWZeP

FOM: Cheney's Costly Mistake , It Came from the Veep and Paradix or Dickundrum.

Updated/Revised: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Inagural or Inaugural 2013

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Image licensed under Creative Commons by auburnxc



Inagural or Inaugural 2013:  http://bit.ly/bkXabG  Unfortunate conflation of Inauguration and the epithet "Nag". The predicted misspelling (See our posting: What Was Really Written On Sarah's Hand?) or "respelling" of Inaugural in the event of a Palin win...God help us...

Bit.ly link to this post: http://bit.ly/9Qx8S8

FOM: Palin Hand Crib Notes Attract Scrutiny , Palin Fails to Bring Ideas, The Sound of Palin's Hand Clapping (both from MSNBC Countdown), Sarah Palin's 'helping hand' of crib notes for speech (BBC NEWS) ,Gidget Goes Rogue, Phlegmodium and The Fantastic Ms/Mrs Fox.

Please note: This posting appears simultaneously in our sister publication, The Anti-Zen Dictionary.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

What Was Really Written On Sarah's Hand?


(Click on image for full view...)

Breaking News!: This appeared on the other hand: OMG, is that me on the monitor!?  I'm so cute and appealing!!!

OK, so maybe thats not her hand, maybe she has "man hands" or maybe its Todd's...

Wait, it gets worse.  Who wrote the crib notes?  An aide?  Somebody else???





Revised/Updated: Tuesday, February 9, 2010; Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

CrimeSofties? JimHuggers?


Image licensed under Creative Commons by SIR: Poseyal KNIGHT of the DESPONSYI

CrimeSofties or JimHuggers?: Has the GOP and its conservative pundits revealed a fundamental flaw? We're referring to the old conservative political stance of "Getting Tough On Crime". With all of the FOX News Network shameless O'Keefe-hugging, it would appear that FOX and their Conservative ilk are getting "Soft on Crime"? By promoting Mr. O'Keefe and his allegedly illegal break-in (not to mention possible conspiracy by involvement with his whole gang and others...) of Senator Mary Landrieu's Office in a Federal Building, aren't they giving themselves the appearance of aligning with the "crime-dog"? Conservative criminals consorting with known felons? Gee, who'd thunk it?





True, true...Federal property is the "people's property"? But isn't that also true in Red China? Has the Right gone (apparently) Red in embracing an activist demagogue that espouses lame, trite, trivial defenses about public property being his property? Wait? Didn't Timothy McVeigh feel the same about the Alfred P. Murrah building?





Oh, and what about the Nixonian association with the Watergate break-in? We don't recall too many politicos hugging poor old Milhous about that time. Nope, not too many. Didn't he resign in shame and leave the political limelight forever after that break-in and the attempted wiretaps? Shouldn't Roger, Rupert, Sean, Bill-O and the rest be doing the same? That or running for political cover before the political fallout?





Our point is that O'Keefe and his alleged-gang being guilty or no, there's no avoiding the negative connotation. We were slightly amazed that Keith O and his staff did not pull up (gleefully...it would have been OK...) the negative references to being Soft-On-Crime, Hugging Criminals and Conspirators, Sopranos references, Nixon references and more. Yes, we know, the McVeigh reference is nauseatingly over-the-top. But, most of these conservatives (some - not all, we love Joe Scarborough), like the proverbial dog, return to their own vomit.





But, lest we forget, seems that our government is getting actionable intelligence out of the Detroit Christmas Attack terror suspect without resorting to waterboarding, torture nor military tribunals? So, apparently there's no need to overturn the Geneva Convention nor bring this poor chump to a military tribunal. How do we know? Because our senior editor's hometown is Detroit, and he's spitting mad over the whole sordid affair - as well as the "any-means-necessary" hypocritical Bushie conservative approach. They didn't have to waterboard Abdulmutullab, did they? Neither do they have to go around casting rose petals at the feet of O'Keefe. Nauseating.





So what is being kept out of our sight? What is the bigger picture? Why all of the political posturing and gainsaying over one two-bit break-in and illegal attempted wiretap by a cheap (alleged) criminal and his "Apple Dumpling" Gang? What is the big deal? Or is it some kind of cover up and/or whitewash? We're waiting...


Bit.ly: http://bit.ly/bkjuqu


FOM: O’Keefe Toxic for the GOP? – MSNBC Countdown Tues, 2/2/2010http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#35209054 and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#35208524

Updated/Revised: Friday, February 5, 2010