Die Kunst der Blog

David Neiwert has the unique ability to consistently produce posts which weave together current events, the thoughts of other writers, and his own unique insights, in such a way that the end result resembles nothing so much as a Bach fugue in its structure and complexity. Note his theme and the attendant repetitions and variations in this post, which addresses the shameful but increasingly prevalent Republican tactic of suggesting that Al Qaeda would prefer a Kerry presidency. Masterful, but it's just another day at the office for Mr. Neiwert.

Take that, Winston...

We're all French.

Baker to replace Rumsfeld?

Daddy's Mr. Fix-it to the rescue again...

"Um, hello ... um, Mr. Baker? Um, yeah, it's um, it's George Bush. . . . No sir, that's my Dad. I'm the one you paid $50 to clean your garage that summer, remember? . . . Yes sir. Thank you, sir. I'm glad I did better than you thought I would do, too. . . . Um, Mr. Baker? I need some he.... yes, sir. I know I only call when I screw up. . . No sir, I'm not in jail again. . . No sir, she never did file that paternity suit, heh heh. . . . No, still buried. They won't find that guy, heh heh.

Really, sir, I'm calling to see if... What? . . . . No, no, I didn't do any time for that. Thanks. . . . I'm really calling to see if you'll be my Secretary of Defense. . . . Yes sir, I'm firing Rumsfeld. . . . Yes sir. He is an arrogant jackass, heh heh. . . . Well, you did so well in Florida, I can't think of anyone better, Mr. Baker, sir. . . . Yes, Dad knows.

Mom? I don't know, should I check? . . . You know I'm scared of her, right? . . . Yes sir, she can be one of those, yes sir. You have no idea. . . . Yes sir. . . . You need to checkwith Dick? . . . But he said I could call, sir. He knows. . . . yes sir. . . . Lone Star? Yeah, I think we can have the fridge at the Pentagon stock some of that. Watch out for them pretzels, though. .. . Thank you sir. And good luck. . . . If you need me I'll be at the ranch. . . . Thank you sir. Buh bye."

Bush could have gotten Zarqawi in 2002

George Bush, the bane of terrorists everywhere. Sat on information which would have led to the likely death of terrorist Al Zarqawi, to whom more than 700 deaths are attributed in Iraq, including the horrendous bombings at the Najaf pilgrimage, the execution of Nick Berg, the death of the President of the Iraqi Governing Council, and several others.

Yep, that's right. He let him go. On purpose.

Mispronunciation games

George Bush gave a speech last night in which he essentially told the world that he would continue to pilot his boat down the Niagara River and he didn't give a damn what anybody says because he knows it is the right thing to do. Oh yeah, and we're going to get some help, but we're still going down this river and if you say otherwise, well, you can just join the list of enemies of freedom. And hey, terrists are bad.

Seriously, what does it say about a man when he cannot, in a speech prompted by the abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison, even bring himself to pronounce the word Abu Ghraib?

Was he not prepped? Does he have a mental block? Did he do it on purpose?

It's as if Nixon had mispronounced "Watergate." Or Clinton had mispronounced "Miss Lewinsky."

Simply amazing.

Repeat until November - "What would Lyndon do?"

Bush 43 now at 41

The new CBS poll shows President Bush's approval rating now hitting 41%, right there with Bush 41. He's crashing.

Josh Marshall's elegant take?

"WWLD - What Would Lyndon Do?"

Top 40 he ain't

The best damn slide guitarist on the planet is an unassuming, sometimes bespectacled cajun virtuoso named Sonny Landreth, and for those of you fortunate enough to live in the Raleigh area, you can catch him live Saturday Night, June 26, at Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of Art. And no, that's not my subjective opinion; there isn't a guitarist on earth who can do what Sonny does. He frets behind the slide, he gets right hand harmonics that should be impossible, and his ideas and phrasing are simply beyond comparison. If that's not enough, he's a great songwriter and band leader, and from what I hear, an all around great guy in person.

In addition to his own discography, you can hear Sonny on John Hiatt's "Slow Turning," which no record collection should be without. And, while I'm digressing about John Hiatt, his back-to-back recordings "Bring the Family" (1987) with Ry Cooder, and "Slow Turning" (1988) with Sonny have to be the best one-two songwriting-slide guitar punch ever.

Go hear Sonny and see what's wrong with commercial radio.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

I guess this story just doesn't have "legs," as it appears to have survived only a one day news cycle in the American media. Fortunately, The Guardian, beyond the reach of the Bush administration's bullying and overt censorship, reminds us of the human side of the Iraq war.

Just a few weeks ago, I heard a right-leaning pundit musing as to what could possibly motivate a suicide bomber. I wonder.

Busy busy busy

Yep. It's getting harder to post regularly, and the summer is a pretty good time to take it easy in any regard. So this is not going to be the happenin' place it was during the primaries. But from time to time this summer, we'll have good stuff up. And when the election kicks into full swing, we'll be back on the ball.

For now, we'll just pull the old Instapundit trick and tell you to go read these interesting ideas for improving turnout (and helping Democrats, who do better the higher the turnout number).

Schadenfreude is a wonderful thing.

Ding! Dong! The witch is dead.

Sheriff Hege pleads guilty to charges of fraud and mismanagement. You are now free to speed on I-85.

Telling statistic of the week

Commentary on our President or on our political system? You be the judge. From the Note:

The Washington Post's Tom Edsall, Sarah Cohen and James Grimaldi began their two-part look at the Bush Money Machine on Sunday, examining how the Bush family's network of political and business contacts evolved into Pioneers, Rangers and Super Rangers -- and what those bundling fundraisers get for their work. LINK [registration required]

"Since 1998, Bush has raised a record $296.3 million in campaign funds, giving him an overwhelming advantage in running against Vice President Al Gore and now Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). At least a third of the total -- many sources believe more than half -- was raised by 631 people."

More: "Of the 246 fundraisers identified by The Post as Pioneers in the 2000 campaign, 104 -- or slightly more than 40 percent -- ended up in a job or an appointment."

Vernon Robinson is a disgrace to the Air Force Academy

At a time when the Air Force Academy is struggling to overcome a sexual assault scandal, which includes rapes, abuse, and harrassment of female cadets and a culture of acceptance of that abuse - it is no small thing to state that the single largest embarrassment that the U.S. Air Force Academy could suffer this year would be the election of former cadet Vernon Robinson to Congress.

What a complete ass. Take a look at his positions, and marvel at this man, who has never done anything but run for office, and his capacity for self-delusion. His campaign theme? "Jesse Helms is back, and this time he's Black!" The mind boggles, but he's right. When you run for office on a platform of hate, exclusion, misogyny and ignorance, well, you put yourself right there in Jesseland, regardless of the color of your skin.

The scary thing is, he could win, and in this age of gerrymandered safe districts, one is reduced to hoping for the election of one of the other self-professed conservatives running for the Republican nomination to that seat. This situation is why the Democratic Party in North Carolina is idiotic to support the gerrymandering that preserves the 7-6 Republican majority in our Congressional delegation. I would rather have 13 Republican congressman who have to face a close election every year than 7 like Ballenger, Coble, Jones, Myrick, Hayes, Burr, and [shudder]Taylor. With the exception of the retiring Cass "my lawn jockey is white, so I'm not a racist" Ballenger, they're all safe, despite a veritable cascade of ignorance from their mouths over the last 2 years.

If you live in Winston-Salem. please, please, please go vote for someone else on July 20. Don't let this guy continue North Carolina's sad history of electing embarrassing republicans.

Another baby picture

For those of you who are starved for baby pics, check this one out.



More will come, of course.

Thanks to all for all your good wishes. The Missus and I are doing well. The delivery went amazingly quickly, but the adjustment to this new little person in our house is going to take significantly longer. Duncan's temper-tantrum quotient has been kicked WAY up, and there just isn't time to do anything.

But she makes adorable noises, and she's the prettiest little girl in the world. So it's worth the adjustment.

My ability to post here is going to decline over the next several months. I'll still give you frequent shots at the Administration and its lackeys here in NC, but the job is picking up, the kids need attention, as does MrsFrankLives, and I'm going to spend the next 5 months helping to elect a friend to statewide office. So, I hope maybe Zombie, who is admirably filling in for my wife at work during her maternity leave, can pick up some of the slack around here.

And please join me in a consensus plea for the return of Shoveldog, whose own new arrival appears to have him locked in the nursery, for all the posting we've gotten out of him lately.

Again, thanks for your attention and your good wishes.

So nice to come back...

to news like this. Yep, old "W" is down to 42% approval in Zogby.

Heh. And check this out. Kerry is now within ten points on handling the war on terror in the CNN/Time poll. And he's got a 5 point lead among likely voters.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall. W's fall is going to be a thing of beauty.

Apologies for the lack of posting

Just wanted to explain the dearth of new posting activity on the Nettle. . . it's obvious that DrFrank is busy with new child, but what might not be so obvious is that the ScotchZombie is busy with the work of MrsFrankLives while she is on maternity leave.

In the meantime, read this commentary about how we should extricate ourselves from Iraq, by some writers who I'm sure some of our readers admire.

This is what it's all about

My son Duncan and his little sister Ella. Now how cool is that?

Disney Forbidding Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush

More corporate censorship; this time by that bastion of the public interest, Disney. Yes, Miramax can go find someone else to distribute Michael Moore's film, but how can a citizen not be concerned about corporate control of the media when you see comments like this:

"Mr. Moore's agent, Ari Emanuel, said Michael D. Eisner, Disney's chief executive, asked him last spring to pull out of the deal with Miramax. Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Eisner expressed particular concern that it would endanger tax breaks Disney receives for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Mr. Bush's brother, Jeb, is governor.

"Michael Eisner asked me not to sell this movie to Harvey Weinstein; that doesn't mean I listened to him," Mr. Emanuel said. "He definitely indicated there were tax incentives he was getting for the Disney corporation and that's why he didn't want me to sell it to Miramax. He didn't want a Disney company involved.""

(1) Access to information by the public is important - in fact critical - in a democracy (and to the proper functioning of capitalist markets for that matter).

(2) Just a handful of large corporations, motived by nothing more than the quest for profits, control the vast majority of our nation's primary media outlets.

(3) These corporations often make decisions about what information to communicate to the public based on fear of retribution by partisan government officials.

(4) Isn't this just an indirect form of state censorship?

Of course, Disney denies these motives, but their explanation is sort of ridiculous:

"Disney executives deny that accusation, though they said their displeasure over the deal was made clear to Miramax and Mr. Emanuel. A senior Disney executive elaborated that the company had the right to quash Miramax's distribution of films if it deemed their distribution to be against the interests of the company. The executive said Mr. Moore's film is deemed to be against Disney's interests not because of the company's business dealings with the government but because Disney caters to families of all political stripes and believes Mr. Moore's film, which does not have a release date, could alienate many. "It's not in the interest of any major corporation to be dragged into a highly charged partisan political battle," this executive said."

By refusing to distribute the film, Disney appears to have taken sides in a "highly charged partisan political battle." And the Michael Savage radio show doesn't alienate anyone? Are these people men or mice? Honestly, this film will likely get released somehow and Michael Moore and Miramax will make a tidy profit, but on the heels of the Sinclair/Nightline episode this is just disgusting.

Eleanor "Ella" June

2:06 p.m., Tuesday, May 4, 2004. 8lbs, 7 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. Beautiful, of course. She came into the world a little more quietly than her brother did, but she let us know she wasn't too happy about it.

Big brother was a perfect gentleman. He came in the room, crawled up on the bed to kiss his mama, and then gave Ella the softest peck on the forehead and said "this is my sister." Not a dry eye in the place.

I'm tired. But it's back to the hospital to take careof the goddess that I married.

Seeya.

Eleanor

Sometime tomorrow morning, or perhaps early afternoon, my wonderful wife will bring my daughter into the world. This morning, as we slept in a bit late, listening to the rain hit the porch roof and enjoying the last peaceful morning for the next several years, I touched my wife's belly and felt the baby move - I think it was her foot - telling me "back off, buddy, I'm staying in here a while longer." She's already talking back - that's my girl.

My son stumbled into the room, wiped the sleep from his eyes, and crawled into bed next to his Mommy - blissfully unaware that that spot is not going to be as available to him as it has been. The world is about to change, little man, especially for you. So there were the three of us. For the last time. The same thoughts going through all of our heads, wondering what this little stranger will bring.

Yesterday my boy looked at me and said "Daddy, we're buddies, right? " And I said, "sure we're buddies - we always will be." He smiled, gave me a hug and said "Ella's my buddy too, is that alright?"

I think so, little man. I think so.

We induce tomorrow at 6:30 am. For obvious reasons, I won't be posting much this week, except to tell you when she arrives. Pictures will follow.

Over to you, guys.

President Bigot

"There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern."

George W. Bush - 4/29/04

Let's address what's wrong with this statement as quicly as we can, shall we?

(1) Who exactly is the "lot of people" who are saying that people of color cannot self-govern? Does this mean anyone who opposes THIS administration, not the people of Iraq, but THIS administration, is racist? Obviously the President has deluded himself into believing so.

(2) The President refers to people whose "skin color may not be the same as ours." Who is the "us" here? Seems to me there are three possibilities:

(a) The President meant himself and Canadian Prime Minister Martin -
(b) The President meant himself and the reporter
or (c) The President meant to imply that Americans and Canadians, who do self-govern, are white.

Options (a) and (b) are less obnoxious than (c), but still reveal a frighteningly specific level of race-consciousness at work. Why point out the race of the person he is speaking to or with? It makes no sense. Which is why I think (c) is what was really going on in the President's otherwise rather empty skull.

Now, I realize there are no black republicans in the House or Senate, but I would think that this point of view might come as a surprise to Bush's Wife-- er--- National Security Advisor and the Secretary of State. Not to mention the majority of Americans who do not share the President's peculiarly Connecticut blend of uppercrust and blue blood.

He just ASSUMES that America is a white country. Thanks, President Bush, for subconsciously revealing the bubbling hatred at your, and your party's, soul.

Now, problem (3) - He then assumes that Muslims are all brown-skinned. This would also surprise the people of Kosovo and Turkey, not to mention the populations of large portions of the former Soviet Union.

Problem (4) - He made this remark in a joint press statement with the Prime Minister of Canada, a nation whose melting pot (or chef salad, as they put it) is only slightly less diverse than ours.

If the President would like to discuss the democracy theories most clearly set forth by Samuel Huntington in his book The Third Wave, then he would be better to focus on the stages and waves of development - industrialization, rebellion against authoritarian governance, literacy, rise in median income, experience with quasi-democratic institutions, and others, all of which some disciplined and reputable thinkers might use to point out that Iraq has had absolutely no preparation to function as a democracy. He would not focus on the ridiculously asinine and simplistic notion that "some pople think them brown people can't take care of themselves."

In doing so, he revealed a preoccupation which evidently possesses his waking thoughts - that he is the great White Father, come to rescue the oppressed brown people of the world from their deprivation.

Ugh.