IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE BULLSH*T


Two more blips of life on the media telemetry screen, showing that the journalism profession has not yet succumbed to Britney NicoleBrown Lohan Syndrome. First is last week's report in the
Los Angeles Times that, since it ain't good news how much actual electricity is now getting (or not getting) to end users in Baghdad, that State Department officials who track the "progress" there for Congress - how DARE they demand oversight -are simply no longer going to include the stat in their weekly reporting.


"Nothing is being hidden. There is no ulterior motive," said David Foley, the department's Middle East spokesman. "We are continuing to provide detailed information and have been completely transparent."

The State Department's new method shows that the national electricity supply is 4% lower than a year ago, according to the July 11 report.


See, 4% down isn't bad - - unless you were only getting 5 to 6 a day anyway in Baghdad, or 11 hours a day in the rest of the country. Ya know, its sort of like watching a baseball game where the home team, sick of being spanked or embarrassed, decides to darken the scoreboard part that shoes runs and hits. Its a feel good move that requires no actual improvement, and it soothes the anxieties of the delusional members of your team's declining fan base. Yeah, I know, the media never talks about the Louisianans who didn't drown, right?

The second story comes from AP today, and yep, you guessed it, the Iraqi Parliament is packing up the family truckster - sure hope for their sakes its a tankster, and blowing out of Baghdodge for the whole month of August. No major enactments, no decisions on the "vital" legislation the Bush administration wants, just skating out. Hey GI's, sleep well in that triple digit heat!!!
You gotta love this line from the story in particular:

The parliament is due to reconvene on September 4, just two weeks before the top U.S. general in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Washington's envoy to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, are due to report to Congress on the success of U.S. President George W. Bush's new Iraq strategy and make recommendations.

Why does that disappearing in the heat make LOST think of TV infomercials. Yeah YEAH, that's it. Its Brilliant! The Iraqi Government is not doing nothing or abandoning their leadership role. They've simply adopted the Ron Popeil Method. Just Set it, and forget it!

And who in the Bush White House has standing to raise a stink? Certainly not the guy who crushed the record for Vacation days in office for a two term president in year five of his tenure.

BUT WERE WINNING, RIGHT? RIGHT?

Looks like another legacy piece for Bush-Cheney. LOST Doesn't want the apology due from all the idiots who voted for these twin poles of stupidity because they'd "like to sit down and have a beer with 'em, but maybe y'all donning your ashes and sackcloth for the next eighteen months isn't a bad idea. Think of it as doing a part of what Scooter should have done. Looks like getting all those "Al Qaeda number 2s and 3s was only half right - from an Adminstration that works in number 2 the way Van Gogh worked in oil. This may cause the President to scale back his August vacation again - only 4 weeks instead of five this year, right?

Al-Qaida Has Rebuilt, U.S. Intel Warns

By MATTHEW LEE and KATHERINE SHRADER
WASHINGTON - A new threat assessment from U.S. counterterrorism analysts says that al-Qaida has used its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to restore its operating capabilities to a level unseen since the months before Sept. 11, 2001.

A counterterrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the document _ titled "Al-Qaida better positioned to strike the West" _ called it a stark appraisal. The analysis will be part of a broader meeting at the White House on Thursday about an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.
The official and others spoke to The Associated Press on condition they not be identified because the report remains classified.
The findings suggests that the network that launched the most devastating terror attack on U.S. soil has been able to regroup despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at dismantling it.

The threat assessment focuses on the terror group's safe haven in Pakistan and makes a range of observations about the threat posed to the United States and its allies, officials said.

Counterterrorism officials have been increasingly concerned about al-Qaida's recent operations. This week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he had a "gut feeling" that the United States faced a heightened risk of attack this summer.

AND YOU THOUGHT "THE SOPRANOS" HAD FINISHED ITS RUN?

Yesterday's message was clear - screw law and order, screw due process, screw the will of the people, screw determinate sentencing guidlelines, screw "tough on crime," the rule of law, and American jurisprudence. On the fourth anniversary of "Bring 'em on," our very own Blundering-Utterer-in-Chief, no doubt in response to the endless prattling from his cloven-hoofed, mudslide gross VEEP, put on his Decider/Commander Guy hat and told the country, to Fuck Off and Die, because Nothing is above Party Loyalty.

Hey Senator Feinstein! Remember that swell form letter you sent LOST last week - the one where you explained that Impeachment was simply too likely to "divide the country further?" How about this one? Does this act of blatant partisanship in defense of the indefensible get Impeachment back on the table? If not, have you given much thought to what you were gonna do after politics? You too, Boxer. All you so-called Democrats in Congress - who oughta be smart enough to recognize that this latest action is in malevolence magnitude eons beyond lying about one's sexual escapades, what say you? Lying to perpetuate power? Lying to cover up a hit job on a visible, vocal war critic? Lying to protect an abysmal war that was foisted upon us with bogus intelligence claims, and continues to be defended and perpetuated by the most gauzy thin of justifications? Is it enough yet? If not now, when? How many more dead and maimed will make it severe enough?

Cheney first, then Alito, and by then, look for Gonzalez and Bush to be making a run for the Texas border. Quit worrying about the 20% who think things are grand.