I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Maybe this is an historical threat?
Ahh, isn't it nice to be living in a much safer America thanks to Dubya.
long time yadda,
first time yadda.
keep up the good work.
This "Kelli Arena."
Is she pretty?
Well now, times change. Used to be, ignorance was bliss. Now paranoia is.
Bush campaign motto: "The only thing we have to sell is fear itself"
They seem pretty obviously sure that their audience is not really paying attention. Well, they've been right for a long time, but it's turning. Here's a toast to turning!
Our blessed SCL media. Such a flock of Moe Rons.
They will continue to predict that a Major Terra'ist Event will occur, and no matter if it happens tonight or in the year 2010, they'll say, "See? We was right!"
That would agree with the giant headline in my newspaper today...'WE ARE NOT SAFE'. It would also support the analysis of pollster Andrew Kohut that public perception of danger helps George W. Bush.
Corresponding, of course, to the "exercise vague caution" level on the Ashcroft scale....
http://tinyurl.com/5zqvw
Krugman pointed out this article in his column.
In the face of stubborn insurgency, troops scale back Anbar patrols
By Tom Lasseter
Knight Ridder Newspapers
RAMADI, Iraq - After more than a year of fighting, U.S. troops have stopped patrolling large swaths of Iraq's restive Anbar province, according to the top American military intelligence officer in the area...
The sharp reduction in patrols flies in the face of comments made recently by a top military official in Baghdad, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Any insurgent that ... somehow thinks that after June 28 we'll be pulling back into base camps will be disappointed," he said. "This is a long-term program of handing over responsibility. ... It's not going to take days nor weeks, it's going to be months and years."
Hey! Reading My Pet Goat allows our most esteemed president to offer the bold leadership we need in times of change!
(end sarcasm)
Great short article in the New Yorker on "My Pet Goat" (actually "The Pet Goat") and rote learning.
And isn't it interesting that she's bringing this up in the immediate aftermath of the release of the 9/11 report? Now, I wouldn't want to be cynical about this, but perhaps the official talking point is that if we mention terrorist threats, people will think of 9/11 and remember the official story that Bush was so proactive and powerful in protecting us then.
We are not safe, but I don't believe a word that Kelli Arena says.
Isn't it odd that the supposed target of this terror is the media covering the DNC?
This seems to be a cheap way for the Bushistas to say the media better skeedaddle and not bother covering the dems.
Great Moments in History -- Kelly Arena WAS THERE
Other interesting data from the Knight Ridder article referenced by Krugman -
More than 124 U.S. troops have died in Anbar since President Bush declared major combat operations over in Iraq on May 1, 2003.
Between the 1st Brigade's 4,000 soldiers, who arrived in Ramadi last September, and a battalion of 1,000 Marines, who came in February, more than 80 have been killed and more than 450 injured.
Since the hand-over of sovereignty June 28, 25 U.S. soldiers have been killed. Fifteen of them were in Anbar.
The numbers grow more striking at smaller unit levels.
Capt. Mike Taylor, for example, commands a company of men in nearby Khaldiya. Out of his 76 troops, 18 now have purple hearts, awarded for combat wounds.
The Marines' Echo company, with 185 members, has had 22 killed.
National guardsmen in town have refused to go on patrols either alone or with the Americans. The 2,886 national guardsmen in Ramadi so far have detained just one person.
Just heard a clip of Condi calling Bush a "man of action"..who wants to be "responsive." Translation - knee'jerk & reactionary "leader". At a time when we need proactive leadership we have an administration official telling us not to worry, your President will respond. Shithead cowards.
Bush/Cheney 2004: Bold and Decisive Knee-Jerk Reaction in Time of Crisis!
The real reason they are cutting back on patrols...they don't have bullets. This war is so stupid....rather the people who got us into it are STUPID
Attaturk - link was Cheneyed.
Attaturk - link was Cheneyed.
Well, in the words of Ms. Arena, THAT SOCKS.
Ms. Arena's World History Tour should work now.
Otherwise its a blogger problem.
"major nonspecific threat of terrorism"
Versus minor specific glad tidings of diplomacy.
Yeah, best to respond to terror threats like Spain, or Garp after the plane hit his new house: assume that it can't possibly happen twice, and party on!
If this group at Atrios -- many of whom were apparently barely out of diapers when the 9.11 attacks occurred -- were responsible for threat assessment and response, the U.S. would be a blood-bath.
But if it hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil is your kind of thing, at least don't condemn the rest of us to homicide bombers and bio-attacks. You might want to head up to pure clean Canada, like a few of you were "threatening" (rather laughably, albeit) to do a few threads ago?
The adults will stay behind to keep your parents and friends safe—if you ever want to come back...
I find myself musing about reporters and talking heads who do preach the party line or swallow the line completely. It seems to be a trend that the media is being shown for what it is. If this administration is proven to be as bogus and corrupt as we think it is, these talking heads would be contributing to an effort that attempted to bring down the constitution and country as we know. Historically at least, these talking heads will come off looking like the Tokyo Rose and Lord Haha of our era. Instead of simply being idiots, they will end up looking like collaborators. Not a pretty picture if the administration and its enablers are overturned in the next election and sanity begins to return.
Worked that time, AT.
Patterson - you love reading yourself jabbering like a meth freak in a darkened closet, doncha?
Jeez, Atrios, I figured you'd've given up on applying logic to this bunch by now...
"The real reason they are cutting back on patrols"
Exactly. Why are they doing it? The obvious answer seems to be to decrease the number of combat deaths and take Iraq out of the news before the election. But it's not working. The numbers are up and Vietnam syndrome is setting in. No one wants to be the last man to die in a senseless war.
Again Knight Ridder but different article.
"A lot of times, I look at this place and wonder what have we really done. ... When we first got here, we all wanted to change it and make it better, but now I don't give a shit," he said. "What the hell am I here for?"
Staff Sgt. A.J. Dean was on the same stretch of road a couple of nights later, and his tone was similar to Tilley's.
"I don't have any idea of what we're trying to do out here. I don't know what the (goal) is, and I don't think our commanders do either," he said. "I feel deceived personally. I don't trust anything (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld says, and I think (Deputy Defense Secretary Paul) Wolfowitz is even dirtier."
Interesting :
Patterson said : If this group at Atrios -- many of whom were apparently barely out of diapers when the 9.11 attacks occurred -- were responsible for threat assessment and response, the U.S. would be a blood-bath.
From what is being revealed, the folks in the White House mis-managed threat assessment big time. The reponse, well most folks would not argue the Afghan push, but then they fouled with the Iraq deal and have pretty much let Afghanistan go fallow. Now considering that 911 was 3 years plus, your statement would indicate these folks here are not even up to driving age. That seems a little extreme. Besides if that is the case, what the hell are you doing hanging out here with eh pre-pubescent set Dave!?
Digby at Hullabaloo asked the pertinent question:
"I realize that it's long past time we asked just who in the hell is Kelli Arena and why is she always in the middle of these GOP psuedo-scandal pageants? Does anyone out there know who her special friend in the White House is? "
Maybe Patterson ought to tell it to Staff Sgt. A.J. Dean.
Funny how Clinton's Administration could find a SPECIFIC threat and stop it, without ever disrupting our lives.
I really don't see how this is helping the GOPers.
People can stand only so much manipulation, and obviously that is what is happening here.
As polling shows, independents are running away from Bush. Only the core will by into this shit.
Anyway, this is dangerous stuff... The boy who cried wolf.
I find myself musing about reporters and talking heads who do preach the party line or swallow the line completely. It seems to be a trend that the media is being shown for what it is. If this administration is proven to be as bogus and corrupt as we think it is, these talking heads would be contributing to an effort that attempted to bring down the constitution and country as we know. Historically at least, these talking heads will come off looking like the Tokyo Rose and Lord Haha of our era. Instead of simply being idiots, they will end up looking like collaborators. Not a pretty picture if the administration and its enablers are overturned in the next election and sanity begins to return.
EkCenTrik | Email | Homepage | 07.23.04 - 11:51 pm
Indeed. It will take YEARS to try them all in a court of law and get them behind bars.
But, hey, I've got nothing BUT time.
Anti-Constitutionalist Collaborators. Truly Anti-American.
Well as Alfred E. says, "What me worry?" I got the duck tape and plastic sheeting still on hand, somewhere, if I can find where I squirreled it away in the basement.
Yeah, best to respond to terror threats like Spain
I agree. The Spanish police cooperated internationally and quickly arrested the terrorists.
In the process they did not wildly point their fingers at other nations or other cultures, thereby gaining the respect and trust of other nations, thereby furthering the level of international cooperation AGAINST TERRORISM.
Those damn Spanish, always doing the wrong thing.
Patterson, go Cheney yourself.
Atrios,
I'm positive Bush said yesterday that he had no inkling that an attack was possible.
The only question which remains is who is Arena's pimp?
Yeah, it might take a few years, but we will definitely be seeing some of these bozos heading for court and/or prison.
If they were truly smart (which they ain't), they'd all turn themselves in now, plead guilty, and then wait for Monkey Boy to pardon them just before the helicopter wisks him off to Dick Nixon style infamy.
If this group at --
ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzz...
CNN has not been the same since my love goddess Lynne Russell left, probably because she had some shred of integrity left.
Bush campaign motto: "The only thing we have to sell is fear itself"
Nick Carraway | Email | Homepage | 07.23.04 - 11:15 pm |
So well stated.
As ever, Steve Bell is priceless.
Just for history's sake (the facts are always important) - the title of the book Bush was reading is called "THE Pet Goat", not "MY Pet Goat". And it's not a story book, but a reading exerise in a book called "Reading Mastery 2" -- a very technical, robotic, "direct instruction" manual for teaching kids to read (no wonder George was so enthralled).
Designed by Zig Engelman it doesn't allow for any creative teacher imput in the lesson - they must simply follow the instructions. Supposedly its effectiveness can be measured and therefore became quite big with Bush's "No Child Left Behind" fiasco.
And while Emgelman might sound like a right wing control freak, he is, in fact, way left. He thinks the Iraq war is totally stupid and doesn't know if he'll vote for Kerry or Nader.
Thank you and good night.
FWIW, I went and got myself a copy of "Reading Mastery Level 2 Storybook 1" off Half.com before it became all the rage. As noted by others, one of the many stories therein is called "The Pet Goat," not "My Pet Goat," so Michael Moore bashers can have a field day carping on the banal. If it makes Moore supporters feel any better, the few quotes from the book that I have seen on his web site are completely accurate. (However, please change it to "The Pet Goat." I know it's trivial, but just get it right.)
Anyway, I read "The Pet Goat" to my young daughter who informed me that if she were reading that when someone told her that a plane had flown into a World Trade Tower, she would have no problem putting the book down to help the people in New York. Immediately.
She did not care much for the story as it was "kind of boring." But we both enjoyed the weird font used in the book and the symbols used to indicate sounds composed of multiple letters (such as "ng" at the end of a word).
I'm no linguist, but I suspect that Mr. Bush may have been mesmerized by the font and fascinated by the symbols to the point of rapture.
Your SWAG is as good as mine.
This "Kelli Arena."
Is she pretty?
She's an arena I'd like to get into!
I once saw a hockey game at Kelli Arena.
I once saw a hockey game at Kelli Arena.
Jefe
Booooooooooooooo!
That "Patterson" cyberpersona cracks me up. So much anger, so little substance.
Shame all that attitude isn't wearing sweaty cammies and walking street patrol in some town in Iraq.
It looks like you wankers haven't figured it out yet: Sandy Berger has fucked your party like Willie Horton on a weekend pass.
Shame all that attitude isn't wearing sweaty cammies and walking street patrol in some town in Iraq.
No way do you want this guy winning hearts and minds. You need him out there finding land mines and distracting machine gun nests away from the flanking maneuvers.
Sandy Berger has --
Is this story still alive anywhere other than your local moronic brownshirt fuck circle jerk?
Ay-yay-yay! This is really not the place to debate the effectiveness of "whole-language" vs "phonemic awareness" based reading instruction methods. Suffice it to say that one is backed up with real, live data and the other isn't. No, I am not a teacher. I am a former Board of Ed. Member. Democrats should put their money where their mouths are and support legitimate research based instruction methods, not trendy , ones that allow the teacher to be creative. We don't pay them to be creative. We pay them to educate. There are a lot of kids who grew up during the 70s and 80s who are functionally illiterate thanks to whole language creativity. We as a nation are now paying for it. That there are a disproportionate number of these kids, now adults, watching Fox News on a regular basis is a hypothesis I'd like to test. As for teachers teaching grades K-4, these are critical years to lay down a foundation of solid decoding, comprehensive and computational techniques. If they want to be creative, let them join an art colony. Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox.
Moderation in all things.
Brushing up on My Pet Goat? I don't remember him doing any reading in August. I remember him talking to the cows.
This is about the 25th time the govt has announced "the biggest threat since 9/11" -- I keep waiting for Ridge to say: "No, really, this time we mean it!"
kelli arena? sounds like a mary kay girl. acts like one, too. jornalism is dead.
Just heard a clip of Condi calling Bush a "man of action"..who wants to be "responsive."
Okay, got that WH spin, attributed to Condi? Now here's another; guess the attributed author:
And now even his critics can't argue that he is a steadfast leader who means what he says and acts with resolve.
Don't know? Okay, next question: does it all sound like it's part of the same Rove Bush meme? It does, huh?
Then tell us why this most honest of administrations insists that this fucking drivel was spoken extemporaneously by "Barbara AND Jenna Bush".
As they say in Bush's adopted state of Texas: "I was born at night... but not LAST night!"
This "Kelli Arena."
Is she pretty?
She's an arena I'd like to get into!
Eek, who needs sloppy seconds to Ashcroft's freeper brigade.
the optimal response to the information he received was to spend the month of August brushing up on My Pet Goat
No, the optimal response was supervising his dog's armadillo hunts, according to Michael Moore.
It looks like you wankers haven't figured it out yet: Sandy Berger has fucked your party like Willie Horton on a weekend pass.
Yes, that's why the Berger story is front page news all over the country... wait, where IS the Berger story? Has Google news tweaked their algorithm as part of some nefarious liberal plot? Unca Karl, help!
So Bush sat there listening to a reading of My Pet Goat to project a sense of "resolve" or some ahistorical BS when LIVES COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED BY HIM DOING ANYTHING?
And I'm supposed to buy that he's a war president? oh wait, he's now a peace president. OK, that makes sense. Time to remove this Kucinishesque hippy peacenik from the White House. The War on Terror requires a vigilant leader who takes threats seriously (wow, starting to sound like a Bush staffer)
Kelli is hot. Just turn the sound down and enjoy the view. Then I'll come back on, looking whimsical while imagining her naked.
Just to be technically correct, the book that W. was holding on Sept. 11 in the Florida schoolroom was "The Pet Goat", not "My Pet Goat". A minor error, but an error nonetheless.....
It was all historical stuff, according to the Bushies. You can read the memo for yourself, in the Commission Report (actually, you've probably seen it before, because it was published right after Condi's testimony at the Commission); it's at pages 261-262. Bush said (not under oath; we have to keep that in mind) that "if his advisors had told him there was a cell in the United States, they would have moved to take care of it. That never happened." p. 261
So now they're claiming, again, that the chatter and the threat level is very high. Presumably at this point they know that there are cells in the United States (we now know, in retrospect, that there were cells in the U.S. in 2000-2001). Are they doing anything about those cells now?
Is anything different? Have we learned anything from the events of 2001? I simply see no evidence that Bush has, or that anyone in his inner circle has. I hope that we, the people, have.
If Bush takes a long vacation, THEN I'll panic. Seriously, it is completely plausible to have strong evidence of terrorist intent to commit an attack without having much in the way of specific details. (That's what actually happened prior to 9/11; the appearance that we actually should have had a good idea of exactly what was planned was mostly an artifact of hindsight.) However, if there really are such indications, I don't see why the threat condition stays the same, airport screening is actually getting looser, National Guard troops are being sent overseas rather than being assigned to augment law enforcement at home as was done after 9/11, no additional measures were taken to protect government officials or key targets, we're releasing more people than we're arresting, ad nauseum much further than my 1000 character allowance will permit.
Or, consider that instead of a vacation, Bush (and a limited "etc") just needs to be clear of the target area. Like, say, campaigning in Podunk.
Ha ha. Check out this Mark Fiore cartoon.
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