Buenos noches, beautiful.

I try to avoid celebrity spats and nonsense as much as possible but have also always been a little sad that Jon Voight and his daughter Angelina Jolie seem to have such animosity towards each other. I've enjoyed Voight and Jolie's films (for obviously different reasons) and for some reason it just bugs me that they weren't talking. Until now...

Voight gave an interview with Crazy Bill O'Reilly last night in which he showed himself to be solidly in the Bush Kool-Aid camp.

VOIGHT: Right now, and it has something to do with, you know, what's going on with the religious fanaticism that's creating our enemy. We have a real enemy.
O'REILLY: You bet. The Jihadists want to put a bullet right in your head.
VOIGHT: We're facing people who want to destroy America. Want to destroy our democracy, all democracy.
O'REILLY: Right.
VOIGHT: And in this country, I'm really quite frightened, Bill, at the — what has happened to our great nation. We're being divided by extremists who really believe the propaganda that they're being fed on a daily basis by cunning professionals, I would say.
O'REILLY: You saw it up top. You saw it.
VOIGHT: And they — what I hear, you know, talking about our president. When I hear people saying quite unthinkable things about our president, when I see our president defaced, which is defacing our country. He's the leader of our country. He's the leader of the free world. It — my heart is very heavy.
And I know that we can't be defeated by military power. But we have been invaded by propaganda. It's very effective.
O'REILLY: Listen, I'm right there with you.
VOIGHT: When I see these kids in school — we send our kids off to school. They meet with — they meet with professors that have certain agendas. They come back calling America imperialist, which is an insanity. If there was ever a nation that wasn't an imperialist, it was ours, in World War II.

How far do you have to go off the rails before you have Bill O'Reilly cheering you on?

No wonder his daughter isn't talking to him. What a nut.

It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies.

This editorial from today's Oregonian isn't bad up until it gets to this point-

Then our senators and representatives can stop their partisan posturing and cheap political stunts -- like aiming to pass their fund-cutoff to the date of Bush's infamous declaration of the end of ground combat in Iraq. Then they can get down to the serious business of supporting the troops by seeing that they get medical care, counseling, employment and respect from the country they serve. The administration can more effectively help Iraq by sending diplomats, money, equipment, trainers and advisers.

Look, I know the model for modern journalism is to pretend every thing's equivalent in order to provide "balance" and convince the reporter they're objectively reporting facts but the bottom line is there's simply no way you could refer to the Senate's passing of the supplemental on the anniversary of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" moment as cheap. Especially when comparing it to that moment of high political theater itself.

Four years ago to the date the President declared the war won. Shouldn't we be bringing our troops home?

I've been taken on and as a... farm hand.

New Spinal Tap mini-movie by Rob Reiner here.

Children can be nasty, don't you think?

Gee Condi, I don't really think it's up to you.

The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she is unwilling to answer a US House of Representatives subpoena about Iraq's pre-war weapons.

A House committee wants to question Ms Rice about a White House assertion that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger to build nuclear weapons.

Maybe if she clicks her heels together three times she can wish the House subpoena away.

This is my exact inner structure, done in a tee shirt. Exactly medically accurate. See?

This is great news on the Spinal Tap reunion/ charity concert. I especially like the bit that Rob Reiner put together a 15 minute reunion film and can't wait to see it.

I can no longer sit back and allow Communist subversion and the Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

With the death of Boris Yeltsin I am reminded of the times that led up to his famous moment in history. This ABC clip sums up the collapse of the Soviet Union without (thankfully) bringing Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" babbling into the mix.





Yeltsin had a reputation as a drunk, an intellectual lightweight and a buffoon. I don't give a rat's ass. I'll always remember him as the man who stood on top of that tank in Red Square and gave history another push.

I hope there's vodka in heaven because I'm toasting a great man today.

I have killed for my country, or whatever, and I don't feel good about it.

Via Crooks and Liars we have this.

WASHINGTON – Bill and Georgia Thomas reported they were elated Monday when they met in the Oval Office with President George W. Bush to present him with a Purple Heart."

We were just absolutely bowled over. Without reservation, it was one of the highlights of our life. He was such a gracious host," Thomas said. "It was just an incredible, incredible experience."

The couple was able to meet with President Bush for about 20 minutes to present him with one of three Purple Hearts that Bill Thomas received during his service in Vietnam.

(snip)

Thomas said he and his wife came up with the unprecedented idea to present the president with the Purple Heart over breakfast one morning a few months ago as they discussed the verbal attacks, both foreign and domestic, the commander in chief has withstood during his time in office.

"We feel like emotional wounds and scars are as hard to carry as physical wounds," Thomas said.

Thomas even wrote a citation which reads in part-

...Cap-i-tan Bush was leading a patrol Sector 17-A Kennibunkport Grid 22 on or around 0800 hours when he came under small-pretzel fire by an unknown number of enemy hostiles. In an attempt to engage the enemy in the opposite direction CPT Bush flipped his Sedgeway and had to confront the enemy directly. CPT Bush proceeded to hurl his arsenal of invective including "evildoers" and "I'm the Decider" at the enemy forces but remained pinned-down until the enemy forces caught sight of his uniform and the girth of his codpiece and fled.

In this confrontation CPT Bush received a scrape on his knee and had his wittle feewers hurt for which this Officer recommends he receive a purple heart for injuries in the line of duty.

Because it's not our bloody war.

If this is to be believed than I think Democrats may have a bigger problem than they realize.

Democrats will still have to line up votes to pass the final version, which is known as a conference report, and could lose some support from those House Democrats who might not be satisfied with the more amorphous withdrawal goal rather than a firm date. But the leadership is confident that it can secure the votes necessary, arguing that the party cannot afford to fall short now. Members of the Out of Iraq Caucus have indicated they will not try to derail the final bill.

The Out of Iraq Caucus which I assume is made up of members of the Progressive Caucus seems to have trouble with standing up for themselves here. Perhaps they should look to the much smaller in numbers Blue Dogs to see how concessions are won.

Progressives have compromised enough on this crap. We've gone from completely defunding and ordering the troops withdrawn to suggesting dates for withdrawing to "withdrawal goals." No more compromises. Hell, every day we don't impeach Bush's sorry ass is a compromise of a sort.

Draw a line in the sand here, people.