BartBlog

Matt Littman, The Huffington Post, July 8, 2007

When I was 10, my Uncle, God bless him, decided he was going to take me to the movies. He wasn’t a film buff, but he knew his nephew loved the movies. And so, charged with babysitting me, and wanting to make me happy, he scanned the movie listings, and came upon what certainly sounded like the perfect film for a child to see: a cute-sounding movie about animals who live in a house.

My uncle did not notice that the film was rated “R”, and this oversight of a letter still brings a smile to my face, for when the movie at the Herricks Theater in Long Island was not about bears and lions living in a home; it was Animal House, the great, raunchy, very adult comedy.

By the way, this is the same Uncle who took my cousin to see Porky’s because he thought it was a movie about pigs. You can see why my Uncle Mickey is my favorite uncle.

As we near the 30-year anniversary of Animal House, a movie that influenced generations of young men as they entered their college years, it is important to now reveal that, while it’s impact on college students may not be what it once was, it’s influence on America may be greater than we dared realize.

For at the end of what, to my taste (which haven’t evolved much since I was 10) may be the funniest movie ever, there are closing credits that give us updates on the characters in the film. The updates on the characters evoke chuckles, but one in particular provoked audiences to laugh out loud: It turns out that, ironically, wild frat boy “Bluto” Blutarsky went on to become Senator Blutarksy.

So, what would have become of Senator Blutarsky had he been alive today? Would his ambition have stopped at the Capitol steps, or was he meant to go onto greater achievements? Well, the answer is actually quite obvious:

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Paul Krugman, The New York Times, July 8, 2007

These days terrorism is the first refuge of scoundrels. So when British authorities announced that a ring of Muslim doctors working for the National Health Service was behind the recent failed bomb plot, we should have known what was coming.

“National healthcare: Breeding ground for terror?” read the on-screen headline, as the Fox News host Neil Cavuto and the commentator Jerry Bowyer solemnly discussed how universal health care promotes terrorism.

While this was crass even by the standards of Bush-era political discourse, Fox was following in a long tradition. For more than 60 years, the medical-industrial complex and its political allies have used scare tactics to prevent America from following its conscience and making access to health care a right for all its citizens.

I say conscience, because the health care issue is, most of all, about morality.

That’s what we learn from the overwhelming response to Michael Moore’s “Sicko.” Health care reformers should, by all means, address the anxieties of middle-class Americans, their growing and justified fear of finding themselves uninsured or having their insurers deny coverage when they need it most. But reformers shouldn’t focus only on self-interest. They should also appeal to Americans’ sense of decency and humanity.

What outrages people who see “Sicko” is the sheer cruelty and injustice of the American health care system — sick people who can’t pay their hospital bills literally dumped on the sidewalk, a child who dies because an emergency room that isn’t a participant in her mother’s health plan won’t treat her, hard-working Americans driven into humiliating poverty by medical bills.

“Sicko” is a powerful call to action — but don’t count the defenders of the status quo out. History shows that they’re very good at fending off reform by finding new ways to scare us.

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As I sit here being angry about Irving “Scooter” Lewis Libby’s commutation by lil’ Bushie it occurs to me that the whole sordid afair is actually much worse than originally thought.
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Maddy Sauer, ABC News, July 6, 2007

Early this week, as banners on extreme Islamist websites announced a message of good news to come shortly from Al Qaeda leadership, terrorism analysts and the media began speculating that it might be the first message in over a year from Osama bin Laden to his followers. As it turned out, it was yet another message from his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri that was more academic than threatening. Almost six years after the attacks of September 11th, bin Laden has continued to elude capture and has remained a thorn in the side of US anti-terror efforts.

“It seems likely that word would have leaked out if bin Laden had died, so we assume he is alive,” Richard Clarke, a former US counterterrorism official and ABC News consultant, said. “His location, however, is totally unknown.”

The world last heard from bin Laden in June 2006 when he issued an audio statement praising the efforts of fellow terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi who had been recently killed in Iraq. There has been no new video of bin Laden since October 2004. The last time there was a lengthy gap between his statements was between December 2004 and January 2006.

Meanwhile, his followers often make claims that their leader is alive and well. Last month, top Taliban Commander Mansoor Dadullah, who recently led the graduation ceremony of suicide bomber recruits, told Al Jazeera that bin Laden is “alive and active” and that the Al Qaeda leader had even sent him a condolence letter when his brother, another top Taliban commander, was killed by coalition forces.

“He’s carrying out his duties,” Dadullah said. “He preferred to stay away, and we preferred that because he should stay in hiding and give instructions.”

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Joan Lowy, The Associated Press, Jul 7, 2007

WASHINGTON – Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.

Thompson, now preparing a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, won fame in 1973 for asking a committee witness the bombshell question that revealed Nixon had installed hidden listening devices and taping equipment in the Oval Office.

Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House’s effort to discredit the committee’s star witness.

It was Thompson who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee knew about the tapes. They eventually cinched Nixon’s downfall in the scandal resulting from the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington and the subsequent White House cover-up.

Thompson, then 30, was appointed counsel by his political mentor, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, the top Republican on the Senate investigative committee. Thompson had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tenn., and had managed Baker’s re-election campaign. Thompson later was a senator himself.

Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called “dumb as hell.” The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel.

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Frank Rich, The New York Times, July 8, 2007

There was never any question that President Bush would grant amnesty to Scooter Libby, the man who knows too much about the lies told to sell the war in Iraq. The only questions were when, and how, Mr. Bush would buy Mr. Libby’s silence. Now we have the answers, and they’re at least as incriminating as the act itself. They reveal the continued ferocity of a White House cover-up and expose the true character of a commander in chief whose tough-guy shtick can no longer camouflage his fundamental cowardice.

The timing of the president’s Libby intervention was a surprise. Many assumed he would mimic the sleazy 11th-hour examples of most recent vintage: his father’s pardon of six Iran-contra defendants who might have dragged him into that scandal, and Bill Clinton’s pardon of the tax fugitive Marc Rich, the former husband of a major campaign contributor and the former client of none other than the ubiquitous Mr. Libby.

But the ever-impetuous current President Bush acted 18 months before his scheduled eviction from the White House. Even more surprising, he did so when the Titanic that is his presidency had just hit two fresh icebergs, the demise of the immigration bill and the growing revolt of Republican senators against his strategy in Iraq.

That Mr. Bush, already suffering historically low approval ratings, would invite another hit has been attributed in Washington to his desire to placate what remains of his base. By this logic, he had nothing left to lose. He didn’t care if he looked like an utter hypocrite, giving his crony a freer ride than Paris Hilton and violating the white-collar sentencing guidelines set by his own administration. He had to throw a bone to the last grumpy old white guys watching Bill O’Reilly in a bunker.

But if those die-hards haven’t deserted him by now, why would Mr. Libby’s incarceration be the final straw? They certainly weren’t whipped into a frenzy by coverage on Fox News, which tended to minimize the leak case as a non-event. Mr. Libby, faceless and voiceless to most Americans, is no Ollie North, and he provoked no right-wing firestorm akin to the uproars over Terri Schiavo, Harriet Miers or “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

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Michelle Tsai, Slate Magazine, July 6, 2007

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, paid a $250,000 fine on Thursday, part of his punishment for lying to investigators about the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. The president commuted his 30-month prison sentence on Tuesday, and so far hasn’t ruled out a full pardon. If Libby gets pardoned, can he get his money back?

Technically, yes, but it won’t be easy. Once a convicted criminal pays a fine, the treasury can’t issue a refund—even if that person is later exonerated. For Libby to get back his 250 Gs, Congress would need to pass a law to make the funds available. Or it’s possible that President Bush could issue a customized presidential pardon that specifies a refund.

Libby paid by cashier’s check, but the fine didn’t necessarily come out of his own pocket. There’s no law that says you have to pay with your own money; in fact, anyone could have walked to the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia and paid Libby’s fine for him outright. The money could have come from Libby’s legal-defense fund (which has $5 million in its coffers) so long as the fund’s trustee agrees. While Libby’s personal finances are a bit of a mystery today, that may soon change: According to the terms of his supervised release, he’s required to report all income of more than $500.

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No Limitations.

A 10-year-old boy decided to learn Judo despite the fact that he had
lost his left arm in a terrible car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was
doing well, so he couldn’t understand why, after three months of
training, the master had taught him only one move.

“Sensei,” the boy finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”

“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever
need to know,” the sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept
training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first
tournament.

Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third
match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent
became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win
the match.

Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time,
his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For awhile, the
boy appeared to be completely outclassed. Concerned that the boy might
get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match
when the sensei intervened.
“No,” the sensei insisted, “Let him continue.”

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he
dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy
had won the match and the tournament.

On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and
every match.Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on
his mind. “Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

“You won for two reasons,” the sensei answered. “First, you’ve almost
mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second,
the only known defense for that move is for your opponent
to grab your left arm.”

The boy’s biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame others,
the circumstances and our self for it, but we never think that our
weakness can become our strength one day.

Each of us is special, so never think you have any weakness, never think
of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the
best out of it. You have powers you never dreamed of.
You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no
limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.

On conservative talk radio I heard that the Bush administration, in its ongoing effort to create open borders, is trying to change labeling so people can’t tell what country products come from.
After seeing the way GW behaved concerning the latest amnesty bill in Congress, I believe it.
Below are some examples of us being poisoned by Communist China. GW’s administration doesn’t care. They want open borders. Period.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today warned consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in Communist China, and issued an import alert to prevent toothpaste containing the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG) from entering the United States.

The Communist Chinese say media exaggerating food safety problem
(Kyodo) _ China’s food safety problems are partly a result of misunderstandings brought about by exaggerations in media reports, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday. Qin Gang’s comments at a regular press conference come as some countries have warned its citizens about tainted toothpaste and pet food originating from China.
“One aspect of this is a misunderstanding which in large part is a result of media exaggeration,” Qin said. “That creates a psychology of fear.” Truly problematic products are “extremely few,” he said. Most recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was imposing an import control on select farm-raised seafood from China, saying it will detain those products at the border until the shipments are proven to be free of residues from drugs that are not approved in the United States.

Paul Krugman, The New York Times, July 6, 2007

On this Fourth of July, President Bush compared the Iraq war to the Revolutionary War, and called for “more patience, more courage and more sacrifice.” Unfortunately, it seems that nobody asked the obvious question: “What sacrifices have you and your friends made, Mr. President?”

On second thought, there would be no point in asking that question. In Mr. Bush’s world, only the little people make sacrifices.

You see, the Iraq war, although Mr. Bush insists that it’s part of a Global War on Terror™, a fight to the death between good and evil, isn’t like America’s other great wars – wars in which the wealthy shared the financial burden through higher taxes and many members of the elite fought for their country.

This time around, Mr. Bush celebrated Mission Accomplished by cutting tax rates on dividends and capital gains, while handing out huge no-bid contracts to politically connected corporations. And in the four years since, as the insurgency Mr. Bush initially taunted with the cry of “Bring them on” has claimed the lives of thousands of Americans and left thousands more grievously wounded, the children of the elite – especially the Republican elite – have been conspicuously absent from the battlefield.

The Bushies, it seems, like starting fights, but they don’t believe in paying any of the cost of those fights or bearing any of the risks. Above all, they don’t believe that they or their friends should face any personal or professional penalties for trivial sins like distorting intelligence to get America into an unnecessary war, or totally botching that war’s execution.

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