In the Duke Lacrosse rape case...

For this the charges are dropped? For this the woman is called "wavering"

Yet when questioned again on Thursday afternoon by Mr. Nifong’s investigator, the woman said for the first time that she could no longer be sure what had penetrated her.

Audi's new slogan: "Young, Powerful, and Ready to Play."

Eeeyooo. That's just disgusting.

Ya Don't Say

AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the rest of the Bush administration may be undecided on whether to send more troops to Iraq. But several soldiers he met with at Camp Victory here on Thursday morning said extra forces would help.
[...]
His hour-long question-and-answer session with troops over scrambled eggs Thursday was largely spent gathering insights from those closest to the action.

When he asked them whether adding forces would help, he got a roomful of nods.

Atrios:

I'm not impugning the integrity of these people. They may believe these things sincerely. That isn't the issue. The issue is pretending that when the new Secretary of Defense shows up to talk "to the troops" that those people chosen for that talk are a representative random group.

Remember that lovely scripted Bush/Troops teleconference? Memories.

Niyazoz is Gone, but We Still Have the Memories

Now that the Turkmenistan dictator Saparmurat Niyazoz has died of a heart-attack, we can thank Tripmaster Monkey for a quick rundown of some Funny Facts of his rule.

And by Funny I mean horrifying.

Also, it's really hard for me not to wonder about the "heart attack" thing.

Froomkin:

There's been plenty of evidence for years now that Bush was living in a self-imposed bubble of non-reality, particularly when it came to the situation in Iraq.

But it wasn't until Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial," came out in September that it was definitively established, to the full satisfaction of Washington's cocktail-party circles, that the president is not to be taken seriously on Iraq.

It wasn't until November, when the voters resoundingly threw Bush's congressional enablers from power, that it became undeniably clear that Americans reject Bush's leadership.

And Bush's response to this month's report from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group is making it manifestly obvious that, for all the White House's attempts to give the impression that Bush listens to people who disagree with him, he does not.

"I" Stands for "Ineffable"

The brain-deads at Blogs for Bush have really outdone themselves this time. One of today's posts is titled:

"W" Stands for "Win"

It's hard to imagine there's a real mind in there.

Goodbye, Shallow Boxer

Watched the finale of Survivor last night. One of my least favorite human beings ever to have to watch talk was thankfully booted just a couple episodes ago, some terrible person called Parvati, so luckily her involvement was limited. But I did enjoy learning two fun facts about her:

1. Her last name is Shallow. Pavarti Shallow. Uh-huh.

2. One of the odder things about her was that she was always listed as having the profession "boxer." It was never explained on the show, and it made zero sense. She was a complete party-socialite girl, and the "boxer" title seemed like a typo or a joke. Well, she was asked about it tonight, and she clarified that it's actually called "Model Boxing" that she's involved in. Uh-huh.

The Editors offer a reality-check:

I think there’s a sense among people who spend their days buried in liberal political blogs that the ideal politician is a really, really big liberal blogger. Now, I freely admit that, if Obama’s response to the latest Presidential address was to photoshop Bush’s head on Marie Antoinette’s body and spend the next few weeks referring to him as “The Dauphine of Douchebags”, I would declare him to be the Greatest Human Being Who Ever Lived and vote for him for everything, forever. That said, I read way too many blogs.

My emphasis.

CNN Synchronicity

I was this close to taking this exact screenshot and making this exact post earlier today. Saved me the trouble.

For No Reason

So there are currently no charges against anyone in the high profile "case" that introduced the "liquids limitations" in the first place?

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 13 — A judge threw out terrorism charges on Wednesday against Rashid Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani descent whom prosecutors depicted as a major figure in a plot to smuggle liquid explosives onto trans-Atlantic airliners and detonate the bombs in flight.

The ruling means there are now no terrorism charges against two people once accused of being linchpins of a major bombing plot by Al Qaeda. The other is Tayib Rauf, Mr. Rauf’s younger brother, who was detained in Britain in August and was soon set free without charge.

Then there's this, oh-so-surprising tidbit.

British officials involved in the case said that American investigators had pushed for quicker arrests but that the British had wanted to wait to gather admissible evidence.

From John K's marvelous blog.

Atrios:

Why is Ken Adelman on my teevee?

More importantly, why isn't there a dirty fucking hippie on my teevee?

Totally. Atrios also notes "...he just called for a one F.U. last chance. Now that's an opinion you never hear on the teevee."

Knight Dobbs

There's little that gets on my nerves more than an asshole who thinks it's a mark of courage to talk about fighting back against "political correctness." Lou?

This mindless movement of political correctness at all costs is one of the most un-American and crazy twists in our culture as anything we've witnessed. Remember, we're Americans, and we have freedom of speech, that whole life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness thing. Or at least we did.

Lou, talking a break from the "keeping my ass on TV" nonsense about The War on the Middle Class is talking here about the War on Xmas. Keep it up, brave knight!

Angry Arab on an oddity:

But you have to admit that the New York Times knows how to discredit any critic of Israel. Notice that the article on Jimmy Carter's book concludes with a reference--out of the blue--to the "conference" of holocaust deniers in Iran.

Here is the final paragraph of today's NY Times article (in fact it's in the NY Times blog called The Lede) on Carter's book:

Meanwhile, the debate over the book unfolds, strangely, against the backdrop of the bizarre symposium in Tehran this week, which seeks to discuss whether the Holocaust actually happened.

Bizarrely, the article is posted against backdrop of Paris defending Britney's "partying ethics," and 65 years to the day since Romania and Hungary declared war on the US in WWII.

Charlotte's Web Destroys McDonald's

I've written about the so-called "Center for Consumer Freedom" before. They are a food and restaurant industry lobbyist group, constantly spreading fear about "food activists" trying to take your child's Fourth of July hot dog out of their hands.

Well, this time, apparently, they're freaked out by the promotional campaign for the new movie adaption of Charlotte's Web, for the following reasons - and I quote:

The TV commercial ends with a plea for kids to visit SaveWilbur.com, a Nickelodeon / Paramount website that encourages kids to "Say no to bacon" and print out stickers reading "Tofu Rulez."




Paramount's official website for Charlotte's Web includes "educational links" to animal-rights extremist groups including Farm Sanctuary and the Humane Society of the United States.




Last year, Paramount Pictures hosted a 25th-Anniversary gala for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on its Hollywood studio lot. (We were there too.)




The Sydney Morning Herald reports that "Paramount Pictures made a 'significant' donation to Animals Australia" after Charlotte's Web was filmed Down Under. Paramount's contribution funded a $500,000 advertising campaign attacking the idea of eating pork. The ads include cookbook-style presentations of "Emotionally Stressed Pork Sausages" and "Traumatised Suckling Piglet."

I love the smell of industry fear. It's so....desparate. The "article" continues:

Of course, Charlotte's Web is a work of fiction. The real world, as author E.B. White's own life attested, is still the real world. (White raised and killed pigs on his own Vermont farm for decades.)

Ha! Caught. What a hypocrite. You got him.

I had no interest in seeing this movie until now, actually.

CNN: Barack = Bin Laden + Saddam + Ahmadinejad

CNN's Jeanne Moos did yet ANOTHER piece comparing Barack Obama to someone, ahem, unfavorable in the US public eye - this time it's a double-shot split screen orgy of Saddam Hussein vs Obama and Osama Bin Laden vs. Obama.

Eric Kleefeld at TPM Cafe's got it all, including video and screenshots.

See my post on Jeff Greenfeld's earlier schlock.

creamy scorpion

creamy scorpion, originally uploaded by macquet.

yeah, sure, that works.

DragonQuest 9 will be for the Nintendo DS.

The above pic trumps them all.

CNN Has Always Exposed the Diamond Industry. Really.

Warner Brothers is distributing the new film Blood Diamonds, starring DiCaprio and others. The film opened this past weekend to pretty crummy reviews and lackluster revenues.

And hey, what's the top story on CNN.com right now?



CNN is owned by Time Warner, which also owns Warner Brothers. You make your own call about whether this is ethical. The story mentions the movie a few paragraphs down (which the ownership disclaimer). The top of the page includes:

More on CNN TV: Correspondent Jeff Koinange examines Africa's diamond mines and the men and boys who work in them. Tune in to "AC 360°," tonight at 10 ET.

Media literacy is still very important.

Luke Plunkett, Kotaku, on punchline console developer Phantom Entertainment getting even more money in investment to create something, anything:

And while you're at it, I've got this foolproof plan to put a gorilla, a stripper and a Dreamcast on Mars. Thing is, it needs $132,000,000 in "infusions of capital" to get it off the ground. Just wire the cash to Kotaku's Swiss bank account, we'll talk later.

Completely unable to Stop Lying.

An Objective that is Obtainable

Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore), who famously spoke on the Senate floor last week of being "at the end of my rope" about the war, speaking today on CNN:

The American People will and should hold us accountable. So if you've got something to say, now's the time to say it. Either let's fight the war intelligently, for an objective that is obtainable, or let's admit it, and figure out how to preserve the lives of our soldiers.

Was that so hard? Way to go, Gordon.

I don't know exactly whom that second sentence is targeted towards. It's not as if no one was saying "Don't Go to War!" or "This War is a Sham" or "What Are We There For?" over the last five years. I'd like to believe that in a way he's saying that to other congressmen.

Jeff Greenfield: Everyone Wears a Tie But Barack Obama and Iranian Prez

Huh? A guy name Jeff Greenfeld ("Senior Analyst") just did a piece on The Situation Room about Barack Obama, and his clothes. Fine. No problem up to that. He points out his common white shirt, dark blazer (undone), and no-tie look, what it means (um, something about casual and ready to "get things done")and then runs down the clothing styles of other past presidents.

Then he tooks a truly, Glenn-Beck-ian bizarre turn.

But with the case of Obama, may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself: Is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes, it's Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of GQ to find the jacket and no-tie look agreeable. And maybe that's not the comparison a possible presidential contender wants to evoke.

Now, it's one thing to have a last name that sounds like "Osama" and a middle name, "Hussein," that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the Axis of Evil? Why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread. Or should I say "threads?"

How weird is that?

What's yer problem, JEFF? Do you think you're funny? Is that that great right-wing humor I've heard about? ("Nope, no WMDs under there.")

Barack Obama (in his Holocaust-denial outfit):


Jeff Greenfield:


Do you really want to start playing the "who does HE look like" game?

Update: Josh Marshall saw this one, too, and calls is "really, really weird."

What Does He Say?

Lou Dobbs, how can you actually just state:

The president seems to be in a mood to listen.

Does someone need to get Lou a copy of PR for Dummies? Could the difference between "wants to appear as X" and "is X" be any clearer in this "Bush Listens" initiative?

Starting From the Basics, PR-Style

Yeah, there may have been a problem with my screen capture. But it was something like that.

Atrios:

For quite some time "stay the course" was painted as a delightfully wonderful option which was unearthing huge quantities of ponies.

Are You "Serious?"

Brilliant. A "How It Works" piece from Media Matters, via Crooks & Liars:

It remains the case that the primary prerequisite for being considered "serious" on matters of foreign policy and national security is that you were wrong on the most momentous foreign policy and national security decision of the last few decades. If your judgment was faulty, your understanding lacking, your foresight non-existent, your ideology blinding, then you are someone whose opinions should be listened to. If you supported what may be the single biggest foreign policy debacle in our nation's history, you are "serious." That disastrous error in judgment, which has so far resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 U.S. troops, also makes you "strong on defense," not to mention "pro-military" and someone who "supports the troops."

NY Times:

A surprisingly recent instance of human evolution has been detected among the peoples of East Africa. It is the ability to digest milk in adulthood, conferred by genetic changes that occurred as recently as 3,000 years ago, a team of geneticists has found.

The finding is a striking example of a cultural practice — the raising of dairy cattle — feeding back into the human genome. It also seems to be one of the first instances of convergent human evolution to be documented at the genetic level. Convergent evolution refers to two or more populations acquiring the same trait independently.

Throughout most of human history, the ability to digest lactose, the principal sugar of milk, has been switched off after weaning because there is no further need for the lactase enzyme that breaks the sugar apart. But when cattle were first domesticated 9,000 years ago and people later started to consume their milk as well as their meat, natural selection would have favored anyone with a mutation that kept the lactase gene switched on.

Fascinating and understandable example of the forces of evolution in changing a population.

My summary of the damn tone on Meet The Press this morning:

Sure is bad in Iraq. I wish it would get better. We're at a crossroads. We should give one more, just one more push in Baghdad, 20 to 30 thousand troops. If thing's aren't better in 6 months, then, well...maybe we should just leave.

Richard Haass: It's really important that this be understood as not a failure of American policy. We need to make sure that the narrative is that we gave the Iraqis a chance, and that they failed. We should add more troops, 20K, so that no once can say we didn't try.

[Richard may be sickening, but I think that he's at the real forefront of the battle: the battle of exactly how the war is understood. He's the prez of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he seems upfront about pushing for PR for the US government. I say the US needs a period of sitting in the corner, ashamed in public. Best medicine for it.]

Ken Adelman: Good idea, bad implementation.

Finally, Tom Ricks from the WaPo says "invading Iraq may well be the worst idea in American History."

Resist the Good Idea, Bad Implementation story!

Don't Give Me That, Doc!

There they go again, Republicans always trying to protect the rights and privacy of homosexuals. The bullshit Foley report actually states:

Some may have been concerned that raising the issue too aggressivelty might have risked exposing Rep. Foley's homosexuality, which could have adversely affected him both personally and politically.

Unconscionable. This is not about homosexuality, it's about ethics. And, apparently, about Doc Hastings and the final failing of congressional oversight.

Line 'em up, Dems! Let's show them how investigation works, and restore some honor to the US government.

Exercise in Cowardice

NY Times editorial on the Foley Report, a "91 page exercise in cowardice":

But even after all that, the report said that none of this amounted to the sort of behavior that might discredit the House of Representatives and thus violate ethics rules. The committee, which never heard from Mr. Foley, did not call for disciplinary action against current members of the House or their staffs. The committee said those who have already left, like Mr. Foley, were no longer its problem.

The panel’s justification for inaction is a breathtaking exercise in sophistry: “the requirement that House members and staff act at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House does not mean that every error in judgment or failure to exercise greater oversight or diligence” is a violation.

No, not every error or failure should be a violation, but certainly the ones that lead to an elected official’s sexually stalking teenage boys while his colleagues turn a blind eye or cover it up should be. We’d set the bar at least there. Apparently, it’s too high for the House.

President of the United States of America

From a news conference the other day with Blair

"Q: Why did it take others to say it before you've been willing to acknowledge for the world --

"PRESIDENT BUSH: In all due respect, I've been saying it a lot. I understand how tough it is. And I've been telling the American people how tough it is. And they know how tough it is. And the fundamental question is, do we have a plan to achieve our objective. Are we willing to change as the enemy has changed? And what the Baker-Hamilton study has done is it shows good ideas as to how to go forward. What our Pentagon is doing is figuring out ways to go forward, all aiming to achieve our objective.

"Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die [sic]. I understand there's sectarian violence. I also understand that we're hunting down al-Qaeda on a regular basis and we're bringing them to justice. I understand how hard our troops are working. I know how brave the men and women who wear the uniform are, and therefore, they'll have the full support of this government. I understand what long deployments mean to wives and husbands, and mothers and fathers, particularly as we come into a holiday season. I understand. And I have made it abundantly clear how tough it is.

"I also believe we're going to succeed. I believe we'll prevail. Not only do I know how important it is to prevail, I believe we will prevail. I understand how hard it is to prevail. But I also want the American people to understand that if we were to fail -- and one way to assure failure is just to quit, is not to adjust, and say it's just not worth it -- if we were to fail, that failed policy will come to hurt generations of Americans in the future.

"And as I said in my opening statement, I believe we're in an ideological struggle between forces that are reasonable and want to live in peace, and radicals and extremists. And when you throw into the mix radical Shia and radical Sunni trying to gain power and topple moderate governments, with energy which they could use to blackmail Great Britain or America, or anybody else who doesn't kowtow to them, and a nuclear weapon in the hands of a government that is -- would be using that nuclear weapon to blackmail to achieve political objectives -- historians will look back and say, how come Bush and Blair couldn't see the threat? That's what they'll be asking. And I want to tell you, I see the threat and I believe it is up to our governments to help lead the forces of moderation to prevail. It's in our interests.

"And one of the things that has changed for American foreign policy is a threat overseas can now come home to hurt us, and September the 11th should be a wake-up call for the American people to understand what happens if there is violence and safe havens in a part of the world. And what happens is people can die here at home.

"So, no, I appreciate your question. As you can tell, I feel strongly about making sure you understand that I understand it's tough. But I want you to know, sir, that I believe we'll prevail. I know we have to adjust to prevail, but I wouldn't have our troops in harm's way if I didn't believe that, one, it was important, and, two, we'll succeed. Thank you."

The oh-so-solemn parallelism attempted about Pearl Harbor and Iraq today (Dec 7th) on FOX is fucking nauseating.

Evite Must Die

I've always hated evite. I can't quite describe what my problem with it is, but the NY Times has an article today on online RSVPs and some objections to it. I love this:

Her Evite reply had to indicate she was glad to have been invited. It had to illustrate she had good reason for not attending. Most of all, it had to be so witty that invitees she did not even know would find themselves wishing she was coming to the party.

Psychotic Killer

The promo smile pics from the Gap-Ad movie "The Holiday" make me want to torture someone, and that really doesn't happen very often.

I read this on ThinkProgress somewhere, I believe, but can't find it now.

This past Saturday, on Dec 1, the Minimum Wage passed a milestone. It has now officially gone unincreased for the longest period in its history. Congratulations!

"Why are tens of thousands of people camped out in the streets of Beirut?"

He may be "only 19 years old," but I often find myself respecting the words of Jeb Koogler's Foreign Policy Watch blog. Like this one:

Reading up about the ongoing protests in Lebanon, I'm struck by how few articles actually give a serious explanation as to the goals of the demonstrators. Why are tens of thousands of people camped out in the streets of Beirut? What do they want? Why do they want it? The newspapers sure aren't telling.

The bit I've emboldened is one of those Basic Questions that the press never seems to ask.

Great Big Radio

New radio station someone told me about. Now, given my inability to get my bearings this year about what music means to me and what music I like, you may not want to trust me, but I just heard "American Band" by Average White Band followed by "Captain of Her Heart" by (do you know?) Double. That is a nice pairing. This station is all over the place, and fer sher you're going to find some tripe like "Roll With It" by Steve Winwood, but ya know, I'm kinda digging this station so far.

Great Big Radio!

Oh, my, they've just played an old ("Retrospots") promo of Tom Jones singing about how great coke ("...ca-cola") is.

The bill themselves as 'The Hits - And the Songs That Should've Been"

Debate Is Not a "Complication"

Obama says he is "maybe" running for Prez in 2008.

And the NY Times says this has "has created complications for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as she steps up her own preparations."

What complications? This is the democratic process. A group of people run against each other in a Party, and the democratically chosen candidate squares off in the general election.

The wonderful victory of the Democrats in November is not going to herald a time when there's no disagreement or debate in politics. On the contrary, debate and disagreement will again influence decisions made by goverment, rather than being ignored by it.

Pull Up Their Pants

Aye Carumba!

I found a creepy right-wing blog called Important Stuff, whose tagline is "Stern lectures for the logically-challenged. Others have opinions, I have convictions." In a post called "Smart Women," someone who calls him/herself Lone Ranger writes:

When it comes to smart women, there's no contest. We've got them all. Compare women like Hillary Clinton (or Rodham?), Theresa Kerry (or Heinz?), and Rosie O'Donnell (O'piggeldypig?) to women like Ann Coulter, Peggy Noonan and Rachel Marsden.

Whoa. I'm not familiar with Rachel Marsden. Do you have an example, Lone?

Rachel Mardsen
The more little punks I see loitering around outside the mall with their jeans down around their knees, the more I like the idea of mandatory military service. At least they’ll have learned how to tuck in a shirt, pull up their pants, and not take a full 10 minutes to get me my McDonald’s cheeseburger.

Cute.

From a Wii Safety Guide

No idea at all on that last one. "Don't Press/Insert Your Luck?"

Cranbrook Academy - Grounds

Cranbrook Academy - Grounds, originally uploaded by string_bass_dave.

Another beautiful cranbrook shot. This is where, after dinner from age 1 to 11, my friends and I would play while we waited for the adults to finish and collect us for the car rides home.

I Can See Clearly Now

I added a new blog to my "nuts" category, this one Blogs for Bush, and he/she/it steps up within 24 hours. There are so many misunderstandings in this it sounds like an automatic weapon:

So, for years Democrats have been screaming their opposition to Bush's tax cuts -- yes, the very tax cuts that fixed our economy and got us out of the Clinton Recession -- and now we're expected to believe them when they say they plan their own "tax cuts." Who's buying that one? When Democrats talk about their version of tax cuts, it's really a conservative-sounding euphemism for welfare.

Over the past few years, they've been relentless in attacking the conservative agenda and pushing for their own liberal agenda, but they've gotten clever in their self-promotion. They've either avoided detailing their own agenda, or tried to disguise their plans as conservative. It seems like lately, Democrats can't admit to being pro-abortion... They're always "personally" opposed to abortion, but "pro-choice," for "women's rights" or "reproductive rights," but never ever pro-abortion. They've rallied against out of control spending in Washington, but clearly have no desire or intention to curb federal earmarks. And of course, while they support welfare and government handouts, they prefer to call them "middle class tax cuts" or "tax cuts for working families" and the like.

The sad thing is, they think we're going to fall for their act. We're not. They've been opposing all the progress our country has made over the past six years [pfbfpfbpBWAAAhAHAHAHHA! - can't hold it in anymore!!!] and there's no mistaking they're still determined to destroy this country and blame Bush for it.

"That. Is Why You Fail."

Cranbrook Grounds

, originally uploaded by Punk Rock Mama.

Grounds from Cranbrook/Kingswood School, where I grew up as a fac-brat.

The Blame Game Redux

There were lots of "stories" being told right after the election that tried to make the losers feel better, like Democrats Won Because They Were Better Republicans than Republicans.

Josh Marshall is cataloging a new story that's making the rounds, and it's not the Blame Iraq First one I noted the other day:

Let's first take note that the 'blame the American people for Bush's screw-ups' meme has definitely hit the big time. It's not Bush who bit off more than he could chew or did something incredibly stupid or screwed things up in a way that defies all imagining. Bush's 'error' here is not realizing in advance that the American people would betray him as he was marching into history. The 'tragedy' is that Bush "bit off more than the American people were willing to chew." That just takes my breath away.

From Artist Ben Sargent

(via Hoffmania)

Perry's Got A Leg Up

Each year I put together a Best Of music mix for friends and families, but 2006 is sitting in my gut like a pound of, um, really boring bricks. On paper, there were a bunch of big releases that could have been exciting this year (Cat Power, Morrissey, Flaming Lips) but I think it was a matter of old habits losing steam. Very very little excited me this year, save Ali Farka Toure's final album (Mr. Toure at right).

And the point of the Ritual album cover is that nothing, absolutely nothing this year comes close to rivalling that record, which I listened to on the way home yesterday. Jesus Christ that's a good record. Listen to it on headphones if you haven't in a while.

• Yes, I know that the Ali Farka Toure record this year was posthumous
• It's hard to even remember the time when Dave Navarro was the Coolest Guy in the World

From "No One's Leaving" on Ritual:

My sister and her boyfriend slept in the park.
She had to leave home 'cause he was dark.
Now they parade around in New York with a baby boy...
He's gorgeous!

Gleiberman on The Nativity Story

I adore film critic Owen Gleiberman, who does the occasional piece on NY1:

“The Nativity Story” isn't inept, but it's about as dramatic as a wall calendar. When the dastardly egotist King Herod orders Mary and Joseph to return to the place of their birth, the couple, now united, must journey to Bethlehem. Yet that's all that happens. They ride. It's a trek to test the patience of the faithful, relieved only by the three magi, who are like infomercial astrologers. “The Nativity Story” is a film of tame picture-book sincerity, but that's not the same thing as devotion. The movie is too tepid to feel, or see, the light.

This Is My Country/Truck

Sadly No! quotes the Washington Post's claim that the Iraq Study Group will "recommend withdrawing nearly all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis." A reader comment is then included:

Bradrocket adds: Never, ever, ever, ever gonna happen. Bush has constructed his entire foreign policy from watching Toby Keith’s Ford truck ads:
“Yeah!” you can hear G-Dubs saying while pumpin’ his fists at the ol’ teevee. “I ain’t got no boundaries! I don’t compromise! George W. Bush is Ford Tough!!!”