BottleOfBlog

And I Thought She Only Knew Nothing About The Mideast!

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: I haven’t really heard a lot of that. I had one person at one lunch raise the issue of the President mentioning God in his speeches. And I asked whether he was aware that previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our Constitution cites “one nation under God.” He said “well, never mind” and went on to something else. So he sort of was trying to equate that with the terrorists’ (inaudible). So I explained that I didn’t really think that was something you could equate. And he sort of dropped it and moved on. He was one of the opposition leaders in Egypt.

Jeez, no wonder these right wing nuts get their panties in an almighty bunch about the saying the Pledge in school!  They're so damn dumb, they think the Pledge actually is the Constitution!

Now, to be fair, a lot of decent, intelligent and excellent citizens have never read the Constitution and have no idea what's in it.  And, really, that's okay.  I mean, if you're a truck driver, or a stock broker, or a sales representative, well, how often is Article IV really going to come up?

If you read the news, pay your taxes, vote in elections, and try to let your honest conscience guide you, you can still be an outstanding American knowing very little about our Constitution.

But if you work in the executive branch of the government, which derives all its power and authority from the Constitution, if you are a counselor and "most essential advisor" to the President, if you're an ambassador, and the undersecretary of state charged with "changing foreigners' perceptions about America", don't you think it should be a job requirement to have actually read the Constitution?

I mean, we expect truck drivers to have a commercial driver's license, don't we?  We expect teachers to be certified, don't we? 

But one of the most important jobs in our government today--changing the perception of the United States in the Mideast--is given to a fucking idiot who hasn't even read the Constitution, for crying out loud?

I know, I know! It's asking a whole lot of our gubment officials, that they should have to sit down and spend fifteen whole minutes reading the dozen or so pages that comprise our Constitution.  I know it's unduly burdensome to ask that the people who run our executive branch actually have some idea of the powers and limitations of our executive branch.  Demanding that these people have rudimentary knowledge about their jobs is as silly as expecting them to be qualified to do them!

But, if your sole job is to change foreigners' perceptions about America and explain America to people of foreign countries, come on!  How the fuck are you supposed to explain the American system of government to foreigners when you, yourself, confuse the Pledge of Allegience with the Constitution???

How embarrassing.  Even for the incompetent Bush administration.  But most of all for the greatest nation in the world, that we send an incompetent, ignoramous like this out to the rest of the world to "represent" us.

The Most Amazinger Progressiest Iraq Ever

WASHINGTON - The number of Iraqi battalions capable of combat without U.S. support has dropped from three to one, the top American commander in Iraq told Congress Thursday, prompting Republicans to question whether U.S. troops will be able to withdraw next year…

In June, the Pentagon told lawmakers that three Iraqi battalions were fully trained, equipped and capable of operating independently. On Thursday, Casey said only one battalion is ready…

By the December elections, Casey said, the number of Iraqi security forces available will rise to 100,000, allowing the United States to ask for only 2,000 more U.S. troops compared with the 12,000 extra needed during last January’s elections.

It never stops being amazing, does it?  In fact, as the Preznit would say, it gets more amazinger!  Just two weeks ago, the Iraqi "Preznit" said there were 60,000 "well-trained" Iraqi troops:

Talabani said the number of "well-trained" Iraqi security forces stood at 60,000 and would reach 100,000 by the end of the year. All told, there about 190,000 Iraqis enlisted in the military or local security forces. "Some are well-trained, some are not so well-trained," he said. Iraqi troops have light arms, but he said they need 50 tanks and automatic weapons…

Which I thought was so incredibly bizarre, it was laughable.  Because, again, in June, the American military commanders in Iraq told the U.S. Congress that there were three "well trained" Iraqi battalions.

REP. CURT WELDON, (R-PA): Well, Senator Biden and I and the six-member delegation I took with us to Iraq were concerned because the level of training of the Iraqi troops has been represented to the American people as being much more competent than it is today. Senator Biden and I probed this issue aggressively with our generals and they agree with us that you have to define what the level of training, in fact, is. And if you look at those troops that have a level one capability, which mean they can operate totally on their own without backup of U.S. support, it's not the size the numbers that are being reported back home here in America.

    MR. RUSSERT: How many would you say it is?

    REP. WELDON: I think it's around three divisions.

    MR. RUSSERT: Which is?

    REP. WELDON: Was it 80,000, Joe?

    SEN. BIDEN: No, it's much less. It's three battalions.

    REP. WELDON: Oh, three battalions.

    SEN. BIDEN: Three battalions. You're talking about thousands, Tim. Not tens of thousands.

And, again, in case you didn't know, an Iraqi battalion is about 800 guys.  Three battalions would be about 2,400 "well trained" Iraqi troops.

So from June of this year, we went from 2,400 "well trained" Iraqis to about 60,000.  Which is great!  Though a disappointment, just the same, since, again, during the September 2004, Presidential debates, the Preznit hisself told us there were already 100,000 Iraqis trained to do the job!

BUSH: Let me first tell you that the best way for Iraq to be safe and secure is for Iraqi citizens to be trained to do the job.

And that's what we're doing. We've got 100,000 trained now, 125,000 by the end of this year, 200,000 by the end of next year. That is the best way. We'll never succeed in Iraq if the Iraqi citizens do not want to take matters into their own hands to protect themselves. I believe they want to. Prime Minister Allawi believes they want to.

And the Preznit told us we would have 200,000 trained by the end of this year!  So, you can see why it was disappointing to go from the 100,000, last September, that went up to 125,000, by the end of last year, dropped down to 2,400 in June and then jumped up to 60,000 in August.

Oh, I know!  I know!  The last time I pointed this out, some right wing nut wrote me that I was ignoring the distinction between "trained" and "well trained".  Which is just nutty.  It's par for the course of the modern Republican party which believes that private citizens, who have no influence over the national discourse, who have no input in our foreign policy, who are reaching maybe dozens of people are somehow to blame for national and international catastrophes under Bush's insane clown posse.

I didn't get up on national TV in front millions of Americans and ignore the distinction between "trained" and "well-trained" Iraqis.  That's the Preznit who did that.  According to the Preznit, last September, there were 100,000 Iraqis "trained to do the job".

That's a pretty unambiguous statement, isn't it?  100,000 Iraqis "trained to do the job".  200,000 by the end of 2004.  There was no mention of "trained to do the job" but not "well trained".  I mean, even assuming this idiotic distinction isn't just an intentionally misleading statement to the American people, what does it mean? 

I mean, you don't say "My dog is house trained, but not well trained.  He still shits on the sofa."

You don't say, "I'm a trained pilot, I just can't fly a plane.  Without crashing.  A lot."

If your dog still shits on the sofa, he isn't house trained.  If you're a pilot who can't fly a plane, you aren't trained.  And if Iraqis can't fight without American air and ground support, they aren't trained.  They are untrained to do the job.  Why mention them?

So, no, I'm not the one who ignored the distinction.  And, no, I'm not still ignoring the distinction--I'm ridiculing it.

According to the loony right wingers and their very narrowly defined distinctions of "trained", Iraq, a nation of 25 million people, probably has 25 million trained security forces.  Though, only 2,400 of them can actualy provide any kind of security.

Whatever.  Fine.  My original post was soooo wrong, I'm embarrassed.  The Preznit, last September, when he said there were 100,000 Iraqis "trained to do the job", clearly meant that there probably a heck of a lot less "well trained" to do the job.  And it was totally unfair of me to suggest that the numbers of trained Iraqis are wholly fictitious and seem to go up and down depending on political considerations.

I breathlessly await the next right wing nut to explain to me how Iraq has gone from having 2,400 "well-trained" Iraqis in June of this year to 800 "well-trained" Iraqis in October of this year.

And, please, don't forget to explain how this is actually more progress.

Nothing Cures The Monkey Pox

Like a cat up your butt...

My good friend, Elisson, going right to the good Doktor hisself on my behalf.

I'm touched.  And thankful.  Though, also...I don't want a dead cat up my butt.

Also, Ellison, I gotta say--those are fucking saaaaaweet jackets!  Where are your beanies?

D'oh!

A terrible, stupid American once wrote:

American hero Pat Tillman won a Silver Star this year. But unlike Kerry, he did not write his own recommendation or live to throw his medals over the White House fence in an anti-war rally.
 
Tillman was an American original: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be. The stunningly handsome athlete walked away from a three-year, $3.6 million NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the U.S. military and fight in Afghanistan, where he was killed in April.
 
He wanted no publicity and granted no interviews about his decision to leave pro football in the prime of his career and join the Army Rangers. (Most perplexing to Democrats, he didn't even take a home movie camera to a war zone in order to create fake footage for future political campaigns in which he would constantly palaver about his military service and drag around his "Band of Brothers" for the media.)
 
Tillman gave only an indirect explanation for his decision on the day after 9-11, when he said: "My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, and a lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that." He said he wanted to "pay something back" to America.
 
He died bringing freedom and democracy to 28 million Afghans – pretty much confirming Michael Moore's view of America as an imperialist cowboy predator. There is not another country in the world – certainly not in continental Europe – that could have produced a Pat Tillman.

Reading that, I feel kind of dirty and weird, tonight, which is unusual for me on a Monday.  Usually, I feel dirty and weird on Friday or Saturday night. While making coconut rum drinks.  Playing filthy Liz Phair songs, and stripping down to my Speedo and breaking out the ornamental headgear.

And that's just when I'm alone.  I don't even want to talk about what goes on when I have company.

But tonight, I feel dirty because I agree with Man Coulter.  Pat Tillman was virtuous and pure, and a great American.  He really was one of the greatest Americans this country could have produced.

Mary Tillman said a friend of Pat’s even arranged a private meeting with [Noam] Chomsky, the antiwar author, to take place after his return from Afghanistan — a meeting prevented by his death. She said that although he supported the Afghan war, believing it justified by the Sept. 11 attacks, “Pat was very critical of the whole Iraq war.”

Baer, who served with Tillman for more than a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, told one anecdote that took place during the March 2003 invasion as the Rangers moved up through southern Iraq.

“I can see it like a movie screen,” Baer said. “We were outside of (a city in southern Iraq) watching as bombs were dropping on the town. We were at an old air base, me, Kevin and Pat, we weren’t in the fight right then. We were talking. And Pat said, ‘You know, this war is so f— illegal.’ And we all said, ‘Yeah.’ That’s who he was. He totally was against Bush.”

Another soldier in the platoon, who asked not to be identified, said Pat urged him to vote for Bush’s Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry.

A great American.

The Ugly Truth

I had a post up last night which I took down.  Not because I didn't mean any of it.  But because it had to do with organized religion.  Mostly it had to do with the religious right, who I just think are a bunch of kooks.

But I know a lot of very religious people who are very smart, who I like a lot and admire.  And I just started to feel guilty about what they might consider me to be poking fun at their very sincere beliefs.

I'm not. 

I think people who actually live Christian or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu or whatever lives are pretty admirable.  I mean, it's not easy to actually be peaceful, and kind, and humble, and generous, and thoughtful.

Among the big, angry, fearful, violent, ignorant mouths on the religious right, I just don't see any of that.  Frankly, I have a hard time considering those people Christian at all.  Lots of people say they're Christian.  That's easy to do.  Anybody can do that.  The hard part is being Christ-like.

These people--who hate the poor, celebrate wealth, cheer war, support torture, practice idolatry, hate their enemies, and revel in Old Testament styled vengeance--seemed to have skipped step two.

So, I don't really have a problem mocking those people.  They should be mocked, in much the same way that they mock their own professed religion.

But, again, I just started to feel bad about possibly mocking people, like the dozens of decent deeply religious people in my family, who are sincere and decent and live their religions rather than wear it like a campaign button, or use it as an excuse for misanthropy and xenophobia.  So I took it down.

But Cookie liked it.  So I'll put it up again.  If you're sensitive, or a dumbass, I wouldn't go any further.

Too Sick To Blog, Too Ill To Stop

Sometime last week, I came down with a really horrendous case of the dreaded monkey pox.  I know you’re gasping and saying, “It can’t be monkey pox!  How can you be sure?”

And, indeed, others have suggested that I might just have had the flu or a pretty bad cold.  Just this Sunday night, each and every Republican in Congress, after watching the final horrible moments of the Steelers game, rushed back to Washington for a special session in which Bill Frist, after a lengthy and professional examination of my blog, gave his professional opinion that I was not suffering from monkey pox, but rather reaping the whirlwind for hating America, and then he recommended that everyone immediately contact their “blind trustee” and dump their Bottle Of Blog blogshares.

As much as I’m loathe to take issue with Bill Frist, who is not only a doctor and a man of integrity, but the begotten by good begetten peoples, I’m here to tell you, it was the fucking monkey pox.

And it was in my nose.

I was there.  I know.  I self diagnosed, much as our Preznit did with his alcoholism.  And, I self treated, much like our Preznit.  I can’t be certain, but I think my self treatment was much as our Preznit’s self treatment—I sought no professional help and just told everyone around me that, you know, it was fine.  It would clear up in a couple of days.  If I, and everyone I knew, just ignored it.

Also, I napped a lot.  Like twenty hours a day.

Sound familiar?

The Poor Man has a very funny post about the recent National Enquirer story about Bush drinking again.  It’s funny, but it ignores the inescapable truth about such stories:

There is no way Bush started drinking again. 

To start drinking "again" would require that he stopped drinking at some point.

As the Poor Man says, Bush sure falls down a lot for a guy who doesn't drink.  And, he does.  And, as I say, for a grownup, he sure gets his face banged up a lot.  In the last ten or fifteen years of my adult life, I’ve only ever shown up for work on a Monday morning once with bruises and cuts on my face, and that was after I broke my nose dancing at a Christmas party.

And guess what?  I was stupid drunk when it happened.

In my experience, there are only two kinds of grownups that get as many bruises and cuts on their faces as Bush on such a regular basis--prizefighters and falling down drunks.

Then there's also the unbelievable amount of time Bush needs to spend, secluded, on the ranch.  Where, coincidentily, he seems to get a lot of those bruises and cuts on his face from "clearing brush" and "bike riding". 

Though, some of his worst injuries have been from eating pretzels.  Sometimes, they're just bizarre.

Plus, look at that red nose.  What's he trying to do?  Guide Santa's sled?

And sometimes, Bush appears, at midday, in front of reporters, completely brain fogged, in the kind of way you might remember from college, when you showed up at that eight o’clock class after being out until five in the morning.  And you were showered and properly dressed, and looked like a normal human being, but when you opened up your mouth to speak, you, insanely said, “Peeance, freeance” and didn’t even notice that those sounds you were making were not words.

Because you were still so damn drunk.

And there's that nutty weird thing where Bush requires that all state functions end by nine o'clock because "he needs his sleep".  A more skeptical person might say that nine p.m. is about as late as a hardcore alcoholic can make it before he needs a damn drink.

So, no, sorry Enquirer readers, Bush has not started drinking again.  Bush never stopped drinking in the first place.  You'd have to be the most credulous moron in the world to think he did.  You'd have to be dumb enough to believe...I don't know...what?  That Bush won Florida in 2000.  That Saddam had an awesome stockpile of weapons of mass destruction!  That freedom is on the march in the new Islamic Republic of Iraq!  That cutting government revenue while increasing government spending is good, sound, conservative fiscal policy!  And saving you tax dollars!

So, that's just crazy.  It's a bunch of crazy shit.  And Americans have got to stop believing crazy shit.  Crazy shit has fucked up our government.  It's fucked up major league baseball.  And possibly worse than all that, it's fucked up Penn State football.

We, Americans, we're fat, we're lazy, and we're silly.  And that's fine.  It's almost endearing.  But let's not go down in history as the nation conceived just to prove P.T. Barnum right.

Though, that thing about the monkey pox.  That's true.  And you can just sleep that off.  Trust me on that one.

Nuns! Dare Call It Treason...

WASHINGTON - Support for U.S. troops fighting abroad mixed with anger toward antiwar demonstrators at home as hundreds of people, far fewer than organizers had expected, rallied Sunday on the National Mall just a day after a massive protest against the war in Iraq…

About 400 people gathered near a stage on an eastern segment of the mall, a large photo of an American flag serving as a backdrop. Amid banners and signs proclaiming support for U.S. troops, several speakers hailed the effort to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and denounced those who protest it…

“The group who spoke here the other day did not represent the American ideals of freedom, liberty and spreading that around the world,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told the crowd. “I frankly don’t know what they represent, other than blaming America first.”

One sign on the mall read “Cindy Sheehan doesn’t speak for me” and another “Arrest the traitors”; it listed Sheehan’s name first among several people who have spoken against the war.

Wow, a United States Senator denounced 100,000 Americans who exercised their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and petition their government--a right so important to the American ideals of freedom and liberty that the very authors of the Constitution put it at the top of the list of enumerated rights—as not representing anything other than blaming America.

While four hundred of our nation’s most patriotic called for the arrest of traitors, like Cindy Sheehan and other fifth columnists who undermine our freedoms by actually daring to use them.

And just what kind of loathsome scum, who desire nothing more than the enslavement and degradation of freedom loving peoples everywhere, do these true patriots want to see rounded up and shot as traitors?

WASHINGTON - Crowds opposed to the war in Iraq surged past the White House on Saturday, shouting “Peace now” in the largest anti-war protest in the nation’s capital since the U.S. invasion.

The rally stretched through the day and into the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, noting that organizers had hoped to draw 100,000 people, said, “I think they probably hit that.”

In the crowd: young activists, nuns whose anti-war activism dates to Vietnam, parents mourning their children in uniform lost in Iraq, and uncountable families motivated for the first time to protest.

Connie McCroskey, 58, came from Des Moines, Iowa, with two of her daughters, both in their 20s, for the family’s first demonstration. McCroskey, whose father fought in World War II, said she never would have dared protest during the Vietnam War.

“Today, I had some courage,” she said…

While united against the war, political beliefs varied. Paul Rutherford, 60, of Vandalia, Mich., said he is a Republican who supported Bush in the last election and still does — except for the war.

“President Bush needs to admit he made a mistake in the war and bring the troops home, and let’s move on,” Rutherford said. His wife, Judy, 58, called the removal of Saddam Hussein “a noble mission” but said U.S. troops should have left when claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction proved unfounded.

“We found that there were none and yet we still stay there and innocent people are dying daily,” she said…

Yep, young idealistic Americans, nuns, the families of dead American soldiers, and, yes, Republicans.

One hundred thousand of them.

Traitors all.

Just blaming America. 

Betraying the very ideals of freedom and democracy and rooting for enemies of America.

Because they hate America.  Even though they live here.  Even though their families have given soldiers to American wars.  Even though they have children and grandchildren, who will grow up and have their own children and grandchildren in America.

These people hate America.  Nothing would make them happier than seeing it destroyed.  Along with their families, their ancestral homes, and any hope for their children's and grandchildren's future.  They don't even have a reason for it.

Fifty years ago, these people were pro-communist.  Today?  They're objectively pro-terrorist.  If big pink and blue party balloons attack America tomorrow?  These people will be balloonists.

They don't care. They come from long lines of American hating Americans who came here from countries all around the world, who fought America's wars, who built America's highways and industries, who settled America's lands, just to achieve their ancient and ultimate goal:  destroying America.

Whatever serves their purposes, they celebrate.  Today, many are objectively pro-hurricane.

And one hundred thousand of these American hating Americans traveled from all over the country to make their voices heard.  And, as United States Senator Sessions says, those people don't represent America, as he addressed a gigantic patriotic crowd of 400, who clearly do--that's just the 400, by the way, who bothered to show up out of the "expected 20,000".

We can't discount the missing 19,600.

After all, the Steelers were playing New England, today.  I mean, freedom and democracy and the war in Iraq will still be there tomorrow, but we may not see these two teams play again until the playoffs.  You can only ask for so much sacrifice for the true American loving crowd.

And even though 400--hell, even though the "expected 20,000"--is a heck of a lot less than the one hundred thousand that showed up the day before, we should not for a second be fooled by the biased media that these traitors represent America in any way.

War supporters said the scale of the anti-war march didn't take away from their cause.

"It's the silent majority," said 22-year-old Stephanie Grgurich of Leesburg, Virginia, who has a brother serving in Iraq.

The silent majority, that ol' unassailable Nixon gem--like secret plans for victory in Vietnam.  You don't know a majority of Americans support the war in Iraq because they're silent.  You don't know about our plans for victory in Vietnam because they're secret. 

It's fitting that the silent majority should once again, silently, speak up for Bush.  After all, he's another President, like Nixon, who's approval rating has dipped into the thirties.

As for the vocal majority, the ones who don't represent freedom or America?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's vow to rebuild the Gulf Coast did little to help his standing with the public, only 40 percent of whom now approve of his performance in office, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday…

Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake. That figure is the highest recorded in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

Only 39 percent said the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do. Sixty-three percent said they wanted to see some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country. 

Only in Bush's America can a United States Senator stand up in front of 400 right wing kooks and say that sixty three percent of Americans don't represent America.  Only in Bush's America can the "liberal" media give equal time and equal credence to 400 right wing kooks calling for fifty nine percent of Americans to be arrested as traitors.

Only in George W. Bush's America can thirty something percent of the public be considered the silent majority, who represent the ideals of freedom and democracy and fully support any sacrifice necessary to bring democracy to Iraq.

Any sacrifice, except, of course, serving themselves.   Or paying taxes to cover the unbelievable expense.  And, also, missing that Steelers game.

The Ultra Unbelievable

In a move with little precedent in the fashion industry, Kate Moss, one of the world's most recognizable models, was dismissed from a planned advertising campaign yesterday after executives said she had admitted to recently using cocaine…

But the public reaction to H&M's position, which was given extensive play on the Internet and in the media, was unexpectedly negative. Customers called stores over the weekend, many complaining that the company, which markets to teenagers and young adults, would be associated with a model who admitted using drugs.

"After the feedback from customers and other papers," Ms. Uglialoro said, "we decided we should distance ourselves from any kind of drug abuse…"

The campaign seeks to reconnect Gloria Vanderbilt with the 1970's disco scene that first brought it to prominence.

First of all, let's be honest, if you want to reconnect Gloria Vanderbilt with the 1970's disco scene, cocaine is the way to go. 

If H&M were serious about their ad campaign, they'd just shoot a bunch of photographs of Kate Moss naked, making snow angels on a Peruvian flaked covered mirror the size of a football field.

But after that, the public--the one that worships supermodels is shocked and outraged that a supermodel is actually snorting cocaine?  That one supermodel is setting a bad example for our daughters?

Because she's snorting coke???

Hey, America!  The free cocaine is the reason women become supermodels in the first place!

We've got the world's worst bidnessman claiming he's "running" the country like a CEO.  We've got the biggest, wildest, most irresponsible spenders in the history of the world calling themselves "conservatives".  We've got utility infielders the size of garbage dumpsters hitting fifty homeruns a year and standing up in front of Congress and saying, "Steroids?  What are steroids?"

While their skulls actually expand, live, on CSPAN.

And now we've got Madison Avenue expressing it's shock and disbelief that an 85 pound supermodel snorts coke.

And to all this?  The American public says, "Hey, it could happen."  And your liberal media?  They type this garbage up as if it were actually in the realm of possibility.

Christ, we should have ditched the bald eagle in January of 2001.  Just get it over with, already.  For once and for all.

Make the Easter Bunny our national symbol.  And be done with it.

Well, It Ain't All Gloom And Doom

We can always remember simple moments of sheer pleasure.

Even if we have no idea what the hell the words are.  Maybe more so, that we don't know what the words are.

...or even more perfect melodies...heaven assumed...

Ministry Of Propaganda Promotes Anti-Propaganda Propaganda

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. counterterrorism official says the newly released tape of Osama bin Laden's chief deputy does not in itself demonstrate that al Qaeda planned or directed the terrorist attacks in London last July…

But the counterterrorism official said al Qaeda seemed "content to take credit for any terrorist attacks."

The official pointed to what he called the "stepped up propaganda efforts" by al Qaeda, attempts, he said, to get "better play" in Western media.

That's right.  al Qaeda has been using propaganda to get "better play" in the Western media.  al Qaeda has been doing that.  al Qaeda, which can't even produce a single crapass video tape where the sound matches the pictures, or where the pictures don't look like they were filmed by the same guy who shot that blurry Bigfoot tape, that al Qaeda has been trying to terrorize Americans--because they're terrorists;  that's what they do--through the exaggeration of their threats in the Western media.

That's al Qaeda that's been doing that.

And that's the Bush administration "pooh poohing" al Qaeda's involvement.  That's the Bush administration, now, saying that a lot of al Qaeda huffing and puffing is just a bunch of propaganda.

Just to try to scare people.  For political purposes.  Just using the media for ulterior motives.

While the Bush administration has, of course, been trying to put terrorism in perspective.  While the Bush administration, the level headed, straight shooting grownups, have been doing everything they can to stop the panic stricken, runaway media from being a mere propaganda tool.

Like this:

According to a senior defense official, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., Citigroup and the New York Stock Exchange in New York and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington were just a few of many buildings named on an Al Qaeda (search) laptop "recently" retrieved…

Very specific details about United Nations (search) headquarters in midtown Manhattan were also found on this computer…

Also, according to a law enforcement bulletin issued by the FBI (search) and Department of Homeland Security (search) on Sunday, there is concern that subways and other modes of public transportation near financial institutions could be targets for terrorists…

"The elevation of the threat level in New York and New Jersey and Washington is a serious reminder, a solemn reminder, of the threat we continue to face," President Bush said at the White House Monday. "All the institutions of our government must be fully prepared for a struggle against terror that will last into the future."

And this:

The federal government raised the color-coded terror alert Sunday for New York City, Washington, D.C., and northern New Jersey when it announced that terrorists had recently cased the New York Stock Exchange (search) and The Citigroup Center (search) in Manhattan, the International Monetary Fund (search) and World Bank (search) buildings in Washington and Prudential Financial Inc.'s (search) headquarters in Newark, N.J…

A White House spokesman said the intelligence was detailed and "chilling," even if some of the information appeared to be old…

Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that investigators suspect terrorist moles worked at Citigroup's 59-story building at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan and Prudential's buildings to case the skyscrapers as potential targets of car or truck bombs…

Or this:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. government Friday raised the national threat level to "orange," indicating a "high risk of terrorist attacks."

ASHCROFT: Good afternoon…

After conferring this morning with the Homeland Security Council, the decision has been made to increase the threat condition designation currently classified at elevated risk, to increase that threat condition designation to the high-risk category…

Recent intelligence reports suggests that al Qaeda leaders have emphasized planning for attacks on apartment buildings, hotels and other soft or lightly secured targets in the United States…

Or this:

"We expect al Qaeda will strive for new attacks that will be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving nonconventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents," the [State Department] warning read. "We also cannot rule out the potential for al Qaeda to attempt a second catastrophic attack within the U. S."

However, the warning did not cite new intelligence or any specific plans or targets.

And, also this:

The U.S. has intelligence information that at least one of the cancelled Air France Paris-to-Los Angeles flights might have been commandeered by al Qaeda and used in a terror attack against the United States…

The cancellations come aid heightened security and a high terror alert in the United States after intelligence agencies reported intercepting hints of an imminent terrorist attack. Federal officials fear that al Qaeda could use foreign planes to strike U.S. targets.

However, officials said the intelligence painted a confusing picture about where, when and how the terrorists might strike.

Possible targets range from the headquarters of the U.S fleet in the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, to Reagan National Airport in Washington, to Port of Valdez, Alaska — a major petroleum center. The mode of attack could be a hijacked commercial airliner or a so-called "dirty" radiological bomb. And the threat seems to apply to a period running to the end of January.

And, don't forget this:

SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- A newly boosted terror threat level was prompting heavier security Monday at buildings ranging from nuclear plants to shopping malls. Checkpoints for trucks were heightened at bridges including the Golden Gate Bridge and spans into New York City.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned Sunday of possible terrorist strikes more devastating than the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001. He raised the alert on the nation's five-color code from "elevated" (yellow) to "high" (orange.)

And that, all that, is the product of less than two minutes of Googling.  There are thousands of articles like those.  And nearly all of them are as ludicrous as these few.

It's funny, isn't it?  No, it's not.  But it is disturbing.  That since November 3, 2004, all that chilling, credible evidence just dried right the fuck up.  Shopping centers at Christmas time?  Completely safe.  New Year's Eve in Time's Square?  Don't worry about it.  Schools, financial institutions, airports, ports, nuclear power plants?  These things are safe, people!

Since November 3, 2004.

Even things that are unsafe--like bombings in London--have nothing, let me repeat, nothing to do with al Qaeda.  And if al Qaeda claims responsibility, you should be highly dubious of such claims.  Frankly, based upon what we know about what little threat al Qaeda poses to Americans, such claims strike Homeland Security and American intelligence agencies as mere propaganda.

Since November 3, 2004.

Is it really propaganda?  Is it really a lame ass attempt to use the Western media for political purposes?  I have no idea.  Neither do you.

But, considering bin Laden is neither dead nor in prison, considering al Qaeda is alive and well and flourishing somewhere in Pakistan, considering terrorism has actually increased worldwide since the American invasion of Iraq, considering the invasion of Iraq has been the greatest recruiting tool for al Qaeda ever, considering all this bad news has been inversely proportional to the terror alerts from Homeland Security, it's not entirely inappropriate for you to vomit when you hear the Bush administration say al Qaeda is trying to use the Western media for propaganda purposes.

You can also shoot your TV.  After all, it's no longer necessary to be glued to CNN for the latest terror update.  Election's over, suckers.