The Deets

Bruce on our President Bystander’s reaction to New Orleans. Remember, it took a furious mayor’s rants from a city without power to get President George W Bush to come off vacation during this crisis:

Newsvine - Springsteen Expresses New Orleans’ Pain Perhaps the most pointed moment came as he prepared to sing an old song that he had rewritten lyrics to for New Orleans. Noting that he visited the city’s ninth ward, perhaps the most devastated area in the city, Springsteen said: “I saw sights I never thought I’d see in an American city,” and added: “The criminal ineptitude makes you furious.”

With that, he launched into a song titled “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?” and dedicated the song to “President Bystander.” Its lyrics included the lines: “There’s bodies floatin’ on Canal and the levees gone to hell … them who’s got out of town, and them who ain’t got left to drown, tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

John Hinderaker criticizes a war protestor’s sign reading, “HOW MANY LIVES PER GALLON?” with the following response:

Power Line: Rogues’ Gallery
Can anyone explain what that sign is supposed to mean? It’s an article of faith among these ignoramus lefties that the Iraq war must have something to do with oil. But what, exactly? Have these people failed to notice that we haven’t exactly seized the Iraqi oilfields? And that, whatever the war’s rationale was, it pretty obviously wasn’t bringing down the price of gasoline?

Notice that Hinderaker doesn’t explain what the war’s rationale was? Wouldn’t that make for a stronger argument than the one he made? Of course, as a Bush apologist, it would be risky to try to make a definitive statement about what the rationale for the war was at a time like this since it’s evolved so many times.

Was it WMDs we never found?

Removing a dictator that we used to like?

Dealing with someone who gassed his own citizens before Donald Rumsfeld shook his hand?

Dealing with terrorism in Iraq before we caugh Osama bin Laden. With no ties to the terrorists who acutally attacked us?

Seriously, only a complete idiot or Bush apoligist would be able to believe that the war in Iraq wasn’t tied to oil. Have you looked at who’s running this country? It’s ALL about oil.

But he won’t let that stop him. Heck, he’s reviewed movies he hasn’t seen, so what’s going to stop him from reviewing comedy he didn’t watch, right?

In typical Hinderaker fashion, he relies solely on the opinions of right-wing pundits to decide what he should regurgitate. This shows that he’s too lazy to come up with an opinion of his own, or he doesn’t trust his own judgement enough to go first? Hard to say. Regardless, the one thing you can surely count on is Hinderaker regurgitating talking points without bothering to a tad bit of research before posting:

Power Line: Comedy CriticismThe big news story was that the featured comedian, someone named Steve Colbert, apparently bombed. He did a virulently anti-Bush routine that got few laughs. Hot Air has good footage of both routines; you can judge for yourself who was funnier.

Why is Hinderaker reporting on the reporting when transcripts and video coverage of both performances are readily available online? What a putz. Especially considering that he likely watched the Hot Air coverage of the event before writing his post. Why, after watching at least some of the performances, would he report on the reporting rather than forming an opinion of his own? Lack of confidence in his own analytical skills?

My guess is Hinderaker, being a smart guy, was simply trying to avoid analyzing Colbert’s humor based on brutal honesty, calling the administration out on lying about the war, outing a covert CIA operative, using race baiting tactics to defeat John McCain in the 2000 primary, etc. etc. etc. It’s hard for a Bush apologist like John Hinderaker to laugh at the brutal honesty contained in Colbert’s sharply worded humor.

Click through to see a photo of Dennis Hastert jumping out of a hydrogen-fueled car and back into his gas guzzling SUV after a photo shoot:
Gasoline Prices on Yahoo! News Photos

Does the GOP actually do anything other than image shaping press conferences?

I like seeing fugitives round up as much as the next guy, because . . . well . . . they’re fugitives. However, the massive round-ups for the news camera seem to fall somewhere between political stunts, and just plain irresponsible for me. Why? Because clearly the government knew where these fugitives were in the lead-up to the round-up, so why not just grab them ASAP? For example, don’t you think they could have caught this guy a couple minutes earlier:

Reginald Dozier, 39, was arrested in Belleville, Ill., at 12:01 a.m. on April 17, the first minute of the operation, for failing to register as a sex offender. Dozier had earlier been convicted of raping a girl younger than 13 and giving her gonorrhea.

I know it doesn’t make for headline news stories, but I’m more interested in seeing a functioning government than Alberto Gonzales at a podium.

Just do you job, Gonzales.

More Than 9,000 Fugitives Caught in a Week - Yahoo! News
Ten years to the day after allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl, a California man was arrested in a roundup of fugitives that law enforcement officials say snared more than 1,100 sex offenders.

The concentrated search for people wanted for federal, state and local crimes “targeted the worst of the worst,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Thursday at a news conference announcing the results of “Operation Falcon II.”

Authorities arrested 9,037 people April 17 to last Sunday in a 27-state dragnet led by the U.S. Marshals Service and timed to coincide with National Victims Rights Week. Among those apprehended were 1,102 people wanted for violent sex crimes or failure to register as sex offenders.

Mr. Eberle, I was just wondering if they reason for a reduction in abortions could have something to do with factors OTHER than the pro-life movement’s insistance on making decisions effecting other women’s uteruses? Could the reason for less abortions have something to do with:

More use of contraception?

Imagine living in a world where people can have a fulfilling sexual life outside of procreation! Welcome to the world preferred by the majority of Americans.

The Loft » Blog Archive » Progress in the Pro-Life Movement

A look at abortion statistics is another reason to see hope. Although a tragic 1.3 million abortions are still occurring each year, the numbers have declined steadily from the early 1990s. As Rod D. Martin notes in America: Choosing Life?, “Vast numbers who were “pro-choice� before the partial-birth abortion debate have come to see the pro-life light, and — for the first time since Roe — a clear majority of America’s women reject the idea of a legal “right� to kill one’s own child.�

So it’s quite possible that the results you reported had absolutely NOTHING to do with the pro-life movement’s actions. So, be sure you understand what influenced the numbers before you draw irrational conclusions for your readers.

Show your readers some respect by giving them a fair and balanced analysis of the news.

Hey Linda Chavez. Quick question for ya: I wonder if the reason no one has been fired for “intelligence failings” is because the real failures in intelligence happened at the White House and in the Secretary of Defense’s office where the CIA’s intelligence was cherry picked in order to build a false case for war?

CIA Cleanup — Linda Chavez — GOPUSA

Although the CIA’s intelligence failings have been well-documented in congressional reports and by the agency’s own inspector general, there have been no consequences. Porter Goss, who left Congress to head the agency in 2005, has made some improvements going forward but has chosen not to make anyone pay for past mistakes or outright transgressions.

Question: What’s wrong with this sentence from Christopher Adamo:

Cancerous Remnants Of The Clinton Era — Christopher G. Adamo — GOPUSA
After presenting a vapid case before numerous grand juries who could find absolutely no fault with Delay, Democrat Prosecutor Ronnie Earl finally landed one that was willing to hand down an indictment for violation of laws that did not exist at the time that Delay was accused of violating them.

Answer: People aren’t indicted for crimes that weren’t crimes when they committed them.

Mr. Adamo, could you try to be a bit more honest in your reporting?

It’s really amazing how crappy the content can be on GOPUSA.com. Who edits this stuff?

Do high pollen counts throw you into sneezing fits? If so, George Bush and Dick Cheney’s energy policies may cause you more and more sneezing fits over the rest of your life, your children’s lives, and many generations to come.:

Soaring Pollen Counts Spur Worst Allergy Season in Years - Yahoo! News
“I looked at the total pollen counts for this season compared to last, and, at this point, we have already reached 80-90 percent of what we saw for the entire season last year,” said Albany, N.Y.-based allergy specialist Dr. David Shulan, a spokesman for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI).

The culprit: a mild, wet winter and early spring, plus unusually warm days.

Uh oh, this could be a problem for conservatives who depend on an overly optimistic American populace in order to push through tax cuts for the rich. If people assume they could one day be rich, they’re more likely to find tax cuts for the richest Americans acceptible, right? But when if they don’t identify with the vision of America as the land of opportunity for all?
America’s rags-to-riches dream an illusion: study - Yahoo! News

America may still think of itself as the land of opportunity, but the chances of living a rags-to-riches life are a lot lower than elsewhere in the world, according to a new study published on Wednesday.

The likelihood that a child born into a poor family will make it into the top five percent is just one percent, according to “Understanding Mobility in America,” a study by economist Tom Hertz from American University.