choice words of Rummy

I love the BBC. And, wow...I know the whole Orwell thing might be cliché....but, seriously! This is the fucking *definition* of "doublespeak" in every way.

check it:


Rumsfeld in his own words

Following a poor Republican result in the US mid-term elections, US President George W Bush has announced that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is to step down.
Mr Rumsfeld, one of the longest-serving defence secretaries, is known for his rhetoric. Here are a selection of quotes from his six years under George W Bush.
DECEMBER 2004
As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.
2004
It seems to me that it's up to all of us to try to tell the truth, to say what we know, to say what we don't know, and recognise that we're dealing with people that are perfectly willing to, to lie to the world to attempt to further their case and to the extent people lie of, ultimately they are caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take very long for that to happen dealing with people like this.
MARCH 2003
We know where they [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.
FEBRUARY 2003
And it is not knowable if force will be used [in Iraq], but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.
OCTOBER 2002
[Osama Bin Laden is] either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
SEPTEMBER 2002
No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
FEBRUARY 2002
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.
MAY 2001
Once in a while, I'm standing here, doing something. And I think: 'What in the world am I doing here?' It's a big surprise.

Maureen Dowd gets to interview her heartthrobs

If you can read one thing outta Rolling Stone magazine these days, please check out the Colbert/Stewart interview, brilliantly put together by Miss Dynamite Dowd. My FAVE..........my heroine.

Stewart comes across as kind of a jerk. A lovable jerk, that is. He has a bit about how he thinks Bush is *NOT* dumb...just "fiercely competitive, uncurious about the world and self-absorbed," apparently. It's kind of strange, but you can see what he means.

Colbert is as *real* and complex as you'd hope. (Dude had 11 siblings growing up and lost two of his bros and his father when he was 10.) Reading about his encounter with O'Reilly was a fuckin' *trip.* (Colbert actually admires the guy, in a way...)

My favorite bit, Colbert quotes one of his writers on the subject of the comedian's historic appearance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner : [to Colbert] "You threw a bottle of grape soda that happened to have a lit rag in the neck, and the the room was soaked with gasoline."

Word.

And after Dowd wrote how the two set up each other's punchlines, finish each other's sentences and generally seem to share a brain...she asks them, "But wouldn't, say, a President Obama be harder to make fun of than these guys [Cheney, Bush, et. al.]?"

STEWART: Are you kidding?
Colbert and Stewart in unison: "His dad was a goat-herder!"

"'Do they actually come from fucking Mars?'"

(this is for Elizabeth)

Noel Gallagher was simply *made* to be the king of snide, rock'n'roll sound bites (aka rock journalism's wet dream).

The latest, makes me think of both Neil Young and Bob Dylan, but of course, Noel does it his way...from NME:

Noel Gallagher - 'The fantasy's gone out of making music'
The Oasis guitarist believes 'kids have it too good'

Oasis mainman Noel Gallagher says the "fantasy" has gone out of making music - because of advances in technology.

Speaking exclusively in this week's NME, the star bemoans the iPod and DVD generation because of their insistence on wanting more and more information about how records are made.

He said: "This generation of kids just rely on the technology - that's what they want. These days you can see fucking Johnny Borrell in his pants going through the bass parts, and that just strips away the magic for me."

He added: "Everyone just wants more and more information. All the fantasy's gone out of music, 'cos everything is too fucking real. Every album comes with a DVD with some cunt going, 'Yeah well, we tried the drums over there, but...' Give a shit, man! It makes people seem too human, whereas I was brought up on Marc Bolan and David Bowie, and it was like, 'Do they actually come from fucking Mars?'"

triste, but there is hope

Watching Charlie Rose...Main story is Kerry's "botched joke." Charlie is interviewing DNC Chair, Howard Dean and my eyes just started to get wet.

I was totally a Dean zealot for months when he was actually a presidential hopeful. I thought he was one of the most brilliant, well-spoken, and good humored politician I had ever known.

Then the most re-dick thing ever happened. You know, he got "too excited" and his voice sounded "scary" and "shrill" and everyone turned on him and it was crushing.

And then we lost the election.

And you know the rest.

Seeing him with Mr. Rose tonight just made me feel that crushed feeling in my stomach again, but Mr. Dean's rosy cheeks and quirky/stiff smile were beaming...optimistic. I felt better...

Second half of Charlie Rose: David Kuo interview. What a sweet, mild, articulate man. (the poor guy has a brain tumor, Charlie brings it up right away) He grew up thinking that main purpose of politics was to "serve the poor" (his political ideal was Bobby Kennedy) ...but he knocked up a chick in college, she had an abortion and he ended up working for the Religious Right.

[shudder]

When he first met Dubya, they spent hours talking about "economic, racial and social justice."

Wow. Yep. Kuo was inspired and thought that Bush's faith and politics were truly "compassionate."

But then he sees Bush, up close, as "deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives" and sees him do nothing.

So, he writes this book, "Tempting Faith," simply one of the most fascinating pieces of evidence to show those masses of religious and Bush-supporting folks (yes. I just wrote folks.)and ask them what they think Bush has done for them.

I think it's the biggest no-brainer of all time. (Yep, he *used* that whole compassionate conservative bullshit to get elected, cuz he knew how he could play the peeps)BUT, I still think Kuo is brave and it really has a chance to help the DFL for the mid-term elections.

Just more of that hope thing....