When the levy breaks
This should help the White House, FEMA and Michael Brown restore their reputation to the lofty heights they deserve - Spike Lee has made a four-hour documentary on Hurricane Katrina. I can't imagine it will be anything but complimentary and understanding of the difficulties faced by White House in leading the response to the crisis. Bush will be wishing he'd used Michael Moore's 9/11 film as a campaign ad by the time this movie is over.

And they wonder why we call them "wingnuts"
Uniform fetishist "Grim" on the Virtues of Killing Children

Tortured logic? check
Complete lack of self-doubt? check
Morally indefensible position? check
Tough guy warrior posing? check
Utter conviction that end justifies means? check
Condescesion to any who disagree? check
Strawman arguement? check

Conclusion: If it walks like a brownshirt and talks like a brownshirt, it doesn't much matter if there is copy of Mien Kampf on the bedside table or not.



Late hat tip to "a somewhat popular blogger" for having the stomach to read the wingnuts regularly and bring back the gems among the horseshit

"Don't mention the war"
The best similie I've heard today about this: Imagine you are a rich white man living in South Central L.A. or Harlem and every year on the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclaimation you dress in a Confederate Army uniform, go out on your porch with a megaphone and spend an hour singing "Dixie" and yelling "Nigger, nigger, nigger." Then you spend the rest of year complaining to your wife and family that the neigbours don't like you and you just can't understand why.

The sky is falling! The sky is fal....oh, uh, hang on a minute
Apparently we weren't is such imminent danger of having it rain 747 debris all over the North Atlantic as was previously suggested by the Chicken Little Brigade, I mean Homeland Security Agency.

U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests
British wanted to continue surveillance on terror suspects, official says

• Disagreement over terror arrestsAug. 12: U.S. and British authorities disagreed on when to break up an alleged plot to blow up airliners bound for the United States, officials say. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.

By Aram Roston, Lisa Myers, and the NBC News Investigative Unit
NBC News

LONDON - NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.
A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.
In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

Yes, better safe than sorry, but at what stage will we be forced to fly fully sedated in paper hospital gowns and full four-point restraints? I like my mom's suggestion that they just roll all the passengers through a full MRI before boarding. Sure it might cost a few extra grand to fly to your cousin's wedding in Des Moines, but can we really put a price on safety?