Operation: Hey - Look Over There!

Is it just me, or is the right wing getting even more bat-shit crazy than usual lately?

First you've got Michelle Malkin, whom reading is generally like taking a bath in a bucket of bile putting up the home phone numbers of some anti-war demonstrators, and then refusing to take them down after these people have received death threats.

There is a good reason that using the power of mass media to expose individual citizens' private lives to abuse and threats is considered unethical: It represents unchecked and abusive power. No one interested in holding the public trust should either want or seek it.

Yet this, of course, is exactly what Malkin did this week in publishing, on her blog, the home phone numbers of three students who led anti-military protests on the campus of UC-Santa Cruz.

Predictably, the students were deluged with hate mail and phone calls, including a number of death threats.

Malkin not only refused to take the numbers down -- in response, she reverted to her timeworn victimization schtick, posting some of the nasty e-mails she received in return and pretending there was nothing wrong or unethical in her behavior.

We're all too familiar with this routine. After all, it's what the entirety of her book Unhinged was predicated upon. Malkin, as I said then, is like the lunatic who walks around the public square and pokes people in the eye with a sharp stick, and then is shocked, shocked, that anyone would respond with anger and outrage.

Yeah, it's a trick that Louis Farrakhan has elevated to an art form, only Farrakhan is better at it than Malkin. I do wonder however, since free speach does not extend to threatening someone life - and can sometimes corral the involvement of the FBI, is Malkin potentially criminally liable as an knowing aidder and abetter to those who would commit this crime? Just of the top of my head, I'd say - HELL YES.

Next we have Michael Savage who had a bit of blue moment recently.

On April 17, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage called for "kill(ing) 100 million" Muslims and referred to the woman who alleged she was raped by members of Duke University's lacrosse team as a "drunken slut stripping whore."

On his radio show, Savage told listeners that "intelligent people, wealthy people ... are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' " Savage continued: "I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'd be 900 million of them.' I mean ... would you rather us die than them?" Savage added: "Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you're going to have to make that choice sooner rather than later."

Savage also referred to the alleged Duke rape victim as "a drunken slut stripping whore accusing men of raping her when there is absolutely no evidence of such a rape other than what comes out of that filthy mouth of hers." He later asked: "What kind of system do we have that anyone can scream rape and not have to show her face?" adding, "This is all the product of the out-of-control lesbian feminist movement." Echoing previous comments he has made about the alleged rape victim, Savage said, "The Durham dirt-bag case disgusts me to my core."

I admit I haven't been rapt by the Duke rape case, but I will point out that nobody has alledged that the Duke victim was "Drunk" or for that matter a "Slut". But even if she was -- even Drunken Sluts Strippers get to say "STOP"! What this has to do with feminism is mystery to me. No, instead it has to do with male machismo run amok, with more than a extra dash of rich white-kids gone wild!

I have to say that even though I've long considered right-wing radio and the blog counterparts among the 101 Fighting Keyboardists to be a total cess-poll - even I'm taken aback.

Especially when you can hear some of the same anti-feminist, men-have-no-responsibility-for-their-own-actions BS coming from the Washington Post.

Third we have Bill Bennet, who says we shouldn't have handed out Pulitzers to Joe Risen and others for their stories exposing the Secret Detention Centers and Illegal NSA Wiretap program - we should have handed out indictments for Treason instead. He claims that now that the evildoers know or "playbook" our efforts at anti-terrorism are hampered. Never mind the fact that our biggest problem isn't that the terrorist may now have confirmation of what the mini-series "Sleeper Cell" assumed as a given -- we've got a boob like Michael F-Ing Chertoff calling the plays. Let's take a little trip through Bennet World Fantasy Theater (Courtesy of Bill in Portland Main)

Bennett World Fantasy Theatre:

[Rrrring!!]

Terrorist 1: Hey-lo??

Terrorist 2: Hey, it's me! I thought we'd talk about our next bombing target against the American pigdogs!

Terrorist 1: Great! I have the secret plans right here.

Terrorist 2: So...what are we going to blow up today?

Terrorist 1: I thought we would... [Click] Hey, did you hear that?

Terrorist 2: I think so.

Terrorist 1: Do you think the Americans are monitoring our calls?

Terrorist 2: Ha ha, no! You're crazy! Wouldn't we have read about such a surveillance program in a major American newspaper? We are perfectly safe on this landline. Now, about our secret attack...

[Ding Dong!] [Ding Dong!]

Terrorist 1: Hang on, someone's at the door.

Terrorist 2: Someone's at my door, too! Aeiiiiiii!!! American pigdog Michael Chertoff!! How did you know of our location?

Michael Chertoff [in white hat, chaps and spurs; pokes finger in terrorist's chest]: Because, you terrorist scum, we have a little thing called the NSA. We've been monitoring your phone lines for days. It's a...a little secret of ours. And now, I think you and your terrorist friend on the other end `o the line are gonna spend the rest of your days in...

Terrorist 1: Don't say it...!

Chertoff: The POKEY. Book `im, Danno.

Terrorist 2: Damn you, George Bush and your secret eavesdropping program that we knew nothing about until just now! Damn you!!

Join us next time for another episode of...Bennett World Fantasy Theatre!

Maybe they just can't take the pressure now that 5 more Retired Generals have joined General Zinni in a chorus calling for the firing of Don Rumsfeld. 3 of whom have direct command experience under Rumsfeld in Iraq - and should know what they're talking about.

Meanwhile we have the not-so-musical chairs games behind played at the White House. Andy Card is out. Josh Bolten is In. Scott McClennan is out. Karl Rove is being dedicated toward the 06 Elections (look out for some massive dirty-tricks this November) ... they've shifted around some Deck Chairs on the Titanic- some of the Rats are getting life-preservers, but Rummy isn't going anywhere. Sure Brownie is gone, but Chertoff isn't gonna budge.

We continue to stare into the abyss of three more years of George Bush, and that abyss beginning to stare back at us.

A Crisis Almost Without Equal

Republicans and Democrats alike are starting to face the prospect of what it means to have George W. Bush as their commander in chief for another 33 months -- in a time of war, terrorism, and nuclear intrigue. How can the press contribute to confronting the crisis? First: recognize it exists. Thomas Friedman started to do that today.

By Greg Mitchell

(April 19, 2006) -- No matter which party they generally favor or political stripes they wear, newspapers and other media outlets need to confront the fact that America faces a crisis without equal in recent decades.

Our president, in a time of war, terrorism and nuclear intrigue, will likely remain in office for another 33 months, with crushingly low approval ratings that are still inching lower. Facing a similar problem, voters had a chance to quickly toss Jimmy Carter out of office, and did so. With a similar lengthy period left on his White House lease, Richard Nixon quit, facing impeachment. Neither outcome is at hand this time.

The alarm should be bi-partisan. Many Republicans fear their president's image as a bumbler will hurt their party for years. The rest may fret about the almost certain paralysis within the administration, or a reversal of certain favorite policies. A Gallup poll this week revealed that 44% of Republicans want some or all troops brought home from Iraq. Do they really.

....... “I look at the Bush national security officials much the way I look at drunken drivers. I just want to take away their foreign policy driver's licenses for the next three years. Sorry, boys and girls, you have to stay home now -- or take a taxi. ... You will not be driving alone. Not with my car.”

The problem -- the crisis -- is that Bush and Co. likely WILL be driving the “car” for 33 more months.

So, while Bennet, Malkin and Savage continue to scream THEATER in the midst of raging Bonfire of Failures and bad policy by the right -- the Bush Administration churns on... and on... and on. Oblivious and Imperious.

And to cap things off we have this months Rolling Stone Cover Article - Worst. President. Ever.

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

I don't think it's a question - I think it' s a SLAM DUNK.

Now, though, George W. Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Among those who called Bush a success, many gave the president high marks only for his ability to mobilize public support and get Congress to go along with what one historian called the administration's "pursuit of disastrous policies." In fact, roughly one in ten of those who called Bush a success was being facetious, rating him only as the best president since Bill Clinton -- a category in which Bush is the only contestant.

The only contest he could win - is one where he only competes with himself. Classic.

Vyan