Friday, July 04, 2008

Jesse Helms is Dead

I've never wished the man ill, just that he'd shut up and go away, which he finally did a few years ago. I don't think he's going to get the beatification that St. Ronnie got a few years ago, but it will be interesting to see how much whitewashing the unrepentent racist, homophobic, xenophobic bastard gets from the local press over the next couple of weeks.


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posted by Tony Plutonium @ 11:29 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Too Much Information

So the News and Observer won and got access to the Eve Carson autopsy. Is that information that we really needed? While I won't argue the public's right to know, I do question in this case our need to know. Acknowledgement that she was shot by two different weapons as reported by a tipster is probably all that needed to be said. Yeah, I know I could have chosen not to read it but in this case I think the N&O should have chosen not to write it - or at least to write it differently. Whatever justification they come up with (and they'll undoubtedly feel the need to justify it since they're already coming under heat), the bottom line was in fact the bottom line - this was something that they felt (probably rightly) would sell papers. I'm sure it did. But I'd much rather have Page 3 girls if they want to appeal to prurient interests - much more pleasant than autopsy reports of murdered college girls or dead NASCAR heroes.

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posted by Tony Plutonium @ 10:53 PM 2 comments

Vote for Me!

So are the McSame-loving mediots that are after Wes Clark's hide saying that getting your ass shot down in Vietnam DOES qualify you to be President? Does that imply that if I get sideswiped while riding the Suzuki, I'm qualified to be a county commissioner? I don't see the correlation.

I hate to think that I have to explain this, but maybe if enough of us do...

No one's patriotism was being questioned. No one's honor was being questioned. What was being questioned was the narrative that the McSame campaign (and the suck-up mediots in DC) has been playing - that somehow John McCain has EXPERIENCE that Obama lacks. Clark's point (which I actually think he made pretty succinctly) is that neither McCain's military experience (pilot and prisoner of war) nor his political experience (Senator) give him any real experience as an administrator. He's not saying that Obama has MORE of course, just that McCain really has no more APPLICABLE experience that Obama. (This same narrative of course is why we've been much more likely to elect governors to the Presidency than senators the last few cycles.)

Of course maybe what Clark is REALLY saying is that HIS military experience does qualify HIM to be President. And I'd have a hard time arguing with him.

Is that clear now?

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posted by Tony Plutonium @ 10:39 PM 0 comments

IraK

Not only has my blogging been sparse, my blog reading has as well. I'm sorry to admit that after getting a verification from my high school bud Special K that in fact he was NOT in London, broke and asking for money (someone stole his email account and spammed his distribution list), I hadn't gotten around to reading his blog in a few weeks. So imagine my surprise after his comment in the preceding post to find that the sucker's been working in Iraq the past 2+ weeks!! Holy crap!

Mr. K and I may be polar opposites in terms of politics, but that should never get in the way of friendship and I admire the hell out of his fortitude in taking on this assignment. Dude, keep your head and your ass covered and get on home safe! And the rest of you - go read his Iraq posts. Now.

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posted by Tony Plutonium @ 10:30 PM 0 comments

Who's April?

Via Ed Cone, Atrios and others - this is the funniest thing I've seen in many a moon. I thought JennySlash was going to do herself an injury. I don't know who April is, but I'm glad she was born!


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posted by Tony Plutonium @ 5:51 AM 1 comments