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05/24
Category:

Poor Reporting

I read an article on this AM by some guy named Terence Hunt, who's an AP White House correspondent.

This piece of crap article is a perfect example of what drives me nuts about reporters.

White House PR Machine

Hunt was obviously spoon fed a line of crap by some White House press liason, and rather than question any of it, rather than do a little digging to get more sides of the story, he whipped out his laptop and cranked out a story from a White House press release, writing manure like Bush "..

.scheduled a news conference to talk about the unpopular war and the relentless violence." *cough* I bet it was an email or a fax, like an email from The Office of Political Affairs, krove@press.

whitehouse.gov, or something sweet like that. Or, how about this load of steaming crap: "The Democrats backed down because they were unable to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush's veto.

" Really? The Democrats back down because they couldn't send Bush a veto-proof bill?

Grow Balls

Come on, that's not true.

Even if the Dems hadn't passed a veto-proof bill, they still could have passed a bill. Then, it would be on BUSH to pass off on it or whip out his veto pen. It would have been on Bush to fund the troops.

Congress, hundreds of individuals mind you, could have said that they did their job, funded the troops, and then sent the bill to Bush. The Democrats weren't forced to do anything; they CHOSE to back down. Big difference.

The Democrats were afraid to head back to their home districts under a White House PR campaign smearing them for not funding the troops. Too many Democrats in Congress were simply afraid to fight.

Being Right Helps

And it's a fight the Democrats would have won, had they chose to wage it, because the facts are on their side.

The White House has run this war for more than four years with no end in sight, a huge lose of treasury, major loss of life on both the American and Iraqi side, less respect for American leadership around the world, more acts of terrorism worldwide, and NO clear path to anything resembling a victory going forward. It's time for someone else to force a change, time for Congress to do its job.

Political Strategery

I'm sure it was partly a political calculation, with some Dems thinking better opportunities to tie timetables to spending bills are coming down the pike, but it's still a huge disappointment.

Bush is taking advantage of the Democrats' perceived weakness over the Iraq spending bill to spread more half truths about Iran, al Qaeda's plans in Iraq, our brilliant successes in the war, and then to try to tie everything together under the auspices of the glorious War on Terror.
I believe President Bush is playing a political game and making yet another move in that gamet today. He intends to lay the groundwork to be able to skip right through September and October without any drawdown of forces in Iraq, regardless of the direction of the war in Iraq.

He will stress the situation with Iran, doing his best to tie it in with the ongoing war in Iraq. Matter of fact, I think folks better brace themselves for an actual buildup of forces in Iraq and increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Iran. Through tricks of political and military slight of hand, by timing the arrival of replacement troops with the cycling out of tired ones, there will be periods where well over 150,000 US troops will be working "on the ground" in Iraq.

Mark my words, and it sucks to no end.
Tune in this afternoon for more White House spin-doctoring, folks. Bring your barf bag.

A Crawford, Texas man convicted of having sex with his 3-year-old pet goat was released from prison Tuesday after Governor Rick Perry delivered word that President Bush had issued a pardon. Gary Foyle, 52, was convicted late last year of lude acts with a farm animal. Governor Perry said the president was moved by Foyle's story of love and loss.

"The president asked if I liked romantic comedies," Perry said, "and then he told me he once had a pet goat."
As governor, Perry is able to pardon people convicted of crimes under Texas law, but this pardon came direct from Washington. In paperwork filed with the Texas State Department of Corrections, Bush claimed that Foyle did not receive a fair trial, citing "jury tampering" as the official explanation for the pardon, but while tampering becomes the official reason, others believe it may have been something else.

"It's a Crawford thing," Crawford resident Linda Blowsott said. "Folks from 'round here stick together, and life on a ranch is something else, I'll tell you what. To answer your question, yes, it does get lonely out here sometimes.

"
The pardon marks the first of 2007 for the president and only the 113th of his presidency - the stingiest record among the 11 presidents since the end of World War II.
It may also go down as one of strangest presidential pardons in history, ranking with the 1908 pardon of convicted lion-lover Tilly Hollingsbeck by then President Theodore Roosevelt, a lifelong fan of the circus.
"I have to admit," Governor Perry said.

"I don't know very much about goats, but in the greater scheme of things, I don't think this pardon is big news."
Perry might be right. The president is in the midst of not one but three scandals involving his administration, with his top aide Karl Rove implicated in at least one of them.

It is doubtful Bush's latest pardon will receive much scrutiny at all.
"Besides," Perry added, "this story really boils down to love, and there's never enough of that to go around."
*First posted March 27, 2007

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Despite freak storms bringing record rains and cold temps to sections of the East Coast, spring is in the air.

On the campaign trail, romance has flourished. Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, once rivals for the 2008 Republican nomination for president, have stepped out of the closet and into the limelight.

Critics call it a publicity stunt, but people close to the campaigns say it's genuine.
"I'd just gotten back from Baghdad," McCain explains, "where, BTW, things are MUCH, MUCH better than they were before the surge, and the McCain team stops at a Burger King for lunch. I get out, right, to shake some babies and kiss some hands, and who do I see?

-- none other than Rudy. He's chatting up a cashier at the register, so I surprise him, right? I sneak up from behind and shock him in the ribs!

"
McCain says Giuliani whirled around in surprise, but the look in the former mayor's eyes wasn't one of anger or disgust. McCain says he saw love and understanding beneath that balding pate.
"It's just one of those things that happened," McCain said of their meeting at Burger King.

"When it was time to go, we both moved in for a hug-n-shake and one of those safe cheek kisses, but at the last instant, one of us -- I think it was Rudy, but he says it was me -- turned to face forward, and our lips locked. The rest is history."
The Giuliani camp was unavailable for comment, but would-be ex-first lady Donna Hanover, one of the former mayor's former wives, said she was not surprised to hear the news.

"John McCain is an attractive older man," Hanover said. "And Rudy is probably tired of looking for love in all the wrong places."
In other news, President Bush issued an executive order prohibiting use of the words "White House scandal.

"
*First posted on April 17, 2007

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"I just had to check myself," centaur Graythorne Silvershoe said. The half man, half horse remembered a far worse winter a few years ago, one that lasted centuries. "I mean, they were feeding horse meat to their wolf soldiers and I'm half horse.

George Bush invaded Iraq, but the White Queen butchered my cousin for food. I was like, 'Hello!'"
Among satyrs, nixies, pixies, goblins, fairies, trolls and even minotaurs, the president's job approval rating rose in the poll.

Overall, 43 percent of mythical creatures now approve of the job George Bush has done as president. Only among talking beavers did the rating fall substantially, to where it now stands at 15 percent.
"So much talk about Iraq and Afghanistan," said Chester Wigglesbum, "but not a word in months about New Orleans or the levees?

" With another hurricane season on the horizon, Wigglesbum, who works in construction, criticized the federal government's efforts to protect the city from the next big storm. "That city still isn't prepared for another hurricane, and I don't see a whole lot of concern from George Bush. Kanye West was right.

"
Relations between mythical creatures and the White House had been strained since last October when White House Press Secretary Tony Snow referred to Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Congress' only mythical creature, as an "ogre." Kucinich is a goblin.
*Originally posted March 18, 2007

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A new pill developed by the federal government to treat people "interested in politics and public awareness" has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, skipping the human trial phase entirely.

Animal testing showed the new drug, Obliviosa, "greatly decreased the need to know" with surprisingly few side effects. In one study, a group of 12 chimpanzees were given high doses of Obliviosa and then had their food taken away from them. Over the course of a week, only one of the chimps protested, throwing feces at the other chimps, who promptly ate it.

FDA spokesman Dr. Brian Stoot said he hoped doctors would prescribe Obliviosa to all of their patients.
"If there's one thing we know," Dr.

Stoot said, "it's that Obliviosa is safe. We've been pumping it into the water sup -- aren't chimps the cutest things? Except for those pink asses.

"
Record interest and grassroots involvement in the 2006 mid-term elections left millions of Americans obsessed with national politics, but Obliviosa promises to help them refocus on their lives again.
"With so many awesome distractions out there," Dr. Stoot said, "you'd think people wouldn't care about national politics.

At first that's what we thought. But they do. And treating that problem is something this government takes very seriously.

"
Proponents of the new drug warn that one of its side effects, sexual dysfunction, seems to be a problem, but Dr. Stoot says "that is something we just don't talk about, ever. God is watching.

"

05/12
Category:

Hi there. Happy Saturday! Yea!

Yea! Ya know, I'm so friggin' glad it's Saturday. I don't know about you, but I needed this weekend.

Sorry I haven't gotten around to a new cartoon or anything yet today, but check back later. For this week I'm working on getting a few new interviews for Pollyticks, each with something helpful to offer, some tip or bit of advice for would-be cartoonists or bloggers, as well as a couple other things I'm hoping you'll like.
In my day job I fix computers all day long, Monday-Friday.

I put together Pollyticks issues in the mornings before going to work and on the weekends before the gym, but today was one of those days I got started late, and now I'm running behind. Mrs. Steel wants my input for a story she's writing for a Cruise magazine on Hawaiian adventure sports.

I love the irony: a story on Hawaiian adventure sports written on a laptop in Northern California by two homebodies. That's how adventurous the Steel Family is.
Have a great weekend, look through the and on the site if you're a new visitor, and I'll talk to you soon.

05/11
Category:

"President Bush's approval rating has dropped to an all-time low of 28%. Here's my question: Is 28% still technically an approval rating?" --Jay Leno
"It's a beautiful day.

Or, as Al Gore calls it, the last gasp of a dying planet." --David Letterman
"But with months until the primaries, there's only so much dirt you can dig up on these people. We already know that Barack Obama went to a radical madrasa and that Dennis Kucinich's paternal grandfather was the Lorax.

" --Stephen Colbert
"Help is on the way, people -- Dick Cheney in a secret surprise visit. The vice president put on his Sunday best and arrived in Baghdad under cover of darkness. Now I know it appeared to be in the middle of the day, but Cheney, as you know, always brings his own cover of darkness.

It's like Pig-Pen, but instead of dirt, followed by an intangible void." --Jon Stewart Supposedly, this video was banned in Congress yesterday. Robert Greenwald, the director of IRAQ FOR SALE, was invited to testify before Congress by Rep.

Jim Moran on May 10th. Greenwald had prepared four minutes from the documentary to show, but, as the story goes, Republicans insisted this not be shown. I'm not sure how they could have stopped it from being shown since they don't hold a voting majority on any Congressional committees, but at any rate that's the story making the rounds on sites like digg.

com and YouTube.
The clip blew me away. Unless you assume that every one of the interviews is bullsh*t, it stands to reason that a huge amount of money is being wasted in Iraq, and a lot of it is enriching big corporations to the detriment of U.

S. soldiers who could and probably should in some of these cases be doing the jobs contractors are being overpaid for doing. Hiring a civilian contractor to check people in on a sign-in sheet to use computers for e-mail?

Is that really something that only a civilian making tens of thousands of dollars/year is qualified to do? I imagine the contractor's employer has some justification for it - "You see, all our employees are screened for penmenship, good eyesight and integrity on the job."
What I'd REALLY like to know is if and how the big corporations that are profiting off the war are influencing policy decisions in Washington.

Is there direct influence? Like are executives from these companies meeting with people in the government to ask them to buy another shipment of these fancy new grenades or these new waterproof socks or bulletproof watches or whatever? Are they trying to influence the decisions of our leaders?

Does everyone like Michael Moore? That's an easy one to answer. No, the right wing hates him.

They really started hating him a few years ago after the release of his anti-Bush film Fahrenheit 9/11. I refer to it as a film and not a documentary to respect the opinions of the Moore-haters, and because I don't think Moore himself would mind.
Sicko, Moore's upcoming film about the healthcare industry in America, already has armies of critics and fans.

No one has seen it yet, but that's a minor detail. Everyone knows what to expect. In February, Moore took about 10 ailing workers from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan for treatment in Cuba.

For that, Michael Moore is under civil investigation by the Treasury Department for not filing the appropriate paperwork beforehand. Cuba is an enemy of the state, dontcha know.
Moore's people haven't yet responded to the allegation, which they received by letter from the Department earlier this week.

Why do conservatives hate Michael Moore? One reason, really: he's liberal. But the official answer is that they believe Moore, as many allege of the Bush White House, "massages the intelligence" in his films, again, particularly the anti-Bush one, because before that film most people loved the hell out of Michael Moore, even though conservatives would deny it.

Ironically, many conservatives have never seen Fahrenheit 9/11, but no matter. They hate IT and hate HIM just the same, thank you very much. Even more ironic is the fact that most liberals idolize Michael Moore, even though many of them haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11 either, but I digress.

Having read a summary of Sicko, it's safe to say the film skewers the healthcare industry and the special interests that shield and protect their huge profits. Incidentally, the healthcare industry tops the list in terms of dollars spent on lobbying Washington. More than $1 billion was spent in 2005 by pharmaceutical companies lobbying legislators and the White House to protect drug company business interests.

In this case it means fancy lunches, presentations at luxurious resorts, carefully disguised kick-backs to Congressmen, Senators and government employees to gain either legislative support or some other kind of support. Same thing a vendor does to woo a prospective client, except the client is the government and the people we've elected to look out for our best interests.
No matter what the critics say about Sicko when it opens in theaters later this year, people have already taken sides on Michael Moore.

It'll be interesting to learn whether or not the Treasury Department has too.

05/10
Category:

"Queen Elizabeth met with President Bush over the weekend. I thought this was nice of President Bush.

...

He took the time to learn a little bit of English so he could speak with her." --Jay Leno
"The Washington Post reports that Senator Hillary Clinton is trying to win the Democratic nomination by reaching out to women. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, 'Oh sure, when she does it, it's okay.

'" --Conan O'Brien
"Speaking of elections, last week Republicans held their first presidential debate. ..

. All the big candidates were there. McCain, Romney, Giuliani, Brownback, Huckabee .

.. and five other candidates who demonstrated the Republican Party's diversity.

All the colors of the rainbow from eggshell to ivory." --Stephen Colbert
"How many of you watched the Republican debate last week? .

.. There were ten candidates.

Ten. You know what you call that many Republicans in one room? A board meeting.

" --Jay Leno According to , hedge funds are group investments that are not as tightly regulated as traditional mutual funds. Sound ominous? But wait, there's more.

Multimillionaire Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards actually worked for one of these -- the bastard! How dare he! That two-faced hypocrite worked for a hedge fund!

Oh, the humanity!
Hedge funds -- and doesn't the name sound ominous and suspect, too? Hedge fund?

Not like a retirement fund, or an emergency fund, but a shady hedge fund.
Hume's daily attack on Democrats today targeted Edwards for admitting to work for one of these shady, sneaky, unpredictable hedge funds to learn how financial markets relate to poverty. "It was primarily to learn," Edwards said, "but making money was a good thing, too.

"
Did John Edwards say or do something wrong? Because clearly Brit Hume thinks so and is implying it in his commentary. What did Edwards do wrong?

Hume doesn't tell us what kind of work the Fortress Investment Group that Edwards says he worked for does. He doesn't tell us the kinds of people who invest in the fund. If there's something improper about Fortress Investment Group, then I'd like to see the kind of people who own that fund.

God forbid any are good upstanding Republicans.
Hume also hasn't shown if Edwards has been something other than truthful. He implies it, but he doesn't know, does he?

These days, it seems like all it takes to smear someone is the implication of impropriety. Whatever happened to reason? Paul Wolfowitz was not only accused of helping his girlfriend get a pay raise and a better job where he works at the World Bank, he was CONCLUDED to have acted improperly by his employer.

Edwards is being tried and found guilty by Brit Hume, and people like him, who don't have all the facts, don't care about the facts in this case, don't know John Edwards from dirt, and ultimately don't like or trust him simply because he's a Democrat.
Whatever happened to reason?

05/09
Category:

"My favorite part of the debate was when Chris Matthews asked, 'Who does not believe in evolution?

' And Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo all raised their paw. ..

. They said they do not believe in evolution. Then they said the biggest threat to America is religious radicals living in the Dark Ages.

" --Jay Leno
"This is the week that Congress sent the president a bill to bring the troops home, which, of course, as he promised he would do, vetoed it. The president said setting a deadline for withdrawal was setting a date for failure. And we all know, this is a president who likes his failures unplanned and spur-of-the-moment.

" --Bill Maher
"Because of Barack Obama's immense popularity, he has already been given Secret Service protection. ..

. Poor Joe Biden. Did you see what he got?

A can of a mace and a pen knife." --Jay Leno
"Time Magazine released its list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World.' President Bush is not on the list.

However, supermodel Kate Moss is.