The Talking Lion

Tricks are something a whore does for money... Or Candy!

2006-04-14T05:35:00.000-04:00

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Anger Level

As you can see I'm like dangerously close to overloading my circuits. So instead of politics, I'm going to list things that make me laugh loudly and/or heroically:

George Michael Bluth
GOB Bluth
Lucille Bluth
Tobias Fünke
Maebe Fünke

and, of course,

Franklin

George Bush doesn't care about black puppets.

WHAT THE FU...

2006-04-13T12:32:00.000-04:00

Honestly, how many conflicts are we trying to instigate?

A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group is moving into the Caribbean this week to start two months of naval exercises. The military is dismissing allegations by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that it is planning an invasion of his country. But analysts say the show of force sends a signal to Chavez and other Latin American leaders about U.S. strength."There's no other symbol of American power like the carrier," said the Southern Command's chief of staff.

Not to be too hysterical but I want to box George Bush around his ears. What the hell...

The Upcoming War...

2006-04-13T06:07:00.000-04:00

How on earth can anyone be in favor of a military action in Iran?

We're already fighting 2 wars.

We cannot afford it; neither in men nor money. We are deep in the blood red.

We cannot win the peace in three countries. We're close to losing it in the first two.

It's clear (or at least, becoming clearer) that Rumsfeld is incompetent. His own men say so.

It's clear (or at least, becoming clearer) that Bush & Co are dangerous liars.

We can't even protect our own citizens on our own soil. From Sept 11th to Katrina.

Not to mention:

The Middle East would light up like forest fire. We're having a hard enough time at this current temperature

And, finally:

Iran is ten years from nuclear power. Diplomatic efforts are nowhere near exhausted.

What the fuck are we doing talking about regime change in Iran?

Motherfucking Yahoo!....

2006-04-13T02:29:00.000-04:00

Man, I was all geared up to write a really indignant and angry post about how yahoo!news doesn't display the huge story about the not-so-biolabs until the Politics section (which is where it was until like 20 seconds ago). And I was going to yell about how this story is so much more than 'politics'. But now I see it is listed on the top of their Top Stories section and all they've left me to yell about how it's not in their Main section (the very top with pictures and captions).

Sigh.

It should be the most important story of the day. This type of lying is impeachable. And as I said in yesterday's post, you'd be hardpressed to convince me that Bush or Cheney or Rove or any of the senior White House staff didn't know about the not-a-weapons-lab-conclusion in the two days between the findings and Bush declaring that "we have found the WMDs."

What yahoo! did leave me to yell about is that their lead story is, instead, about how Iran has decided to expand its uranium enrichment program.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran intends to enrich uranium on a scale hundreds of times larger than its current level, the country's deputy nuclear chief said Wednesday, signaling its resolve to expand a program the international community insists it halt.

Now, this is news. There are no doubts about that. But considering that information that has just surfaced about how we are planning the Iran campaign and how Bush may have lied to the country to justify the last war, I think the biolab story takes immediate precedence. But let's talk about the story anyway:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran for the first time had succeeded on a small scale in enriching uranium, a key step in generating fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all enrichment activity because of suspicions the program's aim is to make weapons.

The story goes on to document how the US and UN aret' to crazy about their plans and detail how Iran has made a little bit of enriched uranium but need more cetrifuges (they have 160 and need at least 50,000 to make fissable material to power a plant or, you know, make a bomb).

Iran, which has made no secret of its plans to ultimately expand enrichment to around 50,000 centrifuges to fuel reactors, is still thought to be years away from a full-scale program.

Still, concerns grew Tuesday when Ahmadinejad announced Iran's enrichment success in a nationally televised ceremony, saying the country's nuclear ambitions are peaceful and warning the West that trying to force Iran to abandon enrichment would "cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians."

OK. Here's my problem with this whole situation. In the wake of the now public plans not only to bomb the shit out of Iran but also to use nuclear weapons (but only tactical nukes lol), how exactly can we blame Iran for wanting to pursue this technology?

In theory, the US can attack Iran tomorrow. It has come out that we are planning to so. Bush has a poor track record at avoiding needless conflicts diplomatically. And, the cherry on top, Bush in all his messianic megalomania wants to make "saving Iran" his "legacy."

So given all of that, exactly what is sales pitch to Iran to stop in its development?

"Hey, listen. Even though, um, we invaded Iraq despite their cooperating with weapons inspectors and their ultimately posing no real threat, stop developing really the only weapon that will deter neocon assholes from declaring war on you."

Somehow, I can't see that being too effective. And of course there is also the status that nuclear technology gives to the countries who have it. This is the true objective, in my humble estimation. There is no way they would launch a first-strike nuclear attack on Israel, because Israel has enough nukes to return the favor ten-fold.

But before the islamofacists-will-kill-us-all arguments are whined, I would like to state for the record I would rather religious fanatics hell bent on destroying other countries did not have nuclear capacity added to their arsenals.

But, I mean, one of them already has a bunch.

UPDATE: Looks like the story is out of the Top Stories category. I think that category might be compiled based on hits. Regardless, insert the indignant anger I mentioned earlier.

When it rains...

2006-04-12T04:24:00.000-04:00

The WaPo has an article on the front page today revealing that the mobile biological weapon labs that were heralded initially as evidence of WMDs uncovered were, in fact, hydrogen producing facilities. And that "even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not [bioweapons laboratories]."

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."
[...]
A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

This revalation of course is not even close to shocking. At this point it is clear what amazing liars of which this adminstration is made. But let's continue:

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.
The authors of the reports were nine U.S. and British civilian experts -- scientists and engineers with extensive experience in all the technical fields involved in making bioweapons -- who were dispatched to Baghdad by the Defense Intelligence Agency for an analysis of the trailers. Their actions and findings were described to a Washington Post reporter in interviews with six government officials and weapons experts who participated in the mission or had direct knowledge of it.

Ok, experts were dispatched by our gov't to investigate the trailers. They said that:

"There was no connection to anything biological," said one expert who studied the trailers. Another recalled an epithet that came to be associated with the trailers: "the biggest sand toilets in the world."

I'm glad we went to war over sand toilets (Weapons of Mass Defecation? Anyone? Anyone? Sigh..). The article goes on to talk about how the team was ignored ("experts arguing for both sides", guess which side won) and how the mobile biolab was used in the media campaign for the war. Back to the investigative team:

The technical team was assembled in Kuwait and then flown to Baghdad to begin their work early on May 25, 2003. By that date, the two trailers had been moved to a military base on the grounds of one of deposed president Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palaces. When members of the technical team arrived, they found the trailers parked in an open lot, covered with camouflage netting.
The technical team went to work under a blistering sun in 110-degree temperatures. Using tools from home, they peered into vats, turned valves, tapped gauges and measured pipes. They reconstructed a flow-path through feed tanks and reactor vessels, past cooling chambers and drain valves, and into discharge tanks and exhaust pipes. They took hundreds of photographs.
By the end of their first day, team members still had differing views about what the trailers were. But they agreed about what the trailers were not.
"Within the first four hours," said one team member, who like the others spoke on the condition he not be named, "it was clear to everyone that these were not biological labs."
News of the team's early impressions leaped across the Atlantic well ahead of the technical report. Over the next two days, a stream of anxious e-mails and phone calls from Washington pressed for details and clarifications.
The reason for the nervousness was soon obvious: In Washington, a CIA analyst had written a draft white paper on the trailers, an official assessment that would also reflect the views of the DIA. The white paper described the trailers as "the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program." It also explicitly rejected an explanation by Iraqi officials, described in a New York Times article a few days earlier, that the trailers might be mobile units for producing hydrogen.
But the technical team's preliminary report, written in a tent in Baghdad and approved by each team member, reached a conclusion opposite from that of the white paper.

The article goes on to explain why they came to the what-was-not conclusion based upon missing components necessary to any significant bio-weapons lab, mobile or not. And it turns out that the most probable explanation for what these trailers are is hydrogen producing facilities for waerther baloons - which is exactly what Iraqi officials said they were before the war.

Now why is this coming out now? I mean, the members of this team knew what these facillities were, and more importantly what they weren't. Why didn't they speak up after any of the administration's countless misrepresentations and flat out lies about the so-called WMD producing labs?

The technical team's preliminary report was transmitted in the early hours of May 27, just before its members began boarding planes to return home. Within 24 hours, the CIA published its white paper, "Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants," on its Web site.
After team members returned to Washington, they began work on a final report. At several points, members were questioned about revising their conclusions, according to sources knowledgeable about the conversations. The questioners generally wanted to know the same thing: Could the report's conclusions be softened, to leave open a possibility that the trailers might have been intended for weapons?
In the end, the final report -- 19 pages plus a 103-page appendix -- remained unequivocal in declaring the trailers unsuitable for weapons production.
"It was very assertive," said one weapons expert familiar with the report's contents.
Then, their mission completed, the team members returned to their jobs and watched as their work appeared to vanish.
"I went home and fully expected that our findings would be publicly stated," one member recalled. "It never happened. And I just had to live with it."

Fuck you, pal. You "live with it" while since your discovery 2000 American soldiers and at least 40,000 Iraqi civillians live no longer.

Like I said, that the adminstration lied to us is no longer even a passing novelty. But this story is some of the first reporting to actually break real lies the admin has knowingly told. And Bush, Cheney and the rest of the White House knowingly lied. You cannot convince me that the findings of the team specifically sent to investigate the trailers (findings which generated such anxiety in Washington) were not communicated to upper management.

So there you have it: Scandal 1045. Let's see if this is the straw that breaks the self-styled autocrat's back.

Goodness...

2006-04-12T04:10:00.000-04:00

Now I'm not one to deal with conspiracy theories. And although I think the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon smelled fishy, I don't think it is because the government did it. I lean toward the belief that the majority of the gross incompetence that occurred has been covered up for obvious reasons.

That being said, I can certainly imagine the Rumsfelds and Wolfowitzs and Chenies talking about allowing al'Qaeda to succeed with their planned attack in order to springboard a radical and aggressive military agenda that their neo-con buddies truly believe is necessary for American (and Israeli) survival and that their business ties could make a pretty penny in the process. (phew, long sentence)

Now, here's a link to a documentary (google video, completely free and streaming) that discusses the many problems with the official story of the attacks of Sept. 11th. I would say that about 45% of this documentary is damning, the rest can be explained away in some fashion. It's that 45% that makes this video worth your attention. Please watch it.

It's got me pretty worked up, I must admit.

Who belongs to that 37%...

2006-04-11T17:01:00.000-04:00

I mean, honestly, why is his approval so high? Are tinfoil caps coming back in a big way?

Luckily for the country most Americans aren't buying his explanation of how he declassified the NIE but he had nothing to do with the leaking of misleading segments thereof or Libby identifying himself as "a former Hill staffer":

Overall, 63% of Americans believe Bush did something either illegal (21%) or unethical (42%), while 28% say he did nothing wrong. While many more Democrats are critical, 3 in 10 Republicans also find that Bush did something illegal or unethical.

The more closely people are following the issue, the more likely they are to say he did something illegal rather than merely unethical.

That's good news. It's jut unfortunate that only "25% of Americans are following the matter "very" closely, while another 39% are following the issue "somewhat" closely."

What I think is the coolest part of this recent White House-committed depravity is that this scandal is an embarrassingly public example that Bush and his cabinet (against the advice of professionals and in this case the very document he supposedly declassified) 'cherry-picked intelligence to justify the war.'

If you are part of the 39% who aren't following this at all, here's a brief summary. In response to Joe Wilson, Cheney's chief of staff, Libby, leaked a portion of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to administration friendly reporter, Judith Miller, among others. The NIE is divided into segments with Key Judgements containing the most important and verified information. Libby leaked a part of the NIE that said that Iraq was seeking to obtain yellow cake from Niger. Libby told Miller that this was a Key Judgment which it was not, and in fact, the NIE cast doubt on the Niger claim.

Not only did he misrepresent the NIE, he added that Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure" uranium; language that is not found in the NIE. So, in order to maintain support for the war, someone authorized or told Libby to selectively leak a misleadingly represented part of a classified document. This is extremely unethical and, depending on the details, criminal (and, for once, the public knows it).

The question then was "was he authorized to leak that classified document, if so by who?" Well, Bush said that he declassified the NIE, but, um, he didn't have anything to do with whatever people are upset about, lol.

Enter Bush's Catch-22 by Anonymous Liberal:

The White House is trying to walk a fine line here. On the one hand, in order to characterize everything as being above board, they are forced to confirm Libby's claim that the President personally authorized the release of information from the NIE, a decision which amounted to de facto "declassification."

On the other hand, they are hoping to distance the President as much as possible from Libby's subsequent actions, i.e., misrepresenting the NIE, asking that the information be attributed to a "former Hill staffer," and outing an undercover CIA agent in the process.

So, after three days, they've settled on their spin: the President authorized discussion of the NIE but left all the details to Cheney and his aides. The problem with this strategy is that Libby was quite specific in his testimony about what he was authorized to say. According to Fitzgerald, Libby testified that he was "specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to Miller."

And as AL points out, that claim is just not in the key judgments.

Because the entire NIE has never been declassified, it very much matters which portions of the document the President claims to have authorized Libby to discuss. Did the President only "declassify" the key judgments section, or did he also "declassify" the portion of the text that Libby misrepresented to Miller? Did Bush or Cheney instruct Libby to describe that section, falsely, as a "key judgment"?

So yeah, from what we know something awful happened and the president and his vice were involved.

I predict that with the heightened criticism and dropping poll numbers,at this rate we will have begun our Iran campaign within the month. U-S-A! U-S-A!

We're not dead...

2006-04-06T16:04:00.000-04:00

Trust me. I will be back. I'm just suffering from hardcore anger fatigue. But that will pass. And as soon as I finish the new design for the site it will be relaunched.

Terminating Civil Liberties...

2006-02-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

My latest column. Not a new discovery, but perhaps an important insight (Pitt News):

I think I have finally figured out President Bush’s favorite movie. Well, this movie might not be his favorite, but it has influenced his policy making at the least. This epiphany emerged after the recent illegal wiretapping scandal, and I feel like an idiot because I should have noticed it earlier. If I hadn’t caught the movie on television, perhaps this insight would be lost forever. The nation should be thankful I spent most of this Saturday on the couch. This movie, of course, is The Terminator. Bear with me.

We all know the movie is about a soldier from the post-apocalyptic future that travels to the present to stop an evil android from killing the mother of the humanity’s only hope. But, I think the president saw this movie and came to the same conclusion that I did this weekend: There are a number of reasons for a giant robot to be chasing you, but it makes a damn good pick-up line.

I mean, this man is telling you that not only is there a giant robot after you, but that copulation with him results in an offspring that saves humanity. I imagine it’s hard to have the requisite resolve to judge who the giant robot is really shooting at after you realize that the thing shooting in your direction is, in fact, a giant robot.

But messianic offspring aside, if you think you’re being saved from a death-dealing automaton by a hot guy, you’re liable to give in to his bedroom eyes, regardless of how silly what he’s saying sounds. The president took this lesson to heart and has crafted his entire administration to be that hot guy.

“Sure,” he says, “I am shooting wildly and throwing homemade explosives behind me as I please, but that’s because there’s a robot after you.” Once you’re convinced that this is truly an android, you tend to listen to the person who tells you he’s from the future. Sure his actions are dangerous — irresponsible at the least — but he must know what he’s doing because you certainly have no relevant training. He needs unregulated wiretapping of his own citizens? It’s illegal, but he says that if he can’t listen the robot will get me. Let him listen, for god’s sake, there’s a giant robot behind us!

This is Bush’s most recent example of legally questionable tactics under the banner of fighting terror, but the subsequent attempt to get into our pants is no longer merely proverbial. You see, Bush is trying to — ahem — relate to America with the formation of a new national secret police force with the power to search American citizens’ pants without a warrant.

The renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act calls for the creation of “a permanent police force, to be known as the ‘United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.’” This new division is empowered to “make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence” and has a nearly limitless jurisdiction.

They also would have the power to make an arrest “if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony.” As you can see, the language is more than slightly troubling; “any offense” and “reasonable grounds” can be broadly defined and easily abused as a result. “Those are just words, baby.” He promises to be gentle.

I draw attention to how ‘easy’ he thinks we are as his remarkably P.R. savvy administration isn’t even going to take the word “secret” out of the official name for our new secret police. “Listen,” he says, “the future of humanity, of freedom, rests on you agreeing. Giant robot.” With our fear he grooms us to heatedly acquiesce to whatever he wants. Apparently we are also turned on by his determination and steadfastness even in the face of obvious mistakes and their predecessors. We have some unresolved issues with our forefathers, and seeking a strong father-figure is only natural.

In this state of robot panic we are unable to see how dangerous and possibly insane this hot guy is. We are unable to ask ourselves a very necessary question: Is this robot worth abandoning our standards? I mean, we’re a pretty sexy country, and we’ve done way better. And unlike Sarah Connor, this robot is no bigger than we faced in the past, knickers intact. To paraphrase a great man, those who would sacrifice a little loving for protection against robots deserve neither and will end up losing both.

To No One...

2006-01-18T10:34:00.000-05:00

Iiiiiiite. I haven't posted a goddamned thing in awhile.

But. I think. that. I will have an inordinate amount of time over the next few months.

So that means the triumphant return of The Talking Lion (and maybe a new banner!).

And I am pretty sure that Pat and Sean have peaced out of this operation, so it will become my personal blog.

So, a new era begins, bitches.

In the meantime here is a column I wrote about how Alito is a scumbag racist. If you read any respectible blogs you will have seen this stuff before but if you want to read me talk about it click here.

In light of this philosophical affirmation of CAP, it boggles my mind that anyone could support this nominee for the Supreme Court, let alone any minority. That any African-American leader supports conservative judges when in our country’s history conservative courts have never done anything for any minority group other than the wealthy is ridiculous.

To be clear, I don’t accuse all conservatives of being racist. However, I do accuse all minority conservatives of being dangerous idiots. Those who are in this deplorable category should ask themselves a simple question: If conservatives advocate and protect racial equality, why do old racists vote Republican?

I wanted to include cite Ross for the last question, but I forgot before I sent it to my editor. So, before the 4 people who read this, Ross came up with the skeleton of this question after to responding to one of my posts. I just changed a few things.

Also, someone tell Ross to start blogging again.

God, it's happening again...

2005-12-17T20:03:00.000-05:00

So yeah, Bush authorized illegal spying on US citizens. But hey, he has good reason:

Bush defended the program as narrowly designed and used "consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution." He said it is employed only to intercept the international communications of people inside the U.S. who have been determined to have "a clear link" to al-Qaida or related terrorist organizations.

Government officials have refused to provide details, including defining the standards used to establish such a link or saying how many people are being monitored.

Remember the last time he said someone was clearly linked to al-Qaida? Anyone? Anyone? Beuler?

Here's a hint. It rhymes with:

If anyone buys this from this administration without ANY PROOF let me know because I owe them a punch in the face. Thanks.

Also,

The president had harsh words for those who revealed the program to the media, saying they acted improperly and illegally. The surveillance was first disclosed in Friday's New York Times.

"As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have," Bush said. "The unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk."

So now he's worried about unathorized disclosure... Asshole.

Joementum...

2005-12-07T04:30:00.000-05:00

"It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more years," the senator said. "We undermine the president's credibility at our nation's peril."
Joe Leiberman (via The Heretik)

Just a quick comment on this type of attack against news outlets and others people reporting and drawing attention to the facts of the war and/or criticizing those in charge.

If something is poorly run and is causing death and chaos without a foreseeable solution, my acknowledgement of this does not make the death and chaos my fault. Reporting on Iraq can hardly ever be positive due to the nature of the facts, and the American people who financed this war and take part in the selection process of our government deserve to know what is going on.

If I do not bring attention to important events just because they reflect poorly on my nation, that does more disservice to said nation than the "loss of credibility".

Thus, bad news is not the fault of the press. Any credibility being lost by the president is his own damn fault for being an incompetent lying shitbag. Not reporting it, not yelling about it after its reported allows it to continue unchecked which our country simply cannot afford.

If I had any confidence that the Bush Administration could turn it around and succeed in Iraq; if I had any delusions that the considerable efforts of those who serve in Iraq could overcome the incompetence of those who lead them; if there was anyway to change leadership in the executive branch tomorrow and a get new start at fixing Iraq, I would whole-heartedly support our continued occupation of Iraq.

We broke it, after all. It should be our responsibility to remake Iraq. But right now all we are doing is fucking it up worse than it was before we arrived (quite the statement considering who was in charge of Iraq before we arrive, but a statement echoed even by the new Iraqi leadership). And because there is no hope of not fucking everything up, the continued loss of American lives and billions upon billions of dollars becomes an exercise in futility.

And I hate the president and his band of assholes for making me make this choice. I want Iraq to be a nation remade to foster freedom and shine as an example of a successful democracy in a region of the world where that just doesn't exist. But there is no way, short of some deus ex machina-esque miracle, that this kind of result is possible given who is in charge.

This will be a sad chapter in American history and may be the first chapter of the end of our global dominance. I hope 2006 can win the D's a legislative body so there can be an official investigation into all the ways everything that the Bush Whitehouse has done has been wrong. I hope that 2008 will feature a D nominee with at least a decent campaign staff so we won't have to suffer 4 more years.

Lots of posting today. It's because I have other things that I don't want to do.

The War on Christmas...

2005-12-07T02:31:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, as is clear to anyone with a discerning mind, there is no war on Christmas. It's bullshit and it's not worth wasting my sore fingers discussing it.

But I saw this rather funny yahoonews story about how a bunch of supergigantochurches are closing their doors on Xmas:

This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day.

OK fine, it's not big deal. It even makes sense if the attendance is going to be low. I mean, why should a godly man waste his breath on a few stragglers with no family or something. It's a waste of the electricity needed to run the mic and slideshow.

All kidding aside, I don't care if these churches have a pagan carnival in their halls, they can do what they want. But I do think it's funny that yahoo included this sentence in the story:

Critics within the evangelical community, more accustomed to doing battle with department stores and public schools over keeping religion in Christmas, are stunned by the shutdown.

I mean, when your own church decides to take the day of days off, it's kind of hard to regain any leverage you had with Macy's.

Also I think that this story is a good example of complete journalism. The fact that Xtians all over the place are whining about discrimination and intentional disrespect from anyone who refuses to tattoo "Jesus Jesus Jesus" on their throat is an important peice of this story that would have been left out as little as 4 months ago. Perhaps this would have gone unreported; I mean, the press has recently been praised for "growing a backbone" but I am slightly more cynical. I would say that the actual facts and developments and events that require reporting are so obviously vile and indicative of everything thats wrong with the current admin that any reporting on this at all would appear as though the major media outlets is taking a stand. But in reality, I think that its just that you can't ignore things like Katrina and secret prisons and climbing death toll and no real achievment in Iraq. And becuase the press couldnt get away with not reporting any of these things, they begrudgingly did. Which took everyone by surprise.

We weren't used to being told the bad things loudly. So we praised them and their refreshing and reasserted journalism. And luckily a few of them took it to heart and began doing it in earnest, but I think any journalist who didn't cover these stories would have been guilty of gross negligence. So, not to give yahoo too much credit, this story is relevant solely because of the O'Rileys and Gibsons and their attentionwhoring ways rousing up simple minded house fraus with nothing better to do but yell at the minum wage secretary manning the phones at Sears.

This is getting a little too unfocused rant-y for my tastes. SO let my rephrase my point succinctly:

It's all good and well to give credit for journalism where it is due. We are quite obviously in a time where elected officials are committing unethical acts so often to the point of absurdity. Asking questions that are tough and revealing in light of all that has happened is easier now. The fact that it'e easier now makes todays important questions less newsworthy.

What I'm saying is I wish journalists would have asked the tough and revealing questions when it was tough. Perhaps we wouldn't be stuck in a shitty Iraq situation, perhaps we wouldn't be stuck with 4 more years of the worst president in our nation's history.

Some brief felating...

2005-12-07T02:30:00.000-05:00

OmglmaoROFFLES!

How great is the Colbert Report. I mean, honestly, I've seen nearly every episode so far (not including tonight's) and have yet to be dissapointed.

I am thoroughly impressed and convinced of its lasting power.

Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert (should the latter keep his game sharp) as fast becoming important political figures in the greater context of our contemporary political history. There will be books written about them.

Too good to resist...

2005-12-07T02:27:00.000-05:00

Narnia Targeted To Christians

The film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the first installment of the Chronicles Of Narnia series, is being marketed strongly to a Christian audience. What do you think?

Marta Osburn,
Travel Agent
"Do they realize this movie is all about people coming out of closets?"

I mean, wow. Talk about the perfect joke about Narnia-related stories.

Well done, sir.

And so it goes...

2005-12-06T06:11:00.000-05:00

Yeah, things have been slow here at the Talking Lion. I'm just drowning in so much of my own personal shit that even when I have time to blog I would rather sulk in a corner somewhere and pretend that I was someone else.

Luckily, my magazine (Left Hook) is coming out this week here in Pittsburgh. It's free. The website is linked to the side there, but the site is still under construction. If anyone wants a copy that doesn't live in Pittsburgh, you can comment below and I'll send you one snail mail style at my earliest convenience.

Reading over it, I will be the first to admit that it could be a better first issue. But I think that taking into account the inexperience of the writers (all freshmen except Pat and myself), there is much slack to be cut. Also, we've already finished the 2nd issue and it's like 50 times better and my replacement (I retire after the next issue) is much better than me. LEFT HOOK 4E!

As my terrible government teacher always said: "The first pancake is always lumpy"

Anyway, here's the last few of my PittNews Columns I haven't linked because I am ajerk:

Brain Surgery and Bush.

I Have a Secret Admirer, Opinions..

Arun's Global Warming Column, He Is Officially Liberal.

So read those, I hope to have another for you to enjoy this week. And who knows, maybe I'll fill you in on some of my opinions in regards to current events... Wouldn't you be lucky?

Oh yeah I wrote a column the other week...

2005-10-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to un-atrophy my blogging muscles. In the meantime you can read my column for the PittNews.. I should have another column this week. Wednesday.

This column, from last week, isn't political. It's my real reaction to watching Entourage.

I fucking love this show. And just about every fella I've talked to that has seen it is of the same opinion. It's Sex and the City, for guys. As in, just as S&tC had everything the ladies wanted in a program, Entourage has just about everything I look for in my television. That and Jeremy Piven is fucking gold.

But yeah, the column doesn't have much to do with Entourage, except that if life in the Entertainment Industry is as glamorous as portrayed within the show, I am fucking moving to LA.

Yeah, so yeah...

2005-10-27T01:16:00.000-04:00

I feel really unoriginal right now, and I need to deal with that, fella.

So in the meantime read this excellent post by Greg Saunders of Talent Show:

This isn't a partisan game and it's not funny. Treating the indictments of government officials like a holiday is pretty childish coming from a left-wing so politically neutered that we have to rely on a grand jury to score political points for us. So wipe that smile off your face. George W. Bush is going to be President for the next three years. The next chance the Democrats have to regain the Senate and the House is more than a year away, but despite every Republican misstep that's happened lately, it's still doubtful that Democrats will be able to get their shit together well enough to swing either body. You want to celebrate? Try winning an election first. Just because your opponent fell doesn't mean you knocked him down.
You say "schadenfreude", I say "fucking embarrassment".

And I would be lying if I said that I don't feel waves of jubilance. But it's more than schadenfreude, it's a sense of relief that parts of the system seem to be working after 5 years of them not. Its nice, I hope it continues until a few old white men are in jail.

Yeah this isn't much of a post. Baby steps, ya'll.

I just said ya'll, wtf.

OMG, MIDTERMS ARE OVER LMAOROFFLES!!!

2005-10-21T16:40:00.000-04:00

Haha! I emerge victorious! I r00l and midterms dr00l.

Anyway, apart from sitting about 5 ft from the future Democratic Senator from PA, Bob Casey, I have a new column for the PittNews. Read it.

The blogsault will return on Monday, have a great mo'fucken weekend!

I don't hate Halloween...

2005-10-20T07:42:00.000-04:00

...But if I may speak for all that cannot, stop dressing up your pets.

Actually strike that. Keep dressing up your cats. Simply because the resulting vengeful glare is when they are at their most human.

...you can almost hear their oaths of retribution...

Yeah, so last midterm today in less than 2 hours. My good buddy Steven Bonko is in town, so I'm bracing myself for all the awesome and irresponsible things we'll do.

(and by that I mean, read ghost stories to eachother, mom)

The Colbert Report...

2005-10-18T06:24:00.000-04:00

If Steve Colbert can maintain the level of awesome that he presented in the debut of The Colbert Report, Jon Stewart's going to get a run for his money.

I mean, I could watch the gravitas-off for hours on end, it was amazing. Well done, Steve.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: 3 papers down, 2 midterms, a paper, a column and a magazine left.

Also, it seems lightning has struck. Welcome back, Pat.

I've decided to return...

2005-10-17T22:32:00.000-04:00

Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living
Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,
Can words or music reach
The stillness, as a Chinese jar still
Moves perpetually in its stillness.
Not the stillness of the violin, while the note lasts,
Not that only, but the co-existence,
Or say that the end precedes the beginning,
And the end and the beginning were always there
Before the beginning and after the end.
And all is always now. Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still. Shrieking voices
Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,
Always assail them. The Word in the desert
Is most attacked by voices of temptation,
The crying shadow in the funeral dance,
The loud lament of the disconsolate chimera...

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

- T.S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

One of the reasons I haven't blogged in a while is that I haven't been satisfied with my ability to represent with language the sudden, spontaneous, intuitive thoughts I have. However, I've decided that I need to write every day in order to get better at it. Frequently I won't write about politics, at least not in the way Arun and Sean write about politics, because quite frankly I hate politics and politicians. Anyway, just announcing my return.

Breaking radio silence...

2005-10-17T01:40:00.000-04:00

Yeah, the first half of The Silenced Lion is over, only one more week until I resume assaulting the internets with my unfiltered opinion.

I break this silence only to mourn the loss of an icon of progressive blogging, Jesse Taylor. He's left Pandagon to do some nonsense about a governor's campaign. I'd rather he stayed to entertain me, but I suppose his life is his own, or something.

Fare thee well, Jesse.

::over and out::krrrk

Fucking midterms...

2005-10-10T02:26:00.000-04:00

Yeah, as you may have noticed the postings have been sporadic at best recently. That's because of stupid midterms. I have a bunch of papers due this week and a bunch of tests the following week. Also, I am trying to finish the first issue of Left Hook Magazine to be published in a couple weeks as well as write a column for the paper every week.

So, I am taking a break from the blog until the smoke clears. I might post, I might not. I will, however, link to my columns so check back here on Wednesday!

The Silenced Lion bids you all a good two weeks (unless lightning strikes and Sean or Pat decide to post). I hope I see you on the other side.

UPDATE: The column I wrote this week was a peice of shit and I told my editor not to publish it. I'm in a slump and its all school's fault. It'll get better.

The funny returns...

2005-10-05T13:06:00.000-04:00

You look glum, friend. You know what'll cheer you up? Reading my latest column for the PittNews. It's swell.

Piling on Delay is the most fun.