November 1, 2005 by s.z.

Happy (Almost Late) Birthday, Chris V. Chris, Bill S. is working up a song tribute to your favorite wingnut, but he's finding it more taxing that expected.  So, for now, here's Mr. Horowitz himself with an exciting offer: The sordid story of the lies and subversions with which a rogue CIA agent named Valerie Plame and her leftwing husband former ambassador to Saddam Joe Wilson attempted to derail America's efforts to overthrow a tyrant and establish a democracy in Iraq is still unfolding. To provide journalists and citizens with a ready archive of sources we have created a new section of DiscoverTheNetworks on Niger-gate. We are in the process of building the archive and welcome submissions, links to articles on the subject, etc. I thought Davy's conspiracy involved the whole CIA turning rogue (and working with France and Saddam against America and George Bush), so if Plame was a rogue CIA agent, wouldn't that mean that she was working against the CIA and for America and Bush? But in any case, I appreciate Mr. Horowitz's invitiation to send him submissions and links about Mata Hari Plame and her husband, the international archvillain Joe Wilson.  I plan to write a piece for Davy that will feature reptilian aliens, the lost continent of Atlantis framing Scooter for perjury and obstruction, Hillary Clinton murdering Christian babies to use their blood in her unholy Christmas ceremonies, Prince Charles visiting New York in order to smuggle in drugs, and Joe Wilson kidnapping the Runaway Bride and programming her to kill Geraldo Rivera when shown the queen of spades. Oh, here's the real link to Davy's Niger-gate page -- from it we learn that: “Niger-gate” centers around I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby And it seems that Dick and Karl aren't involved at all -- it's really all about Joe Wilson. Oh, and instead of a photo of Davy, here's one of Dick Cheney, courtesy of the Weekly World News. 11:49:57 PM

Cheney Picks Chalabi as His New Security Advisor Well, close enough.  As Knight-Ridder puts it, "Cheney's new security adviser linked to bogus information on Iraq": Vice President Dick Cheney replaced I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby as his national security adviser on Monday with an aide identified by a former Iraqi exile group as the White House official to whom it fed information on Iraq that turned out to be erroneous. The Bush administration relied on some of the information from the Iraqi National Congress to argue that Saddam Hussein had to be ousted before he could give banned biological or chemical weapons to al-Qaida for strikes on the United States. But no such weapons were discovered after the March 2003 invasion, and U.S. intelligence agencies and the independent commission on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks found no evidence of operational cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaida. The White House announced on Monday the elevation of John Hannah to replace Libby as Cheney's national security adviser. Earlier in the day it announced that Libby would be arraigned Thursday in federal court on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice. He was expected to plead innocent. Hannah, who reportedly hated the CIA for disputing those Iraqi National Congress claims and for thinking they were better than him, and who was widely rumored to have been involved in the "discredit Joe Wilson" plot, has not been indicted for anything (so far), and so makes a fine replacement for Scooter.  Obviously, Hannah's ability to get Cheney the kind of information he wanted, regardless of whether or not it was true, will stand in him in good stead in his new role. Taking Scooter's place as Cheney's chief of staff is David S. Addington, who was Cheney's legal counsel.  He also has great credentials. Like Hannah, Addington has played a quiet, though influential, role in the vice president's office. The Washington director of Human Rights Watch accused Addington of helping draft policies that led to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm sure he'll work out just fine too . . . 4:13:54 PM

If James Dobson Supports Him, Then I Have to Be Against Him WorldNetDaily has an informative piece which includes quotes from a dozen or so religious wingnuts who express enthusiasm for Judge Alito.  Here are my favorites:   Catholic League president William Donohue said Bush's choice of Alito has united people of different faith traditions on the right. "Nothing brings people of faith together more than the culture wars, and that is why traditional Catholics, evangelical Protestants and Orthodox Jews are already coming together in support of Samuel Alito," he said. Of course, Donohue is only making common cause with the Orthodox Jews, not the secular Jews who run Hollywood, hate Catholicism, and like anal sex and abortions.  Donohue said that "unlike those who would erect an impenetrable wall between church and state, Alito is not hostile to every religious symbol that sits on government property. Nor does he share the enthusiasm that church-state fanatics have for censoring the rights of Christian students in the public schools."   Hey, if Alito will let Christian students return to the days of having public Christian prayers in public schools, then I can see why the Jews would support him. Brad Dacus, president of Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute, [...] said he was encouraged by several of Alito's court opinions, including a dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which struck down a Pennsylvania law requiring spousal notification prior to abortion. Yeah, I thought that at least one of them would find that appealing. Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy, said the nomination is "a great step forward toward returning us back to a nation of laws and not of men." Crampton said members of his group appeared before Alito in the case of Saxe v. State College Area School District.  "Judge Alito struck as facially unconstitutional an anti-harassment policy the school had adopted," he recalled. "Under the policy, a homosexual who merely felt uncomfortable hearing the gospel could have a fellow Christian student disciplined. Judge Alito authored the majority opinion, and did not hesitate to rule against the prevailing orthodoxy of the school and the community." Well, that sounds encouraging!  I guess with Alito sitting in the Supreme Court, gay teens all over the country will get to hear from their fellow Christian students that they are vile sinners who are going to hell. Oh, and for fun, count the number of speakers who claim that Alito is "a judge in the mold of Scalia and Thomas."  I guess this one of the new GOP talking points.  (But remember, using the nickname "Scalito" is racist.) 3:55:39 PM

Blame it On Jane Fonda Brian "South Park Conservatives" Anderson has a new piece in the latest City Journal: "Conservatives in Hollywood?!"  It basically recaps some ideas you've heard several times before: that movie attendance is slumping this year because film makers made fun of George Bush; that movies like Spiderman 2, Cast Away, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy were hits simply because of their conservative values; and that there is hope for the future, because plucky young conservative film makers are poised to take over Hollywood and return us to the Golden Age of the Hayes Code by giving us movies like, um, Michael Moore is Really, Really Fat and Scooby-Doo IV: They Would Have Gotten Away With It Too, If It Hadn't Been for Those Meddling Young Republican Evangelicals. But my favorite part of the piece was this bit: Having the right artistic vision can mean other social advantages, too. “Making something commercially successful and appealing to a broad public, like The Incredibles, is less likely to get a Rebecca Romijn look-alike to sleep with you than making dark, hard-hitting, critically acclaimed material like Million Dollar Baby,” says longtime Hollywood watcher Medved. I guess that explains why Rebecca Romijin slept with edgy, dark, socialist John Stamos instead of equally hunky Medved.  Maybe somebody should make a movie exposing this horrible injustice. 3:02:41 PM