Okay, this photo has been making the rounds of the Net; I spotted it at BB: Now, all of the news items I’ve seen (and oddly, though it’s an AP photo, it’s kind of hard to find) are from “blue-stater” sites, so they’re all trumpeting how the loveable old battle-hardened codgers were sitting on their hands and not clapping for the Prez while he blathered on repeating the 9-1-1 mantra (did you know that September 11th was the opening salvo in our war on terrorism? I did not know that). Anyway, the gentleman in the photo is identified as Bill…

CBS News | Bush To Rally Iraq Support | August 22, 2005?11:00:05 My lucky family in Salt Lake will have the dubious pleasure of a Presidential visit there; meanwhile the anti-war activists on the Cindy Sheehan bandwagon couldn’t even get an ad on one local TV station, because it was deemed likely to be “offensive to the community.” No, really it’s likely to be “offensive to the conservative power base most likely to support Bush while his ratings take a dive with everyone else.” A comment on Dan Froomkin’s Washington Post “live interactive” page from a while back comes to…

Hey! Remember that Downing Street Memo thing? I blogged about it on June 12: I see via various blogs (BoingBoing and others) that the Downing Street Memo still hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention. The new website on the Memo has a lot of information on the issues surrounding the document, and also under the Take Action link, you can sign on to the letter to the President that asks the questions originally asked by Sen. John Conyers and 88 other members of Congress on May 5, 2005. There’s a link to a PDF copy of the actual document, with…

>BRANDON, Fla. – (KRT) – U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris is holding court in a crowded Republican Party headquarters in a strip mall east of Tampa, fielding questions from an enthusiastic crowd, eager to hear her thoughts on abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research. Then, from the back of the room comes the inevitable: “How do you plan on dealing with people still mad about the 2000 election?” The immaculately groomed woman in the perfectly tailored suit smiles. ”Do you think anybody will be?” she asks coyly. ”We simply followed the law.” Her audience applauds, delighted at the response from…

Chicago Indymedia: newswire/61312 The local peace-and-justice folks pass along plans for today’s visit by President Bush to the Caterpillar plant in Aurora: “War President? VACATION PRESIDENT!” That’s the main message. Bush tops vacation time of any pres while soldiers die. Be at the at the Caterpillar plant in Aurora, Illinois Wednesday Aug 10th 8:30AM, doors open 9, Bush speaks 11. South on Orchard Road at the intersection of rt30 and Orchard Road in S. Aurora. Main Entrance Caterpillar Drive. Questions: Tetricus at Yahoo dot Com. Or at least, they were organizing it. A link for more information appears to be…

Columnist Dan Froomkin noted that it was possible to do a word search on messages posted at Americasupportsyou.mil, and wondered if certain words were more likely to show up in a search than others. A participant in his Live Online chat today obliged with an interesting list of searches: White House Talk: Dan Froomkin Douglassville, PaRe: americasupportsyou.mil Keyword search: pray – 9,425 god – 5,488 Christian – 96 Islam / Muslim – 4 Republican – 46 Democrat – 18 media – 230 democracy – 137 Interesting results. Dan Froomkin: Fabulous. Thanks. Other word searches are encouraged. Some attendees obviously think…

Oh well. It was silly to think there’d be humanity, understanding, or reconciliation from the opportunists who grabbed Terri Schiavo’s inert body and dragged her, head lolling obscenely, into battle. They’re too busy sending out inflammatory fundraising emails and preparing the heavily-Photoshopped “2006 Terri Schiavo Swimsuit Calendar.” Being at war, even a “culture war,” means admitting no errors, not until it’s over. Which is why we’re fighting wars on “terror” and “the culture of death” rather than wars on “Iraq” and “The Schiavo Case.” Those might end, after all. Adam rightly notes that the lack of apology from the “activists”…

BBC NEWS | Americas | ‘Freedom fries’ lawmaker’s U-turn Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has reversed his support for the Iraq war and now wants the troops brought home. He was formerly an adamant supporter of the war who led the whole Congressional “Freedom Fries” campaign to rename fried potatoes to get back at those wimpy peaceloving French bastards. His change of heart took place when he attended the funeral of a US sergeant and listened as the widow read her husband’s last letter home. He’s attended a lot of funerals, actually, and written over 1,300 letters of condolence, and he…

I see via various blogs (BoingBoing and others) that the Downing Street Memo still hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention. The new website on the Memo has a lot of information on the issues surrounding the document, and also under the Take Action link, you can sign on to the letter to the President that asks the questions originally asked by Sen. John Conyers and 88 other members of Congress on May 5, 2005. There’s a link to a PDF copy of the actual document, with the signatures in various hands and ink-colors. Then there’s a link to an alphabetized…

Father Jake wonders if anyone out there is listening to the “smoking gun” revelations of the Downing Street Memo, which reveals that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a foregone conclusion. Well, as pointed out in his comments, bloggers have been listening all along. In fact, I thought one of the whistle-blowing books that came out last year detailed off-the-cuff comments by Bush in the months following 9/11 that Iraq was on his radar. He reportedly stuck his head in a policy wonk’s office around March, 2002 and said “we’re going” in connection with the Iraq “problem.”…