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Timeless Principles

David Horsey
© David Horsey

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Late Night Torture Humor

“Does this name ring a bell — evil Dick Cheney? He’s in New York City. He’s on another one of his stops on his ‘Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You Tour.’ And he is in New York City. And he has one of those crazy, embarrassing New York City moments. He’s driving in a cab. And it turns out the cabdriver is somebody Cheney had waterboarded. It was crazy.” – David Letterman

“I’m speechless, which is more than I can say for Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney will not shut the f*ck up. He’s all over. He’s on Fox News, he’s on ‘Face the Nation,’ he’s on every radio show. Today, he was on ‘Oprah’ complaining John Edwards cheated on him. He’s everywhere. Remember the good ol’ days when the guy who got tortured did the talking?” – Bill Maher

“And a New York City auction house is having something unusual. It’s selling a large variety of torture devices dating from the 16th century. A bunch of torture devices. Said the whole thing looks like a Dick Cheney garage sale.” – Jay Leno

“To raise money for California, Governor Schwarzenegger says he’s willing to sell some of the state’s aging landmarks, like San Quentin Prison. So far, the only bid has come from Dick Cheney. Apparently, he wants to use it as a vacation home in the summer. ‘I can just relax in the atmosphere.'” – Craig Ferguson

“Oh, and speaking of torture, I love this. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now says the CIA and President Bush misled her on waterboarding. Yeah. Apparently she was misled by the Bush Administration. So she spends eight years telling everybody how dumb President Bush is, and the minute they’re in trouble, ‘He fooled me! I had no idea! He tricked me!'” – Jay Leno

“Torture. That is the story that just will not go away in this country, and now with Nancy Pelosi in the middle of it. Yes, Republicans keep changing their story on torture. First it was, ‘We didn’t torture.’ Then it was, ‘Okay we tortured, but it worked.’ And now it’s, ‘Nancy Pelosi said we could! She said it was okay!'” – Bill Maher

“This is a big controversy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the CIA lied to her in 2003. Yeah, apparently, they sent her a document saying that her makeup looked subtle. They lied to her.” – Jimmy Fallon

“They say Nancy Pelosi was aware, as far back as 2003 that we tortured and didn’t raise any questions about it. Which raises the big question: what did Nancy Pelosi know, and when was she going to tell her face?” – Bill Maher

“Newt Gingrich yesterday was all over TV. He called Nancy Pelosi a ‘trivial politician.’ Pretty strong words from a guy who goes on CNN just to swipe food from the green room. A ‘trivial politician,’ as opposed to Newt himself, who is a very serious, unemployed fat guy who runs a think tank out of his basement.” – Bill Maher

“At the White House the other night, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a night of poetry and music featuring musicians, authors and poets, to which President Bush said, ‘Now, that’s torture.'” – Jay Leno

“In a reversal of his position, President Obama this week said he now opposes the release of photographs showing terror suspects being abused in Afghanistan and Iraq. Meaning we’ll just have to wait for Dick Cheney’s Christmas card.” – Amy Poehler

“Barack Obama said that his Administration will not release the photographs of detainee abuse. Not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t get the password for Dick Cheney’s camera phone.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Well, in a sudden reversal, President Obama now is fighting the release of dozens of new photos showing U.S. personnel allegedly abusing prisoners. The matter has not been decided yet. I understand the photos are now under review from Donald Trump. He’s reviewing them to see if they’re tasteful enough.” – Jay Leno

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Duck and Cover

Stuart Carlson
© Stuart Carlson

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Logical Conclusion

On Saturday, RNC Chair Michael Steele decided that the way to make the GOP more gay-friendly was to recast their stance on marriage to a simple question of economics (and not civil rights). Steele claims that recognizing gay marriage could put a dent in the pocketbooks of small businesses as they are forced to provide additional health and other benefits:

Now all of a sudden I’ve got someone who wasn’t a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for. So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.

Andrew Tobias takes this argument at face value:

He’s spot on, which is why the GOP should come out against marriage generally, not just same-sex marriage. Married workers cost more if you provide family health insurance. So the smart hiring order is: single people first; and then married gay people (who are less likely to have kids needing health insurance and more likely to have working spouse’s with their own health insurance), and then, if you absolutely must, married heterosexual couples. It’s just good business.

Brilliant!

UPDATE: My wife points out that I’m missing Steele’s point. Silly me. Steele is not arguing against gay marriage, he’s arguing for single payer health insurance (or at least universal coverage). That way the pocketbooks of small businesses won’t have to spend anything on health care. It’s just good business!

Read what people in Massachusetts think about gay marriage, five years after it was made legal there.

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Four steps to Understanding Media Irony

  1. Glenn Greenwald in Salon quotes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, and says that her column is “uncharacteristically cogent and substantive”. Hmmm.
  2. TPM points out that at least one paragraph from Dowd’s column was plagiarized from an earlier column by Josh Marshall in TPM. Does that explain why Greenwald thought it was such a good column?
  3. Dowd admits to using words from Marshall’s column (and updates her column to give proper credit), but claims that she had not read Marshall’s column but instead had heard it from a friend, and didn’t realize that it was from Marshall. She should have just apologized. Compare Marshall’s line:

    More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.

    to Dowd’s:

    More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.

    Almost precisely the same words, with just one change of noun (“we were” to “the Bush crowd was”). Hard to believe she was merely quoting something a friend told her, unless both she and her friend have amazing photographic memories.

  4. What makes this all ironic is that Dowd played a major role in exposing a somewhat similar case of plagiarism against Joe Biden back in 1988. When Biden made excuses for borrowing other’s words, Dowd went on the attack, which eventually resulted in Biden withdrawing from the presidential race. Does Dowd deserve the same treatment?
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Safety in Numbers

Paul Conrad
© Paul Conrad

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Ticking Time Bomb

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

Personally, I think people who use the “ticking time bomb” scenario to justify torture have been watching “24” too much.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Oh, the FDA now scolding General Mills for claiming that Cheerios can lower your cholesterol by 10%. They say that would be considered an unauthorized health claim. The FDA also said there is no evidence that Lucky Charms are magically delicious.” – Jay Leno

“Yesterday, the New York State Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill approving same-sex marriage. And now the bill goes to the State Senate, where it will likely face a closer vote. In other words, the bill could go both ways.” – Jimmy Fallon

“I’m very excited about this. John McCain’s 97-year-old mom is on the show tonight. Here’s the amazing part. She is 97, and somehow John is actually five years older than she is.” – Jay Leno

“I don’t know how that works. In fact, John is so old, she is back to cutting up his meat into little pieces again.” – Jay Leno

“Do you remember the old guy who was running for president? John McCain. Remember him? And the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Remember Sarah Palin? That was a lot of fun, wasn’t it? Well, guess what? Sarah Palin has got a deal to write her memoir. Got a deal to write her memoir, yup. I believe it’s titled, ‘The Book to Nowhere.'” – David Letterman

“But in all fairness, Sarah Palin says she’s not writing the book by herself. She has hired a guy to help. Joe the Ghostwriter is helping her. Joe the Ghostwriter, that’s right.” – David Letterman

“Drug officials are saying that because of the bad economy, the international cocaine market is suffering. It’s not just affecting cocaine. It’s trickling down. Today, Obama asked for a bailout of the tiny spoon industry.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Governor Schwarzenegger says he is trying to get marijuana legalized here in the California. He wants to legalize it. Yeah. Yeah. I believe his campaign slogan is ‘Change We Can Breathe In.'” – Jay Leno

“You know what they’re doing right now, while we’re down here enjoying some fine American comedy? The astronauts got in the shuttle, and they went up and they’re tightening up the Hubble Space Telescope, doing some repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope. And the mission is going great. Earlier today, they buzzed the statue of Liberty.” – David Letterman

“But the telescope has photographed landmarks on the planet. And it’s fantastic because it’s way up in space, and they’re looking at ancient landmarks. They took a picture of the ancient pyramids — fantastic. Also the Roman Coliseum, beautiful from space. Great Wall of China. They took a picture of Regis.” – David Letterman

“Last night, President Obama hosted a poetry slam at the White House. A poetry slam is when poets stand up and read poems. They try and outdo each other. And things can get out of control. Apparently, last night, one person got up on stage and rambled on and on and didn’t make any sense. And then, when Joe Biden was done, they started the poetry.” – Craig Ferguson

“It’s groundbreaking to have a poetry slam. It’s never happened before. I think Dick Cheney once held a torture slam. ‘There was a young man from Nantucket. I put his head in a bucket.'” – Craig Ferguson

“Anybody graduating from high school or college right now? The NYU graduation speaker is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. You think she looks great in a pantsuit. You ought to see her in a robe.” – David Letterman

“And she told the grads, ‘Work hard. Save your money. And one day you might be able to afford to attend a Yankees game.’ That’s what Hillary Clinton said.” – David Letterman

“What a good crowd, boy! It’s obvious you folks don’t have money in the stock market. Oh, a horrible day today. Man, stocks were falling like Miss California’s top.” – Jay Leno

“Saudi Arabia held its first beauty pageant over the weekend. And already they’re embroiled in their own scandal. Seems topless photos of the newly crowned Miss Saudi Arabia surfaced today. You could see her entire forehead.” – Jay Leno

“Well, here’s what I’ve heard from Washington. The Republicans are downhearted. They’re disenchanted and they’re worried now, the Republicans, because they’re out of office, they’re out of power. The Republicans are worried that the image of the Republican Party is downbeat and angry. And I was thinking, well if you ask me, honestly, all the fun went out of the Republican Party when Arlen Specter left. Are you like me, do you kind of feel, all right, the party’s over!” – David Letterman

“Yeah, so the Republicans are angry. And I was thinking, well you know, the time to get angry might have been eight years ago, but that didn’t happen.” – David Letterman

“I’ll tell you how bad the economy is — today I saw a Republican driving a Prius.” – Jay Leno

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SNL: Cheney and Bush

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Watch Out!

Joel Pett
© Joel Pett

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Late Night Political Humor

“President Obama did a great job delivering jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. In fact, NBC is trying to sign him now for the 9 p.m. slot.” – Jay Leno

“After the dinner, President Obama was all excited and stuff, so he head-butted Rush Limbaugh.” – David Letterman

“Dick Cheney, the former vice president, said that President Obama went too far with the jokes at the correspondents’ dinner. By too far, does Cheney mean like waterboarding a guy 183 times?” – David Letterman

“The Post Office announced that the price of a stamp is going up to 44 cents. This is getting out of control. Yeah. If there were just some other way to send written messages that were free and a million times faster. If you guys think of something, e-mail me.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The price of a postage stamp went up to 44 cents this week. Isn’t that unbelievable? They said they had to raise the price because fewer and fewer people are using the mail these days. That’s government thinking, isn’t it? ‘Hey, nobody’s buying our product. Let’s raise the price.'” – Jay Leno

“Anybody ever mail anything any more? Well, the price of a stamp is going up to 44 cents. Pretty soon, it will actually be cheaper and easier to just put a little glue on a dollar bill and stick it to an envelope.” – David Letterman

“Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech to fifth graders in Syracuse, New York, where he said his dog is smarter than President Obama’s dog. Actually, the dog is smarter than Biden, because it at least knows when not to speak.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama’s national security advisor says he just doesn’t know whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive. Same thing with Larry King — we don’t know.” – David Letterman

“Yeah, they don’t know if bin Laden is dead or alive. I was thinking, hell, our last president didn’t know if Lincoln was dead or alive, either. What are you going to do?” – David Letterman

“Hey, how about this? State officials warned today California could be broke by July, which is great because most people thought we were already broke.” – Jay Leno

“How could California be broke by July? What happened to all the money we gave them on April 15th?” – Jay Leno

“Those of you who are residents of California, you can stop stockpiling food and water. You can unlock your doors again. Miss California is keeping her crown! So California is no longer rudderless. We have a leader.” – Jay Leno

“What a scandal we’ve had brewing here in the Golden State. You’re not going to believe this, but Miss California, a beauty contestant, posed for naked pictures. Her fate was decided by Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA pageant. Trump says Miss California can keep her crown. Actually, her trouble started when she stated her opposition to same-sex marriage. And after noting that even President Obama does not support same-sex marriage, Trump pointed out that he personally believes that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a series of progressively younger women.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“And California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to legalize marijuana. Good slogan he has — ‘Yes, we cannabis.'” – Jay Leno

“And the National Institute of Health is paying researchers $400,000 to cruise bars in Argentina to try and figure out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk. You know, I got a better idea. How about finding out why politicians like John Edwards engage in risky sexual behavior while sober?” – Jay Leno

“You all have a happy Mother’s Day? I thought this was nice. John Edwards told his wife, ‘Of all the women I have children with, I’m going to spend today with you.'” – Jay Leno

“John Edwards said that he and his wife are getting to a better place. He said that, after he admitted his affair, he took a long, hard look in the mirror and fell in love all over again.” – Jay Leno

“Actually, Elizabeth’s book ‘Resilience’ hit the stands today. But John Edwards also has a new book out. It is called ‘Cheating for Dummies.'” – Jay Leno

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As Ye Sow

News Flash: Taliban Waterboards Captured U.S. Soldiers–Claims “Not Torture”

According to reports out of Kabul, the Taliban announced that they have waterboarded three U.S. soldiers taken prisoner. The Taliban commander asserted that waterboarding is not torture and does not violate the Geneva Convention or U.S. law. He assured everyone that a medical officer monitored all waterboarding sessions to insure that no permanent damage was done to the soldiers. In addition, he said they were careful to follow the directions on waterboarding in a SERE training manual they found posted on the internet.

In support of his assertion that waterboarding is not torture, the Taliban commander cited legal analysis produced by the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice. He pointed out that the authors of this legal analysis are a respected federal judge on the second highest court in America and a professor at a top American law school. The Taliban commander also referred to the careful legal analysis of a Distinguished Professor of Law who concluded that waterboarding is not torture because U.S. trainers did it to their own troops “hundreds and hundreds of times.”

This “news flash” by Brian Tamanaha on the Balkinization blog is obviously fake, but is nonetheless brilliant.

A commenter on that site makes the added point that that Cheney’s argument “torture was acceptable because it was effective” could also be used by the other side to justify terrorist attacks, since they too are “effective”.

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Dick Cheney, Go Home

Dick Cheney in 1994, talking about invading Iraq:

Dick Cheney in the last few weeks:

Now here’s where it gets interesting. When Cheney attacked Colin Powell and declared that he’d rather have Rush Limbaugh as a spokesperson for the Republican party than Powell, he royally pissed off Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff for the State Department when Powell was the Secretary of State. So Wilkerson struck back, pointing out:

  • “More Americans were killed by terrorists on Cheney’s watch than on any other leader’s watch in US history”
  • The Bush administration ignored warnings about 9/11, so they have no basis to complain about anyone else leaving the US open to terrorist attack.
  • Cheney keeps saying that the Bush administration use of torture prevented terrorist attacks after 9/11, but the real reason there were no more terrorist attacks was that the Bush administration sent 200,000 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, which were a much more tempting target for the terrorists.
  • The “harsh interrogation methods” used by the Bush administration made us less safe, not more.
  • In fact, after the atrocities at Abu Ghraib were revealed, the CIA stopped torturing prisoners because they were too afraid to use them. So claiming that not using harsh interrogation techniques will make us less safe is bullshit, since they weren’t used during the entire second term of the Bush administration.
  • The Bush administration did not use harsh interrogation in order to prevent further terrorist attacks, they used them to create a false connection between 9/11 and Iraq.
  • The Bush administration claims that it obtained legal opinions that the “harsh interrogation techniques” were legal, but they started using those techniques before they bothered to get the legal opinions.
  • Cheney should go home and shut up, he is destroying the Republican party (Wilkerson is a Republican).
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Gingrich Doubles Down

Today, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich attacked current Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling for an investigation. “I think that the House has an absolute obligation to open an inquiry, and I hope there will be a resolution to investigate her. And I think this is a big deal. I don’t think the speaker of the House can lie to the country on national security matters,” Gingrich said in an interview with ABC Radio.

Gingrich, of course, is using all the typical slimy techniques:

  • Reframing the conversation from whether or not the Bush administration flagrantly broke the law and if they should be investigated, to whether or not Democrats knew that Bush was breaking the law and if the Democrats should be investigated for that!
  • Transparently threatening that if Congress actually does its job and investigates illegal and even treasonous behavior by the Bush Administration, that he will make sure that Congress (and the Dems) will also get dragged into the gutter with them.
  • Bullying Pelosi, to make her look weak. Gingrich called Pelosi a “trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowest of purposes” and accused her of engaging in a “despicable, dishonest, and vicious political effort”. Vicious?

If you watch this interview with Democratic strategist Paul Begala and former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, it is clear that the Republicans are terrified that Congress is going to investigate the Bush administration for the use of torture. The amazing hypocrisy is that they are simultaneously claiming that the Bush administration did nothing illegal or even immoral, but Pelosi should have said or done something because she knew that they were doing something illegal and immoral.

Personally, I think Pelosi should agree with them and call for an investigation, as long as it also includes a full investigation into what the Bush administration did, including things like outing of Valerie Plame, lies told to the American people, and the use of torture. But she probably won’t, so the really ironic thing is that Gingrich’s craven ploy might just work.

UPDATE: Salon has a good analysis of the whole ploy, which they call “Cheney’s torture trap for Democrats”.

UPDATE 2: Matthew Yglesias points out that the conservative attack on Nancy Pelosi will actually increase the chance of an investigation into Bush administration war crimes. But the conservatives can’t help themselves — they love attacking Democrats too much. They would probably put a gun to their own heads and pull the trigger if they thought the bullet would come out the other side and hit Pelosi in the arm.

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Late Night Political Humor

Republicans

“Dick Cheney was on the news this week, and he said that it would be a mistake for the Republicans to moderate their policies. He said they should remain true to their core principles: gay bashing, war profiteering and torture.” – Bill Maher

“I am starting to really worry about the Republican Party. I mean, last week they lost Arlen Specter. You know who they lost this week? Joe the plumber. Joe the plumber is quitting the Republican Party. This is like the Grateful Dead losing stoners.” – Bill Maher

“Joe the plumber said at first he was flattered the Republicans were asking him for advice, and then one day, he remembered, he’s a moron.” – Bill Maher

“It looks like a catfight is breaking out among the Republican Party’s younger members, both of them, because Bristol Palin is on an abstinence tour, promoting abstinence. What a good person to do that. And she says abstinence is the only thing that works.” – Bill Maher

Democrats

“Louis Caldera, the White House aide who authorized the controversial photograph of Air Force One over lower Manhattan, resigned on Friday. May I suggest that they replace him with Photoshop?” – Seth Meyers

“The crown at the top of the Statue of Liberty will reopen on the Fourth of July for the first time since 9/11. Isn’t that cool? Visitors will now be able to touch Air Force One as it flies right past them.” – Jimmy Fallon

“This week at the White House, during the Cinco de Mayo celebration, President Obama honored the Mexican people by speaking Spanish. And then Vice President Joe Biden honored the Mexican people by not speaking at all.” – Jay Leno

“Did you see the president and the vice president go out to lunch at that greasy spoon? Apparently, these guys got hungry — I think they were stoned — they jumped in their limos, they drove to Virginia, picking up Harold and Kumar along the way. I love Joe Biden, but he is a little gaffe-prone, because he went up to the counter and said, a burger for me, and fried chicken for my friend here.” – Bill Maher

“A lot of controversy yesterday for National Prayer Day. It seems that President Obama is the first president in recent years not to have a prayer service at the White House. But, you know, I understand that. Between Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright, he hasn’t had the best of luck with ministers.” – Jay Leno

Gay Marriage

“On Wednesday, Maine became the fifth state to legalize gay marriage, after Governor Balducci signed a same-sex marriage bill into law. It’s the best news for gays in Maine since L.L. Bean introduced a line of assless duck-waders.” – Seth Meyers

“Gay marriage is now legal in five states. This is not one of them, so hold your breath. It’s pretty much anywhere in New England now you can be as gay as you want to be. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but L.L. Bean now is selling assless chinos.” – Bill Maher

Swine Flu

“Don’t start with me, survivors of swine flu. Boy, last week, it was the pandemic that was going to wipe out the human race. This week, a great way to lose a little weight for bikini season. So, good news for you California housewives. You can go back to screwing your gardener.” – Bill Maher

“But in Mexico, they are still taking precautions. The sex show, in Tijuana? The donkey now wears a condom.” – Bill Maher

“Health officials are now warning of a new super-flu. It combines the swine flu and the bird flu viruses. They’re calling it the turducken of infectious diseases.” – Jimmy Fallon

“What a panicky nation this is. In one week, we went from the hell pox to, now, the Center for Disease Control is having to warn people not to have swine flu parties. I swear to God, people were having swine flu parties, where they would infect each other on purpose, to build up the immunity.” – Bill Maher

John Edwards

“You did hear about John Edwards, didn’t you? Yes, Elizabeth Edwards was on ‘Oprah’ this week to let the world know the pain of being married to that lying, cheating son-of-a-bitch, John Edwards. She said for years, she believed his vision of two Americas, until she found out he was getting laid in one of them.” – Bill Maher

“She told Oprah, he’s a really good man who did a very bad thing. But if you take that one thing out of it, we had a perfect marriage. It sounds to me like she’s trying to get America to forgive John, because Lord knows she ain’t!” – Bill Maher

“Elizabeth Edwards attacked her husband’s mistress. Somehow, John Edwards convinced his wife it was the mistress’ fault, and she seduced him. Guys, let me tell you something: don’t try this with your wife, okay? John Edwards is a politician and a trial lawyer. That means he is a professional liar. He knows how to do this. You cannot get away with this. It will not work for you.” – Jay Leno

“John Edwards said yesterday he feels that he and his wife are getting to a better place. Yeah. Actually, she is getting to a better place. He is looking for a smaller place. Two-bedroom, furnished, off-street parking, nothing fancy.” – Jay Leno

Everything Else

“In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling for the legalization of marijuana. Yes. He is calling his program ‘Weed the People.'” – Jay Leno

“Pope Benedict on Friday began his first trip to the Middle East, in hopes that the Catholic church can play a role in the region’s peace process. And because it’s the Middle East, he traveled in the official pope mobile inside another pope mobile.” – Seth Meyers

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