JJ a.k.a. Judas Joe

JJ
a.k.a.
Judas Joe

Cheers to The Day paper for smacking down Judas Joe whose recent cameos with Bomb, Bomb McCainy are getting increasingly nauseating—sorry, but there’s something admittedly gross when one old man whispers ever closely in another old man’s ear. And huge cheers to The Huffington Post for covering this smack down coming from little ol’ southeastern Connecticut.

But Judas Joe’s relationship with let’s-spend another-100-years-in-Iraq McCainy is NOT NEW information, nor should it come as a surprise that JJ –that’s Judas Joe for short, will support McCain for president as if he were the second coming. In fact, Judas Joe and McCainy are regulars at the American Enterprise Institute, the neocon death star of policy making.

JJ, formerly Captain Lieberman, formerly Oedipus Lieberman, formerly Senator Joe Lieberman, Democrat from CT, is, alas, who he is. Many of us in Connecticut already know this; such a pity it’s taking so many others to catch on.

It's Kristol Clear

It’s Kristol Clear

Just when I was ready to build a bridge; just when I imagined that the days of partisan politics might be over—indulge me for a minute!; just when I wanted to pat myself on the back for not foaming at the mouth over a new columnist at The New York Times, Neocon Sith Lord Bill Kristol f*cking shatters all hope.

Lord Billy made his debut today. Beginning his column by thanking Senator Barack Obama for preventing the possibility of another Clinton presidency, Billy Boy then goes on to insult the good Senator from Illinois: Kristol criticizes Barack for being a “liberal” Democrat—as opposed, I suppose, to a Judas Joe Lieberman Democrat—whom the Neocons fancy; Sith Bill says that Obama will “increase the scope of Nanny state”; and then Bill Pistol implies that Obama will not appoint the likes of Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court—Thank the Jedi Yoda, for the force’s sake.

Wait, it gets better: Sith Bill then invokes…Troll Michelle Malkin—who oddly resembles a glammed-up ewok from time to time—for expert testimony in Kristol’s overall argument: to make the case for conservative Mike Huckabee as the GOP candidate who could beat Barack Obama should there be an ’08 election of change.

It’s Kristol clear that The New York Times, with William Safire long retired from the column page and David Brooks as the lone conservative remaining, wanted more balance. It’s just unclear why out of all the conservative intellectuals out there—and there are many, many respectable ones, they would disturb the force by making Sith Kristol a regular.

And the Winner Is...

And the Winner Is…

As America eagerly awaits Britney Scissorhands’ opening act on the Video Music Awards tonight, as much of America longs to see who’s wearing what on the red carpet, as those of us striving to be 1% more conscious marvel at how George W. Bush will sparknote the General David Petraeus report, Osama Bin Laden clearly wins best performance in a video this year. How timely a release, right before the VMA’s themselves—is MTV losing its touch?; right before the 9/11 anniversary; right before the latest chapter of the neocon’s long day’s journey into Iraq.

Long ago Marshal McLuhan said it best: The Medium is the Massage. Fictions become facts, facts become doublespoke and ignored, and what matters most is perception management—the new “opium of the masses.” Our media continues to let the spin rip with more than two “turn tables and a microphone,” to tiptoe around surge supporters, and to indulge in the American Dream of everything is a-O.K.—don’t worry, be happy ☺. Just ask Britney or Osama for goodness sake—simply get extensions or die your beard to get your groove back.

And that’s exactly what we will witness in politics this week, as Frank Rich noted in yet another brilliant column today, “As the Iraqis Stand Down, We’ll Stand Up.” According to Rich, brace yourself for the 2002 play-book, the build-up-to-the-war plan, when you hear the words: “Anbar,” “bottom up,” “decrease in violence,” and “success.” Lo and behold, Senator John McCain stuck to the script in his interview with George Stephanopoulos this morning on This Week. Now I think McCain's performance in “Bomb, bomb Iran” should get an honorable mention.

But fear not, folks: I STILL WANT my MTV! And so should you.

Kiss of Death

KISS OF DEATH

Before President Bush went on yet another vacation, he gave a press conference yesterday that was rather telling.

Amidst more insanity and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge reality, President Bush was candid in this press conference about the rationale for the Iraq invasion and the Neocon philosophy in a nutshell. In short, Bush admitted that by invading and occupying Iraq, he and the Neocon loons hoped to change the conditions in the Middle East to prevent radical, Islamist fundamentalism, which tends to have an association with terrorism, from spreading; hence, the Bush/Neocon battle-cry “Democracy is on the March.” Even Chris Matthews picked up on Bush’s admission on last night’s edition of Furball.

But the fates and irony have no mercy for George W. Bush, just as they have no mercy for any tragic character. Albeit many of us know about the shady history of American-backed governments in the Middle East, The New York Times reports today that now more so than ever any direct or implicit backing by America or the Bush administration of a group/political party/faction/country in the Middle East is akin to a kiss of death. Check out Hassan M. Fattah’s “U.S. Promotes Free Elections, Only to See Allies Lose” to see why the battle-cry "Democracy is on the March" is nothing more than bad lip service.

Married to the Mob

Week in Rear View: Married to the Mob

Bada bing: Who would’ve thought that the ending to a popular mob series would capture the zeitgeist of the American political scene? Yes, many of our politicians—on both sides of the aisle—are no better than the shady characters in The Sopranos. In today's column, “Scooter’s Sopranos Go to the Mattresses," Frank Rich does a “buuuutifull job makin’” the connection stick. Fo’get ‘bout it!

But mob mentality is not new to America. Hell no! In fact, we, the American people, are unequivocally married to the mob, and this becomes abundantly apparent in our literature and in our every day lives. Just take a look. Need I remind you all of the old hags in The Scarlet Letter who wanted to brand Hester, the “shit don’t stink” East Eggers in The Great Gatsby who resented the G.’s new “monay,” or those heinous hypocrites in Jackson’s “The Lottery” who would stone their own mother just to blindly obey tradition? Mob rule is as American as apple-pie at Thanksgiving time, or as American as the NASCAR dads and those micromanagerial soccer moms—mob groups for a new, American century.

And Team Bush is no different. As Rich points out, that the Bush loyalists are pleading, f**king begging for Poopy Scooter’s pardon is the height of hypocrisy; do yourself a favor and get over to The Smoking Gun. Not only does this forgive-Paris-Hilton groveling reveal the administration’s blatant lies that led to Iraq, this also reveals how many self-righteous conservatives/neo-conservatives, and yes folks, establishment Democrats have no shame—not an iota. The “save Scooter” campaign truly sheds light on the “Kill Bill” hysteria, doesn’t it? Remember the Monica news hour update? The Monica minute? The Monica, genetic-material themed nano-second? The countless millions of taxpayers’ money that Kenny Star wasted? Sure, Billy bent the truth—and maybe a cigar or two—by questioning what the definition of is is, but this was to justify his own Bada’ Monica affair, not a Bada’ war, not a Bada’ 3,500 + troops dead.

As much as I admire Rich, though, there’s one crucial element of the American mob he neglected to emphasize: the mainstream media. Without them, Americans…won’t stop believing the fake news that fuels many lives of quiet desperation.

Week in Rear View: Cell Block America

Week in Rear View: Cell Block America

Jail has been, well, “hot” this week. And if you can’t recognize how hot it's been, then you may, in fact, be leading a simple life.

Where does one begin? Fake or real? Real or fake? No, silly, I’m not talking about Pam Anderson or those chee-chee mamas in The Girls Next Door. I’m talking about the current state of our mainstream media, which loves to keep the “real” on the DL to transport us to a different world overpopulated by Paris, Lindsay, and others in a Nation Gone Wild.

The fake news is that Paris Hilton went to jail, only to be released temporarily for some reported, get this, “medical reasons”—my ass, and then put back into jail for the remainder of her sentence. The real news is that I. Scooter Libby, part of the Neocon death squad, a cheerleader for the war/mess in Iraq, received a 2 ½ year jail sentence this week for basically outing a top cover CIA agent—her name would be Valerie Plame—and for obstructing justice—Scooter’s game would be covering for Dick, our Vice President.

Paris knocked the shit of Scooter in our steroid-induced news cycle; quite frankly, Paris does look better than a WASPy, old prune. Regardless of Paris’s good looks or her intriguing SHEnanigans, there are now over 3,500 dead in Iraq and even more political casualties at home; General Peter Pace is the latest to join the body pile-up of the Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, prison-obsessed foreign policy of Bush/Cheney. Which brings me to my larger point: in our Dick Wolf, Law & Order, CSI, COPS, Prison Break culture, why is it that most Americans are trapped in a cell block of mis/dis—information?

The Week in Rear View: I See Crazy People

THE WEEK IN REAR VIEW: I SEE CRAZY PEOPLE

In M. Night’s The Sixth Sense, “I see dead people” became the film’s most popular line. In the dreadful foreign policy of the Neocon loons and Bush apologists, “I see progress” has become their most pathetic excuse. In The Sixth Sense, the child actually sees dead people. In the world of loons and apologists, they see progress mostly in their fantasies. From my infinitesimal corner of the universe, I see a bunch of crazy people.

Let’s start with none other than Crazy Captain Lieberman, formerly Oedipus Lieberman, formerly Senator Joe Lieberman, Democrat from Connecticut. Doing John McPretend better than John McPretend, crazy Joe went on a walk “through the park” of the streets of Baghdad, surrounded by the best protection our taxpayers’ money can buy. He said that he saw “progress.” In contrast, our troops continue to see dead people while chanting The Animals’ “we gotta out of this place…if it’s the last thing we ever do…” Crazy—I know.

What wasn’t crazy was that May was the third deadliest month in Iraq for our troops since we invaded in 2003. One would hope that on some level Crazy Captain Lieberman did, in fact, see dead people and if not in Iraq then certainly at home. For those of us living in the 2nd Congressional District in CT, earlier this week we read about the unfortunate, sad death of Lt. Keith Heidtman, who was 24 and had a bright future ahead of him. Not so crazy—I know.

What remains incredibly crazy is that there’s a third of America that still approves of Chimpy’s handling of Iraq. What will it take for them to recognize that there are many, many dead people, every day, theirs and ours, and that things aren’t getting any better? No surge, escalation or new strategy seems to work. And the other two thirds who disapprove of the war need to reassess things as well. With Cindy Sheehan’s official departure from the anti-war movement, she reaffirms that both Republicans and Democrats are responsible mostly to their corporate donors, and, moreover, for this prolonged “we are in our last throes” war. Really crazy—I know.

Back to The Sixth Sense. In the film, the ghost psychiatrist, played by Bruce Willis, helps the young boy Cole to deal with his fear of seeing dead people. In America, let’s hope that the ghosts of our country will let us see that the mounting dead in Iraq is cause enough to begin ending this war. Hopefully crazy—maybe so.