A RW blogger actually agrees with us "Moonbats" regarding Halliburton

[sabra]

http://notsobluestater.redstate.org/story/2005/8/29/154337/744

Army Gasses Greenhouse
By: NotSoBlueStater · Section: Diaries


Will this be the birth of a new moonbat martyr?
I can hear the bleating now. The narrative will open: The evil Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld team oust a courageous whistle blower. More proof of the illegal corporate warriors implementing their evil schemes under cover of darkness...


WASHINGTON -- A high-ranking Army Corps of Engineers official who publicly criticized the Pentagon's decision to award Halliburton Co. a no-bid contract for work in Iraq has been demoted, officials said Monday.
Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, who had been the Corps of Engineers' top procurement official since 1997, was removed, effective Saturday, for what Corps of Engineers officials called a poor job performance. Her lawyer, however, said her removal constitutes "blatant discrimination" and violates an earlier agreement with the Army to suspend her demotion until "a sufficient record" pertaining to her complaints is complete.

"The failure to abide by prior commitments and the circumstances surrounding Ms. Greenhouse's removal are the hallmark of illegal retaliation," her attorney, Michael D. Kohn, wrote in the letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

But as much as I know in advance that the attacks will make my head hurt, I must confess I'm developing Halliburton fatigue (tm(?)). We have to wonder if at least some of Greenhouse's complaints might have merit -- based on her testimony to congress in June.

And no, I'm not a moonbat. In fact, nothing in the moonbats battery of "facts" strikes me as stupider than charges that we went to war to enrich Haliburton. But that said, Haliburton, and KBR in particular, have been involved with some bad behavior from the get-go. Therefore, as citizens we should be open to the possibility that while:


Yes, moonbats wildly overshoot whenever they talk about Cheney/Halliburton.

That alone doesn't prove that there's nothing troubling going on.

It just smells bad. And it looks bad. Demote the whistleblower? Seems crazy to me.
Halliburton hangs like an albatross around the necks of this administration. While I've never believed there's any systematic corruption (that is, the Michael Moorish crap), the appearance of corruption leaves me completely unsympathetic for Bush and Co. about the abuse they take on behalf of Cheney's former mates.

[atommom]

1. Where did the term "moonbat" come from, anyway?

I find it amusing, not insulting, as I'm sure the RWers intend. And it's good to see that even devoted RWers are waking up (even though it still feels like too little, too late).

[sabra]

2. from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbat

Moonbat is a political epithet coined in 2002 by Perry de Havilland of "The Libertarian Samizdata," a libertarian weblog. It was originally a play on the last name of George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, but now the term enjoys great currency in the libertarian blogosphere as an all-purpose insult for modern liberals, peace protestors, and other ideological opponents. It is similar to the epithets Feminazi or Idiotarian.

According to de Haviland, a moonbat is "someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be." Adriana Cronin defines the term as "someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency." This term has long been used to describe protesters on the political Left, and is sometimes used to describe protesters on the political Right.

[atommom]

3. Thank you! I still think it applies more to the right wing than the left.

And I didn't know about the Monbiot connection ... that's cool.

[left is right]

4. Once upon a time

some leftly-slanted congress critter blushed and tried to run away from the term "liberal". The VRC saw that it was a term that could be effectively used to back-down the left and make them cower in the corners of political discussions. Soon it became a dirty word to be avoided by all left-leaning people. It was spat out by rednecks as everything that was wrong with these united states. So a once noble word became a thing to be reviled by RW and avoided by the left. But the good news is this didn't happen with "moonbats'. We liberals embraced the word, clutching it to our bosoms. This word became our rallying cry and therefore not insulting at all, It never became the dirty word that "liberal" is--much to the consternation of the VRC.
There is a lesson in this little story--but, I will be danged, if I can figure what it is!

[atommom]

5. There's just something endearing about "moonbat." I don't know what it is

... but if my liking the word upsets the RWers, that makes it even better. :D