Where's Osama?

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Remember the recurring Q & A in The Prisoner? "I Am Number 2; You Are Number 6" and "Who is Number 1?" Everyone with half a brain is asking this week: How many Number 2 Al Qaeda guys has BushCo supposedly captured or killed? Blogenlust has been keeping a list (with dates, names, and details), and the answer is - cue drum roll! - 39. Gulp.

The All Spin Zone knows where The Big O (and sometimes U) is:

Pakistan: Welcome, Citizen Osama!!

A little after 7PM this evening, I was watching CNN's Wolf Blitzer tossing hardballs (no, really) at Abu Al Gonzales. Blitzer repeatedly asked Gonzales if Osama bin Laden was the Bush regime's number one priority. Time and time again, Gonzales tapped a mighty dance. Blitzer could not corner him and get him to say that public enemy number one was their primary focus in the war on terror. The transcript isn't yet available, but it was really quite amazing - I'll hook up the transcript as soon as it's available. Blitzer didn't let the waffling Gonzales off the hook. (Update: Transcript is now online.)

There was a reason that Gonzales was clearly uncomfortable discussing the "O" word (aside from the fact that "O" is still roaming the countryside of Afghanistan or Pakistan five years after an event he perpetrated became the Bush regime's centerpiece for American fascism). It seems as if Pakistan is giving Osama a free pass to good citizenship. ABC News is reporting that Pakistani officials are rolling out the red carpet for Citizen bin Laden.

Answer: Pig Men & Plutocrats Have It

The question, answered with charts and snark by russwinter: Where's Joe Soccer Mom's Money?

Today's blog is short and sweet, besides I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach after listening to about ten minutes of Ben Bernanke "new era" gibberish, on TV. Kind of stuff the Boyz will try to jam I'm sure.

Chart 1 (source St. Louis Fed) shows the fortunes of corporate plutocrats versus labor in the post 911 war on terrorism without sacrifice period. Speaks for itself, although the sustainability of this is questionable. A comparison to the second term (1997-2001) Clinton era is illustrative, and one to take note of, if a Democrat election rout is forthcoming.

If this chart info surprises you, can I interest you in an absolutely stunning (tons of upgrades!) Phoenix condo with instant equity guaranteed? Just kidding, but Barron's never kids around about equity and investments. So... things must be pretty bad out there in Homesalesistan for Barrons to devote an entire article to housing bubble blogs. House Bubble has the story and the links.

Slimy Then, Slimier Now

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake notes that John Dean hasn't run out of anecdotes from his time served as Nixon White House Counsel. The fact that Haldeman called Donald Rumsfeld "slimy" is telling, but exactly why Nixon made Slimefeld US Ambassador to NATO is jaw dropping.

Progressive Blogs Make You Smarter

At least, that's what Steve says at The Last Chance Democracy Cafe:

Have progressive websites and blogs made you more liberal?

In my case, I think the answer is yes, but I can't be sure. After all, my addiction to various progressive websites developed at the exact same moment as this nation was being driven off a cliff by the worst president in our history, with a big assist from an extraordinarily corrupt and ideologically extreme Congress.

So, to what extent have I become more liberal because of the likes of BuzzFlash, Atrios and Kos, and to what extent has it been out of revulsion over the radically conservative crime syndicate we euphemistically call today's Republican Party?

I don't know. But I do know this: Progressive websites and blogs have made me a smarter and more knowledgeable liberal. And that's more than enough to keep me going back.

More knowledgeable. That's the key, isn't it?

Must See TV

If you're still reeling after Keith Olbermann's historic BushCo thwacking last week, the reviews are in and the man who wrote the book (Words That Shook The World: 100 Years of Unforgettable Speeches and Events) hails it as "probably the greatest speech, thus far, of this decade." Read Richard Greene's amazing review at The Huffington Post], and leave a comment for posterity.

While the Olbermann video is definitely a must-see, there's a lot of TV you don't have to see, namely the Sunday morning talk shows. American Politics Journal has been offering Pundit Pap for years now, which means that you can do something else on Sunday mornings and read the play-by-play summaries later.

Another TV event this week, ABC's 9/11 Clinton hit piece, is a blatant historical revision of recent history designed to insulate President Failure W. Bush from the pitchfork & torch mob. Think Progress has the details. by the way, if the real story is ever told, "Two Birds With One Stone" would be a good title for the story of BushCo's tandem attack on CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. leveymg has the latest info from the court filings (via Kos):

This is in line with my supposition some months ago that Valerie was working on IRAQ WMD issues, and that may have been the motive for Cheney going after her. I concluded that we learned that Scooter Libby had obtained confirming info about Plame from Robert Grenier, the former COS in Islamabad, who was working on assignment to the same CIA Iraq WMD taskforce.

The nexus of Plame and Grenier's expertise would have been mutual knowledge of Pakistan's role in both Iran and Iraq WMD programs, and the Bush Administration's efforts to cover that trail.

Can't you just see the glee on the faces of BushCo's flying monkeys as it dawned on them that they could take out both Wilson and Plame with one smear? Me, too. Larry Johnson (No Quarter), who has been outing BushCo's attacks on Plame for years, takes on David Johnston's New York Times hit piece on Patrick Fitzgerald, in which the writer accuses Fitzgerald of... well, Larry says it best:

It is tough to tar a prosecutor who is frugal, focused, and apolitical. Nonetheless, the Bush/Cheney defenders and their media buddies are ramping up a campaign to smear Fitzgerald. The Johnston NY Times piece is prima facie evidence. Johnston notes that in the wake of a report that Richard Armitage was one of Novak sources that:

The question of whether Mr. Fitzgerald properly exercised his prosecutorial discretion in continuing to pursue possible wrongdoing in the case has become the subject of rich debate on editorial pages and in legal and political circles.

So, attention to detail, a refusal to try the case in the news media, and insistence on bringing charges based on evidence suggest improper "prosecutorial discretion"? Nope. I don't buy that. The facts show that Fitzgerald is keeping his cards close to his vest, which certainly has Dick Cheney and Stephen Hadley crapping their pants.

Better than TV? For many of us, Hubris (by Michael Isikoff and David Corn) has been a long time coming. Corn has posted the press release on his blog, and I have it on the best authority that Isikoff was refused permission by his Newsweek editors to publish some of the info that's in the book. Speaking of books, are you still wondering where Mr. Bush's summer reading list came from? Crankie Avalon has the hilarious answer. (Be sure to note the byline of this post and react accordingly.)

MIA: Republicans

The Democratic Daily asks: Where have all the Republicans gone? Good question. Citing the latest Rasmussen poll, The Dem Daily notes that just 31.9% of Americans now claim to be Republicans. Hmm. Rats-and-sinking-ship image, anyone? Gee, you'd think that 32% would get 32% media coverage, right? Wrong. That would be like expecting the media to cover the housing market/Adjustable Rate Mortgage fiasco. From my blog, Delilah Boyd:

A reader alerted me to PublicMemory, a site dedicated to charting how often a name, an entity, and/or an issue is mentioned in newspapers and on TV news shows.

Ahem.

The data for the Oil and Housing issue graph below come from a sample of U.S. local newspaper and TV news websites. PublicMemoryTM searches these sources three times a day. The graph tracks all mentions of certain key phrases. The more exposure an issue receives, the more it will be likely to affect the public memory.


The data for the Election 2006 Political Party graph below come from a sample of U.S. local newspaper and TV news websites, balanced by state and focusing on contentious congressional districts. PublicMemoryTM searches these sources three times a day, for the names of Senate, House, and Gubernatorial candidates in races that political experts consider bell weather indicators of political party advantage in 2006. The graph tracks all mentions of candidate names by political party. The more exposure a candidate receives, the more he/she will be likely to affect the public memory.

You've known this skewed news coverage crap was real for a very long time, haven't you?

Now there's proof.

More Blog Posts Of Note

The Mahablog rule (in a post called "Appease This"): "Labeling something isn't the same thing as understanding it."

Mark Crispin Miller's "Five Things to do Before Election Day (and Starting Now)" (Huffington Post)

From AMERICABlog via Cannonfire: "Terror: Ten Years Ago..." details how the Republican Congress blocked Clinton's push for anti-terrorism legislation.

And finally, according to the Washington Post, Ken Mehlman looks a lot like John Mark Karr. Wonkette has the details.

Thank A DUer!

Thanks to Opposite Reaction for posting this bumper sticker:


To sabra for posting this:


And to Fridays Child for fixing MSNBC's "typo":


This is the blog week that was. Forget that "April showers bring May flowers" rhyme. Osama's living it up in Pakistan? Donning my tin foil Stetson, I have to wonder if this isn't a briar patch set up for a doozy of an October BushCo surprise. (Hmm. Technorati has 292,809 current blog entries on "Osama.") September lies may very well bring October surprises that we won't be able to overcome. What would you do if you were Karl Rove? A presidential election is much easier to steal than hundreds of congressional, state and local ones.

Bush has begun his "Bring 'Em On II" speechifying tour, and it looks like Americans are beginning to wake from this newest in a long line of long Republican national nightmares. This is not the time to relax and coast to victory on November 7th. Keep speaking up, and keep sending those great blog links. We're all in this together, y'all!

-- Delilah Boyd

[Flagrante]

1. Number 6?

Actually I think it was:

#2: I am number 2.
#6: Who is number 1?
#2: You are number 6. (which some speculate is really: You are, number 6.)

/Are we living in The Village yet?