Who Killed Captain America?

[BlogBox]

Which elected Republican/U.S. attorney attacker has already lawyered up? Where can you go to find out what the new Dem congress is up to? Which wingnuts are shrieking the loudest this week? How's life treating you in the Post-Factual Era? Which wingnut blogger has unplugged for good because he's made Olbermann so popular? And which DUers rocked my world this week? For the answers to these and other questions, read on. And enjoy.

Sneaky Pete, Hateful Heather & Mad Doc

If you've been following BushCo's U.S. attorney purge scandal, Down With Tyranny has the goods on Sneaky Pete Domenici and Hateful Heather Wilson, as well as the comical musings of co-criminal, Mad Doc Hastings. Also covering this unfolding story is Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. The latest TPM catch: Sneaky Pete has lawyered up. Pass the popcorn.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hearings!

Thanks to Bob Geiger, we know what's going on on Capitol Hill. Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! There are a whole lotta hearings going on. Hm. Would Republicans have done this? (Stop laughing.) Of course not. Why, we'd hear...

The Shrieking Of The Wingnuts

How pathetic must life be for wingnuts who feel compelled to post their shrieking anti-liberal harpyisms on Hollywood Elsewhere's blog post about casting the new Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame movie? Pretty damned pathetic.

Fortunately, the lambs aren't silent this time. Check out the comments and post your own. You'll be glad you did. While we're on the subject of shrieking wingnuts, Arthur Silber (at Once Upon A Time) admits that he listened to Rush Limbaugh after the Libby verdict. Wow! I had no idea that four guilty verdicts would be good news for Republicans, did you?

I paraphrase (pretty closely to the original): "This is the best news for Republicans and conservatives there could be. All conservatives will now circle the wagons, after going dormant last fall for whatever reason. (Right, I simply cannot imagine what that reason might be.) The more the Democrats and liberals gloat, the better news it is for us. They are POKING THE BEAR! They'll be SORRY!!"

For whatever reason, Rush? How about humiliating voting results that even Diebold couldn't handle for you? Asshat.

Welcome To The Post-Factual Era

The Golden Era, the Depression Era, and the Cold War Era will surely pale in historical comparison to what David Sirota is calling our Post-Factual Era.

The Establishment is reflexively pro-war, and - for obvious reasons of profit making - innately supportive of "free" trade deals that are chock full of corporate protections (patents, copyrights, intellectual property restrictions) but stripped of basic protections for human beings (wages, labor standards, human rights, environmental regulations, etc.).

But still, there is something troubling when these innate biases consume the entire debate and those who have been so utterly and completely right are utterly and completely berated as illegitimate. It speaks to a political discourse where the "reality-based community" is totally replaced by what I would call the "post-factual" era - a period in time where the dialogue does not even pretend to be based on any actual evidence or concrete information and where the most factually wrong are paraded around as the most right. And just a quick look at the chaos in Iraq or the economic havoc being wreaked here at home shows that this "post-factualism" does not bode well for anyone other than the handful of elites at the top.

And what better way to celebrate the post-factual era than to note, as does News Hounds, that FOXSnooze has added Rick Santorum to its (cough) illustrious (cough) roster of rogues.

This week's poster boy for the post-factual era should definitely be Republican presidential wannabe, Mitt Romney. Josh Marshall writes:

TPM Reader JC from Wustah ...

As a resident of Massachusetts (and well happy to be rid of do-nothing Mitt) I have to wonder, when I hear that part of his traveling road show is to ridicule the very people that made him governor, if he wins the White House, can we as a nation look forward to him traveling the globe making fun of the entire country? Might someone ask him that? Please?

There are many apt descriptions of Romney: dangerous, opportunist, flip-flopper. But, really, the guy just has no class. I think even a lot of dyed in the wool conservatives, who have no use for the Bay State, would see it as just shabby for a guy to bash and ridicule folks whose votes he campaigned for and who, until a couple months ago, he was pledged to serve.

Bad News For Bad Warmongers

Who was MIA at this week's CPAC conference? According to eyewitness Mike Stark (blogging for HuffPost):

Exhibit hall is stuffed to the gills. Freedom Alliance. Blogger's row. Heritage Foundation. American Spectator. Clare Booth Luce Foundation... the Koch group... Regent University. Several candidates have booths. Oddly enough, even the ACLU has a booth (even if they are placed in the back corner furthest from Exhibit Hall's entrance).

Oh... but there's one notable - striking, even - absence.

There are no military recruiters here. No United States Marine Corps. No Army, no Navy, no Air Force or National Guard - hell, not even the Coast Guard is here. Thousands and thousands of College Republicans, but not a single recruiter in sight...

Are you shocked? Me either.

Good News For Bad Bloggers?

That's right. A bad blogger thinks his site is responsible for Keith Olbermann's successs. Okay. Whatever. Gutterboy (at Kos) reports that OlbermannWatch is no more. Yes, the wingnut blogger who thought he could bring down Keith Olbermann with lies and more lies has taken his blog and gone home. No tears here, asshat. Of course, what can a failed Pajamas Media wannabe do besides claim that he was responsible for Olbermann's success?

"We have come to the conclusion that we have done more harm than good over the past 2+ years in keeping Olbermann in the public eye at a time when few were watching his show and even less cared about his assault on the journalistic standards we hold dear. So, after careful consideration and consultation with the entire staff, we have decided the time has come to retire OlbermannWatch.com."

As if.

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, and Guilty

Hm. Had Matt Cooper taken notes, we could've added another "guilty" to the list. Funny, isn't it, how the corporate-owned media tried to sidestep this story until the verdicts were announced this week? Now, they're all carping about how much media coverage they gave the Libby trial. Sure. They really covered it, didn't they? They hardly even talked about Anna Nicole Smith. Cough. Anyway, Editor & Publisher has Bush's official comment on Libby's multiple convictions (he's "saddened"), Huffington Post has Juror #9's daily diary (a series), and Crooks & Liars has the video of Joe Wilson's reaction to the verdicts. Watch it. Now, get thee to Media Matters for the Libby media myths and falsehoods to watch for. Before you click away from media Matters, check out wingnut Michael Savage's "Stop stalking me!" email to the site. It's hilarious.

On the March 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, which aired at 6 p.m. ET, five minutes after the email was sent, Savage lashed out at "(t)hose scum-sucking vermin. Those left-wing rats" who he claimed "won't be happy until we're all on prayer rugs waiting to have our heads cut off." He continued: "You ought to be happy, you liberal SOBs, that I am only a talk-show host. You ought to thank God that I have no avariciousness in my soul. You ought to thank God that I'm not power mad like you liberals, because if I ever ran for office, I can guarantee you, you wouldn't be in business too long. I can guarantee you you'd be arrested for sedition within six months of my taking power. I'd have you people licking lead paint, what you did to this country."

Sedition? All of us? Licking lead paint? All of us? Big talk from such a small man. Bring it, Weiner.

If anyone is still feeling sorry for poor little Scooter Scapegoat, a quick look at scooterlibby.com should put the sympathy symptoms to rest. Just look at his benefactors:


Psst! As of this writing, Scooter's website banner still looks like this. Go figure.

Thank A Duer!

Thanks to trumad for catching Google's Freudian slip and/or simple typo:


Thanks to cat_girl25 for posting this eye opener:


And thanks to usregimechange for posting this Salon pic:


How Cooked Is Bush's Goose?

According to More Hockey less War, Bush's goose is cooked 13 ways. Here are the first three of the 13:

As the wheels start to fall off of the Bush administration, I thought it would be appropriate to take stock of the state of things. So here are just a few things that aren't going so hot for our Chimp in Chief.

1. Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's former #1 confidant and adviser, is a convicted liar and obstructer of justice. Libby was one of the highest ranking and most influential members of the Bush administration, and his trial and conviction have exposed criminal corruption all the way to the top of the Bush administration. There can be no doubt, from testimony given and evidence presented, that Scooter Libby lied to take the fall for Dick Cheney and Karl Rove (and ultimately Bush). Juan Cole has an excellent illustrated history of the Cheney/Rove/Libby/Wilson affair.

2. If congress convenes hearings about the Valerie Wilson affair, the malfeasance of all major administration figures could be cast in a most unflattering light.

3. The White House response to the Libby verdict of continued stonewalling has brought criticism from the most unlikely of places: Scott McLellan. The man most famous for his non-answers to the Washington press corps now says this: "I would be advising the White House to get out there and find some way to talk about this in enough detail to answer some of questions that . . . are still hanging out there."

I've got a temperature probe, More Hockey Less War. And we all know just where to stick it.

RIP, Captain America

Warning! Spoiler Alert! Just when we need every hero, fictional or real, diarist.com reports the death of Captain America. Marcel writes: "So in one week, Walter Reed implodes and Captain America is killed. Hmmm."

Hmmm, indeed. But who killed Captain America? Here's an interesting spoiler from IMDB's chat board:

In the 2006 Civil War crossover, Captain America defies the government and the law by leading the Anti-Registration faction and resistance movement against the government, becoming a fugitive in the process and pitting himself against the heroes of the Pro-Registration movement, including his former friend Iron Man. He adopts the alias "Brett Hendrick", a mall security guard, to avoid government detection.(37) As the War continues, Rogers becomes more and more extreme in his desire to win, including allowing the Punisher to join his "Secret Avengers," (though he does not condone the man's willingness to kill) and working (albeit reluctantly) with the Kingpin.(38) In the last issue of the core Civil War series, realizing that his fight against the Registration Act is endangering civilians, he removes and drops his mask to surrender as Steve Rogers. He gives the anti-Registration side the order to stand down. As Captain America is led away, the Punisher picks up the discarded mask.

Captain America is dead. And Marvel Comics execs claim he'll stay dead. But we all know the power of the people, don't we? If we can smash Diebold and effect such a major change with one mid-term election, isn't it time to take our new-found power for a spin and really see what it/we can do? Even if we can't bring back Captain America, we can remember his decades of do-gooding and continue the fight against evil. Who's with me?

-- Delilah Boyd

[papau]

1. When Captain America morphed from WW2 Hero to an anti-war soldier he had to die n/t

n/t

[stellanoir]

2. the symbolism of this event

coupled with the recent confluence of events is truly stunning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x368336

[mentalsolstice]

3. Probably Bill Clinton, he's to blame for everything! n/t