Friday Malamute Blogging

It's getting cooler. His winter coat is coming in. He wants out NOW!

"Childrens Do Learn"

Yes, Virginia, George Bush is right—childrens do learn. One day in the near future, childrens in Washington state will think apprehensively of the freakishly tall young man conducting storytime in Byrning Books Library, and this memory will haunt them and spur their quest to find that elusive blogger forever and ever.... But I digress... because the real question is: do George learn?

Bill O'Reilly: Surprised he's a racist

...which surprises no one else.

And I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship.

He clearly sees his audience as white and just as stupid as he is.

O'REILLY: No, no, I mean, I like that soul food. I had the meatloaf special. I had coconut shrimp. I had the iced tea. It was great.

From Little Rock to Jena, LA

How far we haven't come. Fifty years after he and eight other black teenagers were escorted by federal troops into an all-white high school in Little Rock, Terrance Roberts made a sad but accurate observation:

"This country has demonstrated over time that it is not prepared to operate as an integrated society."

Look no further then Jena, LA and the case of the Jena 6. The story isn't complicated, but it is interesting how so many details get left out of the telling. Read Listen to me for a minute for a detailed timeline. Friends of Justice has a great post called Why the "liberal" media doesn't get Jena.

I am disturbed by the growing tendency of mainstream journalists to jump from the nooses to Justin Barker’s swollen eyes without mentioning the chain of events that link these graphic and disturbing images. We don’t hear about Reed Walter’s pen. We don’t hear about the fire that destroyed the central academic wing of the High School. We don’t hear about Robert Bailey, Jr. getting attacked at a dance. We don’t hear about a white youth threatening black youth with a shotgun outside the Gotta Go convenience store. We don’t hear about Justin Barker and his buddies talking trash with black students during the lunch hour.

In fact, many journalists have latched onto US Attorney Donald Washington’s bizarre claim that there is no discernible link between the noose incident and the assault on Justin Barker. Anyone familiar with the facts of this story can only gasp in disbelief at this suggestion. But most journalists don’t know the facts. Last Friday, on the LaSalle Parish Courthouse lawn, I told an NBC reporter that they needed to get a person of equal prominence to Donald Washington (Charles Ogletree?) to rebut his allegations. The man was unimpressed. “He’s got access to the evidence,” he replied. “Who else knows as much about the story?”

I told him I had access to all the facts Washington had seen. To prove it, I began rattling off the disturbing undeniable links between the nooses and the swollen eyes. “You’re kidding me,” the man said. “Really?” “Oh my God, I hadn’t heard that.” This is the guy who was helping to shape the story for the NBC Nightly News!

And now the white supremacists are riding into town, whipping up the hatred and fear, with their laptops under their sheets, publishing on their web site the phone numbers and addresses of the black teenagers called the Jena 6. White residents of Jena are afraid to openly support these six students. And you gotta love Reed Walters, the lawyer representing the school board. Not only is he the prosecuting district attorney in the case, he brought police to the high school and threatened protesting black students, “I could end your lives with the stroke of a pen.”

Seems like old times.

UPDATE: It gets worse.

...the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind."
...

McMillin has insisted that his town is being unfairly portrayed as racist—an assertion the mayor repeated in an interview with Richard Barrett, the leader of the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist group based in Learned, Miss., who asked McMillin to "set aside some place for those opposing the colored folks."

"I am not endorsing any demonstrations, but I do appreciate what you are trying to do," Barrett quoted McMillin as saying. "Your moral support means a lot."
...

Barker's father, David, said his family did not know the nature of Barrett's group when they agreed to be interviewed, adding, "I am not a white supremacist, and neither is my son."

But Barrett said he explained his group and its beliefs to the Barker family, who then invited him to stay overnight at their home on the eve of last week's protest march.

Rev. Jesse Jackson told the Tribune that he had grown so concerned about white extremists' threats against the Jena 6 families and perceived injustices in the town that he called the White House over the weekend to ask for immediate federal intervention. Jackson said the acting head of the U.S. Justice Department's civil right division phoned him Monday to say that the agency had begun investigating the Jena situation.

The Barker family, the family of the white teenager who was beaten, allegedly by the six black youths, INVITED the leader of a white supremacist group to stay overnight at their home on the eve of last week's protest march.

Troops coined "General BetrayUS"

Here's an interesting bit of news I first read on The Group News Blog:

First off let's be clear about who David Petraeus is. He is someone who takes credit where credit is not due. Someone who is very competitive and has shown that he cares little for the line troops that make his commands. Some of the only interactions that his men have had with him have involved him choppering in and pinning a purple heart on the lucky man that is pointed out to him by his aides and hopping back on the chopper. It's the best way to maintain those starched cammies. This guy was responsible for securing the weapons and explosive caches in Iraq. He was not supposed to rush to glory by bypassing towns to try to enter Baghdad first. He was supposed to destroy or guard all those AK-47's currently being used to shoot our troops to death, and he was supposed to stop the distribution all tons of explosives to bomb makers in Iraq. You have to understand the nickname Betrayus came from Iraq. There is not a 11B who doesn’t know this nickname. It’s his fuckups with weapons and explosives that garnered him the name. He was also supposed to train the Iraqi security forces. You remember those. The ones were we had 100 battalions, and then we have 23 battalions and then 3. The more security forces Petraeus trained the fewer we had. They sent his ass back to Kansas after that debacle.

And an article in the TimesOnline also referred to:

Critics, including one recently retired general, are privately calling him “General Betraeus” on the grounds that he is too ambitious to deliver a balanced report on the war.

And DailyKos links to a comment from 2005 on BLACKFIVE, a PajamasMedia blog, of all places that confirms the troops-Betrayus origins.

Hmmm...now if any or all of this information was broadcast on your nightly news program alongside the MoveOn.org ad it would clear up alot of misunderstanding and bullshit floating around out there.

Saturday Malamute Blogging

Crazy puppy likes to view the world upside down.

This is how to handle the FOX censors

Rice and Beans: Not just a common food staple

I'm not even sure what to think of this:

In the book and on the show, Kessler described how Rice's "closest male friend" is openly gay, a man by the name of Coit D. Blacker, a Stanford professor (Rice was provost at Stanford in the late 1990s for six years) and a Democrat who served in the Clinton administration. Blacker, whose partner is also mentioned, advised Al Gore's campaign in 2000, while his close friend Rice became a chief confidante to a president who has tried to make gays into second class citizens in the U.S. Constitution. But wait, it gets better.

Rice's "closest female friend" is a woman named Randy Bean (pictured here), who is unmarried and whose sexual orientation is not stated. She is described as a "liberal progressive;" she's a documentary filmmaker who works at Stanford University and once worked for Bill Moyers. She and Rice and Blacker (again, who has a partner) are discussed as a "second family," a term Bean uses, also saying that, "on friends, [Rice] goes narrow and deep."

According to newly revealed information in the book (which Kessler found through real estate records), the two women, Rice and Bean (yes, hilarious), own a home together and have a line of credit together. Bean explains this to Kessler by saying that she had some medical bills that drained her financially years ago, and Rice and Blacker helped her out by buying the house with Bean. But over time Blacker sold his share of the house to Rice and Bean, and then Rice would later get the line of credit with Bean to do some renovations on the home. Kessler, when pressed, said he did not know if this meant there was something more to the relationship between the women beyond a friendship.

OK. Let's review: Coit Blacker, closest male friend to Condo, advised Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign. Condo's closest female friend is a documentary filmmaker who worked with Bill Moyers. I can't even get my mind around the incestuousness of this scenario. Whether Condo is a lesbian is beside the point.

Condo serves an administration that demonizes gays and lesbians and liberal progressives. But she parties with her best friend and his male lover, and owns a home and shares a line of credit with her other best friend, a liberal progressive, with no apparent guilt over these monumental betrayals. And no apparent guilting or rejection from the best friends, either. The disconnect here, on all sides, is worthy of a sociopath. Which brings us to Condo's bestest friend, George Bush. But that's a whole 'nother blog...

I've always thought Gore was advised by persons on the GOP payroll, but this is through-the-Looking-Glass material. Beyond Carville and Matalin, beyond Animal Farm and 1984, even.

Loyalty = treachery. Faithful = traitorous.

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when these best friends get together.

From the Dept. of Hubris and Lost Causes

Wow.

On Friday, Sept. 14, Alan Keyes filed a Statement of Candidacy...with the Federal Election Commission--thus officially announcing as a Republican candidate for President of the United States.

Madame Secretary? How's the invasion going?

How does the Secretary of State have time to write a book, in the middle of, not one war, but two wars, much less promote it on the NYT OpEd page ?

Maybe it's about the US invasion of Iraq...well that's questionable, but understandable.

Maybe it's about how the worst terrorist attack on American soil happened on her watch as National Security Advisor...yeah, that'll be the day.

Nope, my friends, it's about campaigning. This is a version of shoe-shopping while people are drowning in New Orleans.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Kodi generally pays no attention to the many storefronts we walk by regularly...
...until now.

New Mexico Green Chile in Chicago

My Hatch, NM green chile arrived today! I'm roasting 22 lbs of chile tonight!

Madeleine L'Engle 1918-2007

So sad.

Madeleine L’Engle, who in writing more than 60 books, including childhood fables, religious meditations and science fiction, weaved emotional tapestries transcending genre and generation, died Thursday in Connecticut. She was 88.

Her death, of natural causes, was announced today by her publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Back when I thought I wanted to be a scientist I took my cues from books like A Wrinkle in Time and A Ring of Endless Light. I still like my science sprinkled liberally with poetry, mysticism and teen angst. Her heroines were usually awkward, smart dreamers refreshingly removed the mire of adolescent drama. Even now when I read the books I still find them a cut above usual fiction. I've only read one of her "adult" novels, so I can't really say much about them. The one I did read, A Live Coal in the Sea, doesn't quite rise to the occasion. The stakes are adult and real but fail to capture the imagination. Instead of something new and interesting, we're left with a moderately smart soap opera. But I think there's something more valuable to what she could do with her young adult fiction, something that absorbs and heals those old teenage hurts even after we've passed into the adult world.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Not sure why Kodi looks so small here in one of his favorite spots. He's hiding from the thunder in the very middle of the house.

Third Time...?

I was truly hoping that there would be a Karl Rove revelation to complete our humiliating outing trilogy but the Larry Craig story is good enough for me. Kos has the best coverage so far. Apparently, this goes way back.

One man, who was considering pledging with Craig's fraternity at the U of I in 1967, said Craig took him to his room and made what the man said he took to be an invitation to sex. Responding to that allegation in May, Craig said, "I don't hit on any men."

Another man said that in November 1994 Craig "cruised" him at the REI store in Boise. The man, who is gay, told the Statesman that Craig stared at him in a sexually inviting way and followed him around for a half-hour. Said Craig: "Once again, I'm not gay, and I don't cruise, and I don't hit on men. I have no idea how he drew that conclusion. A smile? Here is one thing I do out in public: I make eye contact, I smile at people, they recognize me, they say, ‘Oh, hi, Senator.' Or, ‘Do I know you?'

"I've been in this business 27 years in the public eye here. I don't go around anywhere hitting on men, and by God, if I did, I wouldn't do it in Boise, Idaho! Jiminy!"...

Josh Marshall has the arrest report here. He makes a pretty valid point concerning discrepancy between the actual reported incident and the fallout

The rubbed shoe (see police report) seems unambiguous to me. With that assumption, it's still clear that the whole thing didn't get far enough for Craig to 'do' anything lewd. But I'm not sure that matters since obviously you can get hauled off to jail for agreeing to purchase sex from a prostitute even before things get freaky.

Given what's described, it seems quite possible that, with a good lawyer, Craig could have beaten the rap.

But had he tried, it would have become public and it would have been pretty clear -- clear enough to doom him politically -- that Craig is gay and that he gets sex in public restrooms.

Josh is right. Craig didn't actually DO anything as blatant as offering oral sex to the cop. The actions reported in the police report are pretty flimsy and seem designed to ferret out gays before they actually have sex in public places. Which makes this incident even more ironic, homophobic law practices contributing to the outing a closeted homophobic politician

Looks Like An Epidemic

What the hell is up with Republican men these days?

It seems that the newly elected leader of the Young Republican National Federation has been forced to step down amid allegations that he sexually assaulted another man after a Young Republicans party. Details are still emerging, but the accused man, Glenn Murphy, was a rising star in the Indiana GOP, and his resume includes the leadership of the Clark County Republicans -- a relationship that no longer exists -- and also a position within a consulting firm that has represented Republican politicians such as former Rep. Mike Sodrel.

(Snip)

The alleged assault of the 22-year-old man took place in the Jeffersonville, Indiana home of his sister following a Young Republican party in which both Murphy and the 22-year-old man had been in attendance. The victim's sister had urged both men to spend the night at her home because of the amount of alcohol the two had consumed during the party. The victim awoke in the morning to find Murphy performing oral sex on him according to the report. When the victim asked Murphy what he was doing, he responded: "He was holding his dick with one hand and sucking my dick with his mouth."

Assuming that the victim in question isn't a scary African American, I predict that this latest incident will be explained away by revelations of rogue gay bombs going off at GOP get-togethers.

Rep. Bob Allen: Negrophobia Made Me Do It!

Why did Rep. Bob Allen, (R-FL), offer to blow an undercover police officer AND pay the officer $20 to let me him do it? According to FOX News in Tampa Bay:

Police released taped statements from a state leader accused of trying to buy sex in a men's room. State Representative Bob Allen says he was feeling nervous and offered sex to get away from a man he didn't trust.
...

"He goes, you want $20 if i give you (oral sex). I'm like I don't want (oral sex), but I'll tell ya... I can give you one. What if I give you one?" said Allen.

Allen also warned the man of undercover cops. "I said they're around here, you ought to know about that."

Allen didn't know he was talking to a policeman until he pulled out a badge. He explained his behavior shortly after his arrest.

"This (undercover officer) is a pretty stocky black guy, and there's other black guys around in the park that—you know!"

Allen said he was also frightened of the weather. So he fled to the men's room.
...

"I went ahhh -- I'm about to be a statistic..."

Negrophobia. It's sweeping the nation.

Better keep an eye on the weather, too.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Staying inside where it's cool on a hot, humid day.

Bush's Colonscopy: His Head Still Up His Ass

Once again doctors from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, failed to remove George W. Bush's head from his own ass. Although they did remove 5 polyps which will be tested and possibly tortured to obtain information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden.

During the procedure, Vice President "Dick" Cheney ruled the world from an undisclosed location.

Friday Malamute Blogging