Happy Birthday Flory!!

It's the fabulous Flory's birthday today!!! Maxx sends her many, many purrrrs and offers to share his birthday paté with her. What a nice kitty.

Evil Ratfucker

I'd like to link to the original, but it's slashdotted. So here's a link to Atrios' post on the odious Karl Rove.

Karl Rove Taking Bullets?


Never one to let the facts or delicious irony stand in the way of a vicious political smear, today Karl Rove took a swipe at war heros Sen. John Kerry and Rep. John Murtha, stating, "They may be with you for the first few bullets but they won't be there for the last tough battles." Rove, of course, never served in battle, dodging the draft for nearly three years of the Vietnam War. He's in good company, though-- the Vice President received five deferments from going into battle himself.


"Unfortunately for the American military, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and their merry band of draft-dodgers won't be with you for the first few bullets, the last tough battles, or anywhere along the way," said Christy Setzer, Communications Director, Senate Majority Project.

Perhaps Karl would like to tell america's war veterans what it feels like to actually go to battle? Oh wait, he can't, can he? He is the most despicable man on the face of this earth. Truly.

And I'm with Eli on the "non-indictment" issue. In spite of Jane's postmortem of the day's events, I'm disgusted. Rove helping to get rid of Cheney? Somehow that only seems like it will help the republican establishment.

I know some high level republican operatives here in Austin. They all know Karl Rove really, really well. To a man, they hate him. As one of them told me, "He's brilliant, but he's the most evil, amoral motherfucker I've ever met in my life." The bastard has made a career out of lying, and has been richly rewarded for it.

I will never be satisfied until that evil, fat fuck gets everything that's coming to him.

What all the smart kitties are reading

No comment necessary. Follow Hidey's example and get a copy.

Happy Birthday, Maxx!

Maxx's first birthday card of the day.

This video was made by Jeffraham and Curly- what excellent friends we have!! thanks guys.

Carrots

We prefer carrots to pumpkins anytime.

More plushy noir

For you black and white afficianados. I think Maxx is beautiful in any color palette. (but then I'm prejudiced)

Rules of Engagement

What actually happened at Haditha, and why?

Last night the Washington Post published an account laying out the soldier's side of the story: Marine Says Rules Were Followed. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, and I went to see what I could find out. What exactly are the "Rules of Engagement" in Iraq? A lengthy Lexis Nexis search turns up next to nothing. In disputed incidents going back to Fallujah, the army and the marines frequently cite ROE and state that they've been followed, without ever disclosing what exactly they are.

The WAPO's account of Haditha gives us a window into what is really going on, and it's not pretty:

A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said.

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.

-snip-

Wuterich told his attorney in initial interviews over nearly 12 hours last week that the shootings were the unfortunate result of a methodical sweep for enemies in a firefight. Two attorneys for other Marines involved in the incident said Wuterich's account is consistent with those they had heard from their clients.

Kevin B. McDermott, who is representing Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, the Kilo Company commander, said Wuterich and other Marines informed McConnell on the day of the incident that at least 15 civilians were killed by "a mixture of small-arms fire and shrapnel as a result of grenades" after the Marines responded to an attack from a house.

So there it is. The marines felt threatened, and the ROEs, as they understand them, allow them to "clear houses" and with an apparent disregard for any civilians in the way. Another marine agrees:

Gary Myers, a civilian attorney for a Marine who was with Wuterich that day, said the Marines followed standard operating procedures when they "cleared" the houses, using fragmentation grenades and gunshots to respond to an immediate threat.

-snip-

The defense attorneys said the rules of engagement -- which vary depending on the mission, level of danger and other factors -- are likely to become a central element of their cases because those rules guide how troops can use deadly force on the battlefield. One Marine official said such rules usually require positive identification of a target before shooting but noted that the rules are often circumstantial.

"Once you go back over it, you have to determine if they applied the rules," the Marine official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the Marine Corps does not discuss rules of engagement. "Did they feel threatened? Did they perceive hostile intent or hostile action?"

The article goes on to describe just what "clearing a house" entails:

A four-man team of Marines, including Wuterich, kicked in the door and found a series of empty rooms, noticing quickly that there was one room with a closed door and people rustling behind it, Puckett said. They then kicked in that door, tossed a fragmentation grenade into the room, and one Marine fired a series of "clearing rounds" through the dust and smoke, killing several people, Puckett said.

Although it was almost immediately apparent to the Marines that the people dead in the room were men, women and children -- most likely civilians -- they also noticed a back door ajar and believed that insurgents had slipped through to a house nearby, Puckett said. The Marines stealthily moved to the second house, kicking in the door, killing one man inside and then using a frag grenade and more gunfire to clear another room full of people, he said.

Iraqi survivors disagree with this account, but isn't this account bad enough? Even if they were following the "rules," this is hideous and barbaric. At least some marines agree.

Marine Reserve Lt. Jonathan Morgenstein, who served in Anbar province from August 2004 to March 2005, said that the account offered by Wuterich's attorney surprised him a bit.

"When I was in Iraq," Morgenstein said, "the Anbar-wide ROEs [rules of engagement] did not say we had the authority to knock down any door, throw in a hand grenade and kill everyone." Still, he said, if someone in a house in Haditha was shooting at them, the Marines' response may have been within procedure. "If they felt they took fire from that house, then that may be authorized."

A Marine who served near Haditha in November said it was not unusual for Marines to respond to attacks "running and gunning" and that it was standard practice to spray rooms with gunfire when threatened. "It may be a bad tactic, but it works," he said. "It keeps you alive."

If the american public is in the dark, you can bet that the iraqis are as well. Imagine, you're an iraqi living in a small village and an IED goes off nearby killing an american soldier. The patrol dismounts and storms into your village. What do you do? The soldiers are coming, do you run? Iraqis who did that died. Do you stay indoors with your family, keeping your head down? People that did this died as well, blown to bits when american frag grenades were tossed into their homes.

As I'm typing this, Wuterich's attorney, Puckett, is on CNN giving this same account. He asserts that Wuterich followed instruction from instructors and higher ups in the chain of command and that these ROEs are no different that what was in effect for Falluja. And that all the civilian deaths can be chalked up to "the fog of war." Really? Listen to what he's saying- the army and the marines have made a clear calculation that civilian casualties, while unfortunate, are part of the price. And that american lives are clearly more precious than iraqi lives.

It would have been nice to ask the iraqi public if they were willing to pay this price before we went in and blew the fuck out of their country.

Spooky House part deux

By request- Eli wanted to see the spooky house photo in black and white. I'll let you all be the judge of which version you prefer. I like them both, though I think the black and white version is more ominous.

Hibiscus

My new hibiscus plant exploded in blooms overnight. It must be a liberal plant- no conservative plant would ever indulge in such a wanton, decadent, riotous display of color!

Skyline

A not so great photo of the Austin skyline taken from the Crenshaw Bridge at Townlake.

Saturday afternoon kitty blogging

Maxx will keep you company while I'm out today.

Retro Plush

Have we ever had black and white plushy? I think not.

Space News

This Image shows the central region of the Trifid Nebula (M20) taken by the Gemini North 8-meter Telescope on Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. Two US astronomers have discovered huge quantities of carbon gas mixed with a cloud of dust surrounding a young, yellow star that could resemble our own solar system at its inception, NASA said.(AFP/Gemini Observatory/File)

More here: Primeval solar system discovered

Tiger babies!!

AP/Jesse Cohen

Little baby plushy striped guys. Just in time for friday kitty blogging.

Buh bye, Bugman

The Texas Democratic Party has concocted a wonderful going away gift for the poster boy for bad government. The Texas Democratic Party filed suit against the republicans to keep them from replacing Delay on the ballot. Here's the language from the lawsuit:

The Texas Election Code permits a candidate to withdraw. However, the Legislature attached a cost to withdraw after a primary. If a candidate withdraws after his party’s primary, the party cannot substitute another candidate for the withdrawing candidate. The reason for this rule is simple – the Legislature did not want the candidates duping voters into contributing money and energy to the candidate in the primary, only to watch the candidate take the money and run, not in the general election, but to the bank. So the law places the burden on the party in whose primary the candidate ran – in this instance the Republican party – to make sure that candidates in the party’s primary intend to and will run in the general election. If the Party fails to impose this discipline, the penalty is that the Party cannot insert another candidate into the race for District 22.

And guess what? today Judge Darlene Byrne granted a temporary restraining order. The money shot is in her order:

"Plaintiffs are entitled to a Temporary Restraining Order because it is probable they will prevail against Defendant and obtain a permanent injunction . If the Temporary Restraining Order is not granted, irreparable harm is imminent, as the meeting (the local District Executive Committee) is expected to be called at any moment. My emphasis added.

Let the gnashing of teeth and wailing commence!!

Delay is a hideous, odious little fuck. No one in the world is going to miss him when he's gone.

Some more plush

Mr. Plushy!!

An alternative to the sun

AP/Dita Alankara

And it's a lot closer. Just saying.

Blogger returns!!

I shall celebrate by giving everyone some random plushiness.

This Violent Man

Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Bombing iraqis agrees with him.

Shot into the Sun!!!!

Via Buphonia comes this amazing photograph of the surface of the sun, which coincidentally, looks EXACTLY like I imagine it would if a conservative were shot into it.

The surface of the sun as observed by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) in high temporal and spatial resolution. From coronal filaments, loops and mass ejections, magnetic arcades, ultraviolet and X-ray storms, and escaping prominences, earth-bound to create spectacular auroral displays or to wreak havoc on power grids and satellite telecommunication systems -- all archived in one giant database.

Excellent!!

Thanks, Phila.

Evening plush

Lion kitty Maxx is wondering when a pretty atriette or two is going to come by to scritch his chin.

Iraq

Peeance and freeance march on. Cartoon by Ben Sargent, the pulitzer winning cartoonist from the Austin American Statesman.

Reform this, MOFO

AP/Charles Dharapak


Chimpy wants to require immigrants to learn english and to study history. Perhaps he should set an example and do that himself.

Just wondering, but is it even remotely possible for chimpy to appear in public without looking like an ass?

random flower blogging

A hibiscus blossom from my porch. Very festive.

Happy Birthday Eli!!

Everyone should go to Mulitmedium and congratulate him on surviving the apocolypse.

Oh, wait? that didn't happen yesterday? Happy birthday anyhoo!! Mr. Plushy sends you a hairball.

A extra dose of Maxx

Just cause I feel like it.

He blinded me with SCIENCE!!

Maxx has decided that if no one in the Bush administration will get serious about science, he will.

Andromeda Revealed!!

This color-coded Chandra image (red/low energy, green/medium energy, and blue/high energy X-rays) shows the central region of the Andromeda Galaxy, where a diffuse, X-ray emitting cloud of hot gas was discovered in the midst of a collection of point-like sources. Credit: NASA/UMass/Z.Li/Q.D.Wang

Via Space.com:

A flurry of new images from ground and space telescopes is refining astronomers' ideas about the Milky Way's galactic neighbor Andromeda.

The images were taken with NASA's Spitzer and Chandra Space Telescopes and at the Gemini North Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The pictures reveal new details about Andromeda's central bulge and inner disk, while also peering into its very heart to uncover the source of mysterious pinpricks of light. Meanwhile, a mosaic made from thousands of individual images captures the total amount of infrared light emitted by the galaxy, allowing astronomers to calculate Andromeda's "weight" and determine how many stars form in the galaxy per year.

The new images were presented Monday at the 208th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Calgary, Canada.

More here: Andromeda Revealed: New Closeups of a Galactic Neighbor.

Gobsmacked (cause the AP really sucks ass)

Via Talking Points Memo I see that John Solomon has won a $500 weekly prize for his seriously flawed reporting on Harry Reid.

Unbelievable. Apparently his editors are clinging to the premise that all publicity is good publicity. They cite the fact that it was "the most talked about political story of the week- twice" but fail to note that it was talked about because the story was dead wrong and most sensible people were flummoxed by the AP's refusal to acknowledge the facts or to correct the record.

This is the Associated Press we're speaking of.

I'm kind of speechless here. Watching journalism die a slow death is proving to be quite painful.

56 Kidnapped in Baghdad

Good god. Yesterday in Iraq, 56 people were rounded up in a brazen kidnapping, in full view of the Ministry of Justice in Bahgdad. They have vanished, their fates unknown.

BAGHDAD, June 5 -- "Turn back," a friend told Haji Abu Shamaa as he walked Monday morning toward his money-changing shop in the Karkh neighborhood of central Baghdad, a mile north of the heavily guarded Green Zone. "The Interior Ministry police are rounding up people."

But Shamaa walked on, right into a swift, coordinated operation unfolding within sight of Iraq's Ministry of Justice. Gunmen in police uniforms and ski masks had cordoned off the street and were swiftly shoving captives, four or five at a time, into a dozen waiting pickup trucks. Fifteen minutes later, the trucks were gone, and so were 56 people.

The roundup displayed all the signs of an unrelenting kidnapping epidemic in Baghdad. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, more than 400 foreigners have been abducted in Iraq, but thousands more Iraqis have been snatched from the streets, often by people wearing knockoff police uniforms that are easily purchased at local markets.

Bahgdad is so lawless that ordinary citizens cannot go to work without fear of being kidnapped and murdered.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our congress is preparing to spend 3 days debating the horror of Ted and Bill's fabulous wedding.

My disgust knows no bounds.

Oooof!!

Okay, this is taking "dashing" to an extreme. Can you atriettes stand it?

Not Hawaii!!

Since we're on the subject of bad news, National Geographic is reporting that Global Warming May Swamp Hawaiian Wildlife.

A chain of tiny, remote Hawaiian islands could become the largest marine sanctuary in the U.S. as soon as next year.

But the rare wildlife living there could disappear beneath the waves by the end of this century because of global warming, a new study warns.

A team of Hawaii-based scientists calculates that two-thirds of some islands in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) could be submerged by 2100.

That sucks.

Wankers

I don't know what's making me madder, the republican push to enshrine their bigotry and hate into the constitution or their refusal to deal with actual problems. They know this amendment has zero chance of passing, and yet they plan on spending 3 days debating it in the senate. All to placate the 29 percenters.

At least Arlen Spector is being honest about it (though that doesn't excuse him from being a freaking douchebag):

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he will vote against the measure on the floor but allowed it to get there in part to give the GOP the debate party leaders believe will pay off on Election Day. Specter has chosen a different battle with the Bush administration this week — a hearing Tuesday on the ways the FBI spies on journalists who publish classified information.

Really, could they just fucking stop wasting the country's time and money?

Sundays are for napping

Peeance and Freeance

AFP/Essam Al-Sudani

An Iraqi soldier walks on blood in the entrance to a mosque in Basra.

Meanwhile, Gunman dragged 24 students from their cars and executed them as violence raged across Iraq on Sunday.

The victims included youths of around 15-16 years who were on their way to the bigger regional town of Baquba to write end of term exams, but also elderly men, they said.

"(The attackers) dragged them one by one from their cars and executed them," said a police official.

The killings took place in Diyala province, scene of frequent attacks by insurgents waging a campaign of bombings and shootings to topple the U.S.-backed, Shi'ite-led government.

Some tried to flee but were gunned down, a police source said. Reuters photographs showed six men shot in the chest, including one old man and five young men.

In Iraq's south, a Sunni religious group accused security forces in the Shi'ite-run city of Basra of killing 12 unarmed worshippers in a mosque early on Sunday, but police said they had returned fire and shot dead nine terrorists.

The incident came just hours after a car bomb killed 28 people in Basra, challenging a state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to crack down on criminal gangs and Shi'ite factions whose feuding threatens oil exports.

So much for that turning point.

Pretty picture

AP/Jacques Brinon

How I wish I were in Paris.

Saturday evening lion kitty

Who is that handsome kitty?

The Gift of the Nile

Just when I had begun to fear that Billmon had been devoured by an evil mummy, his bloody remains strewn about some dark tomb, he returns with a luminous account of his train trip up the Nile to Luxor.

Go read: The Gift of the Nile

I can hardly wait for the next installment.

Flight Fight

Bence Máté/National Geographic

"Two herons fight over a fish snatched from a hole in an ice-covered lake in Pusztaszer, Hungary. Neither bird won. During the quarrel the fish fell to the ice, and another hungry heron snagged the catch."

Beautiful.

Everyone loves Plush

I saw this on my way to lunch downtown today. Now we know where lion kitty Maxx has been disappearing to.

That scamp!

No Monuments, eh?

I'm still a little stunned by the story that DHS slashed security grants to New York City and Washington, DC. This is really ridiculous:

New York has no national monuments or icons, according to the Department of Homeland Security form obtained by ABC News. That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent--from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006.

"All I can tell you is if you look at their worksheets, and it says that New York City doesn't have any high visibility national icons ... I mean, I don't have to list the Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Stock Exchange," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in response to ABC News' questions.

The formula did not consider as landmarks or icons: The Empire State Building, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty and others found on several terror target hit lists. It also left off notable landmarks, such as the New York Public Library, Times Square, City Hall and at least three of the nation's most renowned museums: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and The Museum of Natural History.

Tonight's NYTimes article, US Faults New York's Anti-Terrorism Plan, has more details.

The federal agency distributing $711 million in antiterrorism money to cities around the nation found numerous flaws in New York City's application and gave poor grades to many of its proposals.

Its criticism extended to some of the city's most highly publicized counterterrorism measures.

In a report that outlines why it cut back New York City's share of antiterrorism funds by roughly 40 percent, the Department of Homeland Security was so critical of some highly viewed local measures — like Operation Atlas, in which hundreds of extra police officers carry out counterterrorism duties around the city each day — that the Police Department and other city agencies must now seek further federal approval before drawing on the money they were given to pay for those programs.

Okay, right. The federal agency that twiddled their fingers while New Orleans drowned is criticizing NYC?? And we learn this:

The city's application was evaluated by so-called peer-review panels of five to seven people with varying backgrounds from 47 states and affirmed by government analysts at the Department of Homeland Security.

Angry officials in New York zeroed in on the peer review process yesterday, trying to determine who evaluated the programs and whether their judgments were clouded by a desire to steer security money to their own areas. City officials questioned whether the reviewers had expertise in antiterrorism efforts.

I'll tell you what their judgements were clouded by. It's called "head-up-your-ass syndrome" complicated by a desire to help republican congressmen in trouble.

The Holy Tomato

Richard Perry/NYTimes

This photo was running on the NYTimes.com homepage with the caption "Faith Nights, a spiritual twist on Frisbee Nights and Bat Days, are becoming popular ballpark promotions."

I didn't know that tomatoes and pickles were divinities. The things you can learn on these here internets.

Congratulation Plushy

Lion kitty Maxx would like to congratulate Sallyh on her Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching and NYMary on landing her job.

He sends many purrrrrs.

Enough already

Tweety just now on Hard-on-for-Hillaryball: "I wish everyone could see this article in the NYTimes about the Clintons. We should link to it! I should send it to everyone!!" He goes on to blather about how the entire democratic establishment "....is a-buzz" about the article.

No Chris, just you and your panty-sniffing buddy Broder are a-buzz about it. The rest of the country doesn't give a fuck.

Tweety is positively giddy that "the liberal NY Times printed the story." "The floodgates are open!" he cries "It's a legitimate story!!" I'm surprised he didn't have an orgasm on the air.

Egad, how disgusting.

Hey Tweety, put your tongue back in your mouth and put your little micro-dick back in your pants before you rub it right off.

At last, some plush

Found him. Little stinker, hanging out on the porch.

Daily Life if Iraq

Reuters/Helmiy Al-Azawi

Tell me again about the progress we're making? I can't quite see it.

Beg, beg, beg

Go give that major league whiner, Ntodd, some hits for his blog-a-thon before he begins sobbing again.

Then come back and participate in the Plush-Life 10 BEEELLION Hit blog-a-thon!!

sleepy

Lion kitty Maxx is sleepy and so am I.

Rapture??

AFP/Gali Tibbon

Has the rapture started?? I call dibs on a wingnut's house!


(Jerusalem fireworks : Fireworks light up the sky over the golden Dome of the Rock Mosque at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's old city, a day before the official celebrations to mark 39 years for the unification of Jerusalem since Israel wrested east Jerusalem from Jordanian control during the Arab-Israeli war on June 7, 1967.)

Just for Vicki

Lion kitty Maxx would like to hug you cause he's worried about your high blood pressure.

Memorial Day plush

Maxx thinks we should honor the soldiers by bringing them home. He'd also like me to quit flashy-thinging him.

We own it

AP/Khalid Mohammed

Kevin Drum weighs in on the Haditha massacre.

What an appalling and tragic story. It is, I suppose, only a tiny blot compared to the carnage that Iraqi militants inflict on each other every single day in this endless and brutal war, but this one is our blot.

Dear Kevin, it's nice that you recognize that Haditha is a terrible thing, but it would be nice if you could remember that none of the carnage would be happening if we hadn't embarked on our ill-advised war. We broke the country, and we're responsible for everything that has happened since.

A "tiny blot" you suppose? Don't be such a wanker. The whole endless, bloody mess is our blot.

La Joconde

Behold!! Michelangelo's greatest work!

The things one learns on the internets. Amazing!

Sunday night plushy

This is a picture from a couple of months ago. Lion kitty is out prowling, and I haven't felt like taking pictures today.

More Hidey