I’m hoping this turns out well, because I lost interest in V and Flash Forward in record time.

One of the things I don’t understand about the reaction to trying KSM and others is why people on the right are reacting the way they are. After 9/11, the general attitude was one of defiance- “we’re gonna rebuild the World Trade Center bigger than it was before.” I remember people suggesting we should build the new WTC in the shape of a middle finger to show the terrorists we won’t take it:

And who can forget Michelle Malkin’s ridiculous I am John Doe Manifesto? That was just a couple years ago. What happened to the right wing swagger? When did they turn into such a bunch of scared wimps? When did they go from standing there in the rubble with George Bush and his megaphone to hiding under Dick Cheney’s desk cowering in fear?

Personally, I can’t think of anything more defiant than taking KSM, frog-marching him through Manhattan, giving him a fair trial, and then sending him to prison forever or executing him. That is how you show the terrorists that we aren’t going to be fazed.

For goodness sakes, right wingers. Man up for a change. I honestly think I liked the belligerent cowboy right-wingers better than the diaper-clad bed-wetters we have now.

Bengals 18, Steelers 12. They beat us at home more definitively than they beat us at their place, swept the series for the season, and you just can’t come to any conclusion other than that the Bengals are the better team this year.

Via NoMoreMisterNiceGuy, I see that Newsweek seems to have devoted an entire issue to Sarah Palin. As I said earlier, with Sarahcuda dribbling through a full-court press from the media (I’m not sure who I’m parodying here, but it’s someone), Playgirl’s got to pull the trigger on the Levi issue ASAP.

Anyway, the Newsweek analysis isn’t entirely stupid, though it does push the “center-right” nation bullshit. One piece compares her to Barry Goldwater, which I think is wrong. I agree with this email from a reader, suggesting she is more like a cross between Carrie Prejean and Rudy Giuliani:

Palin/Prejean

I haven’t seen many comments about the similarities in the behavior of these two beauty queens.

Both expect to be treated with deference by journalists, and accuse the most milquetoast of old, male interviewers of bias.

They’re both conservative fundamentalist megachurch attendees.

Much of what they say is later proven to be a lie.

Both quit their day job to cash in.

Both have big skeletons in their closets, if you believe Levi Johnston.

Both have a gay blogger nemesis.

I think if you try to understand Palin as a beauty queen, it really explains her behavior as AK Gov—it was just a title to her, and she loved the ceremonial aspects while she dodged the real work. That’s also why I don’t really take her seriously as a candidate. She’s never going to do the work to win enough primaries to get the GOP nomination. Her campaign will look a lot like Rudy Guiliani’s—well financed, based on a few minutes of fame, and ultimately unable to engage with primary voters.

(I admit that this post was partly an excuse to use this title suggestion from South of I-10.)

Should be a good game, and JenJen and I have a friendly wager.

Lily is rocking her game day collar, Tunch is having a pre-game meal, I’ve got the new Heath Miller jersey on and the terrible Towel out, and I didn’t want to cook so I’ve got some gut bomb wings en route.

Looking forward to this one today. Go Steelers!

*** Update ***

Why is Frank Luntz on the CBS pregame show?

grendelkhan, Squirrel Profile.

Rob, Mustache Lizard. Phukradung National Park, Thailand.

Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

Click on the photos for a link to the photographer’s website. To see all photo threads, click on ‘photo blogging’ at the bottom of the post.

If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com.

It really is killing these guys that Obama isn’t just immediately plowing tons of troops and billions of dollars into something without any idea what we are trying to accomplish:

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivered a scathing criticism of President Obama’s Afghanistan strategy Friday night, accusing the president of delivering rhetoric and not action in the war-torn country.

Quoting from a speech Obama delivered in March, Romney agreed with the president “that ‘we are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that threatens the United States, our friends and allies.”’ Romney continued on seconding the president: “I believe ‘that to succeed, we and our friends and allies must reverse the Taliban’s gains, and promote a more capable and accountable Afghan government.’”

But Romney went on to criticize Obama for not holding enough meetings with top generals, and inadequately preparing for the elections in Afghanistan.

Obama has met with his generals and national security team eight times in the past few weeks to understand the situation. Mitt Romney’s access to information has been limited to reading Sarah Palin’s facebook scribblings.

Why does anyone take these people seriously?

From an interesting piece about substituting pop-Christianity for clinical treatment of war-induced psychological disorders (via Sully):

In 2008 the RAND Corporation put a number on the problem, reporting that one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has suffered some form of mental illness, mostly PTSD and depression.

“God doesn’t like ugly,” one political appointee told Paul Sullivan, an analyst in the VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration, in a clumsy attempt to reduce the cost of caring for psychologically traumatized veterans. “You need to make the numbers lower.”

The whole article is well-worth reading. The passage Sully quotes is good too, particularly this disturbing bit from VA Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Michael McLendon:

The claims, he said, are “costing us too much money,” and if the veterans “believed in God and country . . . they would not come home with PTSD.”

I did some searchers on “dithering” in the New York Times and Washington Post archives. In the Times, there were eleven uses of the word post-Cheney out of a total of 47 in the past year. In the Post, there were 36 post-Cheney out of a total of 46 in the past 12 months.

Michael Gerson, Jackson Diehl, and David Broder have all accused the president of “dithereing” post-Cheney. Gerson also used the phrase about a week before Cheney’s speech. Ronald Krebs and Dana Milbank also wrote pieces accusing Obama of dithering before Cheney’s speech (Jim Hoagland also wrote a piece, praising the dithering). The phrase seems to have originated with Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation” on October 4.

It’s interesting how these words take off and I think it’s likely that neocons settled on it and that Krebs, Gerson, and Cheney all using it within a week of each other was no accident (Diehl and Broder fall more in the category of useful idiots).

The word “dithering” appeared only once on the NYT’s editorial page, in a Maureen Dowd piece satirizing Cheney.

Update. This is apropos of John’s last post, for those to whom that isn’t obvious.

Update. Halperin fronts Broder channeling Cheney. The circle is complete. Tinkers to Evers to Chance.

Here is a fun game for you while you watch the show. Go to the wingnut blogs, do a search for the word “dithering,” and count how many uses came before Dick Cheney’s speech and how many came after. I’ll be shocked if any of them ever used it before Darth Cheney gave them their talking points (22 October), but now it is the only word they know.

Automatons.

Truly, this blogoverse is an amazing space. Twenty four hours ago, I did not even know there was such a musical category as ‘paganfolk’, and yet a commentor’s request concerning the translation of Japanese katakana led to a discussion of medieavalist music which led me to spend way too much time on YouTube (and too much money at Dancing Ferret)...

So now I have a request: Can anyone here tell me where I can get a copy of Faun’s DVD Ornament without ordering it from Europe?

I realize this is nut-picking but I was a bit surprised to see a local right-wing blog praying for Obama’s death (via).

Psalm 109:8 – May his days be few; may another take his office.

I guess I don’t get it, in a way, because Joe Biden would just become president then. Maybe they’re concurrently praying for his death.

But that would just make Nancy Pelosi president.

How far down do you have to go in the order of succession before a Republican becomes president?

Update. Via the comments, apparently they need to be praying for the deaths of Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Robert Byrd, Hillary Clinton, and Tim Geithner. That gets you to Robert Gates.

A metaphysical question: can God create a line of succession so long that He cannot kill everyone on it?

Here it is, in a nutshell:

News that the federal government seems interested in transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Thomson Correctional Center was greeted warmly in this small, rural farm town along the Iowa border.

After holding out hope that the sprawling $145 million prison might improve the economic conditions in this remote area of the state, residents say any prisoners would be a welcomed sight.

“It would help the businesses here, and God knows we could use that,” said Kay Lawton, 59, a Thomson resident. “It doesn’t matter to me who they bring here.”

They trashed the economy so bad they can’t even fearmonger successfully in some places.

Some random stuff:

1.) Do any of you intend to watch the Prisoner on AMC? Have you heard any buzz? Think it will be any good? Based on AMC’s recent record (mad Men and Breaking Bad), I think I’m going to give it a go.

2.) First they came for the Hola Fruta, now my store is no longer carrying Edy’s seasonal Pumpkin ice cream. It is going to get ugly if they drop Turkey Hill Mint Choco Chip.

3.) On a related food note, all my tupperware is otherwise occupied in the freezer with beef vegetable and turkey rice soups I made last week, so I decided to just buy prepared fruit cocktail instead of making my own. It is shocking the calorie difference between the fruit cocktail in syrup and the fruit cocktail in juice. Double the calories, and all of the extra calories in the syrup are empty calories from the high fructose corn syrup.

4.) Why do dogs like riding in the car so much? And what can you tell from the varying levels of moistness of your dog’s nose? Some days Lily’s nose is super wet, some times it is merely damp, and every now and then it is almost dry. Why?

5.) There is a strong relationship between those who do not think we should trust our democracy and try terrorists as criminals and those who got their panties in a bunch because the President shows his respect to foreign leaders. So much of understanding the current Republican party and their behavior can be explained away as small penis syndrome. Just a bunch of bedwetters.

6.) I guess there is no six.

The pictures tell the tale:

I was a big fan of this maneuver by Lily, as she attempted to pretend she was just sniffing the ground and not paying attention to the cat as she nonchalantly edged closer and closer. The cat was having none of that.

I didn’t get the actual attack because I was laughing too hard, but I did get this parting shot:

Really was a beautiful cat.