Pratchett released Unseen Academicals six weeks ago. If you’re a Pratchett fan, have you read it yet? And if so, what do you think of it?

I liked it, more than I had feared, especially since all I know about Foot-The-Ball I learned from TBoggs and translations of the Japanese manga Whistle. It’s not one of the top five Discworld novels, but it’s still miles ahead of, say, the first two books in the series. The plot construction wasn’t as sinewy and water-tight as we have come to expect. A better acquaintance with British football (Comrade Scrutinizer, for instance, connects the UA to Manchester’s AU, Arsenal United) would certainly improve one’s enjoyment of the usual Prachettian in-jokes and satires. Lord Vetinari talked too much, but then he was supposed to have imbibed at least a dozen strong ales before doing so.

I think Mr. Nutt, Glenda Sugarbean, and especially Pepe are all worthy additions to the Discworld Canon. Your thoughts?

Here is tonight’s rescue story:

Bigger dog Onion was abandoned as a pup. He was the last of his siblings to be adopted because he was scared and neurotic after whatever happened to him before he came to Scottsville Veterinary Adoptions, near Rochester, New York (www.petadoption.cc). I saw him during one of the shelter’s adoption days at a big-box store. He was in a crate, terrified, and when I walked in, he looked over his shoulder at me, and I was smitten. He’s been with us for almost 10 years, and has done a really amazing job of stabilizing himself. He’s still terrified of thunderstorms and skateboards—of course, Dogs at Play dog daycare is right next to a skateboard shop—but he climbs trees, barks his fool head off at all parcel delivery people, and basically has a happy life as a dog stereotype.

Little guy spooning him is Tater, who came from a high-kill shelter and Ohio through http://anotherchancepetrescue.org/, also near Rochester, NY. The little guy and the big guy are totally in love, despite little guy’s piercing ‘yip,’ obsession with stealing tennis balls, and near-total breakdown due to an immune response to a silicone-coated microchip. Microchip is gone (insert jokes about saline, rather than silicone, implants here), little guy is recovered, and the humping has begun again.

Separately and together, they are marvelous, funny, sweet creatures, and the folks who do this rescue work in the Rochester area are amazing. We are forever grateful.

Remember, pets are great, but they require a lot of money, care, time, and love.

*** Update ***

I was going through old folders and found this gem:

Without a pet, you are missing out on the unconditional love they give.

So I’m finally getting around to figuring out this twitter stuff and have added a bunch of people to my twitter feed. The default page is so unorganized that I got chest pains and had to go re-organize my dvd’s to restore some balance in my life after I tried to visit twitter.com, so I am looking for a program to deal with the chaos. Are there any out there you would recommend? What about as gadgets for Windows Seven or Mac?

My feed is johngcole, btw. Not sure how much I will use it.

The wit and wisdom of bible spice:

“He’s not lying, in the sense that those two words will not be found in any of those thousands of pages of the different variations of the health care bill…No, death panel isn’t there. But he’s incorrect. It’s kind of what Reagan used to do though when he used to talk about, say, the Evil Empire. You’re never going to find ‘The Evil Empire’ on a map of the world. He talked about that in terms that people could understand.”

Actually, yes you could find the Soviet Union on the map. In fact, you can allegedly see the remnants from your goddamned house. I think I need a drink.

This is the most exasperatingly stupid woman on the planet.

*** Update ***

Word.

Ambinder’s never going to top “iatropic excitement”, but he gives it a try here. (Via lots of other bloggers.)

For those who don’t want to read the link, I’ll give a shorter: Sarah Palin can’t win a national election now but she will be able to if she reads a few books over the next couple years.

This is only the first time in my nearly 11-month history at Balloon Juice that I have gone silent. The reason that I have gone silent is that I have been pondering the following….

Imagine there was only one person in the world who knew for certain the details of Sarah Palin’s fifth pregnancy. And suppose that you had that person in custody. Would you torture that person to find out the details?

You know, going back to the Beauchamp story, you have to remember just how crazy this time period was for everyone. The wingnut narrative was in danger, and they just had to destroy Beauchamp for basically telling what everyone who has ever spent a day in uniform knows- all our troops are not angels, and some bad shit sometimes goes down. We had folks screaming for his own troops to “take care of him,” people wanting him court-martialed, and so on, and they went to extreme lengths to have the young man destroyed- while he was in theatre avoiding bullets and serving his country.

Just to remember how crazy the wingnut reaction was to the possibility that not all our troops are angels (and thereby threatening the war narrative and taking away the media as an excuse for everything going wrong in the war), you have appreciate this classic post at the Power Line, where reader Stuart Koehl “proved” that a track vehicle could not run over a dog by eyeballing a 1/32 scale model of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. As Tbogg noted in one of the all time classic blog posts, “The role of the dog was played by a 3-inch My Little Pony named Princess Sparkle Snowflake Rainbow. Next up: Warren Commission report disproved using a Hot Wheels Terrordactyl Track.”

As to Stuart Koehl, what happened to him? Well rest assured, “expertise” like that is highly valued in wingnut circles, and he was rewarded with a guest appearance at none other than the Weekly Standard just a few months later:

There is a lot about Obama’s story that makes no sense. Let us start with the opening line:

“You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon—supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.”

Well, captains command companies, not rifle platoons. A rifle platoon is normally commanded by a 2nd lieutenant, sometimes (if short handed) by a senior sergeant. So for starters, Obama betrays a woeful ignorance of military organization and the chain of command. Then he remarks that the platoon was under-strength because 15 of its men had been “sent to Iraq.” Sorry, the Army doesn’t work that way. Platoons are organic units, consisting of three rifle squads, a heavy weapons squad, and a headquarters section. You can’t break it up. It is the smallest building block in the infantry that can conduct fire-and-movement tactics.

You remember how this worked out, don’t you? Jake Tapper, in one of his best moments from last year, ended the wingnut screeches once and for all:

I called the Obama campaign this morning to chat about this story, and was put in touch with the Army captain in question.

He told me his story, which I found quite credible, though for obvious reasons he asked that I not mention his name or certain identifying information.

Short answer: He backs up Obama’s story.

The longer answer is worth telling, though.

The Army captain, a West Point graduate, did a tour in a hot area of eastern Afghanistan from the Summer of 2003 through Spring 2004.

Prior to deployment the Captain—then a Lieutenant—took command of a rifle platoon at Fort Drum. When he took command, the platoon had 39 members, but—in ones and twos—15 members of the platoon were re-assigned to other units. He knows of 10 of those 15 for sure who went to Iraq, and he suspects the other five did as well.

The platoon was sent to Afghanistan with 24 men.

“We should have deployed with 39,” he told me, “we should have gotten replacements. But we didn’t. And that was pretty consistent across the battalion.”

He adds that maybe a half-dozen of the 15 were replaced by the Fall of 2003, months after they arrived in Afghanistan, but never all 15.

Jake then goes on to verify every claim Obama made.

So when you think back to this time period, remember what we were dealing with and the quality of “evidence” that the usual suspects on the right latched on to to defend their own personal fantasies. The second anecdote in this post is extremely relevant, as these jackasses have now spent the last few months accusing Obama of “dithering” in regards to Afghanistan.

Just wrong about everything, which is, of course, why David Gregory will have McCain on again soon.

I’m going to keep repeating it until someone notices. CNN’s current series Killing at the Canals, which focuses on the investigation and conviction of the Army NCOs who murdered detainees execution style and dumped their bodies into canals, is about the First Sergeant who commanded Scott Beauchamp. His name is First Sergeant John Hatley, and he wrote the following letter to outside sources trashing Beauchamp, a soldier in his command:

My soldiers conduct is consistently honorable. This soldier has other underlining issues which I’m sure will come out in the course of the investigation. No one at any of the post we live at or frequent, remotely fit the descriptions of any of the persons depicted in this young man’s fairy tale. I can’t and won’t divulge any information regarding this soldier, but I do sincerely appreciate all the support from the people back home. Again, this young man has a vivid imagination and I promise you that this by no means reflects the truth of what is happening here. I’m currently serving with the best America has to offer. I have worked and fought closely with every soldier within my company and they are consummate professionals in an area most people can’t fathom. I’m proud of my soldiers and would gladly give my life for any one of them. Please continue to keep them with you in your prayers and thank God that we have these courageous men willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, Americans, and the people of this struggling nation.

Sincerely,

1SG Hatley

1SG Hatley and the other NCOs executed these men in March of 2007. Scott Beauchamp wrote Shock Troops in July 2007. Hatley wrote this letter after July of 2007, insisting that Beauchamp was disturbed because he wrote about making fun of someone in a cafeteria or running over a dog. He wrote that letter attacking Beauchamp, knowing that just a few weeks earlier, he and others had taken it upon themselves to put a gun to the back of several detainee’s heads, pull the trigger, and dump their bodies into a canal.

But they would have you believe that no one in their unit would run over a dog.

Or play with bones.

By the way, Scott Beauchamp is still in uniform serving his country honorably. None of the wingnuts who freaked out about him at the Weekly Standard or elsewhere have gotten around to enlisting.

*** Update ***

God, watching the CNN show tonight was just gut-wrenching. They didn’t just murder four men, they also have put their wives and loved ones through sheer hell. No matter what these men did, you have to feel bad for their families.

Using my amazing powers of predicting things that a particle board desk could see coming, I expect Sarah Palin to blame the lies in her book on her ghostwriter. Points will also be awarded for the book editor, fact-checking team (I honestly want to know who served on that chain gang) and her moron-to-English translator.

Bart Stupak is either lying or stupid (or both) when he said this:

Whether public funds should be used for abortion services is exactly the sort of issue we should be debating openly on the floor of the House of Representatives. My amendment to include Hyde language in H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, is not new or out of line with the current policies regarding federal funding for abortions. There is a strong precedent going back more than 30 years for adding Hyde language. The ban on federal funding for abortions is a long-standing American policy that has been in place since the 1970s and has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

This amendment is not about limiting choice when it comes to abortion services. There is nothing in the amendment that prevents those who choose to obtain abortion services from doing so. The Hyde language simply says taxpayer dollars should not be used to pay for those services. Just as the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) does not provide plans that cover abortion services, nor should the plans for individuals who enter into the public option or receive federal subsidies for healthcare cover abortions. They are free to purchase a supplemental plan or pay for these services with their own money should they so choose.

And this:

No. They’ve been fighting me since July on this. My reaction is that they are saying that no insurance policies will be able to sell abortion coverage, and that is not true. All the members have to do is look at their update that they got from the majority leader, Steny Hoyer [D-MD], that he sent to us about three minutes before 10 [o’clock Saturday night], before we voted on the amendments. Basically, he said, ‘Look, the Stupak amendment is the Hyde amendment. You can’t use federal funds to pay for abortions. However, you can get supplemental coverage, and it does not prevent private insurance companies from selling elective abortion coverage.’ I think the only surprise I have is how much they’ve mischaracterized the amendment, even after their own majority leader report that we all get before we vote clearly states the purpose of the amendment and shows it’s not greater than current law, so all this about taking away women’s rights, restricting it—it’s no different from the restrictions right now.

Because the facts in this case pretty clearly demonstrate that the Stupak amendment goes well beyond Hyde and is a radical piece of legislation:

The George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services has analyzed Stupak-Pitts, and concludes that “the Amendment would produce industry-wide effects, leading to the elimination of health plan coverage for nearly all medically indicated abortions.”

Additionally, “based on past experiences with claim administration decisions involving treatment exclusions,” the analysts conclude that insurers are likely to interpret the exclusion broadly, and exclude not just elective abortions, but also medically indicated abortion and “treatments for serious illnesses, injuries, and medical conditions that include an abortion undertaken for health reasons.” Insurance administrators, they find, are likely to err on the side of coverage denail in order to avoid sanctions.

So not only does Bart Stupak either not know what his amendment does, or he is lying about it, but he wants to blow up the entire health care bill if he doesn’t get his way in the Senate, a legislative body of which he is not even a member.

Who do we send money to to primary this guy? I left the GOP in large part because of the godbotherers.

Jack, Place Grenette Fountain.

Jabman, Please Lock.

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’s that time of year again, everyone. When everyone gathers together at their family homes to commence the War on Christmas. Via memeorandum, here is the opening salvo in this year’s battle, which I will call the “War on Christmas, Godwin Edition”:

Nazi Germany celebrated Christmas without Christ with the help of swastika tree baubles, ‘Germanic’ cookies and a host of manufactured traditions, a new exhibition has shown.

The way the celebration was gradually taken over and exploited for propaganda purposes by Hitler’s Nazis is detailed in a new exhibition.

Rita Breuer has spent years scouring flea markets for old German Christmas ornaments.

She and her daughter Judith developed a fascination with the way Christmas was used by the atheist Nazis, who tried to turn it into a pagan winter solstice celebration.

Umm, it kind of used to be a pagan celebration. It wasn’t too long ago that Christian ministers were fighting the concept of the Christmas tree, it was so clearly a Pagan leftover.

I fully expect this news story to make Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly cry tonight. I’m not sure how they will tie it to ACORN and the Obama administration, but you know they will.

I’m sure there will be lots of wailing and beating of the breasts about the National Debt, which just topped 12 trillion (and make no mistake, that is a disaster), from the usual suspects on the right. Since the last eight years didn’t happen, and they are free to pretend that Obama spent all 12 trillion in the last nine months propping up ACORN and SEIU “union thugs” (have you noticed right-wingers can’t use the word union without adding “thug?” Unless of course, they are talking about civil unions, and then they always have to tack on “oh, hell no.”), I’m sure the commentary will be quite interesting at the Corner and elsewhere in wingnuttia.

I would love to hear how the Republican plan for slashing the deficit and tackling the debt will work. I’m interested in how capital gains tax cuts, making the Bush cuts permanent, ending the “death tax,” continuing the prescription drug plan while ignoring the rising costs of health care, permanent war in the middle east and privatizing social security are going to bring our books back into the black.

I’m all ears, guys.

Not sure if you all caught it last night or not, but AC360 is running a series on the murder of detainees by several NCO’s that resulted in long convictions for the men (as it should). Unmentioned is that the First Sergeant who was convicted, John Hatley, was Scott Beauchamp’s NCO. CNN has never made the connection, apparently.

Those are the men who would never run over a dog.

It’s an axiom of American politics that everything that happens is good news for conservatives. Therefore, since the Palin book tour is happening, the Palin book tour is good news for conservatives.

And yet, aside from the Weekly Standard whackjobs, I haven’t hear anyone say that Palinpalooza is good news for conservatives. Not Halperin. Not Ambinder. Not the Politico. And the Weekly Standard’s line is more just “she pisses liberals off, and that is good” than any kind of argument that she represents good news for conservatives.

Can anyone think of any argument that prolonged exposure to Sarah Palin is good for conservativism? I can’t think of any. There’s got to be some, given that, it is in fact good news for conservatives since it is happening.

Update. I have to admit, Rich Lowry has come up with the most convincing argument I’ve heard yet that Republicans can use her to keep the teabaggers from forming a third party. It’s still not that convincing because I don’t believe the teabaggers will from a real third party (though they may run challenges in states with third-party infrastructure).

Her supporters identify with her populist, unaffected vibe and tend to be disaffected with politics as usual — they’re Palin Perotistas. A drastic image makeover would only drive them away.

Republicans need these voters more than ever given the roiling grassroots revolt against Obama’s governance. Without them, they can’t get a majority; they’d be doomed if they were ever to slide into a splinter party. If Palin is their voice and channels their energy productively, she’s part of the Republican answer to Obama, no matter what presidential politics ultimately holds for her. There’s an upside to rogue.