Irony

Screenshot, 29 September 2006

A day after passing this disgusting attack on the U.S. Constitution...

The Fucks!

Celebrating the Constitution my ass!

ACLU

I am neither registered a Democrat nor a Republican, but I am now a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU is perhaps the only organization willing to fight on behalf of the United States Constitution.

Five Years Later

Photo © MSNBC

I had intended on posting this the other day, but I continue to have problems with the flickr/Blogger interface for some reason. If you've somehow not seen Keith Olbermann's 9/11 takedown of the miserable failure, you should.

Thanks, Keith Olbermann!

Thank him yourself...

September 11

September 11 © Patrick T. Power

I will not be watching television today... I will not turn it on except, perhaps, to see what the miserable failure has to say at 9:00 tonight as he pushes the Republican fear agenda... I will keep the on/off remote in hand and a puke bucket on standby.

Listening to the clown speak is akin to swabbing one's ears out with darts.

We're NOT With Stupid

Since I don't have cable, I don't get to watch Bill Maher any more, except for clips that might get posted to the web. His recent piece in at Salon (click through the brief ad), however, makes perfect sense, of course, as we are never going to destroy all those who seek to use terrorism as a form of political recourse.

Naturally, the right likes to belittle those who think that getting at the root issues which brought about the attackes on September 11 is the route to take as an alternative to war. Of course, as the miserable failure has noted, his "War on Terror" is an ideological struggle. He fails to note, however, that ideologies cannot be defeated with bombs and missiles and by murdering innocent people.

Wars of ideology are won in the minds, as Maher so deftly shows.

So yes, for the sake of homeland security, I ridicule the president -- but it gives me no pleasure to paint him as a dolt, a rube, a yokel on the world stage, a submental, three bricks shy of a load, a Gilligan unable to find his own ass with two hands. Or, as Sean Hannity calls it, "Reaganesque."

No, it pains me to say these things, because I know deep down George Bush has something extra -- a chromosome. Cruel? Perhaps, but it may just have saved lives. By doing the extra chromosome joke, I sent a message to a young Muslim man somewhere in the world who's on a slow burn about this country, and perhaps got him to think, "Maybe the people of America aren't so bad. Maybe it's just the rodeo clown who leads them. Maybe the people 'get it.'" We do, Achmed, we do!

And that's why making fun of the president keeps this country safe. The proof? I've been doing it nonstop for years, and there hasn't been another attack. Maybe the reason they haven't attacked us again is they figured we're already suffering enough.

If I could explain one thing about George W. Bush to the rest of the world it's this: We don't know what the hell he's saying either! Trust me, foreigners, there's nothing lost in translation, it's just as incoherent in the original English. Yes, we voted for him -- twice -- but that's because we're stupid, not because we're bad. Bush is just one of those things that are really popular for a few years and then almost overnight become completely embarrassing. You know, like leg warmers, or Hootie and the Blowfish, or white people going, "Oh no you di-int."

My Letter...

...to Disney's Chairman of the Board, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME).

Dear Mr. Mitchell,

This is another in what has surely been an avalanche of emails written in protest of Path To 9/11... therefore, I'll keep it brief.

September 11 has been touted as one of the most important dates in this country's history, yet your company has decided to produce a film that its writers know full well has the potential to shape the way people think about the event.

To support such a project that corrupts, distorts and fabricates facts — especially when it is purported to be based on an objective, factual study — is shameful. A company such as Disney has a reputation of being family-oriented and respected for its programming. This program seems to me to be contrary to the notion that its programming is responsible, much less respectable.

So, it is my hope that Path To 9/11 be edited to present a more factual story regarding such a significant historical day, or that the project be mothballed until it's fixed.

The American people have been bamboozled enough by the current administration, and for corporations such as Disney and ABC to appear to be in cahoots with the bamboozlers can't be a good thing for their respective reputations.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for all you've done in service to this country.


Patrick Power
East Lansing, Michigan

To write yours, go to Think Progress...

This might all be moot anyway as it appears that Bush has decided to give a nationally-televised speech at 9:00pm on September 11th, a time which conflicts with this program. I have a feeling that ABC will decide to postpone the program (under this scenario) while it scurries to edit the film. Skeptic that I am, I can't help but wonder if Karl Rove didn't have a hand in all this.

The Question

Yes, The Rude Pundit's, well, rude... yes, he's foul-mouthed... yes, he's anything but censored. But generally, he's right.

I was going to post something last week about what he wrote concerning New Orleans and the state of that city since last year's onslaught of Katrina, but I let it slip by as I have so many things this past eighteen months or so. I was moved by what he wrote concerning the prospects so many people who lost their homes face now and in the years to come. Read it here.

Similarly, today, in the wake of the baloneymeister's recent PR blitz to drum up support for his debacle, he cuts through the nonsense — like no other — to get at what is really being said by our thief/liar/murderer-in-chief, as well as to distill everything that this country has been struggling with for the past six bloody years down to one question.

And between the praise of torture (no matter what Bush calls it), the dismissing of the American justice system, and the vow to continue all of it, the Rude Pundit is left with this question: exactly what country are we fighting for? Because it's become appallingly clear that it sure as hell ain't the United States in any recognizable form anymore.

Tell ABC To Tell The Truth About 9/11

On September 10 and 11, ABC Television is planning to air a program called The Path to 9/11. Though ABC claims that the program is based on the facts, the truth is that it distorts the facts and the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission. The ABC program, written by avowed conservative Cyrus Nowrasteh, goes out of its way to place blame on the Clinton administration for 9/11 and whitewash the failures of the Bush administration.

They've just made shit up!

Please help do something about it.

Visit this website and send a message to ABC... a form letter has been prepared which reads:

Robert A. Iger
President and CEO, The Walt Disney Company

Dear Mr. Iger:

It has come to my attention that ABC plans to air a two-part mini-series called "The Path to 9/11" on September 10 and September 11. Accounts of advance screenings indicate that this program places primary responsibility for the attacks of 9/11 on the Clinton administration while whitewashing the failures of the Bush administration. This assertion is not supported by the 9/11 Commission Report upon which the program is purportedly based. This partisan misrepresentation of history is not surprising given that the movie was written by Cyrus Nowrasteh, an avowed conservative.

It is wrong for ABC to play politics with the facts of 9/11 by providing a national platform to present his distorted view of history. I am unwilling to whitewash the truth. The events that led to 9/11 are important topics for discussion and debate. But it's a debate that must be conducted honestly.

I am asking ABC to either fix the many inaccuracies contained in the program - or to not air it.

I would appreciate a prompt reply to my e-mail.

If you are interested in creating your own letter, here are some questions you might ask:

• Why, if this is a non-partisan project, is only the Republican (Thomas Kean) co-chair of the 9/11 Commission being asked to front this project? Why was the Commission's other co-chair (Richard Ben-Veniste) not consulted?

• Why were many of the principals of this film, like Richard Clarke, not shown relevant scenes from the movie early on, so that research and scenes could be vetted--and corrected, if misrepresented?

• Why did you provide the movie to only right-wing bloggers and mainstream media in your advance outreach for this project, and not to left-wing bloggers and media?

• Was it the network's or the PR firm's idea to reach out in advance only to right-wing blogs, and to exclude left-wing blogs?

• If you were truly intending to provide a non-partisan public service to the American public, why not produce and air a true documentary actually based on the 9/11 Commission Report and vetted by both Democrats and Republicans?

• Did you know about Cyrus Nowrasteh's and David Cunningham's extreme conservative views?

• Will you consider pulling scenes proven to be false?

• Will you consider removing the "based on the 9/11 Commission Report" imprimatur from promotional materials, and from the miniseries itself on the air dates?

• Will you consider giving Richard Clarke and/or prominent Democrats, who disagree with this airbrushing of the 9/11 story, the opportunity to point out the movies flaws on network time?

• Will ABC News report on the controversy over this project in the one-hour news special scheduled to air on September 11, following the movie?