9/11/2001 - 1/30/2008

According to WaPo:

John Edwards will end his presidential bid today, a source close to his campaign confirmed, effectively narrowing the Democratic field to two contenders less than a week before the Super Tuesday round of primaries.

Carl called this one a few days ago.

Good fucking riddance. Shows that becoming Bush’s lickspittle fear pimp isn’t an effective campaign strategy.

Some comments in the IHT from readers, regarding Bush’s final SOTU address:

Consider the American image pre-Bush and post-Bush. What a shame for Americans that one of his most obvious legacies has been to give a new generation a sense of “Anti-Americanism” and in the eyes of many all but destroy their image abroad.

~~~

This is clearly the worst president ever. Impeach him. His lies and his unending list of failures condemn him, not writers of articles. . . . As for transformng Iraq, he has transformed it into a living hell.

~~~

. . . . he has succeeded in dividing America and the world like no US President before him. Has anyone counted the hundred of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghans who have died as a result of his war on terrorism in addition to over 3 thousand brave US service men and women as collateral damage?

Further proof that publishing a crappy book doesn’t make you smart(er).

From The Nation’s write up:

As predicted, the president’s last State of the Union speech echoed the empty rhetoric of the speeches that came before it. There was an extended call on Congress to make permanent the tax cuts for the rich that have so skewed the nation’s economic balance since Bush secured them. There were attacks on spending by a president who has presided over the dramatic bloating of deficits that are the spawn of unsustainable spending. There were more defenses of free-trade pacts that have harmed workers, the environment and communities in the United States and abroad. And there were more fantastical claims about the successes of the disastrous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

~~~

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, summed the evening up best when she said, “Tonight’s speech is the ’swan song’ of a presidency that is ending and will not be missed. President Bush may choose to believe that the state of our union is strong; but under his direction, our economy is flailing, our infrastructure is crumbling, the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans is rising, America’s moral and strategic leadership in the world is plummeting, our Constitution is being trampled, and our servicemen and women and their families are sacrificing enormously in an unnecessary war.”

Bush regurgitated every fetid leitmotif of his failed presidency, and ignored all of his personal and political failings. His declaration of war on earmarks — after 6 years of unbridled greed embodied in earmarks from the Republican-led Congress culminating in the famed “Bridge to Nowhere” — was a pathetic example of rank hypocrisy, as was his insistence that we must balance the budget, after running up the largest debts in history and adding $3.5 trillion to the national tab.

In the last seven years he has signed spending bills containing about 55,000 earmarks worth more than $100 billion for projects like a new lane for a local road, a new facade for a town landmark or a weapons contract for a company that happened to be a big donor to an influential lawmaker.

Such projects tucked into the endnotes of complex spending bills at the request of individual lawmakers with almost no oversight have contributed to a mounting pileup of waste and corruption, including sending the lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the former congressman Randy Cunningham, a California Republican, to jail.

Now, in the last year of his presidency he is against all the kinds of naked abuses fostered by Karl Rove, his top advisor, in the bid to create a permanent Republican majority.

Froomkin pegged it — Running on Empty:

In his final State of the Union address, President Bush had almost nothing to say. Certainly nothing new and significant. Nothing remotely memorable.

It’s a safe bet that nothing he said last night will amount to much. Nothing he said will help bring the country together, or undo the damage he has done to American interests abroad. Nothing he said will help him win back the trust or support of the American people, both which he lost a long time ago.

Froomkin has an excellent rundown on responses to the rhetorical claims of success in the final SOTU.

The speech itself was a minor debacle, with Bush coming across as an unserious and confident ignoramus. Thank God it will be his last SOTU.

I think it does not mean what you think it means.

From Bush’s State of the Union address:

“we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions. . . . To build a prosperous future, we must trust people. . . . we must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership. . . . we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions. . . . we must trust students to learn . . . . we must trust American workers . . . . we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers. . . . we must trust in the skill of our scientists. . . . we must trust in the innovative spirit of medical researchers and empower them to discover new treatments . . . .we must trust in the good heart of the American people. . . . Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom . . . . so long as we continue to trust the people, our nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure

Extraordinary that a beady-eyed little bastard who trusts no one would use “trust” as the cornerstone of his final State of the Union address.

He “trusts” the American people so little, that in this very same speech he insists we must continue to spy on Americans and grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies who assisted his administration in illegally doing so, or face annihilation:

. . . if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger. The Congress must ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America.

He trusts doctors and patients so little, that he insists government should have the final say on medical decisions like abortion.

He trusts scientists so little, that his political operatives watered down warnings about global warning, and pays mere lip service to the goal of reducing greenhouse gases.

And he trusts the judgment of the American people, the vast majority who wish to see us end our disastrous intervention in Iraq, so little that he insists we have to continue to stay in Iraq long past the 8-year debacle of his Presidency.

I’ve never seen a speech so laden with hypocrisy, fatuousness, and out and out disregard for the will of a people he insists that we must “trust.”

Allentown man charged in two homicides

By Brian Callaway | Of The Morning Call
10:29 PM EST, January 26, 2008

Allentown police had suspected William Torres of dealing drugs in the city. But an undercover narcotics investigation yielded much more, and resulted in Torres, 21, being charged early Saturday with two counts of homicide.

Police said Torres, whose last known address was 436 Turner St., Allentown, gunned down two men at Fourth and Allen streets last month. According to court documents, Torres admitted killing the men.

Torres was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time. He was still wearing the get-up when he was arraigned after midnight at Lehigh County prison.

Read the rest here.

I wonder how you treat a disorder like this …

Man charged with sending diaper photo ordered to get treatment

January 27, 2008

ENFIELD, N.H.—A Vermont man convicted of harassing a teenager by e-mailing her a picture of himself in a diaper has been ordered to seek treatment for a sexual disorder.
more stories like this

Lawrence Robarge of White River Junction had been sentenced to 180 days in jail, but a judge instead ordered Robarge to undergo a sexual disorder evaluation and comply with the recommended treatment.

Robarge was accused of sending 16 sexual text messages to a 17-year-old girl in Enfield last September, including pictures of himself wearing a diaper. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor stalking last week.

——

Information from: WMUR-TV, http://wmur.com

Apparently won’t close down the casino, even if the casino itself is what’s burning:

A three-alarm fire is in progress on top of the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino at 3770 Las Vegas Blvd. S.

The blaze began shortly after 11 a.m. Friday.

Dark plumes of smoke can be seen, and fire crews are en route to the scene.

The blaze began at the top of the hotel and is spreading down. There are 32 floors and about 3,000 people staying at the hotel.

Here’s the best part:

The fire is burning in three different parts of the casino.

Guests were spotted looking out of hotel windows, and guests are gambling. There has been no evacuation.

Debris is falling from the blaze, and it is catching other parts of the hotel on fire.

Fucking Casino is on fire with multiple blazes, burning debris igniting other parts of the building, but the are open and the slots are still running. What burns in Vegas — it doesn’t matter, just keep those tables open!