Month: March 2006

Just when you think nothing good can come in on a Monday afternoon…

Television evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday on his live news-and-talk program “The 700 Club” that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that radical Muslims are “satanic.”

Robertson’s comments came after he watched a news story on his Christian Broadcasting Network about Muslim protests in Europe over the cartoon drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.

He remarked that the outpouring of rage elicited by cartoons “just shows the kind of people we’re dealing with. These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it’s motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with.”

Robertson also said that “the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination.”

You know why I like Pat? He shows utter disdain for political correctness. Sure, he says wacko things now and then, but man, he’ll never worry about what people think about his statements.

Thank you Pat, for making this Monday just a little bit brighter.

Check this list and see if you agree. (Thanks Ace.)

I’m pretty much one with this list. I can’t stand Jimmy Fallon. I think Horatio Sanz wastes available oxygen. And Julie Sweeney – ugh…I hated “PAT”.

They forgot about Janeane Garofalo. She was very bad on SNL.

That’s the conclusion reached by Steve Rubel. The posted comments are great, including this one:

Most ducks are not cows.

Heh.

You’d think we were in the final weeks of a presidential election or something. Only then do we hear about poll ratings every day. Well, it seems that CNN feels it’s necessary to do a story every time a CNN/USATODAY/Gallup poll comes out showing Bush’s approval rating going lower than the previous poll. Yet, when his rating goes up, they take a pass.

Of course, you know I believe polls are worthless snapshots of thinking that mostly mean nothing, no matter who’s being polled. But, for fairness sake…

How about a poll on what the American people think of Congress, or maybe CNN doesn’t want to show single digit numbers?

I’m an XM Radio subscriber, and I often have it going in the background while I work the day job. For the past 3 minutes or so, I’ve suffered through one of the worst songs ever made.

99 Luftballoons by Nena.

I just thought you should know that.

MORE: OK, now it’s Pop Muzik by ‘M’. Didn’t that guy die or something? Whatever – the song is bad.

Congratulations WaPo, you win the award for the most silly story of the day.

Senior White House Staff May Be Wearing Down

Andrew H. Card Jr. wakes at 4:20 in the morning, shows up at the White House an hour or so later, convenes his senior staff at 7:30 and then proceeds to a blur of other meetings that do not let up until long after the sun sets. He gets home at 9 or 10 at night and sometimes fields phone calls until 11 p.m. Then he gets up and does it all over again.

Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles. Like chief of staff Card, many of the president’s top aides have been by his side nonstop for more than five years, not including the first campaign, recount and transition. This is a White House, according to insiders, that is physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks.

“By the time you get to year six, there’s never a break . . . and you get tired,” said Ed Rollins, who served five years in President Ronald Reagan’s White House. “There’s always a crisis. It wears you down. This has been a White House that hasn’t really had much change at all. There is a fatigue factor that builds up. You sometimes don’t see the crisis approaching. You’re not as on guard as you once were.”

There’s the picture – White House asleep at the wheel. Zombie like staff members walking the hallways. The premise of course is to propagate the lie that everyone in the Bush administration is so emotionally wracked and exhausted that they can’t help but commit blunder after blunder. I don’t buy it.

This ranks high on the “duh” chart.

Kids play deadly choking game

The so-called “choking game” dates back generations but has been making a comback.

Statistics have reported 500 to 1,000 yearly deaths from the “choking game.” Many of those who die from the game are initially ruled as suicides.

In the game, children seeking a drug-free high cut off oxygen to their brains by squeezing the carotid artery in their necks with belts, ropes or their bare hands.

The game, also known as “space monkey,” “flat-lining,” “suffocation roulette” and the “fainting game,” prompted the launch of the Web site www.stopthechokinggame.com.

And you know what? This stupidity can be limited if a parent is clued-in to what’s going on in the lives of their children. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, it also helps if you actually talk to your kids once in awhile.

Unnecessary tragedy stories like this drive me insane.

After all the energy that has gone into the case against Zacarias Moussaoui, it would be a shame if the thing was thrown out due to an idiotic mistake by a government attorney.

After hearing this weekend that he died from a heart attack, we find out today that Milosevic was taking a drug that diminished the effectiveness of his heart medicine. Now the question is, Why? Conspiracy theorists will enjoy the mystery, but to the general population, it doesn’t matter that much. Few in Yugoslavia care how the man died.

MORE: The letter.

Specifically, her reaction to the port deal. (NYTimesSelect reg req.)

The Dubai ports deal — a politically unpopular measure that almost all experts agree was justified on the merits — was a test of character. John McCain and Chuck Hagel passed. Clinton, though, joined the ranks of the nakedly ambitious demagogues…

“The White House is trying to hand over U.S. ports,” Clinton charged.

“We cannot afford to surrender our port operations to foreign governments,” she roared.

“We cannot cede sovereignty over critical infrastructure like our ports,” she insisted.

All of these statements were deliberately misleading, since there was never any question of ceding sovereignty or security. They played to the rawest form of xenophobia…

This episode — which combines buckraking with pandering — brings back the Clinton years at their worst: the me-me-me selfishness, the occasional presumption that humanity exists to serve Team Clinton.

It also shows Clinton doesn’t understand her political weaknesses. First, nobody, not even among her friends, is totally sure she actually believes in anything, or whether she just coldly calculates political advantage. This episode reinforces that sense.

Second, Clinton is the only presidential candidate who does not offer a break from the current polarization and bitter partisanship. A McCain or Mark Warner presidency would shuffle the political deck. But if Clinton is elected, American politics over the next years will be as brutal and stagnant as now. The 1960’s Bush-Clinton psychodrama would go on and on.

He’s right.