There’s a group of animal rights activists, PETA and “Animal Liberation” types, protesting in front of the Optometrist downtown, bloody signs in hand. My best guess on why they are in front of the Optometrist is that next door to the Optometrist is a place that sells furs.

I overhear this conversation. “Why are you doing this to me?”, regarding a sign with a mutilated cougar. “It makes me sad. I’d think it makes you sad too.”

Hour later, nobody is around. Except for a young woman dressed as a cow.

I: At least nine senators were among 200 people herded into a Capitol parking garage Wednesday night after a security sensor indicated the presence of a nerve agent in their office building. Later tests proved negative.

Say. Whatever happened to that investigation into who sent Anthrax to then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, to Patrick Leahy, and to “American Media” cohorts at the National Enquirer… and to Tom Brokaw?

If only George Bush had the same electronic survelliance ability George Washington had during the Revolutionary War, those Anthrax attackers would be caught by now, as well as the folks behind the phantom nerve agent, as well as the entire War On Terror.

IIa: Q Can I ask you a question about the timing of the speech today? Why now, given the ongoing discussion that is taking place about tactics in fighting the war on terror, why did the President seek to disclose the details today, specifically?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, for the reasons I just stated. This is a speech that we have been working on for the last few weeks. The President has been having an ongoing discussion with the American people about the war on terrorism. This is the nation’s highest priority. It’s the President’s top priority. It’s about protecting the American people. And we’re always looking for ways to inform the American people about our efforts and provide them additional information.

As you know, it takes time to declassify information. And as time goes by, you might be in position to share more information about plots that were disrupted. Remember, back in October, the President talked about, I think it was, 10 or so plots that were disrupted or broken up. And we provided some general information at that time. One of these was the plot that the President talked about today.

But I think it’s — what he was highlighting — the purpose of the speech was to highlight the strong international cooperation that is going on.

Q But is it just a coincidence? You had February 6th circled on the calendar for the hearings, the NSA hearings. Is it just a pure coincidence that this comes out today?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you’re talking about the — let me mention, the terrorist surveillance program is a vital program, and it’s been a very valuable tool. I’m not going to get into discussing any of the tools that may have been used when it comes to disrupting this plot. We provided you some additional information about this plot. But the purpose of this speech is the way I stated it. And I would discourage you from suggesting otherwise.

IIb: Friday, 7 October 2005

The White House has given details of 10 major terror plots that President Bush says have been foiled by the US and its allies since the 11 September attacks. […]

West Coast airliner
In mid-2002 the US disrupted a plot to attack targets on the West Coast of the United States using hijacked aeroplanes. The plotters included at least one major operational planner involved in planning the events of 11 September 2001.

IIc: Bush said that in early 2002 the United States and its allies thwarted a plot to use bombs hidden in shoes to breach the cockpit door of an aeroplane and fly it into the the tallest building in Los Angeles.

LIBRARY TOWER THE TARGET

But he named the wrong building. “We believe the intended target was Liberty Tower in Los Angeles, California,” Bush said. White House aides later said he meant Library Tower.

9 more speeches to cover the other items on the list, I guess.

IIc. Q Scott, I wanted to just ask a follow-up about the LA plot. Is there something missing from this story, a practical application, a few facts? Because if you want to commandeer a plane and fly it into a tower, if you used shoe bombs, wouldn’t you blow off the cockpit? Or is there something missing from this story?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don’t know what you’re referring to about missing. I mean, I think we provided you a detailed briefing earlier today about the plot. And Fran Townsend, our Homeland Security Advisor, talked about it. So I’m not sure what you’re suggesting it.

Q Think about it, if you’re wearing shoe bombs, you either blow off your feet or you blow off the front of the airplane.

MR. McCLELLAN: There was a briefing for you earlier today. I think that’s one way to look at it. There are a lot of ways to look at it, and she explained it earlier today, Alexis, so I would refer you very much back to what she said, what she said earlier today.

Perhaps the shoe bomb is the radical fundamentalist Muslim equivalent to the old fad of stuffing as many people into phone-booths as possible? Just a thought.

I had to do a double-take, but a double take does nothing for me in making sure I saw what I saw, as I was double-taking a moving target.

It was a white Ford pick-up. On the front window, written in soap were the words, “White Power.” I imagine the stickers on the back-window as being vaguely familiar symbols to the cause of Racism, but it’s easy to picture my mind going wild a bit due to believing that I saw the words “White Power” scribed into a pick-up truck.

I trust they were rolling through town to a “Tualatin Skins” meeting, and are now on their way back to their home to Klamath Falls.

Virginia ended up being the closest thing the Democratic Party had to a “blue state” in the South in the 2004 election. It was a trend I had noted in glancing over the polls. I have no clue how good a governor he was, and I have no clue how good a Democrat he was, but former governor Mark Warner is now sort of in second place behind Hillary Clinton in the unofficial Democratic Primary race. I get a funny feeling Warner may end up being Hillary Clinton’s running mate, and as a political matter, it probably is a winner. (Note I’m not saying it’d be good for the country, but it is what it is.)

The front-runners for the Republican Party would be John McCain and … Virginia Senator George Allen. George Allen looks basically like the reincarnation of the current occupant of the White House. Recently, he sounded a very serious gaffe that shows he’s not altogether up on the details of Washington.

Ben S. Bernanke, nominated for the chairman of the Federal Reserve to succeed Greenspan…
Here is what Senator George Allen of Virginia, who is considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, said when asked his opinion of the Bernanke nomination.

Told that Mr. Bernanke was up for the Fed chairman’s job, Mr. Allen hedged a little, said he had not been focused on it, and wondered aloud when the hearings would be. Told that the Senate Banking Committee hearings had concluded in November, the senator responded: “You mean I missed them all? I paid no attention to them.”

At any rate, George Allen now has a challenger. It is what it is — the biography alone shows that James Webb would be on the right end of the Democratic Senate Caucus:

James Webb, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s Navy secretary, said Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination to run against U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) this year, hoping to challenge the one-term incumbent on foreign policy and the conduct of the war in Iraq.

But if you want to know why he will be good for the Senate, and why beyond just wanting to get rid of George Allen’s political fortunes he’s a good guy:

In 1994, Webb endorsed Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) for reelection over
retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, calling North a chronic liar.

Ba da bing Ba da boom! On the other hand:

Six years later, Webb switched sides, endorsing Allen, the man he now hopes to beat. At the time, Webb said Allen was “better on issues of national
security” than Robb was.

Take it for what it means.

Upon conquering the Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher declared that “Great Britain is Great Again!”, a glimpse into why that squirmish had to be done… for the sake of British Might.

American government has been shaking off “Vietnam Syndrome” ever since Vietnam ended ingloriously for the US. Today, we’re on the verge of creating a new syndrome “Iraq Syndrome”. The problem is that sooner or later, we’re going to have to conquer Iran or Syria. But before we can do that, we need to shake off our Iraq fatigue… somehow or other. How, or how are we to do that?

Out of the blue, a solution has come up!

ONE of the world’s last Stone Age tribes has murdered two fishermen whose boat drifted on to a desert island in the Indian Ocean.

Environmental groups urged the authorities to leave the bodies and respect the five-kilometre exclusion zone thrown around the island. In the 1980s and early 1990s many Sentinelese were killed in skirmishes with armed salvage operators who visited the island after a shipwreck. Since then the tribesmen have remained virtually undisturbed.

These Sentinelese have killed two of our (and I’ll go ahead and claim Australia for a hyper Huntington thesis of a new clash of civilizations) fisherman! We must avenge the death of these fishermen. They want to play tough with their bow and arrows — let’s throw some Patriot Missiles at them and then…

WE’LL ACTUALLY HAVE WON A WAR! We can follow through with victory parades down the streets of every downtown in America! American Military Might is Second to None — and certainly not to some Stone Age Islanders.

Bush needs to know that we need a psychological boost before we can “do Iran”, as the Weekly Standard is currently insisting we do. The Sentinelese are there for the taking. LET’S GO!!! DO IT!!!

Bush Urges End to Cartoon Violence

Blair: Cartoon violence unacceptable

U.N. condemns cartoon violence

De Gucht: cartoon violence cannot be justified

Muslim World Leaders Becoming Concerned About Rising Cartoon Violence
………………….

Marge’s list of Itchy and Scratchy Violence Acts:

# 3 Cats blown up
# 1 Mice lunched
# 2 Dogs tricked
# 2 Gophers buried alive
# 3 Eyes knocked out
# 2 Disembowelling
# 1 Brains slammed in car door

Over the last few weeks, Mr. Rove has been calling in virtually every Republican on the Senate committee as well as the leadership in Congress. The sources said Mr. Rove’s message has been that a vote against Mr. Bush would destroy GOP prospects in congressional elections.

Those deemed disloyal to Mr. Rove would appear on his blacklist. The sources said dozens of GOP members in the House and Senate are on that list.

So goes the story published on a Moon-ite news website. I note for the record the movement of supposed Republican critic Lindsey Graham, who said at the hooplah-hearings:

“The FISA statute, in a time of war, is a check and balance. But here’s where I think I’m your biggest fan. During the time of war, the administration has the inherent power, in my opinion, to surveil the enemy and to map the battlefield electronically — not just physical, but to electronically map what the enemy is up to by seizing information and putting that puzzle together.

And the administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue fifth column movements.
. . .
So my friends on the other side, I stand by this president’s ability, inherent to being commander in chief, to find out about fifth column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that.

With the supposed Rove strategy of getting Republicans in line behind Bush’s Imperial Presidency with hardball tactics — leveraged through his control of the Republican apparatus, I now have to wonder about this:

During a commercial break while the fictional Bauer was desperately searching for canisters of deadly nerve gas that had fallen into the hands of terrorists, viewers saw an advertisement questioning the wisdom of real-life senators who would “weaken” the Patriot Act. “What if they are wrong?” the commercial asked.

The ad, which may air again during future 24 episodes broadcast in the home states of Republican senators who have raised questions about the Patriot Act, is an unusual example of an interest group so closely meshing political persuasion and fictional entertainment.

Who is behind this ad?

The Patriot Act commercial was paid for by an ad hoc conservative group whose public supporters include many prominent former Bush administration officials and is housed at a hawkish Washington think tank, the Center for Security Policy.

Things that make you go “hm.” I state for the record that I think “24” is basically government-sanctioned propaganda for the police state… connected with that post 9/11 meeting the Bush Administration had with Hollywood producers. Which makes it a thing that makes me go “uh. huh.”

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is attempting some party whipping of her own.

Saying her own party needs to get tough on the issue of terrorism or face more election losses, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attacked the White House and presidential adviser Karl Rove Wednesday in a speech to auto workers.

“I take a backseat to nobody when it comes to fighting terrorism and standing up for national homeland security,” Clinton said, arguing Democrats should not be afraid to question President Bush’s handling of the war on terror.

Fair enough, Mrs. Clinton. “Back seat to no one”, blahde blah blah… you probably used the same language when you voted to allow the authorization for Bush to use force in Iraq. But now then… what strategies do you have, as a leader and spokesperson for the OPPOSITION PARTY, to to question and more importantly stop Bush from claiming the authority to allow wiretapping without getting court approval first? Or is this entire speech a grandstand to outhawk the hawks? I want to know the answer to these questions.