Six Hundred And One Reasons--And Counting

That's the current U.S. military death toll in Iraq--but it doesn't include Iraqi civilians nor American civilians, an overlooked category until they became targets of bestial mobs. How many more reasons do we need to evict this heinous crowd of lying, scheming thugs from our White House? How many more intelligent, non-hysterical people have to observe that this crowd actually outdoes the Nixon White House in deception and secrecy before we resolve to get our country back?

Maybe Kerry Does Have Some Backbone After All. Check this out. John Kerry did a ballsy thing yesterday: obliquely asking the question: why is GWB's oft-cited Christian faith, which he uses to such splendid political/rhetorical effect, seem to be utterly missing in any of his policies, decisions or other official actions? But the writer engages in the usual brainless elite media jive by using "religion" (an utterly fallible human construct) as her organizing word rather than "faith" (which is about something else altogether). And that allows some of the attention to be diverted to a meaningless question, whether Kerry's pro-choice stance is similarly hypocritical for a Catholic, simply because some eminently fallible human clerics have decided that abortion is a sin? The way this story is set up allows the writer to couch everything in the traditionally banal he-said/she-said, faux-balanced format. But the question remains: does the fiftyish frat boy George Bush really believe in the Christian god and the Bible, and if so, why isn't that ever reflected in his actions? An excellent question to allude to, Mr. Kerry, and I congratulate you on your ballsiness in doing so. And don't worry, there will be plenty of time for Kerry to defend his position on abortion, as he of course should...

And Speaking of Banal Journospeak... Talkingpointsmemo's Josh Marshall nicely gives it the back of his hand today. He notes that "Here we are again in this alternative universe in which it's front page news that Colin Powell has conceded that some of his testimony before the UN Security Council early last year was based on intelligence that was not 'that solid.' I also hear that Pope has conceded that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and not vice versa. But I'm not sure that development garnered equal press coverage." Just one more good example of how the major media's timidness about pointing out that the emporer has no clothes leads to some bizarre results...

Another Reminder that Google is Imperfect. Our local blogging colleague, the ever-alert Canadian expat Jerry, duly notes this imperfect Google search.

Finally, a Spoof Not to Be Missed. Check out this hilarious send-up on this site, which basically functions as the American media's water cooler and leading internal critic. There are plenty of inside jokes sprinkled throughout the parody, but if you're hip enough to be reading Working With Words, I trust that you'll get most of them.