Right Wing Nut House

This is pretty unbelievable:

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday.

In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions.

Watch for the Cox and Forkum cartoon soon.

It gets better:

At another monitoring site where the UN was supposed to check humanitarian aid supplies, Mr Ventham noticed “the team leader and his fellow countrymen [the nationality is unstated] spending the majority of their time in each other’s rooms drinking vodka as opposed to managing and leading the team”.

There he noticed small vessels and barges moving to a small island each night.

Kind of give a whole new meaning to the initials WMD; Weally Messy Drunks.

There’s already been evidence of the Russians helping Saddam spirit something out of the country in late January and early February of 2003. Speculation was rife that the convoy of trucks that left Iraq for Syria’s Bekka Valley could have contained what was left of the Iraqi WMD program.

Now we find out that the people in charge of enforcing the will of the UN preferred getting drunk in their hotel rooms rather than seeing the Security Council resolutions obeyed.

Aren’t you glad that John Kerry lost?

UPDATE

Here’s what I wrote of the UN after the Russian connection to Saddam’s violations of the sanction’s protocols were made public on October 28 of last year:

What makes these revelations so serious is the impunity with which the international community routinely violated the sanctions against Iraq. “Grown-up nations” as Kofi Annan called France and Russia were not only up to their armpits in the ever-unfolding Oil For Food scandal, but actually sold banned materials to Saddam as if the UN didn’t even exist. (Note: The next time you hear that santimonious son of a bitch Chirac dissing the US for acting unilaterally, throw your popcorn at the TV like I plan to. That kind of hypocrisy deserves to be answered with a glove to the face and pistols, at dawn, at 20 paces).

In the cold light of dawn here, what’s becoming depressingly clear is that the UN is worse than a hollow shell, it is in fact an obstacle to peace in any form, of any kind. How can the United States in good conscience follow the dictates of an organization, so corrupt, so filled with cynicism, graft, and outright thievery that it won’t enforce it’s most fundamental dictums and instead, turns a blind eye to these kinds of outrageous violations of its OWN rules?

With today’s revelations, I almost look like a goddamn prophet.

In an exclusive report, Space.Com is reporting that two NASA scientists have told space officials that they have strong evidence that life currently exists on Mars.

The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their paper currently is being peer reviewed.

What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth.

Methane is a waste gas that some biological organisms give off when processing food. Such gas was discoverd by Dr. Stoker when she and a group of scientists made a trip to one of the most inhospitable places on earth to harbor life: The Rio Tinto River in Spain.

Stoker told her private audience Sunday evening that by comparing discoveries made at Rio Tinto with data collected by ground-based telescopes and orbiting spacecraft, including the European Space Agency’s Mars Express, she and Lemke have made a very a strong case that life exists below Mars’ surface.

The two scientists, according to sources at the Sunday meeting, based their case in part on Mars’ fluctuating methane signatures that could be a sign of an active underground biosphere and nearby surface concentrations of the sulfate jarosite, a mineral salt found on Earth in hot springs and other acidic bodies of water like Rio Tinto that have been found to harbor life despite their inhospitable environments.

Scientists call these organisms “Extremophiles” because they exist in extreme environments. Thousands and thousands of new species of bacteria are being discovered in some really unbelievable places like 2 miles underground or in the permafrost of the Arctic. Since the bulding blocks of life-amino acids, and simple proteins-seem to be extremely plentiful in the Universe, scientists are coming to the remarkable conclusion that wherever life can exist, it will.

What’s next? The “USS Chicken Hawk?”

WASHINGTON (NNS) — The Navy will commission its newest nuclear-powered attack submarine Jimmy Carter on Saturday, Feb. 19, during an 11 a.m. EST ceremony at Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Conn.

The attack submarine Jimmy Carter honors the 39th president of the United States.

This is really embarrassing. It’s like the Russians naming an Alcoholic Rehabilitation clinic after Boris Yeltsin. It’d be like the French naming an Aircraft Carrier ” The Courageous.”

I can see our enemies quaking in their boots now…

“Look out! Here comes the Jimmy Carter! HIDE YOUR RABBITS! HIDE YOUR RABBITS!”

Arguably the worst President of the 20th Century, (some would say the worst in 100 years) Jimmy Carter has distinguished himself since being unceremoniously kicked out of office by coddling dictators like Castro, enabling tyrants like Chavez, and acting as cheerleader for some of the most murderous cutthroats of the age including Yassar Arafat, Kim Jung Il, and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Carter’s term in office was marked by one the strangest episodes in the history of the Presidency. It involved a swamp rabbit, a canoe, and our brave President wielding a paddle as a weapon.

Here’s how Carter’s former Press Secretary Jody Powell recalled the incident:

… the President volunteered the information that while fishing in a pond on his farm he had sighted a large animal swimming toward him. Upon closer inspection, the animal turned out to be a rabbit. Not one of your cutesy, Easter Bunny-type rabbits, but one of those big splay-footed things that we called swamp rabbits when I was growing up.

The animal was clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk. The President confessed to having had limited experience with enraged rabbits. He was unable to reach a definite conclusion about its state of mind. What was obvious, however, was that this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat.

The President then evidently shooed the critter away from his boat with a paddle. The scene was captured on film by a White House photographer.

This was the most aggressive action ever taken by the Carter Presidency. Some speculated that if the rabbit had continued its attack, Carter would have backed down.

And we’re naming a nuclear powered attack boat after this guy?

Charlie Madigan, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, is one hip dude.

He’s got a blog…sort of. He reads Skankette-what red blooded American male doesn’t (I think it says a lot about the state of our society when men still are in awe of women who make penis jokes in public).

And he thinks conservative blogs drip blood from the corners of their mouths…or is it drool uncontrollably. You decide:

As for the wild-eyed conservatives, welcome aboard.

You finally have a place where you can gas on until you faint.

Sooner or later you will either develop a following or expire from lack of air. Maybe you can ascend to talk radio. Maybe you can disappear. Maybe you can libel someone and get penalized so far back into the economic dark ages that you won’t be able to upgrade your launch platform

You’re right Charlie…I can hardly see straight but for all the gas you’re blowing my way. And since your breathtaking ignorance regarding the Eason Jordan imbroglio is on display for all to see on your “blog” (C’mon Charlie! Get some snazzier graphics! Get some art on there! Too boring…) I’d like to show you what you’re missing. Because, you really are one completely clueless, kool-aid drinking moonbat!

On at least three occassions in the past two years, Eason Jordan has made the same unfounded, unproven accusations against the American military; that journalists were deliberately being targeted for death by US. soldiers. If you are so inclined, you can read the entire story here as researched by blogs all over the world and expertly-dare I say journalistically-set down by Ed Morrissey of Captains Quarters.

The fact that even liberal lawmakers Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Christopher Dodd who were present in Davos, Switzerland when Jordan made these outrageous slanders called the CNN chief to account didn’t make any difference to the mainstream media (come to think of it, didn’t see a post by you on the subject) as they lowered the cone of silence over the story effectively burying it.

We “wild-eyed” conservative bloggers have a lot of faults, I’ll grant you. Why, we can be as sanctimonious and inusfferable as you liberal bloggers…even when we’re right. The point about the Jordan affair is very simple; to this day, the MSM has failed to report why Mr. Jordan needed to go. It wasn’t one comment it was a pattern of saying things in foreign countries about the United States government and its military that were patently and provably false.

In other words, he lied.
(more…)

There’s quite a ruckus on the left side of the blogosphere over one Jeff Gannon who, in addition to being something of a gadfly, hanging around the White House press room without much business being there, also happens to be gay. This has caused a virtual explosion of finger pointing and charges of everything from lax security (laughable…liberals could give a crap about security) to Republican hypocrisy.

Well, Superhawk has a messgae for Kos, Oliver Willis, and the rest of the lefty blogs who think this is such a big deal. This from an AIM (Accuracy in Media) press release:

WASHINGTON — Accuracy in Media charged today that a liberal activist and associate of Ralph Nader has been obtaining access to White House press briefings while claiming to be a legitimate news reporter.

Russell Mokhiber, who sells a $795 a year newsletter that bashes corporations, attends the briefings to make obscure anti-Bush political points. Recently, for example, he asked spokesman Scott McClellan whether President Bush violated one of the Ten Commandments by invading Iraq. Mokhiber, who told AIM that he has never taken a journalism class in his life and was denied a permanent White House press pass, posts his ludicrous questions and answers on a far-left web site under the title “Scottie & Me.”

It seems clear it isn’t a question of Mr. Gannon not being a real journalist that’s upsetting to Kos, Oliver, and his moonbat cohorts. It’s a reaction to the fact that he’s gay; a curious concern given their world famous tolerance towards members of that oppressed and put upon minority group (whose members happen to earn more and be worth more on average than people in the so-called “straight world.”)

And Paul over at Wizbang has some helpful advice for those who live in glass houses:

If you want to make the case that yours is the tolerant party and the Republicans are intolerant, spending a week in a gay bashing free for all probably is not the best way to make the point.

How true, how true. But then, following that advice would require brains and a modicum of political acumen.

Tell me again which is the party of tolerance and compassion?

NOTE: One of the annoying bugs since this site first became active yesterday is the fact that the comments and trackbacks are not currently working. Please click the “Contact” link above and send me an email telling me what you think of the new site…or anything else on your mind.

If there’s one thing about the show that’s been consistent since it began three years ago, it’s the capacity of the writers to surprise the viewer with the unexpected.

The powerplant meltdown last night is a good example of this.

While other shows have the hero saving the day in the nick of time, “24″ has gone beyond this cliched and hackneyed formula for the last three years. First, it was the actual explosion of a nuclear device on American soil. Then, it was the devastating scenes in the hotel last year as the lethal virus killed dozens. And now an actual full blown meltdown of a nuclear power plant with all the attendant confusion, panic, and apparently large number of casualties.

The writers have used these tragedies to draw the viewer in and make the subsequent dangers to the country and the characters even more real and terrifying. I believe this to be the key as to why the show is so popular and why its fans are so rabid (me included).

SUMMARY

The episode opens with Curtis and Erin doing a bureaucratic two step to avoid responsibility for the fiasco regarding Maryann’s penetration of CTU security. Will it work? Probably not. My prediction is either next week or the week after, a representative from division (who’s supposed to be there to look into the security breach at 5:00 pm) will show up, see through the CYA gambit employed by Erin and Curtis, fire the two slackers, and take over CTU operations herself. Who am I talking about?

Who else but Tony’s ex-wife, ungrateful wretch Michelle, who works as Assistant Supervisor at Division.

What do you think Michelle’s reaction is going to be when she finds out that Tony and Jack are partnered up on this thing? Stay tuned for those fireworks!

Meanwhile, bad dad Navi is still looking to kill his wife and son. Dina and Behruzz, after escaping the police at the hospital, hide out in a motel where Dina, in pain from being shot by Navi, sends Behruzz to another hospital nearby to get pain medication from her brother Haseem. The plan backfires when Haseem calls Navi who tells him that Behruzz is a druggie and that he’ll be right over to take him home.

Jack, thanks to some good work by fat geek Edgar, finds out where the Araz’s are hiding. He and Tony, along with a CTU swat team, crash the motel room and capture Dina. Not suprisingly, she refuses to cooperate. That is, until we find out that Homeland Security is listening in on your cell phone conversations whenever they want to and, in the process, pick up the converation Behruzz has with his mother about his father trying to kill him.

It’s nice that Jack now has this leverage to use against Dina, but does it bother anyone else that this kind of technical capacity exists? The National Security Agency (NSA), the most secretive agency in government, has been using this technology to spy in foreign countries for years. Basically, it works without any direct spying on your conversations…unlesss you happen to use a “keyword” that the computer is programmed to recognize in which case your conversation is recorded to be listened to later. Is this too high a price to pay for being safe? I report, you decide.

At any rate, this information lets Jack show what he does best in interrogations; he makes the witness sweat while casually walking into the room, going to the bathroom, washing his hands, then slowly and deliberately drying them. All the while, Dina’s pucker factor has gone up about 10 fold. It makes the conversational tone of his voice when he first starts talking to her that much more effective.

After extracting a promise from Jack to get immunity for Behruzz, Dina agrees to help them. When Jack talks to the President to get the clemency, we see for the first time what kind of guy this Chief Executive is; he ain’t no David Palmer. While Palmer would never double cross Jack in a matter such as this due to a personal debt owed to him for saving his life, we see no such compunction on the part of this President. After agreeing to Jack’s request and hanging up the phone, our President turns to an aide and says “Make sure that document is non-binding.”

Meanwhile back at CTU, in the most affecting scene so far, fat geek Edgar tries to get his mother out of the fall out zone, to no avail. In a heart wrenching phone conversation, she says goodbye making it clear she was going to kill herself rather than go through the horrors of radiation sickness. Edgar, beside himself with worry, starts to leave until confronted by Erin, who convinces him to stay and help prevent further plant meltdowns.

Back at the hospital, when Behruzz realizes that uncle Haseem has accidentally betrayed him, he starts to run only to be confronted by bad dad Navi who, after taking care of Haseem, (the only casualty of the hour) is about to off his own son when Behruzz spills the beans about mom’s betrayal to CTU. Enraged, Navi drags Behruzz to the car only to be confronted by Jack who, after getting hit by the vehicle, miraculously arises unhurt to shoot the tires out and stop Navi from escaping. Just in time, the car driven by Tony with Dina in it shows up to see Navi take Behruzz at gunpoint into the hospital basement. Dina then gets off the most chilling line of the show to date:

Dina: “I believe in my cause. And if you can’t save my son, I’ll be happy to see the reactors meltdown.
Jack (talking on the phone to CTU): “Did you get that?”

Yes, Jack we got it. And we’re all waiting to see how you get us out of this one.

BODY COUNT

At this rate, they’ll be able to take the “Due to some graphic violence…etc.” disclaimer off the beginning ot the show. Only one stiff for the entire hour, poor unsuspecting Haseem who couldn’t possibly believe that his relatives were terrorists. Here’’s the running total:

JACK: 18 dead, 1 gratuitous wounding, 1 viscous pistol whipping.
Show: 91 dead total

LOOSE END

Secretary Heller has shaved and changed into another suit. More continuity problems? Also, while we’ll eventually learn the fate of Erin’s daughter who, last we saw, was near death after getting misdosed by a CTU doctor. Does it bother anyone else that we haven’t heard a thing about her for two hours?

UPDATE:

The comments seem to be down for the moment as are trackbacks. Feel free to click on the “Contact Me” header and send me an email to tell me what you think about my new site design…as well as anything else on your mind.

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.
Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

Well it’s about time.

All those months on blogger with a site that looked like a cross between my grandmother’s attic and a liberal’s idea of goverment; cluttered and not very organized.

No more!

Today we strike a blow for good, clean blogging.

Clean lines.
Clean colors
Clean fonts
Clean art
Clean FUN!

All of this, of course, will not lead to clean living or a clean mind. Therefore, it is my intention to tell it like it is in as straightforward a manner as possible.

With a little wry humor that will make you think
With a little history thrown in to give you perspective
With a little knowledge that will sway your opinion

The picture that graces the head of this site is of the notorious London insane asylum “Bedlam” (yes, that’s where the word comes from). Provocative, yes? I knew you’d like it!

So, welcome to the House! And come back often.

Right Wingnuthouse is moving!

Yes…we’re finally getting off blogger and having the site hosted. Consequently, there’ will be no posts until Monday morning as I’ll be working hard this weekend to get the site ready.

While our web address will change, I can promise you that the same looniness will prevail! You’ll still be able to follow the adventures of Jack Bauer and the CTU gang of “24.” And Marvin Moonbat will still give his weekly Friday rants (if he can find his way to the new site. Sometimes, I wonder about Marvin…)

And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who are regular readers and commenters. I hope you follow me over to the new site:

Rightwing Nuthouse.com!

This being Friday, it’s once again time for my neighbor Marvin Moonbat to give his take on things from the left side of the political spectrum.

WHY IRAQ IS EXACTLY LIKE VIET NAM ONLY WORSE
(By Marvin Moonbat)

Well, my bags are packed and I’m ready to go. As soon as our Chimp in Chief announces the reinstatement of the draft, I’m outa here. Canada maybe. Or Australia. My girlfriend Chloe wants us to go to the mountains of Bolivia and live off the land using only our hands and our wits. I said that’s out. First off, they only have one TV station (WGN out of Chicago). And the way I look at it, any country that isn’t civilized enough to carry MTV 2 (You know, the good MTV station that still plays videos and not that other one that only shows the reality shows and stupid interviews with hip-hop drag queens) isn’t worth living in.

Secondly, they don’t speak English! Chloe says I’m too Eurocentric (I think I know what that means) but I don’t care. I nearly flunked Spanish in high school and I would hate the idea of having to order pizza in Spanish. (UPDATE: Chloe tells me there’s only one Pizza Hut in Cochabamba and they don’t deliver. That cuts it.)

Anyway, I’m history when the draft comes back. And believe me it’s going to. Why? Because Bushitler and the neocons are going to need plenty of bodies when they begin invading the other countries of the middle east for their oil.

Which brings me to our subject for today. Here are my top three reasons why Iraq is exactly like Viet Nam only much, much worse.

1. Oil

What’s that you say? There’s no oil in Viet Nam? This may be true, although according to the CIA World Fact Book there are some offshore deposits. What I mean is, you have to use your brain to make the connection.

Look, I’ll make it easy on you; when I say oil, you think “Pepsi-Cola.” The reason we sent millions of soldiers to Viet Nam and sacrificed 55,000 American lives was so that Tricky Dick Nixon’s buddies at Pepsi Cola would have new customers. The evidence is overwhelming. Ask anybody who was there and they’ll tell you. There was no Coca-Cola in Nam! It was Cola Imperialism that drove American foreign policy. Just like in Iraq. Only this time it’s oil. And Yoo-hoo.

One of the Smirking Chimp’s bigger contributors is the CEO of Cadbury, the people who make Yoo-hoo. The Iraq war is as much about bringing the chocolate flavored beverage to the middle east as anything else. Why there’s even talk of Cadbury introducing a hollow chocolate “Mohammed” to go along with it’s Santa Claus and Easter Bunny products. Should be a big seller.

2. Quagmire

Face it, we’re stuck in Iraq. Just like we were stuck in Viet Nam.

Some wingnuts have asked me “Well, what do you want us to do, cut and run?” My answer is yes. A little humiliation is just what this country needs. Besides, we deserve it. I’d really like to see the United States brought down a peg or two. It would be enormously satisfying.

Why, just the other day I was watching C-Span and I heard this great speech by someone who I’ve never heard of before. His name is Ward Churchill and he’s a teacher at Colorado State. He’s an Indian so he knows what he’s talking about. He says that the attacks on 9/11 were our own damn fault and besides, we had it coming because of our imperialsims and all. He really made a lot of sense to me.

What really made me think he knew what he was talking about is when he compared our Liar in Chief to Hitler and the neocons to the nazis. Boy, is he smart! I’m going to see if we can’t get him to speak at our school. (UPDATE: I just read that Professor Churchill may not be a real Indian. Why should that matter? His heart is in the right place on the issues so he’s OK by me.)

3. Senator Kennedy Says So

I love Senator Kennedy. Whenever he speaks, I get the feeling that here’s a man who really, really cares! He cares about the poor. He cares about the aged. He cares about minorities. He cares and cares and cares until he almost just doesn’t care anymore.

Kennedy is sort of like our Ronald Reagan, only fatter. And he drinks, but that’s OK. And he has a problem with women, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a feminist. And then there was that little incident with the car, and the bridge, and the sheriff, and the coroner, and…Well, let’s just say that’s all water under the bridge and let it go at that.

If Ted Kennedy says that Iraq is George Bush’s Viet Nam you gotta believe him. It was his own brother that made Viet Nam a big deal by increasing our troop levels from 800 under that smirking war monger Eisenhower to more than 10,000 by 1963. So Senator Kennedy knows what he’s talking about.

I mean, you really have to admire the guy. Who else would have such an exquisite sense of timing to call for a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq just three days before their election? Brilliant! Not only did it undermine shrub’s Iraq policy (deservedly) but it also made those stupid Iraqi’s see that there was no hope for them as long as America was an occupying power. Better to have the United Nations administer the country with the French and Germans taking the lead. Now those countries know what they’re doing when it comes to occupying. Especially Germany, whose occupation experience is a little more recent.

When Senator Kennedy speaks, we liberals listen. We’ve been doing it for a long time and look where its gotten us?

Well, I’ve got to run. Chloe wants to go to a lecture on global warming. Did you know that global warming was invented by the Pentagon to save money so they wouldn’t have to buy winter gear for the soldiers? It’s true. I read it on the internet.