Old Man Cheney keeps croaking his nonsense about how kewl his torture regime was and how it produced all the Jack Bauer wonder scenarios that saved fluffy kittens and apple-cheeked toddlers. After all, didn't the "enhanced interrogation" of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed prevent some major stuff from going down? Cue the experts:

"Cheney is full of crap," one intelligence source with decades of experience said Tuesday.

Well, we knew that. It's just nice to have it officially confirmed, even anonymously.

For chrissake, can't these loons on the right find anything to do but spin simple facts into dark and evil undertones? All because Obama said this to the troops today:

You and your families have done your duty now a grateful nation must do ours. That is why I am increasing the number of soldiers and Marines, so that we lessen the burden on those who are serving. And that is why I have committed to expanding our system of veterans health care to serve more patients, and to provide better care in more places. We will continue building new wounded warrior facilities across America, and invest in new ways of identifying and treating the signature wounds of this war: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, as well as other combat injuries.

We also know that service does not end with the person wearing the uniform. In her visits with military families across the country, my wife Michelle has learned firsthand about the unique burden that your families endure every day. I want you to know this: military families are a top priority for Michelle and me, and they will be a top priority for my administration.

We'll raise military pay, and continue providing quality child-care, job-training for spouses, and expanded counseling and outreach to families that have known the separation and stress of war. We will also heed the lesson of history that those who fight in battle can form the backbone of our middle class by implementing a 21st century GI Bill to help our veterans live their dreams.

I heard that--I saw that. I also saw the crowd at Camp Lejeune applaud wildly, so much so that Obama turned aside and said "I thought that might be an applause line" after announcing the pay raise.

But what do the sober souls at The Weekly Standard hear?:

This is a very subtle form of the soldier-as-victim trope that is fast becoming an Iraq legacy. For soldiers throughout history--those who have endured physical and emotional sufferings of an essential similar quality, if less clinically expressed--the trials of war were at least partially ameliorated by the salve of personal honor and, if the battle went well, the celebration of a victory. The troops who have served and serve still in Iraq should be singled out not just for the burdens of the fight but because they emerge from it, as Bing West's book puts it, as the "strongest tribe."

Yes, let us instead stick to the "law of the jungle" rhetoric. Let us pretend that "tribe vs. tribe" is the way to look at world events, y'know, just like they do on that sophisticated geo-political analysis show "Survivor." Let us forget suicide rates. Let us forget the lack of body armor. Let us forget the inadequately fortified vehicles. Let us forget the sights we saw at Walter Reed. Let us instead whip out those Big Man Parts and measure to see who truly rules the "tribe." Then swing them in the wind for all to gaze upon. Oh, that and put "Red Dawn" back on the teevee and start feeling all tingly in our special parts again.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at That Guy*, appeared in court today, and whatever they've been doing to him in custody, he's not backing down. He continues to defend his actions as perfectly reasonable, and he specifically cites The Smirk with which the comments were delivered. The scene outside the courtroom is worth noting:

A handful of American soldiers stood silently near the entrance of the court house, with rifles slung over their shoulders. A few Americans in business attire who attended the hearing with badges concealed in shirt pockets stood quietly behind a throng of relatives and admirers of the defendant who gathered outside the courtroom clapping and cheering.

An Iraqi soldier in uniform, apparently moved by the moment, raised his hands in the air and applauded along with them.

Some attendees left the courtroom crying. But the scene was largely jubilant, as women in black abayas ululated triumphantly, their high-pitched shrieks reverberating in the courthouse lobby.

"Imam Ali is with you, hero!" the crowd chanted, referring to the relative of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, revered by Iraqi Shiites.

Sounds strangely like the welcome the neo-cons assured us would be coming our way back in the Time of Fairytales.

(*The other day some old footage of That Guy appeared on my TV, and I remarked to my wife how it was kind of jarring, since we've been largely spared sight of his mug or the sound of his name for a little while now. And frankly, that suits me fine, unless it appears in the context of legal proceedings.)

On the one hand, it's refreshing to see Obama's press conference this evening and to try to forget the combination of ineptitude and preening that marked those of his predecessor. But W's shadow doesn't disappear so quickly.

I found myself this morning connecting through DC's Ronald Reagan airport to Upstate New York. In the row in front of me and across the aisle was a rather young mom and her 5 year old (or so) son. Before takeoff I saw the attendant ask her to put something all the way underneath her seat for takeoff, but I had no idea what.

Nothing out of the ordinary on the flight, just a young woman keeping her cute son entertained for the hour or so flight. But after landing, when we got up to deplane, I saw what was under the seat: an American flag, folded into a proper triangle and put into a wooden display case with a clear front.

Had she gone to DC for some presentation? Did it commemorate a husband, a brother, a father or someone else killed in Iraq or Afghanistan? I can't know for sure, because I couldn't imagine right then about asking about her loss.

And George Bush has disappeared from the headlines and the cable news screetchers. But part of me will continue to damn his black little heart for what he's done to so many long beyond the 24 hour attention span our media seems to love.

I prefer posting cheeky snark here, just to keep things going. Reality slaps like this, however, when idiots crow about surge successes and the like, have to be remembered.

Well, Bush is finally getting his flowers--in Tikrit a large sculpture of one of the shoes that the Iraqi journalist chucked at Bush's head has been unveiled, and it doubles as a planter for flowers. Oh, and the sculptor was assisted by Iraqi children who were orphaned by the war, and the giant shoe will remain at their orphanage.

But I'm sure Bush will take it all in stride and just say that in a democracy, people should feel free to express themselves. Hmm, it brings to mind an example of someone else that needed to "express herself":

Yeah, this is a really good example of why the Patriot Act was a really bad idea.

Tamera Jo Freeman was on a Frontier Airlines flight to Denver in 2007 when her two children began to quarrel over the window shade and then spilled a Bloody Mary into her lap.

She spanked each of them on the thigh with three swats. It was a small incident, but one that in the heightened anxiety after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would eventually have enormous ramifications for Freeman and her children.

A flight attendant confronted Freeman, who responded by hurling a few profanities and throwing what remained of a can of tomato juice on the floor.

The incident aboard the Frontier flight ultimately led to Freeman's arrest and conviction for a federal felony defined as an act of terrorism under the Patriot Act, the controversial federal law enacted after the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

"I had no idea I was breaking the law," said Freeman, 40, who spent three months in jail before pleading guilty.

[...]

The costs of a conviction can be enormous. In Tamera Freeman's case, it cost her custody of her children.

The confrontation on the Frontier Airlines flight to Denver was particularly harsh, recalled Amy Fleming, the flight attendant who told Freeman to stop spanking her children. In a recent interview, Fleming called Freeman the most unruly passenger she had seen in 11 years on the job.

"Absolutely she deserved a felony conviction," she said.

But at least one passenger, John Carlson, a defense attorney who was seated near Freeman, said there was no threat. "There was a nasty, loud exchange," Carlson said. Then Freeman "capitulated and offered no resistance. My sympathy shifted to her."

A spokeswoman for Frontier said the airline has provided more training for flight attendants since 2001, including classes on "ways to calm a situation before it reaches a boiling point or physical confrontation."

After three months in jail, Freeman agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being released on probation. A court-appointed attorney told her that a plea deal would be the fastest way to see her children, who had been taken back to Hawaii and put into foster care.

Her probation required her to stay in Oklahoma City, where she grew up, and prohibited her from flying. Meanwhile, legal proceedings in Hawaii have begun to allow the children's foster parents to adopt them.

It is my sincere hope that dialing back certain provisions of the so-called Patriot Act is on President Obama's short list. There is absolutely no excuse for a woman losing her kids because she got into an argument with a flight attendant.

So I see we're once again in Bizarro Land, as GW is going to be handing out Medals of Freedom next week to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Australian PM John Howard. He doesn't seem to notice that recurring label "former" in their cases, nor that their popularity on their departures is strikingly similar to Bush's own at present.

But ol' George thinks he's replaying The Blues Brothers movie, probably going into his morning Cabinet meeting chortling "Hey, we're getting the band back together!" Only problem is in this case, once this trio began to play, the room emptied and nobody particularly wanted to hear from any of them again.

So today in a press appearance with Iraq's Maliki, an Iraqi reporter took off his shoes and threw them at Bush from only 15 feet away. Missed, of course (could it be any other way?), but he came damb close. The video's available here. This being Yahoo video, you have to watch a stupid commercial first before the hilarity starts, although the one that played first for me was pretty funny in context: it was for Hersey's Kisses, with a soundtrack playing "What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love."

When French President Sarkozy visited Vladimir Putin during the Georgia crisis to try to broker a cease fire, the soul of the man Bush once said he glimpsed came out in a way ol' George never would've guessed. This account comes courtesy of Sarkozy's chief diplomatic adviser and, no, he's not joking:

With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared.

Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. “Hang him?” — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. “The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.”

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: “Ah — you have scored a point there.”

You've made us all proud, Georgie. Let's hope we never hear from you again.

PS. The fact that a major advisor to Sarkozy would tell this story on the record and in his own name only confirms the obvious: George Bush's new title is: His Irrelevancy.

Warren Strobel over at McClatchy couldn't help but do a spit take when he heard this in a recent Condi Rice interview:

When I go to Europe, I no longer see any difference in the view that a stable and secure Iraq is in everybody’s interest, and that an Iraq that is democratic and in which Saddam Hussein, that brutal monster that caused three wars in the region, including dragging us in twice, that used – who used weapons of mass destruction against his own people, that an Iraq that is democratic and friendly to the West is better for the Middle East. I don’t see much disagreement about that.

Dragged us in twice? How's that? By refusing to threaten us with non-existent nukes as well as not sharing his missing WMDs with his terrorists pals he didn't have? Is that a new definition of passive-aggressive or something?

... "Give em BACK!!!"-- George W. Bush

Boy-- just IMAGINE the hot and tasty US DoD goodies that the Russians are finding as ground score behind the Georgian Army... "Slightly used, dropped once."

via AFP

CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) — The White House on Tuesday demanded that Moscow return any US equipment its forces seized in Georgia, amid reports Russian troops grabbed some US military vehicles.

"If the Russians have it, it needs to be returned immediately," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said as US President George W. Bush followed the Georgia crisis from his ranch near this tiny Texas town.

"But there's conflicting reports on it right now. We'd certainly expect that the Russians would return any equipment that is US equipment and return it quickly, if, in fact, they do have it," Johndroe told reporters.

"There's some, also, indications that they've made that assurance. If they've made that assurance, they need to honor that commitment, as well," he said, describing the reports as "too sketchy" as to the material's location.

Russian forces in Georgia seized five Humvees (High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) that either belong or had belonged to the US military from the port of Poti, witnesses said.

Give 'em BACK!

HAW!!!

No. George is honestly NOT worried one damned bit about some HumVees. We just gave over a shitload of super serious toys, and DARPA Happy Fun Balls (Google Video Link) to the Russians, and you can imagine, to the entire NotWest.

Give 'em BACK!!!

Oh, hell that is one of George's bestest yet.

Oh, gods almighty we are so FUCT.

It says an awful lot about how we're viewed in the world when you look at a couple of quotes pertaining to the situation in Georgia that have appeared in news reports. First, here's Bush's statement from yesterday (emphasis mine):

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to the region for discussions on the crisis and to show support for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, the Russian position seemed to be a direct challenge to President Bush who said a day earlier that he "insists that the sovereign and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."

The response from Russia is particularly stinging, and aimed right ad Bush's words:

"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state," (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey) Lavrov told reporters.

Catch that? Bush makes a demand of Russia, Russia's Foreign minister tells Bush to 'forget it,' and he purposely echoes Bush's own words.

If anyone needs proof that the world has completely stopped listening to Bush, you can't find a better summary of it than those two quotes.

They couldn't resist doing it just one more time....

Government officials have been quietly stepping up counterterror efforts out of a growing concern that al Qaeda or similar organizations might try to capitalize on the spate of extremely high-profile events in the coming months, sources tell ABC News.

Security experts point to next month's Olympics as evidence that high-profile events attract threats of terrorism, like the one issued this past weekend by a Chinese Muslim minority group that warned of its intent to attack the Games.

Anti-terror officials in the U.S. cite this summer and fall's lineup of two major political parties' conventions, November's general election and months of transition into a new presidential administration as cause for heightened awareness and action.

This is what the Department of Homeland Security is quietly declaring a Period of Heightened Alert, or POHA, a time frame when terrorists may have more incentive to attack.

According to drafts of government memos described to ABC News, the period would run roughly from this August through July 2009.

McCain's thank you note to Bush is on the way to the White House as I type this, no doubt.

Although I like to think I'm fairly well-informed, I can't answer the following questions from memory, and I'm not sure where I could find the answers:

1. How many American troops were in Iraq on December 31, 2006, before the announcement of the "Surge"(tm)?

2. How many American troops were in Iraq on June 30, 2007? .

3. How many American troops were in Iraq on December 31, 2007? .

4. How many American troops were in Iraq on June 30, 2008? .

5. Under the current Administration's plan, how many American troops are there going to be in Iraq on December 31, 2008?

6. For each of these dates, how many American-paid "private security" persons were in Iraq?

7. When the surge was announced, how many additional troops were going to be sent to Iraq?

8. When the Surge was announced, when was the number of troops supposed to be drawn back down to the December 31, 2006 level?

Grab a cup of coffee. Some of this stuff is simply riveting.