Day: September 12, 2003

Ann Coulter, if there was any doubt left, is full of crap:

In the wake of Dean’s success, the entire Democratic Dream Team is beginning to sound like Dr. Demento. On the basis of their recent pronouncements, the position of the Democratic Party seems to be that Saddam Hussein did not hit us on 9-11, but Halliburton did.

Ann, Saddam Hussein had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the September 11th attacks in this country. Okay? I know Bush and company have hinted and danced around it, and I know it’s hard to do research when you’re easily distracted by shiny objects, but even Bush hasn’t had the audacity to make that particular bald-faced lie.

As Tom Tomorrow writes:

The Democrats will try to point out how ineptly the Bushies have handled these past two years—Osama bin Laden is, after all, still apparently alive and well and sending us video postcards, while we’ve committed massive resources to conquering a country whose sum and total involvement in the events of 9/11 resides entirely in the fertile imaginations of the easily misled–and those Democrats will be portrayed as hating the West, hating America, all for stating the truth, assuming they have the courage to do so.

And, Ann, please. Dr. Demento? Something tells me you’ve never actually heard the good doctor‘s show and are just using that for shorthand for other things you don’t understand or which you have never heard.

(I found Coulter’s quote, incidentally, through Eschaton. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to ignoring her.)

Addendum: As August J. Pollack writes: “Ann Coulter is not an idiot for writing this. She is in fact a scheming, psychotic monster. And frankly, that’s scary enough to point out.”

Remember those prisoners — I’m sorry, “enemy combatants” — at Guantanamo Bay? You know, the ones who, for the most part, hadn’t actually been charged with anything and were, in probably more than a few cases, guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Well, if the current administration has its way, they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon:

“It’s outrageous,” [USC law professor Erwin] Chemerinsky said. “There are no signs that the war on terrorism is nearing an end, so the government is saying it can hold people indefinitely and likely for the rest of their lives without complying with the requirements of international law.”

Brought to my attention by Erik Wilson, who also shares a number of links (including this one), about the ease with which the results of the 2004 presidential election might be fixed:

Diebold is the company that wants to get the contract to provide and program voting machines in every state for the 2004 election and O’Dell is raising money exclusively for President Bush and the Republican National Committee (RNC). O’Dell, in a fundraising letter on August 14th, committed “to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year” according to the Associated Press. In the 2002 election cycle, O’Dell gave $5,965 to the RNC while Diebold gave the RNC $95,000

And I was worried when I thought it was just crappy voting software.

I seem to have pretty much exhausted my interest in the Friday Five already, but if you really want to know:

1. I’ve never changed my name.

2. I haven’t given it much thought.

3. I’m named after my father. (And his father. And his father.)

4. Again, I haven’t given it much thought.

5. Not even remotely. Every indication is that the Kabalarians are either a scam or a cult or both.