New Year, New Posting

Sorry about the layoff. Call it a holiday break.

Jerry Brown is now Governor and is starting to dig into the shit sandwitch that is running the State of California. Good luck.

Here we go again.

So Confused

Ted Olson stands up for the Cordoba House.

Howard Dean is opposed.

Ann Coulter is getting in trouble on the right for being too nice to gay people.

Did somebody declare opposite week?

Banned!

Lord Emperor Craig is issuing the following proclamation. Henceforth, the following persons, terms and talking points shall be banned from the public discourse:

Item the First: No more casually tossing around "Nazis" and "Hitler" insults. Its cheap, its easy and no one on ether side deserves it. Except maybe Cheney. No, no, not even Cheney. Hitler is dead. Move on.

Item the Second: No more calling Hillary Clinton "ambitious" like its an insult or disqualifies her. Everybody running for President is ambitious. In fact, everyone calling Hillary ambitious is ambitious themselves. Everyone is ambitious. Its just some of us lack the talent to rise up in the world and thus become political pundits. Ambitious is just code for "uppity women"

Item the Third: When every we talk about Iran everyone must first say "war with Iran is a terrible idea." You then may then go on to discuss Iran in a not-insane manner. Anyone calling for war with Iran shall be sent to the Emperor Craig political reeducation camp forthwith.

Item the Fourth: Bill Kristol is banned from our public discourse. Just go away. Begone.

Let the word go forth into the land. The Emperor has spoken.

Be Gone With You!

Thing's I wish would go away:

Farm Subsidies

Bill Kristol

The Senate Filibuster

Shuffle

The 50 most important people on the web. I did not make the list. However, the other Craig, the one with the list is #7.

Joel Stein, God? Joel Stein?

Nine more dead in Iraq.

First they go for the blacks, next they go for the Jews.

I got harangued about my Presidential choice at the dentist office yesterday, so I guess the election really is on. So in that spirit:

Santa's Dead

True Story.

Also, rest in peace, Godfather of Soul.

Also the Govenator breaks a leg.

I guess I've had it pretty easy this holiday season.

Good Morning!

Rise and shine, it's Monday.

Really fascinating story on the death of New England Republicans here. The last remaining Republican representative is Chris Shays. The entire State of Rhode Island had the same feeling for Lincoln Chafee that I did. Nice guy; got to go. They gave him a 62% approval rating on the same day they voted him out 53%-47%.

Our new SecDef may be a trigger happy nut.

Baker/Hamilton commission: Useless.

Absolutely fascinating international mystery here.

Power to the people: Bahrainis use Google Earth to spy on royals' palaces.

Monday Roundup

Bush dismisses bloodshed in Iraq as ‘just a comma.’ I'm pretty sure Iraq is going to be most of Bush's entry in the history books.

Talking points wants the rest of that NIE.

Bill Clinton slaps the guy from Fox News around.

Go watch kids get their Jesus freak on in Jesus Camp:

Their movie follows three Missouri kids who speak in tongues, pray for judges to outlaw abortion and lay hands on a cardboard cutout of President Bush.

California liberals spreading to the rest of the West:

The trend is so pronounced that demographer William Frey says Arizona and Nevada "are essentially now becoming appendages of California." Nevada stands out in particular, with 18% of its residents (as of the 2000 census) having been born in California

Hi Sis.

Update

A well said call for a cease-fire in the Middle East over at TPMCafe. Ricken Patel uses my schoolyard figh metaphor.

No more complaining about the heat for me. Its hitting 117 this week in Bagdad. And I don't have to wear kevlar to work.

Castro's health situation kind of a mystery.

Bush doing fine. (healthwise)

And the Mongol Rally is well underway. No one has died yet.

Call it a Day

May Day has turned out to be very busy. First off, it's the three year anniversary of the "Mission accomplished" Bush lands on a carrier stunt. Relevant numbers can be found here.

Steve Colbert left nobody untouched in a take-no-prisoners appearance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend. The level of funny to be found in the performance is subject to an ideological test. The performance was found to be funny by liberals and not-funny by conservatives. Funny is one of those things that's impossible to prove or disprove. I say take a look, and decide for yourself.

Today was also the "Day Without Immigrants." rallies and walk-outs held across the County including near Craigorian Chant World Headquaters. The Craigorian Chant video feed is currently down, so just go to CNN to get your video.

And finally, Anna Nicole Smith was victorious in her appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Whew. That's a day.

Saturday, Saturday

Slobodan Milosevic, genocidal former leader of the former Yugoslavia, died in his cell today in the Hague. He was on trial for crimes aganst humanity. The bastard died of natural causes and thus saved the world the trouble of hanging him.

In a completely bizarre event, Bush's domestic policy adviser, who resigned last month, has been arrested for shoplifting:

Police believe Allen would buy items, take them to his car, then return to the store with his receipt. He would select the same items, then take them to the store return desk and show the receipt from the first purchase. Using that method, he would receive credit for the second items on his credit cards, Burnett said.

Allen was allegedly seen Jan. 2 at a Target in Gaithersburg taking items off the shelf that he then took the return desk. He had a receipt for the merchandise, was given a refund and left.

This is a very Senior WH official, think Sam Seaborn or Josh Lyman on West Wing, or George Stephanopoulos in the Clinton White House. The guy is advising the most powerfully man in the world, making six figures, and ripping off the local target. Just bizarre.

The Game

Tonight's game is Saw it Coming/Did not see it coming.

Congress declares war on ports deal.
I totally saw this coming. Right Here.


Yanni arrested after domestic dispute.
Did not see that one coming.


Barry Bonds did Steroids.
Ok, who didn't see this coming?


Iraqi Police Are Tied to Abuses and Deaths, U.S. Review Finds
Sadly, we saw this one coming.


British Tourist Marries Dolphin
Umm, No. However we did have a pretty good post about dolphins here.

Some Things are Just Not Right

For Example:

Coca-Cola will launch a coffee-infused soft drink called Coca-Cola Blak.

An attempt has begun to draft Mel Gibson to run against Arnold in the primary next year.

Bush's evaluation of Iraq.

Day After Thanksgiving Open Thread

M&M's: Danger to society or harmless treat?

Wal-Mart Bargins: Worth fighting over?

Does any other family put peas in the stuffing, or is that just my brother-in-laws family?

What is the difference between a sweet patatoh and a yam, anyway?

Discuss.

Can you Believe...

That Sylvester Stallone is making a new Rocky movie?

That they have run out of names for hurricanes?

That a politician can admit a mistake.

That California has to go to the polls again!? A freaken special election! I'm a political junkie and even I'm saying enough. For you poor overwhelmed slobs who need help figuring out how to vote the official Craigorian Chant voter guide will be coming out later this week. I will read throught the eight (!!!) propositions and provide helpful advice. If anybody has any questions, put them up in comments or e-mail. Answers coming soon.

Weekend Open Thread

Going out into the mountains this weekend, so you folks are going to have to make the best of it in the comments section. Here, I'll give you some subjects to talk about.

London: City of the Future?

Will Craig ever get a real job?

Who is more corrupt, Randy "Duke" Cunningham or Tom Delay?

Just what is the matter with Craig, anyway.

Discuss.

Week in Review

Who is this Karl Rove and why is everyone talking about him?
Real estate grandmaster Duke Cunningham not running for reelection.

Baseball fun. Camping fun. Rove going down. Priceless.

SLO New Times = A great paper.

Today's discussion point: Every Rivercat player get their own theme song, a music clip that plays when they get up to bat. Question: what would you pick for a theme song? It would play for 30 seconds every time you walked into a room. What song would you use?

All Kinds of Stuff

A little analysis of Air America Radio's ratings.

TNR asked top conservative thinkers if they believe in evolution and the results are...awkward.

Ezra Klien has a great post up about marriage:

Homosexuals don't threaten today's marriage, they simply codify the defeat of yesterday's.

When Santorum slips and blames emancipated wives, he's actually being the most honest of the bunch. The fundamentalist conception of marriage as a duty demanded by God made perfect sense when it was an obligation imposed by society. Back then, partners were chosen for you, reproduction was required (the upper class would divorce the infertile, the lower class often only married the already-pregnant), and women were locked into the union, lacking both property rights and job opportunities. By allowing childless unions, marriages for love, and female equality, we destroyed traditional marriages. Indeed, it's only once we had watered marriage down to a mere social codification of love that gays and lesbians could even think the institution applicable to them, much less attractive.

More, More, More

Following up with the Topic we are following here at Craigorian Chant.

#1 The Pope: Get all your disappointed reactions here
and here. All kinds of good stuff at Commonweal.

#2 John Bolton: Nomination delayed, but will it be stopped? Go read The Washington Note for all the gruesome details.

#3 Iraq: Bodies piling up. See freedom stands on the bodies and can reach higher!

Links and things

Stealing the best stuff from around the web.

Chris has found some shelter from the (religious conservative) storm.

Craigorian Chant still not found on David Horowitz's enemies list. Will redouble efforts.

American health care system does, in fact, suck. Relatively.

The only thing you need to read about the Royal Wedding also contains this priceless bit:

By contrast, the U.S. presidency is an ego-inflating machine. The president moves in a vast imperial cocoon, unsurpassed in grandeur since the pharaohs. It would take a level of humility incompatible with running for public office in the first place for a president not to think, "Hey, I'm a pretty cool guy." Every time George W. Bush hears "Hail to the Chief," the odds go up that some unsuspecting country is going to find itself getting violently democratized.