But I ordered A Diet Coke!

The title of this commentary derives from an observation my wife made when she worked at a local burger joint years ago. An obviously overweight customer would order a double grease burger with a extra large order of fries and then virtuously order a (usually large) diet soft drink.

This pretty much sums up the discussion this morning by one of our local righty talkers named Dori Monson who can not stop obsessing over the fact that in 2002 before the start of the Iraq War, Congressmen Jim McDermott took a humanitarian trip allegedly financed by Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency. This makes the Congressman McDermott a "spokesperson for the Iraqi government in the run-up to war", which is Righty shorthand for an anti American, terrorist supporter who is so popular with the "progressives".

Yeah Mr. Monson, 4000 dead, substandard contracting that killed 12 Soldiers/Marines, over 9 billion TAXPAYER dollars missing, and 5 years latter, no progress toward resolving this mess and bringing at least some of our men and and home, but what the hey, that's not important. Exposing the secret schemes of the Librul Democrats who Voted against the War resolution of Our Leader is priority #1. Johan In Burien pretty much summed it up in the comments section:

The war was a mistake. A tragic mistake. Jim McDermott and others did their best to stop the worst foreign policy blunder in our nations history. For some reason you are still vilifying those who sought to oppose the war...There was a time, Dori, when you prided yourself on not being a ideologue: it's time to embrace that spirit again and stop seeing the Iraq war as anything other than a disaster. Time to take off the rose colored glasses, my friend.

Sorry Johan, those glasses are necessary for any war apologist like Mr. Monson who was suckered into supporting this Iraq Clusterf*ck (yes, the Surge DID NOT WORK. It really is a Clusterf*ck). Unable to understand that Love of Country also requires you to admit that your Country occasionally screws up, Mr.Monson will make a thousand excuses, shift blame or change the subject, or even make jokes about actual combat vets who risked their lives but had enough integrity and honor to know when to say this is wrong. It is the only way to resolve the cognitive dissonance that afflicts Bush true believers.

5 Bloody Years Later

Commander Codpiece said 5 years ago that Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.

So I guess 4000 brave men and women died in minor combat operations?

What is really sad is that neither The Flight Suit in Chief, Shooter, the Wolf or the Little Rummer Boy will ever end up on the Dock in the Hague for war crimes.

War crimes are defined in the statute that established the International Criminal Court, which includes:

1. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, such as:


2. Willful killing, or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health


3. Torture or inhumane treatment


4. Unlawful wanton destruction or appropriation of property


5. Forcing a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile power


6. Depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial


7. Unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer


8. Taking hostages

Spitzer, Clinton, and the Media's figleaf of cover

In the aftermath of Governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation last week, the Main Stream Media Whores have once again been provided with the fig leaf of cover that allows them to hide their failure to investigate the numerous crimes of the Bush Administration.

As the master blogger Glen Greenwald writes in Salon:

In one of the ultimate paradoxes, for American journalists -- whose role in theory is to expose the secrets of the powerful -- secrecy is actually their central religious tenet, especially when it comes to dealing with the most powerful. Protecting, rather than exposing, the secrets of the powerful is the fuel of American journalism. That's how they maintain their access to and good relations with those in power.

And protecting the Bush and his fellow Republican croneys has been a strain. Any rational, critically thinking, non partisan individual examining this Administrations record would find so many criminal acts, Money Laundering, Illegal wiretapping, Extortion, perjury/obstruction of justice, etc., you would need a score card to keep track of it all (if you have time to spare, TPM Muckraker has such a card).

The real damage that the Spitzer affair has done is not killing the career of a basically decent Democrat Pol or even the effect it may have on the November elections. Instead, it is the rag of cover that our corporate media can hold up to justify its failure to investigate the above name scandals. It is the same thing that happen in the hot 90's, but to a different effect against Bad Bill Clinton, not a failure to investigate, but the justification for a witch hunt camouflaged as a serious investigation.

Think what would have happen if Big Dog had realized how badly the Rethugs wanted to get him and chose not to have an affair with Ms. Lewinsky. Kenneth "Porno" Starr would have had nothing to show after burning thru 70 million tax payer dollars. Delay, Gingrich, Hyde and all the other criminals would have no justification for impeachment, hell if they tried it they all would have been out on their ass in the 2000 election. And the media whores who dumped journalist ethics would have had a hell of a lot of explaining to do about why they spent ten years pursuing a story they should have known was Bullsh-t.