tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36809072011-04-22T00:45:11.756-04:00"Reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Stephen Colbert.monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.comBlogger851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-11131951444758270392008-01-08T14:37:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:28.980-05:00

Welcome to post-democracy America, where "Land of the free with liberty and justice for all" is just a subversive memory in the minds of the Evil Lib-ruls.Post-democracy America is a dark, forbidding place where our corporate and media overlords tell us who to vote for, and more importantly who to vote against, and if we don't obey, they just go to Plan B: Diebold.Post-democracy America is not a

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-22351531325083867882007-12-19T20:02:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:29.108-05:00

Season's greetings from Idaho!

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-88964082592580826522007-10-09T10:53:00.000-04:002008-11-12T21:13:29.256-05:00

Just when I thought the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine couldn't possibly sink any lower, it goes ahead and greatly exceeds my expectations.The Michelle Malkin Division of The Propaganda Machine has now targeted a 12 year old for a smear campaign.Lemme repeat that: The Michelle Malkin Division of The Propaganda Machine has now targeted a 12 year old for a smear campaign.The boy's sin? Why, he gave

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-57700037669894784432007-09-23T16:04:00.000-04:002008-11-12T21:13:29.354-05:00

After a week of controversy, Iranian president and Designated Top Boogieman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to arrive in New York today for the United Nations General Assembly. Ahmadinejad's request to visit the World Trade Center site while he's in town was denounced and denied last week.Ahmadinejad currently shares Top Boogieman status with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Under the American system

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-44439229978085314592007-05-26T15:58:00.000-04:002007-05-26T16:58:04.629-04:00

Many of us have long been aware of the Bush regime's Orwellian use of the English language. For example, "Social Security Reform" referred to a privatization scam that would have destroyed Social Security, the "Clear Skies Initiative" allowed power companies to pollute even more, and the "Healthy Forests Initiative" helped logging companies cut down old growth trees.Well, now the Bush

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-87339918330436784032007-05-26T02:27:00.000-04:002007-05-26T02:49:24.145-04:00

The always literate and insightful Digby has an interesting take on a thoroughly dishonest but (unfortunately) not disgraced "journalist":I haven't read the book, so I won't comment on the substance. I have read [Jeff] Gerth's work before, however, and let's just say that after his "investigations" of Whitewater and Wen Ho Lee, he has a teensy tiny credibility problem. Much like his fellow NY

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-69205236531756637552007-05-22T22:21:00.000-04:002007-05-22T22:30:03.897-04:00

Here's a video to commemorate a late friend, Bill B., for whom the highlight of the year in NYC was Fleet Week, which starts on Wednesday:

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-59176834210084082342007-05-22T21:59:00.000-04:002007-05-22T22:08:03.727-04:00

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on our endless hostage crisis:There are two ways to describe the confrontation between Congress and the Bush administration over funding for the Iraq surge. You can pretend that it’s a normal political dispute. Or you can see it for what it really is: a hostage situation, in which a beleaguered President Bush, barricaded in the White House, is threatening

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-31832085637535078202007-05-19T11:16:00.000-04:002007-05-19T11:23:41.236-04:00

Steven Colbert delivered a really gutsy commentary on those poor, persecuted college students who were forced to watch Al Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth" for a science course:

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-10780499419204711112007-05-08T03:49:00.000-04:002007-05-08T04:02:25.951-04:00

Last week's Republican debate at the Reagan Library--and the numerous references to Reagan by the candidates--reminded me of a story I once heard about Argentine general/president Juan Peron.Back in the 70s, after almost two decades in exile, Peron was elected president again, and by then he was on his third wife, IIRC. However, the latest Mrs. Peron simply did not have the charisma possessed by

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-80232647820976453992007-04-20T11:12:00.000-04:002007-04-20T12:29:12.472-04:00

For the past several days, TV talking heads have been pontificating about whether Cho Seung-Hui's murderous rampage could have been prevented. After all, the signs of mental illness were glaringly obvious, especially his stalking of women and his disturbingly violent writings for an English class.But maybe the bloviators of cable "news" ought to cast a watchful eye on one of their own.Just by

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-73785664854799890402007-03-04T23:15:00.000-05:002007-03-05T04:41:03.292-05:00

Much like musical taste, political viewpoints are largely formed in our teens and twenties, and even as our worldview evolves, those early years tend to remain its foundation.Like me, Time Magazine's Joe Klein is a Phase 1 Boomer, born between roughly 1946 and 1955. For those of our generation, the Sixties is our cultural and political touchstone, with JFK's New Frontier, his assassination,

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-34988159091463554382007-03-04T13:15:00.000-05:002007-03-04T13:57:08.168-05:00

Ann Coulter, the long-suffering victim of a political version of Tourette's Syndrome, has done it again. On Friday at one of the major right-wing events of the year, she dropped an F-bomb on Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. Oh, not that F-bomb...she'd never be that uncivil. No, she used a common anti-gay epithet to describe the former Senator.Now, Coulter has the same free speech

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-29290565603056490682007-03-01T20:33:00.000-05:002007-03-02T00:07:52.464-05:00

This clip is from Tim Robbins' 1992 satire, "Bob Roberts," which tells the tale of a charismatic right-wing folk-singer-turned-Republican-senate-candidate whose sleaziness and dirty tricks know no bounds. These days "Bob Roberts" looks more like a documentary than the mockumentary it supposedly is.One "Bob Roberts" subplot could've happened yesterday, or last month, or tomorrow. When a newspaper

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-42389131157155235502007-02-26T16:18:00.000-05:002007-02-26T16:33:09.807-05:00

I'm convinced that American right wingers live in their own alternate universe, a Bizarro World where up is down, down is up, black is white, and George W. Bush is an honest and trustworthy person.Tom Tomorrow has a terrific 'toon this week that captures the fact-challenged lunacy of our so-called "conservative" brethern.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-70695025454562652662007-02-21T19:06:00.000-05:002007-02-21T20:06:44.048-05:00

The Big Apple's own Soviet-style propaganda rag, The New York Post, front-paged a dishonest poll purportedly demonstrating that there was 57% support for remaining mired in the swamp that is the Iraq War. Here's an excerpt from the story:The poll found that 57 percent of Americans supported "finishing the job in Iraq" - keeping U.S. troops there until the Iraqis can provide security on their own.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-45460228176019753062007-02-10T15:55:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:29.697-05:00

I know I've been very rough on Joe Klein here and here, but blogging seems to have opened his eyes a bit. Little by little, he has slowly begun to comprehend why those liberals are so darn angry. He still suffers from Beltway Astigmatism, his worldview wildly distorted by D.C.'s conventional unwisdom; after all, it's a place where pack journalism's dishonest narratives always trump facts and

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-41305986996213635942007-02-08T20:47:00.000-05:002007-02-08T22:33:59.570-05:00

If you've been getting your coverage of the Nancy Pelosi airplane story from cable "news," you're being lied to. It's the usual method: The Washington Times, a newspaper owned by a religious cult, the Moonies, notorious for their brainwashing techniques, publishes accusations against Speaker Pelosi that are full of misrepresentations, distortions, and outright lies; then, the So-Called "Liberal

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-14100310952290765062007-02-05T12:19:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:29.878-05:00

The Partei's unofficial propaganda organ, Fox News, plans to challenge Comedy Central's Daily Show and Colbert Report. Of course, Fox already airs fake news 24/7, but unlike Jon Stewart's and Steven Colbert's shows, theirs is only occasionally (and unintentionally) funny.So, now Fox is planning an allegedly satiric fake news program. Will it be funny? Well, Think Progress reports. You decide.I'm

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-37742137342798494962007-02-02T01:28:00.000-05:002007-02-03T12:25:07.879-05:00

Like most of the writers at Slate, Timothy Noah strenously adheres to the prime directive of the Gang of 500: "Thou shalt always sneer at Democratic candidates for president while kissing the ample behinds of Republican candidates for president." So, in that spirit, he's started a Barack Obama Messiah Watch to police the media and protect us against any positive mentions of the candidate. (h/t to

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-42659748280273184672007-01-31T16:37:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:30.047-05:00

Joe Klein is at it again. First, this self-proclaimed champion of civility hurls a gratuitous insult at John Kerry, then wipes it out, Orwellian-style, and finally acknowledges the scrubbing of the insult while hurling another gratuitous insult at Kerry. And the second insult turns out to be a lie.Read the post and then the comments, and follow the commenters' links.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-33727064588182752662007-01-24T13:24:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:30.116-05:00

Barack Obama is aggressively taking on the GOP Smear Machine's largest propaganda outlet, Faux News, over the madrassa smear.Another cog in the lie machine, the Washington Moonie Times' Insight Magazine, had published a false report not only alleging that Senator Obama had attended a radical Islamic madrassa as a six year old (!!!), but also claimed that Senator Hillary Clinton was trying to

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-36977309531329499812007-01-24T10:49:00.000-05:002007-01-24T10:51:34.054-05:00

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) gives the Democratic response to the State of the Union address:

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-24294291378686181542007-01-23T02:20:00.000-05:002007-01-23T02:22:30.950-05:00

The "Springtime for Hitler" production number from the Mel Brooks' 1968 film version of "The Producers." Still the funniest three minutes ever put on celluloid, and the audience reaction shots now remind me of those during Stephen Colbert's performance at last year's White House Correspondents Association dinner.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-46320002748575978462007-01-22T16:15:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:30.334-05:00

Think about this:The leading Republican primary candidate right now is a) guilty of incest and b) a serial adulterer.Yes, Rudy Giuliani had his first marriage annulled -- after 13 years! -- because he "suddenly" discovered that his wife was his second cousin and not his third. And during his second marriage, he had one affair with an aide, who afterwards took a new job with a non-profit tourism

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-84062742871494828272007-01-21T12:52:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:30.461-05:00

From today's Washington Post:Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), who is Catholic and opposes abortion, won a Senate seat with strong Democratic establishment backing -- although his father, the late Pennsylvania governor Robert P. Casey Sr., had been barred from addressing the 1992 Democratic National Convention because of his antiabortion views. (my emphasis)Listen, media people, oh ye whipped dogs of

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-82706469220086094392007-01-13T17:09:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:30.696-05:00

At the left is a picture of yours truly, monchie b. monchum, at age 13. Roughly seven months before that photo was taken, President John F. Kennedy was murdered and America was never the same again.Nor was I.Before JFK was assassinated, I believed in America and in "liberty and justice for all." I still do, in fact. But I was learning, and would continue to learn during the succeeding decades,

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-47845805169619586552007-01-12T01:52:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:16:51.770-05:00

Not surprisingly, the best response to the latest madness of King George came from Keith Olbermann, a rare voice of sanity in the cable news nuthouse. Crooks and Liars has the video and transcript.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-17976007740471275932007-01-11T04:49:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:30.953-05:00

Steve at No More Mister Nice Blog reports on the latest dastardly media villains identified by our oh-so-patriotic compadres on the right wing:You probably can't imagine Al Roker and the Weather Channel as sinister tools of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, but that's because you're blind to the true depths of liberal depravity.Let's see...they've already gone after the Teletubbies, Sponge Bob, and

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-51124893332243610562007-01-10T01:21:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:11:15.324-05:00

Some early Spinal Tap, back when they were dirty fracking hippies...

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-91295366412819195622007-01-09T16:03:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:31.022-05:00

When I heard that Sean Hannity's new solo Faux News show features a segment called "Enemy of the State," it immediately conjured up thoughts of blacklists and gulags. Now, I don't mind a segment that's devoted to folks the host thinks are bad people, but couldn't it be called something like "Today's Outlaw" or "Villain of the Day" or "Worst Person in the World"? (Oops, I forgot -- that last one

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1013828654457026632007-01-09T14:53:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:31.131-05:00

One of the most annoying and dishonest tactics the so-called "liberal media" (SCLM) uses is to hire pundits who aren't liberal to represent the liberal point of view. They've been pulling this con job for decades now, and actual living and breathing liberal pundits have long been an endangered species in the SCLM. I remember watching CNN's "Crossfire" in the early to mid Eighties when the pundit

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-18378970454647359562007-01-08T11:15:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:01:12.810-05:00

As someone who's long been familiar with the foam-at-the-mouth style of rhetoric favored by the right wing for the past several decades, I'm alternately amused and...well, angered when so-called "conservatives" start tut-tutting about the Angry Left: "Oooh...they used a naughty word -- the left is completely unhinged!"Haven't they ever listened to their own compatriots' radio talk shows. After

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-44402836027567185012007-01-07T16:03:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:31.672-05:00

This is monchie's little buddy, Slugger. He's approximately going on two years old and is a very affectionate and chatty little guy. Future catbloggings will usually be on the traditional Friday.Condolences go out to Kevin Drum, the man credited with pioneering Friday catblogging, on the passing of his feline companion, Jasmine. May she find a comfy spot in kitty heaven along with monchie's late

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-26138629127846959732007-01-07T08:40:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:13:30.445-05:00

Tiny Revolution has an insightful comparison of Holocaust deniers in Iran and right-wing Iraq Clusterfrack deniers in the U. S., such as Michelle Malkin. Seems like Iran isn't the only place that gives nutjobs a prominent platform to promote their wacky views. Here's a taste:[E]very society has hatemongering nutjobs like Malkin. So the mere fact that she exists isn't remarkable. However, normal

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-18708339914682574512007-01-05T01:03:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:05:51.630-05:00

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-39583737063162276072007-01-04T21:15:00.000-05:002008-11-12T21:13:31.759-05:00

For the 4,345,762,976th time, a Beltway Blowhard has regurgitated the BS that the late Pennsylvania governor, Bob Casey Sr., was barred from speaking at the 1992 Democratic National Convention because of his anti-abortion views. This time the liar was Novakula.Look, this persistent falsehood doesn't even make logical sense. It's simply standard operating procedure for both parties: The first

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-7544130521094165022007-01-03T10:03:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:09:30.611-05:00

Warning: This is an unconfirmed story from an anonymous source about a mercen...I mean "contractor" and his interaction with one of the "natives":"On [Christmas] eve (2006) here in the Green Zone a Blackwater employee got into a scuffle with an Iraqi personal guard that was guarding a judge and shot him ten times and killed him. The Blackwater employee was drunk. Why did he have hisweapon on him?

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1167783893826508872007-01-02T19:06:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:10:00.854-05:00

Been a while since I blogged, so the new year might be a good time to get back in the pool. Hmm, who's that sweaty lunk jogging along the deck? Oh hi, Atrios. And whaddya know, over in the diving area, that hunk John from Americablog is ready to make a plunge from the high board. Lookin' good, John...you gotta do more TV. Oh, and there's Kutie Pie Kos...but he's married. Lucky woman!Okay, so now

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1073410255627214852004-01-06T12:30:00.000-05:002004-01-06T12:34:09.966-05:00

BRADLEY FOR AMERICA From the official Howard Dean webpage: Calling the Dean campaign "one of the best things to happen to American democracy in decades," Bill Bradley endorsed Howard Dean this morning in Manchester, New Hampshire. Now that a former hero of the media whores, Bill Bradley, has glowingly endorsed Howard Dean, how are the presstitutes gonna spin it? My best guess is that they're

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1064553037771872362003-09-26T01:10:00.000-04:002003-09-26T01:12:31.760-04:00

REMEMBER, TODAY IS NATIONAL TALK LIKE BILL O'REILLY DAY! The folks over at Media Whores Online have declared Friday September 26 National Talk Like Bill O'Reilly Day and have generously provided some pointers: You can sharpen your skills by testing them out on your boss first thing Friday morning. When he approaches your desk and attempts to assign you a task, simply yell: "SHUT UP!" before

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1062654881011020932003-09-04T01:54:00.000-04:002003-09-04T01:55:07.260-04:00

FRANKEN ON PATRIOTISM This little tidbit from p. 24 of Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right perfectly describes the difference between right-wing patriotism and liberal patriotism: [Right-wingers] don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1062520670401760692003-09-02T12:37:00.000-04:002003-09-02T14:40:05.520-04:00

I'M BARKING MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE! While web-surfing I came across a rather laughable column from a surburban Chicago newspaper written by a man named Michael J. Bowers. It's an attempt to excuse Ann Coulter's advocacy of a terrorist attack against The New York Times by saying in effect, "Oh, it's a bit intemperate, but you lefties are far, far worse at spewing hate

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1062439656796187362003-09-01T14:07:00.000-04:002003-09-01T14:12:23.610-04:00

MICHAEL MOORE: FAIR AND BALANCED? Just a couple of hours ago, I watched Michael Moore's controversial "Bowling for Columbine" for the first time. Immediately afterward, with the help of Google, I looked up some of the criticisms that have been leveled at it by the right wing, and came to the conclusion that they might have a point or two or three. First of all, the bank sequence. Moore's

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1062356948447656302003-08-31T15:09:00.000-04:002003-08-31T15:16:47.900-04:00

IS CHRIS MATTHEWS GAY? Just this past week, several people on boards I frequent commented on rather odd remarks MSGOP talk show host Chris Matthews made with regard to Howard Dean's masculine qualities. Dean spoke at a New York City rally on Tuesday August 27th that was broadcast by C-Span, and Matthews later commented something along the line that Dean looked quite good on stage, with the

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1062137912875897382003-08-29T02:18:00.000-04:002003-08-29T02:43:44.190-04:00

SUDDENLY...AN EXPLOSION OF BOOKS FOR LIBERALS! And I think I'm trying to read too many books at once. Reading books is generally an activity I reserve for a) bedtime, and b) while riding mass transit. But despite my deep interest in politics and journalism, until fairly recently almost all of my reading has been fiction, especially sci-fi. As anyone who reads this blog soon realizes, my

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1062039153738560482003-08-27T22:52:00.000-04:002003-08-27T22:53:49.866-04:00

BUSH JUNTA CREATES NEW JOBS...IN INDIA! Yes, the Shrub did promise to create new jobs...but he never said they'd be in the USA: THE REPUBLICAN PARTY is using call centres in Gurgaon and Noida in India to raise funds for itself and for its chieftain, George W. Bush. Young people at the call centres are helping robots to phone American citizens to enlist their support and money for the political

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-1061097654170989762003-08-17T01:20:00.000-04:002003-08-17T01:24:20.660-04:00

BILL MAHER'S OKAY, BUT... Tonight I was tempted to watch Bill Maher's "Real Time," but then I saw that Ann ("kill the liberals") Coulter was one of the guests, so I passed it up. Why anyone should give this latter-day brownshirt bimbo a platform is beyond me, though I'm not angry with Maher. Instead, I said a prayer for him: "Father, forgive Bill Maher, for he knows not what he does..." A few

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-916867692003-03-30T23:38:00.000-05:002003-03-30T23:55:19.000-05:00

A BRIT NAILS THE USA'S #1 PROBLEM Will Hutton of The Observer (UK) explains the American right wing to the Brits, though IMHO he understates the severity of our political dilemma. IMHO, the right wing has been poisoning the American body politic for the past 30 years--Hutton's timeline is pretty accurate--and even if we started tomorrow, it will take decades to repair the damage they've wrought.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-916257792003-03-29T19:40:00.000-05:002003-03-29T19:47:52.000-05:00

SHRUB'S FOLLY? IIRC, the late historian Barbara Tuchman, in her book, "The March of Folly," pointed out that French President Charles DeGaulle repeatedly warned the US government not to get involved in Vietnam, that the US really didn't know what it was getting into. He wasn't being hostile, he wasn't projecting supposed French superiority...he was a friend warning a friend against doing

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-888976012003-02-11T01:15:00.000-05:002003-02-11T02:37:53.000-05:00

NEWS OF THE FUTURE: Democratic Presidential Candidate Accused of Having a “Character Problem” NEW YORK, NY – September 14, 2004 – Democratic presidential nominee Jesus Christ has come under heavy criticism in recent days due to a series of campaign missteps. After receiving a big bump in the polls due to His acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention—an address that praised the

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-884438812003-02-02T19:37:00.000-05:002003-02-02T23:49:26.000-05:00

CAN YOU TRUST ATM-STYLE VOTING MACHINES? If the so-called "liberal media" was really concerned about the future of American democracy, they'd be taking a cold, hard look at computerized voting. A good place to start is this article at Commondreams, which I found thanks to Atrios. The basic problem is this: ATM-style, fully electronic voting is incompatible with our secret ballot system. One of

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-866555982002-12-29T05:55:00.000-05:002002-12-29T05:55:47.643-05:00

HARRY TURTLEDOVE: MASTER OF ALTERNATE HISTORY I'm currently reading Turtledove's Walk in Hell, the second book in his "The Great War" series, an alternative version of WWI. In his fictional world, the Confederacy had successfully seceded in the 1860s, with the help of Britain and France, then fought a second war against the rump USA in the 1880s and won. Now it's 1914, a Serbian shoots an

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-854936522002-12-04T13:41:00.000-05:002002-12-04T13:48:37.000-05:00

SPEAKING OF HAIRCUTS...REMEMBER HAIRCUTGATE? Remember back in 1993 how the so-called "liberal media" attacked our last legitimate president, President Clinton, for an expensive haircut he got on Air Force One while it was parked on the tarmac at LAX? Remember how the story dominated the front pages of newspapers and led off TV newscasts for almost a week? Remember all the stories about LAX

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-854506532002-12-03T18:27:00.000-05:002002-12-03T18:34:11.000-05:00

HACKS II: WHY 10th AVE. STREET PROSTITUTES DESERVE FAR MORE RESPECT THAN TODAY'S "JOURNALISTS" The Conservative News Network (CNN) just did a story about the "scandal" surrounding.......Sen. John Kerry's haircuts!!! Seems that Sen. Kerry pays $75 to get his locks trimmed, though net sleaze/closet queen Matt Drudge claims he actually pays $150. And meanwhile.... Convicted Iran-Contra thug (and

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-854389232002-12-03T14:20:00.000-05:002002-12-03T15:28:24.000-05:00

HACKS: WHY USED CAR SALESMEN DESERVE MORE RESPECT THAN TODAY'S "JOURNALISTS" Over at Atrios's site, a comment by a well-meaning but IMHO naive poster caught my eye: In other words, [journalists] did not treat the stories [being pushed by right-wing operatives and publications] skeptically (by which I mean they did not do important fact checking, and they accepted the conservative spin of the

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-842318762002-11-08T10:14:00.000-05:002002-11-08T10:15:31.000-05:00

PAUL KRUGMAN: AN AMERICAN HERO Even though Krugman writes for The New York Times, he hasn't presstituted himself to the GOP like 99.9% of his colleagues in the mainstream media. Perhaps that's because his op-ed gig is part-time and he has a secure day job as a Princeton U. economist, so he doesn't have to worry about getting stigmatized as a "liberal" and killing his career. In today's column,

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-842152932002-11-08T03:11:00.000-05:002002-11-08T03:36:28.000-05:00

AND THE PHRASE FOR TODAY IS "MIGHTY WURLITZER" Put the term "mighty wurlitzer cia" into a search engine and see what you come up with. Do a little reading on those links and you might start to understand why the term "liberal media" is nothing more than a Big Lie. One of the best of those links is an article from The American Prospect. Here's an excerpt: With all that ideological money,

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-841773902002-11-07T11:24:00.000-05:002002-11-07T11:24:09.266-05:00

REQUIRED READING TODAY... ...for those who really believe in the values the American flag is supposed to represent. From the American Politics Journal, here's an excerpt: Let me warn my Democrat, moderate Republican and liberal friends -- you had better take stock of what's happening in this nation, and in particular what is happening in mass media, particularly the dissemination of the "news"

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-841625232002-11-07T03:40:00.000-05:002002-11-07T03:40:08.606-05:00

GOD HELP AMERICA Land that I love... I thought I saw Lady Liberty shedding a tear yesterday morning...

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-841052462002-11-06T02:29:00.000-05:002002-11-06T03:30:14.000-05:00

WELCOME TO THE NEW DARK AGES I’m not sure whether I should post tonight, since the election results so far are quite depressing. The Democrats need to win Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota to retain control of the Senate. Plus, based on current Louisiana returns, Mary Landrieu will almost certainly face a runoff election in order to retain her seat – another seat that will be necessary to

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-839515822002-11-03T03:46:00.000-05:002002-11-03T03:50:23.000-05:00

"THE WEST WING": A POLITICAL FANTASY Though I like "The West Wing," I haven't been able to see it that much this season. However, someone played me an episode he'd taped (I assume it was this week's show), and I was disappointed that the writers seemed to avoid showing a very important aspect of what has happened to our political/media system in recent years. The main plot had to do with

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-837463322002-10-29T20:49:00.000-05:002002-10-29T20:49:48.600-05:00

MONCHIE B. MONCHUM’S SENATE ELECTION PREDICTIONS Arkansas – Pryor (D) over Hutchison (R) – Dem gain +1 Colorado – Strickland (D) over Allard (R) – Dem gain +1 Georgia – Cleland (D) over Chambliss (R) Iowa – Harkin (D) over Ganske (R) Louisiana – Landrieu (D) over Terrell (R) Minnesota – Mondale (D) over Coleman (R) Missouri – Carnahan (D) over Talent (R) New Hampshire – Shaheen (D) over Sununu (

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-819657602002-09-22T18:33:00.000-04:002002-09-22T18:36:27.000-04:00

1984: 18 YEARS LATE? There have been times in the past (particularly during Condit-mania) that I worried that blogger and pundit Josh Marshall was developing Beltway-itis, a horrible scourge that causes its victims to spew the mindless twaddle that masquerades as “conventional wisdom” in DC. Lately, though, Josh has been on a roll. In recent months, Josh has made the most compelling arguments I

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-819627362002-09-22T17:08:00.000-04:002002-09-22T17:34:33.000-04:00

NO "WHINE" BEFORE ITS TIME I’m b-a-a-a-a-a-c-k. Been busy the last few weeks, but I hope to get back into a regular posting schedule. Perhaps because of being influenced by Orwell during my younger years, corruption of the English language in the service of a political ideology has long been an irritant to me. Today I’d like to talk about the political world’s corruption of just one word: “

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-802980532002-08-15T20:59:00.000-04:002002-08-15T21:06:12.000-04:00

NO MORE MR. NICE GUY Spinsanity’s criticism of the tactics and rhetoric used by Media Whores Online has inspired a healthy debate on Atrios’s blog. Frankly, I’m on MWO’s side here. Spinsanity seems to imply that liberals should counter the wild misrepresentations, gross distortions and outright lies of the GOP Smear Machine™ and its lackeys in the so-called “liberal media” by being nice little

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-800886872002-08-11T00:49:00.000-04:002002-08-11T00:51:09.000-04:00

Looks Like President Gore Is Scaring the Presstitutes In Saturday's New York Times, Bill Keller penned a really nasty piece of work, managing to squeeze practically every tired Gore-bashing cliché into a 1500-word column. Here's a sample: This isn't about Al Gore's inner peace. And it isn't a grudge match. The last thing we need now is a wallow in the past — which a Gore campaign is almost

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-800190592002-08-09T04:07:00.000-04:002002-08-09T04:10:24.000-04:00

How to BS the American People That should be the title of a campaign primer the ReTHUGlicans have prepared for their candidates. Or perhaps How to Sell Snake Oil. Here are some choice excerpts from the AP news story about the primer: If challenged on school vouchers, the suggested response is, "I'm not going to engage in class warfare. The real issue here is opportunity." "When discussing

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-799563342002-08-07T19:00:00.000-04:002002-08-07T19:07:06.000-04:00

It's Not My Fault, Mom...It's His Fault Don't these people ever take personal responsibility for their own actions?: NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Although last week's revision of U.S. gross domestic product data for 2001 may have been old news for the economy, it was something of a stroke of luck for President Bush, who has since used it as evidence that he inherited an economic mess when he took

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-799556992002-08-07T18:41:00.000-04:002002-08-07T18:41:19.510-04:00

Forward to the Past I'm anything but a Luddite. In fact, my idea of a fun afternoon is visiting a computer store and salivating over all the goodies I can't afford right now. If a regular activity can be computerized, like shopping, paying bills, listening to music, I'll do it. I do, however, make one exception: voting. I've never really trusted the mechanical voting machines I've used in New

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-799156102002-08-06T21:17:00.000-04:002002-08-06T21:19:46.000-04:00

Honor and Dignity Dept. Once again, Paul Krugman -- practically the only reason to read The New York Times these days -- details the Orwellian lying and dishonesty that are such an integral part of The Little Dictator's "administration." You know, I think I'd much rather have a president who lies about blowjobs that were none of our friggin' business in the first place than a "president" who

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-799129802002-08-06T19:57:00.000-04:002002-08-06T21:22:05.000-04:00

Journalistic Felons II: The Evidence on the Web Yesterday, in a post about a Daily Howler article, I mentioned the following: In case you're not familiar with Connolly's "journalism," you should be aware that in January 2000, she and fellow journalistic felon, Katherine Seelye of The New York Times, got caught red-handed -- by high school kids! -- lying in print about something President Gore

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-799114442002-08-06T19:10:00.000-04:002002-08-06T19:14:09.000-04:00

Tear off the Tutus...Put on the Gloves! In the latest American Prospect, New York Magazine political columnist Michael Tomasky presents the clearest concise analysis of what's wrong with the Democratic Party -- and how it could heal itself. Here's a small taste: For the better part of two decades now, Democrats have operated according to so timorous a model of partisanship that they no longer

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798828862002-08-06T04:02:00.000-04:002002-08-06T04:06:49.000-04:00

The Yellow Wall of Silence Speaking of the 2000 election, Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler has published another exposé of the Washington Post's Ceci Connolly's dishonesty. This time Somerby proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Connolly's sneering insinuation regarding President Gore's draft lottery number wasn't just mistaken, it was an obviously deliberate and dishonest attempt to smear him.

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798812182002-08-06T02:54:00.000-04:002002-08-06T02:54:10.450-04:00

But Were They Wearing Brown Shirts with Their Brooks Brothers Suits? Probably not...but the ReTHUGlican mob that shut down the vote counting in Miami in November 2000 might as well have been. In an article published on Monday, journalistic treasure Robert Parry described the scene of that day when Totalitarianism American-style reared its ugly head for all to see: On Nov. 22, 2000, after

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798460692002-08-05T10:45:00.000-04:002002-08-05T10:45:21.126-04:00

Media Whores Online Is Back -- And They're Kicking Right-Wing Butt! After a well-deserved vacation, the watchdogs at Media Whores Online have returned with an excellent collection of articles. Interestingly, the best pieces are those directed at two New York Times columnists who haven't totally prostituted themselves to the ReTHUGlicans, Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd. Friedman is basically a

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798342162002-08-05T01:49:00.000-04:002002-08-05T01:49:47.623-04:00

Why Am I Not Surprised? When this week's Time revealed that after he seized power, The Squatter's priorities listed dissing President Clinton much higher than fighting terrorism, my first reaction was, "Tell me something I didn't guess months ago." As the U.K.'s Guardian summarized in an article in its Monday edition: The Bush administration sat on a Clinton-era plan to attack al-Qaida in

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798168612002-08-04T17:14:00.000-04:002002-08-04T17:18:04.000-04:00

monchie's Top 5 Documentaries On a board I frequent, someone started a thread about favorite documentaries, so I added my two cents. After all, many of the videos I collect are documentaries, some politically oriented, others not. For the record, here's my annotated Top 5: 1. The Panama Deception - How America was conned into supporting the killing of 2500-4000 Panamanian civilians in order to

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798116062002-08-04T14:08:00.000-04:002002-08-04T14:11:54.000-04:00

Does Josh Marshall Visit monchieland? The first blogger I read on a regular basis was Joshua Micah Marshall, a D.C.-based left-of-center pundit who, miraculously, has mostly avoided the dreaded Beltway Blowhard Syndrome. Alone among his colleagues, early on he declared on national TV that the White House trashing story was most likely a crock of BS -- which is exactly what it turned out to be,

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798104192002-08-04T13:25:00.000-04:002002-08-04T13:25:51.233-04:00

Can't Anyone Stop this Madman? No, I don't mean Saddam, though he is a classic mad dictator. I'm talking about the other mad dictator, The Squatter in President Gore's House. His Illegitimacy is determined to achieve "regime change" in Iraq, no matter how much opposition there is at home or abroad. Given the current intifada and the criticism of practically every sane voice on Planet Earth, the

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-798095562002-08-04T12:52:00.000-04:002002-08-04T12:52:04.210-04:00

Lots of Time with Nothing to Do/Lots of Time to Spend with You It’s so quiet in the street You can hear the sound of feet walking by I’ll put coffee on to brew We can have a cup or two And do what other people do On Sunday morning… Sunday morning…Sunday morning Sunday Sunday I love Sunday…Sunday morning - "Sunday Morning" by Spanky and Our Gang, circa 1968 I'm not quite ready to take on the

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-797906812002-08-03T22:05:00.000-04:002002-08-03T22:14:53.000-04:00

President Gore Speaks Out! Sunday's New York Times features an op-ed piece written by President Gore that takes on both The Squatter (aka former Texas Governor George W. Bush) and the pink-tutu Democrats. (Are you listening, Joe L.?) Here's a taste: "I believe Bill Clinton and I were right to maintain, during our 1992 campaign, that we should fight for 'the forgotten middle class' against the '

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-797895992002-08-03T21:26:00.000-04:002002-08-03T21:27:35.000-04:00

A Wise Voice in the Wilderness I don't know whether John Dean lives in D.C., but he sure seems uninfected by Beltwaythink, a disease even some of my favorite libs (e.g., Al Hunt, Mark Shields, Josh Marshall) have contracted from time to time, to a greater or lesser extent. Symptoms include turning a blind eye toward the blatant ruthlessness and thuggishness of the right wing and blaming

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-797875642002-08-03T19:57:00.000-04:002002-08-03T20:05:47.000-04:00

Will the Anthrax Killer finally be nabbed? My antennae went up on this case as soon as I heard about Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle's office receiving an anthrax envelope. Sen. Daschle just happened to be #1 on the right-wing's hate list at the time -- the Republicans were actually running ads comparing him to Saddam Hussein! Then, when it was revealed that another anthrax letter went to

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680907.post-797834952002-08-03T17:06:00.000-04:002002-08-03T20:08:02.000-04:00

Welcome to monchieland, a weblog (or blog) devoted entirely to the interests, whims, and obsessions of Monchie B. Monchum... ...Among those obsessions are politics, music and trains, though the new weblog will most likely concentrate heavily on political issues. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area and currently residing atop a hill in Upper Manhattan, Mr. Monchum is the founder of the IRC

monchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13283015547781416925noreply@blogger.com0