I haven't said much about the Valerie Plame outing, and the tactical smear job done on her and her husband (former ambassador Joe Wilson) by the right wingnuts. I've been happy to hear and read that the message appears to be getting out. Thanks to the key involvement of Time magazine (not a liberal publication to be sure), there is substantial mainstream awareness of this scandal. But I feel I should chime in now.

If you want to know the truth about this debacle, read David Limbaugh's latest column. I link to it, despite the fact that I'd rather not give him web traffic. But before you read it, let me give you the translation key to discovering the facts via this article: BELIEVE THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING HE CLAIMS. I'm really serious about this. Reverse every claim he makes, and you have the truth.

"There is no scandal" = There is a scandal.

"(Plame wasn't) an undercover CIA agent" = She was an undercover CIA agent.

"Rove did nothing wrong" = Rove did something wrong.

"Plame was not undercover, and hadn't been" = Plame was undercover, and had been in the past as well.

"Wilson's findings did more to bolster than discredit the Brits' allegation that Saddam was trying to buy uranium from Niger" = Wilson's findings completely discredited an allegation, which was separately proven to have been forged, concerning a completely false and hollow premise that Saddam was trying to buy uranium from Niger.

Go on, read the whole thing. There's one factual sentence, and I'll copy it here so you don't miss it:

"He (Rove) must be fired or at the very least lose his security clearance because of his indiscretion."

And by the way, David Limbaugh is in fact the brother of right wing blowhard ass hole Rush Limbaugh. Lord knows why Mr. and Mrs. Limbaugh didn't immediately get their tubes tied after Rush, but there you go.

Everybody take off of work on October 18th, because you've got plans, bitches.

Presenting, at long last:

The Big Lebowski Achievers Gift Set

Speculation abounds as to what the extra gift is that would bump the price up by 100%. A bowling pin? A small rug? A toe? A "j"? A fucking show dog with fucking papers?

...

...Shit. Lost my train of thought there.

Yesterday marked the official divorce between Air America and Sirius Satellite Radio. AAR will now be exclusively on XM.

Let me say that, as a Sirius subscriber, I'm miffed at best. I don't know why they wouldn't pay enough money to get AAR to stay, since I'd guess that Sirius has better liberal programming than XM.

But let me also say that, as an Air America listener, I'm pissed that they'd put their audience in this position. They bargained an exclusivity deal with XM, and now all the people who bought Sirius for AAR are up shit creek.

A little background: XM and Sirius both had liberal talk streams. Sirius, in addition to their homegrown "Sirius Left," also had a dedicated Air America stream. XM did not; they mixed in Jones Radio and other liberal programming with the AAR content (right there, you see that Sirius was always more supportive of liberal talk and Air America than XM). Air America had a deal with both providers that they would get a bargain on the cost of having Air America for the first year only. That year was up in May of 2005.

In April, AAR signed a deal with XM. Air America wanted a dedicated stream from XM if XM was going to pay to keep them. XM countered with a demand for exclusivity in exchange for that dedicated stream. Sirius apparently put in a bid to keep AAR, but the money and/or increased subscriber base was too much for AAR to say no to, and there they went.

It's good for Air America, because it shows that companies will actively outbid each other to have a monogamous deal with them. What I don't understand is why they had to make the demand for a dedicated stream with XM. They already had their programming on XM, so they had access to the 3 million+ XM subscribers. They had a dedicated stream on Sirius, and therefore had access to Sirius' 1 million+ subscribers (the number of dual subscribers is probably negligible).

So why drop a million listers just to have a dedicated stream with a provider you're already on in some capacity anyway? Was the money that much better, that AAR felt like they could live without those 1 million listeners? Remember, AAR is a company that's already gone bankrupt once, but their biggest problem after coming out of it was getting more listeners.

I hope this means that AAR feels comfortable with the rate at which it's adding affiliates, and now wants to fill its coffers a bit. More power to 'em, I guess, but I'm still only miffed at best.

I sent this tonight, in response to hearing Ms. Sloan (read below) on Air America today. Links have been added for your personal edification.

* * * * * * * *

I was saddened to hear today that no member of the House of Representatives has taken the initiative to file an ethics complaint against either Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) or Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA). Of the few representatives I would have thought could be counted on to act in a proactive manner on this issue, you would be near the top of my list. I had the pleasure of seeing you deliver your address to the 2005 graduating class at the University of Wisconsin, and thought very highly of your message. I am somewhat new to Madison, and have not had the chance to vote for you yet, but I plan on it. It would be a shame if my trust in your character were in any way misplaced.

In a purely political sense, you would be the ideal representative to bring this complaint. You are an example of good and honest behavior, and to be completely frank, you'd be pretty bulletproof to recrimination. Your openness and honesty (when none is required) concerning your private life renders you immune to most ad hominem attacks from the right. I would love to see you take a stand on the moral high ground you rightfully occupy, and make sure that these unethical men are called to the carpet for their bad deeds.

I understand that you are a very busy woman, and do not always have the time to reply substantially to each constituent's correspondence. If you have any time, however, I would like a response if you do not plan to take the course of action I have requested. I would like to know your reasons for inaction.

As a respectful constituent, I ask you: please contact Melanie Sloan at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to discuss the ethics complaint they have already drafted. This organization can be reached at (202) 588-5565, or on the Internet at www.citizensforethics.org. Please do your part to ensure that unethical men like DeLay, Ney, and Cunningham are put firmly under the spotlight of a full House Ethics investigation.

Thank you for your time.

For anyone who thought that terrorists just want to correct injustices, I give you the supreme selfishness and greed of the London attacks this morning.

Say what you will about the likelhood of actual increased Darfur aid or the actual global enactment of the Kyoto Protocols. At least we're putting a visible effort behind it.

Terrorists see this, and does their image of the Western Devil soften just a little? Do they think to themselves, "well, it's about damn time they even showed up at a conference like this." Not so much, no.

Their first thought must have been, "hey, that's not the problem we told you to deal with! You can't choose the way to make yourself a better nation! ME! ISRAEL! MILITARY BASES! ::sputter sputter:: PAY ATTENTION TO US!!!"

Listen, ass holes (I'm not really so sure any actual terrorists are reading this, but at least now it's out there). You wanna make a point, and attack us the day after the G8 conference ends? Do what you gotta do. You wanna hit Madrid on election day? I can at least see the connection between problem and punishment there, even if it's still idiotic. But this is just spiteful. It's pathetic and it's selfish. It's not serving "your cause" any more than a goddamn banana embargo would. We're a pretty selfish country, and our leaders are supremely selfish. So let us at least finish the ongoing attempt to make ourselves better before you do something stupid.

Cause now W's gonna be all blustery and monkeyish, and you're not gonna get anything out of him when he's like this. Cause now Tony Blair's leaving the G8 conference, and that's not the best way to get things done. Cause now we're all going to be even more pissed off at you all over again. The notoriously short American attention span for things international has just been renewed, jockos.