Word is that the Justice Department will be studying the British anti-terrorism laws to see how we need to change current U.S. law.  What is this country coming to?  What's next, the U.S. government studying how well the Dutch do education, or the French do health care, or the Norwegians do vacation?  Give me a break!!! 

Oh, sorry....no clear idea what will happen with the DOJ study but prepare yourselves for talk about how we might just have to get rid of that pesky Bill of Rights; after all the Brits don't have to deal with it and its only hampering our efforts to protect our freedoms. 

If you haven't seen George Allen's classy new campaign video, here it is.  Although there has been some effort to deflect what Senator Allen meant by calling a young Indian-American gentleman (and native Virginian) taping his appearance for the Webb campaign, "Macaca" or "Macaque", we do have a few choices and none of them reflect well on the Senator:

1. 'Macaca' - French : racist slang; similar to English 'nigger,' used to describe Arabs.
2. 'Macaca' - English : racist slang; similar to 'nigger' used to describe Arabs.
3. 'Macaca' - English : racist slang; used by American white supremacists in 'insider' talk about African-Americans.

Then again Jason Zengerle points out his mom was French Tunisian and he does know how to speak French.  Probably thought his audience wasn't that sophisticated right?

Update(8/15/06):  Sorry, looks like Youtube is down right now but check back later....

What is that old saying: "When faced with the choice of voting for a real Republican or a Democrat who sounds like one, the people tend to go with the real Republican."  Should be interesting?

(via TPM cafe)

If you ever wondered how much our current diplomatic effort regarding the fighting in Lebanon has helped change the Middle East, you only need to look at what is becoming the most popular name for newborns in Egypt: Nasrallah.

I think its clear from this quote from an unnamed Bush Administration official, that the Bush people place a higher premium on one of the two and it ain't Fighting Terrorism.  After the Lieberman/Cheney quote yesterday I was trying to find the recent report about a bipartisan majority of American foreign policy experts who think we're losing the "War on Terror" and here it is... not pretty.  Remember that when you see the odd phenomenon of struggling Republican candidates around the country suddenly endorsing Joe Lieberman's independent run or Administration officials timing terror alerts to change the news cycle for partisan purposes.  Better yet, since the President's poll numbers dropped one more time and Republican candidates around the country don't want him around , I'm guessing you'll probably see more terror alerts and talk about terrorism in the next couple months because frankly the Republican Party doesn't have anything to run on and scaring people seemed to work the last two election cycles so why not bring it out again.

Ah yes, Joe Lieberman, Man of Principle?  Perhaps someone would stop long enough to ask Lieberman (I-Washington Media establishment) what exactly he's done or proposes to do that effectively, yes I said effectively, fights terrorism and makes this country truly safer in the long run, cause I gotta tell ya the policies he's supporting aren't working.

I think Simon Rosenberg offers a pretty compelling list of 3 things Joe Lieberman did wrong over the last year that pretty much cost him the Democratic nomination last night and oddly enough none of them have anything to do with the power of the "netroots" or the blight of "blogofacism".

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog takes a pin and punctures the latest Republican meme that Ned Lamont's victory means a takeover of the Democratic party by the loony liberal left-wing of the Party (whatever that is...) by pointing out that if we are to believe that then certainly someone as left and conspiracy minded as incumbent Cynthia McKinney should have won her run-off election going away.  The fact that she lost badly and the DCCC left little doubt it wanted her gone among other fine examples kinda muddies what you're going to hear every RNC and Republican elected official, as well as the mainstream and conservative media establishment, whip like a dead horse for the next two months, but keep it in mind nonetheless. 

The Democratic Party has lost its SOULLLLLLL!

Joe, who? Nothing to see here, move along....

Okay, we're talking about a relatively unknown moderate Republican from Michigan and a former Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate who gets more Sunday morning face time than the leadership of his own Party ( which now I guess is truly "his own" Party) but pretty much the same story: two incumbent politicians out of step with their constituents and Party who get booted.  Ned Lamont doesn't have to apologize for knocking off Joe Lieberman any more than Al D'Amato did for ending Jacob Javits career or Lloyd Bentsen did for ending Ralph Yarborough's career...yes, this sort of thing has happened before even the "netroots" and somehow the Republic, as well as the Republican and Democratic Parties, did survive.

(Updated 8/9/06:12:21pm)

I listened with dread yesterday morning when they announced on the radio that British Petroleum would be shutting down one of the largest oil fields in the country due to a problem with a corroded section of pipeline.  I have an hour commute everyday and the last year has seen our monthly fill-up bill basically triple so I wasn't happy, but the radio report made it seem like a relative small and easily fixed problem.  Imagine my surprise when it was announced later in the day that BP was replacing 73% of its 22 mile pipeline at Prudhoe Bay! 

73%??  How do you get into a situation where "suddenly" you find out that three fourths of the pipeline you "oversee" is so corroded it has to be replaced?  Wouldn't regular maintenance or diagnotistics catch this sooner or was a decision made not to do anything until too late?   

(via The LeftCoaster)

(Update 8/8/06): If you needed any more bad news about how badly managed BP's Alaska operations are, check out this report from last week about how the DOT demanded BP's safety and maintenance logs after reports of numerous pipeline leaks.  No doubt this and an ongoing EPA and DOJ investigation helped prompt BP to finally do something but it doesn't say much for the folks Congressional Republicans want to turn ANWR over to does it?

So much for listening to the commanders on the ground in Iraq?  Its especially refreshing to know that the President thinks events in that country have gone into some sorta weird stasis where nothing much has happened since the people there voted in the last elections.  I guess the fact that they did vote somehow prevents the unthinkable, kinda like when the United States dodged a bullet in the 1860 election?

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rep. Bob Ney, dogged by an influence peddling probe in Washington, will not seek re-election.

Borat strikes again:

No one knows for sure who he was, that Middle Eastern man in an American flag shirt and a cowboy hat who was supposed to sing the national anthem at a rodeo Friday night in the Salem Civic Center.

But he sure shook up this town before leaving in a hurry.

Introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan, he was said to be an immigrant touring America. A film crew was with him, doing some sort of documentary. And he wanted to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" to show his appreciation, the announcer told the crowd.

Speaking in broken English, the mysterious man first told the decidedly pro-American crowd - it was a rodeo, of all things, in Salem, of all places - that he supported the war on terrorism.

"I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards," he said, according to Brett Sharp of Star Country WSLC, who was also on stage that night as a media sponsor of the rodeo.

The crowd's reaction was loud enough for John Saunders, the civic center's assistant director, to hear from the front office. "It was a restless kind of booing," Saunders said.

Then the man took off his hat and sang what he said was his native national anthem. He then told the crowd to be seated, put his hat back on, and launched into a butchered version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that ended with the words "your home in the grave," Sharp said.

Hat tip: Atrios.

Another hilarious piece from the Onion!  Anybody else notice we've gotten to the point that parody news seems so much more insightful and useful then what passes for the mainstream media?