The Truffle

"Oh look. Those puny neocon Earthlings are planning World War III in the Middle East. Guess I won't need that Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator after all." Via Daily Kos , we find Charles Krauthammer , who (naturally) thinks leaving Situation FUBAR is a bad idea. In the first three paragraphs, he dismisses the Democratic claims that Afghanistan is where the war on terror should be fought. You remember Afghanistan? The place where Osama and his goon squad were hiding out amidst a motley assortment of religious fundie freaks? "Of all the arguments for pulling out of Iraq, the greater importance of Afghanistan is the least serious," Krauthammer says. In truth, he insists, Afghanistan is not as important as Situation FUBAR. Yeah, I responded to that with a big "Whuh?" too. It would all be just another pile of wrongheaded neocon slop if Krauthammer didn't start channeling the Weekly World News : Thought experiment: Bring in a completely ...

Shorter Michael Savage: "Y'know, I think these Islamic fundie freaks are actually pretty cool!" If this guy weren't a pathological liberal-hater, he'd probably be on an FBI watch list right now.

It's England's weirdest prog band. The only major prog band to feature flute solos on almost every song. The only prog band to win a heavy metal Grammy. The only prog band to have a keyboardist who underwent a sex change. The band, of course, is Jethro Tull. This is Ian Anderson and company in 1973.

Why do we have to wait until 2008 for the next season of Battlestar Galactica ? Why is Guns 'n' Roses still on Geffen when there's still no sign of this mythical Chinese Democracy album? Why do they keep throwing money at Axl? Why don't they just drop the schmuck? In all the discussion regarding Anna Nicole, why hasn't anyone asked the most important question: What was this woman famous for? Why did it take so long for New York City to start work on that Second Avenue subway line it's needed for, like, forever? Why is Ed, Edd, and Eddy still on the air? Why isn't The Powerpuff Girls still on the air? Is that just me, or is a synth-pop version of "Come On Eileen" being used for VH1's Classic Rock channel? Why would any sick fuck poison pet food? Why does D.C. Comics keep revising continuity? Why does Marvel Comics do a retcon on the Scarlet Witch? Why has Rod Stewart put out an album of 1970s radio hits ? Correct me if I'm wrong, bu...

In the 1990s, I was that nerdiest of nerds: a Usenet sci-fi television geek. I argued over the merits of various shows. I wrote fan fiction. I hung around chat boards and chat rooms. Some Usenetters became online buddies; others started out as adversaries and became buddies; one or two stayed adversaries. Those people in the first and second categories were and are cool folks; as for the few in the third, well, screw them. They don't know what they missed. Originally, I was one of those posters who became a little, uh, too emotionally involved in Usenet. It happens to everyone, and looking back, I suspect I did get too vehement or strident or even, on occasion, misguided. Eventually, I just outgrew that and tried to remind myself to have some perspective. (Of course, I ventured onto a couple of political Usenet groups as well...and THAT, in retrospect, was asking for trouble. Ah well. I was a newbie then.) Over in SF fandom, there was a handful of unpleasant, annoying, s...

During the advanced stage of McCain's disease, the sufferer has completely surrendered his dignity in an attempt to please people. Instead, he (and the sufferer is usually a "he") displays a strangely childlike delusion that reality is much different than it really is. See below for evidence.

Like Elizabeth Edwards, Tony Snow is now fighting cancer. Now, it's spread to his liver. Crooks and Liars sums it up best: We give a lot of grief to Tony Snow (and not without cause), but as someone who had a cancer scare of my own, this is the last news any cancer patient wants to hear. And as we sent thoughts and prayers to Elizabeth Edwards, so too, should we send them to Tony Snow and his family, for what they are about to face. This isn't about partisanship, this is about humanity. As someone who lost a parent to cancer, I couldn't agree more.

The Faux follies continue. Looks like they're not taking recent events very well. They must be using the Conserv-O-Meter to generate news content. Further analysis from the Stealth Badger .

When Li'l Ricky's done making his movies, he might want to consider investing in one of these new contraptions. If his soon-to-be produced film output doesn't succeed in shaping the nature of our reality, maybe the Conserv-O-Meter will. Say, if Evil Bobby doesn't mind, why don't we test this contraption and see what we get? Rick Santorum (cling-clunk doop-zweek DING!) . Rick Santorum was elected during the Great Wave that Purified America in 1994. He was a champion of family values and personal integrity and all those other wonderful things that the newly elected GOP Congress promised when they were ordained by God's law to challenge the odious liberal rule of the Great Liar Clinton. Rick Santorum loved fetuses and hated sodomites, and for this, he had a disgusting sexual byproduct named after him. To compound the humiliation, he was voted out of office in 2006. Obviously, Pennsylvania voters did not recognize his outstanding moral character. His loss wa...

I know; I can't think of Santorum as an auteur , either. Anyway, Li'l Ricky is yet another ex-politician who will. not. go. away. Not only is he blathering on Fox News and leading a think tank program on "America's enemies," he's going into movies. You read that right. Movies. Specifically, two documentaries. Sadly, neither is called "Spreading Santorum." The first project, Santorum said, would explore the relationship between radical Islam and the radical leftists in various countries around the world, including Latin America. It would be about an hour in length. The second would be a longer, broader documentary that he said would aim to ''change the culture of America.'' He declined to go into specifics about the proposal. Gee, my heart's just pitter-pattering with excitement. How's Li'l Ricky hoping to "change the culture of America"? And what's this guy still doing in the public eye, anyway? Cen...

Tonight's episode of The Dresden Files features Claudia Black in a guest role. As a "Farscape" fan who's also caught Ms. Black on Stargate SG-1, I have an honest request. Won't someone give her a series of her own? Since SG-1 is ending, she'll be looking for a steady gig. There don't seem to be any plans for "Farscape" films or miniseries, so how about a new TV show with Claudia Black as the lead and the center of the action? Please?

Fuhgeddabout that final Potter book that everyone's so anxious to pre-order. I'm going to be waiting for Glenn Greenwald's new book, A Tragic Legacy . If it's anything like Greenwald's blogging, it'll say everything that needs to be said about Bush's disastrous presidency, and it'll sum everything up perfectly. If nothing else, it will keep readers busy until Doughy Pantload finally publishes his oft-delayed book comparing liberals to fascists. Greenwald's book will found in the Current Events sections at most fine bookstores. Pantload's tome, meanwhile, will most likely be stocked in the humor section or the remainder bin.

Reef is selling a line of sandal-cum-canteens. You read that correctly. Sure to be just as popular as flatulence filters and sex toys for iguanas .

"It's a dump, it's a dump, it's a dump-dump-dump..." DOCUMENT dump, that is. Oh, and quel surprise! Abu Gonzales was more involved in the attorney firings than he let on. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals. The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday. There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings. The documents indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who d...

Via Badtux we find Conrad Black , a rich conservative Canadian who is now facing trial in Chicago. Selecting an impartial jury is proving to be tough because it looks like a lot of potential jurors don't like super-rich people: Regardless of what else happens in the Black saga, the jury-selection process has already provided an extraordinary window into the way regular Americans, randomly selected, view their elites - not as heroes but as thieves. As far as Black is concerned, this is all terribly unfair - he is being "thrown to the mobs" because of rage at the system and, unlike American billionaires, he doesn't "dress in corduroy trousers" or donate his fortune to Aids charities. Black's lawyers even argued (unsuccessfully) that their client could not get a fair trial because the average Chicagoan "does not reside in more than one residence, employ servants or a chauffeur, enjoy lavish furniture, or host expensive parties". Say, I thought t...

As I've noted before, I'm sort of on-again, off-again as far as feminism goes. Some days, I'm pretty enthusiastic about it; other times I don't think about it too much. Yes, I'm a typical Gen-Xer who was a wee tyke during the second wave of feminism. And no, my mom never took me to any ERA rallies. OTOH, my parents did take me to a Vietnam war demo when I was an infant. My mom says there's probably a photo of me as a baby in an FBI file. But I digress. Despite drifting in and out of feminism, I've always supported the concept behind it, even when you got the occasional nutcase. Katha Pollitt and Barbara Ehrenreich are, in my opinion, two of the smartest, most insightful writers today, and they don't just write about feminism, either. Also, I find anti-feminists, by and large, to be a noxious bunch. The men are often all-around woman-haters who think feminism made their lives miserable when, in fact, it was their own bad attitudes. Anti-feminist...

It's Boxer, 1; Inhofe, 0

What, two crybaby conservatives in one week? Yes, indeedy. This time, Doughy Pantload is sad because "Rome" is ending. The Galloping Beaver tries to help him out of his funk. But, now that "Rome" is coming to an end, Goldberg will be free to take all this strategic and tactical knowledge he's acquired from HBO and offer his exceptional expertise to his favourite branch of the US military. I'm thinking he'll go for the Marines. Whaddya mean, "don't hold your breath"?

Heifer International is a terrific organization. It's so terrific that, after giving money to them, I've decided to help raise even more money for them. Hence, the Heifer International donation button in the right hand column. Anyone interested in finding out more can click the linky-winky. Anyone interested in donating can click the button. Click away!

And this week, it's Pink Floyd, performing "Careful With That Axe, Eugene."

OK, this is a quiz result I can get behind. You Are 50% Boyish and 50% Girlish You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be. How Boyish or Girlish Are You? Now, this result is amusing, since I actually AM a Virgo. Only 73 percent, huh? Goes to show you astrology is a crock. You are 73% Virgo How Virgo Are You? Now THIS I agree with. Maturity is overrated anyway. You Are Somewhat Mature You definitely act like an adult sometimes, but a big part of you is still a kid at heart. While your immature side is definitely fun, you're going to have to grow up sooner or later. Are You Immature?

For anyone who still thinks Situation FUBAR isn't really FUBAR, please please please PLEASE visit Gorilla's Guides. (Kudos to Moxiegrrrl for the link.) All of a sudden, I wonder if sending the Yellow Elephants over there is a good idea. The Iraqis deserve better than the Yellow Elephants.

Geyer has seen Situation FUBAR-type scenarios before, during decades as a foreign correspondent. Her most recent column is the best summation of Situation FUBAR I've read. Unlike the current generation of winguts, she remembers the war whose name begins with a "V" very, very well. (And no, Geyer is not a liberal, so that talking point won't work.) My old friend Barry Zorthian, who was the official American spokesman in Vietnam and beloved by journalists, told me last week he wrote a memo to the commanding generals in 1968, outlining all the problems there -- and that they were virtually a mirror image of Iraq today. Then he told me sadly, "We could have had the same deal with the North Vietnamese in 1968 that we got five years later -- only in those five years, 25,000 Americans died." But is the experience in Vietnam in any real way equal to the experience in Iraq? As a matter of fact, in many ways, yes. Imagine if people like Geyer had been in the Bush ...

Actually, I suspect Tom DeLay falls in the cracks between crybaby and crazaaaaaaaay . Now, normally I'd hate to link to Faux News, but this headline is just too good to ignore. Lay-deez and gennelmen...from Faux News... Ex-Congressman Tom DeLay Insults Former GOP Leaders in New Book! Yes, the Bugman turns his rhetorical pesticides in the direction of Dick Armey and Newt "Never Mind My Sordid Personal Life, 'Kay?" Gingrich in his new book. The book is called No Retreat, No Surrender, an ironic title considering that's what DeLay did in 2006. For more knee-slappers, here's Buggy Boy trying to rewrite history on NPR: DeLay says he relished the business of "counting votes," but he doesn't miss being in the congressional leadership. "It was time for me to go," he says. "If you'll remember, I was the only leader that lasted the whole 12 years. And it's a pretty grueling job – to be in leadership and driving an agenda again...

That's what I realized as I was following Bushco Scandals 55 and 78.2. Bush and his cronies hate Muppets even more than they hate liberals, Democrats, Iraqis, French people, the troops, other Republicans, and the 65 percent of the American population who's decided they suck. Don't believe me? There's a word/image association going on in Camp Repuke to sour the public image of the Muppets by associating them with the Bush camp's cast of idiots. First, there's Scooter. At first it seemed weird that a grown man could still carry a nickname like Scooter. Okay, maybe he has a boyish, playful side underneath that law-breaking, amoral exterior. But then I noted people giving our (soon-to-be ex?) Attorney General the nickname Gonzo. And no, I don't think anyone means to invoke the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson. (Does anyone on Team Bush know who Hunter S. Thompson is? C'mon!) It's bad enough that these guys have to trash war veterans, loyal Americans, a...

From the "jokes writing themselves" department: Via Bark Bark Woof Woof, we find the Newtster trying to restore dignity and propriety to political life. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering whether to run for president, said Tuesday the personal lives of White House hopefuls shouldn't be an issue in the 2008 campaign. Note to Mr. Gingrich: Even if you weren't cheating on your missus while trying to nail Clinton, you need to realize that a lot of people won't accept a president whose first name is Newt. (Mitt sounds more businesslike, but still...) Really, these face-saving measures are a waste of time, dontcha think?

Via Parenthetical Remarks, we find that Christopher Hitchens has managed to stay away from liquor long enough to write something based in reality. If people still took the guy seriously, I'm sure that they'd be applauding his good sense. Please, try not to laugh.

I'm going to be in Austin, TX for the musical shebang to end all musical shebangs. Yes, I'm talking about South by Southwest. Nothing but summery temps for the next five or so days. Woo-hoo!

Following yesterday's post on those badly injured soldiers being sent back to Iraq, I'm going to join my fellow bloggers and offer a really constructive solution. The Yellow Elephants should enlist. There's just no excuse not to. If the preznit wants his surge, the Yellow Elephants should give it to him. Chief among the Yellow Elephants being encouraged to enlist is Mark Noonan, founder of Blogs for Bush. Mr. Noonan claims that he tried to enlist after 9/11 but was told that he was too old. This could be genuine, or it could be similar to Tom DeLay's excuse that he wanted to go to 'Nam but a bunch of minorities beat him to it. (Drag the military and its affirmative action plan. Why wouldn't they take a butt-kickin', bug-killin' man's man like the Hammer?) Thankfully, the powers that be have raised the age limit, so Mr. Noonan is now eligible. So why isn't he running to the nearest recruiting office? That's what a lot of people are w...

Okay, I am now convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt. The present administration hates the troops. Hates, hates, hates the troops. When soldiers aren't sharing hospital rooms with rats over at Walter Reed, they're being sent back into combat even when they've still got serious injuries which, in saner times, would render them unfit for duty. Salon has more. I'd suggest that the Yellow Elephants enlist, but that would, I suspect, do our hard-working troops a greater disservice. In fact, I suspect that the Yellow Elephants would be crying to go home after sustaining paper cuts. And the Preznit still thinks this surge is a good idea?

Something more frightening than any scene from "Apocalypto": a visit by George W. Bush to Mayan ground. From WaPo: Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday. "That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.... Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites _ which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles _ would prepare...

It's one of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs, "Games Without Frontiers."

This below was sent to me by a friend in an online role-playing game. For the sake of today's schoolchildren, I really, really hope that these aren't real. I mean really. Really, really, really. Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners..... 1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master. 2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. 3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those box...

Who else but a former CIA analyst who's gone to bat for Valerie Plame would collect a bunch of Fox News screen captures? "Sadly, the author regrets that not a single one of these have been Photoshopped," Johnson adds. The second-to-last one, about NASA delaying a shuttle launch because of a UFO, is particularly, uh, interesting. Murdoch should just cut his losses and rename Fox the Supermarket Tabloid Network.

It's been a while since I've blogged about crybaby conservatives. But this story is too good to overlook. Seems some people with too much time on their hands are mad at an Iraq war veteran's decal. . Basically, he served his country honorably but still thinks killing is a sin. The armchair commandos don't like that sentiment. Hopefully, the dude in uniform will tell them to simply mind their own business. But seriously, if they're riled up by a decal, I wonder what they'd make of the words of this loony peacenik : Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

Something tells me that maybe "America's mayor" (must...not...laugh) should rethink his presidential bid. It's bad enough that the fundies are calling his split from Donna Hanover "divorce on steroids" and he's not on speaking terms with his kids. Via Parenthetical Remarks comes news of a sharp response to Newsweek's cover story from Rudy's biographer. In other news, the International Association of Firefighters is also unhappy with the guy. Unlike Rudy, the firefighters--and police officers--actually worked saving lives on 9/11. And they're not happy that Rudy cut back on crew searching for the remains of their fellow first responders. They feel that "America's mayor" had...other concerns. The 280,000-member union accused him of carelessly expediting the cleanup process with a "scoop-and-dump" operation after the recovery of millions of dollars in gold, silver and other assets from the Bank of Nova Scotia (nys...

(The open letter below is inspired by Pissed Off Patricia's "virtual group intervention," for the preznit. Hope she doesn't mind me adapting some of my comments for here.) Dear President Bush, I hope you live a long, long time. You deserve it. I hope you manage to outlive even your vice president--and I don't mean "outlive him until 2008." I'm aware that you are obsessed with having a legacy. Don't worry, Mr. President. You will have a legacy. And I hope you live for another 40-50 years, just so you can see what that legacy is. It's only 2007 and already people are comparing 2008 candidates. You know what that means? It means people are sick to death of you, Mr. President. They want your presidential term to be over. They want you GONE. Already you're considered to be the worst president in America's history. Worse than Buchanan. Worse than Harding. You know how hard it is to be even worse than Warren G. Harding? Harding is t...

In response to GOP Scandal Number 845, a.k.a. Attorney-Gate, Senator Specter is sounding a rather ominous note about Abu Gonzales regarding those attorney firings. From WaPo: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that Gonzales's status as the nation's leading law enforcement officer might not last through the remainder of President Bush's term, pointedly disputing the attorney general's public rationale for the mass firings. "One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later," Specter said at a committee hearing where a new round of subpoenas to the Justice Department was considered. After the meeting, Specter declined to elaborate on that remark, but told reporters that most of the blame for the ongoing controversy rests with the attorney general. "It's snowballing, mostly with the help of the Department of Justice," he said. Cue Beethoven's Fifth: "Duhm d...

Morning Martini guest blogger Fred the Cat makes a painfully accurate point: even the vet's office is better than Walter Reed. Given how much pets love the vet's office, that's saying something.

First, we learned that Rudy's estranged from his son. So estranged that the kid won't be campaigning for his dad. Now the evangelicals have reservations of their own. Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, told The Associated Press that evangelicals believe the former New York City mayor showed a lack of character during his divorce from his second wife, television personality Donna Hanover. "I mean, this is divorce on steroids," Land said. "To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control." As a New York City resident, I remember the distinctively un-classy way Rudy handled his divorce from Donna Hanover, with his lawyer saying he'd make her "squeal like a stuck pig." And I knew that disgusting episode would come back to haunt the guy. And it has. Land noted that Repub...

That is the only explanation for why upstanding, God-fearing conservatives (particularly male conservatives) turn to porn and prostitution to supplement their earnings. Even when they're manly men in uniform. How else do you explain Matt Sanchez, a.k.a. Rod Majors, a.k.a. Pierre LaBranche? Unlike Jeff Gannon, his comrade-in-arms (pun intended), Sanchez took the legal route, pursuing a career as a porn actor. A gay porn actor. A gay porn actor who starred in films like Donkey Dick. DONKEY Dick? Wait...aren't those DEMOCRATS? And is it me, or is that a photo of Matt/Rod/Pierre next to Trash Can Ann on the linky-winky above? Between the Libby verdict and now this, the week is shaping up to be great! Me, I haven't had this much fun since Dan Quayle was vice president. (Via Scott EVill .) Update: Whoops. I spoke too soon. Seems that Sanchez, in addition to porn, worked as a male escort, just like Gannon did. Meanwhile, Max Blumenthal dubs Sanchez, Coulter, and sim...

How do you suppose his fellow convicts will treat a guy named "Scooter"?

The funniest thing about the fallout from Coulter's blathering is the hand-wringing and moaning that followed it from the right wing. Yes, the Reich Wing is shocked, shocked , that their favorite pundit would use a homophobic slur during a lecture. They were willing to let her get away with calling Middle Easterners "ragheads" at last year's CPAC gathering. And years before, they happily basked in her radioactive presence as she suggested that John Walker Lindh be killed "in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too." But now, things have changed. The left wing is now--help!-- laughing . At their favorite pinup. At a squirming Mitt Romney, who now has to denounce the same person he happily introduced to CPAC's eager audience. At dismayed right-wing bloggers, who're signing petitions telling CPAC not to invite Crazy Annie anymore. Because now the avatar of today's conservative movement ha...

King Crimson, circa 1973. I think this is the Fripp/David Cross/Bill Bruford/John Wetton lineup.

Following The Carnival of the Liberals, the inimitable Blue Gal has limericks galore.

Normally, Ann Coulter is so predictable and utterly nonsensical that she isn't worth a blog entry. Blathering in that weird upper-class hoity-toit voice of hers, she spouts the same variations on "LiBRulz R teh SUX0r!!1!1!" at the same lectures and on the same installments of "Hannity & Colmes." She's becoming quite boring, if you ask me...but not so boring that she can't be of some use to Democratic candidates. She unwittingly volunteered for the job of DNC fundraiser when she called John Edwards a "faggot." Team Edwards didn't need No-Doz to stay awake during her ramblings. They decided to use her little outburst to raise campaign money. While Mitt Romney (who introduced her) is trying to distance himself from the twit, John Edwards' campaign crew is hoping to raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash." If the other candidates are smart, they'll follow Edwards' lead and use Coulter's outbursts to motivate future...

Switzerland invaded Lichtenstein by mistake. Don't worry; the Lichtensteiners aren't mad about it. The Swiss authorities apologized and everything is okay. Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. ''It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something,'' he said.

Last month, I mentioned Li'l Ricky is now heading a program at a right-wing think tank. The program is called "America's Enemies." I wonder if his new side job at Faux News is some sort of on-site research.

I actually bought an issue of US Weekly. The cover story is on Britney and K-Fed and how he's suddenly a really cool guy and a good dad. And how he and Britters are going to get back together. No, it wasn't written by a squeeing fan. Yes, someone was paid to write it. Paid by whom, perhaps--Federline's lawyers?

Here's what happens: Some anonymous Huffington Post commentators post that they wish Darth Cheney had been offed in that nasty little bombing the other day. HuffPo deletes the comments. The wingnutosphere still flies into a frenzy of rage, trotting out those old "left-is-unhinged" talking points--even HuffPo's actions seem to suggst that the left really ain't that unhinged. (When LGF or Freeperland starts deleting similar crap, then I'll take their hissy fit seriously.) Until then, Arianna herself puts the wingnutosphere squarely in its place. Responses like this make me forget any mixed feelings I have about the woman. THIS is how you talk to a wingnut (if you must): Before I get into how ludicrous this claim is, let me be absolutely clear: No one at HuffPost is defending these comments -- they are unacceptable and were treated as such by being removed. They were not made by me, by our editors, or by our bloggers. They were made by anonymous visitors t...

Olbermann Watch is no more. Read their "goodbye, cruel world" letter and try not to laugh.