Digby Dissing DLC

Disagrees with DLC's "DC Democrats" on definition of patriotism:*

Let's just say I'm a big believer in supporting the troops --- troops like Spc. Joseph Darby, for instance, who had the courage and patriotism to stand up and say something when his fellow troopers were committing reprehensible acts --- or the FBI agents who complained on the record about what they saw at Guantanamo. I will never excuse the United States using torture or abuse or holding prisoners indefinitely without due process. Never. No matter what the "barbaric insurgency" does in Iraq. And I am more than willing to throw down the gauntlet on this and say that anyone who soft peddles those things is the worst kind of anti-American there is. We're not going to find common ground on this subject. If that kicks me out of the big tent so be it. I'm not signing on to that shit, ever.

I recognise that saying all this means that I couldn't get elected. And for that reason there are almost no elected Democrats who do say what I'm saying. They all wave flags and shriek like old ladies every time something happens --- and they back ridiculous wars, because if they don't the chattering classes will go nuts and label them unpatriotic. But saying it doesn't make it true. That's inside the beltway Republican kabuki which nobody who calls himself a Democrat should ever allow himself to perform. There are legitimate reasons why we might disagree on this stuff and still take national security seriously.

*We apologize for the abuse of alliteration.

Trolls

are apparently just the ticket to goad readers into commenting your blog, if SneakeTroll's effect is any indication. Biscuit's had more comments since SneakeTroll first made his appearance than ever before. So, thank you, SneakeTroll. Long time, no see, by the way. How's the basement treating you lately? Also, we noticed you were posting from a -- gasp -- Windoze machine. What happened to your Linux box?

What do I find amazing? Certainly not politics, per se. Presidents want power, and it is the job of Congress to keep them from getting it. If you hadn't noticed, however, I am pretty firmly against torture, and the idea that a President would fight his own party tooth and nail in order to retain a dubiously-derived "legal authority" to torture people -- an authority that his own lawyers invented for him -- is amazing and revolting to me. It's monstrous. I suppose I should no longer be amazed by it. But then again, if it no longer amazed me, if I thought it just normal politics to threaten to veto a bill that includes a provision to prevent the military from torturing people -- a policy that the military's own lawyers have always preferred, see the recently declassified memos on the matter -- then I'd be a bit of a monster too. (Perhaps a troll, even...)

See something, say something

N.Y. Mayor Apologizes For Raid on Tourist Bus

NEW YORK, July 25 -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (R) apologized Monday for an incident in which heavily armed police ordered 60 tourists off a sightseeing bus and detained them for 90 minutes while checking out what he called an erroneous report of five suspicious passengers with backpacks.

"While we say call the professionals, call 911 or 311" -- the emergency and non-emergency phones numbers -- "you also have to exercise some common sense," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "These half a dozen people did not present any threat whatsoever, and it's a shame, and I certainly apologize on behalf of the city."

New York increased police protection of transportation facilities after the London public transit bombings.

When a Gray Line Bus Tour supervisor reported that five men carrying stuffed backpacks had boarded a double-decker tourist bus, a police captain summoned the city's heavily armed Emergency Services Unit, Deputy Police Commissioner Paul J. Browne said. Police ordered riders to get off with their hands in the air, patted them down and searched their bags while 51st Street between Eighth and Broadway was cordoned off.

Officers briefly handcuffed the five South Asian men who had aroused the suspicion of bus company employees. They did not have backpacks, Browne said. "After we determined that no one on the bus constituted a threat, everybody was released," he said. "The responding officers showed the appropriate caution in light of the information and the situation."

Omigod! South Asian men, without backpacks. Or with backpacks. Or wearing raincoats. Or whatever. Call the police, they must be terrorists!!!!

Bird Flu Advertorial

Bird Flu Deaths Sow Panic In Wealthy Jakarta Suburb:

Despite repeated assurances from government officials, the tests conducted on Rafei and his older daughter, coupled with the timing of the three deaths, suggest the virus might have been passed among family members, according to health experts. Although scientists have not proved that bird flu can spread from one person to another, heath experts say it is possible that transmission among family members has already occurred in about a half-dozen cases in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

Bird Flu. It's The New Black Death.
PAID FOR BY AVIAN INFLUENZA, LTD.