Noonan's Daily Walk

Pundits Whitewash Torture: "'Some things in life need to be mysterious,' said Noonan, adding, 'Sometimes you need to just keep walking.'" - Peggy Noonan

"If you're ever facing felony charges, give this a shot and see how well it goes over. 'Your honor, I could offer a defense, and we could explore the charges against me, but sometimes in life you want to just keep walking. Some of life just has to be mysterious.'"

Ann's Ferociously Judgmental World

Ann Coulter's memorial column following her mother's death: "She had a rare combination of being completely moral and completely nonjudgmental at the same time -- the exact opposite of liberals who have absolutely no morals and yet are ferociously judgmental."

The judgment above is a gem. This family of vipers has a perfect mouthpiece.

Slithering Away From Decency

The United Snakes: Three movements in the force: first, the government says that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in one month; second, both Rove and Cheney say that U. S. officials, using sanctioned interrogation methods - which included waterboarding, learned of a terrorist plot for a devastating attack on Los Angeles and consequently thwarted that attack; and in the third event, Liz Cheney is coined and begins circulation among the minds of conservatives, with her stealth launch offering a stern and familiar political trajectory.

But, "As Timothy Noah and Daily Kos TV have documented, however, the Rove timetable just doesn't add up. While Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in March 2003, the plot was stopped in February 2002 -- more than a year earlier. Rove's tale could not possibly be true."

It's "All Waterboarding - All The Time" !! Actually, it's Cheney squared, and in both the Rove 'n Dick and the Dick 'n Liz view, there were no instances of criminal torture because all actions were the result of following orders assumed to be lawful - and important for the nation's safety. There would be no problem with the public because, as Hermann Goering instructed, "the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.

All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.

It works the same way in any country."

Wow, if we'd realized earlier that Hermann Goering was just doin' what his boss said, he could have gone on to play Colonel Klink and be buried at Forest Lawn - many years later.

Republican's Frantic Search For Validation

Why Republicans are devouring one book: "“We don’t know — because we weren’t there — what would have happened if they had left the market alone,” she said. Or, as she puts it in the book, “Of course Hoover and Roosevelt may have had no choice but to pursue the policies they did. They may indeed have spared the country something worse — an American version of Stalin’s communism or Mussolini’s fascism.”"

High There

What 420 Means: The True Story Behind Stoners' Favorite Number: "had nothing to do with a police code -- though the San Rafael part was dead on. Indeed, a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos - by virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school - coined the term in 1971."

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In 1970 and 71 I lived on San Francisco Bay in Marin County, complete with dock and boat , and remember well that Marin was one of the hot centers of my generation's universe. I can't explain exactly why it was, but it was - maybe because the whole world had been looking at San Francisco for a number of years, waiting for some new sign of the apocalypse or some cool sci-fi solution to everything or a new drug as a consolation for not finding one.

And Marin County delivered: gorgeous weather, unmatched beauty in its woods, around its lakes, on its bayshores and seashores, in it's small towns. We had the peacock feathers, Lucas Ranch, coke on the tabletops, and the highest number of stoned musicians-per-square-inch in the known world.

In 1971 San Rafael had about 30,000+ people and was not yet yuppied-up with lacquered barstools and leggy blondes. We guys still called our girlfriend our "old lady" and we accepted the granny-dress as she prepared the oh-so-cheap lentil soup and put a tie-dyed patch on our jeans.

420 was not widely known for many years, but now it is a small gift from the past, reminding everyone who cares that we did exist and that we did change the universe and that we did do it as it needed to be done.

A Crack In The GOP

Meghan McCain: "Old School" Republicans Are "Scared Shitless": "'There are those who think we can win the White House and Congress back by being 'more' conservative. Worse, there are those who think we can win by changing nothing at all about what our party has become. They just want to wait for the other side to be perceived as worse than us. I think we're seeing a war brewing in the Republican Party. But it is not between us and Democrats. It is not between us and liberals. It is between the future and the past.'"

She may misstep at some point, but she's not doing it now.

Fox Owns the Tea Party

What In the World Made Us Once Respect Greta?:

"For at least the second time in three days, Fox News aired on-screen text describing 'tea party' protests that Fox News hosts will be attending as 'FNC Tax Day Tea Parties.' Fox News has often described the protests as a response to President Obama's fiscal policies."

Grits-eating Surrender-necks

"If I owned Texas and hell, I'd rent out Texas and live in hell." - U.S. Gen. Phillip Sheridan, 1866: "Here are a few embarrassing tidbits about Texas that Governor Rick Perry doesn't want the rest of the nation to know so he can start planning his little fantasy of national politics:

1) 49th in teacher pay
2) 1st in the percentage of people over 25 without a high school diploma
3) 41st in high school graduation rate
4) 46th in SAT scores
5) 1st in percentage of uninsured children
6) 1st in percentage of population uninsured
7) 1st in percentage of non-elderly uninsured
8) 3rd in percentage of people living below the poverty level
9) 49th in average Women Infant and Children benefit payments
10) 1st in teenage birth rate
11) 50th in average credit scores for loan applicants
12) 1st in air pollution emissions
13) 1st in volume of volatile organic compounds released into the air
14) 1st in amount of toxic chemicals released into water
15) 1st in amount of recognized cancer-causing carcinogens released into air
16) 1st in amount of carbon dioxide emissions
17) 50th in homeowners' insurance affordability
18) 50th in percentage of voting age population that votes
19) 1st in annual number of executions"

So, yes, let them secede. And, wow, the French are gonna have a lot of fun with these grits-eating surrender-necks.

Yea !!! The Texans Are Leaving

Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union: "Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union"

We all know how charming conservative Texans really are. Losing them will be so hard... well, I'm all choked up.

If only they would really do it, but I doubt they've got the fortitude to pull it off. But they'll have no problem dropping their "americanism" - they have little to begin with.

Plus, let's beat them to shreds once and for all.

"Burn the books"

Tea Party Insanity: "'They're doing everything they can to brainwash our public...This thing they're putting on our TVs,' he says, presumably referring to digital cable converters, 'it's a brainwash unit!'

As his speech winds down, he exhorts his listeners to get their kids 'the hell out of college. They're brainwashing 'em!'

The anti-school message resonates with one woman.

'Burn the books!' she yells from off-camera. The surprised camera man asks if she's serious, and which books she'd burn. 'The ones in college, the brainwashing books, like the evolution crap.'"

GOP... Dead Ahead !!!

"Did you say Ice Berg, or Ice Cream?: "'On the day we learned that jobless claims rose to their highest levels in 26 years, Eric Cantor's charge that anyone is 'overreacting' to this economic crisis typifies the Republican just say 'NO' approach. Whether it's because they are simply out of touch with the pain American families are feeling, or they understand but are choosing to play politics instead, the lack of urgency shown by the Republican party at this time of crisis is appalling.'"

Now, now, now. Settle down Dems and move along. There's nothing to see here.

Fox on Fox Action - Angie Harmon, Republican, Actress

Republicans "Have Class": She is a genuine republican. I've got a few in my family and they are obnoxious in any discussion about reality. I still love them of course - them being family and all, and I make an effort to think of them as Labrador Retrievers mixed with too much Terrier, instead of the jerks that they are.

I was an adolescent once and used it all up, so I don't need to keep hearing the same unexplored theories about glory and truth. My true home is with the progressives, where everything is a spiritual quest with serious consequences for all.

GOP Distemper Shots Now Available

Joe The Plumber Needs A Royal Flush: "It's no wonder that actual plumbers hate this phony like he was feline leukemia."