Bobo’s Mailbox

Mr Johnson - I find all of your rage, ramblings and quips about the incompetence of the would be terrorists in London and Glasgow, amazing for someone who claims to be a terrorism expert. Its not whether ther were amateurish that should concern all of us, it is what these acts say about the level of penetration of these terror groups in highly regarded professions like medicine. These persons intended, to kill hundreds of innocents.

Your acclaimed expertise, was not enough to figure out what Osama was planning for the west and the US, all during the 90’s. It amazes me how incompetent the CIA really is. As the family jewels reveal, the CIA was so incompetent they couldn’t kill someone who was 90 miles off our coast, so it may have been too much to expect the CIA to actually protect the nation from al-queda and its spawn.

FROM LARRY C JOHNSON:

Danny boy, you demonstrate your ignorance and stupidity. If you want to know what I said about Osama I suggest you read the November 7, 2000 op-ed I co-authored with Milt Bearden. You’re just blowing smoke out of your ass and don’t know what your are writing about. Unloosen the belt from around your neck. More blood flow to your simple brain might help you think more clearly and actually help you achieve some independent thought. For now, you’re an idiot.

Perhaps Mr. Brooks never checks the contents of his mailbox? He doesn’t appear to be making much use of it.

Gnats & Camels, Bird Plumage, Projection, Displacement.

I just read the Corn gloss and commentary on the Brooks text.

The neocons must be having regular Two Minutes Hate sessions with Joe Wilson as their Immanuel Goldstein.

Brooks’ sensitivity to vanity expressed in intemperate language, “strutting little peacock,” etc., reveals a degree of disquiet.

His analyses are consistently wide of the mark. I suspect his REAL ornithological aggravation is the weight and stink of their Iraq albatross.

There isn’t even a DOOR on the Brooks’ mailbox. I’ll bet Islamofascists steal his mail all the time. Also, Postal Service regulations call for your name to be on the box, as well as the house number. Maybe these were on the door? This looks like a job for the Homeowner’s Association.

I thought Mark Shields did an adequate job of rebutting Brooks’ lies. I kept expecting Brooks to say something like, “Well, it’s true that there’s been some puerile whining about Mr. Hitler supposedly starting a World War–all by himself, mind you–and some people with axes to grind have made the wild claim that he tried to exterminate the Jews for no rational reason that I can think of, BUT he built really, really great roads which were the envy of the world. And 100 years from now which achievement do YOU think this great leader will be remembered for?”

Come to think of it, Brooks really is dumb enough to set himself on fire.

David Brooks is enamoured of the Bushie elite. He regards the CIA as the enemy and a threat to the White House and facts as a form of insubordination.

He presents his opinions as if they were facts, for example: “nobody cared anymore”? Who is nobody, Mr. Brooks?

He points to Democratic hypocrisy by comparing what happened to Clinton with Libby. It’s a false comparison. Because Clinton was never convicted of a crime, nor a crime involving national security. The hypocrisy is with the Bushies, who feel they have the right to retry a case that’s already been decided and mete out their idea of justice without consulting their own DOJ. While many other people, convicted of the same crimes as Libby, receive no such consideration or benefit.

You’re too nice, Larry, offering to help him fix his mailbox and trying to reason with him.

It is not David Brooks’ belief that matters. Traditionally, courts defer to the Government’s assertions when invoking facts regrading the state’s overriding secrecy interests. In this instance, the CIA asserted that Plame was covert. That is the salient fact, not Brooks’ fantasies.

Oh Larry that’s so original. Being a tough guy with readers… I suppose you haven’t read the CIA Inspector general’s own report on CIA failures in the lead up to 9/11… I guess not because no one got a chance to read it as the CIA kept the criticism secret… about the only thing they know how to keep secret and you pining about Valerie Plame is such a diversion from the real issue that has bedevilled this nation for many years, i.e., the general incompetence of the CIA to get good actionable information for policy makers. If the CIA had good information about whether WMD was present in Iraq before the war, it sure as hell did not make it well known. George Tenet’s slam dunk. Instead they make excuses about budgets and manpower, like a bunch of crybabies. The real crime here is that the CIA felt sidelined and hurt so it lashed out to make this Plame matter a headline story. For you to insist that she was some sort of James Bond like character is laughable. Her two bit charlatan husband was Amb to Gabon for God’s sake when he got his plame assignment to go find out about the yellow cake in Niger… and ended up filing one of those typical “desk job” - cover your ass reports… its “unlikely” that Iraq bought yellow cake from Niger… That’s what we paid for!!!!!

FROM LARRY JOHNSON:
Let me see if I have this straight. You live in the UK but you “paid for the CIA”? When did you start paying taxes? Next, please show me the quote where I said the CIA was to be praised for its exemplary conduct in the lead up to the war in Iraq? It is on the record that the CIA repeatedly warned the Bush Administration not to use the Niger info and consistently said that there was no operational tie between Saddam and Osama. Are you drinking pints too early in the day?

The failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks falls predominatly on the FBI. They are the agency with the responsibility to prevent domestic acts of terrorism. Using the CIA for domestic spying is illegal. BTW, the IG report on the FBI has been released and it is pretty scathing. There are many mistakes across the board but the FBI was the lead agency mandated by law to protect this nation before 9/11.

Second and most obvious, the IG’s report has never been released to the public. Google the IG report and you see bills in Congress to force its release. Unless you are a staffer in Congress with high clearance or a Congressman, there is no way you read what is in that report unless Dan stands for Dan Burton.

Tom

Are you defending the CIA’s counter terrorism practices over the past 10 years? It is really indefensible. Missed opportunities, missed intelligence opportunities, you name it. Not enough Arabic speakers etc. Come on. While the FBI does have domestic law enforcement responsibilities and they were found wanting as well, no question, but al-queda didn’t plan this in the Denny’s over a burger deluxe, they planned it in Germany, Saudi and Afghanistan where they were training. The CIA knew of al-queda training camps in Afghanistan since the early 90’s, for God’s sake, even John Miller got an interview with Bin Laden…. And yet the CIA consistently did nothing to stop them in their tracks. Maybe people want to blame Jamie Gorelick for legalising the issue of strikes in Sudan or Afghanistan, but at the end of the day, the CIA let down the American people…

PseudoCyAnts,
You’re right. Except that jackasses like Brooks are given air time on the Lehrer Newshour, hired by the “liberal” NY Times to write unsupported political hit-jobs, etc. We have to speak out against them and expose them for the frauds that they are.

Dan,
You haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. Do some reading.

Hey Leslie

You ought to do some reading… I mean outside of these blogs… in the real world where intelligent people question institutions like the CIA and don’t take the CIA line. Plame is a story because the CIA didn’t do its job and lashed out to take the heat off of their performance. That is a fact. If you ask me, Langley should be torn down and we should start again. The wingnut who recommended Wilson go to Niger should be fired for incompetence, oh I forgot, that was his wife according to the bi partisan Senate Intelligence Committee. Fitzgerald prosecuted for the same reason Starr did, because he spent a lot of money on a high profile case, and at the end of the day, had he not indicted someone, anyone (why not Rove who had discrepancies in his account vs other witnesses?) then he would have been accused of covering up or worse, wasting taxpayer money.

Brooks has so many “ticks” when he speaks I have a hard time watching/listening to him. This squirminess and rapid blinking makes me think he is uncomfortable when delivering his lines. I’ve always thought there might actually be a conscience at war with itself. Or I could be wrong.

Jesus, Dan, you’re a regular shambling heap of misinformation, GOP talking points and pure bullshit.

“You ought to do some reading… I mean outside of these blogs… in the real world where intelligent people question institutions like the CIA and don’t take the CIA line.”

The CIA, like every human institution devised by man, has its flaws, but they did deliver a PDB memo to Bush on August 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Laden to Strike in United States.” A shame that Junior was busy on vacation and couldn’t be bother to read or respond to it. He might have been able to stop 9/11 from happening. One report I read claimed Bush said, “Okay, you’ve covered your ass,” when he received that memo. Interesting comment for a president to make in those circumstances.

“Plame is a story because the CIA didn’t do its job and lashed out to take the heat off of their performance. That is a fact.”

That is not a fact. Plame is a story because Bob Novak, at the behest of Karl Rove, leaked her identity in his column for the purpose of sending a message to Joe Wilson and other potential future whistleblowers that the White House would go after their families if they told the truth. Capeche, paisan?

“If you ask me, Langley should be torn down and we should start again. The wingnut who recommended Wilson go to Niger should be fired for incompetence, oh I forgot, that was his wife according to the bi partisan Senate Intelligence Committee.”

If you ask me, you should probably spend some time actually reading up on this matter before posting a comment. The ‘wingnut’ who sent Wilson should be fired for incompetence? Why, because Wilson found out that the Iraq/Niger uranium story was a fraud, an analysis that was confirmed later? Seems to me the ‘wingnut’ picked a good person for the mission — Wilson provided accurate intelligence.

And as to Valerie Plame, she suggested her husband because he had once worked in Niger and had intimate knowledge of the culture, the country and the major players there. Should they instead have picked an incompetent boob without a clue, as Bush has in Iraq?

BTW, the Senate Intel Committee was hardly bipartisan; that finding was made by the Republican majority of the SIC, headed by Bush lapdog Sen. Pat Roberts.

“Fitzgerald prosecuted for the same reason Starr did, because he spent a lot of money on a high profile case, and at the end of the day, had he not indicted someone, anyone (why not Rove who had discrepancies in his account vs other witnesses?) then he would have been accused of covering up or worse, wasting taxpayer money.”

You must lead an interesting life if you don’t know the difference between a blowjob that didn’t affect national security and exposing a covert CIA asset who worked in the area of nuclear nonproliferation, a pretty important field in this age. Not only did Rove, Novak, etc. ruin Plame’s career, they also destroyed her overseas networks of contacts and the effectiveness of Brewster Jennings, her CIA front company. That used to be known as treason before the Little King was installed in office by the Supreme Court.

The Bush Republicans are lucky Fitzgerald went so easy on them.

Dan,

In our US, the CIA and FBI are tools of policy, wielded by the head policy-maker, nominally, the president.

Blaming the FBI for failures leads right to the top, the top policy maker, the deciderer.

About your first comment about the “penetration” of Al Queda in the health profession.

Nearly every intelligent person on the planet sees what is happening with the US in the ME and are properly disgusted with the Cheney administration. In any such a group, a few, the 5%s, if you will, will act.

It is not the “penetration” you should worry about. It should be that more and more people question the US policy in the ME, which will tend to include more and more people willing to act.

The US has their own set of terrorists, KKK, drunk red-necks as well as clinic bombers and killers. That fact is the US does not properly label them as terrorists so as to not defame the global US persona that we do not engage in violence, domestically or otherwise. When those become disgusted with the Cheney administration, then you will see fireworks.

BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO ATTACK IN US read the President’s PDB. And he and his crack crew of ever vigilant tough guys did what? Did they immediately spring into action and call the heads of their 14 intelligence agencies together, and demand the implementation of a preventative course of action, worthy of agencies with a combined budget of $40 Bn. and so many black tinted windowed SUVs they have lost track? Well, not exactly. According to the 9/11 Report not a single thing to inconvenience the hijackers in any way was done, by anyone! The current administration who the FBI and CIA answer to, by their dereliction of duty, allowed the hijackers to get away with murder on that day, and they have been getting away with it every day since.

Brooks may wear loafers instead of Bill Safire’s hardened wingtips or Rove’s hobnailed boots, but he kicks the Constitution and the truth just as hard. He is the designated apologist for the Right, the nerdy-suave “intellectual” who assures them that the noises they hear are all hysteria.

The idea that his positions are principled may be true, but as a committed disciple of Karl, that doesn’t tell us much about what those principles are. Clearly, they start with an unprincipled support for the power behind the Bush administration, no matter what other principles he has to bend or break.

To: IntelVet
Agreed. Do the activities described in the slide show at: http://www.freedomfchs.com/unwarranted_surveillance.pdf look like state sponsored terrorims to you?

Oooh how we coo, lefty or righty we hate each others stance…The Righties detested Clinton and did all they could to bring him down while the lefties have done all they could to turn Bush into the turd he is, though I believe he has helped the situation immensly.

Now lets straighten up and give the next one a better chance to lead us all or I fear our strong words will escalate to a much higher extent. Which will put us all at each others throats literally.

BTW the Plame leak snafu was the worst example of political bickering this country has ever seen and Scooter should have done the time.

Dan,
It is surprising to me you show up here and display your ignorance of the facts and evidence now available. It DOES show that you have not read….in any depth…and with obvious bias….what the available facts and information show.

You conveniently forget the NEO-CON agenda — well in place….long before Bush and the Supreme Court stole the presidency in 2000. You obviously have not read The Project for a New American Century, for example, calling for “a new Perle…uh….Pearl Harbor.” The attacks on 9/11 were that new Pearl Harbor. Do you really….REALLY believe that Bush and Cheney — completely apart from any CIA role — were ON THE JOB and alert to …and/or concerned about protecting us from…any terrorist plot planned for 9/11? If you believe that, then you haven’t heard about, or read, any Richard Clarke….and you ought to. They “couldn’t IMAGINE” such a thing might happen! Yeah, right! Is it possible….possible…..THEY deliberately ….did not WANT to know??? ( Bush wanted to be a “war president”…look what it has done for him and Cheney and their…ever richer families…you know.)

Now then, wrt the lead up to the War on Iraq — planned in the 1990s or before by the Neo-cons….the fact is the CIA DID try — forget Tenet’s sychophantic role as enabler — many, many times to present the facts.

You seem to be ignorant of DOUGLAS FEITH and his OFFICE OF SPECIAL PLANS, created to SUPPLANT the CIA evidence with ITS OWN FABRICATED (so-called) FACTS. You don’t know about Chalabi….Curveball, etc?

You really OUGHT TO find out about all this because they are DOING IT AGAIN….in the lead up to their WAR ON IRAN….as you’ll soon see.

And, you don’t KNOW ABOUT the WHIG??? The White House Iraq Group??? Excerpt:

“On September 12, President Bush spoke before the United Nations General Assembly, saying ‘Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon.’

This propaganda campaign – highlighting “aluminum tubes” which were allegedly “only suited for nuclear weapons programs” – was orchestrated by THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP, which had been created in August 2002 to “market” the (bogus) nuke threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

WHIG was founded by Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, and operated out of THE VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE.

WHIG was not only responsible for selling the Iraq war – using the ’slam dunk’ National Intelligence Estimate that George Tenet had hurriedly produced for Congress –

but took great pains to discredit anyone who attempted to debunk that NIE….”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060906_joe_conason_cia_leak/

You may also want to read this by a leading physicist:

http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=11250

Armitage: Cheney Cabal Scapegoat
by Gordon Prather

I think, Dan, you have simply wandered into the wrong place here.

You obviously don’t have a clue as to what you are talking about.

It’s embarrassing, really.

WARNING FROM LARRY JOHNSON: Folks, it is clear that Dan is not a serious nor intelligent individual. I suggest ignoring the clown. He’s just seeking attention. Instead of responding to the various facts several of you have proffered, he just shifts topics. The man is a loon.

DAN’S POST:
Yeah… I get the feeling I’ve entered the mental ward at Bellevue Hospital, especially when people start linking Joe Conasen articles for me to read. Let me understand you correctly, all I have to do is buy into the fact that Bush and Cheney are evil incarnate and they planned the whole 9/11 ooperation or allowed it to happen, so they could make a lot of money for their friends in the military industrial complex and take away our freedoms. Is that it? Look I hope all of you enjoy the padded rooms in which you play in. The CIA was operating on all cylinders, protecting our country from all external enemies, but apparently not from al-queda as they went about and successfully bombed our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the towers in Saudi, and the USS Cole etc. Maybe Bush did these things before he became president…

Thanks RS Janes for your great Dan debunking. I didn’t know where to start. There was so much BS packed into each sentence.

It’s as if Dan is blaming the CIA for the outing of its own agent.

But the outing of Plame never would’ve become a story if she hadn’t been outed. It became a story because the White House orchestrated a political hit job on Plame and Wilson, who had voted for Bush by the way, after he wrote an oped titled “What I didn’t find in Niger,” NYT, July 6, 2003. Plame wasn’t exposed because her husband went to Niger and filed a report, one of several reports saying that it was unlikely Niger sold uranium to Iraq. Plame was exposed because of the oped her husband wrote over a year later, which accused the Bush administration of exaggerating its case for war. Wilson’s oped has since been proven right.

Plame didn’t have the authority to send her husband on the Niger trip.

From 1976 to 1988, Wilson was served the US Foreign Service with postings in five [count them 5] different African nations. He had the experience to go to Niger, and that’s why the CIA [the CIA not Plame] selected him for the Niger trip.

I hardly know where to begin with this sentence, which makes utterly no sense:

“Fitzgerald prosecuted for the same reason Starr did, because he spent a lot of money on a high profile case, and at the end of the day, had he not indicted someone, anyone (why not Rove who had discrepancies in his account vs other witnesses?) then he would have been accused of covering up or worse, wasting taxpayer money.”

Fitzgerald did indict Libby on five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in a case involving national security, and a grand jury convicted him. An appeals court upheld Libby’s sentence.

That’s a little more serious than a tax-payer funded partisan witchhunt against a President for allegedly lying about a blowjob. By the way, Clinton was acquitted.

By the way, Dan, if you want to quote the facts in the Libby trial, you should read the trial documents. The entire case is laid out for you:

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/

There’s not a gay bone in my body, but I swear, I want to marry you and have your children, Larry Johnson. We need a lot more folks like you who are willing to give it right back to these neo-con fools and water-carriers.

oh… and I can’t believe Bobo’s mailbox looks like shit. Jesus christ. I would think such a nice neighborhood would have an HOA? I don’t even want to think of what his bathroom or kitchen might look like.

Then again maybe using a drill and screwdriver, like rational thought, is beyond Bobo’s abilities…

regarding Valerie Plame… there is not a right-winger yet who can answer me this question:

If she was not a covert agent… why were Cheney and Scooter so interested in reveal ing her identity? Why was that considered ‘payback’ if ‘everyone knew’ she worked for the CIA?

That reminds me….I need to go to Amazon.com and pre-order Valerie’s book, Fair Game.

I can hardly wait to read it.

You can lead a horse to the stream…Dan is not really interested in being educated on issues of facts!

Abiodun,
You’re right. Speaking for myself, knocking the Dans of the world down is hardball practice. It’s not about educating Dan.

Here’s a shocking article about how the Bush Administration ENDORSED a 33-month prison sentence for a 24-year Marine veteran for the exact same crime as Scooter. See what happens when you’re not “connected?”

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/07/04/bush-filed-to-uphold-victor-rita-sentence/

I get the impression that Brooks’ brain is held together with duct tape, too. As someone said to Hitler, “Did someone defecate in your skull and forget to flush?”

Two observations:
Dan,
With all the politeness in the world, and with sincere wishes for your self-image I proffer you this solid piece of advice: Know when to stop.
You’re in over your head, and the more you pen your thoughts, the more you reveal that you really haven’t a clue, and the more likely you will be marginalized.

Larry,
Of all the things that could improve with the CIA, one would be the depolitization of it’s senior hierarchy. I’m not sure how such a corrective action should occur, but it seems that after the past seven years it is evident that the CIA is susceptible to pressure from a disreputable executive to “produce” or “massage” intelligence to fit the desired situation.
And as we have seen, the results of such “open-ended” relationship is disastrous.

btw, that is one sad looking mailbox…but it is a reflection on the owner.

Oh God, duct tape [laughing], Badge of the Incompetent Handyman. And at that a stunningly shitty job of it.

Thanks for the pic, Larry, what a perfect metaphor of the sloppy ineptitude that characterizes bobo’s thinking and writing.

I love how his NYT column said Bush had done “Exactly right”, but on the NewHour he said “Essentially right”.

“Putz” doesn’t half-cover it.

See, Brooks is trying to prove that he’s a man of the people, not an effete snob. Real blue-collar guys always do their carpentry with duct tape, see?

“it is what these acts say about the level of penetration of these terror groups in highly regarded professions like medicine.”

I hope this is a joke. From here, this looks like a couple disgruntled doctors guessing at how to be terrorists.

I rather suspect actual ‘networks’ exist to enable the doing of more damage with their limited resources.

I mean, really, propane cannisters and gasoline?

Clearly, Mrs Bobo doesn’t trust hubby with a hammer, nail or screwdriver.

And I’ll say it since no one else has: a PINK mailbox, Mr Bobo? What’s up with that?

Since the November 2006, the trolls just keep getting dumber and dumber.

Douchebag Dan is a prime example.

I, for one, like the mailbox.

On balance Brooks has more skill as a handyman than as a political analyst.

He should be doing “local color” pieces.

Whenever I see David Brooks, I think back to the streetsweeper in the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Remember him? The little guy in the white suit with trashcan and shovel, cleaning up after the elephants on the parade route?

There is no better apologist cleaning up after this criminal administration than Brooks…he is the ultimate suck-up, trading his conscience for a plum writing job and a few minutes every week on PBS.

anyone who outs an agent of any agency that protects this country deserves the worst sort of punishment that i could think of,while serving on pbr`s in 67 our boat capt. was interrogating a suspected v.c. while others watched,after refusing to talk,he blew his brains out,the rest talk,we got good info,so covert means covert,no fucking around.

It’s inappropriate —at best— to publish that photograph, Larry.

In fact, if I were Brooks, I’d take it as a threat.

Given your history as an Internet goon, Larry, don’t be surprised if Brooks applies for a restraining order. It’s one thing to disagree about policy, but going to that person’s house is getting personal. Putz.

That mailbox picture is great. David Brooks considers himself a man of the people - just plain folks, and that mailbox is living proof. How could he be anything else but a plugger with an old crappy mailbox like that?

Larry,

Keep up the great work, and give BoBo the finger for me next time you see him on your street. Mr. Brooks and his ilk are responsible for the catastrophe we all face in this country today.

and Dan, STFU, it’s embarrassing.

Mr. Johnson:

I have to disagree with your assessment that Mr. Brooks is intellectually dishonest in his piece.

Au contraire, it seems to me that he seems to find his own writing the very height of intellectual discernment, and if one was in possession of his intellect, that might well be true. After all, this is the administration which has given us the virtual limbo bar of intellectual discourse.

However, where I disagree with you most, Mr. Johnson, and I think you need to rethink you premise here, is that this was an intellectual excercise for Mr. Brooks at all.

It seems clear that Mr. Brooks has precious few fact of the case with which to work, and cherry picks the ones he does have. Which would explain his support for Iraq policy.

In any event, sorry to hear about the downfall of your neighborhood. It seems that Mr. Brooks is lacking in common courtesy as well as common intellect.

Such a waste of good column space.

“In fact, if I were Brooks, I’d take it as a threat.”

Like the threats and the insults and the night after night of abuse and lies and downright disgraceful behaviour you’ve exhibited over the years, Toby? Would you like reminding of some of the things you threatened to the posters at Eschaton, say? Compared to your behaviour in the past, someone taking a photograph of their own neighbourhood is hardly a “threat”… but then, to the violent all things are violent I guess

What is so glaringly obvious in the apologias offered by not only Brooks but trolls like Dan is this assumption that the administration had no choice but to out Valerie Plame to discredit Joe Wilson. Only a very dim bulb would assume that just because Valerie Plame suggested her husband for the Niger investigation - due to his contacts in and familiarity with the country - that this in any way rebutted his findings. The way to have shown that Joe Wilson was wrong would have been to show evidence that he was wrong. Instead, we got this cutesy little “you can’t believe him because he’s a girly-man whose wife sent him on an errand” bullshit. Word, mouth-breathers: when you want to prove someone wrong, you collect facts to show that what they’ve concluded is, in fact, wrong. You don’t instead reply that his mother wears army boots. This is what is known as “changing the subject” because you can’t refute what your opponent has said on the topic at hand, and rational, reasonable people see it for what it is. Which explains why Brooks and Dan here don’t get it. Because in wingnut world, whenever you’re wrong on the facts, you simply hurl personal insults and then proclaim that you’ve “won” and the weak-minded, for whom talking tough = being right, will all fall in line.

What pathetic little men they are, these Brooks and Dan types.

Larry….

1)…You may want to think of relocating to another neighborhood….from the disrepair and shabby fix on Bobo’s mailbox, your property values are under assualt from uppity, move on up white-trash;

2)…I suspect that “Dan” is the pseudonym of David Brooks.

How does photographing a mailbox without an address on an unnamed street, in an unnamed neighborhood of an unnamed city rise to the level of a threat?

Charles Bird writes: “Larry, don’t be surprised if Brooks applies for a restraining order. It’s one thing to disagree about policy, but going to that person’s house is getting personal.”
-

LOL. When did David Brooks get promoted to writing policy for the Bush administration?

Yes, isn’t it just terrible that Larry would deliver a letter to his neighbor and photograph his mailbox. Quick, let’s call out the National Guard…oh, they’re in Iraq.

Brooks got a lot of mileage a while back with a book he wrote making generalizations about people based on silly things like the cheese they ate and the coffee they drank, people he called Bourgeois Bohemians, or Bobos. I wonder what insight he could derive about Pundit Quislings, or Puquo’s, from the way they attach their mailboxes.

Labeling something as “evil incarnate” is how the Worst President Ever got us into this mess. If bush & Cheney are not evil incarnate, they are certainly incompetence incarnate. Remember the Onion headline of 2000: “Our long national nightmare of Peace & Prosperity is over”. Maybe if we could teach people like Danno to think rather than regurgiate, bush’s approval ratings would fall well below the current 26%.

Egad! You were waaaay too easy on Bobo during your first go-round, Larry. Frankly, I’d consider civil action given what the Tom -Ridge-style mailbox repair job must be doing to property values…

Hey Larry- You have been very good at making me blow my tequila out of my nose, you’d think by now I’d have learned not to take a shot until AFTER reading your post, but, sometimes duty calls. The one thing in regards to his mailbox that comes to mind is a line from “Cheers” when Woody shakes hands with Cliff Claven and then says-
“Gee, Mr. Claven, your hands are soft, just like a womans!”
He didn’t want to hurt his precious wittle hands doing some real man-work; Then, he might have to stroke his “EGO” with his off hand, and we all know how difficult that can be. Wink Wink Nod Nod!!!
Semper Fi Brother, and Hang Tough, Tap–USMC 86-91

FROM LARRY C JOHNSON:

Danny boy, you demonstrate your ignorance and stupidity. If you want to know what I said about Osama I suggest you read the November 7, 2000 op-ed I co-authored with Milt Bearden. You’re just blowing smoke out of your ass and don’t know what your are writing about. Unloosen the belt from around your neck. More blood flow to your simple brain might help you think more clearly and actually help you achieve some independent thought. For now, you’re an idiot.

…….
To Larry Johnson:

You’re the idiot. I read your op ed piece.

Let’s see, in 2000 you wrote that AFTER the 1993 WTC bombing and AFTER the embassy bombings, that al Qaeda was a threat.

Wow, what a blinding flash of the obvious. After almost ten years of bombings, many videos by bin Laden declaring war on the West and threatening the US, numerous web page posts by Jihadists, years of al Jazeera propaganda, you come to the conclusion that al Qaeda is a threat, write a single op ed piece, and think that you can dine off of that one inane piece of work for the rest of your life.

In your case, not only have the horses left the barn, they’ve set up house in a field, had a family and are thinking about retiring to Florida.

Your op ed piece was one of the hundreds or thousands of disparate pieces of intelligence that indicate a growing threat by Jihadists. It was hardly new or timely.

BTW, I noticed that your op ed didn’t mention anything about the rather large 9/11 operation al Qaeda was planning. If the CIA had been doing its job, or if you had been truly prescient, don’t you think you might have mentioned that one little fact?

Brooks probably has his illegal immigrant housekeeper go out to the street to pick up his mail.

As far as Libby’s 30-month prison sentence, I still feel that this was too light of a sentence.

Especially since the Bush administration is still hiding the full extent of the damage done by their outing the covert CIA identity of Valerie Plame Wilson. How many other CIA agents may have died due to her outing (her CIA associates at Brewster Jennings), as well as how many of these CIA agents’ contacts overseas may have been “disappeared” following the publication of Valerie Plame Wilson’s name and CIA affiliation?

When Bush pardons Libby, it will be interesting to see how the pardon reads. Will he just pardon Libby for his lying and obstructing justice, or will Bush issue a pardon that even covers the “underlying crime,” thus protecting Libby (and all his fellow criminsls in the White House) from any future (under a Democratic president) prosecution of these traitorous Bush administration bastards responsible for outing a covert CIA agent, destoying an overseas CIA network and endangering our national security in the process?

Getting a progressive Democrat in the White House, as well as more progressive Democrats in Congress to expand Democratic control there, is essential to getting to the truth.

Karl Rove, and his shadow government of corupt GOP operatives, will do everything they can to steal the elections in November 2008. Count on it.

Larry,

Did you notice Brooks scribling frantically while Mark Shields was skewering him? I don’t know what he was writing because he went all limp noodle in rejoinder.

That’s why Brooks makes the big bucks????

Geez, Charles, do you really expect Mr. Johnson to not go out of his own house? I realize that you conservatives believe that only those with conservative credentials should have any freedom while the rest of the world can just STFU and stay home. This being America and not the fevered conservative dream home that you envision, life just doesn’t work that way. Too bad for you.

Carl Hardwick whines to Larry: “If the CIA had been doing its job, or if you had been truly prescient, don’t you think you might have mentioned that one little fact?”

I can’t think of anything crazier than to suggest that the CIA’s job would be to deliver intel to Larry.

No matter. The CIA did its job, and the information it gleaned was contained in the oft-cited NIE provocatively entitled “bin Laden determined to Strike in US” and duly delivered to the President.

This was ignored by Bush and his admin, which had decided that bin Laden wasn’t worth paying any attention to, according to Richard Clarke, and many, many many many many others.

Howe many would it take, Carl, before you finally pull your head out of your, uh, sand, and realize that the fault lies squarely with the President (on vacation for the entire frigging month in which the NIE was released and stayed there until a few days before the 9/11 strike?

Don’t bother to answer, Carl, because we all know that you couldn’t possibly admit that you put your faith in such a complete failure of a President. Why, that’d make you partially responsible for his failures wouldn’t it?

Jerk.

Like the trolls, I suspect that Bobo isn’t going to come to his senses anytime soon, especially since he’s paid so well to spin bullshit for his corporate masters at the Newshour.

Sadly, I also suspect that Bobo would be the type of person (i.e., enough of a dick) who would attempt to file a restraining order against you for posting an anonymous photo of his anonymous mailbox on the internet.

What if you, say, taped a small Iraqi flag on top of his mailbox? (post-Saddam, of course.)

Larry,

Per my previous post, I may have uncovered another reason why Libby’s sentence was commuted at this time, instead of his receiving a pardon for the crimes for which he was convicted and sentenced.

A Libby pardon for just these crimes would have served the same purpose as a commutation (his not having to serve any jail time), but a narrow pardon like this would not have insulated Libby (or any of his Bush/Cheney co-conspirators) from legal jeopardy for the still non-prosecuted “underlying crime.”

So, Bush and his crooked attorneys actually had three choices to choose from:

1) Commutation.
2) Narrow pardon.
3) Full, blanket pardon for any past criminal offenses, or potentially prosecutable “underlying crimes.”

Thus, the corrupt Bush attorneys put off a full, blanket pardon (or any pardon at all) until the appropriate (political) time…after the November 2008 elections.

(Note: Bush will pull a “pardon” stunt after the November 2008 elections similar to the one pulled several years ago by the GOP Kentucky governor, who pardoned everyone on his staff for any past criminal activity, in an attempt to hide his own criminal activity).

Carl: By that logic, Bush is even more at fault. And Reagan and Bush Sr. should feel like crap for arming Osama in the first place. How did they not know?

Johnson’s op-ed is important precisely because it wasn’t old news. By the time Clinton had enough info to strike Osama for the Cole, it was the middle-of, end-of the nation’s most contested election ever. To strike would have been acrimonious to many, and who would have imagined the incoming administration WOULDN’T act?

That lack of action from our current fearless leader, despite a deep bench of Cassandras growing hoarse, will haunt this nation for generations.

Mr. Johnson,
Has anyone tried to find out if Brooks and pundits of his ilk have something to be blackmailed over. It may not be them personally but a son or grandson etc. who had a brush with the law that was hushed up or some other socially unpopular event.

I’m being serious. When we can’t figure out why an intelligent person holds views that fly in the face of reason and the facts perhaps they are under pressure.

Look at Arlen Specter. He will rail about something Bush is doing as if he’s had enough and then turn around and vote with him. It doesn’t make sense unless he is protecting someone.

There are many such cases. Lindsay Graham may be gay and they have proof. Roberts of Kansas refused to investigate the manipulation of pre-Iraq war intel. Why didn’t Colin Powell blow the whistle on them. Or the cover-up Christy Whitman play into before Congress a few weeks ago.

Charles Bird: “Given your history as an Internet goon, Larry, don’t be surprised if Brooks applies for a restraining order. It’s one thing to disagree about policy, but going to that person’s house is getting personal. Putz.”

Man, I’d give anything to see the look on a Judge’s face: “Plaintiff alleges that defendant took a photograph of his mailbox, visible from the street.”

Charles, I so knew that creeps like you and Toby would be scuttling in here with the “stalker” claim, because what Larry has done is the closest you’ll ever come to equivalence of the many instances of address and phone number posting by right wing nuts, and you know who they are.

You got nothing. Absolutely nothing. Least of all, any defense of the stunningly ignorant bobo.

Jerk. Pardon me, Putz.

Lettuce: “That lack of action from our current fearless leader, despite a deep bench of Cassandras growing hoarse, will haunt this nation for generations.”

Damn you write purdy. Very, very well said, Lettuce.

Going to a neighbor’s house is somehow threatening, says one of the big names at RedState.org? Wow, so much for old-fashioned American values of small towns and personal interaction: far better to lob insults over a wire, I guess. If hacks like Brooks were able to get of their insulated bubbles and engage experts like Johnson who like it or not actually worked in the agencies concerned, he might learn something.

I could go so far so to call sharing that photo as clumsy perhaps, but it does give some insight into the mind of that great chronicler of American mores and values. For all his disdain of Bourgeios Bohemians, he’s in no danger of being seen as one.

If the management at the Times fears it will reflect badly on them if they canned a hack columnist, it looks far worse to let them perpetuate their ignorance, week in and week out. Brooks is predictably wrong, which makes it worse.

If he didn’t have a national megaphone, I would say ignore him, but his twaddle needs to tamped down at every opportunity.

For the CIA and FBI critics - years ago I worked at NSA, and can tell you this: you can submit reports based upon rock solid 100% prime intel, and it doesn’t matter a whit if the higher-ups reading it decide to disregard it ( they might have other motives than to use fact-based intel ), or they “tweak” it, or they just plain don’t like it because it doesn’t fit what they want.
This I know.

Brooks has repeatedly shown a lack of interest in truth and honesty, so it’s no surprise. But every time he and his ilk rises their snake ass heads, someone needs to quickly smack’m with the shovel of truth.
And Dan reflects the Republic Creed: “Let No Facts Interfere With My Talking Point”. I think we ought to place a sign on the Golden Gate Bridge “Diving Reserved For Left Wing Democrat Only” . . . the pile of trolls would no doubt reach the bottom of the bridge . . . followed by a further drop in available 23%ers . . .

Hey, lay off the duct tape jokes folks. Red Green’s fans aren’t partial to people who slime their sacred duct tape–”The handyman’s secret weapon.” And you definitely don’t want to get THEM angry at you. They make Al Qaeda look like a bunch of Campfire Girls.

i love pbs/c-span (tomlinson’s influence on pbs notwithstanding), but i gotta comment on the ‘funded in part by’ at the bottom of the link

adm, pacificlife, chevron, at&t

fine, progressive, forward-thinking companies all