Author: jp

President Bush makes a statement from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005, about the Iraq constitution process and Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

In the wake of news that the latest draft of Iraq’s proposed constitution drastically curtails the rights of women, one can’t help but consider that this scene from last fall’s 2004 Republican National Convention seems remarkably prescient:

Because whether you’re a rapper or just part of the Republican base, bitches ain’t shit, it seems, but votes and gimmicks.

…because killing them, it turns out, would be, the Christian thing to do. And after the whole post-9/11 crackdown, we so, so, don’t want to be confused with murderous zealots.
Via Robertson Calls for Chavez Assassination, the Washington Post:

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming “a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”
[…]
“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,” Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network’s “The 700 Club.”

(AP Photos/J. Scott Applewhite)
Ok, all right, all right…fine, you caught us manipulating the context in which these photographs were taken. Yes, quite simply, it’s hot down there in Crawford, Texas. From the glare of all those lights and cameras!

A screen capture taken from last night’s edition of Fox News Live (August 2, 2005, 11:35pm)
Good God! A mere three years until the mullahs of Iran develop nuclear weaponry?
Meanwhile, from the rest of the news-reporting world, various accounts of this same news seemed to imply something entirely different. Not that Roger Ailes is fabricating news rather than spinning it as is customary, but, hey:
The following news, also reported yesterday, comes via “Iran Is Judged 10 Years From Nuclear Bomb; U.S. Intelligence Review Contrasts With Administration Statements“, the Washington Post, Tuesday, August 2, 2005:

A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with firsthand knowledge of the new analysis.
The carefully hedged assessments, which represent consensus among U.S. intelligence agencies, contrast with forceful public statements by the White House.

From Bush: Rove has ‘my compete confidence’ despite leak, Reuters, August 1, 2005:

“Karl’s got my complete confidence. He’s a valuable member of my team,” Bush said in his strongest defense yet of Rove, the architect of his presidential campaigns.

From Palmeiro Suspended for Steroid Violation, the Washington Post, August 1, 2005:

“Rafael Palmeiro is a friend. He testified in public and I believe him,” Bush said in an interview with the Knight Ridder news service. “He’s the kind of person that’s going to stand up in front of the klieg lights and say he didn’t use steroids, and I believe him. Still do.”

RELATED: We shot dead an innocent man, admit terror police, Daily Mail (UK), July 24, 2005
AND, OF COURSE: First Rule for a Mitchum Man? Don’t Read the Subway Rules, the New York Times, July 21, 2005

Hey, guess what? It’s getting closer and closer and closer and closer to the White House’s expected announcement of their nominee for the recently-vacated Supreme Court seat.
Whew! Just in time!
GOP Allies Say Bush Is Close to Court Pick; Choice May Be Announced This Week, the Washington Post, July 18, 2005