PUBLIC MARKS from itsatrap

Writer Taibbi's new book 'The Great Derangement' goes on sale May 6 and he's put out a promotional video for it that roasts a corrupt White House and an acquiescent corporate media for eight years of greed, terror and blatant, murderous lies. His fellow citizens aren't exactly spared, either...

Exclusive Q&A with writer Taibbi. Snippet - "If and when I ever get to be Interior Minister, one of my first acts is going to be the putting to death of anyone who thinks God interferes in the outcome of things like sporting events and elections. I'd want to have a giant shark tank built expressly for this purpose. Just throw them in there and then dump a couple of barrels of cow blood in the water..."

So the Senate caved into Lieberman's wish to attack Iran at will with a bipartisan vote. Oh, I know, it's non-binding and not an actual declaration of war, and they amended some of the language. But you should know how these things go by now. This has given Bush the political justification, however flimsy, to execute 'Operation Bomb the Ragheads II: Git that Amadajad Feller.'

The Iraqi "government" has expelled Blackwater Security from its job to provide security services in Iraq - for now, anyway. And Rep. Waxman is promising hearings on Blackwater's activities in Iraq...

A music giant has left us. Josef Erich "Joe" Zawinul -- who established a new school of music with Miles Davis and led the seminal Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, et al. -- passed away Tuesday in his beloved Austria, appropriately in Vienna, the "city of musicians." He visited this planet for 75 short years and, had I my druthers, would have had 75 more productive seasons before his exit...

With a recent article, "The List: The World's Stupidest Fatwas," Foreign Policy, of all publications, manifests a lack of political correctness that's not only surprising, but borders on the giddy. In the process, it provides us with a glimpse into how difficult it is to convince Americans that Islam is not the black sheep of religions...

Imagine you're a State Department official charged with helping formulate our country's policy toward a new government in Africa. As you review the files, you note something odd. Their Constitution grants everyone over the age of 18 the right to vote in national elections - which is good - but it also establishes guidelines for how much those votes count...

Video: Democrats breathed a sigh of relief as Sen. Johnson (D-SD), who suffered bleeding on the brain in December of last year that nearly killed him, made his first public appearance today to mark another milestone in a long and remarkable road to recovery...

SS: ...Why do you believe that an artist's opinion on politics should matter? GP: I don't participate actively in expressing political views and always turn down the offer of appearing on bills for political causes. Surely, everybody's opinions on politics matter, apart from very stupid people, who should shut the f?!k up...

Giuliani is definitely the "Teflon Don" of the current presidential campaign, in that even as more and more evidence surfaces about how deeply right-wing his politics actually are, I still run across a baffling number of people who insist that they'd vote for him because of his socially liberal positions, or because he "cut taxes and stopped crime in NYC," or because he looked authoritative and in command on 9/11. Now, a lot of this is just pure mythos...

That's the question on everyone's lips since the porcine political player announced he would be stepping down at the end of August. Of course, the excuse that he wants to spend more time with his family is horse puckey and we all know it--so what's really going on? Is he trying to give Bush political cover if he gets ensnared in one of the many investigations that keep leading back to...

I'm a poet. Whether I'm a good one or a bad one is, I suppose, open to debate. But the fundamental fact of my life and career is that the business activities that define my professional existence these days are Plan C, at best. If the world worked the way I wish it did, I'd make my living writing, publishing and teaching poetry. (And ideally, I'd be earning a living wage.) I thought I was on this track back in the late 1980s, when...

Deliciously cynical ad from "Embrace Diversity '08."

Beyond his alleged steroid use, Barry Bonds is guilty of the use of something that confers extraordinarily unfair mechanical advantage: the "armor" that he wears on his right elbow. Amid the press frenzy over Bonds' unnatural bulk, the true role of...

Let's dissect Clinton's pronouncement: "And I don't believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons." The key words are "any" and "use." Senator Clinton seems to be declaring that, deterrence aside, she doesn't rule out preemptive use of nuclear weapons (presumably tactical, or low-yield). This policy was designed by the Pentagon with the blessings of the administration...

What an absolute disgrace this is. Not only did the Democrats almost completely cave in to the Bush junta on this most critical issue, they actually gave him more power. Unbelievable. How can any Democrat paint themselves as a logical alternative to the GOP when you have this kind of sycophancy going on? Aren't we past this knee-jerk "ZOMG THE TERRORISTS ARE COMING TO KILL US!!!11111″ nonsense yet, that we should so easily give up the rights for which we're supposedly fighting? What makes this even worse is...

In this week's poetry thread, I'd like to acknowledge pieces written by Americans of color, including African-Americans, Latinos, native peoples, etc., specifically (shorter) works capturing some aspect of life in America as perceived from the vantage point of a minority. Some of the many notable creators in this broad and rich genre are...

It's the Prince of Darkness himself, Bob Novak. How could that be, when Novak has been pimping Fred Thompson for weeks? Well, acquaint yourself with Novak's weird sense of humor. Loathe as I am to link to the Washington Times, it's in their "Fishwrap" (snicker) blog that he is quoted as follows...

The mother of all Blade Runner versions is upon us. Also, as reported at Moviehole, Ridley Scott is mulling a sequel to BR. I have only one request of Mr. Scott...

It's where we're headed anyway... dynasty leadership. Mecenday has the goods.

Er, the D.C. economy, at any rate. From his latest exclusive newsletter: "[F]ew Americans know that a very small number of Washington-connected families negotiate, appropriate and benefit from large expenditures of taxpayer money on a small number of companies through the earmarking process." Another interesting bit from his latest is his take on the dust-up between Sens. Clinton & Obama at the recent Dem YouTube debate...

The poor chairs of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have been fruitlessly serving subpoenas on various cretins in the Bush administration and the GOP, but all have come to naught. They've been wasting their time. All they need to do to get those tough questions answered is cough up $600 and sign up quickly for this little pajama party hosted by Bob Novak...

New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg says Sen. Barack Obama isn't eligible to be president due to his lack of experience, if this Politico report is to be believed. Incidentally, you may have heard that Bloomberg is also interested in running for president. Being old, rich, and Prince of the City, he's a natural choice over Obama, he might suggest. But the Constitution of the United States list these and only these requirements to be president...

So Bob Novak snidely suggests in his latest political report. Talking about upcoming US Senate races, Novak has this to say about Louisiana, which he feels is the GOP's "best pickup opportunity" in 2008...

Check out the cover of the latest issue of the Polish rag Wprost, which knocks German PM Angela Merkel with, well, her...