More oddities...

The response to Bush's speech. Joe Biden says all that need be said.

Did Admiral Fallon call General Petraeus a "chickenshit"? Right-wing bloggers dispute the quote. Example:

The original report of the comment, the scoop if you will, came in something called the “Inter Press Service News Agency,” or “IPS” as the organization bills itself. What? You’ve never heard of this IPS and find yourself curious about who and what it is? IPS describes itself this way on its website: “IPS, civil society's leading news agency, is an independent voice from the South and for development, delving into globalisation for the stories underneath. Another communication is possible.” I don’t know what any of that means either, but I figure I’d share it with you and put it our there for deconstruction.

The IPS site is here; the Wikipedia entry is here. Read, and come to your own conclusions. The outfit has been in business for quite some time now; they apparently broke the story of asbestos at the World Trade Center site. I've yet to come across any previous accusation of "false quotation syndrome."

Right now, I'm not sure what to think. Fallon has not disputed the accuracy of the oft-heard quote, and his rift with Petraeus appears to be real.

Bush, the Queen, and Satan. The invaluable Covert History blog has found another photo of Bush making the alleged "horns of Satan" sign. At first, I suspected Photoshop -- in this image, W appears to have but one knuckle between his index finger and pinky -- but the original was printed in the Telegraph, and you can see it here.

This is getting creepy. No, I do not believe that the world's leaders are covert acolytes of Old Scratch. But I cannot understand why Bush would risk setting off alarm bells in the Christian community.

Most of the time, public figures who make this symbol are attempting an American Sign Language semi-acronym for "I love you." That sign combines the letter formations for I, L, and Y. But to make the L, one must extend the thumb -- which Bush never does.

When Bush and his family make the "thumbs in" version of the sign, the reference supposedly goes to the Texas Longhorns. But what kind of fool would make such a puerile gesture while meeting the Queen of England?

Heard on the car radio: "Thousands of troops are coming home!" Those words came from a news reader, not an editorialist, after Bush gave his speech. Without context, the announcement misleads. What Bush proposes would leave troop numbers in Iraq above pre-"surge" levels -- next summer. In reality, he must draw down the troops because the commanders insist; our volunteer military has limits.

R&R could mean peace. Randi Rhodes argues that proposed legislation to give our boys a proper amount of R&R could offer a hidden path to peace.

How would this work? The entire deployment system depends on overworking our soldiers. Extended leave times would substantially reduce the numbers in Iraq. Since Republican pols won't want to be seen mistreating American fighting men, it is possible to get a veto-proof majority to back a law which might cripple Bush's war scenario.

More soon...

Lieberman: A poll indicates that he would lose to Lamont big time if the election were today. Here's Dave Sirota:

You may recall that in a post-election analysis I wrote for In These Times, I noted that Lieberman's entire general election strategy was about pretending that, if reelected, he would lead the fight to end the Iraq War. The man literally portrayed himself as the leader of the antiwar movement after he lost the primary. His very first ad in the general election was him looking to camera saying "I want to help end the war in Iraq." During debates he said "No one wants to end the war in Iraq more than I do."

Now, of course, he's the war's biggest fan.

Why is your newspaper's op-ed page so conservative? Media Matters has 'em dead to rights.

At one time, I toyed with the idea of becoming a political cartoonist. A little research revealed that a lefty has almost no chance of breaking into this field. Most newspaper owners lean right, and the few big city papers with liberal reputations often hire conservative cartoonists as a way of proving "balance." That's why the Los Angeles Times hired Michael Ramirez, a very capable artist whose reactionary politics infuriated most Angelenos. Of course, the LAT hasn't been a liberal paper in ages.