Kasparov on Real Time

Former World Chess Champion and current candidate for president of Russia Garry Kasparov was Bill Maher's guest on HBO's Real Time, and told it like it is in Russia, the U.S and the Middle East.

If only there were more straight shooters in the political arena, we wouldn't be in the global mess we're in now. A riveting interview.

World War III

Yes, Bush has hit a new low with his latest press conference. He used the term "World War III". And he said it with a smile on his face.

BUSH: "But this -- we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

He said this while smiling and chuckling.

My bewilderment turned into outrage. What the hell is so funny about this? Why is this diluted bastard giggling like a schoolgirl? I was going to write about it but Bob Cesca beat me to the punch.

CESCA: They're marketing Iran with more psychotic voracity than Michelle Malkin attacking an injured baby...
Is it any wonder why we occasionally succumb to outrage fatigue: that deflated, windless sense of numbing futility we feel when confronted with the illogical and the absurd? We've only begun to dig into the upper strata of lawlessness this regime has perpetrated over the last seven years. And now, in this desperate dying twilight of their existence -- now that they're gravely unpopular and on their way out the door -- reckless and without anything to lose -- why shouldn't they do all the crazy shit they've talked about? Bomb Tehran? Yeah, that'll be awesome and hilarious. More war means more war powers. If you thought the administration's war powers were crazy huge, just imagine their World War powers. Score!

...Just like so many powerful men, he appears to be able to switch off his conscience (if one exists in the first place). It's the same switch that allows him to say "we don't torture," or to smirk and laugh while discussing Iraq casualties and World War III. "Everyone else" won't include him because he'll always be safe. He'll always have Crawford and the twins; his fake accent and his delusional view of history; his nicknames and his eh-eh-eh laugh.

The rest of us -- unless we can find a way to stop this Iran drumbeat -- won't be laughing so much.

What A Way To Go

Houston Chronicle:

Prosecutors have dropped charges that a Lake Jackson woman caused her husband's death by giving him a sherry enema, leading to alcohol poisoning.

...Michael Warner, a 58-year-old machine shop operator, died at the couple's Lake Jackson home on May 21, 2004. According to an autopsy report, Warner had been administered an enema with enough sherry to get a blood alcohol level of 0.47. That is almost six times the level that can lead to a driving while intoxicated charge.

At the time Tammy Jean Warner was indicted, Lake Jackson police detective Robert Turner said that Michael Warner was a longtime alcoholic who sometimes used enemas to get drunk because a medical condition made it painful for him to drink.

...In a 2005 interview, Warner said her husband often drank alcohol, but that he had been addicted to enemas since he was a child. She said he often used alcohol in that manner to get drunk.

This story gives a whole new meaning to "dead-ass drunk", doesn't it?