Political commentator and psycho dragon bitch from hell Ann Coulter has this to say:

One year before elections in Japan, the [New York] Times was predicting defeat for Koizumi, a loyal friend to President Bush and an implacable supporter of the war in Iraq.

Reporting on the unpopularity of the Iraq War in Japan, the Times said “polls indicate that the population is against an extension” of Japanese troops serving in Iraq and that the opposition vowed to withdraw troops. Indeed, “some members of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s own party have been calling for the troops’ withdrawal.”

And then in September 2005, Koizumi’s party won a landslide. The Times described this as mainly a victory for the prime minister’s idea to privatize the post office, explaining that Koizumi had won “by making postal privatization—an arcane issue little understood by most voters—a litmus test for reform,” thus confirming the age-old political truism, “Most elections hinge on arcane, obscure issues voters don’t know or care about.”

As congressional Republicans decide whether to take the Times’ advice and back away from the war this election year, they might reflect on a fourth world leader who won re-election while supporting the Iraq war. Just about four months before Bush was re-elected in 2004, the Times put this on its front page: “President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll found Americans stiffening their opposition to the Iraq war, worried that the invasion could invite domestic terrorist attacks.”

Maybe it was his support for the post office.

As much as I hate to agree with her, I don’t think the war drives most Japanese voters. In fact, I don’t think it drives most American voters (although it certainly means more to them). And the NYT… just doesn’t get it, basically.

Of course, you would probably hear the same basic opinion from Jon Stewart. He would just be funnier about it.

Go to hell you spamming bitch. I think you might be one of those “stealth Jews.”

(Picture by the “insatiable” Hokusai, whose works are now on display at Washington’s Sackler Gallery. I need to go there!)

When I saw the editorial titled Kabuki Congress, I knew what the next blog post would be.

The question is whether the Bush administration broke the law by allowing the National Security Agency to spy on Americans and others in the United States without obtaining the required warrant. The White House wants Americans to believe that the spying is restricted only to conversations between agents of Al Qaeda and people in the United States. But even if that were true, which it evidently is not, the administration has not offered the slightest evidence that it could not have efficiently monitored those Qaeda-related phone calls and e-mail messages while following the existing rules.

In other words, there is not a shred of proof that the illegal program produced information that could not have been obtained legally, had the administration wanted to bother to stay within the law.

...Putting on face paint and pretending that illusion is reality is fine for Kabuki theater. Congress should have higher standards.

I mean, it’s the usual NYT line, but you gotta love the kabuki.

While I’m on a US news binge, this has to be one of the most parody-worthy legal stories of the last year. Here’s the bland version:

Former Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith got her U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday, when her lawyer argued she should collect millions of dollars she claims her late Texas oil tycoon husband had promised her.

At one point during the hour-long arguments, the 38-year old blond widow, dressed in black and sitting in the spectator section, became emotional and started crying, a witness and her lawyer said…

The issue before the justices in the long-running legal battle is to review when federal courts can hear claims that are also involved in state probate hearings. The justices seemed receptive to arguments by Smith’s lawyer that federal courts have jurisdiction to consider her claims.

In Wonkette’s spicier alternate reality version (warning: link not recommended for young viewers or people with high blood pressure), she goes forward pro se:

On the conservative side, Justice Clarence Thomas — known for his inattentiveness during oral argument — was clearly riveted by Smith’s remarks. Sitting on the edge of his chair, he appeared to be engaged in vigorous note-taking underneath his robe.

But Smith reached out to the Court’s liberals as well. When she argued that she worked hard for every last cent of her late husband’s fortune, asking the justices, “Do you have any idea how hard it is to blow a guy in a wheelchair?”, Justice David Souter nodded sympathetically.

God bless America.

For today’s comic relief, a classic Fark post:

AWK! AWK!

This article in the Hindustan Times sheds some more light on the US strategy to balance China from its backside.

In early 1999, George W. Bush met with eight foreign policy advisors, collectively known as the Vulcans, in his ranch at Crawford, Texas. He was preparing for his White House bid. They were there to tell him about the world.

Well into the briefing, Bush interrupted: “Wait a minute. Why aren’t we talking about India?” The Vulcans — who included Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz — looked at each other. India didn’t matter, they explained.

Bush’s response: “You’re wrong.”

It’s a friendship that should have been made a long time ago… and shows that Bush deserves personal credit for at least some part of his international strategy. Who knows—this could be one of the best foreign policy legacies to come out of the Bush administration. Assuming there isn’t a nuclear war, of course…

Also check out The Economist’s take.

This report on how retardedly bad Washington traffic is reminds me of how hard it is to believe that Washington Post writers actually work or live in Washington:

Highway congestion has grown so severe that virtually all of the Washington region’s main commuter routes are chronically clogged and unable to move motorists efficiently, according to a regional study released yesterday.

Drivers on some highways designed for mile-a-minute travel are lucky to make five miles in an hour. Freeways that were manageable three years ago, such as the Dulles Toll Road, are now bumper-to-bumper at peak times. Congestion on some highways has doubled in three years, when the last study was released.

At the worst hour, between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. weekdays, a quarter of all freeway lanes in the Washington region are completely congested.

...

“It’s even worse than what we would have expected,” said John Townsend, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “This is a template to know where the problems are. For political leaders to have this report and do nothing is akin to doing nothing while Rome burns.”

That picture isn’t even as bad as it gets!

Admittedly, I haven’t been reading the Post every day for about 6 months, but considering the power the WaPo can have over some issues, with traffic this bad in the area they should be running exposes every day. It shouldn’t take an official report to get them to talk about this more often (though one editorial remains dear to my heart).

Let me give you an example: I-66 going into the city from Virginia (where I live) is only two lanes for most of the way. The new governor of Virginia supports expanding it, but as it is now the road is constantly facing volume slowdowns. I get backed up coming home at 10pm on a Wednesday. Even the Beltway, which is 4 lanes most of the way, is more or less constantly backed up. Mrs. Adamu can back me up on this.

Maybe they just never leave the office or take cabs with tinted windows from press conference to press conference, wondering why it takes so long to drive 4 blocks to the White House.

Meaningless charade

The moribund hearings have been as predictable as a Kabuki drama. Barring a major miscue, Alito’s inscrutability will carry him to the Supreme Court

As predictably as a Kabuki drama, the media is using the metaphor of a kabuki drama to describe boring politics.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Daniels/Eichwenwald Kabuki dance reflected a conscious effort to avoid invoking the homosexual angle in the story.

Newsbusters refuses to watch gay kabuki.