You may have noticed that the blog has been pretty much silent since around September 11. This is because we were paying our respects to the memories of those who lost their lives on that tragic day, and also to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice fighting the terrorists Over There. Also, we all graduated from college and got jobs. Buy anyway now we’ve done that and we’re back and we’re excited about getting this thing going again.

Also, a housekeeping note: Culture Warrior has relocated its world headquarters from The Seat of Democracy, Moshington, DC to the Bushwick area of Brooklyn, NY and we have to say that being the poster children for gentrification isn’t nearly as bad as it seems when someone else is doing it. The amount of space you get for your money really is unparalleled. There isn’t really anywhere to hang out, but real estate is so cheap out here we figure we’ll open a coffee shop and a bar.

Anywho, this is really just a check in to say we’re thinking about you. We also wanted to mention we noticed that our traffic spiked on 911 and we’re sorry we didn’t have any refreshingly irreverent content for you. It’s not that we were too lazy, honestly. It’s just that it seemed so… *yawn*. We tried to find a scribble we made on the last 911 and post it because that would have been a pretty pomo way to handle the day but we couldn’t find it. Oh well. There’s always next year.

See you Monday.

Drool Fest 2007! Ten military bloggers got a special briefing from the President after his prime-time speech Iraq last week.

In this meeting, Ward Carroll of Military.com said the president seemed more comfortable with his message than on TV. We’re led to believe Bush’s becomes articulate when surrounded by hand-picked pro-Bush and pro-war supporters probably because he can say “Scrabble-ma-jangles” without judgment.

Carrol described the President’s performance in front of the blogger round-table:

“No deer-in-the-headlights stuff here. Truly unwavering and passionate.”

Apparently, the standard for unwavering presidential passion has been boiled down to looking less like a fawn frozen before its slaughter than one usual does.

Facts on the ground notwithstanding, he believes the United States can win the Iraq War. And to be honest, being around him made me believe it at that moment too.”

I would hate for facts to withstand the thrall of the President’s most recent victory pep rally among the loyal.

Source: President Reaches Out to a Friendly Circle in New Media [WaPo]

No words. Just watch.

Via Stereogum:

“He’s in a wide stance with his Hammer pants down.”

Honestly, give the Daily Show a fucking Grammy.

Like you, we thought that Britney’s “Gimme More” was going to signal a New Era, a Britney Rebirth, etc., but by now you’ve likely seen her bewigged performance [if one could call it that] at the VMA’s and are, well, sorely disappointed. Devastated, even!

Well, not as devastated as this lad. Please be prepared for the most epic tirade you have ever seen.

Featured Song: “Gimme More” by Britney Spears

Source:
Emotional Fan Defends Britney Spears Gawker

To think he’s a moron is to misunderstand his genius.

Following up our earlier post on Fred Thompson’s new, improved and announced presidential bid, we have a couple of items from today’s papers about how our man Fred is doing. Summing up: for a guy who waited until all his hype was gone to get staff together, than fire most of that staff, then ceded the opportunity to frame his candidacy to his opponents he’s doing just perfectly fine and is in no way worried about the fact that one of his major donors is a criminal and also Hollywood has no interest in his candidacy at all.

On the former point, Fred accepted almost $14,000 from a family who ran a drug company as it was defrauding medicaid out of millions of dollars. Politico reports:

The company, King Pharmaceuticals, paid $124 million in 2005 to settle with the Justice Department and 49 states, which had alleged the company overcharged Medicaid and other government health programs for drugs from 1994 through 2002.

He and his entire family have donated the max to Fredo’s bid. Of course, Fred’s not about to give the money back, either because, you know, he doesn’t have that much to begin with.

Secondly, we have to admire the time Fred spent out Hollywood nurturing the relationships that will surely fuel his big to the White Hou - oh, wait. Yeah, sorry, we got that totally wrong. The LA Times reports:

The place that made the former Tennessee senator rich as an actor cannot be counted on to pour cash into his presidential run, especially if he’s going around bashing gay marriage and Roe vs. Wade. The minute he comes out strong against embryonic stem cell research — a fervent Hollywood cause — he’ll be banished from every cocktail party north of Sunset Boulevard.

“You’re asking me if people here will support Fred Thompson?” said Donna Bojarsky, a longtime industry political consultant. “How do I put it? No. No. And no.”

It seems odd that the industry in which Fred has worked for the past 10 years would give him the cold shoulder. Do you suppose that means that maybe Fred had no previous plans to run for president? Do you think maybe that means he’s totally winging it? Surely not.

Featured Song: “Hollywood Ending” by Sleater-Kinney


Download MP3

Sources:
Fred donors’ firm tied to Medicaid scandal Politico
One industry won’t back Fred Thompson Los Angeles Times
King Pharmaceuticals

“OK” is French for “okay.”

It’s been a busy couple of months for the straight-talking, hard-nosed, pint-sized French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. He hasn’t missed a beat (much to many a Frenchman’s dismay) in laying out some of his new policies. Lately he’s been taking a little criticism from the media for some slightly off-color remarks in a speech given in late July in Senegal:

“The tragedy of Africa is that the African has not fully entered into history … They have never really launched themselves into the future.”

Yikes, Sarko, yikes. Maybe you could have recovered if you had just stopped, but you didn’t:

“The African peasant only knew the eternal renewal of time, marked by the endless repetition of the same gestures and the same words,” he said. “In this realm of fancy … there is neither room for human endeavor nor the idea of progress.”

Sarkozy’s also trying to beef up the waning French economy. A report commissioned by the president stated that they will, in fact, finally begin trying to participate in a globalized economy. There’s talk of strengthening ties with Germany and more strict EU observation on trade deals and blah blah blah – all I know is that, if you’re ever hungry in France, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything other than a cold cheese sandwich or a dinky Nutella crepe under 8 euros, which is just ridiculous.

But it looks like the most ambitious, idealistic bit of Sarkozy’s vision will be a long time in coming. We wish you luck, cher monsieur.

Featured Song: “Louxor J’adore” by Katerine

Download: “Louxor J’adore” by Katerine

Sources:
Africans still seething over Sarkozy speech Reuters
France maps path through globalisation MSNBC
French looking to shake ‘arrogant’ tag Washington Times

Peek-a-boo.

In an effort to shut down the gay rumors, Larry Craig’s children have come out blasting the press for reporting the news about their dad trolling public restrooms. The Republican senator from Idaho apparently sat down with his kids to talk about the birds and the bees, specifically that he doesn’t like other boys’ stingers. Being the good kids that they are, they stand by their dad:

“We’ve known him our whole life. He has been so trustworthy to us, so honest to us, that we believe him,” Michael Craig said.

I mean, if anyone could possibly testify that Craig is a poonanny fan, it’d be the kids resulting from Craig sexing up his lady love. Right?

Well…

Larry Craig adopted Michael and his two siblings after marrying their mother, the former Suzanne Scott, in 1983.

Seriously, though. Their dad totally likes vag.

Featured Song: “Meet Me In The Bathroom” by The Strokes

Source:
Craig’s children believe his assertions that he isn’t gay Associated Press via Houston Chronicle

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