We’ll Stand Up When Rove Stands Down

Good riddance to the divisive and destructive Karl Rove. He’s no genius, but he is the most successful in a chain of Republican operatives without scruples. It’s a list that includes the excretory Roy Cohn and, more recently, the pitiless and pitiful Lee Atwater.

You want an example of Karl Rove being divisive? Here’s one. Listen to this statement by Rove.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/AUG07/Rove.mp3]

This is a complete mis-characterization. What the Democrats wanted was adherence to the FISA Act, which requires court approval of the surveillance.

Colbert vs. Branson: Cooler Heads Prevail

The Net is full of talk about a spat between mega-rich Richard Branson and mega-influential Stephen Colbert. If it’s true that a peeved Branson dumped his glass of water on Colbert during the recording of a segment of The Colbert Report, then Branson is a fool, because the only possible outcome is Branson will lose and Colbert will gain. It’s been reported that Colbert retaliated.

The latest word is that the scene will be shown, so we will all be able to see what really happened. You can, of course, count on me posting it here as soon as the video of the event is available.

Girl-God Raises the Yamato

An episode of the previously-blogged anime Kamichu took us rather by surprise. Girl-god Yurie’s spirit form travels to the bottom of the Pacific ocean to raise the spirit of the Japanese battleship Yamato, for an elderly man who left the crew before the ship’s sinking in 1945. I’ve spliced a few scenes together.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/JUL07/KamichuYamato.flv 425 240]

What surprised us was how the episode rejoices in the legend of the ship — the largest ever built — without political overtones or, for that matter, ever mentioning WWII. The PBS program NOVA has a good section about the Yamato on its Web site. The old man in the cartoon who rhapsodizes about sailing on the Yamato says he was born in 1920, so either he’s supposed to be well into his 80’s, or the show takes place some time ago.