Skank

Ezra Klein offers a review of a taco joint in D.C.:

Speaking of Mexican assimilation, Brian’s right: If you live in the district, run, don’t walk, to Pollo Sabroso, the first decent taco joint I’ve found in DC. The market, it turns out, forces assimilation in all sorts of odd directions, and to my great relief, is pushing what was once a terrific Salvadorean chicken place (try the yucca fries) into “Mexican-style tacos.” This is welcome. Despite Mt. Pleasant’s concentration of Hispanics, it’s actually sorely lacking in tacos — the cuisine tends towards pupusas. The arrival of delicious warmed tortillas filled with your choice grilled meats (I recommend the tongue) is pretty clear evidence that our cultures can not only live in peace, but that they must. It’s hard, however, to ignore the fact that these tacos only came on the market as the immigration debate heated up, and so are probably some nefarious plot by the Aztlan movement to increase pro-immigrant sentiment among those living in the Capitol. The way to a man’s Congress is through his stomach, or something. (more…)

I can’t believe I’m quoting and linking to the rhymes with witch Ann Coulter:

‘No Drug Smuggler Left Behind!’
by Ann Coulter
President Bush was so buoyed by the warm reception he was given in Albania that he immediately gave all 3 million Albanians American citizenship, provided they learn Spanish. The offer was withdrawn when Bush found out most Albanians haven’t broken any U.S. laws. (more…)

Think Progress notes that when violence diminishes in Iraq that the administration claims progress and when violence increases the administration claims progress. The result is that black is white, up is down, and hot is cold.

During his press briefing yesterday, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the increasing chaos was a positive sign. The new levels of attacks “fit a pattern that we see throughout the region,” he said, “which is that when you see things moving towards success, or when you see signs of success, that there are acts of violence.”

Devilstower at DKos shares the following news out of Africa:

In the last decade, Rwanda suffered from horrible waves of genocidal violence, in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates died. The violence itself, and the heroism of some of those who put their own lives at risk to end it, has been the stuff of films. What happened in Rwanda this last week is unlikely to appear at the local cineplex, but it was just as important. Rwanda, where many of those responsible for genocide have yet to be brought to trial, this week voted to abolish the death penalty.

Survivors of the slaughter welcomed the decision, noting that the death penalty had existed in Rwandan law before the genocide.

“It didn’t deter people from picking up machetes to slaughter their fellows - that’s why we are not bothered by its removal,” said Theodore Simburudali, president of the Ibuka genocide survivors’ group.

If Rwanda, where people have every right to be sick with rage, can recognize that the death penalty is not a deterrent, there’s hope that we can learn from their example.

The death penalty not only does not deter crime it doesn’t provide the “closure” so often held up as a reason for this barbaric act.

In this post from Scott Horton’s No Comment blog we get an idea of what we may expect from that skilled diplomat, George W. Bush at the upcoming G8 summit:

On May 24, 2002, Bush had a summit with Vladimir Putin that included a televised meeting in the gilded Andreyevsky Hall in the Kremlin. Bush strode into the hall chewing bubble gum, and then after being seated at the table for a signing ceremony, proceeded to pull the gum from his mouth and stick it on the table. I watched this live on Russian TV as it happened and it was the talk of the papers in Europe for a week. But the entire episode was edited out of coverage supplied for viewers in the United States.

Every time W opens his mouth I am mortified. Where is the sock and the superglue when we need it?

Back on April 9 I was criticized for this post by Col. Steve Boylan (undoubtedly a pseudonym). According to the illustrious pseudo- Boylan I wasn’t properly understanding the significance of a peaceful parade in Iraq.  I disagreed and offered a wager to the pseudo-colonel:

Tell you what, how about a wager? I’ll donate one hundred dollars to any charity you name that helps U.S. Iraqi veterans acquire prostheses for lost limbs if in six months peace breaks out in Iraq and we see Sunnis and Shi’a marching together and passing … out flowers. If this rally is not found to be a turning point in the war, you promise to come back to my blog and say you were mistaken.

May was the deadliest month of the year so far for our troops in Iraq. The trend is not good. Looks like I will be able to expect pseudo-Boylan to come back in order to admit how full of dung he is.

In the New York Sun Rudy G. offers this incredibly stupid critique of Hillary Clinton:

In a potential preview of next fall’s presidential contest, Mr. Giuliani, who is seen as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, directly attacked the leading Democratic candidate, Mrs. Clinton, over a speech she gave Tuesday in New Hampshire bemoaning the return of “robber barons” and promising to pursue “shared prosperity” by increasing taxes on Americans making more than $200,000 a year.

“This would be an astounding, staggering tax increase,” Mr. Giuliani told reporters yesterday after a visit to a restaurant on the edge of California’s Silicon Valley. “She wants to go back to the 1990s. … It would hurt our economy. It would hurt this area dramatically.” (more…)