Reporting for Duty

It can't be "Wingnut Marching Season" if some of them don't take off their clothes. Apparently dropping trou has some deep significance for the wingnut psyche. Power Line has the details:

A year or two ago, there was a rash (so to speak) of nude anti-war protests. We covered them pretty thoroughly, for obvious reasons. Lately such events seem to have died out. But reader Rick Vatsaas points out that there was a nude Act Up protest in New York on Thursday; the objects of the protest were AIDS and the national debt--am I the only one who finds that an odd combination? Indymedia has photos from the scene, but I can't recommend them on aesthetic grounds.

The Indymedia comments are about what you'd expect, except for this unexpectedly germane quote, which I don't remember from the movie:

"Naked, angry, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

-Dean Wormer, Animal House

Ah yes, Indymedia, one of the favorite charities of the Tides Foundation, Teresa Kerry's money laundry.

While you're visiting Power Line check out someone else who has already reported for duty - "historian" Douglas Brinkley, although he has been AWOL lately.

It is apparent from the story [in the Washington Post] that Brinkley has become a hack in the service of a candidate of the highest office in the land. The story is largely a wasted opportunity to elicit clarifications of ambiguities and contradicitions.

However, the story is revealing despite itself in ways not fully intended. A few items in the story leap out and shed their own kind of light on recent controversies. Gerhart writes:

The Kerry campaign has refused to release Kerry's personal Vietnam archive, including his journals and letters, saying that the senator is contractually bound to grant Brinkley exclusive access to the material. But Brinkley said this week the papers are the property of the senator and in his full control.

"I don't mind if John Kerry shows anybody anything," he said. "If he wants to let anybody in, that's his business. Go bug John Kerry, and leave me alone." The exclusivity agreement, he said, simply requires "that anybody quoting any of the material needs to cite my book."

Will the Post now follow up and demand a full view of Kerry's military records? Just asking.

Bwahaha! C'mon Lurch, sign the 180 so the little folks can see your records. What do you have to hide?

UPDATE: Tim Graham at The Corner:

The Washington Post's Ann Gerhart takes a very sympathetic look at very sympathetic Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley today. You know the story's going to be in the tank when Gerhart insists no one "sneered" at his adoring Jimmy Carter biography.

I wonder if ole Doug gets a volume discount on kneepads? He's got to wear 'em out pretty fast.