Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
2003-07-13 22:53:08
After a couple of weeks of tense negotiations between the Executive Branch of the United States Government, the CIA, the NSA, the SRO, the FBI, and multiple intelligence services of the DOD, it was revealed this weekend that the CIA would serve as the official scapegoat for the various intelligence "goofs" passed off as "facts" leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
Commenting on the decision to blame the CIA, a person on the phone claiming to be CIA Director George Tenet told Pigdog Journal that "People are comfortable with the idea of the CIA screwing things up. They're used to this idea. If we'd decided to blame the NRO, why, we would have had to spend a week just explaining what their initials stood for. With the CIA, that's not a problem. We're a household name. A known brand."
When asked whether President Bush and Vice President Cheney might have simply taken CIA reports that were highly speculative in nature, and simply attempted to pass them off as 100% Guaranteed True in the now infamous speech to the United Nations, the person that I'm 100% sure was George Tenet replied "No, that was Colin [Powell]'s job. There was no way we were going to give that job to Dubya. Bush might have let that smirk of his creep out of the side of his mouth while reading that report, and that would have given the whole game away. Powell can tell you part of the truth, make it sound like the whole truth, and never even blink. When we get together Saturday night for poker games in the Oval office, Powell cleans house. Bush will keep raising, hoping for an inside straight, and Powell just takes him to the cleaners."
"But then Bush just had to go telling that story about the uranium and the processing equipment, almost completely blowing the whole "plausible deniability" angle we like to use to keep the President Blame Free™. Once it got out that the story was a complete fabrication, we needed to find a scapegoat and fast. I'm downright proud to say that the CIA can serve the President in that capacity."
Tenet continued, "Sometimes you just have to tell comepletely outrageous lies to the public. That's the only way to get them to fall into line behind you. It's the only way you can really get your point across. You just have to get up, act as sincere as you possibly can, and just tell them a total whopper. Once you can fake sincerity, there is nothing holding you back."
When asked if he'd been drinking Tenent belched "OF COURSE I'VE BEEN DRINKING. If you had to take the blame every time that poker-losing SOB screwed up, YOU'D BE DRINKING TOO."
After that, all that could be heard on the line was the sound of faint sobbing. Then he hung up the phone and ended the interview.

T O P S T O R I E S
John Dvorak has passed. I’m of mixed emotions. First off I’m more positive about his contribution to the overall technology journalism of the early PC days through the 90s, despite how many things he got wrong. He was a firebrand and commanded attention. (More...)
America's National Recording Registry Inducts Culturally Significant Artist - Weezer!
America's Library of Congress calls them "defining sounds of history and culture" and "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Weezer! (More...)
The Crossroads are real and The Blues is a place; The enduring myth of Robert Johnson (More...)
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
During a magnificent sunny day in a fast receding autumn, the Spock Science Monitor reporters once again blew the playa dust off of their computers and covered the 2002 Burning Man Decompression – held every year just east of Portola Hill in beautiful San Francisco. Both an afternoon and evening issues were released to the unsuspecting crowd of freaks attempting to in some small way experience the euphoria of the playa – if but for a brief afternoon far from the desolation of Northern Nevada. (More...)
Johnnie Royale's Guide to Wakes
Wakes can present problems for Bad People of the Future. (If you don't know what a BPotF is, you need to read more of the PDJ.) Sure, your friend is gone and you miss him and that really sucks; it does, I know. But all Bad People of the Future are gonna die, and they have all accepted that fact. They do deserve, however, to have one final kickass party to celebrate all the bad things they've done in the past, present and future. And you, as a friend, have to make sure that their desire for a final send off is well executed (sorry for the pun). That's just the way of BPotFdom. (More...)
This week: another fine spocktail from the beverage researchers at SMRL! Drink it in peace, because WE DID THE RESEARCH! (More...)
On the Implementation of a Grocery Bag And Overforestation Initiative
Patient Joab and his evil cohort, Patient Steve, develop a proposal for the plastic-v.-paper problem that EVERYONE can be happy with. An EXCLUSIVE from Spock Mountain Research Labs! (More...)
A Day in the Life of a Beverotologist
It was starting to look like a very boring Saturday, trapped as I was in the suburban wastelands of the outer Bay Area, so I called my Able Assistant (AA) and proposed that we perform some Spocktail field tests. For some time I've been working on creating the quintessential cinematic beverage and even tho' SMRL does most of its testing during nocturnal hours, this seemed an opportune time to roll up the sleeves of our labcoats and get some science done. While the beverotology creation tested this day (The Neurotoxin) must be deemed a success, this article focuses more the journey of the experimenters, rather then the science of beverotology. (More...)
Yet another delicious SPOCKTAIL from the SMRL Beverage Science Labs! Check under the cap for your chance to win thousands of fabulous prizes! (More...)