Sometimes You Have to Step Aside...

...and let someone else ring in.

This is the start of a letter to Bush from Debby Pattin, activist mother, HS teacher, Democratic PCO and wife of a Vietnam veteran, written after the now-infamous "it's all worth it" speech the other night.

Dear President Bush:

This war in Iraq is NOT worth the sacrifice. If you would take the time to attend the funerals of the fallen Americans killed in Iraq, you would soon learn this lesson first hand.

Ask the family of Regina Clark, the 42 yr. old female Navy reservist killed last week in Iraq. She was a single mom and leaves behind an orphaned son. Why don't you fly out here in Air Force One and attend her funeral this week in Centralia, WA?

I know that you have flown all over the USA on Air Force One promoting Social Security, and before that, flew all over campaigning for election. But you have not flown or driven to any funerals. Even if you only attended the local ones, there would be plenty of opportunity right there at Arlington...

You can see the rest of the letter here, on the Washington State Veterans and Military Families for Progress website.

Rush Limbaugh, You're an Asshole

I don't listen to the Vulgar Pigboy (and I didn't listen to this -- I grabbed it off the Media Matters website here).

Palm Beach Fats claims that all us flaming librulz are anti-military. The hillbilly-heroin-addicted brain-addled ass clown says, among other things, that "liberals get excited when the military doesn't work because they have a general pacifist view of everything".

Okay, Rushie, why don't we meet somewhere appropriate, say Fremont Street in Tombstone AZ at high noon. You will be very quickly disabused of the notion that liberals are pacifists. You will be face to face with a Democrat-votin' meat-eatin' gun-ownin' beer-drinkin' Jeep-drivin' liberal Vietnam vet who will be more than happy to entertain the thought of kicking your fat lily-white ass.

About the only thing that would hold me back is the disgusting thought of sinking my Number Nine-and-a-Half Larry Mahan deep into that still-festering ass-boil between your hairy butt cheeks that kept you out of Vietnam. Too bad you weren't doctor-shopping back then. Even a stink-eyed half-blind veterinary-school-dropout gutter-drunk back-alley-abortionist quack could have lanced the fucker and you'd have been marched off to Fort Leonard Wood for basic training. And maybe now you'd have a different opinion about liberal war veterans like me.

But I am glad to think that you are doing your part to support our troops by visiting VA hospitals to cheer up those who will never walk again, who will never see again, who will never hold a child again, who will never be able to take a piss again, because assholes like you and your ditto-heads sent them off to fight an impossible war with inadequate equipment and unreasonable expectations.

Oh, never mind. You don't actually visit the wounded in VA hospitals, do you? My bad.

You might want to try that sometime. Especially the guys who are a long ways from home and don't get many visitors. They're glad to see anyone. Even you.

* * * * * * * *

BTW, for a funny song parody about the Pigboy, see Oxy From Miami, sung to the tune of "Okie From Muskogee".

Guess Who Said It

"I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn."

Give up? Well it wasn't one of us flaming liberal Democrat peaceniks that said this. It was none other than the Smirking Chimp himself, on June 3, 1999, criticizing Clinton for not setting a timetable in Kosovo.

Okay, too hard. Here's an easy one: ""It doesn't make any sense to have a timetable. If you give a timetable, you are conceding too much to the enemy."

I knew you'd get that one. It was also the Smirking Chimp, just last night on television.

Any bets on whether the MSM/SCLM are going to pick up on this flip-flop? No, I didn't think so.

(Many thanks to Bartcop for this one.)

Bloodshed in Iraq is Worth It, Bush Says

I will confess up front that I did not watch the lying hypocrite's speech. And here's why: When I was a kid growing up in rural Oklahoma, a guy who lived not far from us shot his television with a shotgun when Eisenhower came on. I have a new HDTV big-screen and I want it to stay in one piece.

But I got enough of the gist of it from the
Yahoo News AP wire to comment on it.

Bush says it is worth it. The bloodshed, the violence, the death, the open wounds, the missing limbs, the dead children, the weeping mothers, the starvation, the degradation, the desolation, the despair. All worth it.

Worth it: 1748 American lives and over 100,000 Iraqi lives snuffed out, familes torn asunder, our children, our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, coming home in those snappy flag-covered shipping caskets.

Worth it: Nearly 13,000 American wounded, many of them severely, profoundly disabled, coming home to a VA health care system that is itself on life-support.

Worth it: The sand of Iraq runs red with blood, American and Iraqi, the pools of oil are stealthily pumped out of the ground and into the coffers of Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, and the entire Bush Family Evil Empire, the Middle East has been forever changed for the worse by our gun-totin' chili-pissin' hard-workin' ass-hat dry-drunk Cowboy-in-Chief, and our country's reputation and image and stock with the rest of the world has dropped to somewhere near the murderous minions of Pol Pot and the swarming hordes of Attilla the Hun.

Worth it. Yeah, worth it to him, maybe, since he doesn't have any family members in harm's way. Nothing to risk for him, and all the while the BFEE is raking in the billions faster than the Starship Enterprise at Warp 8.

In the meantime, he says we'll "stay the course" and eventually turn the fighting over to the Iraqis...Wait a minute. Seems like I've heard this whole thing before. Oh, yeah. That happened in Vietnam, didn't it? We were gonna stay the course and "Vietnamize" the Vietnam War. Yeah, that worked out real well for us.

So now we're going to "Iraqi-ize" the Iraq War? Scummy Rummy says it is going to last 6-12 years, Vice President Dickless Bumticker says the resistance is in its death throes, and Little Georgie Bushit says "there's difficult and dangerous work ahead -- and did I mention that presidentin' is hard work?".

Weren't these the same fuckers that promised us that the Iraqis would welcome us with open arms and the only injuries would come from thrown rose petals sticking under a lieutenant's eyelid?

Jesus, they not only don't know what the fuck they are doing, they don't even know what the fuck each other is saying.

With all the billions of dollars being sucked out of our economy by the Bush Oil Empire (oil went over $60 a barrel yesterday in case you didn't get the news), you'd think the cheap bastards could afford to hire some smarter advisers.

Or maybe not, since all of the smart ones are part of the reality-based community and won't have anything to do with this braying pack of greedy jackals.

Virtual Reality an Rx for PTSD

Okay, to me it kind of sounds like the ultra-modern equivalent of 19th Century medical quackery, but apparently they are getting some amazing results from it.
Check out this site at the Chronicle of Higher Education, and then check out some of the pages that reference the guru of this new kind of treatment, Dr. Skip Rizzo.
Here is a Google of pages that have information about him. Check it out -- it's pretty interesting reading, and it sounds like a genuine breakthrough in the treatment of PTSD.
And it couldn't have come at a better time.

Osama Bin Who?

Remember Osama Bin Laden? He's been out of the news so long that I really can't blame you if you're snapping your fingers and wondering Isn't that the new night man down at the Kwiki-Mart?

No, he was the guy who claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the WTC on 9-11-2001.

Not Saddam Hussein. Not Al-Zero Nosewad Fuckaawi. Not whoever the fuck is in charge in Iran this week.

Osama Bin Laden.

It has been 1386 days since George W. Bush said that Osama Bin Laden could run but he couldn't hide, 1386 days since George W. Bush said that he would capture Osama Bin Laden, dead or alive, 1386 days since George W. Bush said he was going to "smoke out" Osama Bin Laden.

A little perspective here: It was only 1347 days between Pearl Harbor and the end of World War II.

So where is he? Where is Osama Bin Laden? I expect next week we'll being seeing his picture on a milk carton.

Unfortunately, it has also been 1175 days since George W. Bush said: "I just don't think about him much; I truly am not that concerned about him".

Osama Bin Laden. The man who freely admitted planning, engineering and executing the worst attack on American soil EVER, and our pResident says he doesn't think about him much? He's not concerned about him?

Jesus Christ, people, doesn't anybody think this is at all strange?

Well, I do. And I think enough is enough.

So do the Democrats: Point your browser to http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/osama/pvr and sign the petition to Tell President Bush: "Get Bin Laden Now -- change your priorities immediately and get him".

Flag Burning -- Again

I was reminded yesterday by a friend who was in Vietnam Veterans Against the War that the Nixon administration had infiltrated VVAW with an unknown number of spies, lurkers and agents provocateurs.

He can verify that at least three of the flag burnings of the anti-war demonstrations of the 1970s that he witnessed were actually carried out by these Repugnican undercover agents.

So, if what I predict comes to pass and there is a sudden spate of flag burning, take a close look at the assholes holding the match. Chances are they are paid minions of the RNC/Bush Oil Empire.

But you know, there's nothing like a burning flag to stir up the Moron-American voting bloc.

Flag Burning Amendment -- A Solution in Search of a Problem

We all knew it was coming. Numerous times over the last few years the Repugnicans in the House have dusted off and trotted out a proposed amendment to the US Constitution to prohibit "desecration" of the flag. In the past cooler heads have prevailed in the Senate and the measure has been defeated.

We can no longer take that for granted. With the GOP victories in the last two election cycles, we are perilously close to Senate approval of this misguided measure.

While it really isn't defined in the bill, everybody knows that "desecration" really means flag burning. Burning a flag. Taking a match and setting fire to a piece of fabric with a symbolic design consisting mostly of stripes and stars.

This is a solution in search of a problem. There have been fewer than 200 documented cases of flag burning in the entire history of the United States. The US Supreme court has upheld flag burning as protected speech (and "speech" does not have to consist of spoken words to be protected by the 1st Amendment).

Now, as everyone who was ever a member of that para-fascist quasi-Hitler-Youth organization known as the Boy Scouts knows, the proper way to dispose of a used, tattered or otherwise non-servicible flag is to ... burn it.

Wait a minute. Are we saying that a boy scout is not desecrating the flag when he burns it, but a war protester is when he does?

Okay then, it seems to me that the only distinction is intent. In other words, what was in the mind of the individual when he torched that flag?

But how can you know? How do you really know for sure? How can you tell that the boy scout isn't in reality a stealthy secret terrorist sleeper cell member lurking in deep cover and working to dismantle our freedoms? Or that he is not just another suburban dork with a bad complexion and mother issues who is secretly getting a semi-orgasmic thrill of giddiness when the flame from the zippo first catches the fabric and the stripes start to smolder?

You can't, and that is one reason among many why this is such a fucked up idea.

The cynical manipulative lying hypocrites don't really give a shit about the flag. They are slinging this out like red meat, to energize the Bobo vote while at the same time trying to paint the Democrats into the "traitor corner" if they refuse to go along with it.

And from the looks of it, it is working. Several otherwise progressive, liberal-minded Democrats jumped on the bandwagon. Including my own congressman.

Fine, Congressman, do what you have to do. I know you have an election to win and you are running scared of the redneck knuckledraggers in this district.

Just one thing: Don't fucking tell me that my friends who were killed in Vietnam died "for the flag".

I can tell you from personal experience, that flag is the last goddam thing on your mind when your friends are shot up on the road to Tay Ninh and all you can do is listen with impotent rage to the ops radio reports of the ambush deaths, or when a bullet out of nowhere rips into the side of the Jeep you are riding in, or when tracer rounds light up the night through the rolls of concertina wire fifty feet in front of your position, or when Cobra gunships with their weapons on full automatic fly so low over you that their ejected shell casings are still hot when they hit your skin...

There will be more on this issue in future posts. Of that I am certain.

The One Billion Dollar Misunderstanding

Yes, that is one billion dollars not available for veterans' health care.

Now all of a sudden it comes as a big surprise to the chickenhawk bastards in charge of this fucked-up mess that we have nearly 13,000 wounded, many of them severely, even profoundly disabled, coming home from Iraq.

Jesus, people, does it take a rocket surgeon to understand this? These are our brothers and sisters. Our sons and daughters. Many of them will simply go without health care because of the callous disregard of the Repugnican thugs who would rather give the richest one percent an unnecessary tax cut than spend one fucking penny on veterans' health care.

Go visit your nearest veterans' hospital and then come back and tell me that our veterans -- who were willing to put themselves in harm's way for us -- are getting the best health care that we can provide.

Those of us who vocally expressed our dissatisfaction way last year about the failure of the Bush maladministration to fully fund health care were shouted down, bypassed, sidelined and ignored. We were voices crying in the wilderness. Now of course we have been proved to be right.

Normally I take great personal satisfaction in being able to say "I told you so!" -- but sadly I am not enjoying this at all.

What the hell is wrong with Donald "North-south-east-and-west-from-there" Rumsfeld, Dickhead Nopulse Cheney and the Smirking Chimp that they can't realize that caring for the wounded is part of the cost of war? Where were they during Vietnam... Uh-oh. Never mind. It just dawned on me -- I just answered my own question.

Sorry. Forget I said anything. And you can go ahead displaying your stupid feel-good yellow "I support our troops" ribbons on the back of your gas-hog pimpsleds while at the same time you're honking your horn at the slow-moving disabled veteran who is dragging himself painfully through the intersection on his way to the Interstate onramp so he can hold up his crude hand-drawn sign that says "Disabled veteran, homeless, unemployed, please help, God bless".

I am sure heaven will have a special place for all of you.

A Midget Among Giants

Normally I don't pay much attention to "beauty contests", but when I saw the list of finalists for The Greatest American, I felt something had to be done. There is a midget amongst giants on the list.

The finalists are: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and...(drumroll) ... RONALD REAGAN. The same Ronald Reagan who sent Donald Rumsfield to Iraq to sell Weapons of Mass Destruction to Saddam Hussein.

Please go to the Greatest American website at
http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican
and cast your vote for who YOU think ought to get this honor. You may vote three times (!) for your favorite, or you can spread your vote around. It's probably best, though, to concentrate on one person.

You probably figured that my favorite is NOT Ronald Reagan. Weapons to Saddam Hussein, Iran-Contra, burgeoning deficits, clueless leadership, more corruption than any other administration except the current one and possibly that of Ulysses S. Grant ... the list goes on and on.

I know and you know that the radical right wingnuts are going to try to stuff the ballot boxes for their hero. Let's counter that. Tell everyone you can to cast their vote and dilute the presence of the wingnuts.

Cast your vote for who you think is "The Greatest American" at
http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican -- time is short and the voting will end in just a few days.

Don't let them stuff the ballot boxes AGAIN!!!

Shut the Fuck Up

Steve Gilliard has it right.

The goddamn chickenhawks who stumblebummed us into the Mess-o'-potamia, along with their most vocal supporters, aren't in uniform, they don't plan to be, and they DON'T have children in uniform (for example, see my commentary on the Bush twins yesterday).

Unless they are willing to enlist themselves, or encourage their children to enlist, in the event that they are too old, they can just shut the fuck up.

Hey, I'm talking to you. Yes, you, moron. Unless you and your family members and friends are willing to die in Iraq, SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

I don't want to hear your crap about just a few more troops, just a few more months, just a few more billions of dollars.

I heard enough of that in Vietnam, when we could "see the light at the end of the tunnel". Same tunnel then as now: The light was the 3:15 Clusterfuck Express coming dead at us at 90 miles per.

Twins in Uniform

Why aren’t Barbara and Jenna Bush in uniform? They have college degrees, and by all indications they would make fine officers.

After all, it would have an incredibly positive effect on the morale of the country, it would no doubt drive up enlistments in all branches of the service, enlistments which are now at a dangerously low level and dropping monthly, and it would shore up W’s rapidly slipping poll numbers.

And, as their father proved so many years ago, it’s not like they’d really have to DO anything. They really wouldn’t even have to show up for most of it.

But I guess they'd rather party down at those tony Georgetown nightspots instead of following the lead of presidential children of earlier generations.

Consider the four sons of Theodore Roosevelt: Quentin, the youngest, was a pilot who died in action in WWI. The remaining three sons, Ted Junior, Kermit and Archie, served with honor and distinction both in World War One AND in World War Two.

Ted Junior, a Medal of Honor winner, was the only general to come ashore at Normandy on D-Day. A week later he was dead at the age of 56, the victim of a heart attack.

Consider the four sons of Franklin Roosevelt. They, along with Robert Lincoln, and the husbands of the daughters of Lyndon Johnson, share the rare distinction of being the only presidential children to serve in a war fought while their father was president.

James, Elliott, Franklin Jr. and John Roosevelt all served with honor in World War II and they came home decorated heroes.

Both Charles Robb and Patrick Nugent, the Johnson sons-in-laws, served with honor and distinction in Vietnam.

But there it ends.

The husbands of Richard Nixon’s daughters did not serve in Vietnam.

None of the children of Ronald Reagan donned a uniform.

And the offspring of George Bush Senior? Well, we know about that already.

Now we are once again engaged in a war in which there are presidential children of military age.

But, unlike those earlier generations, the Bush twins apparently feel no need to serve in a war over which their father has command.

Unlike those presidential children of earlier generations, they apparently feel no need to show even symbolic support for their father’s war.

Come on, you two. Show your support for the troops and for your father's war. Do the right thing for yourselves and for your country. Enlist today.

Besides, there's something about twins in uniform...