Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 1332 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown, Argentina and god-knows-where-else to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

And it's not just The Twins: ONLY ONE member of the extended Bush family has seen fit to volunteer for military service. Check out the Buzzflash analysis of the chickenshit Bush/Cheney extended family and see for yourself. There's even a photo taken in 2000 of the extended Bush family, complete with a whole lot of young fresh faces who seem to be of an age now to be eligible to enlist.

Little Georgie Bush, the son of Jebbie, has enlisted in the Naval Reserve. He's going into the Officer Training Program, preparing to be ... an intelligence officer. Okay, the obvious jokes aside, what are the chances he's ever going to see Iraq? Especially since he apparently hasn't actually even put on the uniform yet, even though he "enlisted" way last year.

And I see in the news that little Jenna has set a date to marry her boyfriend, one Henry Hager. Wanna bet that he won't be wearing a uniform anytime soon? Like ever? Unlike the husbands of the daughters of Lyndon Johnson, both of whom went into the service and were sent to Vietnam.

Bush and Cheney were cowards during Vietnam who sent other men off to die in their place. Now the next generation is doing its part, sending their own peers off to die instead of them.

Why can't the Twins be more like their royal counterparts in the UK? The British Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerra de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War) and Prince Harry, until the decision was made not to send him, was on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant. But even though he's not on his way to The Sandbox, he's still in uniform.

Will the Bush Twins follow his example?

No, they will not. They are fucking cowards like their father and their Uncle Dick(less) Cheney.

Be sure to check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

BTW, the twins are also still not pregnant with their own Snowflake Babies. If they can't join the service, the least they could do would be to get themselves impregnated with a couple of blastocytes that would otherwise go into the garbage.

Remember what Farnsworth always says: Baste 'em, don't waste 'em.

Beer and Fitness

Can it be? Is it really true?

I've been an avid beer drinker for nearly 50 years, and since I've managed to gain only a pound per year of weight -- since high school! You can do the math on that one... -- it's nagged at me over the years (as has She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) whether that beer consumption has actually contributed to the classic "beer belly" that I seem to be protruding in front of me.

Well, it turns out that there's good news and bad news on this front. Acccording to an article over at Military.com, consuming one to two beers per day is actually healthy for you!

That's the good news. The bad news is that you have to match that calorie intake with some calorie outgo, or the beer (and everything else you consume) contributes to that "frontal assault" you carry around with you.

So I figure the glass is half full: I'm doing the two-beers-a-day regimen. Now all I have to do is figure out how to open the front door, go outside and take a walk...

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2500 2513 2532 2540 2546 2558 2571 2585 2597 2605 2619 2641 2710 2737 2758 2788 2809 2826 2865 2888 2906 2959 3006 3018 3025 3067 3087 3118 3132 3151 3166 3189 3210 3233 3245 3266 3299 3316 3337 3358 3387 3409 3444 3504 3519 3546 3577 3592 3611 3631 3683 3705 3725 3738 3760 3780 3795 3823 3830 3838 3845 3866 3875 3881 3886 3891 3896 3908 3921 3926

Total coalition forces dead: 307
Total Iraqi Dead: 700,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 2319
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1780
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1722
Number of days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII: Only 1347

Number of days that the the Vice President has NOT shot a man in the face: 704
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 547.

It is still 362 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration.

Nucking Futz, a/k/a "Batshit Crazy"

So good ole boy and servant of god Huckleberry Huckabee says we need to "return to god's standard" by amending the constitution to outlaw a woman's right to choose and to eradicate same-sex marriage.

Okay, I'm down with that. Just so long as Huckleberry doesn't stop there. There are a LOT more proscriptions in his "Holy Bible" than just those two.

Why stop at just the two top sins? And, for that matter, why are those sins in the "top two"?

Even a cursory examination of the so-called Old Testament (which these assholes seem to love, to the pretty much complete exclusion of the actual words of their "savior") will reveal that those assholes on the right are GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY of a veritable plethora of sins.

To illustrate this apparent oversight, let me share with you the following letter that I sent some time ago to the venerable Internets softcore porn queen "Doctor" Laura Schlessinger:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your radio show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific Bible laws and how to follow them.
(a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors complain to the zoning people. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
(b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. What do you think would be a fair price for her? She's 18 and starting college. Will the slave buyer be required to continue to pay for her education by law ?
(c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense and threaten to call Human Resources.
(d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? ....Why can't I own Canadians? Is there something wrong with them due to the weather?
(e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should this be a neighborhood improvement project ? What is a good day to start? Should we begin with small stones? Kind of lead up to it?
(f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. I mean, a shrimp just isn't the same as a you-know-what. Can you settle this?
(g) Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here? Would contact lenses fall within some exception?
(h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die? The Mafia once took out Albert Anastasia in a barbershop, but I'm not Catholic; is this ecumenical thing a sign that it's ok?
(i) I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
(j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev.24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.

Winston Smith Farnsworth

[I actually stole this from somewhere, but it's been so long that I can't recall where it came from. If it's yours, please accept my thanks and apologies, if necessary... And please let me know so I can give you the proper credit.]

Needless to say, I am still awaiting a reply from Dr. Laura.

But that shouldn't dissuade us from asking Huckleberry the same questions. After all, he's a fucking minister of the gospel, for chrissake, and if anyone has the answers to these questions it ought to be him.

But I'm not holding my breath.

--Update! Here is the source of the original letter to Dr. Laura. It was written by a bible-student-cum-snarky-genius named J. Kent Ashcraft way back in 2000. Thanks, J. Kent!

The "Air America" Cruise

It's official.

I, along with She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and another liberal/radical couple who are close friends of ours, are taking the Air America cruise next month.

It will be my first cruise, and I figure it's better to be on one with a bunch of like-minded liberals instead of a bunch of rich Republican stuffed shirts.

It ought to be a blast. Featured on the program will be presentations by the likes of my favorite Air America heroes, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes and Rachel Maddow, along with such "lesser stars" in the liberal talk radio firmament, Lionel, Richard Greene, Mark Green and Jon Elliott, along with some of my absolute favorite left-wing pundits, Paul Krugman, Jim Hightower, and Marc Sussman.

Even though you're basically required to play dressup on at least two nights (I don't even own a tuxedo and at this point in my life I figure I really don't need one, but I figure that a black sports coat and my trusty black Levis ought to do it up just fine), it ought to be a ton of fun, and it's something that I'm really looking forward to.

The boat leaves San Diego on the evening of February 23, bound for exotic ports of call in Mexico, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, and returns to San Diego on the morning of March 1.

I hope as many of you as possible can make this cruise. I'm excited to meet all of these guys (and get autographs on their books -- I'll have a broken back from lugging a suitcase full of them), but I would be even more excited to be able meet those of my regular readers as can make it.

If you are planning on going on the cruise, send me an email at farnsworth68-AT-yahoo.com and I'll be sure that we get a lot of "face time" while we're on the boat.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 1325 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown, Argentina and god-knows-where-else to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

And it's not just The Twins: ONLY ONE member of the extended Bush family has seen fit to volunteer for military service. Check out the Buzzflash analysis of the chickenshit Bush/Cheney extended family and see for yourself. There's even a photo taken in 2000 of the extended Bush family, complete with a whole lot of young fresh faces who seem to be of an age now to be eligible to enlist.

Little Georgie Bush, the son of Jebbie, has just enlisted in the Naval Reserve. He's going into the Officer Training Program, preparing to be ... an intelligence officer. Okay, the obvious jokes aside, what are the chances he's ever going to see Iraq?

And I see in the news that little Jenna is engaged to a joker named Henry Hager. Wanna bet that he won't be wearing a uniform anytime soon? Like ever? Unlike both husbands of the daughters of Lyndon Johnson, both of whom went into the service and were sent to Vietnam.

Bush and Cheney were cowards during Vietnam who sent other men off to die in their place. Now the next generation is doing its part, sending their own peers off to die instead of them.

Why can't the Twins be more like their royal counterparts in the UK? The British Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerra de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War) and Prince Harry, until the decision was made not to send him, was on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant. But even though he's not on his way to The Sandbox, he's still in uniform.

Will the Bush Twins follow his example?

No, they will not. They are fucking cowards like their father and their Uncle Dick(less) Cheney.

Be sure to check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

BTW, the twins are also still not pregnant with their own Snowflake Babies. If they can't join the service, the least they could do would be to get themselves impregnated with a couple of blastocytes that would otherwise go into the garbage.

Remember what Farnsworth always says: Baste 'em, don't waste 'em.

"Waterboarding" is Torture. Or Is It???

So what are we to think? Chief Spy Mike McConnell stated that waterboarding would be torture, if it were done to him.

Okay so far, but McConnell stopped way short of calling it "torture" in the abstract -- i.e., the concrete -- sense. The sense that it is being done on a daily basis to "suspects" in the War on Terra^tm.

And why not?

The only thing I can think of is that if McConnell, like Mukasey, came right out and called it what it is -- torture -- then they would be turning on their boss.

And we can't have that, can we? I mean the Leader of the Free World condoning acts of torture? It boggles the mind. It really does.

And how many more days of the BFEE do we have to put up with?

Only 367...

Sir Edmund Hillary RIP

The news yesterday brought us some sad tidings. Sir Edmund Hillary, 88, died of a heart attack.

Hillary had always been a hero of mine, not only for his incredible accomplishment of scaling Sagarmatha (a/k/a Mt Everest -- back when it was only 29,002 feet -- it's "grown" some 33 feet since then) but more importantly for his insistence over the intervening years that he was not the "first man" to scale the mountain.

No, Sir Edmund right from the start gave equal billing to his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay. Sir Edmund always insisted that he was only one of two men to reach the summit.

This is one reason that the Nepalese always held him in such high regard.

So what does the news media do when they announce his death? You guessed it: "First Man Atop Everest".

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2500 2513 2532 2540 2546 2558 2571 2585 2597 2605 2619 2641 2710 2737 2758 2788 2809 2826 2865 2888 2906 2959 3006 3018 3025 3067 3087 3118 3132 3151 3166 3189 3210 3233 3245 3266 3299 3316 3337 3358 3387 3409 3444 3504 3519 3546 3577 3592 3611 3631 3683 3705 3725 3738 3760 3780 3795 3823 3830 3838 3845 3866 3875 3881 3886 3891 3896 3908 3921

Total coalition forces dead: 307
Total Iraqi Dead: 700,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 2312
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1773
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1715
Number of days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII: Only 1347

Number of days that the the Vice President has NOT shot a man in the face: 697
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 540.

It is still 369 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration.

Big Brother is Watching You

Over at Privacy International they maintain a telling list of surveillance societies the world over, complete with a map showing where a society stands on their ranking of privacy protection.

Sadly the United States doesn't stand up well against such countries as, say, Greece (of all places), which heads the list as being only "adequate" in its safeguards against privacy abuse.

Check it out and prepare to be shocked (or maybe not) by the fact that that the US ranks right down there with many nations in the former Soviet Union and China as being an "endemic surveillance society".

Big Brother is watching you.

[Thanx to longtime reader jae for the heads up on this.]

The Dire Straits of Hormel

For Immediate Release

In a surprising move today, Iranians took action to tighten up the Straits of Hormel. It is a little-known fact that over 80% of the world's supply of chili comes through the straits.

If the Iranians are successful, it will have grave implications on the United States, and indeed, all of the West. For example, the long-awaited remake of Blazing Saddles will be shelved, and even Terrance and Philip, the Canadian duo will be forced to hold it in.

But it's even more serious than that. If the straits are indeed closed, President Bush, himself a fart joke connoisseur, will have to put a cork in it.

"And that is unacceptable," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "I mean, I'm not the kinda guy who'd start World War III, exactly, but this is cutting it too close."

Unless the Iranians take steps to relax the sphincter of the Straits of Hormel, Bush stated, they can expect the United States to take direct, pointed and insertive action.

"We won't turn the other cheek," the president said. "They -- and we -- need to cut it."

--30--

Freedom is Slavery

In an astonishing Orwellian moment, Rudy Nine-Eleven made this statement in 1994:

What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be ... Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

WTF???

And this is the man who would be president?

War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery -- 1984

Indeed.

It's Official: The Economy is on the Skids

Yep, that's the word, direct from the smirking lips of The Chimperor himself. In a little-noted speech to business leaders on Monday in Chicago, Baby Doc said, "the nation faces 'economic challenges' due to rising oil prices, the home mortgage crisis and a weakening job market."

So what's up with that sudden shift to reality on the part of our Fearless Leader? You know, the man who has not been a member of the Reality-Based Community since some time in the 1950s.

PM Carpenter has a theory about it: Bush did it to kick McCain in the teeth.

According to Carpenter, the last thing that Bushco wants is to have Baby Doc followed by another Republican. Any Democrat will dismantle our illegal occupation of Iraq, and pretty much any Republican (except Ron Paul) will continue the march. And Baby Doc, who despite what he might claim to the contrary -- "History? Who cares? We'll all be dead." -- is very concerned about his historical legacy.

There's more, including an alternate theory: Given the many financial ties between the Mittster and Bushco -- and given the historical bad blood between Baby Doc and John McCain -- could the BFEE be trying to cripple McCain so Romney can assume the throne?

Pretty fanciful stuff, but it has more than a kernel of truth in it.

Campaign to Ban Paperless Voting

The good folks over at MoveOn.org have created an online petition to ban paperless voting, and good on them for doing it.

No one who has ever worked in Information Technology (i.e., computers) can deny that the current electronic voting schemes in place in the various states are a far cry from being transparent, from being trustworthy, from being fair.

So drop by and sign the petition calling on the Democratic members of congress to take immediate steps to ban paperless voting before it's too late.

The last thing we want to see in November is another Ohio debacle. Our representative democracy is fragile enough as it is. Let's do everything we can to resuscitate it.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 1308 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown, Argentina and god-knows-where-else to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

And it's not just The Twins: ONLY ONE member of the extended Bush family has seen fit to volunteer for military service. Check out the Buzzflash analysis of the chickenshit Bush/Cheney extended family and see for yourself. There's even a photo taken in 2000 of the extended Bush family, complete with a whole lot of young fresh faces who seem to be of an age now to be eligible to enlist.

Little Georgie Bush, the son of Jebbie, has just enlisted in the Naval Reserve. He's going into the Officer Training Program, preparing to be ... an intelligence officer. Okay, the obvious jokes aside, what are the chances he's ever going to see Iraq?

And I see in the news that little Jenna is engaged to a joker named Henry Hager. Wanna bet that he won't be wearing a uniform anytime soon? Like ever? Unlike both husbands of the daughters of Lyndon Johnson, both of whom went into the service and were sent to Vietnam.

Bush and Cheney were cowards during Vietnam who sent other men off to die in their place. Now the next generation is doing its part, sending their own peers off to die instead of them.

Why can't the Twins be more like their royal counterparts in the UK? The British Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerra de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War) and Prince Harry, until the decision was made not to send him, was on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant. But even though he's not on his way to The Sandbox, he's still in uniform.

Will the Bush Twins follow his example?

No, they will not. They are fucking cowards like their father and their Uncle Dick(less) Cheney.

Be sure to check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

BTW, the twins are also still not pregnant with their own Snowflake Babies. If they can't join the service, the least they could do would be to get themselves impregnated with a couple of blastocytes that would otherwise go into the garbage.

Remember what Farnsworth always says: Baste 'em, don't waste 'em.

BTW, while we're on the subject, how come none of those Romney boys are in uniform? Why does their father want to be commander-in-chief and expect to do a good job when he doesn't have any "skin in the game"? What about those sons of Mike Huckabee, at least one of whom already has a penchant for firearms and killing? Or maybe he could join Blackwater -- they'd be right up his alley.

Today's Quote

Guess who said this:

The national government ... will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality.
Today Christians ... stand at the head of [our country]. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press — in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past ... few years.

Sounds like something out of the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell et al. playbook, doesn't it? A LOT like it, in fact.

So who did say it?

Give up?

Adolph Hitler!!! (From The Speeches of Adolph Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1, Michael Hakeem, Ph.D. (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pp. 871-872.)

Rewriting American History

Leave it to the Fundos. Not content to overtly attempt to turn this nation into a Fundo Xian Theocracy through the ballot box, they've set out to do a fundamental rewrite of American history, apparently on the infamous Jesuit theory of "give me a child until he's seven and I will give you the man".

It's an easy two-step process: (1) Change beliefs about the origin of the US Democracy, and then (2) Institute theocracy.

Bruce Wilson over at Talk to Action has a damning piece entitled How Fake American History Feeds Christian Nationalism on the current activities of the Fundo Xian wingnuttery on just this topic:

... a 2007 poll from the First Amendment Center showed that 65% of Americans believe the founders intended the US to be a Christian nation and 55% from that poll thought the US Constitution establishes the US as a Christian nation ... Democratic Party politicians are terrified of being tarred as "anti-Christian" and they lack the political advisers who can tell them how to effectively deflect such attacks. Thus, they tend to vote as, at least, "soft" Christian nationalists regardless of their personal religious views.

Read the rest of and then gird yourself for the coming battle. I have a feeling that, since these people aren't grounded in the reality-based community, it will take a lot of blood, toil, sweat and tears to stop them.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Another "Straw Man" Argument -- This Time it's the JFK Assassination

I have been a student and critic of the Warren Report's version of the JFK Assassination for well over 40 years (which report, by the way, resulted in my first dose of healthy skepticism about the workings of our government). I've even taken two trips to Dealy Plaza in Dallas to check it out for myself.

Consequently I tend to read everything about it that I can lay my hands on. Or lay my eyes on, when it comes to the Internets.

I even have a personalized Google News search for news about the assassination. And that's where I ran across something by a guy named Massimo Polidoro posted on the seemingly otherwise reality-based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry website.

In it, Polidoro sets up a perfect "straw man" argument about the path of the so-called Magic Bullet, also known as Commission Exhibit 399. He even includes diagrams that supposedly illustrate (1) the Warren Report critics' alleged account of the path of the bullet, and (2) the supposedly "true" path, as posited by Warren Report enabler and notable suckass idiot Gerald Posner, among others.

Yeah, looks good. Unfortunately the only problem with it is that is lacking a three-dimensional perspective. Go ahead and take a look at the graphic of Posner's (and consequently Polidoro's) "hypothetical" trajectory of the Magic Bullet. It's two dimensional; if you put it into three dimensions, then the bullet has to take another, different, magical turn -- upward and then downward on exit. And that's a trajectory question that people like Posner and his surrogate, Polidoro, can't answer. CE 399 would have had to take a midair turn upward and then downward after exiting JFK's throat in order to inflict Connolly's wounds.

Connolly could not have sustained the wounds that he did without that happening.

BTW, I don't have any kind of a "pet theory" on the JFK Assassination. The only thing that I'm convinced of is that the government lied to us when it published the Warren Report, and that the true facts surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy will probably never be known.

Most of the dozens of conflicting theories about the assassination (e.g., The government did it; Rogue elements of the CIA did it; Castro did it; The KGB did it; The Mafia did it, etc. etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum), which in most cases are mutually exclusive, have been fabricated out of whole cloth by those who do not want the truth to be known. It's easy enough to muddy the waters to the point where the casual observer will throw up his/her hands in disgust, with a "pox upon both your houses" attitude.

And that's what the ones who were truly responsible for the JFK assassination are counting on.

I used to think that eventually the facts would come out and that the world would finally know what really happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Now I'm resigned to the conclusion that the truth most likely will forever remain hidden.

Ten Questions

My friends over at First Freedom First have come up with a list of ten questions to ask political candidates. These are questions that the media should be asking but aren't.

Here are the questions. Next time you're at a candidate forum, press conference or town hall meeting, ask a few of these.

1. Leaders on the religious right often say that America is a "Christian Nation." Do you agree with this statement?

2. Do you think Houses of Worship should be allowed to endorse political candidates and retain their tax exempt status?

3. Do you think public schools should sponsor school prayer or, as a parent, should this choice be left to me?

4. Would you support a law that mandates teaching creationism in my child's public school science classes?

5. Do you think my pharmacist should be allowed to deny me doctor-prescribed medications based on his or her religious beliefs?

6. Will you respect the rights of those in our diverse communities of faith who deem same-gender marriage to be consistent with their religious creed?

7. Should "faith-based" charities that receive public funds be allowed to discriminate against employees or applicants based on religious beliefs?

8. Do you think one's right to disbelieve in God is protected by the same laws that protect someone else's right to believe?

9. Do you think everyone's religious freedom needs to be protected by what Thomas Jefferson called "a wall of separation" between church and state?

10. What should guide our policies on public health and medical research: science or religion?

In other words, it's up to each of us to hold the candidates' feet to the fire and get them to commit, in a public forum, that they support the concept -- the bedrock principle -- of that Wall of Separation.

The Re-emergence of Populism

Populism has had kind of a funny, on-again-off-again relationship with the American people. It seems that it is a many-headed hydra, meaning different things to different people in the different times that it has arisen.

Speaking simply, Populism is defined as a political movement that appeals to "the people", positing a dichotomy between "the people" and the "others". Those others are the ones who seem to be amorphous, depending on the time and place of the Populist Movement.

That's why Huey Long's Populism can be so different from that of, say, George Wallace or that of Teddy Roosevelt.

What we've seen lately, starting in 2000 with the destructive -- yet normative -- campaign of Ralph Nader, is the rise of a new Populism.

And IMHO that is a good thing. It means that We The People are starting to wake from a long period of somnambulism and are seeing the need, the driving imperative, to take back our country.

And this time around, there's nary a trace of Populist Fascism in the works. We'll leave the fascism up to the Rethugs while we all form up here on The Left and take the necessary steps to reclaim our country.

So everyone, get involved, stay involved, and let your actions Speak Truth to Power.

Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck

Okay, I'll admit that Schadenfreude is one of my guilty pleasures in life, and was I ever rolling in it when I saw this Buzzflash Alert today.

It seems that one "journalist" aptly misnamed Bill Orally tried to rough up an Obama aide in New Hampshire, and for his troubles he was escorted out of the "safety zone" by the Secret Service agents guarding Obama.

Take that, asshole! Now go back to your loofah sponges and leave the real journalism to the big boys. God knows they have enough trouble as it is without you inserting your stupid nose into it.

Nyuck nyuck nyuck!

Huckabee Iowa Victory Speech

It was kind of a surprise to me that Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus -- especially since The Mittster outspent him by something like seven to one, yet Huckabee swept the caucuses by a margin of something over 10 percent.

So what the fuck is he talking about in his victory speech? Four years ago Howard Dean was trashed by the media for the now-infamous "scream", yet Huckabee gets away with spouting what I can only call pretty much total gibberish:

Take a look and tell me exactly what the fuck he is talking about, what with the "loving the man behind us" crap (see it starting about 6:20 into the speech)...

Is Fundo Mike giving us a Tappy McWidestance^tm clue into his "secret longings"?

I'm just asking.

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2500 2513 2532 2540 2546 2558 2571 2585 2597 2605 2619 2641 2710 2737 2758 2788 2809 2826 2865 2888 2906 2959 3006 3018 3025 3067 3087 3118 3132 3151 3166 3189 3210 3233 3245 3266 3299 3316 3337 3358 3387 3409 3444 3504 3519 3546 3577 3592 3611 3631 3683 3705 3725 3738 3760 3780 3795 3823 3830 3838 3845 3866 3875 3881 3886 3891 3896 3908

Total coalition forces dead: 307
Total Iraqi Dead: 700,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 2305
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1766
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1709
Number of days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII: Only 1347

Number of days that the the Vice President has NOT shot a man in the face: 690
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 533.

It is still 376 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration.

Progressive Message Wins in Iowa

A couple of things are really encouraging about the Iowa caucus results. One is that the 200,000+ turnout is almost unprecedented -- and gratifying. The other is that almost 2/3 of the people showing up for the Dem caucuses don't support Hillary.

Whatever Big Mo she had going in, whatever mojo she thought she had working for her, fell flat. People are smart enough that they can see that she's Rethug Lite, and they are rejecting it.

My boy Dennis Kucinich -- well, he didn't do so well, but he's still hanging in there, despite the fact that Dodd and Biden are early casualties and have announced that they are getting out of the race.

But the fight isn't over. Counting those so-called Super Delegates already pledged to her, Hillary still leads by over 100 delegates in the overall race for the nomination. Now watch her start going negative in an effort to beat back the progressives. Here's hoping that it doesn't work.

Jeez, watching politics is more fun than watching football.

Only in Texas? Sadly, No...

Here's a piece of news that is simultaneously amusing, amazing and appalling. The great state of Texas is on the verge of giving accreditation for degrees in so-called "Intelligent Design".

While it would be fun to dismiss this bullshit as something local to the Murder-by-Government capital of the entire world, it would be wrong.

Wrong in the sense that it's not localized to the state of Texas. It's a dominant theme in many states, and don't think your state is immune. I'm going to monitor a school board meeting in a town a few miles north of here because a Fundo Xian newly-elected school board member is likely to bring up ID as a valid scientific area of study and therefore a suitable topic for students in that district.

I'll be monitoring this meeting on behalf of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, so unfortunately that means I won't be able to toss any grenades into the mix, the way I would if I were there on my own.

But sometimes you have to submerge your own desires for the benefit of the greater good.

Iowa Caucuses Today

Today is the opening shot in the actual 2008 election. If you know anyone who lives in Iowa, please call them and urge them to attend their precinct caucus meeting. Regardless of who they support, this is democracy at the grassroots level, and the more people who turn out, the better off we all will be in the long run.

As Thom Hartmann always says when he signs off, "Democracy begins with you. Tag, you're it!"

Dennis Kucinich and Realpolitik

So yesterday my main man, Dennis Kucinich, says that he's throwing his support to Barak Obama. For "second choice". For Iowa only. Thanks to the Byzantine Iowa caucus rules and their "second choice" provision, Iowans can vote for BOTH Kucinich and Obama, with Obama collecting the marbles if Kucinich fails to make the cut.

And that was my first WTF moment of 2008.

I mean, why not Edwards? He's the one who is talking the talk and walking the walk for progressive issues on the campaign trail.

Well, here's my best guess: Many of us out here in the hinterlands suspect Edwards of not being 100% genuine. My wife (the infamous She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed), when she first glimpsed Edwards in 2004, said that he was too slick, too smooth, too phony, for her to support for the presidency.

And she's right; Dennis Kucinich saw that as well. Despite the fact that Edwards talks a good fight, there is just something unsettlingly phony about him, and many people can see through it. Including Kucinich. Obama isn't the best candidate, but in my estimation he's way better than the other two "top tier" Dems, and that's why Kucinich is promoting him for "second choice".

Hence the "realpolitik" approach to the 2008 election. Despite the Edwards endorsement by Ralph Nader (yeah, after the 2000 stolen election debacle, who's gonna listen to him?), I can see that Obama is the logical "second choice" for a lot of people.

Including me.

Blackwater: A Must Read!

I spent some of my time off pursuing other avenues of inquiry. One of the things that I did was finally get around to reading Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Jesus, is that ever some scary shit!

From Blackwater's eerie beginnings in the febrile brain of Fundo Xian millionnaire Erik Prince through the questionable orders that sent four "contractors" to their deaths in Fallujah (and thereby causing the military to decimate the town, with an astronomical death rate, which in turn became a nifty recruiting tool for Al Qaeda) to now -- or at least late 2006, Blackwater cuts to the core of the world's first modern mercenary army and explains in excruciating detail how -- and why -- this malevolent bunch of greedy profit-seeking Christian Reconstructionist cutthroat mercenaries have wormed their way so far into the Military-Industrial Complex that it will take major surgery to root them out.

In chilling detail towards the beginning of the book, Scahill describes the mood among even the mainline Fundo Xians during the latter years of the Clinton Administration:

In November 1996 -- the month Clinton crushed Bob Dole and won reelection -- the main organ of the theoconservative movement, Richard Neuhaus's journal First Things, published a "symposium" titled "The End of Democracy?" which bluntly questioned "whether we have reached or are reaching the point where conscientious citizens can no longer give moral assent to the existing regime."
A series of essays raised the prospect of a major confrontation between the church and the "regime," at times seeming to predict a civil-war scenario or Christian insurrection against the government, exploring possibilities "ranging from noncompliance to resistance to civil disobedience to morally justified revolution." Erik Prince's close friend, political collaborator, and beneficiary Chuck Colson authored one of the five major essays of the issue, as did extremist Judge Robert Bork, whom Reagan had tried unsuccessfully to appoint to the Supreme Court in 1987.
"Americans are not accustomed to speaking of a regime. Regimes are what other nations have," asserted the symposium's unsigned introduction. "This symposium asks whether we may be deceiving ourselves and, if we are, what are the implications of that self-deception. By the word 'regime' we mean the actual, existing system of government. The question that is the title of this symposium is in no way hyperbolic. The subject before us is the end of democracy" It declared, "The government of the United States of America no longer governs by the consent of the governed. . . . What is happening now is the displacement of a constitutional order by a regime that does not have, will not obtain, and cannot command the consent of the people."
The editorial quoted Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia saying, "A Christian should not support a government that suppresses the faith or one that sanctions the taking of an innocent human life."
Colson's essay was titled "Kingdoms in Conflict":
"[E]vents in America may have reached the point where the only political action believers can take is some kind of direct, extra-political confrontation of the judicially controlled regime," Colson wrote, adding that a "showdown between church and state may be inevitable. This is not something for which Christians should hope. But it is something for which they need to prepare." He asserted, "[A] 'social contract' that included biblical believers and Enlightenment rationalists was the basis of the founding of the United States. . . . If the terms of our contract have in fact been broken, Christian citizens may be compelled to force the government to return to its original understanding. . . . The writings of Thomas Jefferson, who spoke openly of the necessity of revolution, could also be called upon for support."
Colson stopped short of calling for an open rebellion, but he clearly viewed that as a distinct possibility/necessity in the near future, saying, "with fear and trembling, I have begun to believe that, however Christians in America gather to reach their consensus, we are fast approaching this point."

Now that Blackwater has essentially crossed the Rubicon with their unauthorized self-insertion in the Hurrican Katrina aftermath in New Orleans, their foot is in the door, their nose is in the tent, and their what-I-thought-were-illegal automatic weapons are at the ready for any "civil disturbance". Such as, say, the Democrats winning the White House and extending their control over both houses of Congress.

Those shitweasel nutjobs on the Religious Right might just make good on their threats and turn on the government. And if that happens, just who do you think Blackwater is going to help out? Certainly not those atheist commie feminazi abortionists in Congress and definitely not those of us out here in Left Blogistan who are struggling against tyranny.

Here's more from Scahill:

What is particularly disturbing about the "expanding role" of Blackwater specifically is the issue of the company's right-wing leadership, its proximity to a whole slew of conservative causes and politicians, its Christian fundamentalist agenda and secretive nature, and its deep and longstanding ties to the Republican Party, U.S. military, and intelligence agencies. Blackwater is quickly becoming one of the most powerful private armies in the world, and several of its top officials are extreme religious zealots, some of whom appear to believe they are engaged in an epic battle for the defense of Christendom. The deployment of forces under this kind of leadership in Arab or Muslim countries reinforces the worst fears of many in the Islamic world about a neo-Crusader agenda masquerading as a U.S. mission to "liberate" them from their oppressors.
What Blackwater seemingly advocates and envisions is a private army of God-fearing patriots, well paid and devoted to the agenda of U.S. hegemony—supported by far lower paid cannon fodder, foot soldiers from Third World countries, many of which have legacies of brutal U.S.-sponsored regimes or death squads. For its vaunted American forces, Blackwater has expanded the mercenary motivating factor (or rationalization) beyond simple monetary gain (though that remains a major factor) to a duty-oriented, patriotic justification. "This is not about business and widgets and making money, at least not in our company it is not," said Cofer Black. "If you're not willing to drink the Blackwater Kool-aid and be committed to supporting humane democracy around the world, then there's probably a better place" to go work than Blackwater, "because that's all we do," Taylor told The Weekly Standard.

Like I say, it's some scary stuff.

Blackwater: buy it, read it, give it as a gift, make every progressive person you know read it. Hell, even make every wingnut Rethug asshole you know read it -- they need it more than we do.

And if you still haven't got the picture, I'll let a fellow blogger from Washington State, The Broking Report have the last word:

I'm Back -- Tanned, Fit, Rested and Ready!

Well, maybe not all of those...

I spent my winter "vacation" smoking cheap cigars, drinking too much and eating to excess while visiting my children and grandchildren. Plus my son came down from Alaska for the holidays, and my wife says that the two of us together are hell on wheels...

And you can see the new look. It was time -- this blog had basically the same look since I started it way back in 2005, with a few tweaks here, a couple of moderations there, and like anything else, it was getting stale. I cast around for a new template, specifically one with a three-column layout, and thanks to Webtalks, I have one.

So here we are, facing a Brave New Year, with a presidential election coming up, and a lot to do to make sure a Democrat -- any Democrat -- wins the White House in 2008.

I've had some time to reflect on this and I've made some decisions: Regardless of who the Democratic nominee is, I will support him (or her) 100%, and I will work whole-heartedly for a Democratic victory in November.

You all know by now my thoughts and reservations about Hillary Clinton, but even I will suck it up, push it down, grab my jockstrap and hump the ruck for her.

Why? Well, I can sum that up in two words: Supreme Court.

Whoever the next president is, he or she will undoubtedly have the opportunity to make at least one and probably two (or more) Supreme Court nominations.

Even a Rethug-Lite president (Hillary) would nominate jurists who are vastly and incandescently better than the nominee that any of the potential Rethug presidents will send forward. And that, in and of itself, is reason enough to work for whoever the Dem nominee is.

Yes, even Hillary.

Going Dark for the Holidays

Too much to do, too little time. I'll be back after the New Year. In the meantime, thanks for reading and happy holidays to everyone.
--The F Man

Perry Kucinich -- RIP

News just in today, Perry Kucinich, the brother of Dennis Kucinich, was found dead in his home in Cleveland.

Our hearts go out to Dennis and the extended Kucinich family and our thoughts are with them at this time of grief.

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2500 2513 2532 2540 2546 2558 2571 2585 2597 2605 2619 2641 2710 2737 2758 2788 2809 2826 2865 2888 2906 2959 3006 3018 3025 3067 3087 3118 3132 3151 3166 3189 3210 3233 3245 3266 3299 3316 3337 3358 3387 3409 3444 3504 3519 3546 3577 3592 3611 3631 3683 3705 3725 3738 3760 3780 3795 3823 3830 3838 3845 3866 3875 3881 3886 3891 3896

Total coalition forces dead: 307
Total Iraqi Dead: 700,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 2291
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1752
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1695
Number of days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII: Only 1347

Number of days that the the Vice President has NOT shot a man in the face: 676
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 519.

It is still 390 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration.

More on "Johnny Taliban"

It's kind of surprising that it took this long for some "patriot" to comment on my Johnny Taliban post from back in October. My new good buddy "Bill" tries to make some cogent rebuttals to my post but of course he falls flat. In the meantime I have a little fun with him by throwing some of his "arguments" back in his face.

Check it out, and you might also benefit from reading my first post on John Walker Lindh, It's Not Good to be First.

Jeez, all you have to do is ask a couple of pointed questions and you're suddenly a supporter of the Taliban.

More on the Party of Satan

I've had a chance to do a little more research on this topic. Turns out that a well-known Satanic hand signal is the "Corna", which is made holding the two middle fingers down with the thumb so only the index and little finger are upright:

Our old friend Anton Sander LaVey can be seen prominently displaying it here:

The Religious Right didn't have a problem attacking The Beatles when a cartoon of John Lennon showed up with the Corna on the cover of The Yellow Submarine:

So where are they today when this kind of thing is common?

There's even more. Do a Google Image search for bush satanic hand signal and you'll get a million of them.

So, to answer my own question, here's an Xian website called Jesus is Savior that has dozens of photos of prominent people, all of them flashing the sign. Look for such prominent darlings of the Right as Pat Robertson, Dan Quayle, Jenna Bush, Dick(less) Cheney, Tom Ridge, and Amy Grant!!!

So what does it all mean?

Well, in the words of my favorite guru, Mister Natural

when asked that question: "It don't mean shit."

Buzzflash Photo Caption Challenge

Every week over at Buzzflash they have a "Caption This" challenge.

Here's this week's photo:

Drop by and make your suggestion. Each week they pick a random entry for a nice prize.

My favorite so far: "Is that a cruise missle in your pants or are you just glad to see me?"

Church-State News from North Carolina

There's a guy named M. Reza Salami who teaches at a local college in Greensboro, and he was recently stopped at a sobriety checkpoint and ticketed for having "open alcohol containers" in his vehicle.

Never mind the fact that Salami was on his way to the local recycler with a lot of those "open" containers -- after all, who's gonna take them to recycle when they're still unopened?

Salami made the news when he complained about a sticker in the car of the deputy who stopped him. The sticker was on the divider between the front and back seats.

It said "Jesus is Your Savior".

Salami -- who just happens to be Christian himself -- felt that the deputy's car is public property and is no place for such a blatant piece of religious propaganda.

He is right, and to his credit he filed a complaint with Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

And that's where his troubles started. The local yokels took to the wingnut airwaves, demanding that Salami be deported to Saudi Arabia (he is a naturalized American citizen) as a "terrorist" and worse.

There's a lot more. Read the story on the local newspaper's website, and remember that we must all remain vigilant if we want to preserve that Wall of Separation that is under attack from many directions.

And all props to Salami for doing the right thing. If more people had his courage and conviction and core belief in the US Constitution, we'd all be a lot better off.

Would You Hire This Man?

You're the personnel manager of a very large company, and you've got a guy whose résumé contains some of the following items:

· Ran for congress and lost.
· Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
· Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
· At least one conviction for drunk driving.
· AWOL from National Guard and deserted the military during a time of war.
· Refused to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.

Yeah, you've already guessed that this is part -- and a small part -- of the résumé of Baby Doc Bush.

There's a lot more. Check it out and see if you would hire a job applicant whose total work history consists of one fuckup after another, only to be bailed out by his daddy's pals.

The Party of Satan?

I'm usually not given to buying into tinfoil hat conspiracy theories, but this struck me as interesting.

I caught this on the Thom Hartmann show this morning. It seems that the Rethug official party logo has undergone some cosmetic changes since the BFEE took over this country.

Here's what it used to look like:

And here's what it's looked like for about the last seven years:

Notice the difference? Yeah, me neither before this morning. But take a closer look at those stars. On the old logo they are right-side-up -- see the single point at the top? Then look at the new logo and you'll see that the stars are upside down.

Yes, upside down. And that upside-down star, or pentacle, has been a symbol of Satan for a long time.

Don't believe me? Take a look at this:

That's the album art for a recording by one Anton Sander LaVey, founder of The Church of Satan.

Being a card-carrying Secular Humanist, I'm not sure what to make of all of this, but it seems to me that the Fundo Xians who make up a substantial Moron-American bloc within the Rethug Party ought to be more than a little concerned over this.

Sign On to Impeach Cheney

Florida Congressman Robert Wexler (D -- Naturally) has just about had it with the corporatist mainstream media protecting the chief assholes in the BFEE, and I don't blame him.

The MSM/SCLM has so far refused coverage of the calls for Cheney's Impeachment, so Wexler is now taking it to the streets -- in this case the blogosphere.

He's issued a call for those of us out here in Left Blogistan -- and everyone else -- to make our voices heard on this important issue.

Please join me in signing on to Wexler's call for hearings on impeaching Darth Cheney.

As of right now there have been 77,743 signatories, one of which is (of course) mine. Please drop by and make your voice heard as well. Let's show those fuckers in the MSM that the people (i.e. us) have a voice regardless of how much they want to ignore us.

And if you feel like taking an even stronger stand, see The People's Email Network for a longer form that you can complete and send to your own members of congress as well as your local media.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 1294 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown, Argentina and god-knows-where-else to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

And it's not just The Twins: ONLY ONE member of the extended Bush family has seen fit to volunteer for military service. Check out the Buzzflash analysis of the chickenshit Bush/Cheney extended family and see for yourself. There's even a photo taken in 2000 of the extended Bush family, complete with a whole lot of young fresh faces who seem to be of an age now to be eligible to enlist.

Little Georgie Bush, the son of Jebbie, has just enlisted in the Naval Reserve. He's going into the Officer Training Program, preparing to be ... an intelligence officer. Okay, the obvious jokes aside, what are the chances he's ever going to see Iraq?

And I see in the news that little Jenna is engaged to a joker named Henry Hager. Wanna bet that he won't be wearing a uniform anytime soon? Like ever? Unlike both husbands of the daughters of Lyndon Johnson, both of whom went into the service and were sent to Vietnam.

Bush and Cheney were cowards during Vietnam who sent other men off to die in their place. Now the next generation is doing its part, sending their own peers off to die instead of them.

Why can't the Twins be more like their royal counterparts in the UK? The British Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerra de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War) and Prince Harry, until the decision was made not to send him, was on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant. But even though he's not on his way to The Sandbox, he's still in uniform.

Will the Bush Twins follow his example?

No, they will not. They are fucking cowards like their father and their Uncle Dick(less) Cheney.

Be sure to check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

BTW, the twins are also still not pregnant with their own Snowflake Babies. If they can't join the service, the least they could do would be to get themselves impregnated with a couple of blastocytes that would otherwise go into the garbage.

Remember what Farnsworth always says: Baste 'em, don't waste 'em.

And Speaking of Xmas...

This is a heart-warming news story from my home town. This is a terrific way to celebrate Xmas. I've already emailed my own adult children with the suggestion that we do something similar next year.

After all, how many more t-shirts or bottles of exotic aftershave do I really need?

On the other hand, if we're talking about gift bottles of single-malt Scotch whisky, that's another story...

Celebrating Xmas? It Wasn't Always That Way

This is interesting, in light of the bogus "War on Xmas" drummed up out of nothing and manufactured out of whole cloth by such people as Bill Orally. Here's some historical perspective on the celebration of the "religious" holiday in America's past:

As Christmas draws near, Pastor John Foster won't be decorating a tree, shopping for last-minute gifts or working on a holiday sermon for his flock. After all, it's been 50 years since Christmas was anything more than a day of the week to him.
He's one of very few American Christians who follow what used to be the norm in many Protestant denominations -- rejecting the celebration of Christmas on religious grounds.
"People don't think of it this way, but it's really a secular holiday," said Foster, a Princeton-based pastor in the United Church of God. He last celebrated Christmas when he was 8.

Take that, Captain Felafel.

Halloween is Over

Somebody wanna tell Kindasleazy Rice to take off her mask?

What's that you say? That isn't a mask?

Woops, my bad.

Gotta Love that Liberal Media

In a not-surprising but still outrageous decision, the Des Moines Register Guard, sponsor of the presidential "debates" in Iowa, chose not to include Dennis Kucinich in its dog-and-pony-show Democratic "debate" this week.

The reason? Well, apparently it's because the Kucinich camp neglected to rent office space in Iowa. Therefore Dennis was not considered a "viable" candidate.

Bullshit! Give me a fucking break already. When you think about it, this isn't that far removed from a poll tax, the chief difference being that instead of a tax payable to the governmental authorities, it's a direct cost to the candidate -- if he wants to be considered "viable" he has to rent an office!

My best guess is that because Kucinich would win hands-down in an election that truly focused on the issues, that old "liberal media" can't stand it. They'd rather have the kind of stupid horse race that they are fostering among the so-called front runners rather than be seen promoting a candidate who really, truly has the best interest of this nation at heart.

Read this and see what you think.

Cards for Wounded Warriors

You know the drill: An elementary school class, or just a concerned citizen, will spend some time around Xmas writing letters and cards and sending them to a generic "wounded warrior" at a military hospital, like Walter Reed.

I can recall doing something similar when I was in grade school, sending a note to an anonymous recipient in a VA hospital. We all felt good about doing it, and when we even got a note back from the disabled veteran thanking us for our thoughts it made our day.

So it is with some concern that I have learned that those cards and letters are no longer being delivered to their intended recipients.

Apparently the brass/the suits are worried that those third-graders have somehow gotten ahold of a barrel of anthrax and are intent on finishing the job that "the terrorists" started. Or that somehow the recovering soldier will get a letter attacking him or her for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bullshit. I'd prefer to be charitable about it and think that this is just some overzealous underling at the Pentagon who has made this decision, but with everything we know about the Baby Doc Maladministration and its contempt for the rank and file military -- especially disabled veterans -- maybe not.

In the meantime, wasn't it nice of the Pentagon to let everyone know that those cards and letters addressed to those generic wounded warriors are just thrown away, without ever getting into the hands of those they were intended for? But I guess even that's asking too much from the most secretive administration in American history.

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2500 2513 2532 2540 2546 2558 2571 2585 2597 2605 2619 2641 2710 2737 2758 2788 2809 2826 2865 2888 2906 2959 3006 3018 3025 3067 3087 3118 3132 3151 3166 3189 3210 3233 3245 3266 3299 3316 3337 3358 3387 3409 3444 3504 3519 3546 3577 3592 3611 3631 3683 3705 3725 3738 3760 3780 3795 3823 3830 3838 3845 3866 3875 3881 3886 3891

Total coalition forces dead: 307
Total Iraqi Dead: 700,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 2284
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1745
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1688
Number of days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII: Only 1347

Number of days that the the Vice President has NOT shot a man in the face: 669
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 512.

It is still 393 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration.

Teacher Suspended over "Letter from Hell"

Here's some news from the Northern Tier: An 8th grade health class teacher in North Dakota was suspended for three weeks after he made a video entitled "Letter from Hell" a mandatory part of his class. And after a smart parent complained about it.

You probably won't be seeing this one in the MSM/SCLM anytime soon. All I could find were a bunch of local news stories about it.

This so-called Letter from Hell, in case you are wondering, is a fundo Xian propaganda piece which is supposedly narrated by a dead teenager who is now in hell and bewailing the fact that he did not come to know Jesus when he was alive, and blaming his Xian best friend for not introducing the two of them.

I haven't seen the whole thing, but I did give it a try. As you can imagine, it's stupid beyond belief, and even the little bit that I managed to keep down was enough to convince me that the teacher had stepped way over the line. I'm glad that he was suspended for three weeks because of showing it, but that's not enough. At least a couple of months without pay would have been more like it. That would send a strong message to those infiltrating fifth-column public school "educators" who are trying to push their Fundo Faith down the throats of America's children that we as a society will not stand for it.

As I do periodically, I urge everyone to join Americans United for Separation of Church and State and let's do all we can to keep that Wall in place. And it would be a good idea for all parents -- all taxpayers -- to regularly monitor what is going down in our children's classrooms. These people are insidious and they won't stop trying to push their agenda. It's up to all of us to prevent them from spreading it inside the public schools.

Up Next: Michael Vick as ASPCA Dog Owner of the Year

What the fuck is up with the ABA? They just named Alberto "Torquemada" Gonzales as their Lawyer of the Year. And there's his goofy-looking picture on the cover of The ABA Journal.

Well, isn't that special. The ABA cited, of all things, Time Magazine choosing to put Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin on their covers as their "Man of the Year" as a precedent for putting Gonzo on their own cover.

And when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Find the worst example of lawyering and put him up as some kind of negative warning. You know, "Don't do like he did, kids. You might end up with your picture on a magazine cover."

Jesus, what is wrong with those people? After Michael Vick on the cover of Animal Watch, how about Britney Spears for Parenting, or Mary Kay LeTourneau for Educator of the Year on the cover of Teacher Magazine?

Baby Doc the Speechalist

My wife stumbled on this video and immediately alerted me to it. Watch Baby Doc stumble over the basics of English, and then find out what is behind it. And you thought it was just because he was stupid...

The Tang Shop -- Do Not Patronize

I don't ordinarily use this blog for personal crap like this, but I'm so pissed off right now at an online merchant (part of Yahoo! Shopping, no less) that I want to warn everyone not to patronize them.

In early September 07 I purchased an external battery for my PDA from The Tang Shop (order #61432, TID:4729-GXXM-1009). The picture on the website showed the battery I thought I was going to get, but when I got it, it was not as advertised and it would not work with my PDA. They were initially happy to take it back and told me that when they received it, they would send the item that was actually pictured on the website, the one that I thought I had ordered.

So I returned the battery -- with postal insurance -- and first they told me that they didn't receive it. After two separate trips to the post office, I found that the PO actually did deliver it (thank god I insured it!).

Then on Oct 17 they said that a replacement would be shipped "within the next few days". On Nov 19 they informed me that "a replacement request has been processed".

It has yet to arrive. In the meantime I took two long plane flights for which I needed the item, but of course I didn't have it.

Finally on 12-3 I emailed them again to complain and I have yet to receive a response.

And Yahoo! Shopping? Basically their response was "tough shit". They did tell me, however, that they would "contact the merchant" with my complaint. Big fucking deal that is.

Needless to say, I am not a happy consumer, and at this point I have to say that I will NEVER buy anything from Tang Shop again. Nor will I buy anything from an online merchant in the Yahoo! Shopping network. If they can't step up and reign in one of their rogue merchants, then they do not deserve my business, either.

Oh, and this is not an isolated incident. See for example this complaint, and especially this one, wherein the Tang Shop pulled the same we-didn't-get-it-in-the-mail shit as they tried to pull with me.

Ultimately, I guess, it's my own damn fault for not checking them out more thoroughly.

Bottom line: Caveat emptor.

We Found Who's Responsible: It's You. It's Me.

At first I thought this had to be some kind of a joke, but it turns out it's true. NBC's David Gregory actually said that -- get this -- bloggers are to blame for the polarization in politics!

Bloggers?! Jesus, give me a fucking break.

I could go on a rampage here and start screaming out all of the ways that this is just wrong, but I see that fellow blogger Words of Power has already done it for me:

Yes, of course, it was the bloggers who polarized the US body politic.
The bloggers spent $50 million plus on Ken Starr's rogue investigation, which was coordinated with the work of the privately funded, reich-wing "Arkansas Project."
The bloggers shackled Susan McDougal and sent her to jail.
The bloggers impeached a popular President at a time of peace and economic prosperity over testimony in a civil suit involving sexual intercourse.
The bloggers issued that voluminous report on Bill Clinton's dalliance with Monica Lewinsky, and posted it on the WWW.

And that's just for starters. Power goes on in that vein for a long ways and never repeats himself once.

Way to go, my brother blogger. And now, as you know, I gotta be gettin' back to my 24/7 mission of polarization.

So much politics, so little time...

[Thanx to my good friend BAC over at Yikes! for the lead]

We've Found the Pimple on Limbaugh's Ass -- It's Tom Tancredo

Some interesting news from Buzzflash today: Bottom-feeding-tier presidential candidate Tom Tancredo (R-Chickenhawk), congressman out of Colorado, was eligible to serve in Vietnam but didn't go.

Tancredo, a war-hawk on Iraq and a drum-beater on Iran, apparently was no different when it came to Vietnam: He supported the war way back then, but he didn't have to go fight it, either.

The reason: Tancredo had been treated for "depression" when he was a teenager and was classified 1-Y by his draft board.

Getting a 1-Y classification was not the same as 4-F, but it was almost a golden parachute. For a long time I was classified 1-Y myself, but I had to keep reporting, on a regular and frequent basis, for draft physicals until they finally got tired of seeing me, reclassified me 1-A and drafted my ass.

The point being that a 1-Y pretty much kept you from getting drafted until the condition was corrected -- or corrected itself.

So Tancredo -- like Limbaugh -- was a chickenhawk who was happy to cheer us on from the sidelines, but wasn't so gung ho that he was willing to enlist and go to Vietnam.

Incidentally, back in the day, a 1-Y classification kept you from actually being drafted, but the vast majority of those 1-Ys were for conditions that, like Limbaugh's ass pimple, would not have prevented you from enlisting in the service. Especially the army, who would take you as long as you were room temperature, regardless of your draft status.

And, as one of the commenters on the Buzzflash story says, if Tom Eagleton was "unfit" for the vice-presidency way back in '72 because he had been treated for depression, why is Tancredo now suitable to be president, having been treated for the same thing?

The answer: Because Rethugs have absolutely no problem with their own hypocrisy.

Okay, I Just Can't Help It

I'm blowing my cover as one of America's premiere bad-attitude pissed-off veterans, but this is a gotta-see video. It features two of my favorite animals: A kitten and a crow. And warning, the Awwwwwww!!! factor is way off the scale.

It's an incredible story. And enjoy it because you won't be getting very many of these out of me. I do have a reputation to uphold after all....

Joe Wilson on Scooter's Dropped Appeal

Here's what Ambassador Joseph Wilson had to say to the news that our boy Scooter has chosen not to appeal his recent conviction:

By dropping his appeal, Mr. Libby has finally abandoned the pretense that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice. Mr. Libby's decision suggests, however, that he may have received word that President Bush plans to pardon him shortly. Of course, a pardon is completely at odds with the president's earlier claim that he would not tolerate anyone on his team leaking a covert CIA officer's identity, but this is the kind of inconsistency representative of this administration. Given the White House's extensive and continuing efforts to cover up how and why Valerie Wilson's identity was leaked to the press, the only way that remains to get at the truth in this sordid matter is through our civil suit against Libby, Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Richard Armitage.

Go get 'em, Joe! Even though everyone knows that it's pretty much a done deal that Baby Doc is going to pardon the slimy little fucker, all props to you and Valerie for continuing to hold this maladministration's feet to the fire for their treasonous actions. We'll be watching this snake its way through the courts and cheering for you every step of the way.

[Thanx to Buzzflash for posting this alert on their website.]

Today is Write Your Newspaper for Kucinich Day

The folks over at the Kucinich campaign have designated today as the National Write Your Newspaper for Kucinich Day, and I was more than happy to do my part.

Here is my letter to the editor of my local newspaper:

I've been following the election news closely, and I've discovered some interesting facts. Americans in general hold a majority opinion on the following issues, and for Democrats that majority opinion is huge:
1. Ending the illegal occupation of Iraq
2. Creating a universal coverage national health policy
3. Withdrawing from NAFTA and protecting American jobs
4. Impeaching Dick Cheney
It is troubling that only one candidate is in step with the American people on all of these issues, yet he has repeatedly been given short shrift, not only by the mainstream corporate-controlled so-called "Liberal Media" but also, sadly, by many members of his own party.
That candidate is Dennis Kucinich.
Do a Google search for "choose your candidate" and you will find a number of links to several "blind taste tests" of all the candidates. Answer a dozen easy questions and you will be presented with a ranked array of the candidates who most closely represent your beliefs and values. You might be surprised at what you learn.
I am a Vietnam veteran who is opposed to the Iraq war, and I say that the best way to end the Quagmire in the Desert is to elect Dennis Kucinich president.

So I encourage all of you to send your own letters -- those of you who, along with me, support Kucinich, of course. And feel free to pirate as much of my letter as you like. It's one of the many free services offered here at One Pissed Off Veteran.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 1287 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown, Argentina and god-knows-where-else to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

And it's not just The Twins: ONLY ONE member of the extended Bush family has seen fit to volunteer for military service. Check out the Buzzflash analysis of the chickenshit Bush/Cheney extended family and see for yourself. There's even a photo taken in 2000 of the extended Bush family, complete with a whole lot of young fresh faces who seem to be of an age now to be eligible to enlist.

Little Georgie Bush, the son of Jebbie, has just enlisted in the Naval Reserve. He's going into the Officer Training Program, preparing to be ... an intelligence officer. Okay, the obvious jokes aside, what are the chances he's ever going to see Iraq?

And I see in the news that little Jenna is engaged to a joker named Henry Hager. Wanna bet that he won't be wearing a uniform anytime soon? Like ever? Unlike both husbands of the daughters of Lyndon Johnson, both of whom went into the service and were sent to Vietnam.

Bush and Cheney were cowards during Vietnam who sent other men off to die in their place. Now the next generation is doing its part, sending their own peers off to die instead of them.

Why can't the Twins be more like their royal counterparts in the UK? The British Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerra de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War) and Prince Harry, until the decision was made not to send him, was on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant. But even though he's not on his way to The Sandbox, he's still in uniform

Will the Bush Twins follow his example?

No, they will not. They are fucking cowards like their father and their Uncle Dick(less) Cheney.

Be sure to check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

BTW, the twins are also still not pregnant with their own Snowflake Babies. If they can't join the service, the least they could do would be to get themselves impregnated with a couple of blastocytes that would otherwise go into the garbage.

Remember what Farnsworth always says: Baste 'em, don't waste 'em.