Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Happy Holidays, Everyone

I'm going dark until after the new year. I need the R&R very badly. Thanks to everyone who continues to read this blog, and I'll be back after the holiday.

See you then, and stay progressive!

Friday, December 22, 2006

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

Total coalition forces dead: 247
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1928
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1379
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1328
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: 311
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 157.

It is still 782 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

MORE Troops???

Let's see now. The war in Iraq has been a total debacle, an unmitigated disaster, a supreme clusterfuck, claiming nearly 3000 American lives, and all Baby Doc can do is ... call for more troops?

Let's throw some gasoline on the fire and try to put it out. Let's pour a thousand gallons of water over the top of that drowning man to try to save him. I remember an old bumper sticker from the Vietnam era: Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.

It's like the November elections -- as clear a referendum on the Iraq war as we could have seen -- didn't happen.

William Arkin, writing in the normally lickspittle WaHoPo, calls it out in his column today. And be sure to check out the blog posts at the bottom of the page. Unbelievably, there are still people who are so out of touch with reality that they are still supporting The Smirking Chimp.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 943 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.

Come on, you two. Do your patriotic duty. Your daddy is standing there with egg on his face. Think what your enlistment into the military could do for his poll numbers with the American people.

And everybody else, 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.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Better Living Through Electricity

We finally have our electricity on, after days of cold and darkness following the big windstorm of 2006.

On Thursday evening, at the height of the windstorm, our power went off, but I still managed to make it to work on Friday. Only a skeleton crew actually showed up, though, so we sat around and yakked like college students in a dorm bull session, and then midmorning I went out on a food run to the only fast food place in town that was open, Jack in the Box, where I sat in the drive-up window line for nearly 45 minutes to get a sackful of delicious breakfasts of sausage-on-a-croissant.

So I spent a nice warm day at the office while She Who Must Be Obeyed was sitting at home, freezing her ass off and getting more and more disgruntled.

When I finally rolled in around 4:00 in the afternoon, she was more than a little surly, not to mention negative and bitter.

"What's up?" I said, casually tossing my hat and scarf onto the footstool. I really should have known from the look on her face that she had not had a good day.

"You want to know 'what's up'?" she hissed. "I've been here freezing to death while you've been sitting around your nice warm office drinking coffee and eating croissants."

"And surfing the Internets," I said. "But this isn't so bad. Think of it as an adventure, like winter camping. What's for supper?"

"I don't DO winter camping!" she screamed, smashing a lit Coleman lantern over my head.

So, after I smothered the flames under my woolen stocking cap and drew some eyebrows back on my face, I took her out for a nice dinner at one of the downtown restaurants that had its power on and then we came home and layered ourselves with winter clothing. A couple glasses of wine later we were all right and amused ourselves listening to mp3 versions of Xmas shows from the golden days of radio (Jack Benny, Life of Riley, etc).

On Saturday we got away, and today the power is back on, the house is warm, and all's right with the world. At least this little corner of it. Two streets away they still are in the dark. It's all in the luck of the draw. And where the Suits from Puget Sound Energy live, apparently. Those neighborhoods seemed to get their lights back on almost immediately.

But I'm sure that was just a coincidence.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

A Step Back from the Brink of Fascism

One of the first orders of the day for Democrats ought to be a rollback of the fascist laws and regulations enacted by the glassy-eyed goosestepping followers of Der Monkey Fuehrer, and that appears to be exactly where they are headed.

According to Patrick Leahy, the new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the wiretap law will be first up. Let's hope that it doesn't stop there, that this is only the beginning, and don't forget that it was the very same committee that in 1974 was ready to vote articles of impeachment against another corrupt and crooked Rethug, Richard Nixon.

I Thought the Election Was Over

But it wasn't: There was still a runoff election to be decided in Texas 23. And I'm happy to relate that the Democratic challenger, Ciro Rodriguez, stomped long-term Rethug Rep Henry Bonilla, to give the Dems yet another seat.

Now all they have to do is govern. Something that we haven't seen a lot of in the last six years of rubber-stamp Lackeys for Baby Doc.

BTW, that runoff election was held on, of all days, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most important dates in Mexico. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that the date was chosen in a deliberate attempt to suppress the Hispanic vote, a demographic that was seen to prefer Rodriguez over Bonilla.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Take That, Swifties!

News from the Federal Elections Commission today: The Swift Boat Liars for Bush have been hit with a $230,000 fine for their over-the-top campaign of deceit against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Raw Story has the details, along with the other guilty parties, including (regrettably) MoveOn.org.

But it was the Swifties who got the biggest hit, and deservedly so. Maybe this will be a lesson to the backers and hangers-on of the Swifties that they need to dial it back a little.

But chances are they won't. And why should they? When it comes right down to it, in their warped world view, a small fine is worth it to keep Baby Doc in power. Besides, the BFEE will I am sure open its vault and pay the Swifties back for the amount of the fine.

It's just chump change to those fuckers.

Violation of Patent Rights

I like to play with my cats using a laser pointer. They chase it around the room and generally have almost as much fun as I do -- but inevitably they give up before I do, once they figure out that I'm having a good time...

So how was I supposed to know that every time I do this, I am infringing on someone's actual patented idea.

No wonder patent law reform is such a hot button issue in this country. But for every ridiculously granted patent for a frivolously obvious idea, there are hundreds of legitimate inventors who will suffer if the laws aren't revised in the right way. From the looks of the proposals, the "reform" will benefit the rich and the powerful (e.g. Microsoft), to the detriment of the rest of us.

Yeah, now there's a big surprise.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 936 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.



Come on, you two. Do your patriotic duty. Your daddy is standing there with egg on his face. Think what your enlistment into the military could do for his poll numbers with the American people.

And everybody else, 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.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

USA Today Calls for President to Resign

Here's what USA Today had to say:

Has the President so failed in his duties to the nation that he should leave office? The answer to that question is yes, and the time for the President to leave is not after months of continued national embarrassment but now. [The President] should resign.
How about that for a hard-hitting opinion piece? They pretty much call it as we see it, don't they?

Well, it's just too fucking bad that this was published on Sept. 15, 1998, and "The President" was Bill Clinton.

So where are these papers who called for Clinton's resignation over one little lie about getting a blow job -- a lie in answer to a question that should never have been asked -- now that Baby Doc has been shown to be a criminally insane megalomaniac operating outside all normal bounds of reality? Major dailies such as the Seattle Times, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Des Moines Sunday Register, the San Jose Mercury-News, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution all called for Clinton to resign. Not one has called for Bush to resign.

Of course that would mean a President Cheney, and who wants that?

(Thanks to Beggars Can Be Choosers for the heads up on this.)

And BTW, does anyone still believe in coincidences when it comes to this crowd in the White House? I don't want to go all tin-foil-hat here, but does anyone remember that the Starr Report was issued on ... September 11? I'm just asking.

Friday, December 08, 2006

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

Total coalition forces dead: 247
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1914
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1365
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1314
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: 297
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 143.

It is still 796 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Lying Legion Chief Claims to be Vietnam Vet

It used to be that the membership of the American Legion consisted of veterans who were actually in a war on foreign soil. I don't know exactly when that changed, but you'd at least think that the Supreme Kommandant of that fine organization would be an actual war veteran.

But not one Paul Morin, who ran for the office using the statement in his official bio as "Morin is Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Army".

The closest Morin got to Vietnam was ... Fort Dix, NJ.

I've been a stickler over the years about who is and who is not a Vietnam veteran. To my way of thinking, if you weren't boots-on-the-ground, butt-in-the-air or feet-in-the-water, then you really can't call yourself a Vietnam veteran. Period. You are a Vietnam-era veteran. Not that there's anything wrong with that, let me make that perfectly clear. Those of us who were drafted had a chance to be sent anywhere. Several friends of mine who were drafted around the same time as me spent their time stateside, and a lucky few got to go to Germany. We were all in the service and we all served honorably. But they don't describe themselves as "Vietnam veterans".

Wannabes like Morin make a mockery of the service of real Vietnam vets and he ought to be ashamed of himself. This is yet another in a long line of reasons why I have never joined -- and will never join -- the American Legion, the VFW, etc.

Mary Cheney Pregnant!

I don't know how it can get any better. Mary Cheney, who pretended to be pissed off at both Kerry and Edwards during the last presidential campaign for "outing" her as a Lesbian (which, as we all know, was completely bogus -- she was openly gay for years before that), is now the proud bearer of her very own fetus.

Cheney, who has lived with Heather Poe, her same-sex partner, for the last 15 years, has been an embarrassment and a thorn in the side of the Xian fundos backing the BFEE for years. And has been living proof that being gay is not a "lifestyle choice", that with all the advantages accruing to her growing up in a religiously active politically conservative family she is still gay.

The details are sketchy, of course, but we can only hope that she saved one of the "baste-'em-don't-waste'em" snowflake babies that would otherwise be flushed down the toilet.

But I'm guessing that she didn't. All that Focus on the Fetus talk is just that: Big talk. When the chips are down, the little embryos have served their propaganda purpose and Gay Mary will have gone to a sperm bank to get the "perfect" child.

She and her partner, BTW, now live in Virginia, which just passed an anti-gay rights law. What that means is that while Baby Snowflake might have two mommies, one of them will have absolutely NO parental rights.

And I am assuming that Mary and her father The Dick are perfectly happy with that arrangement. After all, it's an article of faith for the Repugnican Party. But I do feel sorry for Heather Poe. She will have no rights at all when it comes to that baby. On the bright side, though, she also won't be stuck for child support when she and Mary get a divorce have a legal separation break up.

And I'm sure that's one more thing that the anti-gay-marriage crowd is happy about -- abandoned children who are not supported by the absent parent.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Iraq: One By One They Finally Cough Up the Truth

The Independent from the UK is always an interesting read, to get news from a non-US, non-SCLM perspective. They are have an intriguing list of individuals, from Colin Powell to Jack Straw to Donald Rumsfeld, who are finally telling the truth about Iraq.

See the story and then wonder why John Kerry was called a "flip-flopper" by many of these same fuckers.

And why Baby Doc and The Poodle still remain strangely silent...

Save Your Hearing

I came home from Vietnam with some significant hearing loss, mainly in my right ear, the result of an M-16 on full rock-n-roll right next to my head one night when the Jeep I was riding in got ambushed.

I also love music, and I love it turned up loud. Which can create additional problems with your hearing if you've joined the iPod revolution.

While my mp3 player is not an actual iPod, it is essentially the same thing: a 1 gig mp3 player with headphones, and I have to be careful when I turn up the volume.

All of his isn't new, but it's being newly stressed in a new report from the Mayo Clinic. For all of us old geezers who already had hearing loss, the news is pretty grim. It appears to be worse if you use those tiny little "earbud" headphones jammed into your ear canal.

Take some time to read the article, and then consider what I did to deal with it.

I bought some over-the-ear noise-cancelling headphones from Sony (only $125 and worth every penny; Bose, the Rolls Royce of headphones, can possibly be better, but not $150 better) which have a noise-cancelling circuit built in. Consequently I can drown out the external noise -- I work in a particularly loud office with some annoyingly irritating coworkers -- without having to crank up the volume.

Of course just not wearing them is an option, but I'm afraid that if I did that, you'd be seeing the breaking news alerts: "Vietnam vet goes beserk, film at eleven".

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

VA Spending Too Slowly on Mental Health

In another news-that-isn't-news story out of the mismanaged Dept of Veterans Affairs, a new report faults the VA for not spending money already allocated for the mental health care of veterans.

Jesus, what the fuck IS it with the Rethugs? First they won't fund the VA at the levels needed, and then when they slapped around by a feisty Mom-in-Tennis-Shoes (Washington Senator Patty Murray) and finally, grudgingly, open the purse a little bit, their flunkies over at the VA won't spend the money.

Like I've said before, the Repugnican Party doesn't give a shit about America's veterans or its active duty military. The sad part is that they now are shameless about it. They used to give us at least some lip service, but now they've even given up on that pretense.

Mandatory funding for VA health care? I'll support that, but it had better include mandatory spending, too.

Taking the Oath

Some wingnut talkshow host by the name of Dennis Prager, whoever the fuck that is, has tried to stir up a little religio-racist tempest by saying that newly-elected Muslim congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) has refused to take the oath of office on a Bible and will use a Quran instead.

Oh my god! It's the end of civilization as we know it!

Naturally this is red meat to the Moron-American/Racist-Knuckledragger audience that these guys naturally play to, and it's had its desired effect. Now the MSM has picked up on it, repeating the statement that Ellison has said he'll use the Quran, and the left is now weighing in with a defense of religious liberty, blah blah blah.

Too bad that no one even bothers to do the slightest amount of research, or they would have learned that NO ONE SWEARS ON A BIBLE when they take the oath of office.

Back in the day, when I was still an aspiring hack, we were a drunken cynical lot but even we could be counted on to do at least a minimum of research on a story.

But that's too much to expect now. The wingnuts lie. They lie all the time. They will be lying even more now that their party is no longer in power in the marbled halls of Congress, and the goddamn MSM/SCLM will continue to be enablers and allow them to get away with it.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 929 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

But now it's even worse -- they've been asked to leave Argentina, of all places, because they've been partying too much. Argentina, previously known for harboring Adolph Eichmann and other Nazi war criminals! It must be bad if even Argentina is kicking you to leave...

Used to be the best thing for a couple of troublemaking slacker offspring was a hitch in the service. There used to be a saying in my family: There are two kinds of Farnsworth boys, those who have been in the Navy and those the judge hasn't sent there yet. (Of course, iconoclast that I am, I had to go into the Army.)

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, December 01, 2006

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

Total coalition forces dead: 247
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1907
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1358
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1307
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: 290
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 136.

It is still 803 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Freedom is Slavery

In an actual speech before, of all things, something called the Loeb First Amendment Award Dinner in New Hampshire, our boy Newt Gingrich called for restrictions on ... free speech!

Not only that, but he also said that the concepts of the separation of church and state and campaign finance reform be "rethought"... Whatever that means.

He also wants to shut down various websites that he thinks enable the terrorists. Read the Keith Olbermann commentary on MSNBC and see for yourself what a slimy motherfucker Gingrich really is.

This is from a guy who was two heartbeats away from the presidency when he was Speaker of the House. A guy who still harbors presidential aspirations. And sadly he embodies a concept that is rampant in Rethug circles: If freedom is to be abused it must be taken away. Oh sure, they'll go to great pains to couch in it terms that the Moron-American voting bloc will swallow (fighting terrorism, thwarting child pornographers, etc etc), but bottom line the ruling class in this country has never been comfortable with the whole concept of democracy.

Keep an eye on them, because they are not going to just fold their tents and steal away in the dark. They are still with us and are girding their loins for another big fight. Let's be prepared to give it to them.

Pulling the Twins Out a Bad Move

According to Don Asmussen, whose comic strip Bad Reporter I read regularly on the SF Gate website, pulling the Bush Twins out of Argentina will make the situation even worse.

James Baker has been called in to help with their checkout time, and the neocons fear that it will be seen as a sign of weakness.

Asmussen is a smart-ass know-it-all whose sense of humor lies somewhere along the lines of dropping firecrackers into Halloween bags and waxing the steps at a nursing home.

In short, someone just like me. No wonder I like his stuff so much.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

It's a Civil War, Stupid

Finally NBC and its cable cohort, MSNBC, are calling a spade a spade. That nebulous violence that has gripped Iraq since shortly after the US invasion is now, in the NBC lexicon, a civil war.

The White House and its thinning ranks of apologist can go on calling it whatever they want in that Bizarro-world alternate universe they live in. The rest of the world knows -- and has known for a long time -- that it is, by any rational definition of the term, a civil war.

But that's the same knuckledragging mentality that continues to insist that the American Civil War was not a civil war, either: they insist on calling it "The War Between the States" (when the diehards in the south aren't calling it privately the War of Yankee Aggression).

I guess they just can't help it. Stupidity is genetic.

"Hey, don't blame me," Baby Doc says. "I'ts Al Qaeda's fault. Yeah, that's it. Al Qaeda. Heh heh heh..."

Monday, November 27, 2006

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 921 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

The Secret Service can't even protect them from purse snatchers, so it isn't like they are any more secure outside the military.

Come on, you two. Do your patriotic duty.

Everyone, 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.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

It's Now Official -- Longer than WWII

As of today, the BFEE has been at war in Iraq for 1348 days.

It was only 1347 days from Pearl Harbor to the end of World War II.

Baby Doc's next goal: Longer than Vietnam.

It was 3918 days between the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, and the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Proof that We Can't Relax

Just because the Dems won in the recent election, it doesn't mean that the autocratic neofascist dictatorship of the BFEE is somehow over -- hobbled, crippled, reigned in.

No it is not, and you don't have to go any farther than this recent story about two New York men charged with terrorism.

So what did they do? Blow up a bridge? Bring down a jet? Stomp red white and blue kittens to death?

Good guesses all, but no. What these two did was the heinous crime-against-humanity of providing satellite television customers in the US with a Hezbollah TV channel!

I'm so old that I can remember when the US sharply and roundly criticized the Soviet Union for arresting its citizens for the crime of listening to the Voice of America on the radio. Now we're on the other side of the street, enforcing mind control on our own citizens, and arresting people for Orwellian thoughtcrime.

The rightwing in the country has always been against the free marketplace of ideas (for example, the Communist Party was outlawed, the works of Karl Marx were banned from the US mail along with birth control information, naked pictures and steamy fiction) so it's not a new story. It's more of the same, and we need to be always vigilant. How far are we, really, from a 21st Century reenactment of the Palmer Raids?

Monday, November 20, 2006

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 914 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

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

BTW, they 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.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

The More Things Change...

Like I always say, you can't make this shit up.

Trent Lott (R-Mizzippi) has finally made a comeback, back from the dead, back from the good ole days when he praised Strom Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat rebellion whose the only campaign platform plank being Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregration Forever.

"I'm proud to say my state voted for him, and if the rest of the country had, we wouldn'ta had all these problems we've had neither" Trent said during a tribute to the old racist a few years back.

For that little mispeak, Trentie lost his job as Senate Majority Leader. But, to show that you just can't keep a good racist down in the Rethug Party, he's been rehabilitated and now has a new job in the new senate.

Trent will be ... [wait for it; drumroll] ... the Minority Whip!

Friday, November 17, 2006

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

Total coalition forces dead: 246
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1893
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1344
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1293
Number of days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII: Only 1347

NOTE: This means that just four days from now, on Tuesday, The Chimperor will have been at war in Iraq longer than this nation took to win World War II.
Think about that...

Number of days that the the Vice President has NOT shot a man in the face: 276
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 122.

It is still 817 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Kick 'em When They're Down

That, in modern parlance, is one of the tenets of Machiavelli's seminal work, The Prince, and so I note the great irony of Donald Rumsfeld, poster boy for the Mayberry Machiavellis who took over the Republican Party, being brought up on war crimes charges.

In Germany.

I guess it is still too early to expect us to clean our own house, but I'm willing to take justice wherever I can get it. And Germany does seem an appropriate place to have the crimes of Von Rumsfeld exposed.

And, in an unrelated story, I'm sure that it's just a coincidence that Rummy has canceled plans to attend the NATO Summit in Latvia...

Heh heh heh.

What's Going on Here?

Now that I've had a few days away from the fray and I've had some time to relax and reflect, it suddenly dawns on me that something isn't quite right with this whole election.

Two years ago I had the sneaking feeling that Kerry and the top Dems had thrown the 2004 election.

Now I'm getting the same feeling about the Rethugs. This whole thing with Rummy leaving the very next day seems very odd to me, and even odder is that lame Baby Doc excuse that he didn't want to inject the Iraq War into the political process.

Say what?

Okay, so you couple that with the amount of money that the Rethug party poured into Lieberman's coffers -- at the expense of their own candidate, and you end up with what could be seen as an intentional attempt to give it up to the Dems.

So what do these fuckers know that we don't know?

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Going Dark

I'm leaving on a much-needed R&R to San Diego for the long weekend. I'll be back on Tuesday.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Jeez, Does it Get Any Better Than This?

I was already on Cloud Nine since last night when they called the House for the Dems. Today I learn that Rummy is gone.

Despite the fact that Baby Doc, as recently as Monday, was giving him one of his patented "heckuva-job" praises. Which, looking back (in retrospect), I should have picked up on: Whenever Baby Doc praises someone, it means that they are about to fall on their sword.

Now the icing on the cake will be when Montana and Virginia are finalized for the Dems, we have a clear majority in the Senate to go with the substantial majority in the House, and the subpoenas start flying.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to get a Democatic majority in the House, and especially to all the hard workers in Virginia who did so much to elect Jim Webb.

And this thanks goes extra-specially to my good friend Tom Keefe, who worked tirelessly night and day to elect Jim Webb. Way to go, buddy!

Postsvcript: Now, watch for the de-stalinization of Rummy; now that he's out, the BFEE will be blaming him for everything, from the failed Iraq policy to the disappearance of Judge Crater.

And to make matters worse, the word on the street has it that Cheney has asked Rummy to go hunting with him this weekend...

First Muslim Elected to Congress

In a race that has been more or less flying under the radar, Minnesota elected the first Muslim member of congress yesterday with the election day victory of Keith Ellison in the Minneapolis-metro 5th Congressional District.

This can only be a good thing, to have a practicing Muslim taking a seat in the House of Representatives. Even though I am as non-religious (many would go further, saying I am anti-religious) as they come, I see the increased diversity in our congressional representatives as positive. Whatever we as a nation can do to dispel the stereotypes, both abroad and at home, that people carry, the better off we will be.

Our House of Representatives should be exactly that: A body that is truly representative of the American people. Sorry folks, but we are not -- and have never been -- all white, all male, all heterosexual and all christian. It's about time our representatives were truly representative.

By the way, I guess we don't really have to add that Ellison is a Democrat, do we?

Democrats Victorious!

Way to go, Dems! Now we need to concentrate on getting things done: A raise in the minimum wage, a speedy extraction from Iraq, universal single-payer health care, shoring up Social Security, all of these are high-list agenda items for the Democrats. Nancy Pelosi has a "hundred hour" agenda that includes most of the so-called "liberal" agenda.

Here's hoping that she can use the heady atmosphere surrounding the election to push through most of that agenda.

Let's all support her in her goals. Send her an email today telling her that you support what she is doing.

The Dems now can claim, in the immortal (and erroneous) words of Baby Doc Bush, "we have political capital and we intend to spend it".

Go for it!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Be Sure to Vote


Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 895 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, November 03, 2006

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

Total coalition forces dead: 239
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1879
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1327
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1289
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: 262
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 108.

It is still 829 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Vote Democratic next Tuesday!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Bus Driver Fired for Flipping Bush the Bird

It happened last June when Baby Doc came to my home state to raise money from wealthy Repugnicans in the affluent suburban Seattle East Side. The motorcade went past some stopped school buses with waving children and one disgruntled bus driver, who just happened to register her displeasure with Fearless Leader in the time-honored one-finger salute.

From there the story get confused, but it appears that Washington's own Dave Reichert (R-Tattletale) snitched on the driver to the Issaquah school board and things spiraled out of control, to the point where the driver ended up getting fired for it.

The bus driver has filed suit for unlawful termination, but leaving aside all that "was it appropriate in front of the children" nonsense, I find it more than a little ironic that this bus driver was discharged for using a gesture that Baby Doc himself is famous for.

For example, see this video.

And there are more examples, if you care to seek them out.

Mind you, this is from a man who promised he would bring "dignity" back to the White House.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

A Cheap Shot? Yeah, Maybe. So What?

Okay, maybe it was a cheap shot. But it was a good one nonetheless. An actual constituent of Virginia's George Allen (R-Macaca) named Michael Stark had the temerity to ask the blowhard senator at a campaign stop "Why did you spit on your first wife, George?" For his efforts, he was roughed up by several Allen bodyguards thugs supporters who grabbed him in a choke hold and wrestled him to the ground.

Okay, so it's a first cousin to "have you stopped beating your wife", and in the words of Allen's first wife, a "baseless cheap shot", but is anyone really willing to go to the mat on it being baseless? After all, Allen and wife number one, acting in collusion, petitioned to have the divorce records sealed.

And that, in itself, ought to raise some red flags with the media.

But leave it to the SCLM: They just waltzed on by -- "lah de dah, doo-de-dah, nothing more to see here" -- only to pounce on the dirty tricks campaign launched by the Allen camp when the publicized the allegedly salacious excerpts of several of Jim Webb's novels. (BTW, the wingnuts have got a lot of fucking nerve on that score--I don't see them publicizing any of that steamy girl-on-girl sex from Lynn Cheney's Lesbian Love Sisters stories).

Anyway, back to Mike Stark. He is a resident of Virginia and he had a right to ask his senator a question; Allen's thugs went way overboard in their overreaction to the question. After all, at this point in the campaign Allen ought to be prepared for anything.

But it just goes to show you: The Rethugs can dish it out but they sure can't take it.

The Day After Halloween

It seems like year after year we get fewer and fewer trick-or-treaters coming to the door. It might be the "Trespassers Will be Violated" signs, it might be the moat filled with piranhas, it might even be the lightly-tethered pit bull next to the porch.

But this year I had absolutely NO Halloween visitors. As a result, I was late to work this morning because I had to swing by the nursing home to drop off that basket of apples with razor blades...

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The Self-Correcting Blogosphere

I originally had posted a "Shut the Fuck Up" post here about Kerry and his screwed up joke about students and Iraq.

I've had second thoughts and decided that I was a little ... abrupt... in condemning the senator for his remarks.

I still don't like him very much, and I'm still steamed about him not fighting back against the Swifties and for rolling over in Ohio, but I'm not going to let that cloud my judgment.

At least he's giving it -- and dishing it out hard -- to the Rethugs, and that's nothing but good.

So (as my wife will attest) as much as I don't like to do it, I'm saying "I take it back".

Monday, October 30, 2006

From Our "Pot Calls Kettle Black" Department

Prezdint Numbnutz today stated that the Democrats "lack a plan to win" in Iraq.

So, Baby Doc, how's that plan of yours working out? The 100th US serviceman to die in October checked out earlier today, and that total will assuredly go even higher before the month is officially over.

That's Bushco "stay the course" philosophy at work. Even though Tony Snowjob claimed that Baby Doc said it "only" eight times. Too bad the White House isn't capable of doing its own Google search, since Keith Olberman came up with nearly 30 instances -- and showed all of them -- of the little fucker chanting Stay the Course, Stay the Course.

Not that any of the fuckers in the Baby Doc Maladminstration can even articulate what "winning" in Iraq would look like.

Here's a hint: It's not going to be pretty, what with over 14 thousand of sophisticated weapons missing and unlikely to be recovered. "Winning" will like consist of slinking out under cover of darkness, abandoning a ruined country to a vicious religious war.

Global Warming: Suddenly it's Sexy Again

And all it took was a sobering look at the economic consequences. Nothing shakes up the powerful interests like a potential loss of profits. And our cousins across the pond in the UK are starting to beat the drums.

Jesus, it only took, what, 30+ years of the environmental movement's harping about it for it suddenly to catch on? And now only because of the sacred and almighty bottom line.

It's hard to imagine a more short-sighted and selfish bunch of louts that the captains of industry in this country -- and in most of the rest of the world, sadly -- but here's hoping that even they will get that sudden flash of inspiration, stop looking just at the Long Green, and start considering the Real Green.

And here's hoping that it's not too late.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 888 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The 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 Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst in April and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

The son of Senator John McCain has enlisted in the US Marine Corps. That means that as soon as he's done with his training, he's going to be on his way to The Sandbox. Now there's a role model right in their own political party for Jenna and Not-Jenna. Will they follow him?

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, October 27, 2006

The No-Brainer

So who the fuck is Scott Hennen? He's got a mini-watt AM morning show in tiny Fargo, ND (where I am sure he is no competition for Fargo's liberal mouthpiece, Big Eddie Schultz), with the uncanny ability to get some big-name rethugs on his show. Probably because he's such a sycophantic rightwing suckass.

So I guess it's not all that unusual for someone like Crashcart Cheney to appear on Hennen's show. But when Cheney said that water torture was a "no brainer", it suddenly became international news.

So what does the White House do? It says Cheney didn't say it. And, sure enough, he didn't actually use the terms "water torture" or "waterboarding" -- instead he and Hennen were talking about a little "dunk in water". Now there's the classic distinction without a difference.

Read the official transcript and see for yourself whether he's advocating torture or advocating a gentle and humane interrogation technique designed to facilitate further dialogue.

What I'd like to see is Cheney being gently and humanely interrogated using a little "dunk in water" as a technique to facilitate some dialogue. Then I think we'd see our Vice-President-for-Torture singing a different tune.

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

Total coalition forces dead: 238
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1872
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1320
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1282
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: 255
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 101.

It is still 836 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Vote Democratic in November!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

The Border Fence

Talk about your ill-concieved ill-thought-out ideas. This article from the Ft Worth Star Telegram puts it all into perspective.

Ranchers, farmers and businessmen all along the Rio Grande River that forms the border between Mexico and Texas are upset about the fence. And with good reason. They are afraid that the fence will keep them away from the life-giving water of the river, and will keep out the Mexican citizens who currently cross the border to spend money in the local communities. And then return home, BTW.

But it's an election year, and the good ole boys in Congress get to go home and pretend they are doing something about illegal immigration.

Any schoolboy could have told you that a 700 mile fence on a 2,000 mile border would be a joke anyway. If you go for a walk in the woods and you come to a log in your way, what do you do?

Right. You go over it if you can, or you go around it if you can't. It ain't rocket surgery.

More on the Fox Fakery

It's funny watching all the wingnut media types fall all over themselves to support their hero, the Florida Windbag, when he attacked Michael J. Fox as "faking" his illness.

Michael Reagan started yapping about Fox "politicizing" the issue, and when nominal liberal Colmes called him on it, pointing out that his own stepmother, Nancy, was quick to support stem cell research when the Gipper came down with the Big A, good old Mikey snapped back that she was wrong, she was "exploited" by the opposition, as was his own brother, Ron Jr.

Jesus, the lengths these fuckers won't go to. Check out the News Hounds story on the Hannity and Colmes show that featured this repartee.

What Happens to Has-Beens

Who could have predicted that an election in middle-American Missouri could generate this kind of heat? But Amendment 2 concerning stem cell research is getting some serious national play.

Following the Michael J. Fox commercial, Emmy-whining washed-up television actress Patricia Heaton has made a commercial for the other side. She happens to belong to an Orwellian-named organization called Feminists for Life, whose motto is "Refuse to Choose" -- whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

Anyway, she's joined a coterie of other quasi-celebrity wingnuts, including that blood-dripping guy from the Mel Gibson Christ movie and some sports stars to make a commercial for the other side in the flaming debate over Missouri's Amendment 2, which would legalize -- in a very specifically limited way -- so-called embryonic stem cell research.

But you can bet that if Heaton, Jesus or any of those self-important sports guys suddenly came down with a disease that could be helped by that stem cell research, their "deeply held moral conviction" would vanish faster than a cheeseburger in front of Denny Hastert.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Just When You Think You've Heard it All...

It just keeps getting better and better.

Now the bloviating windbag Rush "Oxy from Miami" Limbaugh is accusing Michael J. Fox, who is suffering from Parkinsons Disease, of "faking it" with all that shimmying and shaking around.

He might as well have said that Fox could get a job at the local paint store or the neighborhood Starbucks...

Jesus, what the fuck is it with these rightwing blowhards? I suppose if a quadruple amputee with Altzheimer's and terminal diabetes came out in favor of embyronic stem cell research, Fatboy would mock him/her. Faking it. Not REALLY sick.

It is probably too much to hope for from a universe that is random, but a Just Karma would provide that Rush and his allies in the wingnuttery would be stricken with some disease that could be cured only using embryonic stem cell research...

I propose that anyone who so vocally, so vehemently opposes stem cell research be forever banned from receiving any and all benefit that may result from that research.

I also propose that each and every one of the blowhards on the right who are SO fucking morally opposed to this research sign a disclaimer that if their lives are at stake they categorically refuse any treatment or cure that is based on embryonic stem cell research.

How many takers are we going to see? I'm betting NONE.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Playing the Race Card in Tennessee

The Rethugs wonder out loud why Baby Doc's ratings among African-Americans is hovering around 2% (and that's with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4%!). Well, maybe the new party campaign ads swarming the airwaves in Tennessee are an indicator.

US Rep Harold Ford, a Democrat who also happens to be black, is making a run for the US Senate in Tennessee. If elected, he would be the first African-American senator from the south since Reconstruction. Which is to say, the first elected African-American senator from the south.

So what does the Rethug party do about this unfortunate turn of events? It comes up with a series of ads featuring nubile young white women hinting all over the place that they want to have hot interracial sex with Ford.

Jesus.

Well, we all just cain't have thet kinda shit. Tennessee is, after all, the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan and no self-respectin' southern man is gonna let hisself be misrepresented by one o' them nigra boys, 'specially one who would choose to sully -- sully Ah say! -- the fair blossom of southern womanhood...

It would be to the credit of Ford's opponent, Bob Corker, that he's taken steps to distance himself from the ads, except can you name any southern politician who would actually come out and admit that he was a racist who hates black people? Not even David Duke would do that.

So this is one of those races to watch next month. And watch how desperate the power-hungry Rethugs get between now and election day.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Falling on His Sword

A senior US diplomat, one Alberto Ferndandez, who happens to be fluent in Arabic, made a statement on Al Jazeera television that US foreign policy in Iraq displayed "arrogance" and "stupidity".

Now he's had to take it all back and apologize. Looks like his overlords at the State Department made him feel the sting of the lash, and he had to trot out a quasi-apology.

Fernandez says now that he "seriously misspoke" when he used the phrase containing the "a" word and the "s" word.

That kind of reminds me of the good ole Nixon days, when he trotted his press secretary, Ron Ziegler, out to say that a previous statement was "inoperative"...

I can just imagine the outrage at State when they learned that one of their own spoke his own mind and told the truth. And Fernandez undoubtedly still wants to keep his career, which is why he had to fall on his sword.

But that apology isn't really fooling anyone, is it?

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 881 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The 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 Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst in April and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

The son of Senator John McCain has enlisted in the US Marine Corps. That means that as soon as he's done with his training, he's going to be on his way to The Sandbox. Now there's a role model right in their own political party for Jenna and Not-Jenna. Will they follow him?

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, October 20, 2006

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
THIRTY in ONE WEEK!!!
Total coalition forces dead: 237
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1865
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1313
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1275
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: 248
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 94.

It is still 843 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Vote Democratic in November!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Parallels to Vietnam? Say it Ain't So...

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Baby Doc finally admitted -- grudgingly -- that there might be some parallels between Iraq and Vietnam.

And, in what has to be the most incisive foreign policy analysis so far this century, Baby Doc is quoted as saying:

My gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we'd leave... And the leaders of al-Qaeda have made that very clear. They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause [the] government to withdraw.
Gee, ya think?

Little late to the party, there, Georgie? Haven't a whole bunch of us who actually were in Vietnam been saying this all along? Didn't all of your cabinet members and advisors who were in Vietnam warn you about ... uh... never mind.

Plus, I'm growing weary of harping on this all the time, but this Google News Search reveals once more that the vast majority of the news media reporting on this story are outside of the United States.

"Spitting on Veterans" -- It Just Won't Go Away

I've blogged before in this space on the whole bogus spitting-on-Vietnam-veterans meme and what a pussy it makes of those Vietnam vets who have, over the years, convinced themselves of the truth of these incidents, when in fact there are absolutely zero contemporary accounts of it actually happening.

But it's one of those things, like so many other Urban Legends, that just won't die. The lead paragraph of this recent story out of Tyler, Texas, is another example of it.

I don't know if these three vets actually said that to the reporter or if she took it on herself to toss it in because it would jazz up a story about a vandalized Vietnam veterans memorial, but either way it's an insult. I'd like it to die, but I guess that's too much to hope for.

Sadly, two hundred years from now (assuming we last that long as a species -- a doubtful proposition) that will still be one of the factoids about the Vietnam War that people "know".

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

The Last Throes are the Worst Throes

Hard to believe that we've been in the "last throes" of the insurgency in Iraq since 2004. Time flies when you're having fun.

Eleven US servicemen were killed yesterday! That makes 70 deaths just this month. We're now on track to have the worst month for deaths since January 2005.

And that's against a backgound of sectarian violence that in September alone has killed 2600 Iraqis.

And yet Darth Cheney said just yesterday on the Rush "Oxycontin Cowboy" Limbaugh show that things are going well in Iraq! I wonder what it would take for him to say things weren't going well? A nuclear explosion in the Green Zone? A total meltdown of the oil-rich desert into a huge asphalt parking lot? A Roman candle up his ass?

How can these fuckers keep this up? How can they just keep lying to us with a straight face? And how can so many people continue to believe those lies?

It boggles the mind. It really does.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Obituary -- US Constitution 1789-2006

Today the US Constitution was officially declared dead, with the signing of the death certificate by attending physician George W. "Baby Doc" Bush.

The Constitution's health had been in jeopardy since late 2000 when it suffered a debilitating stroke; it had remained on life supports for the several ensuing years.

In 2004 and again in early 2006 it staged what appeared to be a rally, only to slip back into a coma. Finally, in September 2006, radical surgery removed a number of moribund parts of the Bill of Rights, deemed malignant growths by the surgeons in the US Senate and Doctor Bush.

The operation was a success but unfortunately the patient died.

The Constitution is survived by a distant relative, the Magna Carta, still living in Great Britain, and its bastard offspring, American Fascism.

Another Rethug Congressman in the Crosshairs

From our "never rains but it pours" department, US Rep Curt Weldon (R-Corrupt) is the subject of an FBI probe of possible influence peddling, using his own daughter.

So what does Faux News lead with? Weldon's concern about the "timing" of the FBI raid, this close to the election.

As if the Democrats could control it. As if the Justice Department isn't headed by one Alberto "Torquemada" Gonzales, consigliere to the BFEE, who is perfectly capable of stalling any FBI investigation -- and especially an FBI raid -- until after the election.

So who did order the raid, and why was it this close to the election? Is Weldon being thrown overboard by the Rethugs? Or is it that the tide has finally shifted to the point that they can do nothing to stem it?

Jesus, if the Democrats aren't careful, even they won't be able to fuck this one up and lose again.

Longest Undefended Border? No more.

It used to be a matter of pride for the US and Canada, bragging rights on having the longest undefended border in the world.

Now that's history. US Army Blackhawk helicopters are doing armed patrols of the border between Montana and Alberta. Unmanned drones are scheduled to be added to the choppers. All of this to protect our northern border. Why not just build another fence, like we are doing on the southern border?

BTW, you'll note from the Google news search that nearly all of the sources for this information are Canadian. You don't see a whole lot in the American media about this kind of stuff.

Besides, I've always maintained that the fence isn't there to keep THEM out; it's to keep US in.

Monday, October 16, 2006

The Big Database

I'm sure I'm in it. You're probably in it. Everyone who reads this blog is probably in it.

It's the huge Dept of Defense database on anti-war demonstrators, pacifists, quakers and other traitors. They've managed to list us all as potential terrorists.

Read the NYTimes article (login required -- try Bugmenot.com for one it it asks) for a chilling glimpse in the fascism that is slowly surrounding us on all sides.

Yeah, won't be long until those of over here in Left Blogistan will be rounded up in the middle of the night for "extraordinary rendition" and taken to a sports stadium a la Argentina and Chile in the bad old days.

A woman I met a number of years ago was reading Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number one day, and I told her then that it could happen very easily here. She argued with me, of course, telling me that our Constitution wouldn't allow it.

Really? I wonder where she is now and if she still agrees.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 874 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The 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 Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst in April and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

The son of Senator John McCain has enlisted in the US Marine Corps. That means that as soon as he's done with his training, he's going to be on his way to The Sandbox. Now there's a role model right in their own political party for Jenna and Not-Jenna. Will they follow him?

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, October 13, 2006

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
Total coalition forces dead: 237
Total Iraqi Dead: 600,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1858
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1306
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1268
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: 241
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 87.

It is still 850 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Vote Democratic in November!

Friday Cat Blogging


Thursday, October 12, 2006

Turkish Author Wins Nobel Prize for Literature

The Nobel Prize committee has a history of choosing relatively obscure writers for the award of the Lit prize (one reason why my own hopes are still alive), and this year's choice was no different.

Orhan Pamuk is this year's recipient; he's been called the "voice of a divided country" for his lay-it-on-the-line statements about Turkish genocide against the Armenians.

I used to live in California, and I can tell you that there is no better illustration of William Faulkner's dictum that "the past isn't history; it isn't even past" than the absolute hatred that the Armenians feel for the Turks.

So it's really interesting to me that a writer who was recently on trial for "insulting Turkishness" has been elevated to the select ranks of Nobel Prize winners.

Turkey, of course, is caught in the middle. They want to join the European Union so bad they can taste it, but along with that membership is the requirement that they have to give at least lip service to the basic concepts of freedom of speech.

I'll admit that I haven't read any of Pamuk's work, but that's going to change as soon as possible. I was an English major in college, and it's always been a point of pride to me that I read at least one book by each Nobel Prize Lit winner.

And, in a somewhat related story, the French parliament voted to make it a crime to deny the Turkish genocide against Armenia. Of course France has nearly a half a million Armenians, one of the most populous populations in Europe, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Nevertheless, I do find it both amusing and ironic that the French would make free speech a crime at the same time that the Nobel committee is rewarding free speech, and both on the same issue.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

New Casualty Count

Researchers from the prestigious Johns Hopkins have now come up with a new estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians killed since the Iraq War Illegal Occupation began.

It's over 655,000!!!

Which is about twenty times the estimate that Baby Doc gave us sometime earlier this year.

When he was called on this by a CNN reporter, his response was typical: "Nun-unh! Are not! Take it back!"

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

You Gotta Be Kidding Me...

So. North Korea allegedly exploded a "newkuler" weapon. Never mind that scientists are at odds over whether it really was nuclear. Never mind that Baby Doc himself approved -- and paid for -- the export of the raw materials for the newkuler weapon back in 2002. Never mind the fact tha there's an election coming up and we've pretty much run into the ground any "threats" from our unindicted co-conspirators in Al Qaeda.

But none of that is stopping Baby Doc from calling it "provocative"...

Provocative??? WTF??!!

Provocative is Denise Richards in Playboy.

Far be it from me to say anything negative about our Fearless Leader, but...

Does anyone else think that this stinks? That this seems like a huge fraud, to put us back into the "scare zone" since we've pretty much run out the well on the Middle East threats?

Here's what I think: I think that Kim Il Jong and the so-called "communist" North Korea is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bushco/Unification Church, and the whole thing is a phony-baloney scare tactic to frighten the Moron-American Voting Bloc into voting for Rethug candidates, on the completely bogus "national security" platform.

Wait and see if I'm right. Remember, you saw it here first.

VA Cutbacks Turn Deadly

Right in my own backyard, an aging WWII veteran named Clinton Fuller went to the VA hospital in Spokane, Washington, where he died in front of the building because they did not have the staff and equipment to man a 24-hour emergency medicine department.

Budget cutbacks at the VA, we are told. So sorry. "Stuff" happens. You go with the medical you've got, not the medical care you want or would like to have.

Tell that to Clinton Fuller and his family, who believed right up to the biter end that they could get the health care they were promised from the VA.

Read the whole sorry story here, by VA Watchdog's Larry Scott, and prepare to get pissed off.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 867 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The 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 Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst in April and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

The son of Senator John McCain has enlisted in the US Marine Corps. That means that as soon as he's done with his training, he's going to be on his way to The Sandbox. Now there's a role model right in their own political party for Jenna and Not-Jenna. Will they follow him?

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, October 06, 2006

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
That's 27 in ONE WEEK! And we've been in the "last throes" of the insurgency since 2004.
Total coalition forces dead: 237
Total Iraqi Dead: 100,000+

Number of days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive": 1851
Number of days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began: 1299
Number of days since "Mission Accomplished": 1261
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: 234
Number of days that the Bush Twins are still not pregnant with baste-'em-or-waste-'em Snowflake babies: 80.

It is still 857 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards.

Vote Democratic in November!

Friday Cat Blogging


Thursday, October 05, 2006

Oh, the Irony, the Irony

I swear you can't make this shit up. A "concerned parent" in Texas (surprise) has started a movement to have a book banned from the local school 10th grade reading assignment list.

So what's the book? Huckleberry Finn? Lady Chatterley's Lover? Tropic of Cancer?

Nope, it's -- get this -- Fahrenheit 451!!!

A book about censorship and book burning! And the reading assignment was given out during National Banned Book Week!!

It's just too much. Like I say, you can't make this shit up.

Hastert Gets the Blunt Boehner

After being caught lying on the bloviating gasbag's show the other day, you'd think he'd show a little bit of remorse and shame. Instead he's not going to step aside for the good of the party.

His loyal henchmen, Boehner and Blunt, are falling over their own feet trying to distance themselves from the hapless speaker: "Hastert? Hey, I barely know the guy."

Even Joe Scarborough says that the Rethugs have gone too far, that Hastert has to go, and that the Dems are going to take back Congress next month.

So either way, Hastert is toast. If he steps aside now, it's too late to save face or anything else. And if he hangs in there, he's a handy hook for the Dems to hang the scandal hat on.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." -- Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

"Gay Bashing" and the Foley Scandal

One of the most bizarrely comical things that has surfaced in all this is the statement made several times by different spokesmouths on the right that the Rethugs didn't want to do anything about Foley because it would be seen as "gay bashing".

Yeah, the party that discharges from the military Arabic speakers who just happen to be gay, the party that opposes each and every gay civil rights law that comes along, from partner benefits to gay marriage, now that's my idea of a party that's afraid of seeming like they are "gay bashers".

Sorry, guys, that spin cycle is broken. Try a different washing machine.

It's Called "Perjury", Condi

It's lying under oath. Remember the mock outrage when Clinton "lied" about something inconsequential? Where's the similar outrage over the Rice lies?

Take a look at this list of statements that Kindasleazy made -- under oath -- to the 9/11 Commission, along with the actual reality-based facts associated with those statements.

She is a born-again liar and she's at it again. When confronted with the story of the now-infamous meeting on July 11, she first denied it, then said it happened but she didn't remember it. And now she's throwing a tantrum, acting like a petulant teenager busted coming in after curfew.

She says it's "incomprehensible" that she would ignore warnings of an Al Qaeda attack. Yeah, that's what we're all thinking, Condi. So why did you do it?

It would be a lot funnier if it weren't so tragic. This is another member of the BFEE cabal that needs to be frogmarched in orange coveralls before the court of justice at The Hague.

Monday, October 02, 2006

More on Foley

It seems that the House leadership was aware of Child Molester Republican Foley's predilections for nearly a year: In January they banned him from the Library of Congress reading room because he kept bending the pages over... (Thanx to Stephanie Miller for that one)

So, on a more serious note: How long will it be before they try to blame it on the "liberal media" and Bill Clinton?

"Divided" Opinion

It wasn't on Faux News, although it wouldn't surprise me if it showed up there. I'm talking about a headline in the print-version of Faux News, the rightwing Moonie-owned Washington Times: "Black Opinion Divided on Allen" in the Virginia senate race.

Yeah, if you can say that 999 out of 1000 people think that breathing air is a requirement, and one lone nut holdout says that we don't need it, then you have the basis for saying that people are "divided" about the need for air. This makes about as much sense.

But that's how wingnut media works. The truth is something to be spun, to be shaded, to be nuanced, and if all that fails, to be ignored, stomped on, set fire to and eradicated.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 860 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 to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.



Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The 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 Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst in April and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

The son of Senator John McCain has enlisted in the US Marine Corps. That means that as soon as he's done with his training, he's going to be on his way to The Sandbox. Now there's a role model right in their own political party for Jenna and Not-Jenna. Will they follow him?

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

BTW, they 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.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Finally, Some Fiscal Restraint -- On the Backs of Veterans, Naturally

I have continually faulted the Baby Doc Maladminstration for its reckless ways in spending our money like a drunken sailor on shore leave in Manila. Now I'll have to take it all back.

Seems they are trying to save some money. And, big surprise, it's coming out of the Department of Veterans Affairs. To the tune of THREE BILLION DOLLARS in budget shortfalls. All because the VA once again "misunderestimated" the cost of care for blown-up and shot-up soldiers shipped back from the sandbox.

This is yet another example of the hatred and contempt this maladminstration feels for our veterans, and it is beyond me -- really beyond my powers of imagination -- to understand the support that the motherfuckers are still receiving from active duty military and veterans.

It's insulting, actually, and humiliating to be a fellow veteran with these morons. It's not fair, but we all tend to get tarred with the same brush, and the blind pig supporters of Baby Doc have the same blood of the innocent on their hands as all the corrupt and evil BFEE fascististas.

More (Not) Surprising News from the Party of "Family Values"

Congressmen Mark Foley (R-Child Molester) resigned from Congress after the contents of several emails that he sent to a sixteen-year-old male congressional page became public.

And the Repugs are widely known as the party of family values and quashing queers. Why I have no idea. This is a common theme among the Repugs, and for the life of me I can't understand how they KEEP getting away with it.

Oh, and BTW: It's even better because Foley was one of the sponsors of the Internet Pornograph bill...

Like I say, how sweet it is.

Say Goodnight, Georgie

From our Never Rains But What It Pours Department, we learn that George "Macaca" Allen's bid for the Senate from Virginia is now on life supports and not expected to last the night.

Ever since the now-infamous "macaca" comment, compounded with Allen trying awkwardly to hide his Jewish heritage, the progressive voters in Virginia have declared him anathema.

Now, from the right, an apparently neo-confederate group called the Sons of Confederate Veterans is disowning him, because of his scurrilous comments on the Confederate Battle Flag: Allen expressed "regret for displaying the flag ... he hasn't always realized some view it as a symbol of intolerance".

Jesus, you have to wonder where Allen and the rest of these people were for the last 50 years.

So for Allen, it's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Apologize for being a racist, apologize for NOT being a racist, apologize for having a pork-shop-waving ham-sandwich-eating Jewish mother...

Hard to believe that just a few months ago this bozo was on the short list of potential Rethug presidential candidates.

But ah, how sweet it is when the mighty fall from grace.