An oldie but a goodie

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
© John Prine

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

Farewell, Pluto

What does an ex-planet do, anyway?

The Swiftboaters Sail Again

The right-wing attack machine is out after Judge Anna Diggs Taylor with a ridiculous claim based on her service as a trustee of a community action organization. That group happened to give grants to the ACLU. As University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone stated, "judges live in the real world" and "these are not the sorts of conflicts that undermine their integrity."

But, if anyone from the right has any concerns about judicial impartiality, conflicts and recusal, I have the man for them to call:

comments

Well, after a racist rant, my first death threat and someone posting personal info, I've switched on the comment moderation function--a minor inconvenience. My apologies to the regulars, but trolls happen.

The president is smart! Honest!

This gem comes from Kathleen Parker, a Bushbot syndicated in the Chicago Tribune:

I was the guest of a guest and welcomed the opportunity to observe the president in his natural habitat. What I witnessed was revealing. Not only was the man fluent in the English language and intellectually agile, he was knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects raised during a 90-minute Q&A.

She suggests that dadgummit, the only reason he sounds like a total moron is because he is trying to "speak Washington English, which is the way Bush thinks presidents are supposed to speak." If only he could "talk Texan," why, he'd be just fine!

Good God. The "intellectually agile" man didn't know that there were different sects of Islam? A fellow "knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects" had no clue about "tribal sovereignty?" It is amazing how far some apologists will stretch. This is a man who has demonstrated his lack of knowledge, analytical ability and intellectual curiosity in so many arenas that attributing his embarrassing performances to some bizarre form of stage fright is laughable.

And a quick side note to Chatty Kathy--any perceived differences you see in him now and in his Texas years may well be attributable to the degenerative effects of prolonged drug abuse.

Don't blame me, I've done my part!

From the WSJ:

Simply put, liberals have a big baby problem: They're not having enough of them, they haven't for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections. Over the past 30 years this gap has not been below 20%--explaining, to a large extent, the current ineffectiveness of liberal youth voter campaigns today.

Alarmingly for the Democrats, the gap is widening at a bit more than half a percentage point per year, meaning that today's problem is nothing compared to what the future will most likely hold.

From George Orwell

Orwell wrote that:

A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.


It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.

But, no, you're right, this is a -- they're a central part of creating instability, trying to stop reformers from realizing dreams. And the question facing this country is, will -- do we, one, understand the threat to America? In other words, do we understand that a failed -- failed states in the Middle East are a direct threat to our country's security? And secondly, will we continue to stay engaged in helping reformers, in working to advance liberty, to defeat an ideology that doesn't believe in freedom?

Well said, Mr. Orwell.

Recommended reading

David Corn, in The Nation, on fearless leader's bizarre performance yesterday.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=114384

But it's a dry heat

Local Forecast for Baghdad, Iraq

Aug 22 Tonight Mainly clear skies. Low 88F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Aug 23 Tomorrow Mainly sunny. High 116F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Aug 23 Tomorrow night Clear. Low 88F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Aug 24 Thursday Sunshine. Highs 115 to 119F and lows in the upper 80s.
Aug 25 Friday Mainly sunny. Highs 116 to 120F and lows in the upper 80s.

from weather.com

Oh Suzanna...

Suzanne--you're my hero.

I'm guessing that this would be Suzanne Malveaux of CNN, but I can't really tell (Me likey anyway!)

But in any case, The Emperor Has No Clothes is rambling on and not saying anything, and calls on my new hero. He says

THE PRESIDENT: Suzanne.

Q Sir, that's not really the question. The strategy --

THE PRESIDENT: Sounded like the question to me.

There it is in a nutshell. He can't answer the question asked, so he tries to answer something they didn't ask, with his talking points. Nice job, Suzanne--but unfortunately, it was all for naught.

EMPEROR WITH NO CLOTHES: If I didn't think it would work, I would change -- our commanders would recommend changing the strategy. They believe it will work. It takes time to defeat these people.

Well, at least they aren't "folks." Should we mention, though, that "these people" are Iraqis opposing a Shi'a government installed and propped up by US??

The Maliki government has been in power for less than six months. And, yes, the people spoke.

Yes, they spoke and they told us to get the hell out of there.

I've cited that as a part of -- the reason I cite it is because it's what the Iraqi people want.

What "Iraqi" people? The Sunnis who hate Shia and Kurds? The Shia who hate Sunni and Kurds? The Kurds who hate Shia and Sunni and have set up an independent state?

And the fundamental question facing this government is whether or not we will stand with reformers across the region.

Reformers, huh? Reformers seeking to reform WHAT?

It's really the task. And we're going to stand with this government.

What "government" is that? The one that controls NO territory? That has NO claim to legitimacy? That has NONE of the elements of statehood?

They're Glass Half Full Folks for Sure

What Happened:

Snipers targeted Shiite pilgrims as they passed through Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing 20 and wounding nearly 300

Sub-headline in the Chicago Tribune:

Relatively low toll in attack on Shiites seen as security success

They sure set the "success" bar pretty low over at Tribune Tower (if this wasn't so disgusting, I would insert a Cub joke here).

Quotes

"If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear
the results of a hundred battles." Sun Tzu. 500 B.C.

"The fact is, Iraqis really--Iraqis look upon themselves not at--at least, in all cases--as Sunni, Shia and Kurd, but as Iraqis." Tony Snow, last week

"Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory." Sun Tzu. 500 B.C.

If polls are to be believed--

then 129 million morons live in this country.

Has the war in Iraq been worth the loss of American lives?

Yes 38%
No 56%
Not sure 6%

Source: Zogby International
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,018 likely American voters, conducted from Aug. 11 to Aug. 15, 2006. Margin of error is 3.2 per cent.

Well, perhaps not 129 million, as not everyone who feels that way is a moron. I'm sure there are some very intelligent individuals who quite rationally think that the death and destruction is quite worth it--from the standpoint of their own financial gain and political power. Soulless ghouls?--Yes.



Morons--no. But leaving the self-promoting politicians, defense contractors and other profiteers out of the equation, how can anyone believe that this unmitigated disaster is worth this butcher's bill? How can anyone be "not sure?"

I don't even know what to say about this one

Just read it.

Maybe he did read it...

Quotes from Camus' The Stranger (translation)

"I would rather not have upset him, but I couldn't see any reason to change my life. Looking back on it, I wasn't unhappy. When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered."

"At that time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it."

"...for the first time in years, I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me."

"They [the jury] had before them the basest of crimes, a crime made worse than sordid by the fact that they were dealing with a monster, a man without morals."

"But all the long speeches, all the interminable days and hours that people had spent talking about my soul, had left me with the impression of a colorless swirling river that was making me dizzy."

"How had I not seen that there was nothing more important than an execution, and that when you come right down to it, it was the only thing a man could truly be interested in?"

"'I am on your side. But you have no way of knowing it, because our heart is blind.'"

They never heard of MapQuest?

"If we leave before the mission is complete, if we withdraw, the enemy will follow us home."

So our "enemies" are lost puppies? Guys who won't ask for directions? God help us.

A picture is worth a thousand words

But please feel free to add some more.

Crony Capitalism

SEC Charges Former Officers of Military Body Armor Supplier with Financial Fraud

Washington, D.C., Aug. 17, 2006 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the filing of securities fraud charges against Dawn M. Schlegel and Sandra L. Hatfield, two former officers of DHB Industries, Inc., a major supplier of body armor to the United States military and law enforcement agencies. The SEC alleges that Schlegel, DHB's former Chief Financial Officer, and Hatfield, DHB's former Chief Operating Officer, routinely overstated the value of the company's inventory and directed the booking of numerous fraudulent journal entries in order to reduce the company's cost of goods sold. This had the effect of falsely increasing the company's gross profit margins, and in some instances, net income. As a result of their misconduct, DHB materially misstated key financial information in filings with the SEC and in public statements.

Summer Reading

Note to the White House:

Please stop insulting our intelligence. I know that your entire political strategy involves your belief that the American public is collectively as stupid as a very large bag of hammers (note: we do not necessarily disagree). However, please don't expect us to believe that the president is reading absurdist novels and discoursing on existentialism amidst brush-clearing breaks.

Many have noted the irony of his choice of "reading material," Camus' The Stranger, which involves a westerner killing an Arab without remorse, but give us some credit. Camus? No.

Perhaps he was LISTENING to a cut from Billy Joel's The Stranger:

You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd
We ain't too pretty we ain't too proud
We might be laughing a bit too loud



No, not even that.

Perhaps this would be more believable.

I searched my soul for some tiny piece of it that retained the capability to feel sorry for her, and still nothing.

I stole that title from a friend's email.

Watching Katherine Harris, who helped engineer the debacle in Florida which has caused such ruinous harm to our world, suffer a public and catastrophic defeat, is truly the most beautiful example of Schadenfreude we have seen in a very long time.

From Salon.com (Site Pass required):

The event was called "Soaring for the Senate," and the idea was to show off some of the high-profile endorsements Katherine Harris has received. The problem? As the Orlando Sentinel reports, not one of the nine endorsing officials listed on Harris' event flier showed up for Thursday's event, and one of them said that he actually supports somebody else in the race.

Harris sounds hurt about that last one. "They called back twice and said he'd be here," she tells the Sentinel. "He said he was going to be here on the stage with me today."