War...what is it good for?

I've had this post kicking around in my head for quite a while about the obvious point that the "global war on terror" just does not exist. The "war" is regularly tossed around as a justification for eroding freedom of the press and civil liberties, stifling political opposition and an excuse for lining the pockets of every defense contractor in the western hemisphere at a time when the "war" itself is absolutely illusory.

I have previously stated that we are not "at war" in Iraq, that the war is over and we are now an occupation force. I also noted that in terms of successful occupations, history is not on our side (insert "The Phillippines" here), but I've never really fleshed out the second part.

Luckily I don't have to--Joshua Holland does a tremendous job with this question over at Alternet. Read it, well worth your time.

Bad Touching

By our, ehem, President.

Thanks to Crooks and Liars.

Watch the video. It's creepy.

Ladies and gentlemen, the leader of the "free" world

From Yahoo News:

Bush expresses amazement that it will take some leaders as many as eight hours to fly home — about the same time it will take Air Force One with Bush aboard to return to Washington.

"You eight hours? Me, too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country," Bush said, at one point telling a waiter he wanted Diet Coke. "Takes him eight hours to fly home. Russia's big and so is China. Yeah Blair, what're you doing? Are you leaving?'

The Pride of My Alma Mater

Dan Quayle took time out from participating in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Stateline, Nev., on Friday to attend John Mellencamp's concert only to run into a political statement. He then made a statement of his own by walking out during Mellencamp's rendition of ``Walk Tall.'' Before launching into the song, Mellencamp told the Harveys casino crowd, in effect, that it was dedicated to everyone hurt by policies of the current Bush administration. Link

Way to go Dan, thanks for that. By the way, kudos to John Mellencamp.

Handbasket, I have Hell on Line 1

Tsunami kills 47 69 86 in Indonesia; toll climbing
Witness says wave roared ashore in west Java; India issues warning

MSNBC News Services

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A 6-foot-high tsunami crashed into beach resorts and fishing villages along Indonesia’s Java island Monday, killing at least 47 people, leaving scores missing and sending thousands fleeing to higher ground in terror, witnesses and officials said.

For a laugh mid-Apocalypse

This "poll" has been circulating around the Internets, and it is damned funny.

Here's a sample:

President Bush appears to be losing support among a key group of voters who had hitherto stood firmly with the president even as his poll numbers among other groups fell dramatically. A new Gallup poll shows that, for the first time, Bush’s approval rating has fallen below 50% among total fucking morons, and now stands at 44%.......

“We’ve taken the total fucking moron vote for granted,” says Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), “and now we’re paying for it. We’ve let the Democrats control the debate lately, and they’ve dragged discourse back into the realm of complex, nuanced issues. So your average total fucking moron turns on his TV and sees his Republican Congressman arguing about Constitutional law or the complexities of state formation in the Middle East, and he tunes out. He wants to hear comforting, pandering, flattering bromides and he doesn’t want to hear a logical argument more complex than what you’d find on a bumper sticker.”

What Time is it?

While on the subject of Time Magazine, that same cover story contained an absolutely jaw-dropping statement. Try this one on for size:

"It may be too soon to say whether history will look kindly on the U.S.'s decision to invade Iraq, as Bush and his aides insist will happen."

Too soon? Looking kindly on this never-ending NIGHTMARE? Other than blood-gorged defense contractors and Fox news sheeple, who would EVER "look kindly" on this mess? Please.

Our President used a bad word on an open mike...anybody carrying it live?

From CNN:

...Bush: See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over...

So, if any of our press was covering it live for some reason, AND they happened to be running the feed, what are the chances that there will be a) letters from the Family Research Council condemning expletives on television (none) or b) that the lilly-livered knuckleheads at the FCC will issue fines for carrying Our Fearless Leader's feelings live and in person?

It's a flea on an elephant's backside, it's a non-story, but in the spirit of Rethuglicans making non-stories stories, then I think turnabout is fair play.

Cognitive Dissonance

Image: Last week, Time Magazine's cover story was entitled "The End of Cowboy Diplomacy." The story described how "the shift under way in Bush's foreign policy is bigger and more seismic than a change of wardrobe or a modulation of tone," and added that "the swaggering Commander in Chief who embodied the doctrine's aspirations has modulated himself too. At a press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in May, Bush swore off the Wild West rhetoric of getting enemies "dead or alive"

Reality: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over."

Yup, there's subtle, nuanced, coherent diplomacy for you.

Alex, may I have hypocrisy for $200 please?

Valedictorian Wingnut Sues School

"A high school valedictorian whose microphone was cut off as she gave an address referring to Jesus Christ has filed a lawsuit against school officials, claiming her rights to religious freedom and free speech were trampled." (link)

Oh there are so many things here. First of all, of course, this was a PUBLIC high school, where proselytizing is just not appropriate. And then her comments were WAAAY beyond the "I'd like to thank God and my agent" nonsense you often here after sporting events that is annoying yet inconsequential. Brittany (of course) shared that "God's love is so great that he gave his only son up [this is when the school killed the mike] to an excruciating death on a cross so his blood would cover all our shortcomings and provide for us a way to heaven in accepting this grace."

Obviously that is far beyond what would be acceptable at a public school function. But beyond that, little Brit had PROMISED the school to stick to a vetted [editor's note: insert 'sane' here] version of the speech but just bubbled that "In my heart I couldn't say the edited version because it wasn't what I wanted to say...I wanted to say why I was successful, it involved Jesus Christ for me, period." So apparently, according to Brittany, Jesus endorses lying to your school.

And finally, of course we have a whackjob organization supporting her, The Rutherford Institute. I can only hope that in this instance, her case isn't being presented by the bane of our existence, according to conservatives, the dreaded...

TRIAL LAWYER!!!

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy Part II

DENVER - Beer baron Peter Coors’ driver’s license has been revoked after his arrest for drunken driving following a wedding celebration

Of course we have the irony, but what is most enjoyable here is that he is a COORS, heading up ne of America's most hardline right-wing anti-labor, anti-civil rights, anti-environmental and anti-union families and companies. Sometimes it is just fun.

Belated congrats

Belated yet hearty congratulations to our merry band of misfits on our 1st anniversary and reaching 1000 posts. It's been fun!

Followup on the pig

From The Daily Show:

Bush: I understand I may have the honor of slicing the pig.

Stewart: He may have the honor of slicing the pig. I'm just going to assume that's some sort of euphemism for solving the middle east crisis.

Pork, of course, being forbidden for both Islam and Judiasm. I can't think of a better analogy.

I hope she wins

I hope Valerie Plame wins her lawsuit because a civil court victory would validate an important point of law--and to this humble correspondent, SHE'S HOT (hey, I'm old...and she's a SPY!).

Watching the world go to hell

Israeli ships, planes renew Beirut airport attacks

Israeli warships and aircraft were clamping down on Lebanon's air, sea and land infrastructure on Friday, three days after Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

Israeli rescue services report a large barrage of rockets hitting northern Israel late Friday. Also, three explosions have been heard in Beirut.

The rocket attacks on Israel have prompted Israel's Cabinet to approve continued military operations in Lebanon, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

In the past two days, about 200 rockets have been fired from Lebanon at Israeli targets, according to The Associated Press.

Two missiles fired from Lebanon toward the northern Israeli city of Haifa were "made in Iran," Israeli military sources said.

In other news...

Dow's 3-day loss: 400 points

Oil tops $78, backs off
Crude tops $78 a barrel on tensions in Middle East and Nigeria, Korea talks.

Blasts hit Nigerian oil pipeline

That'll do, pig

One of the objectives of the Project for the New American Century-inspired neocon vision was to "re-engineer" the Middle East to make it more "Israel friendly." This reflected an extreme case of politics making strange bedfellows (scroll down in that archived page to find the post on millenialist eschatology) as supporters of Israel have joined hands with good ol' boy southern anti-Semites yearning for the rapture. Now this perverse mix that gave us the war in Iraq is threatening to expand into a global conflagration if Iran and Syria get involved.

SO--what is the leader of the free world doing? Why, he's talking about the wild boar slated for dinner that evening:

Q: Does it concern you that the Beirut airport has been bombed? And do you see a risk of triggering a wider war? And on Iran, they've, so far, refused to respond. Is it now past the deadline, or do they still have more time to respond?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I thought you were going to ask me about the pig.

Q I'm curious about that, too. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT BUSH: The pig? I'll tell you tomorrow after I eat it.

So long world, it's been nice knowing you.

That's enough, already

Anyone who's out there who's fighting, pissing someone off, or acting like a twit in general, just fucking stop it already. I've had enough of your stupidity. Israel, Iran, Iraq, W, North Korea, Sudan, friends, family, people I don't know and will never meet - just stop it! You're giving me a stomachache. Grow the hell up, find a way to get a long. All solutions involve compromise anyway, so skip the fighting, war, death, and general acting like twits and move on. Pretend you've got even the vestiges of a brain stem. I don't care if you think you're right or not. Stop it. I don't care what "they" did. Stop it. I don't care what your "holy book" says. Stop it. I don't care if they told you that they're killing your children and serving them to the dogs. Stop it.

The next time I have to come in here I'm cracking skulls.

Ken Lay, the second coming

I know funerals are not generally a time for people to gather to insult the dead, and people who attend someone's funeral are often friends or family. That being said, these quotes from people at Ken Lay's service today are among the most delusional and laughable I've ever heard:

David Herrold, Lay's stepson: "I am angry because of the way that he was treated in the last five years of his life ... and I'm feeling a lot of joy ... He had a lot of loving friends ... He did have a strong faith in God, and I know he's in heaven. And I'm glad he's not in a position any more to be whipped by his enemy."

Heaven's that place with the fire and the torture and the beatings, right? Oh, wait, that's Abu Ghraib.

Reverend Dr. William Lawson: "He reached out to touch many people from many backgrounds ... many economic levels ... that included minorities like me."

"Ken Lay was neither black nor poor, but I'm angry because Ken Lay was a victim of a lynching."

Yep, Ken Lay was lynched for screwing lots and lots of middle class folks out of their retirement and millions more through charging higher prices for energy. I'm sure those people who were lynched for trying to vote or go to church would buddy right up to him.

"The folks who don't like him have had their say. I'd like to have mine ... (Like Jesus Christ) he was crucified by a government that mistreated him."

If Ken Lay had really been crucified, then this would be a different story. He was convicted, in a system where the rich and powerful often find ways of buying themselves out.

Mick Seidl, longtime friend: "Overzealous federal prosecutors have vilified an exceedingly good man ... They did so without visible efforts to seek the truth, and the media piled on. It was total character assassination ... I do know Ken would never intentionally do anything illegal."

Mick, Mick, Mick. When you oversee one of the greatest examples of fraud, mismanagement, and theft that's ever been perpetrated, you pay a price. If he didn't know what was going on, then he was the worst manager in business history and deserved to go to jail just for that.

From the mouths of babes

Published on Wednesday, April 3, 2002 by Common Dreams
What the American Flag Stands For
by Charlotte Aldebron (who was 12 when she wrote this)

The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.

School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth.

Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag's real meaning remains.

Charlotte Aldebron wrote this essay for a competition in her 6th grade English class. She attends Cunningham Middle School in Presque Isle, Maine. Comments may be sent to her mom, Jillian Aldebron: aldebron@ainop.com

Following Up

A few weeks ago, Barack Obama gave a speech which incensed a number of left-wing bloggers. He was talking about religion and politics, and he was accused of mouthing GOP talking points when he discussed how some liberal folk get very turned off by religion, and that the Democratic party should reach out to more religious voters. I'm a little urpy with his stance on separation of church and state, but that's probably because I'm an absolutist about it, and he's a much more religious person than I am. However, when I read the text of the speech, I didn't get the sense that he was hammering the Democrats, but that he was trying to open a new line of conversation to the myriad people who are religious, but who aren't James Dobson. Many of those people have values which are more properly aligned with the Democrats than the Republicans, but since the GOP has managed to get the idea that they're the faithful, and we're the athiestic devils, accepted, we lose those votes without even trying. Here's an interview with Obama where he reflects on the speech, and talks in a little more depth about the ideas he was trying to get across. I think it's summed up pretty well by Obama's press secretary, who said "If we're not talking to these people, Focus on the Family will."

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

According to a report in the New York Daily News, several sources within Major League Baseball expect a San Francisco grand jury to indict Giants slugger Barry Bonds, possibly even as early as next week (link).

Dumbest Human on the Planet

Here is a rich one, a comment to a Chicago Tribune letter to the editor:

Al Gore would never used force. He would of asked why they hate us and tried diplomacy, meanwhile we would be witnessing planes hitting the Sears Tower.

Capturing Bin Laden would serve a limited purpose in the war. The fact he resides in a cave and can no longer plan attacks is a great victory. With your type of thinking the fighting in Iraq we see today would be occurring in Chicago and New York. I believe God put Bush in office, so we wouldn't suffer multiple 9/11 under Gore.

Paulie

Praying for Death

The LA Times published a fascinating and terrifying article recently about religious groups and Armaggedon. Not content with merely having it somewhere down the line, a number of groups, of different religions, are working on bringing the end times nigh. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.

Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.

For some Christians this means laying the groundwork for Armageddon.

With that goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades.

In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a far different vision. As mayor of Tehran in 2004, he spent millions on improvements to make the city more welcoming for the return of a Muslim messiah known as the Mahdi, according to a recent report by the American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.

Ahmadinejad hopes to welcome the Mahdi to Tehran within two years.

Conversely, some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam's holiest shrines.

Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple — along with two 6½-ton marble cornerstones for the building's foundation.

Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher. He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.

And then there's the section devoted to the only University of Colorado football coach I dislike more than Gary Barnett.

By contrast, Bill McCartney, a former University of Colorado football coach and co-founder of the evangelical Promise Keepers movement for men, which became huge in the 1990s, has had a devil of a time getting his own apocalyptic campaign off the ground.

It's called The Road to Jerusalem, and its mission is to convert Jews to Christianity — while there is still time.

"Our whole purpose is to hasten the end times," he said. "The Bible says Jews will be brought to jealousy when they see Christians and Jewish believers together as one — they'll want to be a part of that. That's going to signal Jesus' return."

Jews and others who don't accept Jesus, he added matter-of-factly, "are toast."

On Constitutional Amendments

I recall Em making the statement in PIC that she could never understand a country that would pass an amendment to ban gay marriage or burn the American flag before they would pass the Equal Rights Amendment. I agree with that, but let's look at what's driving these two amendments. We all know that it's shameless pandering to the Religious Right.

Do you guys recall Charles Rangel's (a vocal opponent of the debacle in Iraq) legislation that would re-institute the draft? We all know that he opposed the draft, but was trying to make a point. And that was that the chickenhawks that trumpet this cause aren't willing to go to the ultimate and logical ends to "win" this war. Another half million to million troops or more and then maybe we could overpower this insurgency (that no one in this clueless administration saw coming), "declare victory" and get the hell home....but I digress, back to gay marriage and flag burning.

I wish that someone who opposes both these measures would draft legislation that would also go to (un)logical ends that a draft would. Why shouldn't gay folk be allowed to marry? Because they're second class citizens as compared to we straight folks? Because what other reason could one have in two others "joined in matrimony" (I purposely ommitted "holy" in describing matrimony because any church anywhere already has the option/right to refuse to marry couples they deem unworthy.

Well hell, if that's so, that they're "second class", then they shouldn't be able to hold down federal jobs. Or state jobs that accept federal money. Or vote, or run for any office. And one of most fundamental rights that the Constitution allows, they shouldn't be able to own property, because they might leave it to someone who's gay. And, going even further than those adoption laws that prohibit gay folk from adopting, they should be sterilized so that can't have biologocal children either. Hell, let's just round all of them up and inter them. Whaddya say?

And as far as flag burning, let's also add that it's illegal to burn a copy of the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. That would include books that include pictures of the flag or of the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. Or a picture of that bald eagle holding the branch thingy in his talon.

And let's really ban clothing that incorporates the flag. I mean boxer shorts with the stars and stripes? How much more can one descecrate Old Glory than putting her right next to where you piss and crap? I guess the Olympic teams will all have to design new uniforms, but we have to get this flag desecration problem under control. It and gay marriage are the two most egregious problems our nation face.

Comments?

Another reason soccer sucks...

The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA investigate and take any appropriate action.

I'm sorry, he "called" him a "dirty terrorist?" Excuse me? In the heat of a 2 hour match a player calls another player "a name?" THIS is the most popular sport in the world, and we have players and press getting pissy over trash talking?

Foresight from The Onion

From their "Top Stories of 2001":

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

January 17, 2001 | Issue 37•01

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

...

Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.

...

Bush had equally high praise for Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, whom he praised as "a tireless champion in the battle to protect a woman's right to give birth."

"Soon, with John Ashcroft's help, we will move out of the Dark Ages and into a more enlightened time when a woman will be free to think long and hard before trying to fight her way past throngs of protesters blocking her entrance to an abortion clinic," Bush said. "We as a nation can look forward to lots and lots of babies."

...

Continued Bush: "John Ashcroft will be invaluable in healing the terrible wedge President Clinton drove between church and state."

The speech was met with overwhelming approval from Republican leaders.

"Finally, the horrific misrule of the Democrats has been brought to a close," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters. "Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend. Mercifully, we can now say goodbye to the awful nightmare that was Clinton's America."

"For years, I tirelessly preached the message that Clinton must be stopped," conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh said. "And yet, in 1996, the American public failed to heed my urgent warnings, re-electing Clinton despite the fact that the nation was prosperous and at peace under his regime. But now, thank God, that's all done with. Once again, we will enjoy mounting debt, jingoism, nuclear paranoia, mass deficit, and a massive military build-up."

...

"We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

"The insanity is over," Bush said. "After a long, dark night of peace and stability, the sun is finally rising again over America. We look forward to a bright new dawn not seen since the glory days of my dad."

One large order of fake outrage to go, please

I am so tired of the word of the day, TREASON!!!!!, flying around the vacuous right-wing echo chamber on the international banking "story." This is the non-story of the year. The New York Times (and the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, etc.) revealed nothing of substance (other than the lack of oversight, not a huge concern to the "evildoers")--yet of course, it is the NYT that is the whipping boy, not the other papers. And as Steve Chapman points out in the Chicago Tribune, if this was so important, why didn't the administration try to stop it?

However, I am NOT sending a big shout out to the  New York Times. I think the NYT DESERVEDLY caught a tremendous amount of heat (and lost a HUGE batch of respect) over Judy Miller, Curveball and its role as head administration cheerleader leading up to the war. This episode is NYT Editor Bill Keller standing up (and protesting FAR too much) saying "Look at us! We're independent! No I really mean it, see, we're publishing "secret" stuff, aren't you proud of us?"

No, Bill, I'm not. You're a day (or three+ years) late and half a trillion dollars short. 

Other Sports Inspired by World Cup Shootout

In response to the overwhelming popularity of World Cup penalty kick shootouts, Major League Baseball and the National Football League have announced new procedures for resolving tie games at the end of regulation play. In World Series games beginning this fall, each team will name one player to compete in a deciding game of Jenga:

The National Football League also announced that future deadlocked Super Bowls will be decided by a best two out of three "rock, paper scissors" contest.


"We believe that these additions maintain the integrity of the game to the same high degree as that shown by penalty kicks," said the leagues in a joint statement.

And we wonder why the cost for the Iraq war is so high?

Perhaps it's because kind, generous souls like Bruce Hopfengardner are busy lining their pockets with largess. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, he's only a tiny fish to get caught, enough tiny fish sure to make a large mass, a la sardines or alewives.

To excerpt:

Documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court said that Hopfengardner will plead guilty to conspiring with Philip H. Bloom, a U.S. citizen with businesses in Romania; Robert J. Stein, a former Defense Department contract official; and others to create a corrupt bidding process that included the theft of $2 million in reconstruction money.

Apparently between Hopfengardner, Bloom and Stein (sounds like a tax-law firm, doesn't it?), they managed to find a way to steer contracts in the direction of Bloom in exchange for (surprise, surprise), cash, gifts, jewelry, vehicles and some private Ya-Ha time with some, ummm...'entertainers' at Bloom's villa in Baghdad. Of course, just to 'keep it below the radar', everything was under $500,000 because that's all the authority Stein had to approve.

Excuse me, am I the ONLY one who doesn't seem to think that the words 'villa' and 'Baghdad' should be allowed to be used in the same sentence? Why not just use the phrase 'luxurious Siberian resort and spa' while you're at it? I'm sure that's how Mikhail Khordorkovsky feels about HIS accomodations, couresty of "Pootie-Poot" and the Russian government.

On little cat feet

The Bush administration is always trying to slide things past us. Clear-cutting old growth woods is allowed under the "Healthy Forests Act." Under the Clear Skies law, pollutants can be belched into the heavens. But this one is unique, as it isn't the oh-so-cute names that cover up what is being done, it is the bureaucratic ordinariness of it that hides it away.

Try this one on:

Memorandum of May 5, 2006

Assignment of Function Relating to Granting of Authority for Issuance of Certain Directives
Memorandum for the Director of National Intelligence

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby assign to you the function of the President under section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78m(b)(3)(A)). In performing such function, you should consult the heads of departments and agencies, as appropriate. You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

/s/ George W. Bush

OK, how dull does that sound? Everyday Washington techospeak, right? WRONG. First all all, the players. The Director of National Intelligence is John Negroponte. He is an interesting character. Negroponte is to death squads as trailer courts are to tornados. There is not necessarily a cause and effect relationship, but where Negroponte goes (El Salvador, Iraq) death squads generally follow.

And just what authority is being granted? Why, the authority to exempt issuers from the internal accounting control and recordkeeping provisions designed to reduce the risk of accounting fraud. On what grounds? Why, NATIONAL SECURITY of course! care to anticipate the beneficiaries of such largesse? Halliburton, perhaps?? Wait and see.

The toddler president

President George Bush shook his head in frustration Friday over the slow pace of diplomacy, vowing to continue talks to help ease tensions with North Korea, which test-fired seven missiles earlier this week.

"The problem with diplomacy, it takes a while to get something done," said Bush, capping off a two-day Chicago visit. "If you're acting alone, you can move quickly. When you're rallying world opinion and trying to come up with the right language at the United Nations to send a clear signal, it takes a while."

Yes, George, having to get leaders of other sovereign nations (you remember what sovereign means, don't you?) to agree with you can take time. Now, the last time you did this, you just invaded, rather than waiting, and got our country into a mess, killed thousands of our soldiers, and spent what's approaching half a trillion dollars. Did you learn a lesson from that? Are you going to actually try diplomacy, even though it would be quicker and less painful to your precious cluelessness to just invade anyone you don't like?

Will we survive another 927 days?

A Classic Cartoon Revisited

After the Kennedy assassination, Bill Mauldin gave us this poignant image:



I think Mr. Lincoln, the man who described the war as a test of whether a nation "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...can long endure, and suffered so "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" would be reacting similarly today.

The National Anthemn Redux

Here is that dreadful last verse I mentioned below:

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Methinks THAT verse will be the one sung in the new Amerika:

Starry starry night

First of all, read THIS from Schmidlap.

Secondly, over the holiday, I was thinking about the Star-Spangled Banner. I have one comment and one question on that one.

1) Be glad at the ball game that you only have to endure the first verse. Otherwise, try this one on for size:

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty
host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the
towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! (editor's note--the last verse is worse)

2) Let's answer the question posed by Mr. Key in his poem (he wrote a poem originally titled "The Defense of Fort McHenry," the tune is an old English one, To Anacreon in Heaven). Is our nation still the "land of the free?"

and the "home of the brave?"

Logic that defies logic

"I'm not going to allow the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain."

So of course you do that by sending more and more off to endless slaughter, a never-ending killing machine. Or perhaps it is a perverse kind of Ponzi scheme? In the classic scheme, monies from new "investors" pay off the earlier ones. Here new blood "honors" blood previously shed.

The scheme finally collapses when not enough new investors/soldiers are willing to take the sucker bet and part with their money or their life.

Everyone celebrates freedom of speech differently

Even the morons.

Schmidlap - maybe this truck's for sale!

Hey, Rousing Rabble!

Happy fucking birthday!

:-)

Blast from the Past

So the other morning on the Jerry Springer radio show (much different than his TV show), he was playing protest/patriotic/support the troops music from different wars, and they dug out this gem, which was top 10 in 1967, but vanished soon thereafter. Gotta love it. The contempt in the performer's voice when he says "because she is a woman" is something special.

An Open Letter To My Teenage Son
Victor Lundberg lyrics

Dear son:

You ask my reaction to long hair or beards on young people
Some great men have worn long hair and beards
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
If to you long hair or a beard is a symbol of independence
If you believe in your heart that the principles of this country
Our heritage, is worthy of this display of pride
That all men shall remain free
That free men at all times will not inflict their personal limitations
Of achievement on others,
That demands your own rights as well as the rights of others
And be willing to fight for this right, you have my blessings
You ask that I not judge you merely as a teenager
To judge you on your own personal habits, abilities and goals
This is a fair request and I promise that I will not judge any person
Only as a teenager if you will constantly remind yourself that some of my
generation judge people by their race, their belief or the color
of their skin and that this is no more right than saying all
teenagers are drunken dope addicts or glue sniffers
If you will judge every human being on his own individual potential
I will do the same.
You ask me if God is dead
This is a question each individual must answer within himself
But a warm summer day with all its brightness
All its sound, all its exhilarating breathiness just happened
God is love. Remember that God is a guide and not a storm trooper
Realize that many of the past and present generation
Because of a well intended but unjustifiable misconception
Have attempted to legislate morality
This created part of the basis
For your generations need to rebel against our society
With this knowledge perhaps your children will never ask
Is God dead?
I sometimes think much of mankind is attempting to work Him to death

You ask my opinion of draft card burners. I would answer this way
All past wars have been dirty, unfair, immoral, bloody and second-guessed
However, history has shown most of them necessary
If you doubt that our free enterprise system
In the United States is worth protecting, if you doubt the principles
Upon which this country was founded, that we remain free to choose our religion
Our individual endeavors, our method of government
If you doubt that each free individual in this great country
should reap rewards commensurate only with his own efforts
Than it is doubtful you belong here
If you doubt that people who govern us
Should be selected by their desire
To allow us to strive for any goal we feel capable of obtaining
Than its doubtful you should participate in their selection
If you are not grateful to a country
That gave your father the opportunity to work
For his family to give you the things you have and you do not feel pride
Enough to fight for your right to continue in this
Manner than I assume the blame for your failure
To recognize the true value of our birthright
And I will remind you that your mother will love
you no matter what you do, because she is a woman
And I love you too son
But I also love our country and the principles for which we stand
And if you decide to burn your draft card
hen burn your birth certificate at the same time
From that moment on, I have no son

Swearing

Now that the Supreme Court has slapped down the president's secret trial parties, I would guess that the administration would do the honorable thing and TRY TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION! Just wait.

The Supremes kicked around the administration's "unitary executive" theory, and sternly reminded the president that despite his beloved "commander-in-chief" role, that constitution thingy (Article I, Section 8) vests in Congress the power to "make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces." That whole separation of powers thing is SO annoying.

And now, a tip of the thinker cap to team member JB for this heads up. Let's play the "Can you spot the differences" between the two pictures of kids with bikes and ice cream cones, like in the Sunday paper magazine.

Here are the two pictures:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of [XXXXXXXX], and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

SO, one picture charges the party with oreserving, protecting and defending THE CONSTITUTION, while the other must defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Which one is which?

Cubs Announce New Hat Design

The Chicago Cubs announced a dramatic change to their famous blue cap with the red "C." The classic hat, shown below, is one of the most famous symbols in professional sports:

The redesigned hat is shown here:

Who's the leaker?

The government "has established a foreign terrorist asset tracking center at the Department of the Treasury to identify and investigate the financial infrastructure of the international terrorist networks. It will bring together representatives of the intelligence, law enforcement and financial regulatory agencies to accomplish two goals,  to follow the money as a trail to the terrorists, to follow their money...and to freeze the money to disrupt their actions." The administration is "also working with the friends and allies throughout the world to share information...working closely with the United Nations, the EU and through the G-7/G-8 structure to limit the ability of terrorist organizations to take advantage of the international financial systems."

Insert your own caption

Some people are into generosity

And some aren't. Take the Pastor J. Grant Swank, Jr., for example.

The Warren Buffet donation of billions to Bill Gates means killing womb babies agencies will get more money to kill womb babies.

Gates and wife have been at the forefront of murdering children in females’ wombs. Now the Buffet donation will enhance all the more the abortuaries. In other words, more humans without self-defense will be discarded, their souls making their ways into the loving arms of Jesus.

It is sad but true that many think that the richest man in the world — Bill Gates — is a benevolent philanthropist. It is fact that some of his moneys go to commendable causes. But all that is cancelled out when realizing that Gates’ so-called material success endorses outright murder multiplied many times over.
...
It is imperative that the world knows this theological liberalism behind the Gates philanthropy.

Womb babies?

Stupid hosts, stupid callers

Of course, I listen to right-wing radio so you don't have to.... Hannity has a guest host (rumors are he was suspended for his ridiculous "we found the WMDs" nonsense) and the unknown sub got a call from a real genius on the flag burning comedy:

"If I threw paint on Mt. Rushmore, I'd get arrested, if I sledgehammered the Liberty Bell I would be in jail."

Yes, you would, MORON. YOU don't own the Liberty Bell or Mount Rushmore. The freedom to burn a flag PRESUMES that YOU OWN (or otherwise have permission to incinerate) said flag.

Heaven help us.

Happy Anniversary!

I would like to wish everyone a happy 2nd anniversary of the transfer of "sovereignty" to the Iraqi "government!"

Serious props for a seriously funny post on 'blogofasicsm'

You're welcome to have a liquid in your mouth as you keep reading this, but I'd strongly caution against it.

Dennis Byrne is an IDIOT (tell me something I didn't know)

Addressing the vocal Cirque de Soleil that is White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, resident Chicago tribune idiot Dennis Byrne wrote:

Losing a job for exercising a constitutionally protected right is a sanction that Guillen, and even [obnoxious Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay] Mariotti, should not suffer.

Memo to Denny:

There is NO constitutionally-protected right to speak enforceable against YOUR PRIVATE EMPLOYER. Free speech guarantees at the constitutional level apply against THE GOVERNMENT, there, Denny--not a baseball team.

Let's see the conservatives match this one

So, Warren Buffett has just pledged to donate over $37 billion dollars to charities. Most of the money will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has received $26 billion from the Gates'. That money will be spent on things like fighting AIDS in Africa and trying to improve American high schools.

The Walton's kicking in that kind of money any time soon?

Buffett: "I still believe in the philosophy - FORTUNE quoted me saying this 20 years ago - that a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing."

Take that, estate tax.

Stupid is as stupid does

Sean Hannity is one of the dumbest people on radio/TV and Rick Santorum is without doubt the stupidest sitting senator (he MAY be the dumbest of all time, but Al D'Amato is in the team photo there). So how rich was it that these two geniuses "found" the "missing" and ever so dreaded "weapons of mass destruction?" (Here is Newshounds' take on it) It was simply train-wreck funny stuff, dim-witted Hannity and the desparate Santorum (18+ points behind at last glance) making total fools of themselves trumpeting the "find" and demanding apologies from presidential critics.

Now of course, the story had previously been debunked by FOX NEWS! As we all know now, "these were pre-1991 weapons that could not have been fired as designed because they’d already been degraded." The "find" involved some shells buried during the Iraq-Iran war that had long been forgotten, not any indication of current capacity. Priceless.

We need to make a couple of basic points here. First of all, should ANYONE be surprised about finding this stuff? We knew Hussein had chemical weapons BECAUSE WE GAVE THEM TO HIM! And also, please remember that the dreaded "WMD" is not a magic incantation that summons demons and brings the mummy back to life. The U.N. RESOLUTION barred Hussein from having such weapons and its enfircement WAS A U.N. MATTER. War would ONLY have been justified if Iraq was an IMMEDIATE and IMMINENT threat to the United States.

Rotsa ruck on that one.


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I've been one poor correspondent...

I have been rather inattentive here, with my mother's passing and a previously-planned family trip. We are saying our final goofbyes to her tomorrow at a memorial service, and then we will return you to your regularly-scheduled snarkiness.

One day's worth

From one day's morning paper:

1) U.S. mercenaries, oh excuse me,  contractors, have been withholding the passports of laborers "hired" at subsistence wages in Iraq, a technique often utilized by human traffickers. Lovely.

2) The military KNEW for nine months that Iraqi "security forces" killed two National Guard members but blamed "insurgents." The father of one of those soldiers, as well as Sen. Barbara Boxer, accused the military of suppressing the truth to shore up public support for the war.

3) Murder charges filed against 8 U.S. service personnel

4) Heavy firefight near the Green Zone: Iraq's government clamped a state of emergency on Baghdad and ordered everyone off the streets Friday after U.S. and Iraqi forces battled insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and rifles near the heavily fortified Green Zone. The military also announced the deaths of five more U.S. troops in a particularly violent week for American forces that included the discovery of the brutalized bodies of two soldiers. Twelve U.S. servicemembers have died or been found dead this week.

But--we're makin' progress. Turning points, you know. 

Dead and Buried

We are gathered here to finally lay to rest the idea of "American Exceptionalism." Christened in 1831 in an Alexis de Tocqueville quote, American Exceptionalism was a belief that the United States and its people were qualitatively different from and of course superior to other nations. AE had been in very ill health throughout much of his life, but finally succumbed to gross international lawlessness, torture, military adventurism, corporate greed, racism and many other causes.

No services are planned.

Word for the Day

Mistrial: A trial that becomes invalid because of basic prejudicial error in procedure; a trial that terminates without a verdict because of error, necessity, prejudicial misconduct, or a hung jury.

Lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi, a Sunni Arab who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim, was abducted from his home Wednesday morning by men wearing police uniforms, his colleagues said. His body was found riddled with bullets on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City. Police provided a photo of al-Obeidi’s face, head and shoulders drenched in blood.

Moron of the Month

The award for June goes to "Al" for this brilliant comment in the online Chicago Tribune:

"So, let me get this straight: our involvement in the middle east is intended to DE-stabilize an unstable part of the world? That is beyond idiotic. Unless democracy spreads in the middle east, the 13th century will continue to flourish, eventually appearing on our very streetcorners and killing with impugnity anything that doesn't bow to Allah. Saying `this war is all about making money for Mr. Bush's corporate cronies' is ridiculous as well, since there's a very large hole in the ground in New York City that proves otherwise."

Amazing.

The Word for the Day

The word for today is:

OCCUPATION: The invasion, conquest, and control of a nation or territory by foreign armed forces.

Boys and girls, THAT is what is happening in Iraq. It isn't a "war," a contest with a foreseeable outcome and, more importantly, a winner and a loser. It is merely an occupation, a bloody, ugly occupation, that will someday come to a bitter and forgettable end.

BTW, thanks to all for the kind words--P

Someone help me here

One thing I've never understood is on what grounds our country (or others, for that matter) say to other countries, like, say, North Korea - "We can have all the ICBM's that we want, but you can't have any." I know Kim Jong Il is nuttier than a bucket of nuts, but as a sovereign nation (which, again, sovereignty means being sovereign), don't they get to decide if they want the same military capabilities that we have? Who are we, their dad?

Kudos

Kudos to I Drew This:

Here we go again

Schmidlap asked recently what he should do to celebrate the 4th of July parade in his neighborhood. Well, I've got a more detailed answer for him.

Burn an American flag. Put one on the front stoop of your house and walk on it. Revel in free speech.

Senate committee approves flag amendment

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee gave a nod Thursday to a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from desecration, moving it to the Senate floor where vote-counters on both sides say it could be within one vote of passing.

The 11-7 vote sent the amendment to the floor. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has said the measure will get a Senate vote this month.

To be considered during the patriotic season between this week's Flag Day and the Fourth of July, the amendment's substance and timing is designed to appeal to veterans during this year of midterm elections.

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States," the amendment reads. To become the Constitution's 28th amendment, the language must be approved by two-thirds of those present in each chamber, then ratified within seven years by at least 38 state legislatures.

The House a year ago passed the bill 286-130, more than the required two-thirds of those present to pass. Vote-counters on both sides of the issue say the amendment has commitments of support from 66 senators, one fewer than the required 67 votes if all 100 members of the chamber are present.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California was the lone committee Democrat to vote for the measure, saying its language was designed to both protect the flag and First Amendment free speech protections.

The committee also rejected an amendment by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., to replace "desecration" with specific types of defilement. Using the word desecration, he said, would leave the government too much power to define the term.

So, they're one vote short of sending it to state legislators and forcing this debate to go on all over the country. One more Dianne Feinstein, who somehow thinks that the amendment as proposed somehow protects freedom of speech, and we'll have blood red states all over the country going nuts approving this. And if they get to 38...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if this amendment passes, I will go to the store, buy a flag, bring it home, and burn it.

Cost to take a life in Baghdad? $2.40

From the Financial Times (subscription required)

Cheap, high-quality ammunition is becoming widely available on the Baghdad black market, much of it smuggled in from eastern Europe, according to a report published on Thursday by Oxfam.

In a section of a report on the global ammunition market, the charity says the price of bullets for AK-47 assault rifles has fallen to an average of $0.30 (€0.24, £0.16) in Baghdad. This compares with $1.50 a round in Somalia during recent fighting.

Given that victims are killed by between four and 12 bullets, the cost of taking away a life in Baghdad is now $2.40, the report says.

An analysis in the UK of bullets bought in Baghdad by Doctors for Iraq found that ammunition for 9mm semi-automatic pistols and for AK-47s originated from factories in China, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Serbia. There were also pre-2003 Iraqi-made bullets.

What an unrestricted present from FEMA will buy you

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A $200 bottle of champagne from Hooters and $300 worth of "Girls Gone Wild" videos were among items bought with debit cards handed out by FEMA to help hurricane victims, auditors probing $1 billion in potential waste and fraud have found.

The cards -- given to people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- also bought diamond jewelry and a vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to the Government Accountability Office audit.

The GAO uncovered records showing that $1,000 from a FEMA debit card went to a Houston divorce lawyer; $600 was spent in a strip club and $400 was spent on "adult erotica products," all of which auditors concluded were "not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs."

(snip)

I had a friend of mine who diaried and chronicled his escape which was harrowing, expensive and just unbelievable. He's STILL fighting for legitimate money for cleanup for his home and is living in a FEMA trailer in his yard. Obviously there's going to be misuse, but on the scale that is alleged is almost unbelievable.

For some reason it reminds me of the line from comedian Jeff Foxworthy: "You can't give Rednecks money." But that was more geared at garish taste in decor, a la concrete deer in the front yard.

World Cup Befuddlement and Patriotism?

The three-headed Disney monster of ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 are carrying all the games, and they're doing so in high definition. Good for them; high def was designed for sports, as evidenced when I could see blades of grass flying after a corner kick.

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a fan of soccer (translated in every other country on the planet to 'football'). Maybe it's the fact that I work globally for a living and all my partners around the planet are enthralled and lost for the next thirty days. Whatever.

Somebody help me understand this one: England's match on Saturday morning is important enough to bump Lilo & Stitch back a couple of hours to give it to us on ABC. Mexico and Iran were important enough to be on ABC yesterday. Let's face it, anybody of Mexican persuasion was probably watching it on a Spanish-language channel; unless ABC offers an SAP button (which I honestly don't know).

Team USA, our own NATIONAL team, isn't important enough to bump Oprah, The View and whatever soap opera pablum is being pandered at 11:00 CDT on a Monday morning to give our national team the widest distribution? Let me guess: Soccer moms only take their kids to games because they have to but don't want have to watch it on TV? They prefer to live their Desperate Housewives lives while their charges are at summer camp?

While the World Cup and the Olympics share the major trait of being a quadrenial event, there are only sixty four games and thirty two teams. This isn't like having curling shunted to MSNBC at 4:30 in the morning because they've got figure skating to cover in prime time, dammit. There's sixty-four games. They're commiting to show them all in high definition which is an investment.

I don't want to be mistaken for a flag waving, sycophantic idjut, but isn't this just one of those things that you do because you're supposed to?

New category of Republicans for Schmidlap

It's not just Evil, Greedy, or Stupid anymore - how about Suicidal?

In response to, among other things, Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," the College Republican National Committee has suggested that students host "Global Warming Beach Parties" and "Global Cooling Day" events, where you too can ignore the effects mankind has on the world and assist the environment in killing you:

Run a “Global Cooling” Snow Cone Stand

Freeze out cataclysmic environmental scare tactics with a little humor. The Oklahoma University College Republicans gave out free snow cones to students for an event they called "Global Cooling Day."

Stage an event like this one to grab the attention of your campus and raise awareness on the real facts of the global warming phenomenon. Engage with students and debunk some of the myths and cool the hyperbole surrounding the issue.

OU CRs simultaneously used the event to promote their first meeting, sign-up members, and sell CR shirts. A tent and tables were set up at the busiest spot on campus, and OU CRs gave away nearly 1,000 snow cones each day.

Prior to your "Global Cooling Day" event, arm your College Republican chapter with solid talking points on the issue, and then kick-back and enjoy the sun. The facts are on your side.

The page has a link to another page, entitled "Global Warming Myths Debunked", where they attempt to "debunk" exactly three things:

1) Not all scientists agree on what kind of threat global warming poses. They tell us that "Many reputable" scientists think that any rise will be "well within the range of human adaptability". Names? References? How will we adapt? If half the population died, but the other half adapted, would that qualify as being within the range of human adaptability? They, of course, answer none of these.

2) The Kyoto Protocol would not help. They go on to say that it's a bad idea, because other countries' businesses might benefit. There's lots of "facts", and little or no data.

3) They make fun of people's concerns that polar bears are losing their habitats. This has happened before, due to natural causes, they say. Well, sure, but just because I know people who die from natural causes doesn't mean I can kill others, does it? And nice to know that "compassionate conservatism" is going strong.

That's it. That's all they got. Hundreds and hundreds of articles, in peer-reviewed journals, reams and reams of data, and scientists around the world say otherwise, and that's their counter-argument. And in some places, it wins.

For a much more informative response to the movie, read Salon's piece on the issue. (Day pass required.)

It's all true, I swear

The story of the real George W.

Props to Wil Wheaton for the link.

NSFW, BTW.

Now, this is what a real Democrat sounds like

These are some excerpts from a speech Barack Obama made to an EMILY's List luncheon earlier this year. There are a couple of quotes from it that got some notoriety at the time, because of their sharp-witted attacks on the President, but to me the more compelling parts are where he makes it clear what being a Democrat means, and shows why he should be one of the people leading the party, not Hillary Clinton or John Kerry.

We meet here today at a time where we find ourselves at a crossroads in America's history.

It's a time where you can go to any town hall or street corner or coffee shop and hear people express the same anxiety about the future; hear them convey the same uncertainty about the direction we're headed as a country. Whether it's the war or Katrina or their health care or their jobs, you hear people say that we've finally arrived at a moment where something must change.

These are Americans who still believe in an America where anything's possible - they just don't think their leaders do. These are Americans who still dream big dreams -they just sense their leaders have forgotten how.

...

We had held a large rally the night before in the Southside of Chicago. And in the midst of this rally, someone comes up to me and says that there's a woman who'd like to meet you, and she's traveled a long way and she wants to take a picture and shake your hand.

And so I said fine, and I met her, and we talked. And all of this would have been unremarkable except for the fact that this woman, Marguerite Lewis, was born in 1899 and was 105 years old.

...

[S]he saw the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. And she saw people lining up to vote for the first time - and she got in that line - and she never forgot it. She kept on voting in each and every election because she believed. She believed that over a span of three centuries, she had seen enough to know that there is no challenge too great, no injustice too crippling, no destiny too far out of reach for America.

She believed that we don't have to settle for equality for some or opportunity for the lucky or freedom for the few.

And she knew that during those moments in history where it looked like we might give up hope or settle for less, there have always been Americans who refused. Who said we're going to keep on dreaming, and we're going to keep on building, and we're going to keep on marching, and we're going to keep on working because that's who we are. Because we've always fought to bring all of our people under the blanket of the American Dream.

...

It's the timidity - the smallness - of our politics that's holding us back right now. The idea that some problems are just too big to handle, and if you just ignore them, sooner or later, they'll go away. That if you give a speech where you rattle off statistics about the stock market being up and orders for durable goods being on the rise, no one will notice the single mom whose two jobs won't pay the bills or the student who can't afford his college dreams. That if you say the words "plan for victory" and point to the number of schools painted and roads paved and cell phones used in Iraq, no one will notice the more than 2,300 flag-draped coffins that have arrived at Dover Air Force base.

Well it's time we finally said we notice, and we care, and we're not gonna settle anymore.

You know, you probably never thought you'd hear this at an Emily's List luncheon, but Newt Gingrich made a great point a few weeks back. He was talking about what an awful job his own party has done governing this country, and he said that with all the mistakes and misjudgments the Republicans have made over the last six years, the slogan for the Democrats should come down to just two words:

Had enough?

I don't know about you, but I think old Newt is onto something here. Because I think we've all had enough. Enough of the broken promises. Enough of the failed leadership. Enough of the can't-do, won't-do, won't-even-try style of governance.

Four years after 9/11, I've had enough of being told that we can find the money to give Paris Hilton more tax cuts, but we can't find enough to protect our ports or our railroads or our chemical plants or our borders.

I've had enough of the closed-door deals that give billions to the HMOs when we're told that we can't do a thing for the 45 million uninsured or the millions more who can't pay their medical bills.

I've had enough of being told that we can't afford body armor for our troops and health care for our veterans. I've had enough of that.

I've had enough of giving billions away to the oil companies when we're told that we can't invest in the renewable energy that will create jobs and lower gas prices and finally free us from our dependence on the oil wells of Saudi Arabia.

I've had enough of our kids going to schools where the rats outnumber the computers. I've had enough of Katrina survivors living out of their cars and begging FEMA for trailers. And I've had enough of being told that all we can do about this is sit and wait and hope that the good fortune of a few trickles on down to everyone else in this country.

...

Now, let me say this - I don't think that George Bush is a bad man. I think he loves his country. I don't think this administration is full of stupid people - I think there are a lot of smart folks in there. The problem isn't that their philosophy isn't working the way it's supposed to - it's that it is. It's that it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

The reason they don't believe government has a role in solving national problems is because they think government is the problem. That we're better off if we dismantle it - if we divvy it up into individual tax breaks, hand 'em out, and encourage everyone to go buy your own health care, your own retirement security, your own child care, their own schools, your own private security force, your own roads, their own levees...

It's called the Ownership Society in Washington. But in our past there has been another term for it - Social Darwinism - every man or women for him or herself. It allows us to say to those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford - life isn't fair. It allows us to say to the child who didn't have the foresight to choose the right parents or be born in the right suburb - pick yourself up by your bootstraps. It lets us say to the guy who worked twenty or thirty years in the factory and then watched his plant move out to Mexico or China - we're sorry, but you're on your own.

It's a bracing idea. It's a tempting idea. And it's the easiest thing in the world.

But there's just one problem. It doesn't work. It ignores our history. Yes, our greatness as a nation has depended on individual initiative, on a belief in the free market. But it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, of mutual responsibility. The idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity.

Americans know this. We know that government can't solve all our problems - and we don't want it to. But we also know that there are some things we can't do on our own. We know that there are some things we do better together.

We know that we've been called in churches and mosques, synagogues and Sunday schools to love our neighbors as ourselves; to be our brother's keeper; to be our sister's keeper. That we have individual responsibility, but we also have collective responsibility to each other.

That's what America is.

And so I am eager to have this argument not just with the President, but the entire Republican Party over what this country is about.

Because I think that this is our moment to lead.

The time for our party's identity crisis is over. Don't let anyone tell you we don't know what we stand for and don't doubt it yourselves. We know who we are and we know what our legacy is.

We're the party of Jefferson who first believed that every child in America should be educated regardless of wealth and birth and circumstance. That's who we are.

We're the party of Roosevelt who lifted this nation out of its own fear and sent workers to the factories and veterans to college and families to new homes and seniors to a comfortable retirement. That's who we are.

We're the party that stood up to fascism and defended freedom across the globe during World War II.

We're the party of civil rights, and workers' rights, and women's rights who believes that that every member of the American family deserves a shot at the American Dream. That's who we are.

We're the party of new frontiers and bold horizons - the party that put man on the moon and fueled the research that unlocked the secrets of the human genome. That's who we are.

And let me tell you about the party I see in the future.

In a globalized economy with bigger risks and greater rewards - a world where we are at once more connected and more competitive - let it be said that we are the party of opportunity. The party that guarantees every American an affordable, world-class, top-notch, life-long education - from early childhood to high school, from college to on-the-job training.

Let it be said that we are the party that equips every worker with what they need to succeed in a 21st century economy - wage supports and pensions, child care and health care that will stay with them no matter where they work or what they do.

Let it be said that we are the party of innovation and discovery - willing to blaze a trail toward energy independence or invest in the research that could create whole new industries and save thousands of lives.

And in a world where evil lurks and terrorists plot, let it be said that we will conduct a smart foreign policy that matches the might of our military with the power of our diplomacy. And when we do go to war, let us always be honest with the American people about why we are there and how we will win.

If we do all this, if we can be trusted to lead, this will not be a Democratic Agenda, it will be an American agenda. Because in the end, we may be proud Democrats, but we are prouder Americans. We're tired of being divided, tired of running into ideological walls and partisan roadblocks, tired of appeals to our worst instincts and greatest fears.

Americans everywhere are desperate for leadership. They are longing for direction. And they want to believe again.

You know, as I was thinking about today's luncheon and all the progress EMILY's List has made over the years, the first thing that came to mind wasn't all the politics or the campaigns; it wasn't even all the issues debated or the legislation passed.

I thought about my daughters.

I thought about the world that Sasha and Malia will grow up in, about the chances they'll have and the challenges they'll face. And I thought about my hopes for them - that they'll be able to dream without limit, achieve without constraint, and be free to seek their own happiness.

And I wondered - if they are lucky enough to live as long as 105-year-old Marguerite Lewis, if they someday have the chance to look back across the twenty-first century, what will they see? Will they see a country that is freer and kinder, more tolerant and more just than the one they grew up in? Will they see greater opportunities for every citizen of this country? Will all her of my hopes for my girls be fulfilled?

We are here today because we believe that in this country, we have it within our power to say "yes" to those questions - to forge our own destiny - to begin the world anew.

We are here because we believe that this is our time.

Our time to make a mark on history.

Our time to write a new chapter in the American story.

And then someday, someday, if our kids get the chance to stand where we are and look back at the beginning of the 21st century, they can say that this was the time when America renewed its purpose.

They can say that this was the time when America found its way.

They can say that this was the time when America learned to dream again.

Thank you.

Thanks for writing. Luv ya.

From the Answer Man column, by Roger Ebert:

Q. I'm always amazed at the irrational nature of the debate on medical care. In your review of "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," you state, "At least in Romania he is not asked for his insurance company, and he has a theoretical right to free medical care." In the next sentence you quote a Romanian doctor who discusses the horrible condition of medical care in his country. Isn't it obvious that when something is "free" for everyone, it will be inadequate for everyone? Do people get left behind in a medical system that involves free enterprise? Of course they do. But when you have a system where personal responsibility plays no part, you certainly get the system you deserve. I for one am glad that I get asked for proof of insurance when I show up at a hospital. It annoys me that people who cannot do so get treated at my expense anyway.

Jeff Grant, Centreville, Va.

A. The hospitals are always looking for volunteers. Maybe you could help them turn away sick poor people.

Rest in peace

February 3, 1927-June 7, 2006

Godspeed, Mom.

Olberman KOs O'Reilly

Just watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3utX-WbrPA&search=O%27Reilly

Ban gay marriage? How about divorce?

In honor of the proposed ammendment to be debated today that bans gay marriage, I offer a twin ammendment. An ammendment banning divorce, but only for those folks who favor the gay marriage ban.

And for those who fall in this category who leave their spouses (because they can't get a divorce anymore), then round 'em up and put them in interment camps, as deserving of "less than human" folks.

Whaddya think?

Gone fishin'

EDITOR'S NOTE: There is ONE new post from me below that I added after the original Gone Fishin' notice.

The man:



The mission:

I will be away from my duties here until Monday as I am off after the mighty chinook salmon, the tasty coho and the elusive brown trout (and a weekend of debauchery!)

Back on Monday with fish stories.

Media shilling for Bush

I have often pointed out the foibles and foolishness of Mark Silva, a shameless apologist for the Bush administration. Silva, a a "reporter" for the Chicago Tribune, gushes like a breathless correspondent for Tiger Beat over his hero's dramatic "overture" to Iran:

The Bush administration, signaling a willingness Wednesday to open direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program, is embracing a sharp change of course that reflects a more pragmatic approach to one of the world's most intractable conflicts and may ease upward pressure on international oil prices.

Wow, a "sharp change," pragmatism and lower gas prices? Hurray for George!

But let's all wait a minute. First of all, this situation is only "one of the world's most intractable conflicts " because of the ineptitude, stupidity and arrogance of the current administration. And how about "pragmatism?" How pragmatic is it when you offer to negotiate if IN ADVANCE the other side AGREES TO ALL YOUR DEMANDS? That is some negotiating tactic.

My favorite point in the piece is Silva's reference to the letter from the Iranian president as "rambling." Apparently he missed this bit of brilliant elocution from his hero:

Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a -- you're a -- you have been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities. Now, the federal government has got a responsibility on matters like education and security to help. And health care. And it's a solemn duty. From this perspective, we must continue to uphold that duty. I think that one of the most promising areas of all is to help with economic development, and that means helping people understand what it means to start a business. That's why the Small Business Administration has increased loans. It means, obviously, encouraging capital flows, but none of that will happen unless the education systems flourish and are strong. That's why I told you, we spent $1.1 billion in reconstruction of Native American schools.

THAT was inspiring, concise and to the point, not one ramble there!

Rarely do I agree with the president of Iran, but this "overture" was merely shallow propaganda, and Mark Silva is the perfect shallow propagandist for the job.

Chuckles the Clown

Charles Krauthammer is a miserable little man who should be ranting on a street corner rather than wasting ink and newsprint in the Washington Post. Recently, he gave us this gem:

Pushing Washington to abandon the multilateral process and enter negotiations alone is more than rank hypocrisy. It is a pernicious folly. It would short-circuit the process that, after years of dithering, is about to yield its first fruits: sanctions that Tehran fears. It would undo the allied consensus, produce endless new delays and give Iran more time to reach the point of no return, after which its nuclear status would be a fait accompli.

Chuck has always been of the "bomb anyone who thinks bad thoughts about Israel first, ask questions later" school, and making logical connections between his scattershot observations has never been his strong suit. This one, though, is priceless. What "process" is Chucky referring to? The "process" of having international inspectors and Security Council consideration and then having us say, "**** it, we're invading anyway?" The process of sending someone with a deep and abiding respect for diplomacy to represent us at the U.N., like John Bolton?

There is a country in this equation that has marginalized, triviliazed and shown nothing but contempt for international diplomacy, and it is NOT Iran. Why should Iran waste its time negotiating with our proxies if the United States holds the final and absolute veto, Chuck? Why indeed?

Happy Memorial Day!

I have heard many people object to GWB laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, given his disgraceful military record. However, I think it is perfectly logical for him to do, because when he was a soldier--no one knew him!

Happy Memorial Day to all (and a happy 24th wedding anniversary to me!)