Same Shit, Different War

Washington hid damaging Vietnam finding

By Scott Shane in Washington

"The US National Security Agency has kept secret a 2001 finding by its own historian that its officers deliberately distorted critical intelligence during the Tonkin Gulf episode that helped precipitate the Vietnam War. The historian's conclusion was the first serious accusation that the agency's intercepts were falsified to support the belief North Vietnamese ships attacked US destroyers on August 4, 1964, two days after a previous clash".

Tom Feeley has the rest at International Clearing House.

Dungeon 2005 Halloween Party

2005: "Tacky Tourist From Hell (In a half-assed Party City costume)"






This will be a two-parter, as the experience of seeing New Orleans for the first time since Katrina was a somewhat different experience than returning to my homeland, The Dungeon, for the first time in two years.

How do y'all like the mannequins that have replaced me in the Spank Tank? Pretty damned artistic, I'd say. I especially like the Marilyn Manson doll. Not to mention the new and exclusive paintings by Siniard, French Quarter artist of the royals. (That would be the bluish pic with the satyr grinning in the background.)

Chicky (owner of the Dungeon) and Steve (former manager of the Dungeon, way way back in the day) were the only ones at the party who "got" my costume. The Mardi Gras beads (in OCTOBER) were the main clue. Only tourists buy beads on Canal Street to wear into the Quarter in any other month but February (or March, if it's a late Lent). At any rate, I only dressed up for the "locals" anyway, seeing as how I used to be one. Sadly, none of the NOPD on Bourbon Street (ya gotta get out and walk once in a while, but not TOO far) understood my costume, but then, some of them looked half-in-the-bag, anyway. Nothing new there.

There were, maybe, thirty-five or forty other people on Bourbon who WEREN'T New York State Troopers or NOPD. And judging by the anecdotes told by the locals who live and/or work in the Quarter, the NYST do NOT want to be there, and they are NOT amused by any of it. Sad to hear, really, considering how NOLA & NYC have always had this kind of grudging respect for one another, one ancient city to another. A lot of the same condescending/insulting carpetbagger rhetoric that came from FEMA and Dumbya post-Katrina. And don't even get me STARTED on The Cunt Mistress Of Evil, BARBARA Bush... If that death-snatch opens her mouth again any time soon, I could wind-up on the news or in prison, or both.

On the one hand, I wish I could return to the Quarter tonight, to see if any more locals make it back, because Halloween in the Quarter is the last holiday that is still FOR the Locals --- look at Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, even French Quarter Fest! Plus, the locally-owned businesses in the Quarter (quickly becoming even MORE of a minority) need the dough and the company.

But on the other hand, I am SO too old for this shit! (I don't mean that in any "maturity" connotation, obviously, I mean that the fibromyalgia from taking that much ginseng, B-12 and DayQuil is WAY worse than a hangover!!!) But the few people I still know in New Orleans, especially at the Dungeon, were glad to see us, and we were so glad to see them. Sure, there was definitely a twinge of "we're dancing on the graves of the freshly-murdered" when I first rolled into that ghost town... but facts are facts, and the facts are these: 1. I'm homesick as a motherfucker, and 2. The Quarter needs the business to stay alive, and the Quarter is the only part of town that's received ANY reconstruction/revival help from ANYBODY thus far. And yes, I'm including Kathleen Blanco in that statement. More bitching about that in the other post.

We had a lot of fun, went home way too early (way too many fucking COPS out there for me, dammit), and wish we could do it again. And yes, I'm wearing Chuck Connors All-Stars with my costume, because I am DEFINITELY too old to do heels on the Rue Toulouse!!!

Besides, I kinda had to keep it low-rent, and if this costume is to bear any fetishistic/luck/voodoo value, as far as dragging drunk rednecks/Yankees/Californians with gold cards back to the Quarter, I wanted to be at LEAST equal-opportunity about it! And remember, those of you who are brave enough to sally forth to NOLA in the near future: If you can't afford to TIP, you can't afford to DRINK!!!

So be good to your bartenders, dammit.

How'd He Get That Nickname?

With a little help from some folks at Rigorous Intuition I've finally figured out how "Scooter" Libby got his nickname.

Y'all that have a cat or a dog know how it will drag itself across the carpet when it's got dangling hemorrhoids or after an attack of diarrhea? They sorta "scoot"; don't they--dragging their poopchute across the rough surface?

Well that's it.

Ol' "Scooter" has been takin' it up the butt from Bush and Cheney so much lately that that's the only way he can relieve the discomfort.

Was it Only a Week Ago?

Last Monday (was it only a week ago?) Hurricane Wilma blew in and out of Florida. She was one of those guests who comes in, makes her presence known and then takes off. She made a hell of an impression on many lives here. After last year’s one-two punch from Frances and Jeanne, my area of the state didn’t have much left to give Wilma. We offered up what few trees we had left and she scooped them up. Farther south where last year’s hurricanes were gentler, Wilma kicked some home-owning ass.

For everyone in the US this is the fall season. This is the time the leaves change colors and eventually flutter into brown heaps on the ground. South Florida has few deciduous trees and therefore we don’t see the seasonal changes others do. This year it is different, out leaves fell to the ground with the trees still attached.

Our electric was out from noon last Monday until about 7:30 Wednesday night. I am not complaining. My neighbor across the street still has no power. Our local electric company has set a date of Nov 6 or 9 to have all the power restored to this area. Thank goodness our weather since Wilma has been seasonally cool with low humidity.

We, here in this sweet house, are back to normal. Okay, our brand new, as of earlier this year, privacy fence is leaning at a funky angle but that will be corrected by the fence company in days to come. It’s still providing enough privacy to keep the neighbors from peering in and seeing us running around half dressed.

The most aggravating thing after Wilma exited was our DSL, which was out until last Friday. No internet availability is frustrating when all hell is breaking loose in the news.

I did hear and see some things on the news that I felt were way overboard. Wilma hadn’t been gone 24 hours and already people were raising hell because FEMA wasn’t here handing out food, water and ice. Give me a break, the ice in my freezer hadn’t even melted yet. We had bread, peanut butter and canned soups that we hadn’t even thought about having to eat yet. Who were these people who were raising hell and why hadn’t they prepared a bit? Remember we had about a week’s notice that the hurricane was coming, and ice and water aren’t out of the budget for the majority of folks here. You don’t have to be wealthy to be prepared with at least water and food. What were these hell raisers going to eat and drink on Tuesday if the hurricane hadn’t hit?

We saw long lines of cars waiting to pick up free ice at the local mall as we went to check on Mr. Pop’s lab on Wednesday. Lots of hefty new cars in that line. We still had ice in our freezer at that time, even though the power had been off since noon Monday.

See, we had our regular ice cubes in the freezer before the storm and we had added a bag of ice just in case. The bag of ice was still in good shape when the power came on Wednesday night. Okay, yes I did have to toss just about everything in the fridge and freezer out Thursday, but we had cooked several things on the grill as they thawed and been smart enough not to stuff the fridge or freezer with perishable foods the week before the storm. Preparing for a hurricane isn’t rocket science, it’s common sense. You may not be able to keep your roof from ripping off and you sure can’t stop a tree from deciding to take its last rest on top of your house, but you sure as hell can prepare ice and buy peanut butter and bread. Bottled water isn’t expensive and it keeps for quite some time. If you buy only a case a week at the beginning of hurricane season, within a few weeks you’re stocked up and you have nothing to worry about.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be the gourmet breakfast of choice. I know this for a fact, as I experienced it twice last week.

Was it only last week? It sure was, but as I think back about it this morning it seems like much longer than that. It seems like we hopped on a giant boomerang and took a quick trip out of the ordinary and now we’re back. It was a hell of a ride.

Later today I’ll tell you what I think about what’s going on in the political news. Hell yes, I’m still pissed off!

The Fecal Matter is about to hit the Rotating Machine

Bush stomped his foot and demanded that the next member of the Supreme Court be 3rd Circuit Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito. Bush appears on this Halloween morning to once again not be wearing his "I’m a uniter and not a divider" costume. Did anyone think this indictment of Libby would make this president a bit humble? No indeed. He has no clue. He’s running full out and nobody is going to stop him. You think he was dangerous before? Watch and see what he does in defiance of the new reality. He’s now a rabid dog and he’s getting cornered. We all know what a rabid dog does next. It’s not pretty.

bush watching the news?

By Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe
Newsweek

Nov. 7, 2005 issue - The mood in the White House last Friday afternoon was grim, but eerily quiet. Dick Cheney was gone, off in Georgia giving yet another apocalyptic terrorism speech to yet another military crowd. The president, just back from his own rally-the-troops address, was eager to chopper to Camp David for the weekend. But, in the small dining room adjoining the Oval Office, he was doing something uncharacteristic: watching live news on TV. Read on...

Bush To Name New Supreme Court Nominee

WAPO: Judging by the names the White House floated by political allies in recent days, Bush seems ready to pick a candidate with a long track record of conservative jurisprudence -- one who would mollify the Republican base, whose opposition to Miers's nomination helped scuttle her chances. Several GOP strategists said the most likely choice seemed to be federal appeals judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., with judges J. Michael Luttig and Alice M. Batchelder also in the running.

Boooooooo!

1. Antique Halloween Ecards
2. Make your own vintage halloween icons
3. Halloween Online Games
4. Hilarious Halloween Ecards

Click to see my Halloween masterpiece costume. My son as a tourist in Hawaii being attacked by a giant jelly fish.
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This Week In God

Springeth forward, Falleth backward, sayeth the Lord.
Mind thy clocks.

~~~~~+++~~~~~

1:41PM UPDATE FROM THEREVEALER.ORG

1. An excerpt from "Vows: The Story of A Priest, a Nun, and Their Son," a new book by Revealer contributing writer Peter Manseau. Manseau tells the real story behind one of the Boston priest abuse scandal's headlines, that of his mother. As a teenager, Mary Doherty fell under the spell of a charismatic priest, Gerard Creighton. Creighton seduced Doherty; then, in order to assure her silence, he arranged to have her dentist remove her teeth. Decades later, Doherty -- now Mary Manseau -- undertook her own investigation.

2. Are U.S. military chaplains promoting homophobia and discrimination against non-Christian women on taxpayer time? NYT's disdain forfundamentalists prevents it from asking the obvious questions.

3. The Washington Times declares holy war on Islam.

4. World at War, parts I and II: Erica Ogg and Michael de la Merced look at what gets left out by the secular coverage of evangelical blockbuster "Left Behind: World at War."

~~~~~+++~~~~~

Dan Brown, author of the Da Vinci Code, is being sued for stealing the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalen were married. Two historians, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, are suing Brown's publishers, Random House, claiming that Brown lifted "the whole architecture" of the research from their 1982 book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, for The Da Vinci Code, Brown's global hit of a religious thriller.

~~~~~+++~~~~~

I don't see him, but Jesus supposedly appeared on this tree. The story says, "People who have looked at it believe they are face to face with the face of Jesus Christ." I think it looks like Che.

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Jesus has also appeared in a fishbone! It's a miracle.
The Newmans said they received the fish bone from a friend 10 years ago, and they've had good luck ever since. Now, they said it's someone else's turn. It's on ebay.
Jesus looks frightened. Oh No! Mr Bill! Noooooooo!

~~~~~+++~~~~~

Speaking of Ebay, A central Indiana congregation that sold a vacant church on eBay for $40,000 is donating the proceeds to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

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Former Nun Was Kissed. Sued. Got money.

VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court judge has awarded a 45-year-old woman $15,000 in damages after she was assaulted with a kiss. The former nun and school teacher has a neurological illness that has confined her to a wheelchair.

After an April 2002 physiotherapy appointment, her volunteer driver, Harry Battle, placed her on her bed, gave her a deep kiss and rubbed her back under her shirt...

...In the civil suit, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Goepel ruled Battle's act constituted a serious breach of trust from a caregiver. He noted that after the assault, the woman didn't leave her home and stopped going to choir and horseback riding.

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Ah here's a group who have proof that Jesus Christ was born on Halloween. I knew it!

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Is Halloween too pagan for you? Give candy in the name of Jesus Christ says a Faith Matters columnist.

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Roman Catholic priests in manchester, NH reach out to the community and look for new parishioners in local bars. Love it. They're looking for lapsed catholics in the right places.

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Oh you will love this article from Pravda:
Centaurs appeared after copulation between humans and animals

Lots of good goat fucking stuff here. My favorite paragraph:

"In ancient times, warriors took a flock of sheep or goats for every battle; they used animals for eating and having sex. There is written evidence saying that Italian soldiers deserted during the siege of Lyons by catholics in 1562 because they had little sheep for sex contacts. Allowing sex contacts between soldiers and animals was believed the lesser evil than sex with prostitutes. Respectable scholars - Paracelsus, Cardano and famous accoucher of the 16th century Fortunio Liceti - several times registered birth of hybrids, animal kids born by humans and human kids born by animals. Their notes mention horses, elephants, dogs and even lions."

~~~~~+++~~~~~

Here's a story for the guys: do you feel left out by all those powerful women in church? Is church too "gay" for you? Read: "Macho Christianity? Movement seeks to make church 'more masculine'"

One man after joining the movement to make Christianity more "macho" realized that his wife "craves" his spiritual leadership. "So now after dinner, I take my family by the hand to say, 'It's time for family devotions."

I don't think it's your spiritual leadership she craves, macho man. Excuse me while I puke.

~~~~~+++~~~~~

Pax Vobiscum

The dreaded V word

It doesn't matter that a woman's vagina is part of her anatomy. What matters is that it's such a disgusting word. It rhymes with angina too, a horrible thing to have. Some think that it would be a good idea if women grew up not knowing about that part of their anatomy even though they have to deal with it monthly rather intimately.

The Albertsons chain store pulled the latest issue of Seventeen, a magazine for young women, according to an article in the Seattle Times, from its shelves because it dared, it had the unimitigated gall and the indecency to publish an informative article called, "Vagina 101. An Owners Manual." The article disgracefully illustrates what exactly is "down there" and what's normal and what's not. In this man's world we live in, it's best that women are not aware of such things because after all, they may take their own bodies into their own hands. The hypocrisy of it all is that Albertsons sells condoms openly and also had on its magazine rack an issue of Men's Health magazine boasting "Six Secret Ways to Turn Her On," not to mention Cosmopolitan's tips on how to make your own sex video. Seventeen Magazine has been around for ages. It touches on the usual teenage girl fluff, but it also offers some sage advice or at least gives young women some questions to ponder before they become readers of Cosmo and all hope of their becoming all they could be goes out the window.

You see the not so subtle difference between articles on sex and articles on anatomy is that articles on sex refer to both men and women, with the man, of course, being the important gender, while articles on female anatomy are intellectually and medically informative. Information is a bad thing in today's America. With information under our belts, we could question the morality of war, the secrecy of the vice president of the United States, the inconsistencies in the bible, interpreting the US Constitution, the role of women other than being breeding machines and living sex toys. No one seems to tackle the issue of women being born with brains though. God couldn't have been all that intelligent since he endowed women with brains AND boobs. Hey, we're not paid to think.

This attitude is even held by grown women... mothers! The article says that a mom was interviewed about the article in an Albertson's parking lot. She agreed that the magazine should have been pulled from the shelves as she feels it's her job to teach her daughters about their bodies and was worried about retaining their innocence (read: Ignorance). I wonder if she was planning on covering the topic of how much pubic hair is healthy (something that is covered in the article) or what the actual names for those lower parts are called other than your 'private parts' (which was how my mom addressed them).

The key part of the article according to story is that it helps young women to understand that they are normal... or what is normal. I was in college by the time "Our Bodies, Ourselves" was published. Before that, I didn't really know what to make of all that stuff down there other than the instructions inserted in the tampon box. Only the doctor said the words, vagina or hymen as in, Mrs. Jones, your daughter's hymen has been broken.

We live in interesting times. We can learn from the covers of magazines on any mag rack about germ warfare, nuclear proliferation, flu pandemics, how much god hates fags, corporate profits, terrorist threats in the United States, military strategies, authorized torture, football, steroids, evil dictators, fake tits, Britney's faux life.. but it's just plain indecent for a young woman to understand her icky parts.

Grow the fuck up, America.

just a small note on the feminist angle

Have you noted the misogynist angle to Leakgate?

Valerie Plame didn't send her husband Joseph Wilson to Niger. The CIA did. Because they didn't want bogus information that the public would think came from them to start a war. But it is reported that Ms. Plame sent Mr. Wilson. This translates into overbearing wife of henpecked husband sending him out for a carton of milk and the dry cleaning.

Note please how Ms. Plame was used by the Bush administration to cast doubt on her husband's findings. They outted her to punish him. Calling him a liar wasn't enough. Why? Were they hoping, God forbid, something terrible would happen to her and her children? A sort of revenge usually employed by mobsters. Mr. Wilson wisely chose to protect his family in plain sight. If something terrible did happen, it would become very clear that it wasn't a coincidence.

This isn't politics as usual. This is a criminal enterprise. It is too bad that Mr. Fitzgerald hasn't gotten all RICO on their asses.

While I have no sympathy for Judith Miller, I do think she too was used by the Bush administration. Lead on, if you will, to be one of the boys, a camaraderie she didn't, evidently, have at the New York Times.

The schoolyard bully Bush administration insulted an "old school" man. The sort of man who not only can return an insult, but slap his challenger in the face with a glove and say, "Pistols or swords at dawn?" He readily admits "too many wives and too many drugs" to run for public office, but found he could serve his country as a diplomat and a whistleblower. He refused to be intimidated. He refused to let the Bushies hang his wife to twist in the wind. He wouldn't be pushed or shoved. He stood up for his wife and himself and should bring back some honor to the Medal of Freedom by receiving it from the next administration in 2009.

The gravity of the situation is this: Everyone who knew her and worked with her was in danger, especially those close to her at the CIA, her children and her husband. The gravity of this is the thugs in the White House didn't care that Mr. Wilson or Ms. Plame knew that the war was a lie. They would endanger the lives of Americans so their plan to kill more Americans in a bullshit war abroad to control elections at home would go forward into the abyss. They didn't have any goals in their administration; we got this war because they had no vision for the nation, no plan to keep their offices other than a trumped up war.

Mr. Wilson will be depicted in the worst light; perhaps the worst for him isn't behind him. The far right will really howl now that this is before the rest of America.

Mr. Fitzgerald, reminding me of Elliot Ness and the Untouchables (quick, someone Photoshop that old movie poster!), looks like he can hold his own against the howlers. He put down the notion that he indicted on a "technicality." For the uninitiated, all law is merely a technicality and it is what separates us from the punks in the White House.

This goes all the way to the top. That towel snapping frat boy Bush either okayed the operation which means he is a son of a bitch or he didn't know until after the fact which makes him a dumb son of a bitch. Even Nixon had the guts to go on television and accept Haldeman and Ehrlichman's resignation. I thought Bush should have fired Libby. Libby, which sounds so close to Liddy, also, it has been noted, was a special assistant to the president, not just the vice-president. What did we get? Blah, blah, terror, it is tough to fight the terrorist, I am going to do my job, blah, blah, blah.

Can We Open the Fitzmas Presents Yet?

The information from Fitzgerald's office.

• October 28, 2005 Indictment
• October 28, 2005 Press Release

10:30PM I just heard on the television that Karl Rove is "Official A" Stay tuned.


Late Day News: David Addington

Raw Story Reports: "David Addington, expected to replace Libby, was a principal author of the White House memo justifying the torture of terrorism suspects. He also strongly endorsed holding suspects without access to the legal system, a measure rebuked by the Supreme Court." (link) This has not been confirmed as far as I know.

Think Progress asks: Was Addington aware he was facilitating alleged criminal conduct? "According to the indictment, it appears that Addington was involved in the leak:

18. Also on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with the Counsel to the Vice President in an anteroom outside the Vice President’s Office. During their brief conversation, LIBBY asked the Counsel to the Vice President, in sum and substance, what paperwork there would be at the CIA if an employee’s spouse undertook an overseas trip. (think progress link)

Whatever Already Blog has more on Addington. Very interesting. (link)

3:30PM: Fitzgerald spoke for over an hour.He made it clear what the charges were and how the federal grand jury works. He also made it clear that he cannot comment on anyone who is not mentioned in the indictment. When the transcript is online, I'll post a link.

Meanwhile the stupid ass pundits on the cable channels watched what I watched at the press conference and continue to spew ridiculous charges against Joe Wilson, his wife and the special prosecutor. I don't know why the American people have to endure pundits who have listened to the same press conference I did and make ridiculous conclusions and continue to bash the law of the land which Mr Fitzgerald made perfectly clear. I think I would trust the federal prosecutor more than some political crony of the bushistas. So far on MSNBC this afternoon, the pundits are making up all sorts of implications. Nauseating. Here's a CNN story on press release.

Watch out for pundits saying that Fitzgerald didn't do his job because he didn't indict Libby for blowing the cover of a spy. He couldn't do that because Libby is charged with obstructing justice and lying 2 times to the FBI and 2 times to the grand jury. Just watch out for lying, speculative pundits with political motivations and little understanding of the law.

1:36PM: DOJ Website Updated:

• October 28, 2005 Indictment
• October 28, 2005 Press Release

1:05PM: Scooter Libby has resigned his position as Dick Cheney's chief of staff.


12:41PM Scooter Libby has been indicted on obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements. These are serious charges. Stay Tuned.

2 charges of perjury
2 charges of making false statements to grand jury
1 charge of obstruction of justice- endangered national security by revealing Valerie Plame's identity.



CNN.com: A news release from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald says Libby allegedly lied "about how and when in 2003 he learned and subsequently disclosed to reporters then-classified information concerning the employment of Valerie Wilson by the Central Intelligence Agency."

According to a reporter on with Wolf Blitzer: Dick Cheney will be called as a witness in the trial. Cheney told Libby Plame's identity.

Fitzgerald to speak to press at 2:15 PM

Fitzgerald's Official Website Here.

8:46AM: NBC News confirms that Rove won't be indicted
Rove intends to stay on his job. It's still likely that Libby will be indicted, yet he was still at the WH staff meeting this morning. Karl Rove is maintaining that anything he said that was conflicting was merely inadvertent. In the meantime, he is still under investigation and looking for PR representation. Since Cheney is really the president, Scooter's indictment is pretty serious.

9:10AM AP Source: Rove Won't Be Indicted Today

6:30AM: AP Washington- White House Fears Indictment for Libby
excerpt: "White House officials braced for the possibility that Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide would be indicted in the CIA leak case, but held out hope presidential confidant Karl Rove might escape charges for the time being.

"Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald signaled Thursday he might simply keep Rove under investigation, according to a person familiar with recent developments in the case who requested anonymity because of its sensitivity. That would spare Rove bad news Friday when the grand jury that has heard the case for two years is set to expire.
...

"Rove attended the daily meeting of the senior staff and met with the president late in the evening, at the end of a day in which the White House dealt with the withdrawal of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was said to have passed up the staff meeting to attend a security briefing."

Seems strange that Scooter would attend a security briefing the night before an indictment. Shouldn't he have resigned? Stay tuned.


There were no WMD's. Iraq was not connected to 9/11. The war in Iraq was sold to the house and the people based on that "evidence". If this evidence was deliberately manufactured with malicious intent and can be proven as such, the WH and this president face severe legal problems and will go down in history as the worst administration ever. This is treason. This is not a blue dress.

"Vermont Moves to Secede from American Empire"

"James Howard Kunstler, author of the book about "Peak Oil The Long Emergency," will be the keynote speaker at The Vermont Convention on Independence to be held in the House Chamber of the State House in Montpelier, Vermont on Friday, October 28th, 2005.
(The Vermont Convention Link)

"Sponsored by the Second Vermont Republic, the convention, which will begin at 9 am and conclude at 5 pm, is open to the public and free of charge.

"This historic event will be the first statewide convention on secession in the United States since North Carolina voted to secede from the Union on May 20, 1861.

"Organizers of the convention say it has two objectives: First, to raise the level of awareness of Vermonters of the feasibility of independence as a viable alternative to a nation which has lost its moral authority and is unsustainable.

"And second, to provide an example and a process for other states and nations which may be seriously considering separatism, secession, independence, and similar devolutionary strategies".

Read the rest at Conspiracy Planet.

That Wasn't Mars AND Venus

Dear Mr Perlman,

I just finished reading the article about the bright lights over the Bay Area: Spellbound by sky lights Bright twinklers were nearby Mars and Venus, say astronomers -- or were they? I'm rather surprised that Mars and Venus were given as the explanation for the bright lights in the sky as they were seen so close together.

You wrote: "Chronicle photographer Lance Iversen caught images of the peculiar lights in his camera around midnight Wednesday, looking east from Twin Peaks. Mars and Venus would have been visible in the eastern skies at that time."

As a matter of fact, Venus can be seen in the southwestern sky right after sunset and it sets shortly after that. It's so bright that I sometimes think it's a plane until I realize that it isn't moving. Mars rises around sunset in the east and by midnight it's rather high up in the eastern sky. It's very red and bright, no way near as large and twinkling as Venus was and by then Venus is long gone from the visible sky. I'm quite surprised that Andrew Fraknoi, a professor of astronomy would suggest those two planets would be close to each other.

You go on to correctly explain why Mars and Venus are so bright (because they are close to the earth now) but you forgot to mention that Venus had set hours before. I'm curious as to why you allowed Venus to be the explanation in the article.

Sincerely
Me

---------
This blonde is not suggesting that the lights were alien spaceships. I'm just surprised that it was explained that the 2 planets could have been seen together. I'm a totally amateur sky watcher and even I know that Venus is no explanation for anything at midnight.

In This Week's Episode of Fuck the Poor....

The Senate gave a rousing "Fuck The Poor" to the elderly and disabled by voting to cut Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next 5 years by a measly $10B. If they would quit the war in Iraq, imagine how much could be spent helping our least brethren in this oh so (not) christian country. In typical party politics that have nothing to do with the actual human beings that live in this country, the committee's 11 Republicans supported the legislation. The committee's nine Democrats opposed it.

Now here's justice: The new Patriot Act terrorism law would allow smaller juries to decide on executions and give prosecutors the ability to try again if a jury deadlocks on sentencing. Why don't they just shoot suspected terrorists and save the money? (snark)

Bush let his more articulate brother take the fall for the FEMA failures in Florida. Senior citizen communities are being ignored. Shameful. (speaking of Florida, when is Pissed Off Patricia going to be able to get back online?)

The most disgraceful and nauseating news this week were the reported 3Q earnings of big oil. With so much havoc after the hurricanes, people losing their jobs and homes while reconstruction jobs going to illegal aliens, Exxon Mobile reaped 75% growth and ConocoPhillips profits soared 89% in the 3Q. This is very good news for the stockholders and big "Fuck You" to those who have to pay for it (if they can afford it).

But the Republicans are still soft on treason unless it's a Democrat being accused.

More Proof that Repubs Cannot Get Elected Without Cheating

From Bradblog:

Excerpt: Noe indicted in Bush money-laundering case

A federal grand jury has indicted Tom Noe, the former Maumee coin dealer suspected of laundering money into President Bush’s reelection campaign, Mr. Noe’s attorney told The Blade today.

Gregory A. White, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, will hold a news conference in Toledo to announce “a major public corruption indictment.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office announced in April that it was investigating Mr. Noe for possible violations of federal campaign finance laws. Sources have told The Blade that authorities believe Mr. Noe gave money to several people who then contributed to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Keep your eyes on this one, since Noe had connections to all the major Republican players, from the indicted Ohio Governor Taft, to the Ohio Sec. of State Blackwell, to Schwartzenegger in California to Bush/Cheney etc. Let's see if they all start singing soon...This is gonna get ugly.

Laura: You Might Not Get a Job if You Have Tattoos on Your Face

Reuters: First lady Laura Bush said on Tuesday that young people are more likely to get jobs if they avoid tattoos, as well as drugs and alcohol.

"We know that people who do avoid drugs and alcohol are more likely to be able to get a job," she said in an interview with American Urban Radio Network.

Unless of course, you are related to George H.W. Bush.

It's Not Fitzmas Yet.... but

WASHINGTON -- "Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald huddled with his legal team Thursday as two key White House aides awaited their fate in the CIA leak probe.
Rove's legal team made contingency plans, consulting with former Justice Department official Mark Corallo about what defenses could be mounted in court and in public.

"A spokesman for the prosecutor said there would be no public announcements Thursday. The term of the grand jury that could bring indictments expires Friday.

....

"Rove's legal team made contingency plans, consulting with former Justice Department official Mark Corallo about what defenses could be mounted in court and in public.

"Fitzgerald met with Rove attorney Robert Luskin at a private law firm office Tuesday, heightening White House fears for Rove's future."

the idea that launched a thousand fake orgasms

From the Seattle Times: It's the 100th anniversary of Sigmund Freud's theory of vaginal orgasm!

"Freud proposed that female pleasure and orgasm should center on the reproductive tract. He was aware that many women experienced orgasm through a small but ultrasensitive organ known as the clitoris but dealt with this by declaring such orgasms "infantile." Any woman who didn't transfer her center of sensitivity to the vagina he labeled as frigid."

Miers Withdraws Nomination

It's in the Washington Post.

"Here comes another dummy
Worse than the other dummy
Waltz me around again, Willy".

Hat tip to Joe and Rob at Americablog.
And Liz. Who scooped me by 17 minutes.

Breaking: Harriet Miers Withdraws

Wow.

In the news now

WASHINGTON -- Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications.

President Bush said he reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down. He blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.

Hat tip to MSNBC news on television.

The AIDS virus: Made in the USA?

(cross posted at the Dark Wraith Forums)
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Contributing Writer

October 26, 2005—"You mean AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) didn’t come from a green monkey that bit a black African on the ass? Are you lying to us again, Uncle Sam? I think so.

"In fact, on July 29, 1969, only days after the Department of Defense (DOD) asked for $10 million (see link) from Congress to fund the development of a “synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally exist and for which no natural immunity could have been acquired . . ." on that day, the chairman of the Republican Task Force on Earth Resources and Population, the Honorable George H. W. Bush, U.S. Representative fromTexas, 7th District (1967–71), stressed the pressing need for population control activities to fend off “a growing Third World crisis.” (emphasis added PoLT)

That's the title and lead paragraphs of an article about AIDS that might tell you more than you want to know:
Online Journal

And if AIDS doesn't do the trick, maybe a flu virus....

Tonight's Candlelight Vigil

I attended a candlelight vigil this evening in my town at the Quaker Meeting House which is on the corner of a rather busy intersection at rush hour. I met a number of very lovely christian people who are anti-war and I asked them what they about the TV christians who shill for bush and they all agreed that we have a problem with vocal hateful war mongering christians who use the bible in its literal sense to fool the masses.

I also ran into an old friend who is now a deacon at my old church. He and I attended the same seminary but since he is a man, he gets to preach and I didn't. Nevertheless, he told me that he preached an antiwar sermon back when the Iraq invasion started and he was vilified by many of the parishioners and told by the pastor that people have their own opinions. He said that his sermon was not political at all. It was about Jesus. Needless to say we all had a rather heated discussion about the lack of Jesus in today's christianity (not heated towards each other).

I'm glad I went. Anyone else go to a vigil?

Halloween For The Childless

Read: Trick or Truffles by David Leite
In New York, Halloween often sees parents guiding their kids on ransacking missions through enormous co-ops. Our food king decides it’s time for childless adults to tip the tables and get their due.

Excerpt: "I’ve devised a simple way to assure that we pitiful childless tenants throw open our doors for the kiddies in the building—even for little Lili, the petulant three-year-old next door who’s sure to grow up to be a leather-clad dominatrix with tattoos covering 82 percent of her body: Let us adults go trick-or-treating, too. I win, you win, and the kids are none the wiser."

But I thought Jesus was a Democrat!

I read this opinion piece in Newsday and I'd you to read it and read it without getting enraged and calling him an asshole in the comments because the author gives a pretty rational view of the polarization in this country between conservatives and liberals from the political right side... and why he thinks moderates vote conservative.

How can people of good conscience on the left side make a case for the importance of social justice which embraces people of all religious beliefs? The alarming part of the article explains how Fox's John Gibson wrote a book called "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought." The liberals doing the plotting, including the litigating, Gibson adds, are almost all Democrats.

This sort of alarmist propaganda that Gibson spews is just plain ridiculous and politically motivated. Plenty of liberals enjoy Christmas. Non believers enjoy the festive season, the lights, the parties and the day off. The economy would collapse if not for Christmas spending. A fringe group of radical lefties are challenging Christmas... it certainly doesn't mean that ALL Democrats are anti-Christmas. After years of studying the bible from a theological and historical point of view and learning that the religious version of Christmas is not to be taken literally, I still enjoy the season.

I don't care if mangers and Christmas trees are set up on public property. As a matter of fact, I feel bad that non Christians don't partake in hanging lights all over their homes in the darkest days of the year. Why, it's a positively pagan ritual! I think those who are inflamed by holiday decorations, should chill out and worry about how poverty is on the rise in our country and be grateful that people are more generous to the poor during that season.

Well with that aside... please read the article and comment on how we can change the view that Democrats are radical lefties who hate god. Only then can we put an end to the cruel corporatists (fascists) on the right who supposedly embrace christian values, but only in order to get votes and kill the middle class.

Bad news for donkeys on religion front

Just Go

No excuses. Find a peace vigil in your neighborhood for this evening.
No excuses.
Moveon.org


PS. Cindy Sheehan: Hillary supported the war. Don't support her unless she changes her stance.

The Presents Are Under the Tree

But you can't open them yet. It's being reported that Fitz is in DC with the grand jurors in the courthouse since 9AM. I ran out of rocky road ice cream while glued to the television this morning.

Meanwhile FBI agents have been snooping around the Wilson's neighborhood asking neighbors if they knew that Mrs Wilson was a covert CIA agent. Angry neighbors who thought they knew the Wilson's quite well said that they didn't know she worked for the CIA and that they wouldn't be inviting the Wilson's to cocktail parties anymore. "I told Valerie about my affair with Mr. Jones (name changed to protect the guilty) and the least she could have done was to share a secret with me," whined a local desperate housewife.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas, Ev'ry where you go;
Take a look in the morning news, listening anew
To the lefty talk shows with callers all aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas, Cheney's looking sore,
But the prettiest sight to see are the shrouds that will be
On the White House door.

A pair of indictments and a pistol that shoots
The traitors and treasonous men;
Co-conspirators will talk and will go for a walk
And we'll never see them again;
Americans can hardly wait for freedom to start again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas, DC is rotten to the core;
There's a squint in the patriots eyes, 'cause you shouldn't out the spies,
The kind that would have saved our country from a war.

It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas; Feel it in your heart,
And the hopes that they will burn Will come true when you learn
That the trials soon will start."

-Blondesense news

and the arrest warrant goes to. . .

Word on the "street" in blogland is 5 indictments coming down tomorrow. The targets have been notified--that's how they know to wear a good tie for the camera--by letter and the indictments will be announced tomorrow. People who were booked to be on CNN have been called and cancelled. Expect a big news day tomorrow.

This is like Christmas Eve. Will I get the electric train set or the new red bicycle? Perhaps, I will get both and a new puppy!

J.J. Conducts Another Press Conference

From ABCNews:

The White House on Tuesday side stepped questions about whether Vice President Dick Cheney passed on to his top aide the identity of a CIA officer central to a federal grand jury probe.

Pressed about Cheney's knowledge about the CIA officer, McClellan said: "I think you're prejudging things and speculating and we're not going to prejudge or speculate about things."

Excuse me, cocksucker McClellan, but why did you not have this same attitude about "prejudging things and speculating" BEFORE sending thousands of Americans and Iraqis to their deaths? I take it your attitude has changed from when you were shooting off your cocksucker and trying to make us believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.

One final question, cocksucker McClellan: To whom do you give the best head? Bush? Or Cheney?

Tuesday cat blogging

Rosa Parks passes and the Fake War passes 2,000 "official" deaths.

I need a pick-me-up.

(And yes, the black/semi-evil ones are my Chirren. The black-and-white one is Norman.)

OFFICIAL US DEATH TOLL AT 2,000 TODAY

It is being debated in the comments as to whether the death toll includes the injured troops that died on their way to Germany, in Germany or in US hospitals as a result of injuries in Iraq or the troops who have committed suicide. God help the United States. CNN Link


this post has been edited 2:43PM

UPDATE: Archie Gordon sent me a link to this most moving photographic tribute to those young men and women who sacrificed their lives. They are not numbers. They were human beings with families and people who loved them. Get your tissues ready.

Enough Already! Redux

God is punishing the northeast once again since the 9 days of floods and rain we had recently didn't seem to do the trick... homosexuals still live here, you know.

But boy, is my grass green. The 60 MPH winds are blowing leaves off the trees that didn't even turn colors yet. In the inland elevated areas, a lot of heavy snow is expected. So much for leaf peeping this year. This is a superstorm they say- like the one they made the movie about- Perfect Storm. I have never considered a nor'easter a perfect storm- More like a pain in the neck. If I'm not online today, it's because our power and/or our cable is out. It was out overnight and came back. Keeping fingers crossed.


In other weather news, Bill O'Lielly declared last night that the tsunami was caused by global warming! LOL. Via Crooks and Liars Wait. Excuse my french, but... what a fucking stupid idiot he is. Was he sleeping during science class? Does he ever actually watch the news? His father didn't beat him enough.

Southern Man, Better Keep Your Head...

One of America's finest women and a great role model for civil disobedience has passed away.

Almost 50 years ago (December 1, 1955) Rosa Parks, spit in the face of Jim Crow and sparked the civil rights movement. She was the first black person to be arrested for refusing to yield her seat to a white (man, mind you) on a bus. A boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama began on the day of her trial, 4 days later. It lasted for 381 days and nearly bankrupted the bus company since the ridership of Montgomery buses was about 75% black. Some black people car pooled or took taxis but most of them walked for those months. Some walked 20 miles or so. Finally a supreme court decision obliterated Jim Crow laws. She moved to Detroit, and worked in Congressman John Conyers office for 20 years.

Her act of civil disobedience and the boycott that ensued changed America. People were willing to be inconvenienced and walk for 13 months to hurt a business to make a point. This blonde would like to see people of good conscience do the same to enact change in our country again.

Who is protesting these days? Why it's the pigs!

The city of Austin Texas has granted a permit to the KKK to rally against gay marriage on November 5th. In an e-mail to the city for permission, a representative for the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan wrote:

"Our speech will not be inflammatory, but we all know the reputation of the name of the KKK, so we expect anti-Klan demonstrators to be there who may become violent. We certainly don't want any of our people hurt nor any city officials. We just want to come and encourage people to vote for Christian Family Values and against legalized homosexual marriage in the state of Texas."

Indeed. Christian family values are the hallmark of the KKK. Not. Notice that they don't want themselves or city officials hurt. I think a lot of people are going to be hurt. Why this group of bigots has the balls to ask for a protest permit in this day and age exemplifies the hatefulness that is still alive and thriving in this country. November 5th in Austin Texas will demonstrate to the country and the world that we have a lot of work to do in this democratic experiment- America.

Scooter Libby: Designated Fall Guy in Plame Debacle

From Conspiracy Planet:

"The scuttlebutt in Washington is that Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, is negotiating his fee to be the scapegoat or fall guy in this Valerie Plame debacle," writes Al Martin in his column called "Scooter Libby: Designated Scapegoat in the Valerie Plame Debacle. What About Bob Novak and Karl Rove?" (AlMartinRaw.com)

"Speculation centers on Scooter's buy-out price, an estimated $30 million for doing 3 years on behalf of the Bush Cabal. Like the typical mob family, the Bush Cabal is supposed to take care of its own, i.e. those who do the time for the Bush Crime Family's crimes. In this case it is Scooter Libby."

And a toss of Blondesense wig curls to the Dark Wraith.

Several days late and a zillion dollars short

PENSACOLA: Man Convicted Of 'Antichrist' Slaying

Okay, this is NOT funny, but I have to admit that I was egotistical enough to be grabbed by the headline. One man was murdered and another permanently crippled, so, again, NOT funny. But it's a great headline, nonetheless.

NEW YORK: $241,000 Lap Dance Tab At Scores

Meet the lap dunce.

He's a married Internet mogul who ran up a $241,000 tab at Scores and then stiffed American Express on the bill - claiming it was more padded than one of the strip club's busty beauties, according to a lawsuit.

The interesting thing is, he's not the FIRST person to try to "welsh" on a massive Scores tab...

Bangladeshis dig the booty, too, apparently.

And Murkins are not exempt from the 'charms' of the Scores ladies, either...

Okay, so now we know why Howard left Alison... his part-ownership of the club obviously requires some serious in-depth organizational skills and a lot of long nights of hard work...

IN MUCH SHITTIER NEWS:

Mortuary delays frustrating to families

Apparently, if you lost a family member in the New Orleans Convention Center or Superdome during the Katrina genocide, they're now saying that it could be three months to two years before you learn what happened to their bodies/remains. Three months to two years.

And yes, you can betcher ass, FEMA is who's the cause of this clusterfuck.

Even when you're dead, this administration is still fucking you.

MORE SHITTINESS:

Remember when I mentioned how Gov. Haley Barbour is a flaming fucktard of a moron?

People in Biloxi are still living on what's left of their front porches, with no running water, sewerage, or even shelter from the mosquitos or the weather. But Haley's running around like Aunt Pitty-Pat, all a-fluster that anybody would question his "skills" and trying to holler that "Everything's okay, y'all, really, it's alllll okaaaayyyy!!!"

Y'know, unless you're POOR in Mississippi, which is, y'know, MOST of Mississippi.

DO NOT LET THIS COCKSUCKER MAKE IT TO THE 2008 CONVENTION.


AND IN LESS SHITTY NEWS:

Phil Harvey, Founder of Adam & Eve porn dynasty, spends his golden years preventing AIDS and STDs in Asia

Just how many condoms do his programs distribute?

"That's easy," he says, tapping at his computer. "Just a sec. Okay, here it is: 364,741,409. That's for last year. We also distributed just under twenty-three million cycles of pills, plus injectibles and IUDs."

Phil is my new hero. I wish that I had known this about Adam & Eve YEARS ago... just IMAGINE the revenue that I could've thrown their way!!!

Okay, kids, that's the haps from here, and if you've got a hankering for porn, toys or assorted adult entertainment, GO TO http://www.adameve.com/default.asp !!!

(They've even got HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!!!)

(And yes, I'll probably have something more creative after Halloween... and pictures, too!)

Tiptoe Through The Tulips With Me

"Walker's World: Bush at bay"

By MARTIN WALKER UPI Editor WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) --

The supposedly Bushco-friendly, Moon-owned UPI sure takes delight in tossing out these zingers:

"The CIA leak inquiry that threatens senior White House aides has now widened to include the forgery of documents on African uranium that started the investigation, according to NAT0 intelligence sources. This suggests the inquiry by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into the leaking of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame has now widened to embrace part of the broader question about the way the Iraq war was justified by the Bush administration."

(and)

"This opens the door to what has always been the most serious implication of the CIA leak case, that the Bush administration could face a brutally damaging and public inquiry into the case for war against Iraq being false or artificially exaggerated. This was the same charge that imperiled the government of Bush's closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after a BBC Radio program claimed Blair's aides has "sexed up" the evidence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction".

Read it all at the UPI and a yank of the Blondesense wig to the Dark Wraith at The Dark Wraith Discussion Forum.

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia

Tattered Coat blog has the story about a military blogger who was silenced and forced to declare allegiance to the administration. Please read: Another Military Blogger Silenced while I vomit.

Hey Morons

Do you honestly think your new TV is going to work after it's been dragged through the water?

Mommy , Is It Fitzmas?

HALOSCAN UPDATE: Haloscan is accepting your comments now.
Reader Paul A. told me to go to haloscan settings and turn off the spam redirect in the beta section. It worked. Tell your blog friends with haloscan to do so!

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Pissed Off Patricia appears to be in the eye of Hurricane WILMA! by the looks of the television coverage. There are maximum sustained winds of 110mph and the 'cane is battering Florida's east coast as a category 2, which is nothing to scoff at.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I was thinking that if today is Fitzmas, it isn't going to get much coverage is it? Maybe Fitzgerald ought to sit on the indictments until tomorrow. Hurricane Rita trumped the march on DC on September 24th. God really wants to get our attention, no?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The emperor is really losing it.
This is my favorite topic:


The NY Daily News 'Bushies feeling the boss' wrath' it is reported that the emperor is unhappy and is continuing to lash out at his staffers in the WH.I don't feel bad for him at all. If he loses his mind and goes ballistic, I suspect that I will enjoy it. He made his bed, and now he has to lie in it. (I bet he is wishing he went for a blowjob scandal rather than Unka Dick's stupid idea to invade a country.)

"Presidential advisers and friends say Bush is a mass of contradictions: cheerful and serene, peevish and melancholy, occasionally lapsing into what he once derided as the "blame game." They describe him as beset but unbowed, convinced that history will vindicate the major decisions of his presidency even if they damage him and his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections."

Wow. What good news. I don't care whether or not history vindicates bush, and I doubt it will but the best part of the paragraph above lowered my cholesterol: "...even if they damage him and his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections." Oh lordy lordy. If we can avoid a revolution in this country, I will be very happy. We have to oust the pathetic democratic pieces of shit who backed the emperor. It's very important that Dems vote in the primaries next year and both parties are released from the fascist hijackers. Weren't the Dems supposed to be liberal?

In the article, "W's legacy threatened" it appears that bushista supporters are concerned about the Iraq war and American deaths in Iraq... not because they actually give a shit about the American deaths, but how the American deaths affect them politically. You see, politics trumps humanity in the American right.

Speaking of Fitzmas, Reuters declares that Patrick Fitzgerald is seen as incorruptable

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Breaking Bad News 10:45am: 3 car bombs blasted the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. Many journalists reside there. We're winning, right?

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Breaking News: Jesus' General has a television screen shot of a couple fornicating behind a CNN reporter during the hurricane in Key West. heh.

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"They knocked my towers down. So I was ready to go."

Gotta get this off my chest. Again.

Think about all the young men and women who enlisted after 9/11/01. They were angry and they wanted to kill the bad guys who attacked us. The president told us it was Osama bin Laden and something about the taliban and al qaida. Off they went to Afghanistan to blow up the country that already looked like rubble to me.

Osama bin Laden was allowed to escape from Tora Bora. Later on, the president when asked about OBL said that he didn't give much thought to OBL anymore. Oh that's nice. No wonder so many Americans buried their heads in the sand. They didn't want to believe what they were hearing.

No one on the homefront was asked to sacrifice after 9/11. When I read that it was Saudis who attacked us shortly after 9/11, I felt that we should let them eat sand and drink their stinking oil. I assumed that most Americans would quit buying gas guzzlers and use less oil to send a message to those thugs. No. I was wrong. Americans bought bigger and bigger vehicles sucking gasoline like there was no tomorrow making us more dependent on fossil fuels in the mid east. WTF?

Meanwhile the evil devilworshipping cabal (dick cheney et al) was working on Iraq, fixing evidence, illegally moving funds from the Afghan war to fund the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Why we needed to blow up the country in order to take out the dictator is still a mystery to me. Well, not really. We destroyed and/or allowed looters to defile ancient treasures and disrupt the lives of millions of Iraqi's.

Imagine that our troops were fighting for a democracy over there and all they got was a stinking Islamic state? They rushed into an undeclared war, underequipping the troops and dragging reservists and guardsmen out of their jobs on the homefront as if the US was about to be blown up... meanwhile Korea was threatening to nuke us and we hardly gave them a nod.

Every time someone tells me that Saddam was a bad man and needed to be taken out, I feel like smacking them upside the head as I recite the list of worse dictators and worse regimes who murder their own who are friends of the bushistas. Terrorists? I think our country ranks up there with terrorist states now. Shock and Awe? Give me a break.

The troops, like the Vietnam era vets are coming home in shock and awe. They are poisoned with depleted uranium, are welcomed by a country who thinks the war was a sham (although we support our troops by slapping chinese made magnetic ribbons on our guzzlers), they lost their jobs if they were in the NG or the reserves and 1 in 6 (reportedly) are suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome). Many are blowing their brains out when they get back from Iraq even if they aren't mangled.

The young soldier in the picture, a Long Island boy who enlisted on 9/13/01, was the epitome of heroism and his photo was slapped all over the news. ( See Today's Newsday article about Joseph Dwyer, former hero) Now he suffers from delusions and extreme PTSD and is a danger to himself and others. He lives in El Paso which reminds him of Iraq. He believes that the Iraqi's are trying to get him. He was raised a Catholic and now attends a Baptist Church in Texas, which if you ask me, adds insult to the injury. He was in a standoff in El Paso not long ago thinking he was under attack. Fortunately he didn't kill anyone locally.

To this day, over 160,000 Vietnam vets are receiving disability for PTSD and more have committed suicide than were killed in combat. 13,500 veterans from the first Gulf war and 10,000 Korean War veterans are still being treated for PTSD. It is considered wussiness to admit that you are suffering from PTSD if you are in the military so many troops are not seeking help. The sooner they ask for help, the more likely they are to recover from PTSD.

Anyone who supports this war and isn't fighting in it can kiss my ass and I am not afraid to tell them so. No, there is nothing that they can do stateside to support the war effort other than to commit suicide.

We are fighting them over there- Remember? So get your asses over there and send back the boys who were tricked into fighting your dirty, stinking, money grubbing, evil get rich quick scheme. Die for it, if it means so much to you.

Halloween Special Series: Spooky Stuff

Paranormal Gallery
Paranormal News
NY Ghost Chapter
Long Island Oddities
The Montauk Project
Haunted Gettysburg


Speaking of spooky places... a few years ago when I was being a photographer, I had a gig at the abandoned Pilgrim State insane asylum. Hundreds of great photos were taken at the complex because most of it was in ruins. After being chased down by a scary man in a pickup truck who accused us of tresspassing, the attractive 21 year old blonde who was the leader of the band I was shooting, gave the man her CD and charmed him. We then asked him if it was ok that we shoot her new album cover in the scariest place on the complex and could he direct us there. He told us of an old building which was presently being dismantled. He mentioned that the workers there dubbed the place "resident evil". He wasn't kidding. I had never believed in ghosts before that day. (that is not sunlight in the photo below)



Got a ghost story?

(Cross posted at BlogNYC)

News that fall through the cracks. Thanks MSM!

This past monday, Oct. 17, in New York City, there was a civil disobedience, conducted by " Grandmothers Against War" They are the same ladies called "Grandmothers for Peace" prior to the launching of the War in Iraq.

This courageous group of grandmothers ages 49 to 90, went to the Recruiting Office in Times Square, to enlist in the Armed Forces under the rationale that "we lived a long, prosperous life and by enlisting we can relieve some of our young soldiers from Iraq and give them a chance to live just as we lived".

As they arrived to the Recruiting Office, the recruiters didn't want to enlist old ladies in the Armed Forces, so they locked the entrance door and hid behind their desks.
The grandmothers rang the doorbell repeatedly, but the marines were too scared to show their faces.

The ladies thought: "if they are so scared of us, can you imagine how scared the insurgents would be in Iraq?"

The recruiters don't want to face gays and grandmothers at their office. The protesters set down on the sidewalk blocking the entrance to the Recruiting Office; the hardest thing they had to do with their worn joints.

Eighteen of them were arrested, jailed and booked and to the credit of Mayor Bloomberg (who is due for re-election) the cops were very nice to the grandmothers. They even help them up from the pavement, gingerly.

They were released from jail after four hours. They promised to return every wednesday to Rockefeller Plaza in protest of the War, until the troops come home.

You go ladies!

PS. Next week if indictments are handed out, regardless how many senior administration officials are indicted, it will throw this country in turmoil and constitutional crises. Let's celebrate putting the American Flag out. It can't be worst than three more years of this administration. After all it's Fitzmas season.

crossposted at Doomocracy

10/14: this post has been re-edited for accuracy.

You Must read, "Fitzgerald's Historic Opportunity" by James Moore*

If you have not yet read this piece, you must. I have actually printed it out because I want to compare it to the final outcome of our five years in hell. Our five years that we have screamed, "Lies"! I want to have a program so I’ll be sure to know all the players.

I will bet you that reading this may make you cry because you will realize how much of our lives are riding on the outcome.

Here’s how it begins: "If special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald delivers indictments of a few functionaries of the vice president’s office or the White House, we are likely to have on our hands a constitutional crisis".

Here's the link: TomPaine.com.

*"James Moore is an Emmy-winning former television news correspondent and the co-author of the bestselling 'Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential'. He has been writing and reporting from Texas for the past 25 years on the rise of Rove and Bush, and has traveled extensively on every presidential campaign since 1976".

This Week's Outrage

Reader 'Red State Blues' is utterly disgusted with some Target pharmacists refusing to dispense contraceptives to customers. This is something that one would expect from Walmart. RSB says, "Target is very generous in the communities in which they operate, giving tons of money to local charities and schools. So this pains me a great deal, but shit like this cannot go unchallenged. If they need to be kicked where it hurts most, in their pocketbooks, then so be it." The following is a letter sent to Target and Blondesense urges you to follow suit and write to them:


Dear Target:

I am appalled at the stories in the media about pharmacists in your stores refusing to dispense lawfully prescribed medicine to patients. Birth control, including emergency contraception, is basic health care and restricting access to prescriptions is nothing short of discrimination.

While I appreciate that most pharmacists seek to protect their patient's health, even one zealous pharmacist at your chain that refuses to fill prescriptions based on personal beliefs jeopardizes the health and well-being of patients. It is not the place of a pharmacist to make ethical or moral judgments regarding a customer's needs; such is solely the purview of the woman, in consultation with her health care provider.

As a consumer, I expect your pharmacies to guarantee women the right to obtain their prescriptions -- without delay or personal judgment.

Until your pharmacy adopts and makes public a policy allowing women to purchase the products they need, in particular birth control, including emergency contraception, I WILL NOT spend another penny in your stores.

Very truly yours,
"red state blues"

In this week's episode of Fuck The Poor...

Bob Geiger tells how the Republican senators nay voted a measley $3.1 billion bill that would have subsidized the poor and elderly with their heating costs this winter. Bob also takes a look at The Blue and Red State Minimum Wage Divide. Except for Florida, the former slave states, or Red States as they like to call themselves, have minimum wages at or below the federal rate of $5.15 an hour. A great big "Fuck the Poor" goes out to the senators this week who rejected a modest increase in the federal minimum wage. After all, why should poor shlubs who work 40 hrs/week be paid a living wage? They won't sign up as cannon fodder in the military if we pay people too well. no?

This Day in Halloween

It's Not Too Late To Decorate

Last Minute Decorating (BH&G)
Outdoor Decor (BH&G)
Create handmade Halloween gifts (BH&G)
Visit the costume gallery (BH&G)
Haunt your house! (Digs)
Great decorating ideas for Fall (About.com)

Send a Halloween E-card

Veteran's Day Sale!

This item is on the cover of the latest Harriet Carter catalog.

Hurry up and order a personalized flag case, lovingly manufactured in China, made of beautiful realistic oak-like or walnut-like faux wood-like material and have the deceased's name, birth and death dates imprinted on a genuine brass-like plate, before supplies run out! Was $49.98, Now $29.98

Plame plans to sue White House officials

(cross posted at Dark Wraith Discussion Forums):

"Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame are preparing to file a civil suit against Bush administration officials.

"Plame was the covert CIA agent allegedly unmasked by the WhiteHouse. Now she is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration officials who may have disclosed her identity and scuttled her career, Salon.com reported Thursday".

From the supposedly friendly-to-Bush UPI (you remember, Moon's outfit): UPI Link

And thanks to John at Americablog. The other day John was so excited about the possibility of impending indictments that he said he peed his pants. Well, with this news Peter of Lone Tree just shit himself.

Judging Judges Judiciously

This morning Tom Delay’s lawyer objected to the judge who was assigned to the case because the judge had donated money to MoveOn.org. Delay’s lawyer feels the judge would be biased against Delay.

Yet the Republicans want us to believe that bush’s nomination for the Supreme Court, who has also been his personal lawyer and friend, would not come to the bench with a conservative bias.

A little something I just heard about Harriet. You know those little courtesy calls she’s making to each Senator? Well, they have stopped the visits because things were going so badly. Guess HairYet isn’t very good with, well, people.

Lets begin guessing how many days it will be until we hear that dear Harriet wants to withdraw her name from the nomination and withdraw her body from Washington in order to spend more time with her...her...her...her makeup mirror and greeting card collection.

Screaming for a caption

Halloween Notes

Today's Halloween post invites you to visit the History Channel online and discover the Origins of Halloween plus other interesting items of note.

Yesterday, astute reader, Auntie Roo posted a link to Extreme Pumpkins. I laughed until I cried. This site is amazing. The creator of the site writes: "We will carve that sumbitch into something ugly and plop it on the front porch. October 31st we will light it brightly enough to give visiting children suntans." Yeah, baby.

They’re Beginning to Eat Their Own

One Conservative group is dishing up good old Ann Coulter, well done.

Check it out here: (Bradblog Link).

My Favorite Mug Shots

No Crime, Criminal or Crony Left Behind

The more we learn, the more we realize it’s all been a tragic farce. From the day the Supreme Court shut down the Florida recount until today, it’s all been so wrong.

Before September 11, 2001, george bush’s ratings were not good. People were realizing that he wasn’t what he had been sold to be. At that time he looked similar to what Harriet Miers looks like today. Someone without the necessary goods to do the job.

In many ways the losses of that murderous day in 2001 saved george bush’s political life. One must wonder what would have been his fate had those attacks not occurred.

Then there was the day he stepped upon the rubble of almost three thousand lives with a bullhorn and leaned on the shoulder of a fireman. He made his most surely scripted response to that most surely scripted statement, and somehow the people of the United States were seduced. They wrapped the American flag around them and snuggled up to their war president. This was the knight on the white steed who would ride out and avenge the wrongs and pain they had suffered. This man, george bush, would take care of business. We would show those bullies. The lesson was don’t mess with the U.S. because we have a “Don’t Mess With Texas” kind of gunslinger and he was hungry for retribution.

So off our military goes to Afghanistan to fight the devils who had planned the 9-11 attacks. The Taliban took a beating, but the man who is accused of masterminding the attacks slipped quietly away. He went from being wanted dead or alive to not mattering all that much anymore.

The war president had achieved his glory with this little war, but the glory was beginning to fade. He needed another, bigger war, the one he had dreamed of. So, while the United States was still basking in the afterglow of Afghanistan, a new war was planned. Never mind that there was no necessity or urgency for this war. That wasn’t going to get in the way. Criminals and cronies would take care of the details, even if some crimes might be required. Meanwhile, those still sipping cocktails and smoking cigarettes in the bliss that was Afghanistan would believe anything their caresser told them. And, the crooks and cronies gave him plenty to tell his adoring masses.

Three years later that war goes on, but the sensual afterglow has worn off. The citizens have awoken to find their rubble pile seducer has abandoned them. He’s moved on and left them tired and with a feeling of being used. He robbed their wallets and sneaked away into the dank and dreary night. All he left behind is rumpled sheets and an empty glass. The air in the room is stale and it reeks of something strange.

Now, with the realization of their seducer’s use of crimes, criminals, and cronies, the public feels disgust. Many of them want their seducer brought to justice and they want him to pay for what he has done to them. Sadly, there are others who cannot admit their fate. They can’t admit or are too ashamed to acknowledge what has been done to them. They continue to believe he will return. They believe every word he told them. They believe he has only borrowed the money from their wallets. They believe they are worthy of his affection. After all, he promised he would never leave them behind.

But, he has left them behind. He had his fill of them. Oh sure, he may return sometime when he is desperate, but for now all he needs are his crimes, criminals and cronies. He can’t afford to leave them behind, because they are his only prowess.

The Unraveling

Financial Times:

"Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.
...
Among his other charges:

■ The detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was “a concrete example” of the decision-making problem, with the president and other top officials in effect giving the green light to soldiers to abuse detainees. “You don't have this kind of pervasive attitude out there unless you've condoned it.”

■ Condoleezza Rice, the former national security adviser and now secretary of state, was “part of the problem”. Instead of ensuring that Mr Bush received the best possible advice, “she would side with the president to build her intimacy with the president”.

■ The military, particularly the army and marine corps, is overstretched and demoralised. Officers, Mr Wilkerson claimed, “start voting with their feet, as they did in Vietnam. . . and all of a sudden your military begins to unravel”."

Fuel Prices Affect the Blonde Family

Oh yeah, the economy is just great.

The husband who is a parts manager at a Ford dealer reported to me last night over dinner that since they aren't selling new cars, he was told to lay off the best parts driver he ever had in 33 years. What a parts driver has to do with not selling cars is baffling to this blonde and even to grouchy husband.

After all, Ford's break and get into accidents. (Fix Or Repair Daily -Found On Road Dead) The parts driver delivers parts to body shops and repair shops all over the island. How will parts sales do if there is no one to deliver the parts? The parts department employees work on commission. Why not lay off the car salesmen? Or maybe put one of them in the parts department to help drum up more parts sales to offset the car sales? I ought to go there and offer my advice.

Parts sales were still good but will sink when regular clients (especially ones that buy expensive fenders and quarter panels) find out that they won't have reliable delivery, if any delivery? What will happen is that the husband's income will now drop but he will still work hard and long hours missing sales calls if he has to go out on the road to deliver to the best customers.

So the husband went to the general manager and made a case for the need of a parts driver. The company graciously offered him the prep guy who is bored, who has no clue how to navigate and can barely speak enough English to collect money. Furthermore, he is a few fries short of a Happy Meal™. Husband suspects that the prep guy will fuck up royally and then he'll will hopefully make the case to rehire the fabulous and reliable driver who was laid off (assuming that he doesn't find another job).

There is a union deal that the guys with the least seniority, no matter how great a worker he/she is, must be laid off first. Don't get me wrong- unions are good to have, but when times get tough, sometimes you are stuck with the bottom of the barrel. Why are the bottom of the barrel still working there, you ask? Answer: You can't fire them.

The owner of the dealer died about a month ago. Around election time, he was telling the employees that there is no room for anyone who doesn't plan to vote for bush. Imagine telling a union shop to vote for bush? Too bad he's dead. I would have called him and given him a piece of my mind.

Screw all the Problems, Let’s Carve a Pumpkin

Yeah, it’s time for a wee bit of Halloween fun. Warning: it’s easy to waste a lot of useful time at this site.

Nah, go have fun! Internet Pumpkin Carving Done Here:

http://toilette-humor.com/carve.html

Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color Printers

"It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government.

"Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals."

More here at the Washington Post.

Bush Governance: "Nanny-nanny boo-boo, I'll show you.”

Excerpt from Government by Temper Tantrum: "The mainstreamers have long joked about Bush’s temper tantrums but have only recently started writing about them.

“There's a doctoral dissertation to be written about Bush appointees named during the administration's frequent fits of Petulant Pique,” Molly Ivins writes. “These PP appointments are made in the immortal childhood spirit of "nanny-nanny boo-boo, I'll show you.”

In Time Magazine this past weekend, Joe Klein asks “Turf wars, temper tantrums, mysterious leaks—has Bush lost control of his own government?”"

You Need A Laugh

God Does Not Want 16 Kids
Arkansas mom gives birth to a whole freakin' baseball team.
How deeply should you cringe?
By Mark Morford

Who are you to judge? Who are you to say that the more than slightly creepy 39-year-old woman from Arkansas who just gave birth to her 16th child yes that's right 16 kids and try not to cringe in phantom vaginal pain when you say it, who are you to say Michelle Duggar is not more than a little unhinged and sad and lost?

And furthermore, who are you to suggest that her equally troubling husband -- whose name is, of course, Jim Bob and he's hankerin' to be a Republican senator and try not to wince in sociopolitical pain when you say that -- isn't more than a little numb to the real world, and that bringing 16 hungry mewling attention-deprived kids (and she wants more! Yay!) into this exhausted world zips right by "touching" and races right past "disturbing" and lurches its way, heaving and gasping and sweating from the karmic armpits, straight into "Oh my God, what the hell is wrong with you people?"

But that would be, you know, mean. Mean and callous to suggest that this might be the most disquieting photo you see all year, this bizarre Duggar family of 18 spotless white hyperreligious interchangeable people with alarmingly bad hair, the kids ranging in ages from one to 17, worse than those nuked Smurfs in that UNICEF commercial and worse than all the horrific rubble in Pakistan and worse than the cluster-bomb nightmare that is Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise having a child as they suck the skin from each other's Scientological faces and even worse than that huge 13-foot python which ate that six-foot alligator and then exploded. read the rest

Good Morning?

First bit of news I heard this morning was that hurricane Wilma is now a category 5 and perhaps the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin.

First words out of my mouth this morning were, "Oh F—K"!

Then it’s the Saddam trial delayed tape on TV. You need only about five minutes of that before you realize it’s sure not mind blowing. It’s tedious.

See, here’s the deal. I’m so very much against the death penalty, I don’t care who it is, that I can’t tolerate the thought of putting someone to death against their will. Yes, yes, I know Saddam was the worst kind of person, but I can’t watch him speak and think about him being executed. I just can’t. Maybe someone dropped me on my head when I was a baby and as a result some part of my brain was damaged, because I can’t get angry enough at anyone to have any part in their death. I know, you’re going to hit me up with what would I do if someone was trying to kill me. You’ll say would you kill in self defense or if someone was about to harm a family member? (let’s include my pets as family members) My answer is real simple, I just don’t know. Thank goodness I have never been in that position and I surely hope I never am.

There has been some talk of televising Saddam’s execution. I will not watch under any circumstances. That is macabre at the very least. Personally, I think it’s sick and disturbing that anyone would want to watch such a thing. I know public executions may be the norm over there, but I’m not over there.

So far this day is very ominous.

Reader Poll

What do you think Scooter Libby meant when he wrote to Judith Miller:

"You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now … Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work—and life."

(Let it be known that aspens do not all turn at the same time just because their roots connect them. Environmental factors such as sunlight, precipitation and temperature control just when the leaves turn on particular trees despite their connected roots. Aspens do grow their leaves in the spring at the same time because of their root connectiveness, however.)

How Conveeeenient

Suddenly a Saddam Trial

With the bushistas under the gun in the media, Saddam is at his trial now with 7 of his "henchman". He is being tried for executing about 150 Shiite men and boys in 1982 in Dujail after an attempt was made on his life. The big news in the trial is that Saddam, when asked to identify himself to the court, asked the judge who he was and challenged the legitimacy of the court. If convicted, Saddam faces execution because this is not a world court, but probably a court quickly installed by the US occupiers. It is also being reported that many Iraqi's believe that Saddam should be executed 20 times over. I feel their pain. It is not being reported as to how many Iraqi's feel that the bushistas should face the same fate.

Update: The court has been adjourned until November 28th.

Let us not forget that this incident happened in 1982. In December 1983, Rumsfeld made nice with Saddam. Just 12 days after the meeting, on January 1, 1984, The Washington Post reported that the United States “in a shift in policy, has informed friendly Persian Gulf nations that the defeat of Iraq in the 3-year-old war with Iran would be ‘contrary to U.S. interests’ and has made several moves to prevent that result.” (link)

In 1988, Saddam’s forces attacked Kurdish civilians with poisonous gas from Iraqi helicopters and planes. U.S. intelligence sources told The LA Times in 1991, they “believe that the American-built helicopters were among those dropping the deadly bombs.”

In response to the gassing, sweeping sanctions were unanimously passed by the US Senate that would have denied Iraq access to most US technology. The measure was killed by the White House. (link)

There is no doubt that Saddam was a bad man, but this whole thing reeks.

BULLSHIT BUSTERS

Okay, so that's not the most picturesque title possible, but it pretty much gets to the point.

If you haven't read Robert S. McElvaine's op-ed, "FEMA Mess Didn't Miss Mississippi," go read it. Believe it or not, the uber-tight-ass Baton Rouge ADVOCATE actually ran this piece on Sunday. I damned near fainted.

And McElvaine postulates an interesting theory... We all SAW the death, destruction, and devastation in Mississippi. BUT we don't hear about them too much on the news anymore, it's alllllllll about the po' black folks of Orleans (and rarely, the po' white folks & black folks of St. Bernard). If you ask any P.R. or MSM or State of Mississippi person about how things are coming in Mizzippi, "Oh, it's comin' along PERFECTLY, 'cause Governor Barbour had it ALL covered!"

BULLSHIT.

Read McElvaine... Could you imagine anything skeerier than Haley Barbour as the Big GOP Candidate in 2008??? I sure as hell can't, unless it's Ahhhnold. Haley Barbour, in case y'all didn't know, is a blithering idjit. Another fine example of republicunt nepotism run amok. "REDNECKS GONE WILD!" Available on DVD soon.

On another kind of Bullshit:

http://www.scientomogy.info/index.html

My friend Kelly sent me this link, and it is the funniest, most bald-open public busting of Scientologists and Tom Cruise that I've ever seen. Granted, I don't get nearly as much amusement from Scientologists as I do from Mormons, because the El-Ronnettes are a helluva lot skeerier. But this shit is a hoot. And in case the "Volunteer Ministers" in the pix from the Pickup Truck Rescue Missions didn't give you the heebie-jeebies (they sure as hell did to me!!), read this shit. It'll make the flesh crawl.

Which is kinda the effect that Little Tommy Cruise has on me, anyway. Egotistical, antagonistic midget that he is.

Journalism and my new worst friend Wilma

There’s a great piece in the LA TIMES.

This is about journalism, and two of the more famous journalists. It all stems from the two new movies, "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Capote". It’s a compare and contrast piece on journalistic style with some wisdom thrown in too.

The movie about Edward R. Murrow is not playing anywhere near my town, but I sure do look forward to seeing it when I have the opportunity.

By now you have heard about hurricane Wilma. If she stays on the track she is now on, she should be at my house this weekend in her size one category. The only Wilma I think I’ve ever known was Wilma Flintstone. I can still hear Fred yelling, “WILMA”, at the beginning of each cartoon comedy episode. I always thought it was funny, but I don’t feel like laughing today. Damn you, WILMA!

Lady Justice and Her Big Momma-Sized Sword

So the sword of justice just may be pointing at Vice President Cheney’s office. Shouldn’t it also be pointed at bush’s office? Did bush know what was going on? If he didn’t, he should be fired for negligence.

Bottom line here, they cooked up a plan and lied to America to get us into a war of choice. I think they should be charged with “conspiracy to obstruct justice”, Lady Justice, that is. Justice has been held hostage by this administration for a long time.

Someone please take the handcuffs off this grizzled old Lady and give her her freedom. You know she’s rarin’ to go, if she could only break free. No woman likes unjust confinement and lots of us get real cranky when we’re held back. Lady Justice is no different. Set her free and watch her roll right up to the white house. She’ll yank the doors right off the place. She’ll march up to the Oval Office and she will damned sure take some prisoners. She hasn’t had any action for a long time now, so once she gets started she’s gonna be one bitch to contend with, she and her big momma-sized sword.

Cheney may be target of probe

Breaking news update: Raw Story:
Cheney Aid Cooperating With Investigation...John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from the offices of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, John Bolton, was named as a target of Fitzgerald’s probe. They say he was told in recent weeks that he could face imminent indictment for his role in leaking Plame-Wilson’s name to reporters unless he cooperated with the investigation...

Thanks Auntie Roo for tip!

-----------

NY Daily News: A Secret Snitch in the WH?

Oh please let this be true. Be still my heart!

WASHINGTON - A special prosecutor's intensifying focus into who outed a CIA spy has raised questions whether Vice President Cheney himself is involved, knowledgeable sources confirmed yesterday.

At least one source and one reporter who have testified in the probe said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is pursuing Cheney's role in the Valerie Plame affair.

In addition, at least six current and former Cheney staffers - most members of the White House Iraq Group - have testified before the grand jury, including the vice president's top honcho, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, and two top Cheney national security lieutenants.

Cheney's name has come up amid indications Fitzgerald may be edging closer to a blockbuster conspiracy charge - with help from a secret snitch.

"They have got a senior cooperating witness - someone who is giving them all of that," a source who has been questioned in the leak probe told the Daily News yesterday.

Cheney was questioned last year byprosecutors and has hired a private attorney, former colleague Terrence O'Donnell, who declined to comment when contacted by The News.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride only offered the standard canned response that her boss is cooperating.

Libby and President Bush's political mastermind Karl Rove remain the focus of the probe into whether Plame's cover was blown in a scheme to embarrass her husband, ex-Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who debunked claims that Iraq tried to buy nuclear materials in Niger.

Libby is often described as "Cheney's Cheney," a loyal and discreet lieutenant who shares his boss's hard-line philosophy and bareknuckle attitude toward political enemies of the Bush administration.

Cheney and Libby spend hours together in the course of a day, which causes sources who know both men very well to assert that any attempts to discredit Wilson would almost certainly have been known to the vice president.

"Scooter wouldn't be freelancing on this without Cheney's knowledge," a source told the Daily News. "It was probably some off-the-cuff thing: 'This guy [Wilson] could be a problem.'"

The News reported in July that Libby was "totally obsessed with Wilson."

Whether that obsession amounts to criminal misconduct will be decided by Fitzgerald - but if Libby is indicted or implicated in wrongdoing, Cheney's reputation will suffer as well.

See also the WAPO article:Cheney's Office Is A Focus in Leak Case
Sources Cite Role Of Feud With CIA

And Bloomberg.com:Cheney May Be Entangled in CIA Leak Investigation

these are the times that try our souls

Talk radio has had such a significant impact on education.

I teach at a blue collar community college. Last week, I introduced my students to Watergate and the Clinton impeachment. Today, I was showing my students the New York Times, which is about as far away from their consciousness as country/western music is from mine. The Times, even though they have done a really terrible disservice to the nation with their involvement in the Judith Miller story, had a very good graphic explanation of the Plame affair Today, one of my students, who is a veteran, said of my demonstration, "Well, you believe whatever you want to believe."

My retort was, "Yeah, that better understanding of politics and the law just keeps me from being able to lose my grip on reality."

That is what education is like in the talk radio age. If every class, including the sciences, challenges students' belief systems, then we are not being "tolerant" of their beliefs. It isn't appropriate, according to these students, to tell them about reality. We should use each class to glorify our marvelous nation and our personal savior. To do otherwise is sending us down the path to enlightenment and away from God and his favorite nation, the United States.

No, this student wasn't overtly adding his religious views to our political science class. But he was subscribing to that same stubborn, anti-intellectual bewilderment that seethes under every lecture. I have had students tell me that their preachers told them this is a Christian nation.

I have had students tell me, "you wouldn't tell a third grader what you just told us," which consisted of exactly what their textbooks--conservative tomes that they are--say. My reply, "Well, I wouldn't lie to them about Santa Clause, either."

Speaking of Big Lies--why do we tell our daughters bedtime stories of men saving them from a life of housework, or men awakening them from deep wicked witch induced sleep? Why do we tell our children that the president goes to bed each night with only the selfless thoughts of a good king in his head? Why are students shocked when we explain the reasons we are at war?

I have to remind myself that it isn't really new. Something has not really changed. People have always had a problem confronting the truth. I guess I am as guilty, wishing that somehow things would be different, wanting to believe that education can reach everyone and change everyone's lives. That in the 21st Century we don't have to believe what we want to believe but can embrace objective reality.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Ponder, if you will, the surreal spectacle of a newswoman claiming that she went to jail to protect a source whose name she now cannot recall. Some witnesses ask for amnesty; Judy hopes to be granted amnesia". -- Joe Cannon

Check Joe's article at Cannonfire.

Some things never change...

GRAFT?!?!? CORRUPTION?!?!? IN *OUR* GOVERNMENT?!?!?!

*GASP!*

CorpWatch: NO-BID Contracts Win Katrina Work...

L.A. Times: FEMA Re-Opening Its No-Bid Contracts...

HALLIBURTON WATCH: Halliburton Gets Katrina Contracts, Hires Former FEMA DIRECTOR...

Then, THIS:

But then, I found THIS:

"In the immediate response phase for Hurricane Katrina, our priority was to get relief quickly to those in need," Paulison said in a statement.
"The oversight safeguards are in place for those emergency contracts so critically needed when the disaster struck and we will now use competitive strategies everywhere possible -- placing priority on the use of local and small disadvantaged businesses -- as we move into the long-term recovery phase."

Now, I don't know f the Shaw Group has taken over the other 49 states the way that they've pretty much consumed the Louisiana construction business in one hearty gulp, but if so, I wanna know whose pocket that they're really in... But it's nice to see SOMETHING resembling "progress" in FEMA's Big Boys First Rebuilding Plan... Too bad that they weren't worried about hiring LOCALS in the FIRST FUCKING PLACE...

Okay, so it's not the most coherent conspiracy theory in the world, but it makes a nice timeline of "Whatever Happened To The 9th Ward?" that will be in the Trivial Pursuit 2010 Edition. Keep your eyes on the contractors, kids, 'cause that's where the sneaky shit is always going on... and you thought that it was just the TEAMSTERS who were shady...

Also, keep an eye out for "Boh Bros. Construction." That name may not mean anything to you now, but they're the ONE local company who's cleaning up the MOST reconstruction contracts (as they do every time a pothole goes unfixed in Orleans & Jefferson parishes), and dollars to doughnuts, somebody's going to get greedy...

Cindy Sheehan on Lawn Guyland Today

Cindy Sheehan was speaking at the community college this morning. It wasn't easy to park and it wasn't easy to find the building but as luck would have it, we passed the search, fast talked some "guards" and sat in the front of the auditorium where the faculty was supposed to sit.

On this brisk and breezy day here on the Guyland, there were about 100 non students and faculty there to hear Cindy speak in addition to the many students who were lined up and let in first. A man on line to see her apparently was not a Sheehan supporter and told the news cameras that "he supported the troops" (as opposed to those of us who hate to see our young men and women get screwed by the government and lied into an illegal war.) Maybe it was because of people like him, that we were all searched for bombs and weapons before we could enter the building. The man who checked my bag had to make sure I didn't have one of those little pen knifes on my key ring. Can you imagine? What, was I going to take Cindy hostage with one of those? War mongers are really war mongers, aren't they? Can't trust them. Can't put a peace sticker on your car here or it will get keyed. Fascists. (Where I live is NOT the liberal part of NY you all hear about so much.)

While Cindy Sheehan was speaking, my heart was breaking more and more, not only for her tragic loss, but for the loss of what I once believed was at the very least, a nation that had possibly learned its lesson after Vietnam. Sitting right in front of her and listening to her tell her story in person had me in tears. I listened to her speak in the DC Rally last month, but this was more intimate and moving. Cindy vowed to fight for peace until she dies so that in another 30 years, we don't have to go through this again.

She should be an example for all of us, I thought. One woman with the courage and guts to speak out and hopefully make a difference. She spelled out all the lies of the administration and also of the recruiters who promise the world to young recruits and then, excuse my french, let the military fuck them in the ass by not following through on any of the promises, not to mention issuing Vietnam era flack jackets, if they were lucky enough to even get one.

She admonished citizens who want peace to work for it by staging rallies, sending petitions, letters and emails to their representatives and let them know that we want a plan to get the troops OUT of Iraq. She said that she has spoken to many representatives who said that if only more people would actively make the anti-war movement or peace movement more visible, that they would have the courage to speak out against it in Washington. She said that we must tell our reps that they better start to represent us or that they are fired. That is something for you to keep in mind.

What made me disgusted was her account of her first meeting with bush after Casey was killed and how he refused to call anyone by name, referred to the dead as loved ones and called the parents mom or dad. As I have stated many times on the blog, this president has less manners than an amoeba. His parents dragged him up rather than raised him thus he is more a national embarrassment than anything else. I have met 2 year olds with more manners. What's more, bush went to Cindy's daughter and told her that he wished he could bring her brother back after he asked her what her relationship to 'a loved one' was (not the name of the loved one) and she replied, "Yes, me too." The pretzeldent then gave her the dirtiest look anyone had ever seen. What a pig.

Cindy told the students that it probably wasn't a good idea to enlist in the military at this time... not until things change, that promises are kept, that this administration quits lying and fabricating more reasons for more illegal wars for oil. I couldn't agree more.

"The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service." -Albert Einstein
.

Slam Dunk Disaster For Sale

We already know that this administration paid one journalist to promote the No Child Left Behind lie. Did they pay another one to promote the causes for going to war? Would it surprise anyone if they did?

Now let’s take our next span of attention to this piece from the Washington Post (Link)

April of 2004

"As the war planning progressed, on December 21, 2002, Tenet and his top deputy, John McLaughlin, went to the White House to brief Bush and Cheney on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Woodward reports.

"The president, unimpressed by the presentation of satellite photographs and intercepts, pressed Tenet and McLaughlin, saying their information would not "convince Joe Public" and asking Tenet, "This is the best we've got?" Woodward reports.

"According to Woodward, Tenet reassured the president that "it's a slam dunk case" that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction."

That now infamous "slam dunk" comment has been interpreted to mean that Tenet meant that he had more information to convince the president that Iraq had WMD. No it wasn’t. I believe what he meant was that it would be easy to convince the public. He had the ways and means to make a convincing case to "Joe Public". He would do something that would make the public believe the lie, and he succeeded with his mission. He whipped up his magic potion of lies but he needed someone to promote it.

What did he do? Did he discombobulate the truth? Did they decide they needed someone to do a public relations job to sell the war? They made up Collin Powell’s presentation before the UN and put in so much junk that Powell himself tossed out some of it because it was just too unbelievable. What did he toss out? How much farther did they go in their fantasy for war?

When it looked like they weren’t convincing as many of the Joe Publics as was needed, there was only one thing to do, just declare war. Drop the bombs on Iraq, kill civilians and do it fast. Do it before the military was even prepared. Do it with way less planning and troops and armor than was needed. Just do it fast before Joe Public realizes he has been fed one of the biggest lies in history. Do it before someone listens to what the weapons inspectors were saying in their reports. Joe Public wasn’t listening; he was instead complaining about the Dixie Chicks and he had that flag wrapped around his head so tight he couldn’t hear much except when he wanted to hear. Joe Public heard only Sept. 11, 2001 and Iraq. They added those two together and found a cause to go to war.

Now, almost four years later they finally yanked the damned flag off their ears, forgot about the Dixie Chicks and they see it just as freakin’ plain as we do. The Suckers Have Been Had. Hell yes they know it, whether they admit it or not. That’s why they troll the left wing websites. They are mad as hell now that they have been played like a cheap drum. So rather than admit it and get pissed at those who played them, they attack us for being correct all along. They are the angry husband coming home after a bad day and slapping his wife around. Not brave enough to deal with his real troubles but mad enough to take it out on someone who did not cause his problems.

Now if all of this isn’t driving the Right nuts enough, the man they have blindly and insanely defended for five years turns around and nominates Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court and basically tells his supporters to go straight to hell. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.

Meanwhile the war goes on, and on badly. That war that was sold on pure lies is killing people by the thousands. People are dying every day.

How do you sell a war? Maybe by advertising it in the newspaper, but print ads cost money. Did this administration pay for a print ad in the New York Times? Who wrote the ad? The ad was successful, it sold. It sold us a war based on lies. Where is the outrage? Where is the buyers remorse? One thing is for sure, it was a slam dunk disaster for America.

Condi: War Sales

Condi is getting heavy with world leaders. The wording in the article below is rather ominous.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mobilized support among major powers for diplomatic showdowns over the next few weeks with Syria and Iran on a trip that ended on Sunday.

Over three days, Rice held talks with the leaders of France, Russia and Britain -- all holders of vetoes at the U.N. Security Council - on how to make the two U.S. foes meet U.N. security demands.

In a show of diplomacy that reflected the Bush administration's efforts this year to consult partners more, Rice crisscrossed Europe seeking to build a common front against Syria's suspected support for militants in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Rebuffed by Russia on Iran, she did not win all the support she wanted.

Rice used several one-on-one meetings to prepare the ground for concerted pressure at the Security Council this month against Syria and at the U.N. nuclear watchdog in November against Iran.

A U.N. investigator is due to report his findings in the assassination of an anti-Syrian ex-prime minister of Lebanon on Friday. Diplomats and Lebanese political sources expect some Syrian officials to be named in the report -- and Rice wants a robust response.

After a roughly 40-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that focused on Syria, Rice said the council must "let the chips fall wherever they may."

Lavrov's fluent English would have allowed him to understand the U.S. message: Russia must not block action against Syria, with which it has military and commercial ties, if the report shows that Damascus has responsibility in the February car bomb. Lavrov said Russia had agreed to cooperate with the United States in its response to the report.

Rice signaled she will also pressure Damascus over what the United States says is its support for militants in Lebanon.

She repeatedly warned that she wanted the full implementation of a U.N. resolution whose main outstanding issue is the disarming of the armed groups.

Read the whole thing...


It would be nice if anyone really knew what was going on and if the world really was in danger by these countries. You just cannot trust liars. We'll never know the truth, will we?

The tired bitch's cross-post

Okay, so I did my homework and posted at Jesus' General tonight.

And no, it's not even remotely amusing.

A lot more along the lines of righteous indignation and repulsion at the maggots who think that they have a RIGHT to decide who LIVES and who DIES, who suffers and who gets HELP.

Kinda like Dumbya & Brownie @ NOLA.

In other words, the psycho-cunt bible-bangers are trying to invade your crotch again, and the crotches of generations to come. With the same old same old, "Those who fornicate do not DESERVE to be healthy whilst they sin!" horseshit.

Tomorrow, no doubt, I'll find several more things to be pissed about, for here and JG.

Fried Rice on Russert

(Meet the Press transcript) MR. RUSSERT: Let me share with you some attitudes of Americans towards the war in Iraq, and here's our latest Wall Street Journal-NBC poll: 51 percent say removing Saddam Hussein was not worth it; 58 percent said we should reduce the number of U.S. troops; 56 percent feel less confident the war will be successful. Majorities now raising huge anxieties, expressing huge anxieties over the war in Iraq.

SEC'Y RICE: I'm quite certain, Tim, that when the American people see every day what they see on their screens, which is violence and, of course, the deaths of Americans and coalition forces, it's very difficult to take. We mourn every sacrifice. But the fact of the matter is that when we were attacked on September 11, we had a choice to make. We could decide that the proximate cause was al-Qaeda and the people who flew those planes into buildings and, therefore, we would go after al-Qaeda and perhaps after the Taliban and then our work would be done and we would try to defend ourselves.

Or we could take a bolder approach, which was to say that we had to go after the root causes of the kind of terrorism that was produced there, and that meant a different kind of Middle East. And there is no one who could have imagined a different kind of Middle East with Saddam Hussein still in power... blah blah blah

So which one did they choose?
Which number excuse is this?

Sounds like the US is the proximate cause of all the stuff going down in the world of terrorism at the moment.

Moonlighting

Welp, seems that Jesus' General is off on some super-secret missions this coming week, and I've been invited, along with some other really spiffy folks, to help fill in the blanks whilst Our General is incognito or in flagrante delicto or whatever it is...

And yes, I realize how ironic that is, considering how half-assed I've been with the BlondeSense blogging (and blog commenting) lately. Life sucks. Wear a helmet.

At any rate, I hope that if y'all get the time, that you'll come over & visit and see if I've found anything worthwhile to say over there. One of these days, I swear, I really AM going to get my shit together...

*sigh*

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

And yes, I expect to finally be able to post something a little more noteworthy HERE than just the drivellings of deranged trolls (as if there were any other kind)...

Angry Condiment Website

One of the commenters here at Blondesense, Madmustard, has a Madmustard website.

Check it out http://madmustard.blogspot.com/ You’ll love the picture at the top of the page. It’s perfect!

Maggie T's Birthday

Gawd, we forgot to mention that she turned 80 this week. She is well known around the world from all the songs that were written about her in the early 1980's such as:

• Stand Down Margaret - The Beat
• Tramp The Dirt Down - Elvis Costello
• Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards - Billy Bragg
• Two Million Voices - Angelic Upstarts
• Taking Tea With Pinochet - Christy Moore

'And when they finally lay you in the ground,
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down'
- Elvis Costello

Ah refreshing lyrics. When are we gonna get some good music in this country?

Laura in Jersey

Laura Bush attended a fund raising event for Republican NJ governor candidate Doug Forrester in Newark yesterday. Her husband wouldn't dare step foot in NJ, would he?

Forrester is not pictured above. I don't know who those guys are, but it was an AP photo from the event nevertheless. Stunning isn't it?

And in blonde news

A blonde James Bond? Hmmm. I dunno.

Few polling sites in western Iraq, activists claim

"Human rights activists in Iraq claim there are no polling stations in parts of the predominantly Sunni province of Anbar, in western Iraq, for a referendum today on the country's new constitution.

"Anbar, Iraq's largest province, runs from Baghdad to border Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia and is also the heartland of the Sunni-led insurgency.

"Much of the population is expected to vote against the US-backed constitution.

"There are no voting centres in cities like Haditha, Hit, Rawa, Qaim, Ana, Baghdadi and the villages around them," said Mahmoud Salman al-Ani, a human rights activist in Ramadi, listing locations across the western province.

"There aren't actually any voting centres or even voting sheets in these cities ... Nobody knows how and where to vote if they decide to," he said of the predominantly Sunni Arab region."

Please read the rest at ABC NEWS ONLINE.

"FLU DRUG MAKER WON'T SHARE PATENT"

Roche rejects calls to allow production of generic versions

"Tamiflu, a pricey antiviral pill invented in a Bay Area lab and made in part from a spice used in Chinese cookery, has emerged as the world's first line of defense against bird flu should the deadly strain begin its feared spread among human beings.

"As nations begin to stockpile the drug in anticipation of a flu pandemic, calls are mounting for countries to sidestep patents on the drug -- as Brazil first did for AIDS medications -- and make their own generic versions.

"But Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche, which acquired rights to the drug from Gilead Sciences Inc. of Foster City in 1996, said Wednesday it had no intention of letting others make it.

"Roche ... fully intends to remain the sole manufacturer of Tamiflu,'' said company spokesman Terry Hurley.

(AND)

"Although Roche has increased production of Tamiflu eightfold in the past two years, it will take $16 billion and 10 years to make enough of the drug for 20 percent of the world's population, said Klaus Stohr, director of the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Program, in comments to reporters in San Francisco last week."

SF Gate has the complete article and thanks to the DARK WRAITH for the tip.

"Pet owners worried as dog flu spreads across United States"

"Experts said the flu is spreading steadily through the United States affecting dogs, with no vaccine available to curb it. Perhaps five percent of its victims are dying.

"Researchers recently found to their surprise the virus had crossed over from horses to dogs, striking greyhounds at racetracks in 11 U.S. states. Now it has been found in pets in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state."

Complete article at Canada.com
-- the foreign press, of course.

Latte Lectures anyone?

Go visit Auntie Willow at Latte Lectures.

I believe her blog is relatively new and she’s got a whole new approach. She’s fun.

So hop on over and say hello, but watch out for her “official Librarian Issue ruler”, I’m pretty sure she’ll use it if you step out of line.

I found Auntie Willow by following her from Jesus’ General. I left her a comment yesterday and today she sweetly thanked me for dropping by. Let’s give her lots of names to thank in her next post.

Enough Already!

UPDATE: SATURDAY, DAY 9
Sent out the dove this morning. It came back with a soggy branch and most of its feathers blew off. The heavy rain has moved to north, sorry New England, and it will now be very windy and gusty for a few days because after all, who really wanted to spend any time outside mere weeks before the onset of those cold dark months we so dread? No one really wanted to go to the Oyster Festival this weekend. sigh.

We have to be wary of falling trees according to the weather report. Goodie.

UPDATE AGAIN: An alligator was found in a NJ backyard flood.

Trying to Hang On

It’s Friday morning. This was once my second favorite day of the week, with Sunday morning being, as Harriet might say, my favoritest day of the week.

Friday morning, the time you lay out plans for the weekend. As fall drags its feet as it slowly winds its way down to Florida, weekends have new things to offer. The green markets, once called farmer’s markets, are much more fun on a crisp fall day. Then there’s the football lineup for the weekend. Which team is playing which and which games will be televised? These are major concerns. You know, I mean that’s the way it used to be and that’s the way it ought to be, but it’s not.

Yeah, we go through the same motions but the atmosphere has changed. You can’t really relax now because too many things are swirling around in the cranial cavity: war, money, pandemics. Hell, who can forget about these? Collectively, they are like a shield in our lives, a shield trying to keep us from enjoying our fucking lives.

I’m terribly sick of it. I’m sick of being told to be afraid of everything from abandoned soda bottles to freakin’ foreign birds. I’m sick of whatever the hell that is in the white house that calls itself our president. I’m sick of all the crooks he’s hired and I’m pretty much sick of government. We don’t have a president. We have a man who can barely connect words to form sentences. We have a man running this country who the majority of us wouldn’t even buy a used car from if it was dirt cheap. It’s all a sham and we are stuck with it for at least three more years. How’s that for a good reason to start drinking again?

Don’t smoke cigarettes and don’t drink. Why not? Wait around and maybe you’ll be in great shape when the bird flu bites your ass off. Better yet, stay healthy so you’ll know exactly what’s going on during the next terrorist attack. Yeah, you don’t want to be drunk and miss all that. Then there’s the weather era from hell. Wanna be hale and hearty for that too, right?

Then, on the other hand, what if all the boogie man scary stuff doesn’t actually happen and it turns out that you are hung-over and coughing while everybody else is healthy and happy? Shit, big decisions here.

Then there’s old age and dying. There’s that to look forward to also. The days of being bed-ridden and depending on someone else to do everything, and I do mean everything, for you. Not much appeal to that either, is there?

So here we are back to Friday morning and laying out plans for the weekend. Do we get drunk and put off the pain of reality as long as we can and as long as it’s real, or do we carry the freaking scary boogie man fears with a clear head and clean lungs? Your call.

Too bad we couldn’t do something fucking wise. Too bad we can’t have the white house cleared of all the crooks. Too bad the American people couldn’t all cry foul at the same time. Too bad it’s all too bad.

So what’s the answer? The question is, is sanity all it’s cracked up to be? Is reality worth facing? And finally, which football games will be televised this weekend?

Which Walnut Shell is that Little Pea Under?

Each time this administration tells us something, it is exactly like the hidden pea under the walnut shell. Only one chance out of three that whatever they say is true. The game goes on hour by hour, day by day, and the American public keeps right on playing.

Sure they know they are getting conned but they just keep playing. Why? There are horrible results when they pick the wrong shell, it happens every time.

Just like all gamblers, some Americans think if they play long enough they will figure out the game and then they’ll win. They won’t. If the con artist finds out that his patsy is about to figure out his trick, he shuts down the game.

In the real world someone would call the cops about a con artist, but in our world today no one does. We complain about the scammer but he just keeps on playing with his walnut shells and his pea.

How much more do we wager on ever knowing the truth? How many more games will be played before everyone figures out the game is rigged? The odds aren’t in our favor, but for some reason there are those who just want to keep on playing. They think they can find the truth, but just like the little pea, it’s elusive.

How Green Was My Lawn

or How To Look At Things From a Different Perspective

I've taken such a great interest in astronomy and cosmology, that I sprung for a telescope and much of the periphery including a huge battery pack that can power the scope, a heated dew shield and an espresso maker at 2am out in the middle of nowhere under the darkest skies, not content any longer to be a faithful naked eye observer.

Why? Because earth has gotten me down more than usual and I have GOT to see what else is out there.

It's not enough that humans are fucking over the planet, but God himself is also against us. Sure, I whine about the 12 inches of drought halting rain we've gotten in the northeast this looooong week (thank you God, the lawn looks fabulous a few weeks from a killing frost, so you can turn it off now), but it doesn't compare to the current catastrophe in Pakistan. It seems like California could use some of our watery blessings, Lord. Doesn't God have a clue about moderation? Like Jon Stewart said to God after hurricane Katrina, "What part of "God Bless America" don't you get?" But I digress in all my blondeness.

After reading Morford this morning, How To Endure Disaster Fatigue- Too much death and catastrophe and war? Spirit overloaded? There is one thing you can try and noticing how his philosophy mirrors mine, I am not alone in the belief that no matter how much the world gets you down, the universe is always out there and it's always just beyond the grasp of human thinking... and there is nothing that the bushistas or any humans can do to fuck with it. Just when scientists think they've got it pegged, it continues to stun and amaze us. HUDF-JD2 has been discovered- the oldest, most distant galaxy (thanks Hubble) which was formed when the universe was born. Morford quotes Nigel Sharp, program officer for extragalactic astronomy and cosmology at the U.S. National Science Foundation to cheer you up: "One of the standard problems with the universe is that it's large enough that unlikely things happen pretty often."


When I am down and blue, I like to listen to Eric Idle's "Galaxy Song" (MP3) and sing along too (words).

And our galaxy is but a spec of dust in the universe.

And unlikely things happen pretty often! Yay!

"Of course, now there are questions about the authenticity of the letter found in Iraq."

That's the opening sentence from the Nitpicker website. Further down he says:

"As a 13-year veteran of the armed forces, though, I find it repulsive that veterans like myself are put in the position where we're forced to decide whether our commander-in-chief is lying or al Qaeda is--and it's actually a hard decision!" -- Terry

Check it out.

Was bush’s talk with the troops in Tikrit scripted this morning? You bet it was.

Go here Think Progress Link and read all about it.

Something like this:

White House aide: "But if he gives us a question that is not something that we have scripted Captain Kennedy you are going to have the mic and that’s your chance to impress us all."
Kennedy: "Okay."

More Televised Propaganda

Earlier today I mentioned in the comments that bush was on the television speaking via teleconference call to some "troops" in Iraq. It seemed so staged and so bogus that it made me ill and very squeamish. It also made me feel rather hopeless because today's so called "media" would even air this nazi-esque propaganda. If the media was fair and free, they would have cut away from the bullshit and resumed discussing the imminent indictments against this administration for bringing our country into this disastrous cluster-fuck from hell known as the War On Terra™ which is responsible for killing more innocent people than not.

The AP has a story now online declaring that the teleconference was staged, which in and of itself is not news or shocking to those who haven't drunk the fascist Koolaid, but the fantastic story of how it was all choreographed is in the article as well as the revelation that those weren't just troops, but captains. Naturally the robotic Scottie Mac told reporters later that the "troops" were expressing their own opinions. Yeah, right. Like the troops are allowed to express their own opinions on television when speaking to the president.

Welcome to the nazification of America.


UPDATE: When I posted this last evening, I wasn't aware that this scripted event was the talk of the cable news yesterday. I had turned off the TV close to the end of the propaganda totally pissed off that it seemed so staged and artificial. It felt like we were living under a dictator and was terribly disturbing to this dumb, but not so stupid blonde. I had given up on the news altogether yesterday because it never should have been aired in the first place. Sure, the media made up for it by making fun of the event all day (which I missed), but they didn't realize that a great number of us got fed up and turned of the TV.


IMPORTANT UPDATE: Thanks to reader, Retank, the Bush Beat Blog at the Village Voice, a favorite of mine, points out that the woman on the bottom left in the photo-op is (Flack)Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo, 42nd Infantry Division Public Affairs, whose job it is to make everything look peachy keen. Check it out.

A good friend of mine, who I am currently on the outs with is good friends with a Marine PA guy. These people are dangerous and the sources of disinformation. Sure, it's their job to serve the country and I appreciate it, but when innocents on both sides are dying because of the hard work of the spinners, aka public relations personnel, it's simply reviling.

This Isn't Photoshopped

Read the story here.

Touching Up our Roots and Other News Items

Woo Woo, Blondesense Gets a Makeover

What do you think folks? Liz gave the site a new do. We are going for a real oxymoron…..blondes with smarts and good taste. (this is where you laugh out loud) Don’t worry, we are the same people we always were, it was just time to upgrade our looks. Touching up our roots, if you will.

Oh hell no, we aren’t changing, just rearranging.

I’ve been doing a little rearranging and updating my home too. Time for lots of changes.

Speaking of changes did you see bush’s new poll numbers? 39% approve of what he’s doing. Hell, a toad would get better numbers than that even if you added in the wart factor.

Who’s going to get an indictment in the Plame case? Probably easier to guess who won’t. I hope they don’t leave Condi out. She and Bolton should be included.

Hopefully you watched Keith Olbermann last night because he had a lulu of a show. Keith matched up all the raised terror alerts to what was going on in the world at the time. Coincidences? You decide.

Crooks and Liars (LINK) in case you missed it.


One more terrible thing about bird flu:

Have you noticed that bird flu has resulted in the choking of many chickens? That is terrible, isn’t it? If the flu traverses the ocean does that mean that there will be an increase of chicken choking in our country?

Alan Greenspan will be stepping down as Federal Reserve Chairman. President bush will soon nominate someone to take his place. Word has it that he will choose Emily Flatzbottom to take Greenspan’s place. Ms Flatzbottom is the president’s favorite cashier at the white house cafeteria. President bush has known Ms Flatzbottom since he was governor of Texas. At that time she worked at the local McDonald’s as the person who takes the money at the first window. There are rumors that Ms Flatzbottom is also an evangelical Christian. There is no paper trail per se for Ms. Flatzbottom since the cash registers she has worked do not print out receipts. Mr. bush has been quoted to say that Ms. Flatzbottom has never given anyone incorrect change. Ms Flatzbottom was the first female food worker to wear a ruffled handkerchief on the bodice of her uniform and the first female food worker to use the phrase, "Ya’ll come back, ya hear?"


On a very sincere note, WELCOME BACK TO AL HILL

Al has had some medical problems of late and we have deeply missed him here at Blondesense. If good wishes are healing, Al, we will fix you right up. Hugs to Al from everyone.

"Military Dictatorship USA"

From a comment by "dbeach" at the Rigorous Intuition Discussion Forum I picked up the following website:

Military Dictatorship USA wherein we find the following interesting statements:

"We usually think of a nation being controlled by a military dictatorship when a military leader seizes control through a putsch, as in the case of General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan or Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The previous government is overthrown and a military strongman places himself in power with few if any constraints from judicial or legislative oversight.

"But we must look for the essence of a military dictatorship, those features which are present whenever this form of oppression occurs. In essence, a military dictatorship is a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a repressive ruler or a small clique who use military and police power to dominate the people mentally and physically.

"Taking this definition as our touchstone, in the United States we know we're living under military dictatorship when we see:

• disaster aid deliberately withheld by White House and Pentagon to impose unfettered military control
• a leader retaining power through stealing the election of 2004 and put into power in 2000 by a coup d'etat, not through democratic elections
• the military used to control the civilian population in violation of the U.S. Constitution
• the president ordering a US citizen held indefinitely by the military (Jose Padilla)
• a shadow government being set up consisting entirely of executive branch officials in violation of the Constitution
• government informants spying on fellow citizens
• the highest amount of government funds going to military initiatives:
• taxpayer money being used to subsidize and fund domestic and foreign "defense" corporations
• taxpayer money being used to subsidize and fund domestic and foreign military operations: wars, embargoes, training, etc.
• a dictatorial ruling clique creating unnecessary, homocidal wars as a way of remaining in power
• the spread of militaristic values and the increasing power of the military in our society

All these conditions are now present in the United States."

There's more at the link.

Robertson Threatens Senators

Says Robertson on his tv show: “These so-called movement conservatives don’t have much of a following, the ones that I’m aware of. And you just marvel, these are the senators, some of them who voted to confirm the general counsel of the ACLU to the Supreme Court, and she was voted in almost unanimously. And you say, ‘now they’re going to turn against a Christian who is a conservative picked by a conservative President and they’re going to vote against her for confirmation?’ Not on your sweet life, if they want to stay in office.” (from PFAW)

........................

Hello? ACLU? Did you know that Pat Robertson, a television sleezologist in the name of gawd, is claiming that he has control over who gets elected in this country? Is he allowed to say this stuff if he is tax exempt? Is the president allowed to openly say that he nominated a judge for the supreme court based on her particular brand of religiosity? Please look into this.

-A Taxpayer
.

Please Don't Support My Troop

In honor of the fact that this administration is looking like its on its last legs, I bring you the beginning of an excellent letter written by a parent of a troop. Information Clearing House:

My son returned from Iraq last weekend after a year’s service. I confess to breathing much easier now that he is out of that quagmire.

I have a personal request for all of you George W. Bush supporters and Christian warhawks: please do not support my troop. I have visions and aspirations of having him around, seeing him settle down and start a family at some point, and being near as I grow older. Your support would mean that he would be sent back to this war started and continued on lies to become a target for those who would rather live their lives without the interference of a foreign, empire-seeking, new-world-order, invader.

Actually, my son completed his contractual obligation to the military several months ago, but thanks to your support, he has been stop-lossed and has no idea when he will be allowed to resign his commission.

Why would I not want your support for my troop, you ask? Considering your support of our criminal government has led to the death, destruction and misery of millions of people on this planet, that is basically a no-brainer. Read the rest

.

BWUAAAAAHAAHA!!!

Well, kids, if I wind-up missing anytime soon, we'll know why. I've earned myself a REAL STALKER!

Not just your average troll, no, this particular critter claims to live IN Louisiana, and didn't cotton well to me TELLING THE TRUTH about the ignorant-ass cracker bigots in this state. Now, I never said that there weren't a shitload of GOOD PEOPLE doing everything and then some to help the victims of Katrina, but there are also a shitload (likely the majority) of mouth-breathing, cousin-fucking, inbred recidivist neanderthal cocksucking MORON FUCKTARDS who have treated anybody with a brown skin and a New Orleans address like they are all AUTOMATICALLY CRIMINALS. Y'all know it as well as I do.

And to try and gloss over it by concentrating only on the good --- well, that just ain't the whole truth. These motherfuckers are the reason that I have tried all of my life (obviously, not too successfully) to get OUT of Louisiana. I grew up in the biggest cracker parish in the state (once known as the national capitol of the Ku Klux Klan --- the national Grand Dragon lived two miles down the road from my house), and couldn't fucking wait to get the fuck OUT.

Granted, New Orleans has its own racism --- coming from every direction. White against black, black against white, white against asian, asian against black, blah blah blah on and on and on. I was a minority in New Orleans (being the fluorescent white girl that I am), and there were people who made sure that I knew that, every single day. Just like the crackers/rednecks/mouth-breathers treated me in Livingston Parish. I didn't share their bigoty, their ignorance, their desire to return to the fabled, pseudo-halcyon days of slavery, and ergo, I was the evil one. Throw in atheism on top of that, and you'll understand where I got my nic.

Now, I'm not whining to get sympathy or even compassion --- while I know that BlondeSense readers are much more highly-evolved, and definitely more intellectual (by a ratio of about 100 to 1) than the trolls that we attract, I want to set this excerpt up properly, so that y'all will understand exactly what kind of maggot I'm dealing with here.

So, if you are easily squeamish (not generally a problem with BlondeSense readers, I know, but still...), scroll on down to the bigger, more important posts. If you want to know a Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the struggle that I (and so many other non-bigoted whites) have been through pretty much my entire life, and to see it blown up past farce to absolute fucking IDIOCY, read on.

(From the comments on the "Bunions..." post)

Well, WELCOME TO LOUISIANA, FUCKER!!
redneck Homepage 10.11.05 - 5:51 pm

~~~~~~~~~~~

Um, Redneck? Motherfucker, I was BORN in this shit-hole of a state and have lived here for 34 of my 35 fucked-up years.

You wanna start some shit, bitch? Boy, did you catch me on the wrong fucking day.

Maybe you meant "welcome to Louisiana" to the inbred, mouthbreathing, cousin-fucking INBRED cocksuckers in this state, but somehow, I don't think so.

And I'll tell you ANOTHER motherfucking thing, "redneck" --- you obviously self-conscious/paranoid redneck three-toed sloth knuckle-dragging mongoloid fucktard --- I *AM* a motherfucking REFUGEE FROM NEW ORLEANS. I just got up here in Hillbilly Hell BEFORE THE FUCKING STORM. So what the fuck ever you say about ANYFUCKINGBODY FROM NEW ORLEANS, bitch, YOU'RE SAYING ABOUT *ME.*

You wanna play? Motherfucker, I am ready for yo' ig'nant cracker ass. Let's go.
...
Now, back to the clusterfuck at hand... Anytime you wanna go, "redneck," the truck's gassed-up and I'm ready to throw down.
Anntichrist S. Coulter Homepage 10.12.05 - 2:16 am

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dearest Annti, I am so, so sorry.You seem to have mistaken me for your fuckin' mommy or one of the other three people who could give a fuck about where you're from or what your damn problem is.You wanna talk shit? Talk is cheap.Show me your address and I'll even pay for the gas it takes to get there, 'cause this'll be way more fun for me than it'll be for you.Your move, talkbox.
Redneck Homepage 10.12.05 - 1:07 pm #

~~~~~~~~~~

Another beautiful example of the recidivist ignorance that plagues an otherwise beautiful state.
Just bring it to St. Francisville, motherfucker, and I'll find you. You wanna start some shit, child?
Please.
You know not with whom you are fucking, little boy. But if you think that you can back it up, bring it.
Anntichrist S. Coulter Homepage 10.12.05 - 2:04 pm #

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You the only one in St. francisville, or are you just so fucking fat that I can't miss you?You want me to bring it, tell me where, you shit talking pussy!

Redneck Homepage 10.12.05 - 2:30 pm #

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, that's where things stand at the moment. Our delightful little troll has decided to put me in my "place" for daring to tell the world the TRUTH about these phony-ass white-trash motherfuckers. He can't hang with reality, so he attacks me for EXPLAINING reality. Granted, I seriously doubt that we're dealing with one of those phony-polite Cuntry Club white folks, the ones who play all "P.C." in public, but make the "coloreds" that work for them drink out of the garden hose rather than drink from their glasses.

Nope, what I think that we're dealing with here is just a plain ol', Jerry-Springer-fan, inbred, mouth-breathing, resulting-from-incest, ain't-better-than- nobody-but-he-can-at- least-hate- "niggers", lowlife white trash, woman-hating, sexist, recidivist, couldn't-get- laid-in- Angola- State-Pennitentiary, no-life-having, Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed, role-playing- with-twelve- year-olds, ain't-never-been-out-the-state-'cept-to-Six-Flags, ain't-never- watched- the-news- 'cause-they-don't- talk-enough-NASCAR dumbass cracker motherfucker.

Nothing new. I deal with that type every fucking day. But hey, it ain't often that you get DELIVERY!

What the hell... a present's a present!

For Your Enjoyment

Knox Rover asked us to see this movie trailer and I must pass it along to you! It's hilarious and it's about guess who?

Your illustrious leader.

Small Version
Large Version

Apple Introduces Video-Playing IPod

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Apple Computer Inc. unveiled Wednesday an iPod capable of playing videos, the latest creation in its ever-evolving and hugely popular line of portable media players.

The company also said music videos will also now be sold on its iTunes Music Store, for $1.99 each.


- proud stockholder

CIA says Bush administration only heard what they wanted to hear

CIA review faults prewar plans

By John Diamond, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — "A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq.

"Policymakers worried more about making the case for the war, particularly the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, than planning for the aftermath, the report says. The report was written by a team of four former CIA analysts led by former deputy CIA director Richard Kerr.”

There’s a lot more here at USA Today.

Sexism card and who played it first?

There was a question put to the first couple yesterday by Matt Lauer, he asked them if they thought sexism played a role in the opposition to Harriet Miers. Laura bush replied that there might be.

Okay what was the genesis of the suggestion of sexism regarding this nomination? Who played the sexism card first?

Didn’t it begin here?

"Harriet was the first woman to be hired at one of Dallas's top law firms, the first woman to become President of that firm, the first woman to lead a large law firm in the state of Texas. Harriet also became the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association, and the first woman elected president of the State Bar of Texas. In recognition of her achievements paving the way for women lawyers, Harriet's colleagues in Texas have honored her with numerous awards, most recently the Sandra Day O'Connor award for professional excellence."
White House Transcript

And yesterday in response to one of Lauer’s question about Miers, bush said;

"I would remind those, one, that Harriet is an extraordinary, accomplished woman who has done a lot. As a matter of fact, she has consistently ranked as one of the top 50 women lawyers in the United States, that she has broken the glass ceiling.” Washington Post

Without Ms. Miers “first woman” status and description, what does she have? Nothing other than she is almost like a bush groupie. She wrote adoring notes in cards to him and she looks at him with childlike admiration when they are together. Ms. Miers appears to be a puppet’s puppet.

Is there sexism involved in the opposition to Ms. Miers? If there is, it seems to me there is more sexism in the president’s support for Ms. Miers. Bush played the first card and opened the game.

Must See!

Five Days with Katrina, a photo essay from a NOLA denizen with a camera.
.

Morsels

• Carole Coleman, the fabulous Irish woman who interviewed bush tells what really went on behind the scenes in: I wanted to slap him. Juicy.


• Remember that kid who blew himself up in Oklahoma? In Bombing At OU Stadium There Are More Questions Than Answers


• Balls of Brass. Delay that is. His lawyers subpoenaed the prosecuting Texas district attorney , Ronnie Earle in an effort to show he acted improperly with grand jurors.


• Matt Lauer to President weilding hammer aimlesslessly in NOLA: "I talked to a prominent Democrat in Louisiana who has said that this type of appearance, while it's great to see you guys rolling up your sleeves and grabbing a hammer and helping with this piece of wall here, that it's a photo op, and they want to see a plan on paper, your plan to rebuild this region. Do you have that kind of a plan?


• Cheney's Halliburton stock options rose 3,281% last year, senator finds.

• Someday he'll come along, the man I love... oh wait, here he is: Mark Morford: What God Really Told Bush

"Psst! George! God here, taking a break from supervising the well-being of eight billion troubled souls along with infinite galaxies of unimaginable vastness to speak with you directly one more time because, well, you're special, aren't you, George? Yes you are! Yes you are! OK, stop giggling. I have more commands..."

"Special Forces Suicides Raise Questions"

"Chief Warrant Officer William Howell was a 15-year Army Special Forces veteran who had seen combat duty all over the world. Sgt. 1st Class Andre McDaniel was a military accountant. Spc. Jeremy Wilson repaired electronics.

"They had little in common, other than having served in Iraq with the 10th Special Forces Group based at Fort Carson, Colo. They did not know each other, and they had vastly different duties.

"Each, however, committed suicide shortly after returning home, all within about a 17-month period.

"The Army says there appears to be no connection between the men's overseas service and their deaths, and Army investigators found no "common contributing cause" among the three. The fact they were in the same unit is only a coincidence, Special Operations Command spokeswoman Diane Grant said at Fort Bragg, N.C.

"Others are not so sure. Steve Robinson, a former Army Ranger and veterans' advocate, said he suspects there were problems in the men's unit - namely, a macho refusal to acknowledge stress and seek help".

Read the entire article in the Associated Press
article where there's a link to Steve Robinson's National Gulf War Resource Center site.

Five things I learned today plus a bonus

The president of the United States can nail a nail into wood if a lady starts it for him.

Miers thinks the president of the United States is “cool”. If she is confirmed to be a member of the Supreme Court, please don’t let her ever proclaim that she thinks anything is “cool”.

I’ve learned that if bird flu becomes able to move from person to person and arrives on our shores, we’re doomed.

I have learned that Cheney is laying so low that no one knows where he is.

I have learned that any money we give to the victims of the quake will be money we borrowed from China. Wouldn’t it be easier for China to just make a donation in our name and then we wouldn’t owe interest on the money?

The bonus thing I learned today was that the scare about the subway attack last week was a hoax. I am shocked!

I am shocked that anyone believes anything we hear from our government these days. I truly would be shocked if we discovered that anything they told us was the truth.

Bird flu vaccine may be too late for pandemic: expert

"Drug companies may not be able to produce enough bird flu vaccine in time to combat a human pandemic, a top United Nations official said on Tuesday as governments scrambled to contain the deadly virus.

"It could take six months to manufacture adequate vaccine stocks, and current stockpiles may be useless because the flu virus has mutated, said David Nabarro, U.N. coordinator for global readiness against an outbreak".


Complete story at Reuters.

Lookie Lookie

Look at bushie working with Habitat For Humanity. Does anyone know if he just hammered one nail for a photo op or if he actually spent some time there?

Records Suggest Warm Ties for Bush, Miers

"The communications between Miers, who served as chair of the Texas Lottery Commission, and Bush, then governor of Texas, tell the story of a very warm relationship.

"U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers told George W. Bush in a 1997 birthday card that he was "the best governor ever" and, in a separate note to her boss, said she hoped his twin daughters recognize their parents are "cool."',

"Bush faces criticism that he chose Miers for the high court because of their close friendship.

You can read the rest if it won't ruin your breakfast at The Washington Post.

As top Bush aide Karl Rove prepares for his fourth grand-jury appearance, the federal probe into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the media is believed to be wrapping up. But the investigation has taken a toll on White House aides, many of whom now fear that the special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, is intent on issuing indictments. "Fitzgerald's office, although very professional, has been very aggressive in pursuing people," the adviser said. "These guys are bullies, and they threaten you."

Oh, yeah right. Like Kenneth Starr didn't threaten Monica Lewinsky. He said he would question her mother, somehow her psychiatric records were read into the Congressional Record. Starr leaked like a sieve to the press, we haven't heard more than a peep from Prosecutor Fitzgerald.

Many people were critical of what President Clinton did, engaging in what could have been seen as predatory behavior with a woman, who obviously had emotional problems and odd relationships with married men. It is very easy to blame him for his own destructive behavior and how that behavior harmed a young, destructive woman. It is also easy to see it for what it was, two very depressed, very wounded people in denial.

But what of the destructive nature of Ken Starr? Has that bully ever been taken to the woodshed for his disgusting treatment of a frightened and wounded young woman? Locked in a hotel for ten hours with no food, no lawyer, just special prosecutors threatening her? If she had only been more self-possessed, she could have had the courage of Susan McDougal, and refused to cooperate with Ken Starr. She could have been indicted, mother taken to the grand jury. Had it been me, I would have told Ken Starr to Dick Cheney himself and gone to jail. I would have reminded everyone on Larry King to Jerry Springer to Oprah while I was plugging my new book, Mind Your Own Business, Mr. Starr, that what I did or didn't do with my consenting partner is no one's business, especially a special prosecutor and if he wants me to go to jail because I won't talk dirty to him, then so be it. She could have recouped some dignity. But we hear thong stories. But if she had been more self-possessed, she never would have been the victim in anyones' dirty tricks or laundry.

There was no crime. So Clinton lied in a civil deposition. Have you ever been deposed in a civil lawsuit like a divorce? People lie in private, civil matters. Please tell me that Bush didn't lie to the American people about WMD and that he knew about the outing of Ms. Plame. He either ordered it, or ordered the cover-up. Take whatever Nixonian position on this you care to take.

As for reporters who thought that they were protecting their sources on some high First Amendment mountain...dumbasses, please. Why would they protect someone who outed a spy? Why would they choose their own self-serving interest to hide behind a non-existent shield law to protect someone who endangered people's lives. Going to jail gets you a book deal. And Judith Miller can now look like a hero cause she finally went to the grand jury. From Jail to the Grand Jury: Getting My Yellowcake and Eating It, too. This wasn't a First Amendment, freedom of the press issue. Why hide the truth about bullies ruining someone's life.

People will always talk to the press or bully others when it is in their interests. Shield laws are not going to make more whistle-blowers come forward. Doing the right thing, talking or not talking, is an individual decision. I sincerely hope I don't have to see Judith Miller labeled a hero or the editors who were used by the Bush Administration to smear Ambassador Wilson and Valerie Plame depict themselves as the conscious of the First Amendment. The press is supposed to criticize the government not be a lap dog for it.

Bunions and other things that piss me off...

(Yes, I've been a bad, bad girl, not blogging much lately, but hey, shit happens. And, I'm not mentioning my birthday in a lame-ass no-friends loser way of soliciting good wishes or prezzies or anything, I mention it solely to illustrate the first topic...)

The fucking DAY before I turn thirty-fucking-five, and I've got a gawddamned BUNION.

This isn't supposed to happen already, is it?

I mean, y'all have all heard me whining & bitching & moaning for ages about my varied and plentiful physical deformities/injuries/bizarre conditions... but a fucking BUNION just seems so fucking old!!!!!!

Add to that, that TWO guys, in the past week, have told me that I look 41 and 55, and y'all will see what kind of birthdays that I usually have.

And no, I am NOT dying my fucking hair, I earned every white and grey fucker in there!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole Katrina thing is still too... close, really, for me to give a half-way decent editorial/article on the subject.

But one thing that is STILL pissing me off is the large, half-way silent majority of Louisianians, whose bigotry, ignorance, and selfishness is beyond fucking BELIEF.

Oh, sure, everybody's on the teevee, glowing & oohing and ahhing and patting themselves on the back for all of the wonderful things that they've done for the "refugees" and how well Baton Rougeans are "getting along" and "welcoming" those big, skeery, thug-myth City Folk. It's worse than Kelly Ripa having a shopping-gasm.

On CNN, they're jerking the tears (and their own little puds) with "heart-wrenching" accounts of the "CHILDREN OF KATRINA" ---honestly, it's enough to make me puke blood. Literally. Talk about climbing over the dead bodies on North Rampart Street to make a fucking ratings point. Everybody in the country has been a SAINT to take in these "waifs" and to send them school supplies and clothes and everything else --- I'm not debating that fact --- but the transcendentally-masturbatory attitude of all of this soap-opera schlock is enough to gag a maggot. Leave those fucking kids alone and let them DEAL, wouldja you fucks??!

Getting back to the Gloriously Red State of Louisiana... I've always gotten odd looks for the tattoos that are visible in street clothing, but my New Orleans to New York road trip tat is getting me the most annoying fucking reactions in this redneck burg lately, and I'm sorely tempted to start swinging. If I hear ONE MORE mouth-breathing, white-trash redneck motherfucker say ONE MORE FUCKING WORD about "THOSE PEOPLE need to go HOME," (like the poor bastards even HAVE A HOME TO GO TO!!!), SHIT IS GOING TO GET UGLY UP IN THIS MOTHERFUCKER.

Big, fat, greasy-haired, thyroid-eyed TOAD of an inbred mouth-breathing WIC-baby-pumping-out PIECE OF SHIT, who happens to work at DOLLAR TREE: "Well, it'll all be better when those people go back where they BELONG." I shit you not. This whore pushes out a fucking spawn (by two or three different 'daddies') a year, and EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ONE OF THEM IS A W.I.C. BABY GROWING UP ON FOOD STAMPS, and she wants to talk about somebody!?!?!

Less corpulent, older, not-quite-so-greasy, even more ignorant Dollar General Store woman: (WHILE a recent evacuee of NOLA is IN THE FUCKING LINE!!!) "I just don't understand why they can't go home yet, we've already GIVEN THEM EVERYTHING!" I shit you not. Grown woman breaks down in tears and runs out of the store. Aforementioned clerk just blinks and says, "What??"

Standing in the local cigarette-gouging store, wall-to-wall with recently-relocated New Orleanians who never imagined that they'd be stranded in a ONE-HORSE FUCKING DUMP OF A TOWN LIKE THIS, even after growing up in one of the most neglected cities on the planet --- at least New Orleans has REAL RESTAURANTS!!! --- anyway, it's tighter in there than the 5PM St. Charles streetcar, and some yuppie-scum breeder cunt starts lipping off to the effect of, "Gawwwd, I will be SO glad when WE can HAVE *OUR* STATE BACK!" And continues on in that theme, "our" town, "our" cigarette store, etc. A grown man who's obviously never missed a day of work in his life stands there, right behind this whore in line, so hurt and pissed and indignant, he's shaking from the embarrassment and effort it takes to keep from throttling the ignorant twat. Proud to say that my red-headed niece looked that cunt right in the eye, after seeing that grown man actually CRY in public --- and said, "Well, I hope that you feel like a piece of shit now --- since that's what you ARE."

It's not just the singular incidents. It's not just the traffic clusterfucks and the longer lines at the grocery and the price-gouging on gas and cigarettes and damned near everything else. It's people who had shelter doors SHUT IN THEIR FUCKING FACES because they made the mistake of evacuating to WAY-TOO-CAUCASIAN parishes (that's "counties' to the rest of y'all). It's people who were LOCKED OUT of stores in areas that didn't even get WIND DAMAGE, because of the fucking LOOTING HYPE on the TV. It's people who went DAYS without medical attention or food, because CERTAIN TOWNS didn't LET THEM IN.

Even now, it's entire PARISHES of ignorant-ass, selfish-cunt CRACKERS who don't want "trailer cities" or "tent cities" set-up by FEMA in THEIR neighborhoods. In rural-as-fuck backwoods towns who barely have TWO STOP SIGNS, but they're worried about "the wrong element" coming to town, since they all "know" that everything out of New Orleans is AUTOMATICALLY CRIMINAL.

On the flip side, parishes like Washington & St. Bernard are getting DICK from FEMA, because THEY didn't make the NATIONAL NEWS. Granted, they are far more rural, and yes, far more caucasian parishes, but people still died there. Animals were still abandoned there. But nobody seems to have gotten around to helping the people there who are still SCREWED.

Speaking of screwed --- here's another lovely little item, in case y'all haven't heard:

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stbernard/stories/WWL100105shotdogs.af4b7d94.html

About a dozen (this article isn't 100% accurate) dogs were found in St. Bernard Parish schools, where their owners had possibly left them when they were evacuated and couldn't take the animals along (so they wanted them to be someplace on high ground & safe).

Then somebody came along and shot them.

And left them there to rot.

And when interviewed on TV, one deputy said, "They were blindfolded and tied up in such a way that they were obviously shot by people who cared about them and didn't want them to suffer."

Here's the problem with that deputy: The SHERIFF of St. Bernard Parish said (same TV piece) that NONE of the animals were BLINDFOLDED. None of the animals photographed by OTHER NEWS STATIONS were found with blindfolds or any type of covering on their faces.

However: The ammo used to kill these animals was all either 9mm or shotgun shells of a type & make that The St. Bernard Sheriff's Office uses on a regular basis.

And if you ask me, I believe the Sheriff way before I do his deputy.

Ain't it a beautiful state?

The rest of the planet has shown us a million times more compassion, understanding, and pure good-heartedness than a huge chunk of this very state. And that is a damnable shame.

Columbus Day

So what do you make of this holiday? Is it legit? Why do all the Italians make such a big deal about it? Cause he was Italian? Big deal.

Columbus didn't discover America. He landed in Haiti and thought he was in Asia. He stole gold from the natives for Queen Isabella. His band of thieves were pretty cruel. We celebrate plunderers?

How can someone discover a place that is already inhabited? I don't think the native Americans felt discovered. They probably felt nauseas at the sight of European explorers, if nothing else, and rightfully so.

As far as I am concerned, Columbus Day weekend is a good time to go leaf peeping in the northeast if there aren't tropical storms flooding the landscape and/or a good time to shop for bargains. Oh yeah, and I have to wait an extra day to get my garbage collected.

Trust

How can we trust anyone associated with government? It seems those governing are playing a game with our lives. Are there any of them that we could actually trust with our homes, our children, our livelihoods? Who would you trust to run your financial obligations?

These are the questions we must ask before we vote the next time. Hopefully there will be someone that will come forth who will be worthy of our trust.

Right now there is little to no trust in anything this administration does, because their bridges crumble once they have crossed them. It appears that from day one, this administration has been doing anything and everything that benefits them and big business but when the average man starts to cross that beneficial bridge, the collapse begins.

What can we recall that has occurred in the past five years that has been good for our country, good for the citizens, or good for our future? The list would be short if it could even begin.

The Republicans have led the parade and the Democrats have played in the band. We have stood on the sidewalk and watched. We could do little to stop it. There was one chance in November of 2004, but that chance slipped by and we were doomed to four more years of the same parade. Now, only one year into that four year sentence, we see even more of the failures than we did during the first four years. They are playing reckless and careless with our country and our lives. They have thrown caution to the wind because they know there will be no penalty for them. They created the rules of the game and no penalties were included. Some of them may be slapped on the wrist but there will be no beatings.

If anything even remotely can be called positive now, hopefully it’s that the American people will realize they must evaluate their candidates with more scrutiny. Rather than choose a candidate because they feel he or she will make a good candidate, they should ask themselves, can I trust this person. They should ask would I trust this person with my checkbook and my family. Would I trust this person to represent me in business transactions?

If we can find such a person we need to make their election our first priority. We need to work for their election as if our lives depend upon it. We see now in glaring clarity, that it surely does.

Supply of gutwrench gobblers and dongdivers is dwindling

For GOP, Election Anxiety Mounts

"Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to run for Senate next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals a broader decline in GOP congressional prospects. Prominent Republicans have passed up races in North Dakota and West Virginia, both GOP-leaning states with potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Earlier, Republican recruiters on Capitol Hill and at the White House failed to lure their first choices to run in Florida, Michigan and Vermont".

It's all here in the Washington Post and thanks to Joe at Americablog for the tip.

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY--MY LOCAL NEWSPAPER IS WORSE THAN YOURS.

Sounds like Pakistan has the same problems that New Orleans had--you know, the "looters" vs. "salvagers" theory of survival. Basically, it works like this: if you're a member of some minority or other and trying to find something to eat in the aftermath of a disaster, you're a "looter". If you're a white person in the same situation, you're a "salvager".

"Looting Breaks Out in Wake of Deadly Quake"

"Shopkeepers clashed with looters Monday, and hungry families huddled under tents while waiting for relief supplies after Pakistan's worst earthquake razed entire villages and buried roads in rubble. Death toll estimates ranged from 20,000 to 30,000."

Read the rest in this Associated Press article from Iowa's nominee for the worst newspaper on the face of the earth.

The End is Near

So says evangelist alarmist and wacko Pat Robertson quoting from the bible on CNN. Why do they give this nut air time?

"What was called the Blessed Hope of the Bible is that one day Jesus Christ would come back again, start a whole new era, that this world order that we know would change into something that would be wonderful that we'd call the millennium," Robertson said. "And before that good time comes there will be some difficult days and there will be likened to what a woman goes through in labor just before she brings forth a child."

It all sounds like wishful thinking. All the natural disasters lately are a sign of the end times according to devout christians. But people have been saying that the end times are near since the beginning.

The drought ended with a bang this weekend in the northeast. Mother Nature sure made up for our lack of weather. I don't think it was a punishment or a sign from heaven unless you equate rain with angel's tears. We had tropical storm something or other here. Floods, trees down, canceled street fairs... oh my. My kitchen was under water over the weekend because the leak in my roof hadn't been fixed as promised. I ran out of towels. We lost power for 12 hours.

The grass turned green again.

Ever Wonder What 2,000 Dead Soldiers Look Like?

I got this link

from antiwar blog

Randi Rhodes on C-span today

Randi Rhodes was on C-span this afternoon during their anniversary special. There was another woman whose name I don’t care about but she has a right wing radio show. First time I had ever seen Randi and of course she is one of my favs. She was talking about the president’s repeal of the Davis Bacon Act in the aftermath of Katrina. The other woman was laughing and shaking her head and pretty much saying that what Randi was saying was hogwash. So Randi asked this woman wasn’t it true that the repeal of the act happened. The woman said words, but she wouldn’t answer. Then Randi mentioned the time that Sensenbrenner turned off the microphones during the hearing so the Democrats couldn’t be heard. The other woman said, "Talk about conspiracy theories". Randi said we all saw it on C-span and the other woman began a witchy kind of laughing.

So the show goes on and again Randi asked the woman wasn’t it true about bush’s repealing of the Davis Bacon Act. Like a blonde pit bulldog she kept after this other woman. Finally the woman said she would have to check the "books" to see if it was true. This woman didn’t even know what the hell she was talking about on two hot topics.

And there my sweet children is the difference between the two sides. One side speaks in facts and from knowledge while the other side speaks in spin and ignorance and ideology.

Bottom line is that Randi Rhodes knew her shit and the other woman was just full of it.

How Bad Is The Economy???

For the first time, Dillard's has a 10-page flyer in this a.m.'s edition of the newspaper. (As reported by Patricia of Lone Tree)

And the price of gold is at $474/oz. Silver is $7.69/oz.

But the really important news is that Purdue is favored by 4-1/2 over Iowa.

FBI arrests another spy in the White House, 'prevents' Philippine revolution

American special services are trying to display vigilance looking for spies in the White House

"Another spy scandal has recently occurred in the USA. FBI agents arrested an employee from the team of US Vice President Dick Cheney. The man of the Philippine origin is suspected of delivering secret information to his historic fatherland, where he was going to help the local opposition overthrow the incumbent Philippine president.

"Finding and capturing spies in the US administration is not a surprising piece of news. However, Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, has been working in Dick Cheney's team for three years, delivering state secrets to the Philippines directly from the heart of the US administration. Aragoncillo has managed to send over 100 secret documents from FBI's computers to his fatherland during that period".

Where else but Pravda can you read such interesting news about what's going on in the white house?

Imagine how boygeorge feels about this:

Nature is still more efficient at killing people than he is--presupposing, of course, that the earthquakes and hurricanes aren't man-made. If man-made disasters, they sure are marvelous for distracting attention away from the any treason and espionage in the white house.

"UK emergency workers are on standby to fly to south Asia to aid in the rescue operation after a massive earthquake rocked Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. More than 1,000 are feared dead after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit the region, wiping out several villages".

Full story at The BBC.

Bush's Satanic Verses

He hears God – or does he?
by Justin Raimondo


"George W. Bush was under orders from God to invade Iraq. That's what he told the Palestinians, according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who describes what transpired during his first meeting with the American president in June 2003. According to Abbas, Bush told the Palestinian leaders:

"God told me to strike at al-Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."

"Unlike your typical secular liberal, I am not one to snark at any mention of a divine entity, be it Jehovah or Phoebus Apollo. Instead, I wonder: how does Bush know the voice he's hearing is God's? What if it's the Devil's?

"God, it seems to me, is the strong, silent type; it's the Other Guy who's a bit of a chatterbox, always whispering in people's ears, trying to get them to do cool-but-forbidden stuff, tempting and flattering them at the same time. If Bush is hearing voices in his head, then I fear we ought to be very worried, because it's either the delusions of a dry alcoholic, or something far more sinister".

Read the rest of Justin's column at Antiwar.com.

Why Does The Norwegian Nobel Committee Hate Murka?

IAEA, ElBaradei Share Nobel Peace Prize
By Fred Barbash and Dafna Linzer, Washington Post
Friday, October 7, 2005; 9:18 AM

Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog agency he heads, won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Peace today.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee called ElBaradei "an unafraid advocate" for nuclear nonproliferation "at a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing."

ElBaradei, whose ouster was sought by the Bush administration led by controversial United Nations appointee John Bolton, is a longstanding critic of the president's decision to go to war in Iraq. So was former President Jimmy Carter when he won the prize in 2002, an award widely interpreted as a shot at the administration.

Friday Cat Blogging

Memo: Bin laden Determined to Attack US Using Baby Carriages

So, was the scare for real or not? Depends on who you listen to, doesn’t it? The trouble is none of us know what to believe anymore. We have indictments flying all around and we have bush saying the same old scary stuff but now he’s doing it like a country bible belt preacher. Then you add in his supposed comments about his conversations with god and what do you have? You have probably the most screwed up era in our history. Seems to me we have more crooks than we can handle.

Which is worse, to very possibly having a deranged man running our country or to have over half the world hating our guts? Geezz, it’s a difficult question. But hey, it’s Friday and it’s early. Goodness knows how much freakier it will get.

Sometimes it’s almost funny how truly messed up everything has gotten over the past five years. Well, it would be funny if we weren’t the ones having to live through it all.

As we go into the weekend, the people of NY will be watching for loaded baby carriages, the rest of the United States will be watching for a loaded president, and the whole world will watch the U.S., as we deal with so many loads of shit.

From the You Can't Make This Shit Up Files

CHILDREN TO SWALLOW LIVE GOLDFISH FOR JESUS
A youth minister in an Alabama church is playing Fear Factor for God by allowing children to participate in overcoming their fear and putting their trust in Jesus, by eating live goldfish after advancing from the "being chained inside a real coffin" round. And we thought guitar Mass was avant garde.

S C A R E

The NY Subways are supposedly targeted for attack according to the FBI and Mayor Bloomberg. This time the bombs may be concealed in a baby stroller and the attack may take place between today and Monday. Homeland Security says it's not a credible threat. The FBI says it is. NY's finest, (who watched me take a wide angle picture of a sign under the highway warning people not to take any pictures there) are in charge of keeping the subways safe and will be checking bags. (Did I ever tell you how they check bags around here?)

New Yorkers will be riding the subways anyway and most have figured out a way to avoid the police.

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"Our new enemy pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be in an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against imperial enemies. In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination, and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves."
-Dubya October 6, 2005, projecting from the neocon play book

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fuck the red cross

DONATE HERE:

http://wwoz.org/clinic/

And here:

www.getyouracton.com

(P.S.: For some unexplained reason, a giagantic multinational corporation like House Of Blues is closed until NOVEMBER, but The Dungeon has been open & running since September 27th!!! So, while my birthday plans are permanently fucked (but hey, the presents have started early! Yay Jake!), HALLOWEEN IS *SO* FUCKING ONNNNNN!!!!!!)

Wagging the good doggie

NYC is not bush country. WTF?

The local tv stations were pre-empted this afternoon by Mayor Bloomberg warning us that a very specific terror threat has been received against NYC- the subways in particular.

Now the Ministry of Homeland Insecurity says that there is no threat.

What's Rove up to?

Officially Candy Corn Season

We are in the first week of October. I shall now declare it is legal and proper to eat candy corn. Yes, buy it and eat it. Enjoy! Bite the little white tip off first, then bite off the orange part and finally toss that little yellow bottom section right into your mouth. To be very, terribly, correct, it must be Brach’s candy corn.

I mean that’s what the beginning of fall is all about, candy corn. It may be available year round in some places but the only time you can legally eat candy corn is in October. Personally, I bite off the little white end and give it to Murphy, my dog. See, he too knows the delight of these wonderful little candies.

Magical things happened when I was in the third grade. This time of year I would go to the little store near my house and buy a little cardboard box filled with candy corn and inside the box was also a prize. Sometimes the prize was a half-face Halloween mask. Man, to me it was a very big deal to not only be able to buy the box of candy for a nickel, but to also get a free Halloween mask to boot. Maybe that was my first experience with cheap thrills.

To me Fall means candy corn, the bundles of Indian corn sold in the grocery stores, the beautiful little gourds, fall colors, brisk cool air, and of course, football. Sure there are the visions of Thanksgiving dinner which takes a week to prepare, 10 minutes to eat, and another hour to clean up all the pots, pans and dishes you seldom use more than twice a year.

We’ll tackle Thanksgiving stories another time. I’m too full of corn candy to even think about Thanksgiving right now. Okay, yes I did toss down a few Halloween Oreo cookies too. Damn, that orange filling is tasty.

If you would like to share what Fall means to you, please do. I’ll read what you have to say and try to tuck a couple more pieces of candy corn into my cheeks.

What Happened Next?

After the entire bush administration was frog-marched out of the white house, and after many Republican Congressional members were also jailed, there was no one left to lead the country. Since President Clinton was the last person to hold the title of President, he was asked to step into the role and lead the country until the next scheduled election in 2008. The first thing President Clinton did was call up Al Gore to be not only his vice president but also Secretary of the Interior. Quick as a wink Mr. Gore slashed all the environmental changes the bush administration had made.

President Clinton called Richard Clark and put him in charge of National Security. The Patriot Act was wadded up and thrown in the garbage can. President declared that America was once again the land of the free. The cheering Americans could be heard around the world.

Next President Clinton called all the leaders of the Middle East and together they came to a solution for the disaster that is Iraq. He sent President Carter, along with other tried and true diplomats, to the region to work with others to see that Iraq would soon be free of our military occupation.

Then President Clinton cancelled all the no-bid contracts that were issued during the bush administration. He called upon local companies in the Katrina ravaged area and worked out a totally local, totally fair, totally American work force to do all the repairs.

Meanwhile, Halliburton was indicted for theft and a laundry list of other crimes.

Newly appointed Secretary of Defense, General Wesley Clark, began a total revamping of the Dept. of Defense. He demanded better care for Veterans and their families, and he got it.

America smiled again and the honest-to-god religious people pushed the insane religious people into the asylums where they have always belonged.

The future looked bright for America. People smiled and greeted one another. Democrats and Republicans agreed that the old way of bitch slapping one another every chance they got just was not working. They realized that both parties must work together if they wanted to make any progress for our country. If one listened carefully they heard birds singing in the trees. The air was clean and the waters were clear.

This was an American dream.

L I E S

The p(R)esident on television trying to save his career.

Here's the transcript for your perusal

Al Gore on The Threat to American Democracy

Have you read the above speech at Buzzflash?

The decline of the media and the lack of free discourse among the American people was the reason I started this blog. I was sick and tired of watching corporate motivated news on television and wondered how many people were reading between the lines. Not too many. Sure a lot of us can read between the lines, but Al Gore's speech makes it clear what has happened: television news which is the main news source for the majority of Americans has a single goal: It is to "glue eyeballs to the screen" in order to build ratings and sell advertising.

This was a wonderful speech and should have been televised since Gore is our actual president and it speaks the truth. This morning the liar in chief will give a speech, it will be on all the television stations, it will be full of lies and misinformation, full of propaganda and the media will be complicit in the decline of the great democracy experiment.
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Blunt is a crook too.

What else is new?

DeLay, Successor Blunt Swapped Donations
WASHINGTON - Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes.

When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

read it all

Perhaps the Lowest Point in American History for the United States Senate

No wonder the United States Police Force keeps falling short in their recruitment numbers. And I expect to hear from my grandchildren any day now and I know their message is going to be, "If I can't look forward to beating people to death, I don't want to have anything to do with a career in the military". Maybe I'll suggest to them that they tie cherry bombs to frogs and watch them explode to try and assuage their disappointment.

Who ARE these 90 Senators who hate America?

"Delivering a rare wartime slap at Pentagon authority and President Bush, the GOP-controlled Senate voted 90-9 on Wednesday to back an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held."

Story in the AP.

Apparent suicide bomb kills one outside OU stadium

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- "One person was killed in an explosion in a traffic circle about 100 yards from a packed football stadium at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday night in what authorities were calling a suicide."

Rest of Story


UPDATE:

From Americablog:

"Very strange story. Suicide bombing at Univ of Oklahoma football game? Ties to 20th hijacker Moussaoui?"

"Oklahoma News 9 is reporting that Hinrichs began attending the same Norman mosque once attended by convicted 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui."

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

If...President Bush were to tell me that it's sunny outside, while a lowly mule was telling me that the sky was falling, I would without hesitation go down to the basement and stay there until the mule told me that the sky had stopped falling.

And although the mule could stay in the basement with me, I would not permit the President the accommodation.

The Dark Wraith would not have enough extra food for both a wise mule and a dumb ass. -- The Dark Wraith

Rice is urged to be 'Friends' (or more?) with Fox anchor (Lauren Green)

You know you want more info so here (New York Daily News link) it is.

Scoping Out The Invasion Sites Ahead Of Time?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "President George W. Bush, who many Latin Americans criticize for being out of touch with the region's woes, will attend in November a summit of the hemisphere's leaders in Argentina before going to Brazil and Panama".

Reuters

Brace yourselves of course. Every time buttfuckboy leaves Washington some sort of colossal disaster strikes the country. Wonder what it'll be this time? Earthquake? Volcano eruption? Bird flu epidemic? Mad cow disease? Should we start a pool? Is it true he's taking a copy of "My Pet Goat--Part II" along on the trip?

The War on Bird Flu

In another transparent attempt to become the dictator of the United States of America, CNN reports that Bush called for congress to give him the power to use military in law enforcement roles in the event of a bird flue pandemic. Is there something we should know? Fortunately the "Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bans the military from participating in police-type activity on U.S. soil." Unfortunately, bush doesn't give a hoot about how the government is supposed to work. He likes to wing it, pardon the pun. Hell, congress didn't even declare war on Iraq- they just handed bush a blank check and boy did that backfire.

At the moment bird flu has killed millions of birds in Asia. Of course bushie says he doesn't predict an outbreak of bird flu in the US nor does he predict that it will spread to humans as an epidemic, nor does he know squat about science but someone planted the idea in his head that since the senate alloted "$4 billion to a Pentagon spending bill to head off the threat of an outbreak of avian flu among humans," he could start a panic. There is no vaccine at the moment.

Six deaths is hardly an epidemic, but it's enough to get bushie thinking he will need the military to keep those were exposed to the bird flu away from the populace. And I'm so sure that the troops will be thrilled to work in quarantined areas. They'll miss the DU in Iraq. Maybe he will build concentration camps too.

Waddaya think he'll call the operation?

Field Trip: Seeing Is Believing

Intrigued by a recent article in Newsday, Is Seeing Believing?, we ventured into Manhattan yesterday to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by car, since it was Rosh Hashana 5766 so there would be no traffic and plenty of parking. So we (my friend Pat and my son) put the top down, tied our hair up and hit the highway. Manhattan isn't very far at all, but you'd never know it if you tried to drive there on a regular weekday. I've probably mentioned a gazillion times on the blog that the NY Metro area must be navigated by bridges and tunnels as only the Bronx is on the mainland.

As we approached the parking garage entrance on tony 5th Avenue, we were greeted by foreign born people in uniforms, hoping to achieve the American dream, who wanted to search my trunk. Fine. I popped the trunk in this post 9/11 city. The "guard" must have spent a whole second looking in my trunk being sure not to move any of the blankets and bags that were in there. Hmm. I feel safer. Maybe 3 blondes with ponytails in a convertible isn't threatening enough to get a real search.

Our first stop in the museum was the exhibit we wanted to see: "The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult." Oooh. Ghosts. From the 1860's to WWII, people were very interested in the occult and seances were held frequently. Early photographers "caught" these mysterious shrouded beings and also captured mediums exuding ectoplasm from various orifices. The dripping ectoplasm photos were rather nauseating and looked curiously like man made spew. You have to give credit to the "mediums" who even put that junk in their mouths and other orifices in the first place.

The photo on the left was obviously a double exposure and was meant to be a spoof on the popular past time of ghostly photography. The photo on your right was pretty bogus looking as well. In my experience, ghostly energy is less well formed. All in all, the exhibit featured trick photography and/or parlor tricks. Mediums frequently hid behind curtains while trancing and then shrouded heads would pop through. I was disappointed because I have taken better ghost pictures. See below.


Our next stop of interest was "Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437". It was mostly religious art and it really drove home the fact that Catholism is truly a Christian Blood Cult. Saintly relics (body parts) encased in golden tabletop tombs, bloody Jesus' and curiously Czechoslovakian looking Madonna's were featured. My favorite statue (I don't have a photo) was a life sized scourged and bloody Jesus doing the hokey pokey. Well it looked like it as he was putting his right foot in and his bloody arms were flailing over his head.

Illuminated musical manuscripts were quite beautiful but the English translations to the hymns were quite gruesome: "The Stoning of Christ" and "The Flagellation of Jesus". oy. We were making up the verses as we strolled along. Oh flagellate me in the name of Jesus, Lord... My son was saying that if Jesus ever came back, he'd be horrified. Ditto.

We stopped by the French Impressionists, the Egyptian mummies, the Greek God statues,medievall art and my favorite, naked Greek athletes painted on vessels. You know that gymnasia means "naked", right? In pure NYC tradition, the gift shop prices were outrageous, the food was extremely overpriced and the parking fee was enormous ($30).

Who Does This Look Like?

Uncanny isn't it?

If you know my husband, who does this look like?


Crossposted at Blog NYC
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A Tale of One City

Yesterday, Otis, the town drunk of Mayberry, defended his choice of Aunt Bee as his nominee for county judge. Otis said that Aunt Bee was a good Christian woman and she baked one hell of a cherry pie. When asked what experience qualified Aunt Bee for this position, Otis said that she had once entered her begonia in the Mayberry flower show. Otis went on to say that although Aunt Bee’s entry did not win, she was a friend of Clara, the lady who did win first prize with her orchid.

Otis was asked if Aunt Bee and he had ever discussed the subject of abortion. After giving it some thought Otis stated that he didn’t recall such a conversation. This morning the Mayberry Gazette editorial claimed that when a politician or a town drunk says they don’t recall something, that may be translated to read, yes they do recall and that the event in question did occur.

Aunt Bee, known to her friends as Bee, attends church every Sunday and tithes to the church. Aunt Bee, who was born a Catholic switched over to the evangelical Christian church. No details are available regarding why she made this change. Some feel it had something to do with being invited to the church by a strictly platonic male friend. It is believed that Bea may indeed be a virgin.

During yesterday’s press conference, Otis repeatedly stated that Bee was a fine woman, a good woman, a wise woman, a dedicated woman and basically a typical woman. Otis said that he had been close friends with Bee for over a decade and he had known her to be a good, wise, dedicated woman.

There have been rumors circulating around Mayberry that Otis had fallen off the wagon and may once again be hitting the bottle. After listening to the press conference yesterday and also after taking into consideration his choice of Aunt Bee for county judge, many feel they now have proof that Otis is once again deserving of his infamous title as the town drunk. This was made even more apparent when Otis stated that Aunt Bee was the best qualified person for the judicial nomination. The good people of Mayberry know that although Bee may be a lovely woman, her only qualification for this position is that she often stands in judgment of the pranks Opie plays on his friends and the decisions Andy makes in his position of Sheriff of Mayberry.

In this writer’s humble opinion Aunt Bee is nothing more than a mouthpiece for, and idolizer of, Otis. She was once heard to say that Otis was the most brilliant man she had ever met. If this is any example of Aunt Bee’s judgment, I would say she does not belong on any bench except the one at the park in the middle of town. I’m sure she is amply qualified to feed the pigeons in a most distinguished way, but I would not want to see her sitting in judgment of anything more than whether or not to wear her blue hat or her white hat to choir practice.

Every day all of us are faced with decisions. Would any of us want Aunt Bee, a woman chosen by the town drunk, to make those decisions for us? I think not.

Barney Fife, Mayberry’s somewhat challenged deputy sheriff, made a very insightful statement when he said, “ A town drunk is not in the best position to judge who should judge”. Coming from Deputy Fife that statement is somewhat unusual. Deputy Fife is not known for his wisdom, but even he can see that this judicial nomination may bury Otis’ reputation forever.

A Tribute To NYC's Finest. NOT.

On my way home from the Metropolitan Museum, I headed north through Harlem to get to the Triboro Bridge. Naturally, while trying to get to the FDR Drive and I was under a series of overpasses (where there is normally a large population of homeless and drunk men who like to "clean" your windshield with dirty water for tips) I hit what looked like a typical metal thing in the road, which turned out to be a ditch (see right) , and my tire was ruined. Hissssssssss went the air.

So I pulled over and we (my son) had to change the tire in this rather deserted area. I wasn't quite sure of where I was at that point and not sure where the bridge was. While I had walked back to take a picture of the grate (complete with dead rat) a police car came by. I waved. They ignored me. Hey, I'm breaking the law! I have a camera and I am taking pictures under the overpasses! (see left) Jeez. I just wanted to ask directions.

Not long after, another police car came by, they slowed down to look at the people who obviously don't live in the 'hood with the hazard lights flashing, and we waved. They kept going. Good Lord, I just wanted to ask directions. The son had the tire changing part under control.

Did you ever notice that those donut tires in the spare tire compartment of you car look like they came from a Barbie Dream Car set? The spare was about 5" shorter than the rest of the tires. We scrapped the idea of going to the Triboro Bridge, headed south and took the 59th Street Bridge instead.

Somehow I blondely managed to get on the lower part of the bridge, but on the outside of the part where all the other cars were, driving along a narrow ledge inches from death, with a teeny tiny tire I wasn't used to hoping it wouldn't explode. I said about 10 Hail Mary's, I kid you not, as I drove really slowly making sure that I did NOT look to my right and notice how high we were and all the water below. I fought my peripheral vision. I fought looking through my rear view mirror to see the line of cars behind me -exasperated people who wanted to take advantage of one of the few days where there was no traffic. I would have told my passengers to unhook their seatbelts just in case, but I couldn't get the words out.

The donut tire worked ok. Gotta go to Goodyear this afternoon and get a new tire.
(Crossposted at Blog NYC)

Ten people dead as mystery virus hits Toronto home

TORONTO (Reuters) - "Ten people have died from a mystery viral outbreak at a Toronto nursing home and another 40 are in hospital, public health officials said on Tuesday as they raced to contact anyone who visited the home recently".
Check out the entire article at Yahoo.com.

And then there are these comments from the
Rigorous Intuition Discussion Forum:

"killing off the elderly . just like soviet russia.
'an unidentified respiratory virus'
created by mad scientists whom are now dead"

Steve Quayle.com
"at least 78 dead scientists BUT hey nobody asking questions"

"why do these horrid events come in spates, such as the flurry of plane crashes and accidents last month? Hurricanes dodging statistics and diving headlong, one after the other, onto US landfall.
"Here we have the elderly as victims: The NO nursing home drowning; the bus explosion outside of Houston, and now this".

"And then there were the twenty or so who died this weekend on Lake George":
ABC News

Don't Worry, They Can Probably Get Jobs At Minimum Wage With Halliburton

"New Orleans lays off 3,000 in sign of struggle ahead"

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - "Mayor Ray Nagin said on Tuesday New Orleans will lay off 40 percent of its workers and warned of more belt-tightening ahead, a bleak reminder of the challenges the city faces as it recovers from two hurricanes".

Story at Reuters

9/11 is NOT over yet

An Angry Old Broad has a fabulous rant about the unanswered questions regarding 9/11 and I agree with her.

Bush’s Reliance on Women in Times of Trouble

It’s easy to play the bully if you can find a skirt to hide behind when things get rough and tough.

If you notice bush seems to turn to women when he's in trouble--his mom and dad in his younger years when his business attempts tanked, Condi when the war was going south, Karen when his reputation in other countries was going south and now this woman, Ms Miers, when his polls are going south.

To me it's sort of a, "mommy, help me", adult male syndrome. He hides behind a woman's skirts when he gets into trouble. The women benefit from his reliance and this woman, Ms Miers, whether she knows it or not is being used. She is also being repaid for bailing him out during his wild and funky times with the Guard and his jury duty episode. Like mom, Condi and Karen, she came when he cried.

I’m not sure what to make of such a man. I’ve never known anyone like that so I don’t know what makes them tick. I do have reason to believe that when a daughter does not get the proper attention from their father she tends to grow up looking for ways to get the attention of men. She may feel that she is lacking as a female and may go too far to secure male attention.

Maybe when men are unable to get the proper attention from their mothers, they continue looking for the security and attention they didn’t receive. Perhaps they try too hard to be masculine in order to cover their own insecurities. Just as a little girl craves her father’s attention, maybe a little boy grows up craving their mother’s attention. A little girl will use her femininity to garner the attention of men and maybe a little boy will use his masculinity to garner the attention of women.

There are shallow men who will fall for the girl’s flirtations and I’m betting there are women who are shallow enough to buy the ultra masculine role as well. A weak man or woman will easily take the masculine or feminine bait while others will see the opportunity to use this person for their own agenda. I would put Condi in this last role and Ms. Miers in the first. Condi knows how to play bush and bush knows how to play Ms Miers. Seems to me that Karen Hughes and Barbara bush enjoy the role of bush’s dependence.

Seems to me that, Ms Miers, is a woman devoted to george bush to the point of idolizing him. Ms. Miers seems to be the biggest sucker of them all. She seems to believe that her idol has finally recognized her and is giving her this special privilege as a nominee to the Supreme Court. Does anyone believe that she won’t reward bush by giving him the case decisions he would prefer? She, if confirmed, will be a tool for the Republican agenda. That’s what lawyers do, they work for their client.

Anything that bush cannot accomplish on his own becomes the task of a woman in his life. Because he has failed at so much of what he has tried