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