Who And Where

Who will you be kissing at midnight?
Or, who would you like to be kissing at midnight?
And where?

Most Ironic Event of 2005

There has been a lot of irony this year. My nomination for the most ironic event would be when Brownie told us he was going into the consultant business advising companies how to handle disasters. Heck of a job of displaying irony, Brownie.

I’m sure there were so many more. Would you like to make a nomination?

The White House Website is Spying on You

Me too. I visit there frequently to get the news from the horses mouth, as it were.

We found out earlier this week that the NSA was keeping tabs on web site visitors, but stopped the practice after it was pointed out that the practice is illegal. Not the White House. They say it's not illegal because they use Web Bugs, not Cookies. Of course. Silly me.

A bug Bush won't exterminate (AP)
December 31, 2005

The White House said Friday its Web site will keep using Internet tracking technologies, deciding that they aren't prohibited after all under 2003 federal privacy guidelines.

The War On Immigrants

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
-Words on the Statue of Liberty

Nevermind.

It's post 9/11 and we have got to be careful of who we let in this country because they are a threat to our security and they are taking away our jobs. I was just dying to start up a lawn cutting business and I can't because El Salvadorians are cutting grass these days on Long Island. They have even gotten into the masonry field. What's an Italian-American to do?

You know, some of the nicest, brightest, most hardworking people I've ever met were immigrants. I don't know if they were legal or not but I do know that they really want to achieve the elusive "American Dream" that most of us who were born here know is really a scam to turn us into slaves... but nevertheless this country was built on immigrants and I wouldn't be here if not for my grandparents who toiled and were discriminated against just to give their children a better life. Maybe I'd be working in the coal mines of the Carpathian Mountains.

Alas, Americans, who are nothing but afraid, built the strawmen of the new century... the same old strawmen of last century... immigrants. What's more, Catholic and Christian outreach workers here feel threatened by a new bill in congress, co-sponsored by one of Long Island's own reviled congressman, Peter King (we have 8 in congress from L.I. and King is the only Republican). The bill proposes erecting a 698-mile wall across one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border, turning illegal immigrants into felons and making it a felony to shield or offer support to undocumented immigrants.

This is what's freaking out the Long Island charitable workers. (Immigration Bill Outrages Activists) Many are Christian/Catholic and it's against the religion to ignore a stranger. Yet there are many people who believe that immigrants bring problems to our country and want to punish Americans who offer support to those who are already here and are hungry and poor.

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington said he had little sympathy for groups that help undocumented immigrants.

"These are people who are knowingly helping, knowingly promoting illegal immigration," he said. "The very people complaining about this are the very ones who helped bring about the illegal immigration problem in the first place" by offering them services.

Well Peter King, who is also chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is trying to allieve the fears of local charity workers who fear that the feds are going to raid churches by telling people that he will change the wording in the bill because they say the language is so broad. And rightly so. (King willing to redo bill)

Will I be thrown in jail because Eduardo cuts my grass and Juan does my sprinklers? Will my former colleagues at Parish Outreach be jailed because they collect and distribute food for the poor immigrants in our community? Will the pastor of St Brigids go to jail because there is a Hatian Mass, an Italian Mass and a Spanish one on Sundays? Is he aiding and abetting criminals? Will the Feds be checking green cards outside the church?

"Nobody is going to be going to churches locking people up," Peter King said. "If they are facilitating immigrants coming into the country illegally, that's another thing."

What does he mean by "facilitating"? You know how those neocons have been changing the meaning of words. It's no wonder that people have little faith in what law makers say.

Church and immigrant groups call the bill the harshest piece of anti-immigrant legislation in 70 years. Supporters say it would help bring under control a situation of anarchy at the border that has swelled the number of undocumented immigrants in the country to 11 million, including an estimated 100,000 on Long Island.

King said the bill is unlikely to be passed in its present form by the Senate, which he expected to add provisions for a guest-worker program granting temporary visas mainly to low-skilled workers. However, he did say "a significant portion of it has to become law otherwise no immigration reform bill will pass the House."

This is something I will be keeping my eyes on. Something is very fishy about it.

Mel Gibson: Crackpot

After watching his holy snuff flick, The Passion of the Christ, I realized that Gibson's one of those christian blood cult members. Nevertheless, The Lippard Blog, has some interesting quotes from a playboy interview with Melvin who proves that he isn't very bright at all... and isn't afraid of letting the world know... somewhat like Tom Cruise, another actor I can't take.

Excerpts of the excerpts at Lippard Blog:

PLAYBOY: So you can't accept that we descended from monkeys and apes?
GIBSON: No, I think it's bullshit. If it isn't, why are they still around? How come apes aren't people yet?

Bwahahahahaha. Guess he was too busy looking in the mirror instead of actually paying attention in science class. Or maybe he ought to watch the Discovery Channel.

Oh and he's so broad minded too. Not.

PLAYBOY: What about allowing women to be priests?
GIBSON: No.
PLAYBOY: Why not?
GIBSON: I'll get kicked around for saying it, but men and women are just different. They're not equal. The same way that you and I are not equal.
PLAYBOY: That's true. You have more money.
GIBSON: You might be more intelligent, or you might have a bigger dick. Whatever it is, nobody's equal...

Oh yes, the dick plays a huge part in equality issues.... dickhead.

On Clinton:

PLAYBOY: He was just 18 then.
GIBSON: Somebody knew then that he would be president now.
PLAYBOY: You really believe that?
GIBSON: I really believe that. He was a Rhodes scholar, right? Just like Bob Hawke. Do you know what a Rhodes scholar is? Cecil Rhodes established the Rhodes scholarship for those young men and women who want to strive for a new world order. Have you heard that before? George Bush? CIA? Really, it's Marxism, but it just doesn't want to call itself that. Karl had the right idea, but he was too forward about saying what it was. Get power but don't admit to it. Do it by stealth. There's a whole trend of Rhodes scholars who will be politicians around the world.

Oh Gibson's just jealous because he is so ignorant.
I have to get my hands on that issue of playboy to see the whole interview. I hear it's a doozy.

Cutting to the Chase

Here are the last two paragraphs of an excellent post today by John Dean (Findlaw's Writ):

"Bush's unauthorized surveillance, in particular, seems very likely to be ineffective. According to experts with whom I have spoken, Bush's approach is like hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack. As sophisticated as NSA's data mining equipment may be, it cannot, for example, crack codes it does not recognize. So the terrorist communicating in code may escape detection, even if data mining does reach him.

"In short, Bush is hoping to get lucky. Such a gamble seems a slim pretext for acting in such blatant violation of Congress' law. In acting here without Congressional approval, Bush has underlined that his Presidency is unchecked - in his and his attorneys' view, utterly beyond the law. Now that he has turned the truly awesome powers of the NSA on Americans, what asserted powers will Bush use next? And when - if ever - will we - and Congress -- discover that he is using them?"

Stood up by his Mandate

Remember after the election when bush boasted of his “mandate”. He had his pockets full of political capital and he and his mandate were going to party hardy. He would swoosh his mandate off his feet as they feasted on Social Security reform and danced to the music of victory in Iraq.

They would trip the light fantastic over the bodies of dead soldiers and avoid the smatters of human blood. They would sneer at the Left while they waved and blew kisses to the religious right. They were even going to let more money flutter down to big corporations and they would do it with their abundance of political capital. Oh what a time they would have. They were a couple made in heaven, this george fellow and his new “mandate”.

While bush bragged about his mandate and his political capital, something went wrong. While he was prepping and preening he was interrupted by some visitors. There was Terri Schiavo, Cindy Sheehan, Katrina, Harriet, Brownie and a few others. He tried to push them out because they would mess up the place. How could he entertain his mandate with these women in his house? They did not fit into his plan. He must do something with them. He insisted they leave, but they just wouldn’t go away. Finally, in desperation he shoved them in the closet and slammed the door. He tried to do away with all traces of them. Then he waited for the big moment. He waited and waited for his Mr. Right to come a-calling. Weeks and months went by but his doorbell did not ring. He had been stood up by his idolized mandate and all he had left was a closet filled with people and events he did not want. He tried to blame those in the closet for causing his mandate to stand him up. Had it not been for them he thought, he would now be happily in the arms of his mandate. It’s not his fault, it was their fault. Because of them he lost his chance to have what he thought he clearly deserved.

What he failed to realize was that the mandate had never been anything but a figment of his imagination. But, those in the closet were real and had he dealt with them with respect, knowledge, humility and a sense of reality, he might very well have been able to receive that mandate he was expecting.

Inept Clowns fall from High Wire

Just about every day we read or hear more about elected Republican politicians and some sort of corruption. Either they have broken the law outright or they are in deep legal doo doo. It’s like watching an inept bunch of dangerous circus clowns on a high wire. Are they so pompous that they think they can get away with what they’ve been doing? Or are they just stupid? When you analyze what they have been up to, it seems they are both. They are pompous enough to climb up to the high wire and stupid enough to think they could stay there.

Don’t worry; they won’t get away with it. Our justice system is neither stupid nor is it corrupt. Sure there is a bit-o-bias in every court room, but there is also a bit-o-Constitution hanging in there too. Case in point - Terri Schiavo. No matter how loud and bleating the legal requests were, the court remained sane. Common sense prevailed and so did the law. Of course I don’t believe that those who sponsored the protestations gave a damn about that woman or her life. They were simply playing a part hoping to keep the freaks at their side show until the next elections.

I remember back when President Clinton was in all his trouble. A lady called in to C-span and she was wailing about the disgrace that President Clinton had brought to the oval office. After her bitching and moaning she said, “How do I explain to my five year old what the president has done?” Of course you’re thinking what I thought that morning, how many children at the age of five know squat about politics or even that the president exists. If the mother felt she had to explain anything to her child, she might just say that the president did something wrong. Kids that age don’t usually expect, want, understand or care a lot about details. That’s why kids’ books have few words and lots of pictures.

I think about that lady frequently as all the Republicans scandals come popping up. Wonder how she’s explaining all this to her now ten year old kid? How does she go about telling her little intellect that the new president is listening in to mommy and daddy’s phone calls? How does she explain that soldiers are dying every day because this president lied and took our country to a war that never should have been? How does she explain Abramoff’s and Frist’s and Delay’s and Libby’s criminal activities? Maybe she’ll just say that they are dangerous, pompous, stupid, inept circus clowns on a high wire and now they’re falling down. I think even a ten year old could comprehend that sort of thing.

A New Christian NBC Series

The American Family Association is urging members to write to NBC at once because a new series, "The Book of Daniel" is written by a practicing homosexual, there will be a homosexual as a regular in the series and what's more the whole family of the Episcopal priest is dysfunctional.

"The main character is Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest whose wife depends heavily on her mid-day martinis.

Webster regularly sees and talks with a very unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus. The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-year-old daughter who is a drug dealer, and a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop's daughter.

At the office, his lesbian secretary is sleeping with his sister-in-law."

Why it sounds downright HBO-ish! The horror. I don't get the homosexual republican though.

I have a better idea for a Christian NBC show:

Premise: An Episcopal priest with a lovely wife and 3 adorable children reside in a parish in a wealthy NYC suburb. Every day the family gathers together to thank God and praise him for all the blessings he has bestowed on them and their parishioners.

In one episode, little Mary is almost late for Mass. Dad gives her a stern look as she sits out of breath as the service begins. Later on, she explains how she helped a homeless kitten out of tree and that's why she was late. The whole family laughs and hugs little Mary. Another disaster is averted.

Makes for compelling television doesn't it?

In another episode, the priest councils a young gay man and convinces him to let go of the path he is on. The young man marries the girl next door and they live happily ever after.

The following week, the priest asks parishioners to bring canned goods for the poor. They do. The poor people in a neighboring town are grateful. The parishioners meet at the golf club for cocktails on the patio and talk about how good they feel for giving.

In a special Easter episode, the parishioners are concerned because the stock market took a plunge earlier in the week. A sermon about riding out the storm lifts the spirits of the parishioners who are afraid they will be wiped out and might have to move to a neighboring town. They begin to pray much harder and miraculously the market swings upward on Holy Thursday.

Concerned that some of the parishioners may be abusing their martinis, the priest preaches the importance of moderation and suggests that the flock limit their martini time each day to the hours between 5-7PM. Several parishioners heed the advice and their children's grades go up.

I just described the neighborhood where I lived with my parents. Real exciting eh? Oh lots of good stuff happened behind closed doors, but no one would want to see that on the tele, would they?

NSA Web Site Spies On You

NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' on Computers

The NSA claims it made a mistake when it was discovered that cookies (files placed on a visitors computer to track their activity) from the NSA website didn't expire until 2035.

"Don Weber, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. Normally, the site uses temporary, permissible cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, he said, but the software in use shipped with persistent cookies already on.

"After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," he said."

Since the NSA has been caught illegally spying on people recently. I hardly believe that the cookies are inadvertant.

"In a 2003 memo, the White House's Office of Management and Budget prohibits federal agencies from using persistent cookies — those that aren't automatically deleted right away — unless there is a "compelling need.""

Ah, jebus, everything is "compelling" with this White House gang.

Iron Hymen or Abstinence

Words of Wisdom From Our First Lady:

"Take it from me ladies---this is no good reason to rush into S-E-X. That's why I pray you choose abstinence, so you need never know the heartbreak of being trapped in a loveless marriage just because you drank too many margaritas one night and gave up your honey pot to a pushy young cokehead from a so -called 'good family."

Porn Star?

Ever fantasize about becoming a porn star? Probably not, but come on and play the game.

If you did become a porn star, what would your screen name be?

You can get your very own porn star name here: (Blogthings).


I will henceforth be known as “Jenny Jiggles”.

traditional texas

Crime Stoppers of Houston is paying $5000 in cash for the arrest and convictions of area people who fire their guns into the air on New Year's Day. At the stroke of midnight, Houstonians and other Texans fire their guns into the air to celebrate that living in Houston did not kill them last year. Unfortunately this festive outburst of joy kills other people as what bullets go up, must come down through roofs, into people sometimes miles from the gunfire.

One woman told local reporters on camera on the noon broadcast today that she knew it was wrong to do it but it was her family's tradition so that is what they do on New Year's Eve.

Another fine tradition in Texas is raising sports playing sons to believe that they can have whatever they want. They get passing grades to stay eligible to play sports. They are celebrated as demi-gods. Middle school and high school are organized training grounds, supported by tax payer dollars, to raise athletes.

Women are encouraged to give their all for these young men. Drill teams and cheerleaders dress provocatively on Friday for pep rallies where they dance, in contagion, identical and interchangeable, in anorexic and bulimic bodies, costumed and coiffed to resemble each other, in short skirts, barely covering their butts, in frilly satin and silk underpants, kicking their legs high over their heads. (Think of that Viagra commercial where the man throws the football through the tire swing to the cheers and joy of his faithful female companion.) They don't hold these enthusiastic rituals for the girl's volleyball team or the honor roll. Homecoming dances and dinners and Homecoming Queens and Courts where the message is clear, be young, celebrate our harvest and fertility, pair up or die and wither alone.

Young men are taught that all women, after all they are interchangeable, are available for sport. And women are taught that they must be desirable and displayed. Two young men in the football capital of Texas, Midland-Odessa, home of George W. Bush, are charged with raping a classmate. What is so surprising about this sad affair is that it was reported, the charges were seriously considered and the young men were charged with sexual assault. The newspaper accounts celebrated the young man's football prowess and that the young man was "committed" to Texas A&M University. No, it wasn't for his mental health but he was "committed" to playing football for A&M. This of course makes his arrest a tragedy.

The young woman was, according to the young man's attorney, drinking and had an alcohol related traffic accident that day. He is trying the "she was drunk, she wanted it," defense on the potential jury pool. The thing is, drunk people cannot consent to sexual intercourse. He is also saying that the police department is motivated by their desire for notoriety. Really? I didn't realize they needed a career boost.

One of the young man's mothers commented that her son was innocent of the rape that allegedly took place in her home. She did not comment on the young woman's rape kit or the photographs taken of her bruises. Her parents did not comment on the charges they helped their daughter file against the two young men.

The Economy Is Doing Very Well, NOT!

Don't let the people whose job it is to make Chimp Boy look good convince you things are going well.

http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/pm110

2 questions

1. Why has an RTA company car (Regional Transit Authority of New Orleans) been "living" north of St. Francisville, LA ever since the day before Katrina? Did the RTA authorize their officers/executives to commandeer publicly-owned vehicles for personal evacuations? An NOPD wuss pulled that stunt --- and went AWOL to Mississippi, then Baton Rouge, in an NOPD car, and now he's fired and probably going to jail. What's the administrative difference here?

2. Why is a company with the magnetic signs reading, "Gulf Coast Rebuilding, Inc." parking their "company truck" at a local seafood/game-processing business, bringing in freshly-killed deer to be dressed/butchered, when they're on FEMA time?

Oh, and here's your Puking Blood From Disgust Moment:

Gray Line Tours is now offering tours, at $35 bucks a pop, to pass through the Uptown and Lakeview areas that were affected by Katrina. They won't be viewing the devastation of the Lower 9th Ward, of course, because that's too "sensitive." In other words, it's only "tragic" if rich white people lose PROPERTY, but not if poor black people lose LIVES.

An Empty House and a Full Heart

Hang on with me now, this is going to be difficult. I’m going to tell you about the house I can see when I look out my window. There’s a “For Sale” sign in the yard that popped up sometime this weekend. That house belongs to Mr. Pop and me. It was our first home and we were its first occupants. We moved out of that house when we had more stuff than room. We had an opportunity to purchase a larger house, the one we live in now, and we took it. We moved across the street and for about six years the other house has been a rental house. When our last tenants moved out we decided that we no longer wanted the headaches of being landlords, plus with the housing market the way it is here, selling the house now is the wisest thing to do. With that all said, I’m taking you over there and we’ll see what memories are still lurking in those empty rooms.

Opening the front door, I see the vision of Mr. Pop and me the first time we walked in that door and the pride we felt as we entered our very first home together. We were human smiling machines and we were stuck on grin.

I see the blinds there at the glass doors. Those are the ones that our little dog, Shaky, decided to chew on one night. We got them repaired later.

As I look out on the patio I see Mom cat and her little kittens she gave birth to right there in a little box that I had decorated for her for the occasion. I see those little kittens all snuggled up with their brand new momma cat. I see them there and I see them when they were old enough to scamper around and get into all kinds of trouble. We kept Mom Cat, Claire and Grimley and gave the other two to a friend.

When I look back into the living room, I see the Christmas tree the year that we were hunting for Grimley and found her curled up among the presents. The memory is fresh even though it’s years and years old.

In the dining room I see the table all set and ready for Christmas dinner to be served. That was the year that Mr. Pop became ill just before dinner. I had prepared enough food to feed an army and no one to feed but me. In a sort of Christmas pity I opened a gift bottle of wine and drank it. Not my proudest moment.

Oh, there are just so many memories in this house and outside it too. In the back yard I see all the plants that we lovingly placed there so many years ago. My how they have grown. I’m pretty sure they still remember me. They watched me when I cried and they watched Mr. Pop and I admire their beauty as we cared for them. The two big oaks in the front yard were barely seedlings when we planted them. The palm we planted in hopes of one day being able to hook a hammock to it is finally big enough to fulfill that purpose.

Now the hardest part, going to the little fenced in area of the yard. You see that was our little pet cemetery. That’s where almost all of them are now. Some were pets and some were strays that we cared for as much as they would allow. Each time we had to bury one of them, we planted a plant on its grave. The cemetery is a garden. I have to leave them now for the last time so it’s important to me that I place their memories safely and deeply inside my heart. That’s the part I get to keep forever.

See? That’s why I had to do this. I had to go back over there one more time and pluck my memories from their special places. I had to take what was mine. I had to remember all the happy times and the sad times. I had to recall each animal that now resides beneath the garden. I had to retrieve their memories. A lot of my life was there.

To anyone else the house would appear to be empty and now it officially is, because I have a very full heart stuffed with memories. I think I got them every one. I tried to find as many as I could. And yes, I sure have cried. Sometimes it’s just so damned hard to let go, say goodbye and walk away from a part of your life, even if you get to take with you a heart stuffed full with memories.

odd news

Oh my, the famous Nun Bun, a cinnamon bun that looks like Mother Teresa was stolen on Christmas day from a coffeehouse in Nashville. Tourists from all over the world patronized the Bongo Java Coffee Shop.




Darwin's rolling over in his grave: Speaking of religious fanatics and the drawback to living in a supposed democracy is that complete idiots who are breeding at a rapid pace are free to elect their own kind. A war against evolution is being waged in order to promote unintelligent design without exactly calling it that. We need more science teachers in this country.

Extra Virgin? A Catholic magazine inadvertenly ran an ad for a statue of the virgin Mary wearing a veil of a latex condom. It apparently slipped by the editors who are Catholic priests and don't know what a condom looks like! Now that's funny.

The right wing bloggers are being paid to spew lies.

Imagine that? This is a must read from Jane at Firedoglake.

Meanwhile our leader is pressing newspaper editors to kill stories about secret prisons and domestic spying in the name of "national security".

What have we learned from all this?

From Fascism Anyone:

• 6. A controlled mass media. Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.
• 7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

UPDATE: I just found this item in WaPo:
Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War
U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage

Not only did the US pay Iraqi TV stations to air favorable news about the US' bombing the shit out of Iraq, a Marine officer in Iraq recruited a blogger to go there and write the good stuff that was coming out of Iraq.

Bizzaro Christmas Eve

A young man who works/worked for the husband at the car dealer dropped by on Christmas Eve to pick up toys for homeless children. Danny is in the Army Reserves and was part of the invasion of Iraq back in '03. Luckily he made it home safely and in one piece. I found out on Saturday that his mother didn't even know he went to Iraq. He told his mom that he was away at school.

Danny will be telling her that he is going away to school again for 19 months as he's been deployed again to Iraq starting in February. Of course this distressed the hell out of me. I immediately went into crazy woman mode over the illegal war. Danny didn't want to hear it though. I was also particularly pissed at the Ford dealer for laying him off the day before Christmas Eve, the fucking bastards. But they aren't selling cars due to the boycotts by the religious, the gays and the environmentalists. How does a young person get a fucking break in this country?

I told him that I could get him hooked up with an underground railroad to Canada, but he told me that it's a job and it pays well. He wants to go. I asked how much it pays and he told me $3,500/month. I told him that was ridiculous to be willing to risk his life for that pissy amount of money... not that I can imagine any amount of money that would motivate me to go to Iraq. Danny remained calm despite my ranting and questioning him about how it felt to go into people's houses and search them disrupting their lives. He shrugged. It's a job.

My 20 year old son witnessed this, smirking at my typical 'Liz-ness' as he calls it. I never asked my son what he thought of fighting in this war. I never gave him the chance to tell me anything because I informed him that I would get him out of the country before I would allow him to be a part of bombing the hell out another country. On the other hand, if our country was invaded and being bombed, you can bet your ass that I would be an insurgent who set bombs on the side of the road and would have the whole family involved. Oh I certainly do believe in fighting to defend my country. I don't believe anyone is defending my freedom by killing Iraqi's. But I digress.

Danny's girlfriend who also worked for the same car dealer was also laid off right before Christmas. She happens to be pregnant and they will be married before he's deployed. He needs to get her on his benefits as she lost hers.

He told me that her parents are mad about her situation and her mom told her that she won't be able to help her out because the other daughter is pregnant with twins and so her welfare comes first. She hasn't met his parents and he hasn't met hers. oy vay. Her parents are from Italy and his from China. Can you imagine what a cool exotic child they are going to have?

His visit left me rather perturbed to say the least, but I had a rib roast in the oven to worry about and my guests would soon be arriving. Now that the Christmas weekend is over, I have time to reflect on all this bullshit for an hour or so as I have to get off the computer and clean up the house for the son's girlfriend from Arizona who will be arriving at LaGuardia later on (if the fog lets up). I have to put on my pretend happy face again. Ho Ho Ho!

Anything interesting happen over your Holiday weekend?

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Before I forget, it was bitter sweet to see the FEMA trailers decorated for Christmas in Katrina ravaged Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. And these before and after pictures of this town are mind blowing. The human spirit is just amazing.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"...our governments are composed of individuals who seek office NOT to serve the people - even if they give lip service to that idea - but for money and power. If the "payoff" of money and power were removed from the sphere of government, if our elected officials were required to "post the number of patients who had died" above their doors, and were only paid if they were successful in solving the problems of the public sector, you can be sure that there would be a mad rush by many of them to get out of government, and the field would be left to those who were really capable of solving our problems." -- Laura Knight-Jadczyk

what would Einstein teach?

"How could this happen?" Ms. [Jennie Mae] Brown asked Representative Gibson C. Armstrong two summers ago, complaining about a physics professor at the York campus of Pennsylvania State University who she said routinely used class time to belittle President Bush and the war in Iraq. As an Air Force veteran, Ms. Brown said she felt the teacher's comments were inappropriate for the classroom.

The encounter has blossomed into an official legislative inquiry, putting Pennsylvania in the middle of a national debate spurred by conservatives over whether public universities are promoting largely liberal positions and discriminating against students who disagree with them. New York Times

At first blush, you too may think, "well, what does a physics professor know about politics? He should keep his opinions to himself and teach science."

We don't actually know what Ms. Brown's professor said or didn't say in his physics classroom. We don't know if this is a publicity stunt, and it certainly has the feel of it. We don't know if the photogenic, patriotic, wholesome Ms. Brown, not a typical co-ed, is the latest useful soldier in the culture wars for David Horowitz, a professional busy body and president of his self styled Center for the Study of Popular Culture. Mr. Horowitz, not found in headlines as a liberal, has shed his early political ideology to get his name in the papers and no doubt raise money for his flavor of the week cause. He has taken a break from studying popular culture and made a foray into lobbying state legislatures, the political repositories of intellectual capital in our intellectually giant nation, and evidently a way of getting into BlondeSense and the New York Times.

But let's say, and why not, that Ms. Brown's professor, unidentified in the New York Times, but perhaps was one of the many professors listed in the campus website, did indeed say something untoward about Mr. Bush and Mr. Bush's war. Since Mr. Bush has injected himself into the American classroom discussing intelligent design and ignoring the theory of evolution, it isn't beyond the scope of a college physics classroom to illustrate that perhaps Mr. Bush should leave the teaching of science to the science teachers and conduct his experiments in social and political engineering in Iraq. Not that he doesn't need the help of rocket scientists to do that. And he certainly got the help of physics experts when it came to the development of weapon systems. One of the reasons college campuses erupted in the 1960s was college and university support and development of weapons, chemicals, and ever increasingly efficient methods of killing large numbers of men, women, and children. The Establishment of which colleges and universities certainly are, don't really want eruptions. It cuts into their fundraising.

What of German physics teachers who were required to inject the tenets of national socialism in their classrooms? And when they refused to teach only German ideas, college students ran professors off campuses and burned libraries. What of the Russian mathematicians who were required to teach Stalinist algorithms for the creation of the new Soviet Man? Their personal mail was opened and they were imprisoned for criticizing Stalin in it. It isn't wrong for secondary teachers like Aleskandr Solzhenitsyn or university professors like Albert Einstein to criticize their nation's leaders. An educated populace demands it.

Ms. Brown and Mr. Horowitz are injecting political correctness into the classroom by criticizing professors. They want academic freedom for students while they would deny it to professors. I am sure the Penn State physics professor did not ask Ms. Brown about the political correctness of her views about Bush or the war on his final exam. He asked her about physics.

My own students complained to a local radio talk show host about their assignment to use New York Times accounts of the perception that there was something rotten in the Florida presidential election in 2000 and write about what makes some people believe the election was stolen. The radio host had listeners call the community college, a place not unlike the Texas Legislature, and complain about me. My supervisors wrung their hands and asked to see my assignment, never realizing that academic freedom means never having to question a veteran teacher's assignments. I should have known that academic exploration is impossible at the community college level. In my teaching career I had already gotten reprimanded for telling my favorite political quote to a class. I was discussing our state's reluctance to fund bilingual education and recalled that our first female governor, Miriam Ferguson, commented that Texas school children didn't need bilingual education because the English language is good enough for Jesus Christ and therefore good enough for the school children of Texas. My academic dean told me not to challenge students' myths. I am not sure which myth he wanted to preserve, the one that our political leaders have sense or that Jesus Christ spoke red-lettered English. [An administrator of that particular junior college came by my office while I was hanging a photo of JFK and Jackie campaigning in a New York tickertape parade. He commented, "We were so relieved when he was killed."]

The myths that conservatives want to preserve--that Bush has sense, our political leaders know best, that college is full of crazy, academic anarchists with funny ideas about human nature, the natural world, and the really dangerous stuff like, civil rights, worker rights, sexual, political, and economic freedom-- are the myths the world, according to The Establishment, would be better off ignoring. We don't need no trouble making religious leaders, college professors, Christmas hating Jews, uppity Negros out of New Orleans or wild college students thinking about not supporting the war their students loans were cut to pay for. We certainly don't need any blonde co-eds thinking for themselves and questioning military service which funds her education. We can't ignore Mr. Horowitz. He is not just studying the political culture but is acting upon it.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah
And Whatever Else You Celebrate

With Love From The Blondesense Bloggers
Liz, Patricia, Vicki, Jaye, Joanna and Peter

What If?

What if you could create your own reality? Deliberately and on purpose.
What would that be like?
Is it possible we do?

And The Lawd Said, "That Is Not-Yo-Cheese"

Come on. Put aside your glue guns, your cookie dough, your glitter pens, and your felt scaps.
Do not think of the cards you have not sent, the goodies you have not baked, gifts you have not wrapped. I offer you a strong coctail and absolution:

You are only one person. You cannot do it all. So drink up and be merry and remember, there is always next year.

Breaking News!!!

Some restaurant in Florida was cleaning out the nacho warming pan and looked in the pan and THERE WAS JESUS! Right there in the nacho pan.

That Jesus. He pops up in the strangest places.
Must be the war on Christmas. He had to go underground/under pan. Dose this mean Jesus is cheesy?

He was etched in the underneath warming pan. The one that holds the water.
Walk on water, hold water, water to wine, wine to nachos, nachos to tequila. JESUS LIKES TEQUILA!

What a friend we have in nacho cheeses.

Jesus loves cheese, this I know.

Jesus loves the little cheeses,
all the little cheeses of the world
Swiss and gouda, cheddar, jack
all are yummy as a snack
Jesus loves the little cheeses of the world.

So pull that reindeer out your azz and have some Tequila and nachos!

Apparently Not Everyone Thinks We're The Good Guys:

"Italy issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team"

MILAN (Reuters)- "A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.

"Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

"Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.

"A European Union warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require approval of any government.

"The warrant was agreed by the European Union in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and was hailed as a key part of the bloc's fight against terrorism.

"Spataro told Reuters he had also asked Interpol to try to detain the suspects anywhere in the world.

"Earlier this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not believe CIA agents had kidnapped Nasr, but added that governments were not going to defeat terrorism by playing by the rules.

"Justice officials believe Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is still in custody in Egypt. Italian investigators have accused him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq, and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.

"There has been a series of investigations into whether U.S. intelligence officials used Europe as a hub to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation.

"The U.S. embassy in Rome was not immediately available for comment."

Presidential Holiday Message

excerpts:

I hope you all have a happy holiday. This has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world, and a prosperous America... blah blah blah... Our economy is strong and getting stronger... blah blah blah... It's been a good year for the American people. We've got a lot of work to do... blah blah blah...blah blah blah...we're still under threat, there's still an enemy that wants to harm us... blah blah blah... Anyway, I hope you all have a great holiday. Thank you very much...

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Ann Coulter's Holiday Message:
"[T]he government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo"

WORST. XMAS. EVER.

Okay, here's the poll of the day, just to get all of the angst and anxiety out before The "Big Day", when excavating those feelings are much more likely to have y'all on the roof of the house with a high-powered rifle, making up for all of the inequities of your childhoods/ongoing relationships with relatives/in-laws.

(Consider it my public service moment for the holidays.)

My worst?

Well, believe it or not, it wasn't entirely purposefully inflicted by my "family," although it was their fault (these people should not run ANYTHING, let alone their own business ventures).

"We" went bankrupt, lost the house, the car, everything. Got the eviction notice on my 17th birthday, nailed to the front door of the house.

So, in my senior year of high school (which was never a thrill for me anyway), I was moving-in with my grandmother (definitely a move UP) and trying to deal with my fuckwad parents.

I got a six-dollar hair dryer from the Dollar General Store and a block of commodity cheese.

I shit you not.

And the fireworks that year (as in most) had nothing to do with Chinese gunpowder.

Okay, y'all's turn!

C'mon, dig deep, dredge up all of the horrors, use BlondeSense for instamatic group therapy, and we'll all deal with our relatives with a little less bloodshed.

Keeping in mind, of course, that if said dredging/catharsis should RESULT in actual bloodshed, neither this author nor the operators of BlondeSense are liable for damages, real or imagined or psychological, that should ensue.

This is for shits & giggles, folks, not to ramp y'all up for a mass-murder in a shopping mall, as entertaining a concept as that may be.

So get off yer asses and dig out the worst xmas memories ever, and explain to the world why these fake "holidays" really suck.

And for all of y'all who want to flog me with holly branches for dumping on your precious holiday, just remember that the overweening arrogance of christians (especially at this time of year) is enough to set me off on a multi-state rampage. Don't assume that just because YOU "live" for all of this man-made manipulative marketing HORSESHIT, that the rest of us should be falling in line and worshipping at the same plastic creche.

So NYEH.

I read the news today oh boy

Congress has been working overtime. Good. Unfortunately they renewed the Patriot Act for another 6 months. So I guess we won't be attacked here in NY over the holidays. On the other hand, there won't be arctic drilling.

Speaking of NY, we are still having a mass transit strike. It's taking a drastic toll on businesses.

Saddam claimed that the US tortured him. The US denies it. Of course he is lying because we don't torture. duh.

Hey let's move to Canada. They are going to allow group sex at swinger's clubs.

Go over to MSNBC and place your vote. Should the preznit be impeached? So far, it's overwhelming so.

Tie breaking Cheney says a big, "merry fuck you" to Medicare, Medicaid, Student Loans, Food Stamps, etc in order to compensate for millionaires tax cuts.
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Predictions for 2006

Okay let’s hear what you think. What will the year 2006 bring?

Indictments? Impeachments? Weather? (If you predict my house will be hit by a hurricane in 2006, I’m reporting you to Santa Claus and suggesting he bring you a giant lump of coal.)

So what do you believe we might expect to happen next year? This time next year we’ll look back and see how you did.

SELLOUT

Well, the Fake Economy (that the republicunts like to proclaim as "booming") has just taken another casualty.

Remember Nora Dunn? She was the "uber-feminist" who walked out when "Saturday Night Live" hired Andrew "Dice" Clay (Silverstein) as host, back in the day.

Well, now she's doing bit parts on "STACKED."

Yes, that one. The one starring Pamela Anderson (nee' Lee)'s latest set of implants, Elon Gold and Christopher Lloyd.

Nora plays a horny middle-aged woman (professor) who flashes her tits (and the tattoo thereupon) in pursuit of Elon's character, when he's trying to fix her up with Christopher Lloyd's character.

NOW, I know that some of y'all will automatically chirrup, "Well, yaaaayyy for her, let her get her freak on!" --- but keep in mind that this is the woman who found Dice to be "repugnant" and beneath her presence on the stage.

My, how time flies when the bills are overdue... Or maybe she didn't really need the money, she's just bought-into the new society, where Tits & Ass count for five million times more than a spine and a brain.

(And yes, I've got more of these Pissed-Off Feminist things warming on the back burner, this was just your warning shot.)

P.S.: Read that Rotten.com link about Silverstein --- well-written analysis, and yes, there's a Bill Hicks payoff in there.

A Christmas Love Letter

This is my letter to everyone and everything that makes love possible for me in my world and maybe yours too.


Once upon a time I wrote an essay for the internet. After it was published, I received an email basically telling me to calm down and pay more attention to the subject of my writing. My first inclination was to smack down that email with a firm blow to the “delete” key. Thank goodness I had a second inclination and instead I clicked “reply”. Rather than verbally blistering the sender, I thanked him for his advice. Thus the beginning of one of my dearest friendships with a person I have never seen or heard. That friendship is everything that magic has to offer. Just about a year ago this dear friend suffered an illness. The impact of that illness did not allow him to correspond with me this entire year...until last Friday. He’s back. He’s online again and don’t even think about telling me I’m not one of the luckiest people on earth. I have my friend back! He’s the most treasured friend I have ever had and I love what he has added to my life.

My little dog, Murphy, went to the groomer yesterday to get his Christmas hairdo. This morning he was a vision of white soft doggie fur. He was all curled up on the bed and snuggled in for a peaceful morning nap. My love for him is unavoidable.

Yesterday I told you of my love and affection for the person you guys know as Mr. Pop. That’s the ultimate love.

Thank goodness there are lots of different kinds of love and thank goodness I have been fortunate enough to experience so many of them. If it finds its way into my heart, I call it love.

This aura of the holidays is so pretty. The way it makes you feel insignificant but in the best sort of way. It’s so much larger than any of us, but it’s better if you’re a part of it. It’s the time when you take stock of who you are and where you are. You have the option of allowing your emotions to flow happily and freely along with the tide of the season. If you shed a few tears it’s okay. This time of year just about all emotions are acceptable. You almost have to cry once the season’s spirit has wrapped its arms around you and snuggled you close. Inside the folds of the season there is nothing frightening, nothing but sweetness and love. Meanwhile much of the world is ugly and mean, but for just a little while, it’s okay to ignore it. It’ll still be there waiting anytime you want to visit, but for right now let’s not.

Let’s just take a little timeout here and concentrate on this moment, this fleeting joy that’s within arm’s reach of our hearts. Please don’t let it get away from you. You don’t want to miss this opportunity. Just allow it to happen. It will you know. Shoot, I don’t want to experience this alone.

That’s why I’m writing you this love letter and inviting you to walk down this path with me. You see, as I’ve shared these Christmas stories with you, you have become the characters in one more Christmas story. That Christmas story will describe these wonderful people who have allowed me to share myself with them. I opened up my memories and laid them before you. Thank you for treating them so gently. What a lovely story you have given me. I love you for that.

Merry Dickinson

Poet Emily Dickinson born a 175 years ago this month in Amherst Massachusetts lived her 55 years quietly. She never held a job, never married and never traveled far from her Washington, D.C. home.

By her 30s, Dickinson had begun the habit of her later years declining social invitations, preferring to spend most of her hours writing letters and tending her family's needs. Dickinson's eventual seclusion, her sister once remarked, was gradual---just happened. When the poet died in 1886 her death certificate listed her occupation as, "at home."

One the surface, Dickinson's life was uneventful----"too simple and stern to embarrass any," she once remarked. She published 10 peoms in her lifetime. All anonymously.

But Dickinson's interior life---the life of her mind---was extraordinary. When reams upon reams of poems were discoverd after her death, the true nature of her seemingly modest life revealed itself.

While the outward events of Dickinson's life were inarguably small and circumscribed, her imagination was volcanic. Her imaginative world---what the poet called her "undiscovered continent," was a place as thrilling, terrifying and tangible as any spot on earth.

Dickinson, 175 years after her death, continues to astonish us. Amtrak conductors coming into Amherst station in New York City frequently recite a poem as they near Dickinson's Homestead just a block from the tracks. An anonymous admirer from who-knows-where sent to the Dickinson Museum (as she does every year) 175 roses to mark the years since the poet's birth.

In Bozemon, Mont, elementary students at the Emily Dickinson School spend time in "Emily's Garden," a quite place amoung fir trees where they might read or write or think. Perhaps this month in honor of the poet's birth, a 12-year-old in Bozeman may sit in the garden and read Dickinson's work. Then put down her iPod and stare southeast to the Rockies and consider, like Dickinson, a view of the sky that does not stop.

Blow Jobs--Bad. Illegal WireTapping--Good

Remember six (sex) years ago how important the rule of the law was to the Republicans? How the very fabric which holds our democracy together was in grave and immediate danger of being eradicated by the nefarious President, Bill Clinton? He had lied under oath in a personal matter of sexual indiscretion and only one person was directly affected. That would be Monica Lewinski.

Nonetheless, the GOP told us that if a president breaks the law that potentially undermines the rule of the law itself and since we are a nation of laws, that was an offense that was simply inexcusable! The only answer that would resolve president Bill Cinton's egregious violation, Impeachment. Somebody remind me what we spent on that fiasco.

Fast forward six years. The president has violated the law by lying to Congress to start a war and revealed this week that he personally authorized the illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens and has been doing so for years. The law is clear. The president does not have the authority to do so without judicial oversight.

Yet there he is, our defiant would-be-King holding a media blitz to assure the coutnry that he did indeed have the legal right to violate the law offering us lame excuses about how the process of obtaining warrants is somehow cumbersome and in this fast-paced world of terrorism, well, the War Lord ain't gonna wait for no damn warrants! This is not only false, it is ludicrous.

The Foreign Intelligent Security Act (FISA) acturally allows the goverment to start a tap as soon as they deem it necessary and allows them 72 hours to retroactiviely prove to the court the need for it. Plus, the goverment officials are able to get the emergency warrants from the secret court set up (FISA) within hours, if not minutes. From 1970 through 2002 there were 15, 264 surveillance warrants issued by the FISA court. Clearly this process is quite favorable to the government seeking wiretaps and is not "slow."

Further supporting this is the amount of surveillance warrants which were rejected during that same 23 year period, ZERO. From 2002 until now, only four such requests were denied.

So the Invented Ruler would have us believe the leaking of this illegal activity to the press somethow compromised our national security . This is beyond the red herring, designed to distract the minons attention from the real crime, the wiretapping.

The best defense Rove and Cheney could come up with or muster is that he had legal authority because he has "sworn to protect American citizens" therefore he can violate any law by simply say he is doing so to protect the people. Yea, right. This is ridiculous. I think we are all aware of who he is trying to protect.

Bush used the word "understand" 25 times in his nearly hour-long new conferece, trying to convey that the Amerkan people need to understand that his breaking of the law was in their best interest. At the end of the day however, we do understand Mr. President. We understand you broke the law.

These Guys Are Scary

Bush, Chertoff and Gonzalez have been on television this morning threatening that America will no longer be safe as of Jan 1st, if the senate doesn't pass the Patriot Act. They claim that the tools they have been using for decades are at risk. Decades? Perhaps we ought to stay inside on New Years Day. What exactly is going on? Who really is the enemy?

Snoopgate: Latest News

Today's the shortest day of the year so I'll make this quick.

NYTimes: Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
The requirement for wire tapping is that one end of the intercepted conversation should take place on foreign soil. But did it?

WaPo: Spy Court Judge Quits in Protest
Federal judge resigned and privately expressed concern about the legality of bush's secret wiretaps.

Conyers wants Bush and Cheney censured.
See also his website: www.censurebush.org

Ho Ho Holiday Blues

There is less than a week to Holiday(TM).

How are American Christians spending this week of holiday reflection? In addition to spending time in prayerful contemplation of the birth of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, they can also wonder how many more civil rights that his stunt-double, George W. Bush will be stripping from the American people. But they will worry about that later, as they are currently stampeding into stores begging for XBox 360's at $299 or $399, the entire weight of the holiday season resting on whether they get this (or some other equally critical) item. Alas they are all sold out except for the few you can pick up for twice the price on e-Bay just to avoid the threat of junior throwing a Flintstonian, roof-raising tantrum on Holiday(TM) morning that makes you quake like a shepherd or a teenage boy in coital bliss.

Remember the Cabbage Patch Baby scare of Christmas past? My son wasn't quite born yet but it was still a national emergency. When my son was a toddler, I couldn't believe the number of used Cabbage Babies that were given to my son from the toy boxes were cleaned out by my oh-so-sacrificing-friends and relatives. He couldn't have cared less by that time. Obviously the kids who once craved them more than oxygen didn't care about them anymore. I know that my friends lost hair and sleep over the acquisition of said dolls.

When the "Tickle Me Elmo" craze hit, I didn't jump on the bandwagon. I told my son that they were out of stock and he could buy one with his holiday money in January if he wanted to, when there would be plenty of them. Sure enough, he never asked about it again. Mega-commerce dittoes to the PS2's famine one Christmas not too long ago. I gave my son an IOU in a box for one. No biggie. He did in fact take me up on the IOU that time, but no one lost any tooth enamel over it.

Know what? This whole Holiday(TM) thing is a crock. Kids go to school and some kid says he's getting something in particular, then more kids say they are getting it, too. Most of them ask for so much crap that they don't even know what it is that they are asking for. They just know that EVERYONE is going to have BLANK on christmas morning. For them, the important thing is going back to school in the new year and exclaiming that they got one.

Mom and Dad even get caught up in the want (dare I say--need). Mom and Dad have to prove their resourcefulness and Alpha-love by acquiring BLANK even if it means taking out a third or fourth mortgage. And if they have several kids, Creator Being (TM) help them.

The strange part of holiday "wants" is that the gift of the year isn't usually announced until it's almost too late to buy one. Why is that? Because the purveyors of toys are better at inducing guilt than 10 Jewish mothers or the entire Catholic Church. Hint to Fundy-NeoCons: when your kid screams on Sunday morning that you didn't get him BLANK, go ahead and try telling him to, "Remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season." Then try selling him swampland.
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Merry Holiday

And thanks to BLapadat for the edit.

Christmas Magic

Last week I shared some of my experiences of Christmas magic. The magic of having Murphy come into my life and for these many Christmas mornings watching him as he’s torn into his tissue paper wrapped gift and the fun of watching him parade around the Christmas tree with his brand new plush pink pig. The Christmas magic that had to have occurred the year I received that oh so beautiful and idolized Barbie doll. Then there was the Christmas that, with the help of one elementary school teacher, I got to experience a moment of self-perceived stardom, that little beagle puppy and me.

I have no doubt that Christmas magic exists. I have so many offerings of proof. One Christmas the man I had loved since the first time I met him, the only man who really had stolen my heart many years ago, the man who remained in my heart every day of the ten years I was married to someone else, the only man I could have loved so deeply, told me he loved me too. He slipped a ring on my finger to prove it. The Christmas that Mr. Pop asked me to marry him will always be the most magical Christmas of them all.

I’ve told you how my childhood was a little less than Beaver Cleaver’s or any of the other images on TV. It was sometimes a nightmare and other times just so awfully pitiful. There were a lot of things missing, the least of which was money. It was a jumble of lives all mixed up and all broken up. When I look back, the pictures aren’t as pretty as I wish they could be. There appear to be more tears than smiles, more sadness and loneliness than happiness and joy. But that was then.

Today my life is the other side of the coin from those days gone by. Where love was scarce growing up, I am surrounded with the dearest and sweetest kind of love thanks to Mr. Pop being the kind of person he is and doing the kind of thoughtful things that he does. I don’t move to a new town or a new house just about every six months. I have a home. I don’t look in stores and dream of what I wish could be. I enjoy what is. I’m not afraid anymore of what tomorrow will bring. I can control most of what tomorrow will bring and if there are surprises I have Mr. Pop to help me through it.

You know what? If it meant that I had to go through all those scary sad times of growing up all over again, I would do it just as long as I was sure I would find Mr. Pop waiting for me when it was over.

Is there such a thing as Christmas magic? There sure is! How else can you explain someone like me finding someone like Mr. Pop? The Christmas morning that he asked me to marry him was the essence of Christmas magic in my life. It was even better than getting one of those big dolls in a box that the grocery stores sell at Christmas time.

While Visions of Impeachment Dance In Our Heads

According to Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, Bush was so desperate to cover up the story of his utter and total disregard for the US Constitution, also known as a goddamn piece of paper, that on December 6, he "summoned Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller to the Oval Office in a futile attempt to talk them out of running the story." So there ya go. When is impeachment?

Furthermore, the Democrats repeat that they did NOT back wiretapping.

Quien es mas Nixonian?
Bush o Nixon?

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From Congressman John Conyers: "Today, I am releasing a staff report entitled, "The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Coverups in the Iraq War."

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In science news, "Judge John Jones of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that intelligent design - which bills itself as a scientific theory and states that life shows signs of being the work of an intelligent designer - is in fact reworked creationism.

What's the difference between a terrorist and a social activist group?

Not much according to the FBI.

The NYTimes today reports:

"One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals."

Oh those dangerous vegans! The ACLU used the Freedom of Information Act to find out just who the FBI was investigating since John Ashcroft loosened the restrictions on who the FBI could investigate after 9/11 mysteriously happened just when the fascists took control of our country.

"The latest batch of documents, parts of which the A.C.L.U. plans to release publicly on Tuesday, totals more than 2,300 pages and centers on references in internal files to a handful of groups, including PETA, the environmental group Greenpeace and the Catholic Workers group, which promotes antipoverty efforts and social causes."

Since 9/11, now social activist groups are relegated to the pile of terrorists. If you ask Americans who get their news in snippets from TV or radio about all this spying by the FBI, the Pentagon and the NSA or NASA as the president calls it, they are likely to respond by saying that they don't associate with those activist nutcases so they don't care if civil rights have been violated by the administration. They'd rather give up their civil rights than be violated by "terrorists". They move to gated communities and buy guns for protection. Americans are some of the biggest scaredy cats in the world.

Me, I'd rather that the government mind its own business and stay out of our lives. I'll take my chances rather than live in a gated community learning how to shoot a gun. Activism is what made our country a pretty good place to live. We can breathe better, eat safer foods, be free from most epidemics and look forward to social security checks in our old age because of social activism.

Last night someone told me that there is really nothing we can do about this. Well of course there is. We can call congress, we can write letters, we can sign petitions and we can spread the truth to whomever we meet. Newsday just called me to tell me that my letter of protest about Bush's total disregard for the constitution will be published within a week. So there. I made a difference. You can too.
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Tree hugging, Salad eating, Animal loving, Threats

If you are one of those salad-eating, tree-hugging, animal-loving, Quaker, or anti-poverty Americans, watch your ass. Uncle Sam is keeping his eyes and ears on you. It’s not enough just to be a citizen of a democracy. You had better toe the Republican line. Don’t even think of doing some funny stuff like protesting anything while george w. bush is the high sheriff. He’s from Texas, you know!

Sure, we’ve all known for years that vegans were a threat to our safety. Why else would they denounce the consumption of bloody animal flesh? Then we have the Greenpeace heretics; obviously they have far more dangerous plans than just trying to keep our environment healthy and our natural world in balance. And what’s up with PETA? What are they planning? As Americans, owning llama fur is our god-given right. Nothing more American than killing an animal just so you can cut off its bloody fur and sew it on your coat collar.

No doubt for years we have been concerned about the Quakers in Florida. Obviously people devoted to peace could be a threat to any war-mongering country.

The FBI is just doing their job according to their own rules. That sounds about right.

Bush and his disciples are guarding our every move. Some say he’s gone too far. Some say since they personally have nothing to hide they don’t care if their phone is tapped. Ha, wait until being stupid is outlawed. Then they’ll change their minds.

So let’s give a shout out to Osama Bin Ladin. He’s sort of been left out of this terrorist search. If only he were a devotee of veggies, an appreciator of animals and a tree-hugging Quaker living here in the US, I betcha his ass would be in jail or at least under surveillance.

Read the article in this morning’s New York Times. Read about the bush administration’s search and seizure of your rights. Then go eat a rare steak, chop down a tree, kick a dog, put a wooden nickel in the Salvation Army’s red kettle and openly declare that there’s nothing better than a goddamned war. Demonstrate that you are an American who can be trusted by this administration.

Something Different

This was lifted from Poopie @ keepinthefaith.

Here's the deal:

If you read this, if you eyes are passing over this right now, please post a comment with a made-up and fictional memory of you and Blondsense Liz.

It can be anything you want. (Lets keep it rated PG-13, please, cuz Liz is a prude that way) good-or-bad it has to be fake.

Kinda Like The Mob

What underlies Chimp Boy's penchant for appointing cronies rather than well-qualified people and bestowing honors on people who stood by him while failing the country?

Case in point. Chimp Boy bestows the Medal of Freedom on George Tenet whose failure in the pre-war intelligence helped plunge America into this disastrous war, or Paul Bremer, whose misjudgement helped squander what chances there were of avoiding disaster is indeed a scandal. Aren't these honors supposed to acknowlege achievements in service to a nation as a whole, to a nation's values, and not just the loyal service to an individual?

Chimp Boy's actions help us understand his excessive valuing of loyalty is a clue to why this president consistently works to advance his own power at the cost of the nation's good.

The fortified castles in medieval Europe in feudal systems are good metaphors for the mindset in which loyalty is the surpreme value. In a world in which a great price is paid simply for protection against a hostile outside world. A world where we are divided into us and them. Then being postured in expectations of war ato the death.

The chronic war is a psychological reality for the bushites who have degraded the system of politics into warring among those whom the possibilities of cooperation are distroyed by their endless strife.

They see the world as the arena for perpetual war, the distinction is not between right and wrong but between friend and enemy. Kinda like the mob.

So the Chimp Boy's declaration that "either you are for us or you're against us" distorts the realities of the war on terror and shows us that nature of the world he inhabits. It's a world where what counts about someone is that he is "for us" and "against them."

Yesterday I watched some of The Godfather Saga and like the feudal lords, the gangster also dwells in a system in which fragmentation dictates the war is a chronic condition and for the gangster, being able to trust those within the fortified walls is a matter of life-and-death importance.

The thing I noticed as I watched was the issue of trust that is woven throughout the Godfather---whether it is the fatal indiscretion of the hot-headed brother, Sonny, in the first film, or the fatal betryal by the weak brother in the second.

"Never tell anyone outside the family what you really think," Don Corleone tells his hot-headed son and similarly, the White House has never told us what it really thinks about much of anything).

"Fredo, you broke my heart,"says the new Godfather because his brother has allowed enemies to breach the family's protective walls.

So dear readers it is in the light of the spirt of gangsterism that we can make sense of Bush's record of dealing with minions and critics.

In a world in which loyalty is so profound a value that it displaces all the others, then, is part of an amoral framework that is all about service to the aggrandizing self.

This self that never feels it has enough security and thus seeks all the power and wealth it can get. It is a self that knows no larger or greater good for which it might sacrifice some part of its personal empire.

When loyalty is not a moral virture, Chimp Boy has shown himself exceptional.

Activism: Tell Congress To Investigate Wire Tapping

You can call your members of Congress right now on one of these toll-free numbers, 888-818-6641 or 888-355-3588. There are operators on duty 24 hours a day. Just ask to be connected to either of your senators or your house member and they'll put you through.
Or go here for a simple form.


PS: Don't forget to urge your members of congress to support Rush Holt's "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" (H.R. 550)
Sign the petition here
Tell your congressperson here.

Selling The Occupation To The Gullible Public

Yep, there he was bragging about his contempt for the law in only the way he can do.
He'll do anything to protect us, even spy on us. Not only did he admit that he did do this, but he will continue to do so, thumbing his ever growing nose at the courts and the Constitution.
Then he had the gall to be upset that it was reported. Mind you they have yet to prosecute ONE PERSON successfully since the onset of his "war". So to sum it up, Chimp Boy violates federal law, illegally spies on the citizens he is sworn to protect, and then is angry that someone would espose it.

"We don't talk about sources and methods. Don't talk about ongoing intelligence operations. I know there's speculations (Some who don't buy the BS I'm selling) but it's important for America people to understand--that we will do--or I will use my powers to protect us, and I will do so under the law, and thats important for our citizens to understand."

So we should just trust him! Sorry, Chimp Boy, we do not

Sure he's reluctant to discuss "sources" and "methods" because that would reveal the scope of the federal violation he has sponsored. And all the time BS-ing us and the world on his "noble" use of his "powers" to protect us.

Excuss me Chimp Boy, it is ILLEGAL to determine what those powers are and to rewrite "that goddamn piece of paper."

What is important for America to understand is that Chimp Boy does not operate under the law but rather seems to believe he is ABOVE it.

Rest assured, the neo-cons will say he operated within the law, but the part they will omit is the Chimp Boy turn King decides --what the law is.
Whatever annoying law there is, simply create a fake power that you can then grant yourself and blame it all on a post 9/11 world.

This is all standard behavior in the arrogant Chimp Boy's administration--that treats it's citizens like children who are guilty until the illegal wiretap proves them innocent.

His brazen admittance is that he no longer is bound by the Constitution and the system of checks and balances which has served our country well for over 200 years has been rendered, quaint.

So he has declaired himself the King. No longer answerable to laws, courts, or the citzens or government.

Wake up you flag-waving, materialist, gullible, good folks. Your phoney Patriotism will be your death son.

To sum it up, we were told again to go fuck ourselves.

did you make Bush's A list?

A friend of mine called after the talk-chat shows this morning. She watches them and wants to tell me everything that was said and I don't watch them because it ruins my Sunday to see people lie before noon.

"What the hell is the matter with Bush! Has he lost his mind!"

I guess that she is discussing the news that Bush authorized illegal wiretaps. Gee a phrase I haven't seen in print outside a Watergate story.

"No." I am thinking why did I answer the phone. "He thinks that because he is commander in chief the wiretaps are legal during a war. He insists that we are at war."

I explained then to my friend that Bush & Co. are pushing their side of the story because we are going to learn that the NSA people who originally went to the New York Times with the story are going to reveal that the reason they would not comply with Bush's authorized wiretaps is that they weren't taps on Middle Easterners, but on Americans who don't support Bush.

There is a court established to do nothing but hear wiretap requests. The Patriot Act allowed Bush huge discretion in issuing wiretap warrants. There isn't any need for Bush to by-pass established procedures to authorize wiretaps unless of course there is no terrorism related reason he wants the wiretaps.

The wiretaps were used, we will soon learn, to harass Bush's "enemies." Why else would Bush need to be on the defensive making his case for the measures at his Saturday's address which could have been given by any petulant Kindergartner in the D.C. area? Why else go on the offensive and insist we are winning the war in Iraq unless he is trying to link in the public's holiday soaked mind that his actions as president have justified his actions as president.

The logic is circular and we are circling the drain.

Who are we going to find on Bush's lists?

Bush Vows To Keep On Spying In The Homeland

Not only did your president admit to ordering the NSA to conduct and eavesdropping program here in the US, but he said he would continue the program because it's a "vital tool" in the war against the terrorists. What's more he said his actions are "fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities." Then he went on to bash the senators who voted against the Patriot Act after all the news last week about the Pentagon spying on us and then the NSA. Read the whole story in the NY Times while I vomit.

Now on Fox News this morning, the whole reason 9/11 happened according to Bill Kristol was because Clinton didn't allow phone tapping. Somehow I knew it was all Clinton's fault.

------------------

What signs of fascism did we learn this week?

• #2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.
• # 3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame forfailures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and“terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

I wish I'd said that:

Did you hear about the new headstone they're putting on Richard Nixon's grave? It reads: "And they thought I was a crook." -- The Dark Wraith

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"The defeat of the renewal of the Patriot Act will not be a deterrent to this Administration's violations of the civil rights of citizens; it will merely be an inconvenience." -- The Dark Wraith

The Wraith is in the beginnings of his 2nd anniversary at http://dark-wraith.com/

Saturday Musings

The General liked my new twist on the game Twister (NeoCon Twister) so he posted it on Jesus' General's GOP MART Store.


GOP children can have some fun and learn that what went on at Abu Ghraib certainly was NOT torture.


------------

And Now An Uplifting Christmas Story From New York: I heard the thump thump thump while I was looking through my telescope. I looked up by the chimney to see if it was Santa. Nope. I heard it again. It sounded like reindeer. But no. It seemed to be coming from the garbage cans. I tiptoed to the garbage cans with my red flashlight. Oh my, a Christmas miracle! Protein!

Since the gays and the christians have been giving Ford such a hard time and the husband is wondering if he will even have a job by the time xmas comes because there is no business and we crave some meat with our pasta and gruel occassionally, a miraculous event occured last night. Rather than hunting for road kill, the road kill somehow fell into my garbage can and it was fresh and juicy because someone left the lid off after they threw their latte in it and how the hell did he get the money for Starbucks when we are starving here? Here are the makings for a christmas possum stew. Mmmm mmmm.

UPDATE: So many readers sent us roast beefs, salmon, bacon, spare ribs, oven stuffer roasters and turkeys that we let the little critters go to be free to feed on other people's garbage. Run along little varmints, we'll always have pictures to remember you by. Now we're just waiting to hear about another job interview.

---------------------
Another uplifting story appeared on the cover of this morning's Wall St Journal. Little Sisters of the Poor (nuns) in Pittsburgh who run a home for the elderly poor (70-100 yrs old) can be found begging for food in a produce warehouse. It was quite a touching story of how they take care of old people, each given a personal room, dressed and washed each morning and fed well thanks to the contributions of others. Apparently they like to beg.

Speaking of begging, on the cover of Part II of the WSJ is a rather disturbing story. Harvard has an endowment of $26 billion. Many other universities have tremendous endowments as well.... they dwarf some countries' economies. Harvard has more than the GDP of Bulgaria. It's a wonder they charge such high tuition. They hardly even spend any of the money. Makes you wonder what their true goals are.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

WASHINGTON (AP) -- "President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official said Friday night.

"The disclosure follows angry demands by lawmakers earlier in the day for congressional inquiries into whether the monitoring by the highly secretive National Security Agency violated civil liberties."

Violating civil liberties breaks the law. There's a remedy for that.
It's called IMPEACHMENT.

Chuckles from Marilyn:

1) "When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car." -- Author Unknown

2) Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children." -- Author Unknown

3) "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that.
It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

4) "The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house." -- Jeff Foxworthy

5) "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base." -- Dave Barry

6) "Relationships are hard. It's like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp." -- Bob Ettinger

7) "My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'"
--Paula Poundstone

8) "A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh." -- Conan O'Brien

9) "Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner." -- Lynda Montgomery

10) "I think that's how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'" -- Richard Jeni

11) "If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead." -- Johnny Carson

12) "Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography." -- Paul Rodriguez

13) "My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law." -- Jerry Seinfeld

14) "Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?" -- Warren Hutcherson

15) "Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same." -- Oscar Wilde

16) "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

17) "Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Afghanistan." -- A. Whitney Brown

18) "You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" -- Dave Barry

19) "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I''ll have another beer." -- W. C. Fields

The Christmas Rhythm Band Minus Me

I told you a couple of days ago that I grew up in a self-inflicted (by my father), financially challenged household. We never had a lot, and due to my father's drinking problem, we moved so very often, town to town, home to home, always either unpacking or packing up.

When I was in the second grade we lived in yet another rented house, and again we had little to no money. We had only been in this particular town for a short while and already the job was lost and my father had relocated to a different town. We couldn’t afford to move yet, so my mother, my sister and I were left behind for the time being.

Christmas was approaching and just like all elementary schools at that time everyone was gearing up for the big Christmas show. My teacher sent a note home to all the parents informing them that she would need about five dollars to cover the costs for the show. My class was going to be the rhythm band and we would have little outfits to wear. My mother sat me down and explained to me that there was no way that we had the money for this event. I couldn’t be in the Christmas band.

I wasn’t mortified. I was too young to feel that emotion. I was hurt. How could I not be in the Christmas band with everyone else in my class?

I had to tell my teacher that I couldn’t be in the band and I had to tell her why.

The first day of practice, all of my class was on the stage in the auditorium learning their songs as I sat out in the audience seats with my teacher. Just me. Nothing to do but watch and wish.

The next day of practice I was once again sitting there all alone except for the teachers. I just sat there. Then my teacher got up and walked over to some other teachers and they were talking. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, because I was listening to the Christmas band practicing with their shining triangles, their gorgeous big jingle bells and their pretty little wooden sticks.

My teacher came over and asked me to come with her. We went outside the auditorium and she knelt down in front of me. She told me they needed me to sing a special song for the Christmas program. She said the name of the song was “Bow Wow wants a boy for Christmas.” She wrote down the words for me and the next practice day I went up on the stage and practiced singing. To this day, I know all the words to that song.

Hey, now I was no longer sitting out there with the teachers, I felt I was the star. I had my very own song to sing. Who needs those silly triangles and bells and wooden sticks. I didn’t need any of it. I had my own special part.

Finally the night of the show arrived. I can’t remember if my Mother was there. As I sat back stage awaiting my moment in the spotlight, I felt like a million dollars. Just before it was time for me to walk through the curtains, my teacher came to me and she was carrying a little beagle puppy. She asked me if I would like to hold the little puppy while I sang my song. I mean does it get any better? Not only did I get to sing the “special” song but I would get to hold this little puppy too. Star quality and puppy breath, what a wonderful combination.

I vaguely remember singing the song and cuddling that little puppy. I vaguely remember the audience clapping. But to this day I have never forgotten that teacher and what she did for me that Christmas. Now I realize that she created that “special” song for me. She found a way to include me. She took me from loneliness to inclusion and happiness. She saw what was happening to me as I sat there watching the others participate. She probably did more for me than I have ever really realized. I don’t know what my attitude would have been had I not been given the gift of that song. Maybe it would have sowed the seeds of ill content in my little head. I don’t know. I do know that, that night I felt so very special and it was due to the thoughtfulness of my teacher. Okay, and maybe that little puppy too.

Mrs. Cantrell, if by some quirk of the internet, you should read this, please know that this adult thanks you so much for what you did for that little girl that Christmas a long time ago.

Best Blogging Community?

I believe so.
Most deserving of wider recognition?
Definitely.
Best Group Blog?
oh yes.
What do you think?

Blondesense Blog is in need of some nominations over at Wampum for this year's Koufax Awards. We are much obliged.

Is the NSA Spying On Americans?

Why yes it is.

The bushistas believe that it is necessary to spy on citizens (with links to al Qaida) who send overseas email and make overseas phone calls without the messy getting a court order ordeal... they say that they have disrupted terrorist plots.


Speaking of spying...
While bushie thinks that it's a bad decision to filibuster the renewal of the unPatriot Act and sent in Alberto Gonzalez to give compelling arguments in favor of keeping things as they are, the NRA is not comfortable with it nor is the Christian Defense Coalition. Members of both political parties are concerned about the compromise of civil liberties. But bush keeps talking about security in a "time of war" blah blah. Sen. Russ Feingold leads the group of 40 senators that plan the filibuster.

Has anyone wondered what a democracy means anymore?

O'Lielly's Fake War on Christmas Continues

Such a liar shouldn't even be allowed to appear on television or the radio unless it's revealed at the onset that it is not fact based reporting.

From MediaMatters.org, goddess bless them for paying attention to this jerk because I can't stand to even watch him. I much prefer watching Steven Colbert mimicing him.

• Madison Wisconsin smear: "I mean, this is not Madison, Wisconsin, where you expect those people to be communing with Satan up there in the Madison, Wisconsin, media."
• Saginaw Michigan debacle: "the township [Saginaw] opposes red and green clothing on anyone." LIE
• Plano Independent School District delusion: The district "told students they couldn't wear red and green because they were Christmas colors." He labeled the alleged ban "fascism." LIE
• The USPS anti-christian war: He falsely claimed that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) no longer offers Christmas postage stamps with a "spiritual" theme. They most certainly do offer a Madonna and Child Stamp.

UPDATE:

• The Catholic Church Scandal: O'Lielly asserts that Catholic Leaders' silence regarding the war on christmas is similar to their stance on pedophilia. Tells Catholic theologian that his comments are dopey.

Novak Says Bush Knows Who The Plame Leaker Is

From the NewObserver.com
"Newspaper columnist Robert Novak spoke Tuesday at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh. He was asked to comment on the "the Valerie Plame fiasco." Here is a transcript of his response:

"Well, as you know, I was the one who wrote the first story about Joe Wilson’s wife working for the CIA - one throwaway line in a long column, in the sixth paragraph of the story."

"The way it has snowballed out of all proportion is a result of a campaign by the left and the bad, extremely bad, management of the issue by - in my opinion - by the White House."

"Once you give an issue to a special prosecutor, you lose control of it. You do not know what is going to happen."

"Bob Woodward speculates that his source is the same as my source. He says that’s the case. He is not going to reveal this name, and certainly I am not either until such time as this person comes forward and says he wants his name to be revealed."

"I am confident the president knows who the source is. I would be amazed if he doesn't. So I think, don't bug me. Don't bug Bob Woodword. Bug the President as to whether he should reveal who the source is.""

Christmas and the Snoopy balancing act

A couple of years ago we were invited to a Christmas party, but this one had a little twist. Instead of bringing a dish or your own adult beverage or anything like that, each party attendee was asked to bring new, unwrapped toys that would later be delivered to a local charity and they in turn would give them to children who would not be getting much for Christmas.

Oh what fun Mr. Pop and I had buying toys. You see we have no children of our own and all of our nieces and nephews are too old for children’s toys. We bought dolls and dolls and kits for boys and lots of stuff. We filled that cart right up to the top. Even when we got home and took all those treasures from their bags we just stood and smiled thinking of what the kids would feel when they received some of this fun.

The night of the party arrived. Feeling a wee bit like old Santa himself, we loaded our car with gifts and headed out. When we got to the home of the hostess we walked in and added our toys to the giant pile that had already formed. It truly was a mountain of happiness and promises. There were tricycles and stuffed animals and just about any kind of toy you can think of. Everyone was smiling with Christmas cheer and just general all around happiness.

After the party we drove home feeling that we had not only had fun at the party but we had contributed to some unknown children’s Christmas. As we rounded the corner just before our drive way we saw something. Our big plastic Snoopy Santa light-up figure was not by our front door as it was supposed to be. It was laying down in the middle of our yard. Mr. Pop pulled into the garage and I flew out of the car to see what had happened to our sweet Snoopy. Sadly I discovered that someone had batted Snoopy around and cracked him all up. He was split in the middle and on his face. I brought him inside and tried my best to sort of pop out the dents and force the cracked parts back into position. Poor Snoopy would never be the same. After I did all I could for him I decided to try plugging him in again to see if he would light up. He did.

I was so hurt and angry. Here we had been out giving presents and toys to kids in need and while we’re doing our good deed, someone had mugged Snoopy.

Being as angry as can be that some jerk enjoyed beating up a plastic Christmas decoration I wrote a letter to our local paper bitching about what had happened. The letter was published and damn it, I felt better for whatever reason.

A couple of days after my letter was published I received a small parcel in the mail. There was no return address on it so I had no idea who or where it was from. I gingerly opened the package and discovered a note along with something wrapped and taped up in bubble wrap. The note began with, “I hope this gets to the lady who wrote the letter that appeared in the paper”. The note went on to say that this person’s mother had recently passed away and as is often the case this person had had to clear out her mother’s house. When going through her mother’s possessions she had come across her mother’s Christmas decorations. In these decorations was a little porcelain Snoopy Christmas ornament. The writer said she was sure that her mother would want me to have it. She remembered the day she and her mother had purchased it.

I carefully unwrapped the little ornament and yes, I sure did cry. There was this little Snoopy wearing a Santa hat and driving a little blue car with a Christmas wreath painted on the front of the car. I knew at that moment I had to thank the person who sent the little gift. Since I had nothing but a first name and no address there was only one thing to do. I had to write another letter to the editor.

My local paper has a rule about letters to the editor. They will only publish one letter per person every thirty days. It had not been near thirty days since my last letter was published. I began my letter by acknowledging that I knew I was asking to break the rules but this was certainly cause for an exception. Then I proceeded with my letter of gratitude. The editor must have been in the spirit of the holidays because my thank-you letter was published the day before Christmas.

The big plastic Snoopy will never be outside again, but he is plugged in, lighted up and smiling and greeting anyone who enters through my front door. He hasn’t been put aside since the night he was mugged. During the rest of the year he sits proudly in our garage. The little Snoopy ornament is never packed away with the other decorations. I keep him out all year to remind myself that somehow, things always seem to balance out. For every jerk in our world who would beat up a plastic Snoopy, there is one sweet person who will share a little porcelain Snoopy. That’s a nice thing to be reminded of all year long.

One War Is Almost Over

The war against torture was won. Sort of.

Sen. John McCain's language which has been stalling the defense authorization bill that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in the custody of the U.S. government, was supported by the House yesterday on a 308 to 122 vote reports WaPo this morning.

The Defense Dept will be required to follow the interrogation standards in the Army's field manual. Sounds good, right? Well the Army's field manual is being revised. So we'll have to see about that.

The Defense Department doesn't care for McCain's language, (can you imagine what they would like to put in there instead? Some good old fashioned double speak?) but the language grew out of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, which was nothing more than silly fraternity type pranks as reported by some outspoken conservatives who never served in the military.

The administration is still trying to push through some exceptions although Scottie is likely to spin that. There are also some Republican leaders who don't wish to go against the president. I would like their names please.

more Nixonian than Nixon

The Congress defied Scrooge Bush and remembered what being an American is supposed to be all about. They banned torture. Now, we wait to see what Congress will do about enforcing this law. And who is responsible for enforcement, children? The President. And his faithful Hispanic for sale companion, Alberto "First Hispanic" Gonzales Attorney General.

Now, will Congress stop worrying about being called "pro-terrorist and anti-American and ban the Un-Patriotic Act? 'Tis the season to keep the military from spying on us peace-niks at home. 'Tis the season to remember that we are different than totalitarian governments. Who knew when communism fell we would have no one to measure ourselves against except evil Republican neo-fascists? Gee they were really with us, in this us verses them world the whole time.

If I am going to be on a list, check it twice and make damn sure you spell my name correctly.
If the military must investigate someone, why don't they investigate their own commander in chief, you know, the guy who admitted today in the worst mea culpa since Nixon said "mistakes were made," he didn't know what he was doing with "faulty intelligence" on Iraq.

And the American people piss themselves like puppies with pleasure over Bush. Oh, great leader, show us sinners the light and the way!

But Bush knows who's been naughty and nice? How can that amoral war criminal tell? I suppose the one with the biggest gun can sit in judgment in a kangaroo court in Iraq and pronounce Saddam a murderer and a thug. I guess Bush should know since Saddam was on our payroll and used what we sold him to murder his misbehaving malcontent population. Have you sent your check to the Republican Party? Have you quid pro quo-ed with a campaign contribution to get your local Indian casino reopened? Have you been reading naughty books and hope the military and the FBI don't get your records from the local mall bookstore? What a bunch of switches and ashes a warrantless "peek-a-boo" search while you're not home would be.

What surreal times in which we live. Katrina is off the political map while not even considering poor blacks, whites cannot meet their mortgages on uninsured houses washed off their foundations along the coast. The economic damages are rippling. Jobs are gone, homes are gone, property is gone and these whites voted for smaller government by voting Republican since the mid 1960s. What they voted for has come back to them--smaller government that cannot help them. I wonder if this is what it takes to return the south to the Democratic Party? Can the military search their porches and new trailers without a warrant? Can you use the military to spy on your own people but not to come rescue them because the National Guard is fighting an illegal war in Iraq while Americans drown in filthy water?

Houston's Mayor Bill White--a former member of the Clinton Administration--told FEMA--rather he dared FEMA to make good on promises made to Katrina evacuees in Houston. FEMA laughed and radio talk show hosts told Mayor White to stop telling the feds what to do. Obviously we could use a lesson in federalism and we are getting it, good and hard. Democracy is always more fun when the people get exactly what they asked for, isn't it? Bush isn't helping Momma & Poppy deal with "those" people in Houston. Well, hell, Bush & Co. aren't going to live here when they leave the White House?

Will Ken Lay, who had the guts to lunch with Houston business leaders and future white collar criminals and say essentially that while he ran the company, he didn't know what was happening and that guy who is helping the feds prosecute Lay is the guilty, responsible one. Lay is facing 175 years in federal prison. I think his chances of being pardoned before Bush leaves office are probably as good as Karl Rove's chances. I just wonder if Bush will pardon one or both of them before he leaves or on his way out the door? Will they actually go to trial or would Bush claim national security must be preserved? Will he allow prosecutors all the paperwork on Lay or will they be told to keep their prosecution away from what Bush knew about Lay--once a contender for Secretary of Energy--and when did he know it?

Is The Pentagon Spying on Americans?

Why yes.

It appears that the DoD deemedthat a meeting at Quaker Meeting house was a threat. In fact according to NBC investigators, the Defense Department is investigating both peaceful anti-war and counter military recruitment groups. I've been to these types of meetings and these people are only threatening to a possible military coup because they are trying to bring to light the fascist takeover in our country, but certainly not a threat to national security.

"One DOD briefing document stamped “secret” concludes: “[W]e have noted increased communication and encouragement between protest groups using the [I]nternet,” but no “significant connection” between incidents, such as “reoccurring instigators at protests” or “vehicle descriptions.”

It means that they’re actually collecting information about who’s at those protests, the descriptions of vehicles at those protests,” says Arkin. “On the domestic level, this is unprecedented,” he says. “I think it's the beginning of enormous problems and enormous mischief for the military.”

This story just broke and I imagine it will spark a shit storm. As it should. This is reminiscent of the 1970's protests against the Vietnam war. Back then, congress investigated it. This time with congress in cahoots with the corporate takeover, I'm not so sure. Read on.

Christmas Dolls

When I was a little kid, the most beautiful thing I ever saw were those big dolls they sold in grocery stores at Christmas. They were like almost three feet tall and were displayed in boxes with one side having a cellophane window so the dolls were exposed. Oh my goodness the feelings I felt as I gazed up at them on the shelves. There were brunette dolls and blonde dolls. I’m telling you, they were treasures to my eyes. There they stood in their beautiful boxes smiling down at me. Sometimes the boxes were almost as pretty as the dolls. I don’t know how much they cost but I knew that they were way beyond anything Santa could ever deliver to my door. But, but gosh they were beautiful.

Santa did sometimes bring me a doll and I loved whatever he chose for me. It’s probably good that I never walked into the living room on Christmas morning to see one of those big beautiful dolls under the Christmas tree because I would have probably had a little kid heart attack. I never expected such a miracle and it never happened.

My family was never in a financial position to splurge at Christmas time. There were some ugly holidays during those years. One year my mother took a doll I already had, made it a new dress and put it under the Christmas tree to make me think it was a new doll. I wasn’t as dense as she had hoped. I figured out the ruse in about five minutes, but I did like the old doll’s new dress.

There was another Christmas when I was ten and my sister was three that we got several fun things from Santa in December, but they were taken away in January by the repossession people. It was hard for me to understand what was happening but it was harder yet to try to explain these events to my three year old sister.

Then there was the year of the Barbie doll. We were in a store and I saw a Barbie doll for the first time. Oh my goodness! Damned if these dolls weren’t perhaps even more beautiful than the big dolls in the grocery store. These small little dolls with the most amazing detail and unimaginably beautiful clothes. I would have gladly allowed someone to cut off my right arm if it meant that I might possess one of these dolls.

When I discovered Barbie my mother told me I was too big to be playing with dolls. Of course I was. Hell I was eleven years old. But my mother didn’t appear to understand this doll was not to play with, this doll was to admire. This was a goddess doll that must be kept in her beauty and perfect condition.

That Christmas we were beyond Santa so we opened our presents on Christmas Eve. We were living in a not so attractive house at the time and things were near their all time pitiful. My sister and I sat there on the floor and tore into our meager little pile of gifts. We took turns opening our presents. I opened one of mine and about fainted. There among the ripped up wrapping paper was a Barbie doll. Not only a Barbie doll, but an outfit for her too. It took my breath away. I was the owner of this beautiful doll. I went bananas with gratitude. I jumped up and hugged the hell out my mother and I turned around to do the same to my dad but he had had too much to drink, again, and had passed out in his chair.

It almost didn’t matter that he was drunk again. It almost didn’t matter that at the time we lived in a trailer connected to a concrete block structure that served as a living room, bedroom and bath. It almost didn’t matter that daddy’s drunkenness that night would continue for a couple of weeks. It almost didn’t matter if we were, as my grandmother used to say, “poor as a church mouse”. I was the proud owner of a Barbie doll and her outfit.

I still have that Barbie doll and I still have the outfit and all the accessories. I still have the box she came in, and she’s in perfect shape. Not a hair is mussed on her head. Each Christmas I carefully take her from the box and dress her in that gorgeous pink outfit. I place her, along with my grandmother’s old doll, in a position of honor. And every Christmas it almost doesn’t matter that I never had one of those big beautiful dolls in the box, the big dolls that smiled down to me from the shelves at the grocery store.

I have left my days of yearning for dolls behind me now. I’m now a “big girl” and much too old to be playing with dolls. I don’t want or need them anymore. But you know what? They have those big dolls in the box at the grocery store this year and when I see them, just for a tiny moment, I shrink down to that little girl who used to look up at them with such awe. That’s when the little girl tears well up in my adult eyes. But, you know what? It almost doesn’t matter.

Votes here and there

Why do Iraqis living in the US have to dip their fingers in the purple ink? And speaking of dipping fingers in purple ink, maybe it’s just me, but there is something sort of gross about seeing people holding up their purple fingers. Isn’t it kind of ironic to think about Iraqis doing this when Diebold is all over the news here with suspected crookedness? Does anyone expect the elections in Iraq to be fair and honest? Does anyone expect the elections here to be fair and honest? Wonder why they don’t use Diebold machines in Iraq?

Rep. Duncan Hunter was on C-Span this morning and the discussion got around to torture. Rep. Hunter said that Cheney and Goss wanted the option of harsher treatment for detainees. Hunter used the old “what if” scenario. What if there is a bomb in an airplane and a detainee knows where the bomb is? How would we get him to talk. Then he switched the story to what if there is a school bus full of kids and a detainee knows where the bomb is located. He didn’t mention the scenario in which the president is given a memo that says UBL determined to strike the US using airplanes. As I recall in a situation like that the president goes into full attack mode and applies torture to a pile of brush in Texas.

Don’t you find it appalling that we are even using the words “United States” and “torture” in the same sentence? If we aren’t careful, we will become what we have always abhorred. We will be the nightmare. We will become the enemy that we are now trying to defeat. We will have morphed into the ugly people from the ugly country.

So tomorrow the Iraqis will vote in Iraq. The country has been basically closed down all week. Some of the candidates have been murdered. We won’t know for some time who wins. We do know that we will see people walking around with purple fingers and we’ll be told how they put their lives in danger to go and vote for a free Iraq. Bush will claim that our dead soldiers were worth the sacrifice and we will continue to wonder if the next ballot we cast will be counted. Bush will also claim that our sacrifice of money was worth it in order to rebuild schools in Iraq. Meanwhile, the victims of this year’s hurricanes along the Gulf Coast will continue to wonder why our government shies away from rebuilding homes and schools for them. Perhaps it’s time for the people on the Gulf Coast to display one of their fingers to their government the next time they cast their votes.

(Editor's Note): While preparing this for post, the following related article arrived from another of our correspondents: "Truck With Allegedly Fake Ballots Detained"

Will the war on christmas never end?

She might as well have told the first graders that baby Jesus really wasn't born on Christmas Day.

But no, she did something worse... a real affront to the meaning of Christmas.

A first grade music teacher in a Dallas suburb, let it slip that there is no Santa. Parents went insane and called the school to complain. So the...

Richardson school district spokesman Tim Clark says he has good news. In his words -- "The teacher did hear from Santa Claus himself -- who heard about the situation and let the teacher know that the spirit of the holidays is alive and well -- and to pass that message along to the students."

And all is well. The good christian parents can continue to teach their kids the true meaning of christmas, while the non-christian kids wonder why Santa shuns them each year. But wasn't that always the point?

Broken Record: Verified Voting

I was disappointed to learn that Rush Holt's bill, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act H.R. 550 only has about 2500 signatures. That means that you, my readers have not all signed the petition. (but I still love you.)

There has been a blog swarm going on since November 30th and yet, only 2500 signatures. The big-ass blogs have not joined the blog swarm or mentioned the petition or it would have easily hit the 100,000 mark. So sad. DBK Frogsdong has urged us to read a fabulous post over at King Of Zembla with lots of information and why you should support this bill, write to your congresspeople asking them to support it and telling your friends to please sign it.

Why would anyone have objections to signing this petition or blogging about it? Why don't we all want physical ballots that are not counted in secret? Why bother to vote if your vote isn't going to be counted and you know it? We can change it with a little bit of activism. We have until January, otherwise you can rest assured that the stinking GOP will never lose their majority.

We Don't Torture... except we might want to some day

While Karen Hughes was on CBS' "The Early Show" saying that "we operate our detainee policy within our laws, within our international obligations and without torture." (as seen in the photo to the left. click it for large version), John McCain and Stephen Hadley are duking it out behind closed doors over the senator's proposed ban on "on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign terrorism suspects."

Now what do you suppose is the argument there? It appears that the White House wants exemptions for the CIA. So how can the White House keep putting it out there that "We don't torture because it's illegal" when in fact we want to reserve the right to break international law when the CIA says that a particular detainee deserves to be tortured in the name of national security? What about the previous torture in Abu Ghraib? Were those detainees privy to information regarding our national security? If not, then the US did something illegal, now didn't it? Why does Rumsfeld still have his job?

MSNBC story

War Was Not The Answer

"The " Global War on Terror" has failed. Top Pentagon officals acknowledge that the war has become a magnet, attracting an undetermined, but not insignificant number of foreign fighters bent of expelling U.S. and allied forces whom they regard as occupiers and violators of Islam's holy sites."

" At a hearing in October, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said hat the large military presence in Iraq "feeds the notion of occupation." The State Department's latest annual report on terrorism stated that Iraq has become a "melting pot of jhadists from around the word."

"The public has been led into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by steady withholding of information.....The Baghdad commuuniques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows.....We are today not far from a disater."

---T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
The Sunday Times of London, Aug, 22, 1920

One Little Dog and Christmas

We adopted Murphy about 13 years ago from a local humane society. He’s a full-blooded Bichon who, before meeting Mr. Pop and I, had evidently led a pretty stressful life. A driver witnessed someone tossing him from a pickup truck on I-95. That driver scooped him up and carried him to the shelter. Luckily he had no serious injuries. The local TV stations filmed him and then showed him on their local news hours. No one came to claim him.

At the time, Mr. Pop and I had recently had to love our previous little dog enough to let her go, as she was suffering from old age. After seeing this ragged little white homeless dog on TV, I called to ask if I might adopt him. My name was added to the list of others who also wanted to open their hearts and homes to him.

Weeks went by and then one day a woman from the humane society came to the place where I was working. She had a little, still ragged looking, almost white dog in tow on a leash. She led him to me and asked if I wanted to do a “test run” with him over the weekend to see if he would work out in my home.

I led him to my desk and tied him to my desk chair. All day he looked up at me with his big brown eyes and soft expression. I would pet him and talk to him. We were getting acquainted.

That night I drove him home and quickly gave him a shampoo. Wow, what a difference some dog soap and water can make. He stood there in the bathtub and became a swan. Murphy had a new home.

Okay sure, he chewed up one of Mr. Pop’s sandals, but other than that he was a true little gentleman and just as loveable as any little dog could be.

As the years went by and I became a fulltime spoiler of Murphy we discovered that he loved little plush pink pig toys. He loved chewing off their ears, removing their felt eyes and having fun with them. I must tell you there were some pitiful looking pigs in Murphy’s toy basket. Little veterans of Murphy’s eye removal and ear removal campaign.

Each time we went near the pet store a new pink pig accompanied us home. Murphy came to embrace the idea of a new pink pig as a grand occasion, and so did we.

One Christmas five years ago I had purchased a new pink pig to give Murphy for Christmas. I wrapped it in white tissue paper and placed it among the other gifts under the Christmas tree. A couple of days later I was in the kitchen cleaning up when I heard some noises in the living room. I peeked around the corner just in time to see Murphy finish unwrapping his gift and pulling the pink pig from the torn paper. He grabbed the pig in his mouth and came running to me as if to say, “Hey, look what I found!"

From that Christmas on I learned to never put Murphy’s presents under the tree before Christmas morning. The guy is just too impatient to wait for the grand unwrapping day.

I tell you this now because a few minutes ago I heard a strange noise in our spare bedroom. I sneaked around the corner and there was Murphy sniffing the pile of bags of presents that are waiting to be wrapped. He was sticking his nose in every bag and sniffing for his present. Ha! I caught him before he spoiled his Christmas this year.

Murphy is getting on up there in age and he has lost his hearing, but even this old dog hasn’t forgotten his Christmas trick. And thank goodness we will have at least one more Christmas morning with the gift of watching that once ragged, now professionally groomed, little white dog have a great time ripping the hell out of white tissue paper in his search for another new plush pink pig.

Some Good News For Y'all

This is a Bradblog exclusive

SECURITIES FRAUD LITIGATION TO BE FILED WITHIN THE HOUR AGAINST DIEBOLD, INC!
Eight Current and Former Executives Named as Co-Defendants, Including former CEO O'Dell and New CEO Swidarski

Complaint is "being hand-delivered" to Federal Distric Courthouse.

Details to be announced around 4PM today. Stay tuned or visit bradblog.com

Commit Treason In Five Words Or Less

Agitprop Asks: Commit treason in five words or less.
First prize is a free trip to Guantonamo Bay!
Hurry on over and remember to keep it a five words or less.
I forgot that part or I wouldn't be lettin' y'all know bout it.

2005 Grinch Of The Year

Vote for the 2005 Grinch of the Year. The 2005 nominees are:

Donal Rumsfeld

Verizon Wireless

Wal-Mart

Or write you very own candidtate.

Your vote may or may not count.

Show Those Liberal Heathens That You Love Christmas

WOW!

You can make your own Photo US Postage Stamps at Stamps.com. Who knew? This is legal too. You can make stamps with your own images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to show those heathens what xmas is all about on Mac or pc. I made a couple from my family photo archives to share with you.








BTW

The other day, the Pope decried the crass commericalism of Christmas. Back when I was a Christian, I too condemned the commercialization. It took away from the solemnity. But then I woke up. Some Long Islanders prefer the commercialism. I like the stamps.

Uh oh. Today the Pope is really pissed. He gave his annual peace speech and had some harsh words for the bushistas, without naming names, nudge nudge, wink wink.

From: Pope says war no excuse for human rights abuses
In one part of the message, which is sent to heads of state and international organizations, the Pope said war could not be an excuse for disregarding international humanitarian law.

"The truth of peace must also let its beneficial light shine even amid the tragedy of war," he said, re-enforcing his stand by quoting from another Vatican document that said "not everything automatically becomes permissible between hostile parties once war has regrettably commenced."

BTW: Did you know that GM, which announced it would cut 30,000 American jobs, is planning to triple its production of cars in India? Read it here.

What kind of smoker are you?

Have you seen the hilarious "Semiotics of Smoking"? (click on the styles below "illustrations" to find out just what your smoking style means.) If you're a bitter ex-smoker, nevermind.

BTW: check out the handy dandy graphic of Jack Abramoff's financial recipients in congress. There are plenty of Democrats on the list too. You didn't think they were a bunch of saints did you? Believe it or not, Tom Delay doesn't win the prize of the largest beneficiary. That goes to Senator Conrad Burns of MT.

Speaking of Montana: There are probably more people at the Roosevelt Field Mall (garden city, long island) right now than citizens in Montana.

How do you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

What is your light preference?

White or colored?
Twinkling or static?

I'm Glad I'm Not Arnold And Have To Try to Sleep At Night

Update Tuesday afternoon 2:38PM:
A blondesense reader from Austria chimes in on the comments (under a different thread):

"The local news in Graz, Austria was just on. Ahhnuld's home town and I've lived here over thirty years.

The city went nuclear on his Williams decision. There is going to be a city council meeting where most likely they will revoke his name from the soccer stadium. It has been tried before, and one woman from the local green party even hired a crane and tried to the first time he made such a decision, but she got arrested. But this time it seems certain. They are plenty angry."

Thank you Ren for the update.

UPDATE TUESDAY MORNING:
Williams' Last Words
"YOU DOING THAT RIGHT?"

Williams, 51, died at 12:35 a.m. Officials at San Quentin State Prison seemed to have trouble injecting the lethal mixture into his muscular arm. As they struggled to find a vein, Williams looked up repeatedly and appeared frustrated, shaking his head at supporters and other witnesses.

"You doing that right?" it sounded as if he asked one of the men with a needle.

After he was declared dead, his supporters shouted in unison: "The state of California just killed an innocent man," as they walked out of the chamber.
Slideshow at Yahoo
-------------

Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Williams

Schwarzenegger said he was unconvinced that Williams had had a change of heart, and he was unswayed by pleas from Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes who said the inmate had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs.

"Is Williams' redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise?" Schwarzenegger wrote less than 12 hours before the execution. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."

Well by all means then, Arnold. Kill the bastard because he doesn't meet your high standards of redemption. It's perfectly in keeping with your movie persona and what more could anyone expect from you? To act like a human? ha!

Pro-life country, my ass.

Flip Flop Frist

From Think Progress: Frist had no problem in squishing Harriet Miers' nomination before she even got an up or down vote. Yet on Fox News Sunday he said:

"So I think it would be unconscionable — I think it would be wrong — I think it would be against the intent of the founding fathers and our Constitution to deny Sam Alito an up or down vote on the floor of the United States Senate. I have stood from day one on principle that these Supreme Court justices — nominees deserve an up or down vote, and it would be absolutely wrong to deny him that."

Yeah sure, drag out the founding fathers when it's convenient.

Hasta La Vista To Cookie?

If the govenator decides to proceed with the execution of Tookie Williams he will once again prove himself to be a "girlie man." Killing Stanley Williams is not a real mans decision. Changing his sentence to life withouth parole is.

One Question:

Someone in the White House notified the media that Valerie Plame was employed by the CIA? Was anyone at Fox News notified? If not, why not?

Did you have a nice weekend? Good.

Now check out this stuff:

Send this article to your still bush supporting friends. Marine Bodies Sent To Families On Commercial Airliners
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.
------

The biggest. scandal. ever. Revealed by Sherlock Google at Kos. It's good. That Randy Duke Cunningham scandal points to even bigger scandals... and you know who.
Phony Front Companies Cycle Millions Back to GOP! House Staffer, DELAY
------

Oh boy, Bill Frist, expects that the senate and the administration will come to a deal regarding torture. What the fuck? What deal? Oh god. Read this.
------

This is sick. WaPo article on Darwin Debate in Georgia. Get this... "Rogers soon began a quest to challenge what she sees as educators' blind faith in evolution". LOL. Blind faith in evolution? Somebody help me. This woman was concerned because her son was interested in dinosaurs which were said to have lived millions ago in his books. But that cannot be because the earth, she said, is only thousands of years old. Mind you, this woman is a lawyer. God help us.
------

Frist claimed on Fox News Sunday morning, "For the last 10 or 11 years, I have no idea no earthly idea at any point in time how much stock of anything, not just that particular stock [HCA], but all of the stocks that I’ve owned in the past. And that’s good, because I’m able to put it aside and not worry about it."

He most certainly does. He is a liar. Think Progress has proof.
------

Republicans are just plain playground bullies whose first sexual encounter was with an animal and maybe their last. Americablog reports: Republicans say if anyone questions Alito's ethics they'll bring up Chappaquiddick Yawn. I think we've heard enough about that.
------

John Amato of Crooks and Liars was interviewed for the LA Times magazine. Way to go!
.

For Eugene McCarthy

When Earth's last picture is painted
And the tubes are twisted and dried
When the oldest colors have faded
And the youngest critic has died
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it
Lie down for an aeon or two
'Till the Master of all good workmen
Shall put us to work anew
And those that were good shall be happy
They'll sit in a golden chair
They'll splash at a ten league canvas
With brushes of comet's hair
They'll find real saints to draw from
Magdalene, Peter, and Paul
They'll work for an age at a sitting
And never be tired at all.
And only the Master shall praise us.
And only the Master shall blame.
And no one will work for the money.
No one will work for the fame.
But each for the joy of the working,
And each, in his separate star,
Will draw the thing as he sees it.
For the God of things as they are! -- Rudyard Kipling

Christmas Tips

Christmas can be excessive at our house, but I'm still not ready to follow the advice of those killjoys at Money magazine who advice us to "shop sensible" and "avoid debt." Whay don't they just "bite me."

Obviously these folks have never put off their kids' immuizations so they could use the money to buy more icicle lights at Wal-Mart.

Oh, calm down. When's the last time you actually knew someone with typhus? I thought so.

What makes them the experts? A few diplomas from some so-called Ivy League school, a high six-figure salary and a bony ol' trophy wife?

Gosh, I hope that doesn't sound bitter.

It's just that when it comes to Christmas, you're not supposed to be safe and sensible. If God had wanted us to be sensible, he wouldn't have invented a food dehydrator that can make one hundred pounds of beef jerky in minutes, the singing bird clock ("Honey! We're gonna be late; it's already half past the sparrow's ass!"), or Big mouth Billy Bass, the Singing Rubber Fish.

You can follow the magazine's holiday "tips" or use my real-world suggestions in parentheses. Don't thank me now.Thank me on December 25, preferably with a gaily wrapped gift that cost way more than it should and sent you spiraling into good old-fashioned proud-to-be-an-American 22.5 percent APR debt.

1. Make a list. Ask yourself if everyone tryly belongs on the list.
(Sure, I could cut out my high school friend that I haven't seen in two decades, but she's sweet as a Harry & David tangelo and she's the only person in North America who still thinks I weigh one hundred and five pounds.)

2. Set limits. As you're making your list, write down a maxiumum dollar limit and stick to it.
(Okay, I'm renewing my subscription to Money but I'm only paying you three bucks. How do you like it?)

3. Be realistic. Buy only gifts that you can afford to buy with cash.
(Fine by me. What will it be for you, Big Red or Juicy Fruit?)

4. Trim expenses by making some presents yourself.
(That's fine for those of you who have never had to tell a paramedic, "See, I borrowed my neighbor's glue gun......")

5. Buy in bulk: A case of wine, elegant candles or tins of homemade cookies also make great hostess gifts.
(You call this sensible? How bout' a twelve-pack, some Bic lighters, and some delicious homemade beef jerky? I've got plenty, you know.)

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

The older dictators fell because they never could supply their subjects with enough bread, enough circuses, enough miracles and mysteries. Nor did they possess a really effective system of mind-manipulaton.
Under a scientific dictator, education will really work - with the result that most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution. There seems to be no good reason why a thoroughly scientific dictatorship should ever be overthrown. -- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1958

It can naturally be argued that an administration headed by boygeorgebush is anything but "scientific" since the consensus, at least among the intelligent people I know, is that the poor son-of-a-bitch is dumber than a box of rocks. But then we must remember that he ain't really running the show--merely fulfilling his role as dummy, stooge, puppet, and patsy.

For a study which might shed some light on who's really in control I recommend The Wave Series by Laura Knight-Jadczyk, which is where I found Huxley's comment.

Echoes From The Past

As I poked around the barn early this morning for holiday decorations, I was reminded of some memorable decorations from my growing up years.
My favorite tree was a scraggly Douglas Fir purchased late in the season. It had one branch extending about a foot beyond the others, which my mother and I found ridiculously funny. We didn't think to prune the errant branch, but instead took turns imitating it with one outstreteched arm causing us to convulse in snorting giggles, an activity much frowned upon by my daddy.
I'm almost sure the tinsel icicles we draped over the branches contained lead were removed from the market by the EPA. I recall some fancy plastic icicles that miraculously gathered light, and then produced an errie glow when the lights were extinguished. Probably they were radioactive.
Then we got one of those butt ugle silver ones that I swear we must have used for 10 years. Funny what one remembers.

MUTHA-FUCKER!!!!!!

I just got home and saw that one of my heroes died today. It's down at the bottom of the "today's news" on the left-hand side of the blog, too.

Fucking Dick Cheney, the most evil fucking cyborg motherfucker in the UNIVERSE --- that cocksucker will NEVER DIE --- but Richard Pryor kicks at 65.

Further proof that there is no justice in the universe.

And yes, I have a pretty good idea of how much pain & suffering he'd endured these last few years, and I'm sure that he's probably really fucking relieved, wherever in the universe he may (or may not) be.

Richard Pryor (I know, this will come as a shock) was one of my earliest influences. Him, Brother Dave Gardner (the 'be-bop preacher'), "Sanford & Son," and Bill Cosby's second album, "I started out as a child..." --- that's where I got this twisted/jaded/fucked-up sense of humor. Sure, Lily Tomlin, Gilda Radner, those influences weren't far behind --- but Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx were the ones who permanently imprinted my brain.

And to be felled by a mere heart attack --- it's so... anticlimactic. If you've seen "Live On The Sunset Strip" a few dozen times, you know that the guy who runs down the street ON FIRE is a little more than ordinary. The guy who murdered his own car with a .357 magnum --- can't just croak. It's so... pedestrian. Anybody who survives exploding freebase, multiple heart attacks, and 19 years of Multiple Sclerosis --- can't just DIE.

There should've been massive explosions after a 40-day orgy, with Lippazaner stallions and nekkid showgirls on the side. And commemorative condoms for all. Maybe some tiny little cokespoon necklaces.

According to CNN, his wife (number 12? Thirteen?) tried to revive him from a heart attack as the ambulance was on its way. Personally, I'd rather believe that Richard Pryor went out the same way that his father did --- with an orgasm and a nasty smile. Coming & going at the same time.

The world will never be the same, and no one can fill those shoes. Oh, sure, every time there's a hot new black male comic, "he's the next Richard Pryor" --- but there will never be another one like that. And Chris Rock can kiss my ass.

The assholes of this universe go on forever, but the good ones are taken too soon. Doesn't it just fucking figure?

The war on christmas comes to Long Island

Sometimes I wonder if these "liberals" are just doing this stuff to irk the shit out of Long Islander, Bill O'Lielly. Christmas has always been commercialized in the public square. What is the big deal?

Today's Newsday reports:

Mitchell Pashkin, 39, an attorney from Huntington, filed his suit in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, saying the nativity scene, Christmas tree and two signs on the Village Green that read "Peace on Earth" violated his constitutional rights because of their religious overtones.
(...)
Judge Leonard Wexler helped broker a compromise between Pashkin and the town Friday afternoon that allowed the tree ceremony to take place, Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone said. The deal calls for the town to put up large signs stating the nativity scene was donated by Huntington's Knights of Columbus and that the menorah came from the Chabad-Lubavitch in Melville, Petrone said. The signs are expected to be up Saturday and also must say that the nativity scene and the menorah are not town property.

Yesterday's Newsday recounted another Long Island shitstorm:

When the Rev. Nick Zientarski invoked the name of Jesus Christ during his traditional blessing of the official Christmas tree lighting in Manhasset last week, he had no idea he had signed on as a soldier in the culture wars over Christmas.

Even as he spoke, the Roman Catholic priest said he could hear North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony."

Oh you can just smell the shit hitting the fan after Jon Kaiman opened his mouth during the ceremony while the priest was speaking. Every year a different person is called upon to lead the tree lighting ceremony.

A collective gasp came from the 200 adults and children gathered around the gazebo across from Town Hall. Nothing has been the same since in this well-heeled community that counts at least a dozen houses of worship in about 2 square miles.

"I have to tell you that Manhasset is in an uproar" over Kaiman's remarks, said Christine Roberts, who is Jewish and attended the ceremony with her two sons. "It really was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. There is a lot of hostility going around. Angry letters to the editor of the local paper. Angry conversations. Insanity has absolutely overtaken this town." Read the whole debacle here. heh.

Ellis Henican, outspoken Newsday columnist, both friend and foe of Bill O'Lielly had this to say in his biting commentary on page 2 yesterday...

OK, let me say this right up front so there will be no misunderstanding.

There is no war on Christmas.
Can I be any plainer than that? There is no war on Christmas.

What there is instead is a handful of dopey or impolite people, on both sides of an emotionally charged debate, who don't have the foggiest understanding of the uniquely American separation between church and state.

(...)

Have you seen the parking lot at the Roosevelt Field mall? Have you tried to get within a block of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree? Good luck finding a seat this year at midnight Mass.

If Christmas were doing any better, we'd still be lighting Advent candles into July. (he goes on to rip Falwell a new one.)

Newsday, Long Island's official newspaper, has been printing a lot about Christmas lately, probably to show that there is no war on Christmas. Insannity and O'Lielly are L.I. denizens as you know, but they hardly represent your typical Islander, thank gawd. We just want to hang our lights on our houses and get along with everyone.

• How to decorate your tree like a pro. Some guy who charges $1000 to professionally decorate rich people's homes gives advice.
• Christmas TV shows schedule There are lots of Christmas episodes this week.
• They are making a movie about a Christmas Tiff in Greenlawn, an independent film titled "The Town That Banned Christmas," a holiday comedy about a community that stopped Christmas because of an out-of-control holiday decorating contest.
• An hilarious piece about a "Man's Man Christmas" (Do not build a lighted arch made with PVC over your driveway. ... the arch is ugly. In the daylight it looks like a plumber's revenge for an unpaid bill.)
• Even the President is attempting to be inclusive, wishing readers of his "holiday card" "best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness 2005" heh.
• The war on Sears and Target
• Charlie Brown's Christmas 40 years later.

There was even a 2 page spread illustration the difference between a Holiday Tree and A Christmas Tree. who knew?

Happy Holidays.

Bush On The Constitution

The invented ruler is wiping his ass on the Constitution, again.

"It's just a Goddamn piece of paper."

The Blackhorse Prayer

On a Easter Sunday 1969, Gordon Livingston, M.D.
passed among the guests at a change-of command ceremony in Vietnam for Colonel Patton and handed eveyone copies of something he had written the night before. He called it "The Blackhorse Prayer."

God, our Heavenly Father, hear our prayer. We acknowledge our shortcomings and ask thy help in being better soldiers for thee. Grant us, O Lord, those things we need to do they work more effectively. Give us this day a gun that will fire ten thousands rounds a second, a napalm that will burn for a week. Help us to bring death and destruction wherever we go, for we do it in thy name and therefore it is meet and just. We thank thee for this war, fully mindful that, while it is not the best of all wars, it is better than no war at all. We remember that Christ said "I come not to send peace, but a sword," and we pledge ourselves in all our works to be like Him. Forget not the least of thy children as they hide from us in the jungles; bring them under our merciful hand that we may end their suffering. In all things, O God, assit us, for we do our noble work in the knowledge that only with they help can we avoid the catastrophe of peace that threatens us ever. All of which we ask in the name of thy son, George Patton. Amen.

There were some high-ranking people there, including General Creighton Abrams, the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam. There were also a lot of journalists. One of them ask Patton if that was the official unit prayer.

Dr. Gordon Livingston was arrested and an investigation was launched to see if he was a candidate for court-martial. They decided against it. It would have been inconvenient to try a West Point graduate who could testify firsthand about war crimes. So they sent him home as "an embarrassment to the command." He subsequently resigned from the army and worked with many others to end the war. They were not immediately successful. It took four years and 25,000 addtional American deaths before the last U.S. soldiers finally lelt.

Twenty-six years later Dr. Livingston went back to Vietnam, accompanied by seventeen menbers of his old unit as well as his son Michael, whom he had found there as an infant in an orphanage during the war. Nearly all traces of them having been there had been obliterated.

"As I stood on the site of that 1969 change-of-command cermony I remembered the anger and the doubt and the fear I felt on that Easter Sundy when, with the help of a prayer, I was reborn."

Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.

More reasons to support HR 550. The Republicans know no moral code.

And neither do some Democrats from Connecticut.

------------
PS: What is so shocking about snow in December? The news media acts like it's the end of the world in the east and northeast. It's only snow. There are plows.

Here on Long Island, which sticks out into the warmer ocean, it's 'slushing'. The slush is forming overhead and then plopping to the ground. Now that's strange... and it makes a weird sound on the roof. For you warm people, usually slush forms when it rains on top of snow or when snow is melting rapidly on the ground. Snow is better than slush. Hope it doesn't freeze.

Tsunami Survivors

NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP.

"After it was swept and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.
.

blogging blind

I know, I know, I'm a terrible person, I haven't even BEEN HERE for over two weeks. Shit happens. But I'm back (partially) now, so quitcherbitchin'.

You know that you've become (willingly or un-) a tough old bitch when... you drive yourself home from your own colposcopy. Yes, Jake went with me, but his driver's license is outta whack, so I hadda drive to & fro... BUT...

You know that it's true love when he not only goes into the drugstore (ALONE!) to buy maxipads for you, but he also returns with MUCHO CHOCOLATE!!!

You know that your niece is getting spoiled (GETTING?!?!) when she not only calls you for a ride to work (40 miles away, ONE WAY), THE DAY AFTER YOUR CERVIX WAS WEED-WHACKED TO HELL AND BACK --- but also asks you to bring last night's ONE NIGHT STAND (hers, not mine!) to work AT THE SAME TIME. I'm buying Rana a solid-brass pair to wear around her neck, 'cause that shit takes BALLS.

You know that the "holidays" are gonna suck EXTRA-HARD when... well, fuck, they just DO. It ain't like y'all need to hear my whining shit again, just know that I've been tit-deep in other people's shit for a while now, and sooner or later, my head's finally gonna break surface so that I can breathe & write again.

I ain't dead, I just ain't bitching at Y'ALL right now, that's all.

Received In An E-Mail:

Emergency Petition to Filibuster PATRIOT Act!

House and Senate negotiators have struck a deal on reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act, leaving many of the bill's worst provisions intact. Before leaving for recess, several senators were threatening to filibuster this legislation if it contained these provisions. Let's call on them to go all the way to fight for our civil liberties!
Tell your senators to filibuster the USA PATRIOT Act by signing this emergency petition!

http://pfaw.kintera.org/PatriotActFilibuster

If passed:

… the Justice Department will retain the authority to investigate American citizens without judicial oversight, a power that is invoked more than 30,000 times each year.

… the government will still be able to search individuals' private property without notifying them.

… authorities will still be able to search citizens' library records, medical records, school records, and financial records virtually unchecked by the judiciary. The Senate has an opportunity to take a stand for one of Americans' most cherished traditions.

--the right to be free from government intrusion.
Tell your senators to filibuster the USA PATRIOT Act by signing this emergency petition!

-- Your Allies at People For the American Way


And while I'm at it, here's a handy little link for contacting your U.S. Senators and Representative. Click, type in zip code and let 'er rip.

What is wrong with the last sentence in this article?

Ann Coulter Cuts University Speech Short

By SHELLEY K. WONG
Associated Press Writer
Chicago Tribune
December 8, 2005, 4:10 AM CST

STORRS, Conn. -- Conservative columnist Ann Coulter cut short a speech at the University of Connecticut amid boos and jeers, and decided to hold a question-and-answer session instead.

"I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am," Coulter told the crowd of 2,600 Wednesday.

Before cutting off her speech after about 15 minutes, Coulter called Bill Clinton an "executive buffoon" who won the presidency only because Ross Perot took 19 percent of the vote.

Coulter's appearance prompted protests from several student groups. About 100 people rallied outside the auditorium where she spoke, saying she spread a message of intolerance.

"We encourage diverse opinion at UConn, but this is blatant hate speech," said Eric Knudsen, a 19-year-old sophomore journalism and social welfare major who heads campus group Students Against Hate.

It wasn't the first time Coulter has had trouble at a university speech. In October 2004, two men ran onstage and threw custard pies as she was giving a speech at the University of Arizona.

UConn junior Kareem Mohni, 20, said he was disgusted by his peers' reaction to Coulter.

"It really appalled me that we're not able to come together as a group and listen to a different view in a respectful environment," Mohni said.

Poll at CNN:

CNN.com

Can the United States 'win' the war in Iraq?

Yes, within two years 14% 28,392 votes

Yes, but a long haul 25% 51,590 votes

No 62% 128,117 votes

Parents! Make Sure Your Children Are Well Provided For!

And just in time for Christmas!

Babybushtoys

And thanks to The Fat Lady Sings.

Please Don’t Take the Bait

Be careful Democrats, Independents and clear thinking Republicans. Please don’t take the bait. Don’t get too caught up in the Pelosi/Dean/Murtha differences when it comes to how and when to end this war. Don’t take your eye off the ball.

Keep your focus on how we got into this war just as sharply as how we get out. One thing we all have in common is that we were led into this war based on lies. While Cheney uses words like “spineless” regarding those who say we must somehow end this war, remember it is more spineless to tell lies in order to take American troops into a needless war of choice. It is much more difficult to come up with factual reasons for a war than to simply tell untruths.

This division between Democrats is a smoke cloud probably stoked by a Rovian plan. Do you think the Republicans are in lockstep in their attitude about the war? I doubt it. But somehow the story is now about a Democratic split rather than the big picture. The big picture is still why we got into this war and the sharper focus must remain there. The old “divide and conquer” plan has been put into place by the Republicans. Divide the Democratic party and weaken it by half. Turn the dogs upon themselves and you have the dogs injuring one another. They do half your work for you. We just mustn’t allow that to happen.

While different people may have different opinions we can’t allow those differing opinions to be used as weapons against us. We can tolerate the differences as long as we keep cohesion in the party. Do we bring the troops home today, next week, six months from now or even a year from now? The bottom line is to bring them home as soon as possible. That’s the bottom line now, but we must continue to bring the facts to the forefront. The bush administration put those soldiers in Iraq and the reasons they gave for doing so were not honest and not truthful.

There may be a new soccer field in Iraq as bush stated yesterday, but our soldiers did not contract to fight a war to sod soccer fields in Iraq. That was not their cause and it’s no justification for a war. Had it not been for this war perhaps we would be able to provide new homes for the still-homeless on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, even new soccer fields there too.

Please don’t allow this to become about what Democrats think--instead, let's focus on the one thing we know for sure. This war never should have been. Not many doubt that now. So rather than concentrate on how individual Democrats feel about ending the war, we must remember it was the bush administration who got us into this war. And the weapons they used to sell this case do not exist. Had they not lied, no one would have died. This is the war we find ourselves in today and it will continue until the people of the United States have seen enough bloodshed. Some of us have already seen enough, others may tolerate more. Just keep in mind that had the Republicans told the truth, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.

Colonel Ted S. Westhusing

"Having written a last note, and placed it by his bed in his trailer on a U.S military base near Bagdad, on the afternoon of June 5th, 2005 Colonel Ted S. Westhusing put his 9-mm. service pistol to his head an blew his brains out. He was 44. Survived by a wife and three young children."

The note said.

"I cannot support a mission that leads to corruption, human rights abuse, and liars.
I am sullied. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. Death before being dishonored any more."

Serious Question

Can anyone explain how Saddam Hussein can just refuse to come to his trail?
All I've heard from the crackhead supporters of this war is that Saddam was a very bad man, so even if the war was wrong, he needed to be taken out.
I don't get it! We're bringing Democracy to Iraq and we can't even get this madman to appear in court?

Wolfowitz, Through the Ages and Stages

Once upon a time...

“Speaking to journalists from Southeast Asia January 28, the Defense Department official drew upon the threat as a rationale for seeking to disarm the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

”Wolfowitz noted that Iraqi state institutions participate in hiding and concealing Saddam Hussein's weapons. Saddam Hussein's son, Qusay, heads a large group of security and intelligence personnel that conceals Iraq's illegal weapons from the United Nations weapons inspectors, he said.

"The Defense Department official estimated that there are "some twenty Iraqi intelligence and security people hiding weapons for every single inspector there is in Iraq."

"The United States, he added, knows there are ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and "a whole range of terrorist groups, including al Qaeda."

"The United States also knows that "Saddam has these weapons," Wolfowitz said.

"The United States, he continued, is not prepared to wait until the Baghdad regime turns such weapons over to a terrorist group such as al Qaeda.

"Reprising the events that led up to the September 11 terror attacks on the United States in which 3,000 people were killed, Wolfowitz noted that by June of 2001, it was already "too late to do anything in Afghanistan."

(U.S.Embassy link)


Then, back in May of 2003...

“Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz cited bureaucratic reasons for focusing on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and said a "huge" result of the war was to enable Washington to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia.

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason," Wolfowitz was quoted as saying in a Pentagon transcript of an interview with Vanity Fair.

"The magazine's reporter did not tape the telephone interview and provided a slightly different version of the quote in the article: "For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."

(USA Today link)


And yesterday...

"Yesterday, the world’s most famous comb licker, spoke at the National Press Club. After his speech he was asked the following, "How do you account for the intelligence failures regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?"

"Well," he said after a long pause, "I don't have to."

(Washington Post link)

I'd Celebrate a National Holiday for This Man

Imagine John Lennon.

Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try,
No hell below us, Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people living for today...

Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too,
Imagine all the people living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one.


I can't believe it's been 25 years.

O'Lielly at it again...

This man needs a reality check. He lives on Long Island. His mother lives a block from me. We are absolutely inundated with Christmas here on Long Island and yet we are very ethnically diverse. Retail stores seem to rely on Christmas shoppers too. What the hell is the problem? That Christmas isn't following us into the bathroom? Gosh, NYC is awash in Christmas. Large stores spend millions decorating their windows for the season. Where does he come up with this stuff?

Apparently he believes that groups exist solely to ensure that no one celebrates christmas if you listen to the O'Lielly Factor radio show. It happens to be a federal holiday and many people have the day off to do what they wish to do. I don't want anything to do with Columbus, but I cheerfully enjoy the day off and the long weekend in October. Who are these grinches that want to steal christmas then? And do they really exist or are they a figment of his imagination? And if there are a couple of people who hate christmas and want it eradicated, I highly doubt that they could get away with it... especially with O'Lielly on the case.

On his radio show on Dec 2 he said (mediamatters.org):

I am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. I'm gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that. And we have succeeded. You know we've succeeded. They are on the run in corporations, in the media, everywhere. They are on the run, because I will put their face and their name on television, and I will talk about them on the radio if they do it.

Oh my. He hates Jews! He's using code words. "anti-christian" "corporations" "media". He usually uses the obvious code word for Jews, "liberals" but not on this day... but it's ok, he's not fooling anyone.

He later added: "There is no reason on this earth that all of us can not celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together," cautioning that "anyone who tries to stop us from doing it is gonna face me."

He wants "all of us" to celebrate peace and love together or he'll horrify those who try to stop it? Is he nuts? Why yes. We are at war. I believe O'Lielly referred to it as WWIII recently. How can anyone celebrate peace and love when we are killing and being killed simultaneously? He needs a falafel rub. Badly.

From the December 2 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

"You know, I have a memory of me sitting on my stairs in my Levittown house, four rooms, and looking at this Christmas tree about 5:30 in the morning, my parents were still asleep, my sister was still asleep. And I just stood -- I just sat on the stairs and stared at that Christmas tree with all the gifts underneath...

... And I submit to you that 80 percent of Americans feel the way that I do. All right? That they just remember as a child the joy the season brought.

First of all he didn't live in Levittown. He lived in a house built by Levitt. He grew up on the block exactly behind mine. You can see the house from here now that the leaves are off the trees. This isn't Levittown. I know where I live. Maybe he fell on his head when he slipped on a loofa.

I highly doubt that 80% of the populace has happy memories of Christmas. Maybe they enjoyed the presents if they got any, but the season positively sucks for many Americans who realize just how lousy their lives are after watching all the happy television shows that are exactly the opposite of real life, or those who cannot afford to shop until they drop, or those who are sick, or insane or in Iraq or their loved one is in Iraq or dead or whatever.

Someone's gotta stop this guy. See the link above for information about how to complain about his hatefulness.

Merry Holidays!

Dems Fear Backlash at Polls

Hogwash.

According to WaPo this morning, some are saying that the harsh antiwar comments of late may hurt the Democrats and is creating a rift in the party. Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi have been outspoken, as well as well as John Murtha and John Kerry.

I've seen news reports where there is concern about the divided party. Now if you ask me, what is wrong with certain politicians expressing concerns of the American people rather than party politics? Maybe the American people are sick and tired of all this party nonsense. The Democrats are really no different than the Republicans, so it's good to see some people speaking on behalf of the people rather than the interests of war profiteers.

BTW, Michael Reagan said that Howard Dean should be "hung for treason" on his radio show. heh. If anyone should be hung for treason, I could give him a list.

Diebold Insider Spills The Beans

In today's episode of "Have you signed Rush Holt's Petition Yet?" Raw Story is reporting that a "whistleblower from electronic voting heavyweight Diebold Election Systems Inc. raised grave concerns about the company’s electronic voting technology and of electronic voting in general, bemoaning an electoral system the insider feels has been compromised by corporate privatization."

The insider also claims that Diebold may be involved with election tampering in Georgia in 2002, where "nearly 60 percent of the state’s electorate by county switched party allegiances between the primaries and the general election." The insider is also skeptical about the Ohio 2005 elections and also adds that concerned citizens should present on election nights however Diebold officials are present and bar civilians from observing in many cases.

Be sure to read the details at Raw Story because our democracy is at stake.

Sign the Voter Confidence Petition in Support of H.R. 550
.

Headline of the Day:

John Aravosis Rips Ford Motor Company A New Asshole

Click, read, and scroll. In addition to the lead article, there's:

Ford Motor Company's Anti-gay Agenda
- Ford abandons gays (12/3)
- Ford embraced Hitler, hated Jews (12/3)
- Anti-gay Ford wants a bail-out (12/4)
- Ford confirms it caved to appease anti-gay bigots (12/5)
- The NATION: Ford and the Fuhrer (12/5)
- The hate that Ford is embracing (12/5)
- Every national gay group calls on Ford to stop its corporate gay-bashing (12/5)
- Ford caught lying to NYT (12/6)
- Former Bush White House officials negotiated anti-gay deal for Ford (12/6)
- How the Internet took on Ford (12/6)
- NYT on the controversy (12/6)
- AP on the controversy (12/6)
- CNN Money on the controversy (12/6)
- BrandWeek: Ford pulls ads (12/6)
- Chicago Tribune on the buying power of the gay community (12/7)

“McCain: Most Dangerous Man in America”

"I would ... revise our policies concerning these rogue states: Iraq, Libya, North Korea - those countries that continue to try to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. ... I'd institute a policy that I call 'rogue state rollback.' I would arm, train, equip, both from without and from within, forces that would eventually overthrow the governments and install free and democratically elected governments. As long as Saddam Hussein is in power, I am convinced that he will pose a threat to our security."
-John McCain (2000 debates)



Bill Scher gives a pretty convincing post at the Bill Scher blog at the Huffington Post.

For God's Sake, If You Were Thinking Of Journalism As A Career, Get Out Now!

Couple of weeks ago it's revealed that boygeorge wanted to blow up Al-Jazeera and was only talked out of it by Tony Blair.

Then we read that Iraqi journalists have been paid by the DOD to publish propaganda pieces favorable to the United States.

And now an Iranian airplane carrying dozens of journalists crashes and burns in Tehran in a crash eerily similar to the 9/11 incidents.

Taking the “Merry” out of Merry Christmas

Why the hell is Hillary concerned about flag burning at this time? With Rice in Germany basically saying that any country where we have secret prisons better keep their mouth shut or she’ll tell their people some dirty little secrets, who the hell cares about flag burning? Our flag has way more problems than worrying about being burned, way more problems.

The flag has already been charred around the edges, if not completely burned up. These past three years our flag has been taken to war and it’s covered in blood. Now we discover that it has gone into secret prisons around the world and been used as a weapon of torture. It has been sold in the name of false freedom. Our flag looks so bad these days.

Those of us who see the disgusting acts that have been committed in our name and that of our country wonder how much longer it can go on and how much worse must it get before we see a change. How many more must suffer and die? It seems this is America’s darkest hour and our flag’s saddest time.

We are actually debating whether Americans may torture human beings and at the same time claim to be a country of God. How can that be? While so many Americans worship at religious altars, they close their eyes to inflicting pain and agony on other human beings. We aren’t a country of God, we’re a country of hypocrites. Only a sick and diseased religion would support inflicting agony on others.

We are supposed to believe Christmas time is a celebration of Jesus’ birth. We’re supposed to celebrate at the same time a war continues to roll on into hell? There isn’t enough tinsel and colored lights this year to mask the ugliness of reality.


Merry Christmas? I don’t think so. It’s very difficult to be “Merry” this Christmas.

Verified Voting

Blanton's And Ashton's (the blogger formerly known as Frogsdong) writes:

HR 550 provides a federal standard for voting machine accountability and really ought to be passed, but is languishing in the House Administration Committee. Curiously, a very similar bill was introduced in 2003, H.R. 2239 I.H., the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003. Had that been passed, we would not be worrying about passing H.R. 550 in time for 2006.

Some of our Representatives are addressing problems with their legislation, such as with H.R. 550, and trying to solve problems before they grow any larger. Why is this legislation taking so long to pass? It has 159 co-sponsors and bipartisan support in the House. It was strongly endorsed by the bipartisan Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform. It is in the House Administration Committee and that committee has done nothing with it to date except sit on it. What is going on in the House Administration Committee?

The blogswarm continues...

Have you signed the petition yet at Rush Holt's website?


------

Bringing the Troops Home:
Just to reiterate what Missouri Mule posted yesterday.
Today is national call in day: National call-in day is Tuesday, December 6th, and the phone number to reach the Congressioanl switch board is (800) 614-2803.
The message will be:

I'm calling to ask (beg, demand) Congressperson______________ to bring our troops home now. Please call and pass this on.

Neocons vs. Darwin

Have you wondered why all this Darwin bashing has been going on lately? Would the neocons be the driving force? Could be, and it’s all right here for you to read. It’s all about controlling society. You see the neocons feel that if people don’t believe there is a heavenly reward after death, well hell, they might do some bad things while they’re here on earth. As if that isn’t happening already. Science is advancing daily and it’s coming too close to disproving the Adam and Eve fantasy. What to do? Discredit science in order to keep the heaven myth going.

This is a must read.

Origin of the Specious
Why do neoconservatives doubt Darwin? (Link to Reason.com)

Here is a quote from the piece.

“Kristol [Himmelfarb's hubby] agrees with this view. "There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people," he says in an interview. "There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work.”

James Walcott (JamesWalcott.com) translates that to mean:

“Translation: 'We cognitive elites know religion is a crock, but it helps keep the bubbas in line, so we must pretend to be in sympathy with it.'”

You nailed it, Mr. Walcott.

Fried Rice Again?

Condi Rice is in Europe trying to persuade Eurpeans that Amerka dose not condone, encourage or engage in torture when it comes to handling detaines in the war on terriorism.

Let's face it. Bush and his Axis of Greed could use all the international help it can get in Iraq (and eleswear).

Condi is playing the word game on torture and Redition (the practice in which the CIA apprehends a suspected terrorist and transports the person to another country for interrogation) and the horror stories continue to emerge.

In one case the CIA wrongfully imprisoned a German citizen for five months and then pressed the German gov. to keep quiet about the awful espisode. One College professor whose identity was offered by al Qaeda turned out to be innocent, had given the al Qaeda member a bad grade and the CIA galloped off in pursuit .

The German case if hardly an exception. But Rendition which may or may not lead to torture, is in some ways a separate issue from the matter of torture.

I would think this would pose some serious legal questions. The list of the the six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" that were insituted in 2002 apparently dose not count as torture to Condi or the current administration.

If these practices being sanctioned are not holding themselves accountable for these abuses then Fried Rice's we-so-not- torture statements have zero meaning. Since when to the means justify the ends?

Delay

“Judge tosses conspiracy charges against ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but allows money-laundering charges, according to AP.”

This according to email from CNN

BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW

National call-in day is Tuesday, December 6th, and the phone number to reach the Congressioanl switch board is (800) 614-2803. The message will be:

I'm calling to ask (beg, demand) Congressperson______________ to bring our troops home now. Please call and pass this on.

John Kerry Urges Bush to Replace Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON: Senator John Kerry (D - Mass.) made the following statement, issued to RAW STORY, following Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s speech this morning on Iraq. Rumors are circulating that Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) could be tapped to replace Rumsfeld.

Excerpt: “Brave American troops are serving heroically under very difficult circumstances. Time and again, they have been put in greater danger by the mistakes of this Secretary of Defense who refuses to tell the truth about what is happening in Iraq and pushes aside anyone who dares speak truth to power. The mistakes are stacked one upon another. The Pentagon is reported to be paying Iraqi newspapers to carry ghostwritten news stories, undermining American credibility. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had to publicly correct Secretary Rumsfeld because he didn't think American troops had an obligation to stop torture.

“We need a fresh start at the Pentagon for the good of American troops, so brave Americans stop paying the terrible price of this Defense Secretary's mistakes.

Read the whole thing

I wonder how the media will spin this.

We're Not Safer Yet

Things that confuse this blonde

Them: "We are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here."
Me: Our borders unsecured. So what is stopping the bad guys from coming over here from Mexico or Canada to terrorize us?
Me: Iraq was not a terrorist state in the first place. duh.

Not that I felt safer in an airplane because there was a ban on tweasers, cuticle scissors and knitting needles, why has the TSA suddenly decided to allow tweasers, small scissors, screwdrivers, etc back on the planes right before the holidays? And what's the difference between matches and a lighter? You can bring matches but not a lighter on a plane?

It almost seems more than coincidental that with Bush's falling numbers, passengers can bring sharp objects on planes. Do they want to urge terrorists to start flying the US skies again and hone their hijacking skills using screwdrivers and cuticle scissors?

Now the TSA is going to focus more on explosives. You mean that they are doing that now and they weren't doing it before?

Airports in Minnesota are testing a new passenger screening system based on behavior rather than what's in a passenger's personal grooming possessions. "Airport police said Saturday that a unit trained by former Israeli airport security experts in "behavioral pattern recognition" will begin work in January." But the American Civil Liberties Union is concerned, saying such profiling systems may violate privacy rights while providing only dubious security benefits. So how the hell do we make flying more secure without offending possible terrorists? It was ok to offend a little old lady who wanted to knit a sweater on her 6 hour flight across the country though.

Why does the President keep going on and on about the War on Terra when he and congress have done nothing about the suggestions of the 9/11 Commission to keep us safer? Link In fact they say that the US is apt to be attacked again. "Lee Hamilton, the former Democratic vice chairman of the commission: "We believe that another attack will occur. It's not a question of if. We are not as well-prepared as we should be." "

The AP also reports:

Kean and Hamilton urged Congress to pass spending bills that would allow police and fire to communicate across radio spectrums and to reallocate money so that Washington and New York, which have more people and symbolic landmarks, could receive more for terrorism defense.

Both bills have stalled in Congress, in part over the level of spending and turf fights over which states should get the most dollars.

This is ridiculous to me. Am I missing something? Of course NY and DC should get the most anti-terrorism dollars, not to mention LA, Miami, Chicago, etc. If terrorists' goal is to kill the most Americans in a single blow, why do sparsely populated states get the same rate of funding as the states with targeted cities?

Special Analysis:

"I Am Become Battle, How White Be My Tears"

An Alleged Rape Victim Is Victimized

What pray tell is a typical response to being raped? No one knows, as very few rapes are actually reported because in some instances the consequences of reporting the incident can be worse than the rape itself. This is one instance.

Dave of Seeing the Forest broke this story to the blogosphere yesterday: Rape Victim Found Guilty

Shakespeare's Sister picked it up.

"A 17-year-old girl went to police at the urging of her friends after she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including her boyfriend. The men testified that the act was consensual. After reviewing all the information and statements, prosecutors decided they didn’t think they could prove a rape allegation, and so declined to prosecute the case.

Instead, they prosecuted the victim for filing a false police report. Yesterday, she was found guilty.

The victim has never recanted her story. Instead, the decision was based on the judge’s opinion that the three men were more credible, in part because a police detective and the victim’s friends testified she did not “act traumatized” in the days after the incident." read more

Kevin Hayden of American Street attended the trial. He writes, "The judge found inconsistencies in all of the stories, thus establishing reasonable doubt in every story. Yet he convicted the victim. ‘Boys’ will be ‘boys’."

See also The Heretik for more blogs covering this story.

You Just Know It Could Happen

My favorite son-in-law sent this to me today.


Donald Rumsfeld is giving the President his daily briefing. He concludes by saying. "Yesterday 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" The President exclaims.
"That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion nerivously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and ask. "How many is a Brazillion?"

Seasons Bleatings

Betty Bowers cracked me up this month big time. She offers advice on how we Christians can fight back against those heathens who do not celebrate Christmas:

"As Christians, it is essential to remain cognizant of the seemingly illogical fact that even though we constitute the vast preponderance of Americans, we are constantly the object of cruel persecution by the majority of our fellow citizens. And during the Christmas season this insidious anti-Christian harassment most often takes the creatively sneaky form of politeness by strangers.

Therefore, it is imperative that when you see someone baring a charming smile or other outward signs of a predisposition to warmly greet (be alert for nefarious waves or other gestures meant to disarm you), you must be ready to verbally pummel this would-be well-wisher with fiery, barbed indignation. When some Darwin-worshipper or yarmulke-sporting outsider wishes you, say, "A joyous Holiday Season," treat their shocking rudeness as an opportunity to upbraid them for failing to investigate the god you worship before impetuously rushing into attempts at convivial greeting. Indeed, if someone has the temerity to wish you a so-called "Happy Holidays," you must be prepared to rebuke them with a ferocity that would melt an obese snowman from forty paces."

Read the whole thing.

Thanks Lalock for the heads up.
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BREAKING NEWS

There will be no Nativity Scene in Washington, DC this year!

The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene in Washington, DC this Christmas season. This isn't for any religious reason, they simply have not been able to find three wise men and a virgin in the Nation's capitol. There was no problem
finding enough asses to fill the stable, however.

(And thanks to Marilyn for the tip.)

We Killed 1000

Congratulations to the USA!
We made it to the 1000 mark! We have executed 1000 Americans since the resumption of executions in 1977..

Kenneth Boyd is the 1000th person to be executed The execution took place in North Carolina on December 2, 2005 at 2am.

What can you do to commemorate this occassion? Why you can submit your photo to 1000Executions.org

Meanwhile 10 Marines were killed yesterday near Fallujah.

In other news...


Babs Is Pissed

Steve Clemmons of The Washington Note says Mrs. 41 is very very angry at "Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Andy Card, nearly all of them" because her little Georgie is not faring well in the hearts and minds of the American public.

What drastic measures do you think she could take to change our hearts?

David Broder at WaPo asks in A Pox on Both Parties, When both parties have lost public confidence, where do voters turn?

HR 550 a Truly Bipartisan Bill

He'll always be Frogsdong to me. Today he writes that it's not a lunatic fringe who urge the support of HR 550. It's not a hysteria at all.

"In fact, the Government Accounting Office issued a report (the report linked here is in PDF) in which the reliability and security of electronic voting machines were said to be very shaky indeed. VerifiedVoting.org has an excellent article on this report. In response to the GAO report, the House Committee on Government Reform followed up with its own statement of the problems. Were the GAO and the House Committee on Government Reform hysterical? I don't find them even mildy amusing."

Have you signed the petition yet?

Have you blogged it? Technorati tags for this posting are:
HR 550, Votes, Elections, Verified Voting, Rush Holt

Is It Time To Grow Up Yet?

Back in the day, I was sort of a prom whore as my goal was to attend as many proms as I could before graduating from my all girls Catholic high school. I firmly believe that all girls schools make girls more boy crazy and vice versa. The good thing though is that you didn't have to attend school with all your ex's present.

My school had 2 proms and 2 of the local all boys Catholic high schools had proms. I started going to proms when I was a sophomore and if I recall correctly, I went to about 5 or 6 of them by the time I graduated... short of my goal of 10 or more. I sewed my own dresses unless my mom could find a suitable bargain. Halter dresses were all the rage and those were super easy to sew. We weren't poor. We liked bargains.

It was nothing like it is today although we did stay out all night long and watched the sunrise followed by a day at Jones Beach where we slept. Back in the day, NYC clubs like the Copacabana and Rodney Dangerfield's had prom specials. So we'd pile into our crappy old cars or maybe if we were lucky, a parent would donate the family car for the night on the town, and head to the Big Apple for a night of fabulous entertainment served up with watered down drinks apres prom. A couple of times, there were after prom parties at some mansions owned by the parents of rich kids. Those were cool too. No one rented a limo or a hotel though. We never even thought of it. In the back of our minds was the draft and wondering which boy would be called next.

Chaminade HS for Catholic Boys, just announced that it was canceling its prom for next year. This is the second Long Island HS to do so... and of course it's a Catholic school. I went to a couple of their proms. Chaminade's proms didn't appear, according to Newsday, to be quite as over the top as some of the other proms on Long Island, but in keeping with the message of the Gospel, the Marianist brother in charge thought he ought to nip it in the bud before the proms became too decadent. Apparently HS kids are into renting limos and condos or hotels for the real prom after the school prom and spending a fortune on the festivities. They have a night of sex and booze and that isn't acceptable as part a Catholic event. Whatever.

I went to HS before abortion or the pill were easily accessible so there wasn't a whole lot of intercourse going on. The condoms in boy's wallets usually disintegrated upon opening the wrapper. Sex was for the solid couples who were likely to get married. We didn't want to go to hell so we stuck to alternative means of getting off which according to President Clinton didn't amount to sex as we all know. We were young and agile and didn't need no stinking hotels when a Ford Falcon would be motel enough.

Things are more decadent today than they were when I was growing up during the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Christmas made my mom crazy for about 6-8 weeks and we were really happy when it was over although we usually got some cool presents which more than made up for the insanity. Proms were usually more trouble than not, because I was usually dating someone else by the time I had to go to a prom with the boy who had asked me 6 months prior and I spent the night missing my new squeeze hoping he'd come to the beach the next day which he would and that made for some interesting fireworks. Oh to be young and foolish... sigh.

Speaking of decadence, overspending and holidays... Did you read Mark Morford's take on the holidays? Eat My Holiday Cheer: Screw joy and togetherness. It's all about retail, just like Jesus would have wanted It's brilliant.

"Every year it seems as though we inch just that much closer to the edge, that much closer to the karmic realization that we long ago passed saturation, past the point where all our needs have been met and we now merely create endless mountains of new crap for needs we don't even really have, and you cannot help but feel we are caught in a mad downward spiral, spinning toward something that smells like apocalypse but tastes like chicken and feels very much like a revolution of spirit.

"Maybe that's it. Maybe this idea, much like being grateful to BushCo for proving that lies and pseudo-Christianity and warmongering and fiscal irresponsibility cannot last as a national agenda, is something to be cherished. All the mad marketing and all the product gluttony, they're all merely further indicators that we are just about ready to burst, to grow up, to snap the hell out of it.

"This is the nice way to think about it. This is the positive view. Let us choose it now, because the alternative is bleak and dank and dismal and to face it is to face the idea that we are all just a bunch of greedy self-serving monkeys ever lured by the shiny and the new and the spiritually empty."

Yep. It's time to grow the hell up.

It can't be too important.

It's only a local California TV station reporting the story.

Besides, with a governor like Arnold, what do they have to fear?

Weak Strain of Bird Flu Found At Sun Valley Farm.

Again, Bush makes me sick

South Africa's courts have recognized that same sex marriages are protected under their constitution.

South Africa. The other four nations allowing same-sex marriages are the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Canada

South Africa where just a few years ago, apartheid was the law. South Africans are a fairly intolerant lot.

But same sex marriage isn't about tolerance. It is about equal protection of the laws. We should not have two different sets of laws. It is bad enough that the financial inequality that is a capitalistic system--an issue discussed by James Madison--creates two kinds of justice systems. Those with money get all the justice they can afford. Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers that the greatest cause of disharmony was the differences between the haves and the have nots.

Banning gay marriage is legally creating a whole class of cannots. People who cannot inherit property if their partner dies intestate. People who cannot make medical decisions for their dying partners. People who cannot collect or enjoy benefits that others take for granted.

Why is it so important to majority of Americans to foster a type of inequality that does not affect them? How is my marriage protected by these Defense of Marriage acts? Conservatives who used to support the orderly transfer of private property, which would more likely occur under same sex marriages, should support same sex unions.

Marriage isn't a religious act. Oh sure, a couple can get married in a church, but they don't have to. The Europeans have long separated their unions into civil acts and religious ceremonies. We really do in the United States, too. A couple--and that couple might be first cousins in Texas or as young as fourteen with parental consent, as young as twelve with a judge's permission--gets licensed by the state and then is married in a ceremony that can be performed by a judge or a rabbi or a minister who was ordained by an organization advertising in the back pages of Rolling Stone. (My maternal step great grandmother was twelve when she married my great grandfather. My husband's mother was fourteen when she married her first husband.) In Texas we recognize common law or informal marriages. People just have to live together as a married couple, hold themselves out as a married couple, and bang like magic they are a married couple. Unless of course they are the same sex.

Texas went out of its way last month to amend its constitution to specifically define marriage between one man and one woman. The county clerks were already prohibited from issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples,or a man and two women or any other combination of participants, but we had to ice the cake so it speak. Marriage in Texas, according to the new constitutional amendment " is solely the union of a man and woman, and that the state and its political subdivisions could not create or recognize any legal status identical to or similar to marriage, including such legal status relationships created outside of Texas." So does that mean that marriages, which are identical to themselves, are now illegal? Does that mean that common law marriages, once legal, are now illegal?

So South Africa, is more progressive than the United States. How the hell did that happen? My students, some of which are opposed to same sex marriage, have told me that "those" people shouldn't be allowed to marry because it isn't traditional. I replied that tradition was white people used to own black people and that brown people were not allowed to speak Spanish in Texas' public schools. It was the law. One student said, "well, obviously that was wrong." Why was it wrong, I asked. How is it obvious? It was tradition. He shrugged and went to his next class without realizing he was walking and talking in circles.

It is all about the rules we ourselves decide. Bush today authorized a statue Rosa Parks. When he spoke of her civil disobedience, his words made me sick. He lied with his body language, not his words. He didn't even believe what he was saying or that he was saying it, as he read it aloud. He would have, had he been aware of Ms. Parks at the time she refused to give up her seat to a white man, been that white man who wanted his seat. Because it was traditional. It wasn't traditional in his family--a family of political figures-- to go help blacks register to vote that Freedom Summer. (Look at how much people have been expected to give for the Bush family follies. There savings, their children.) Not a family tradition to concern themselves with those who aren't their kind. And his efforts to keep equal rights from gays and lesbians while celebrating Rosa Park's defiance of a white, man made law is nauseating.

Bush honoring Rosa Parks is rather like Lester Maddox honoring Andrew Young.

Voting Schmoting

California voting summit shuts out voting reform advocates

Raw Story Reports that a California summit on voting equipment barred entry to consumer groups calling for electronic reform and stacked the panels with proponents of electronic voting officials:

• Paul Craft: one of those responsible for the 2000 Florida voting debacle.
• Dr. Brit Williams: claims paper trails would have an adverse effect on voting.
• Nick Handy: accused in Wash State of "putting the integrity of our elections at risk by installing last-minute patches to the electronic voting systems, bypassing state certification laws, and then conducting nothing more than miniscule manual recounts if the party observers request them."
• Connie Schmidt: Lied about Diebold voters in Kansas being pleased with the machines even though Diebold touch-screen machines had under- and over-reported hundreds of votes and had to be recounted.

I urge you to read the whole thing at Raw Story. It's an outrage that the taxpaying public were unable to attend a summit that is paid for by taxpayers.
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Earlier today I reported that Diebold may not be certified in North Carolina and will pull out...
This disturbing news in from Bradblog:

'IMMACULATE CERTIFICATION'!
DIEBOLD ALLOWED IN NORTH CAROLINA AFTER ALL!
Voting Company Apparently Just Kidding About Pulling Out of State!

Former Diebold Rep, Now on NC Election Advisory Board Certifies Diebold, Despite Apparent Failure to Comply with State Law Requiring Source Code Escrow!

Surprise! Diebold got certified in North Carolina today. In what the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling the "Immaculate Certification" the North Carolina State Board of Elections has decided to certify Diebold. This is the same Diebold that three days ago said that they would have to pull out of consideration in the state because they were not willing to put their buggy software source code from their flawed Voting Machines into escrow claiming they had third-party software that could not be submitted to the state. This is the same Diebold that, as BRAD BLOG correctly surmised, were apparently making faux claims about their need to pull out of NC due to a court's refusal to allow them exemption from that state law. But what else is new for a company like Diebold?

And who made the decision to go ahead and ignore the code and certify Diebold? A gentleman by the name of Keith Long was hired to be in charge of the process for the state. And what are Mr. Long's credentials to handle this job? Mr. Long was one of the Diebold representatives responsible for previously selling the Diebold voting system to the state of Georgia.

World AIDS Day, US government gets an F on care and treatment

"The Human Rights Campaign released its second annual report card today reflecting the United States’ response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic to mark World AIDS Day.

"The report card rates the U.S. government’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in four key areas: prevention, treatment and care, research and global AIDS. Sadly, the administration and Congressional leadership failed to improve since last year’s grades, and even dropped to an F in treatment and care.

"Failing marks are inexcusable, especially considering its more than two decades after the epidemic began and we’re the world’s most wealthiest country," said Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign president. "Every hour two young Americans are newly infected with HIV. At alarming rates, HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects people of color. It’s past time to put adequate resources toward preventing new infections, giving treatment and care to every individual affected and increasing research dollars to find a cure."

Much more here: (HRC website)

Actions Speak Louder than Words

I gotta admit. I'm not one to take advice. It's not that I won't, it's just that I'm particular bout' who I listen to and I'm really sure of one thing. Actions do speak louder than words. All my life I've have been offered advice. I haven't expected those offering advice to fight a war or cure a disease right in front of me but I'm always a bit less antsy if I know that he or she as actually done somethin' to earn the right to tell me what is what.

Somebody like, well Jimmy Carter.

Yeah, that's right. I said it. Jimmy Carter.

A few years ago the smilin' Georgian became the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since '59 when Castro took over.

Unlike other presidents who've busied themselves buildin' libraries to their everlastin' honor or trottin' around the globe givin' speeches at 100.00 smackers a whack, Jimmy still teaches Sunday School and builds houses for Habitat for Humanity. The man apparently has no clue about how to act ex-presidential. (Gerald Ford bein' the lone exception to this golden-goose retirement scheme when he found that nobody really wanted to hear what he had to say.)

Jimmy jumped the water on Castro's invitation, much to the consternation of the White House, then did the unforgivable. In this "We are right in everything we do BECAUSE we are at war", Carter had the audacity to insult nearly everybody. With Castro sittin' right there on the front row, the ex-pres had the impudence to suggest that maybe Fidel should live up to the words of his own constituion and institute democratic parctices in his little island dictatorship. Castro raised an eyebrow, smiled a weak smile and the next day Havana papers forgot to mention that part of the speech.

After thoroughly mortifyin' the Cubans, Carter aimed his words toward Washington and suggested that maybe the rich and affluent neighbor to the north ought to begin this healin' process by liftin' our 40-year-old economic embargo. Washington, takin' its lead from the banana republic textbook, lauded Carter's marks on democracy and barely mentioned the fact that he'd suggested a major change in our policy toward Cuba. Three heads were talkin' but the one in the middle was speakin' from the heart.

Washington must have know what was comin' since they "coincidentally" announced that Cuba might be makin' terrorist weapons on the day Carter's plane took off for Havana.

Newspapers from Washington to Boston to San Francisco lambasted Jimmy for bein' naive and a dupe of the communists.

And of course the neatest part of this is that Castro was not about to allow free expression and Washington was not about to lift the economic sanctions. (Can you remember the state that gave bushie his close and decisive count?) Carter's no fool. He knew that what he was proposin' wasn't politically acceptable, wouldn't play well in the halls of Congress and ran against all logic. The only thing it had goin' for it was that it was the right thing to do.

I could run the river with a fella like that. It my seem impractical to be a Don Quixote in the high-tech world but it beats the heck out of bein' Homer Simpson.

Reminds me of what Uncle Luther once said when someone asked him, "Wouldn't you like the president better if he just told the truth?"
Luther answered, "Yea, I'd like him. I'd sure as heck miss him, but I'd like him.

I've attended my share of commencement excercises and I have politely clapped for the speakers who mouthed inspirational platitudes and exhorted the recent grads with grand vision of their future. But to tell you the truth, I'd rather have just sat down at the corner cafe in Americus, Ga., and ask Jimmy what he's been up to.

Some heroes fight wars, some rescue crash survivors, and some simply speak what they believe is the truth, no matter how it may play on the nightly news.

Dead Line for war in Iraq, 2109

As reported in this morning’s Palm Beach Post, there have been two thousand, one hundred and nine military deaths in Iraq. That’s too many but apparently it’s not enough.

I wondered yesterday, as I watched the president shaking hands with those kids at Annapolis, how he could smile and shake their hands knowing full well he was about to send them into this apparently endless war. A war where they very well could come home in the dead of night lying in a coffin. I sure couldn’t do it.

If you’ve had a chance to look at the recently “declassified”, Victory in Iraq, bullshit you can see what a pile of crap it is. It was supposed to have been written in 2003 and updated. I couldn’t find one place where it mentioned a plan for handling the weapons of mass destruction when they were located. Funny that they would plan to invade a country because that country had chemicals and all sorts of weapons, yet they wouldn’t have a plan for dealing with the event.

If you listened to Imus this morning you heard Donald Trump talking about the war. Trump isn’t my favorite human being but you gotta give the guy credit. He didn’t get where he is today by being stupid. Trump said that a friend of his does business in Iraq and he’s over there frequently. His friend has now left the country because he said it was “too dangerous”. This friend says it doesn’t matter when the US pulls out of Iraq because no matter when, the country will go to hell. He also said that what Iraq gets next may be worse than Saddam, because it will take someone like that to control the many factions in the country.

Donald Trump’s friend is probably correct. I remember before the invasion, I think it was Tom Friedman who said that we could be opening Pandora’s box when we invaded. He made some reference to the possibility that it may take someone like Saddam to keep some sort of peace in the area.

Do we need a growing dead line or should it stop right now? We all pretty much understand the resulting problem if we bring all the soldiers home today, but will it be better after today or after tomorrow? Bush refuses to set a deadline for ending the war and he also refuses to see the dead line that grows longer and longer each day.

Diebold Day

Have you Signed the Voter Confidence Petition in Support of H.R. 550?

Diebold is such a weasley company, using Windows of all software for its electronic voting machines which can easily be hacked and manipulated, it may withdraw from North Carolina where 20 counties use Diebold at the moment. Other electronic voting machine suppliers are able to meet the requirements for NC, but Diebold cannot.

The dispute centers on the state's [NC] requirement that suppliers place in escrow "all software that is relevant to functionality, setup, configuration, and operation of the voting system," as well as a list of programmers responsible for creating the software.

That's not possible for Diebold's machines, which use Microsoft Windows, Hanna said. The company does not have the right to provide Microsoft's code, he said, adding it would be impossible to provide the names of every programmer who worked on Windows. (read the whole thing)

Diebold asked to be exempted. No way.

In California, "a different kind of showdown is brewing, where Secretary of State Bruce McPherson says he might force e-voting machine makers to prove their systems can withstand attacks from a hacker."

More links to read on Diebold (from the blogger formerly known as Frogsdong)

• Blackboxvoting.org- (lots on Diebold)
• Mother Jones - (Diebold's political machine)
• Why War (Diebold's own memos on how bad they are)
• Eff.org (discusses Diebold's "cease and desist" orders to ISPs where web sites published their internal memos on how bad they are)

Have you Signed the Voter Confidence Petition in Support of H.R. 550?
Have you told everyone you know to sign it?
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