Uh oh ...

Columnist Georgie Anne Geyer reports that Dear Leader might be losing what little sense he has:

But by all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."

Anyone besides me apprehensive about this? What next? Swilling gin while raving at portraits of past Presidents?

Think It Doesn't Pay To Be A Blonde?

Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with that expensive double-pane energy efficient kind, and today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I still hadn't paid for them.

Hellloooo . . . just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am automatically stupid. So, I told him just what his fast talking sales guy had told me last year, that in ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves!

Helllooooo? It's been a year! I told him.

There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up. He never called back.

Guess I won that stupid argument.

I bet he felt like an idiot.

News From the War

No sooner did Joe Lieberman tout that progress was being made in Iraq during his surprise visit to Baghdad, did he lose his "joe-mentum" when he spoke to troops. The main question from troops was, "When are we going to get out of here?" and other questions were raised about the body armor and upgrading the Humvees. The troops, it seems, don't feel like they are making any progress according to this report. Lieberman wore a helmet and body armor to a market he described as "bustling" and bought some sun glasses. He told soldiers that it's "important we don't lose our will." Our will, huh? He added,"To pull out would be a disaster." For whom?

One troop who didn't lose his will is Sgt. Tawan Williamson who lost part of his leg in Iraq and wants to go back into combat. The Army no longer discharges amputees who want to return to active duty.

I suppose it's a good thing that some amputees want to remain in Iraq with their buddies because the president envisions US presence in Iraq like the presence in S. Korea for the past 50 years. The president didn't mention where US presence in Saudi Arabia got us on 9/11.

Sweden takes more Iraqi refugees and does more for them than the US.
So far 2 million Iraqi's have fled their country. They are the fastest growing refugee population in the world. Since 2003, the US has only let in fewer than 800 Iraqi's, but now the US says it will allow nearly 7,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of September.

Escapist Stories Thursday

All the recent bad news got you down?

Well sit down in front of your computer and hitch a virtual tramp steamer for Spontoon Island!

Allow me to explain.

Standup philosopher George Carlin said that there were pastimes, and hobbies. The distinction, he said, was that hobbies cost money while pastimes were quite free. So I've been indulging in my favorite pastime, writing creatively for this anthology website.

The major setting for all of these stories is a small Pacific nation in the mid-1930s. It's replete with interesting characters, tropical beaches, warm ocean water, and anarcho-syndicalist military forces. There are quite a few talented contributors to the site, both writers and illustrators.

It may not be exactly your cup of tea, but hey - it's a great way to escape from reality.*


*Shameless plug - my stories are "Luck of the Dragon" and "Tales from Rain Island."

(This is cross-posted to My Two Cents.)

Pandering to their base of simpletons

Even rich, white men must be rolling their eyeballs at this load of crap.
Why the neocons are a laughing stock:

Tom Delay: “I listen to God, and what I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to devote myself to rebuilding the conservative base of the Republican Party, and I think we shouldn’t be underestimated.”

Why is Tom Delay's infidelity different from Newt Gingrich's infidelity?
Newt had participated in Clinton's impeachment while carrying on an affair with his future 3rd wife and “...was no longer committing adultery by that time, the impeachment trial. There’s a big difference.” Delay added, “Also, I had returned to Christ and repented my sins by that time.”"

And the conservatives wonder why they are losing ground.

A pause for reflection

Scientific research has found that political preferences are half genetic and half influenced by environment. Genetics don't necessarily force someone into a life of conservatism or liberalism however. When someone fears death or terrorism, they tend to become conservative. Research found that after 9/11, 38% of New Yorkers became more conservative while only 13% became more liberal. The article doesn't say whether or not those who became more conservative in NY were suffering from PTSD. Creative people and those who welcome social change tend to be more liberal and people who prefer more order and structure in their lives tend to be more conservative.

Liberals are not very happy people overall. If you ask me, fighting fascism is a full time job and quite frustrating. A Pew Research poll determined that Republicans are happier than Democrats- happiness is determined by life events as well as financial status and church membership.

-------
There is a renewed interest in history among Americans. More and more people want to relate the past with the present. The sales of history books are on the rise. (I love history. I love the future. History repeats itself. hmmm.)

The Savage Garden

For decades one of my favorite books has been The Magus by John Fowles, both versions. I have read both of them multiple times. I recently had the pleasure of finishing The Savage Garden by Mark Mills. This is only his second book and he looks relatively young which is always a good thing to my mind. I certainly hope he has many more novels in him. The Savage Garden owes quite a lot to The Magus, whether intentionally or otherwise. There are huge similarities and yet they are both wonderfully unique.

The Savage Garden takes place in Italy in 1958. A young Cambridge student of Art History is sent by his advisor to examine a very special garden in Tuscany. The garden itself is full of surprises and is not what it seems at first glance. Nor is anyone in the Docci Villa which owns the garden and surrounding property. Like The Magus there are incidental ties to the German occupation and there are almost as many twists and turns and surprises.There is more than one mystery to be solved by the protagonist and he does so brilliantly. In the end the young student comes away with much more than just his thesis. Mills' writing is so effortless that I could see the garden perfectly in my mind's eye and hear the wind and almost smell the surrounding countryside. Several hours of reading would pass in a flash. Reading like this is what I live for (after my family of course). I have no doubt I will find this book on my shelf in years to come and be delighted to read it again.

Friends who came to dinner yesterday kindly brought me a copy of Al Gore's new book, The Assault On Reason. I have plunged into it and will report soon. I have an idea he is articulating what some of us have been saying for several years now. But, of course, his weight is far more newsworthy.

How do you like this?

The Republicans are reporting that the troops may start coming home starting in September. After all that hoohah with the Dems over the bill that forced Republicans to vote for an increase in the federal minimum wage, the Republicans want the troops out of the clusterfuck, but god forbid they vote for a Democratic bill, the partisan robots with nary a nod to their constituents.

Meanwhile, a delusional president completely spins American sentiment about the war. He says that Americans want to "win." Polls say that Americans want to leave Iraq and do not care about "winning." Bush says that is not true. But he knows that he is lying. That's his job.

Why Talking to Iran Matters

US Ambassador Ryan Crocker sat down yesterday with some officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Iraqi Prime Minister's office. The topic of discussion was Iraq, but it's important that we note this one fact:

It's the first time in 27 years we've sat down at the same table for direct talks.

Ever since the Revolution of 1979 (and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed) the US and Iran have been studiously talking AT each other, and never TO each other. And all the while things have festered and grown between us. To quote The Bride in Kill Bill, "We have unfinished business."

You betcha. Starting with an apology for our CIA backing of the Mossadegh coup in the 50s (and don't think the Iranians have either forgiven or forgotten that incident), and all the way up to our continued sequestration of their assets since 1979, there are serious issues that need to be addressed. Among those issues are Iraq and the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons program.

First, Iraq: Our invasion and occupation of Iraq was the greatest boon to Iran since 1991. By first emasculating Saddam Hussein's regime and then destroying it, we created a regional power vacuum that Iran was only too glad to fill (who did the neocons expect to see step into the gap, Israel?) and now we have to deal with them on that basis. Whether our troops leave now or in 2008 or 2020, Iran will still be there and in a position to dictate matters to the Sunni Gulf states.

Believe me, it's just pure nut-cutting Realpolitik. There's no way around it.

Iran has suggested that it shoulder the burden of equipping and training the Iraqi Defense Forces. Since it appears inevitable (based on the power calculations in the region) that Iran will remain the biggest fish in the pond even if we don't leave, it will be a friend to the majority Shiite government in Baghdad. Of course, "friend" eventually becomes "client."

Their envoy also stated that our presence in Iraq is an occupation, and in that he is certainly correct. More than half of the Iraqi Parliament have signed a bill asking for a withdrawal timetable; will Bush ignore that if it comes to a vote in Baghdad? Will the al-Maliki regime go the way of Nguyen Van Thieu's, to dredge up a tired analogy?

Stay tuned.

Now, for Iran's nuclear weapons - the Genie of the Atom was released from its lair on July 29, 1945. That was almost 62 years ago, and there's no way to stuff that genie back into its bottle no matter what the US does or how hard Bush stamps his little cowboy-booted feet. The Hiroshima bomb ('Little Boy' for those playing along at home) was so simple that it didn't need to be tested - the brains at Los Alamos knew it would work. To this day, the Hiroshima or gun-type weapon remains the simplest form of nuclear weapon.

No matter what we do - whether we bomb them ourselves or allow our catspaws in Tel Aviv to do the job for us - we are going to have to adjust to the new power realities in the region. We helped create them, and we'll be stuck with them for a long time to come.

And that's why talking to Iran matters.

Cindy Sheehan Quit The Anti-War Movement

"Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

"It’s up to you now."

Read her diary entry, "Good Riddance Attention Whore"

If you turn on the news at night, what are they talking about?
Rosie vs Elizabeth (making Rosie out to be the kook even though anyone who actually watches the View can tell you that Elizabeth is the biggest pain in the ass on television), Linsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, American Idol and reporting from the WH like stenographers, not journalists. I can only stay tuned to half of "Countdown" on MSNBC because the second half is all celebrity news as if it makes one bit of difference to the future of our country. If I want celebrity news, then I would watch E!

If you talk to so called "pro-war" people, they don't even know what's going on in Iraq, but they know that "Iran is a huge threat to Israel" so we better do something about that. They don't know any details. They don't want to pollute their minds with stinking details.

I keep hearing that war is good for the economy. No one can prove it unless they have grown wealthy investing in war machines. As far as they know, Cindy Sheehan was a thorn in the side to the commander in chief. Even lefties shunned her. People are afraid to be unpatriotic as if patriotism is some sort of virtue when your country is acting like a murderous bully. Patriots in history stood up to the machine.

Cindy was my hero. I went to see her speak on several occassions. She spoke the truth about the war machine, but most people probably thought that she was a conspiracy theorist and turned her off. I wish I knew what more I could have done to help her cause. I wrote letters constantly and I showed up where I was supposed to show up. America is asleep at the wheel.

It's hard to find a competent executioner these days

It took so long for the executioners to get the lethal needle into the prisoner's arm in Ohio that he needed to take a bathroom break.

Death penalty opponents saw this as a "botched execution" and called for a moratorium on executions in Ohio. The ACLU said, "What is clear from today's botched execution is that the state doesn't know how to execute people without torturing them to death."

But Christopher Newton, the condemned man, killed his cellmate in 2001 and insisted on the death penalty. He got into jail in the first place for deliberately leaving his fingerprints on a burglary because he wanted to go to jail. He joked with prison staffers during the delay in finding a suitable vein. Newton's attorney did not seek to have the execution stalled because Newton wanted to die and his job is to "represent his client."

This story kind of makes you wonder if prison was the right place for this obviously mentally ill man.

-------
Speaking of executions in the US- Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia and Montana have made pedophilia an offense punishable by death even if no life was taken. Gov Rick Perry of Texas will sign a similar law.

Everyone thinks of changing the world

"So say, generally, the ruling classes, with such
assurance that patriotism is a noble feeling, that
the simple populace, who are ignorant of it, think
themselves, in consequence, at fault, and try to
persuade themselves that they really posses it,
or at least pretend to have it.

The sentiment, in its simplest definition, is merely
the preference for one's own country or nation above
the country or nation of any one else.

It is quite possible that governments regard this
sentiment as both useful and desirable, and of
service to the unity of the State; but one must see
that this sentiment is by no means elevated, but
on the contrary, very stupid and immoral.
Stupid, because if every country were to consider
itself superior to others, it is evident that all but
one would be in error; and immoral because it
leads all that posses it to aim benefiting their
own country or nation at the expense of every
other - an inclination exactly at variance with the
fundamental moral law, which all admit,
"Do unto others as you would not
wish them to do unto you."

"Everyone thinks of changing the world,
but no one thinks of changing himself."

Leo Tolstoy

With Muffled Drum ...

Memorial Day, 2007

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when

But I'm sure we'll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through, just the way you used to do

Till the blue skies chase the dark clouds far away

Now, won't you please say "Hello" to the folks that I know

Tell 'em it won't be long'cause they'd be happy to know that when you saw me go

I was singing this song

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when

But I'm sure we'll meet again some sunny day

- Vera Lynn

Remembering the Living

"Rather than film the war and its combat, journalist Laurence Haïm was interested in the morale of American soldiers in Iraq. With a camera on her shoulder, for three weeks she followed the 32nd brigade - also known as the Stryker unit.
"Her documentary, scheduled to be aired on the program "Exclusive Investigation" on M6, shows GIs on the edge of depression - and sometimes fully-fledged depression. In fact one soldier in three suffers from mental disorders after returning home."

More at The Broken Lives of American Soldiers.

Way to ruin a graduation, U-Massholes.

What the hell was the administration thinking at UMass when they gave andrew card an honorary degree at the commencement ceremony? A degree in what? Undermining a democratic government? Shouldn't he be in jail?
What a slap in the face to the students and faculty!

We don't need no stinking code of honor
Speaking of graduations. Darth Cheney criticized the Geneva Conventions at the West Point commencement. Instructors and even the dean of West Point have had a hard time persuading Army cadets to adhere to the principles of the Geneva Conventions during this war. So why the heck did they invite Cheney to speak? Antiwar protesters were barred from Cheney's West Point visit.

Do Not Bite the Hand That Created You

The $27 million Creation Museum, “Answers in Genesis”opens this weekend in Petersburg, Kentucky. If you've got no big plans for this Memorial Weekend, I suggest that you go and then give me a full report. The "museum" website touts:

A fully engaging, sensory experience for guests. Murals and realistic scenery, computer-generated visual effects, over fifty exotic animals, life-sized people and dinosaur animatronics, and a special-effects theater complete with misty sea breezes and rumbling seats. These are just some of the impressive exhibits that everyone in your family will enjoy.

This article at WCPO reveals names of people who have attended the museum already and thought it was great. (Jersey Cynic, get them on the phone for me.)

There's a website devoted to debunking “Answers in Genesis Museum” and they will hold a Rally For Reason at the gates on opening day, Monday. They do not challenge the "museum's" right to exist, only to show that there are some people who do not believe in creationism and that it defies logic. Ken Ham is not afraid of them.

Ken Ham is the founder of the creation "museum." I'm not sure if he is a direct descendant of Noah's son Ham. (I will have to do some fact checking.) Mr Ham believes that since the world was created in only 6 days, mere thousands of years ago, that dinosaurs must have existed in the Garden of Eden and that dinosaurs only went extinct a few hundred years ago as evidenced in the painting of the Last Supper (see detail below).

If you go to the museum you will find out exactly what caused dinosaurs' extinction. This roused my curiosity. I hope that many paleontologists will visit that exhibit and report back to me.

See also this article at Counterbias which explains more about the exhibits and explains the neurological disorder present in those who prefer fairy tales to science- and whose religion dictates that one dismiss whatever faculties of reason were present when they were born.

Did you know that Creationists consider those who believe in science and evolution are at the root of all evil in the world? I did not know that. Now I do.

I'd really like to visit the planetarium at the Creation Museum and see a demonstration of how the dome that covers the flat earth works close up. I wonder if you can see the gears?


I don't know who to believe. The Flintstones or Disney World. There were no humans in the dinosaur exhibit in Disney World, yet there were humans living in harmony with dinosaurs in the Flintstones. I'm so confused.

Nevermind, the Simpsons explained it all here and here and here. Thank God for You Tube.

Scoop of the Day:

No, I don't have it. John Aravosis has it over at Americablog.

What's the scoop? The scoop is the poop. That is, he has pictures of boygeorge wiping himself off after A BIRD TOOK A SHIT ON HIM DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE.

I will now go out with bread scraps and bird feed, and also caution the stray cats that hang around my shop (4 of 'em at last count) to treat my feathered friends with more respect.

Maybe pigs can fly. Cows? I'll check it out.

Military Techniques

In an article entitled "Population Control" can be found the following quote:
"The Tartars had the idea of infecting the enemy by catapulting bodies infected with bubonic plague over the walls of the city of Kaffa."

Sounds like a real "That'll fix'em maneuver", eh? Well, maybe not; the next sentence reads:
"Some historians believe that this event was the cause of the epidemic of plague that swept across medieval Europe killing 25 million."

What's this got to do with anything? From "Depleted Uranium":
"As of February 2003, nearly 225,000 U.S. veterans have been awarded service-connected disability for health effects collectively termed Gulf War Syndrome with many more claims not yet officially acknowledged. This means that 40 percent of our veterans are sick, a shocking figure! Increasingly researchers and health practitioners believe that exposure to DU is a major contributor to the Syndrome. It is now believed that as many as 11,000 Desert Storm I U.S. veterans have already died, most attributed to the Syndrome for lack of any other explanation. Professor Malcolm Hopper of the University of Sunderland in the U.K., who has extensively studied health effects of British and U.S. soldiers who served in the Gulf War, has indicated that as many as 21,000 U.S. Gulf War veterans have died, due not just to DU exposure but to the astounding amounts of organophosphate (OP) poisoning from various toxins (or supposedly anti-toxins) given to the troops as "preventive" medicine."

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

Let's see what researchers at universities are coming up with lately:

The temperature of your scrotum does matter:
Fertility researchers at State University of NY at Stony Brook warns males that heat from your laptop computer (if used on your lap) had a median increase in scrotal temperature from 2.6- 2.8ºCelsius. Subjects were also asked to sit for an hour without a laptop on their laps and their scrotal temperature only rose 2.1º Celsius. The test didn't measure sperm production, but it is known that a rise in scrotal temperature diminishes healthy sperm production by up to 40%. There is no direct conclusion that laptops and decreased fertility are linked, but researchers want to issue a caution warning for the time being if you want to be a daddy.

Oral Sex may cause throat cancer
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland discovered a link between HPV and throat cancer for both men and women. HPV may be transmitted via oral sex. The more oral sex partners you have, the more likely you are to contract throat cancer. If the HPV vaccine can be shown that it also prevents throat cancer, then a vaccine will be made available for men as well.

People who had one to five oral-sex partners in their lifetime had approximately a doubled risk of throat cancer compared with those who never engaged in this activity - and those with more than five oral-sex partners had a 250% increased risk.

There was an even stronger link between oral sex and throat cancers clearly caused by HPV-16 (those tumours that tested positive for the strain). People with more than five oral sex partners had a 750% increased risk of these HPV-16-caused cancers.

Smoking and drinking only give you a 3% increased risk of getting throat cancer.

Sexual orientation Matters
Researchers at the The University of Warwick discovered that sexual orientation, not gender, affect how we navigate and recall lost objects.

In general, over the range of tasks measured, where a gender performed better in a task heterosexuals of that gender tended to perform better than non-heterosexuals. When a particular gender was poorer at a task homosexual and bisexual people tended to perform better than heterosexual members of that gender.

However age was found to discriminate on gender grounds but not sexual orientation. The study found that men’s mental abilities declined faster than women’s and that sexual orientation made no difference to the rate of that decline either for men or women.

The impact of teen sex is low if the couple has a close relationship
Researchers at the University of Minnesota concluded that teenage sex does not affect teen's mental health unless the teens were very young, if the couple was not very close or if the relationship did not continue afterwards.

I'm going to "spin" the news today.

The sparrow of happiness took a crap on the president in the rose garden yesterday bringing him good luck.

When the Republicans had control of the house, the Democrats rarely had a chance to debate, let alone get a bill to the House floor. There is a reason Democrats are called Democrats- They honor the democratic process (unlike the Republicans who honor the rich and the white of the male gender with little or no regard to those who put them in office. They are robots.)

John Boehner (R-Ohio) wept openly on the house floor during the Iraq debate. He said that it was because we need to keep fighting in Iraq to avenge 9/11. It was really because he is unable to vote with his conscience as long as Karl Rove is around.

An Anti-War Book That Will Make You Laugh

Liz has kindly asked me to do some guest blogging/book reviews for a spell. I hope you all enjoy.

With the passing of Kurt Vonnegut I felt the urge to reread Slaughterhouse Five. If you are unfamiliar with Vonnegut's writing it might be an acquired taste. There is no one I know who writes like him - I might give him his own genre.

Slaughterhouse tells the tale of Billy Pilgrim, an American prisoner of war in Dresden just in time for the firestorm. Sort of like Vonnegut who, as an American prisoner of war, was in Dresden for said event. If you have read Vonnegut, you know his quirky style: characters flit in and out of all his books peripherally. There is an element of science fiction but one would never put his books on that shelf. Instead, in his inimitable fashion, with his hapless characters, Vonnegut makes you see the horror and moral corruption of human life in the Twentieth Century and beyond. You will definitely laugh when you read this book. You also may come close to tears. Speaking through his characters, here is Vonnegut on religion: "The visitor from outer space made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel". On the American poor: "It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters". The book was published originally in 1968 and one of the characters has a bumper sticker saying 'Reagan for President'. I had to laugh at that. It was probably funny in 1968.

It is sad to have lost such a unique voice but he will live on in his books forever.

With regard to Dresden, Frederick Taylor's Dresden came out in 2004. It is the most recent study of the event that I know of. He does debunk some of the 'known facts' which Vonnegut uses in his book. As more archives from this period are opened, information will have to be shifted. If you wish to know more about the night of Feb. 13, 1945, Taylor's book would be my recommendation.

This is cross-posted at my blog, Not A Walking Encyclopedia, where you will find recipes and other book reviews.

Palast has the goods on Goodling's testimony

Oh man. If you watched Cable news on Thursday, it was the same old garbage... and who won American Idol and why that show sucked and Rosie vs Elizabeth on the View. You would never know that we were a country at war and that we are being taken over by thugs in DC.

It appears to me that the MSM is involved in a cover up for not reporting real news in the DOJ scandal.

It also appears that those questioning Monica Goodling either didn't know what to look for or they just don't know how to question.

From Palast:

Huh?? Tim Griffin? "Caging"???
...
The Bush-Cheney operatives sent hundreds of thousands of letters marked "Do not forward" to voters' homes. Letters returned ("caged") were used as evidence to block these voters' right to cast a ballot on grounds they were registered at phony addresses. Who were the evil fakers? Homeless men, students on vacation and --- you got to love this --- American soldiers. Oh yeah: most of them are Black voters.

Why weren't these African-American voters home when the Republican letters arrived? The homeless men were on park benches, the students were on vacation --- and the soldiers were overseas. Go to Baghdad, lose your vote. Mission Accomplished.

How do I know? I have the caging lists...


I have them because they are attached to the emails Rove insists can't be found. I have the emails. 500 of them --- sent to our team at BBC after the Rove-bots accidentally sent them to a web domain owned by our friend John Wooden.

read the article at bradblog here.

This is a huge felony and could send Rove, et al to jail.
If only.

Drums Along the Tigris

While our attention (when not being drawn to the Next Shiny New Thing, like who won on some clotheared reality show - trust me, reality is bad enough without making stupid shows about it) is on Iraq and the fighting currently going on in Gaza and Tripoli, things are rapidly going from bad to worse along the Iraqi-Turkish border.

The reason, as you can tell from the CNN article, is the Kurdish PKK, which has been setting off bombs and killing Turkish soldiers. The Turks have massed about 150,000 troops near or along the border, with every intention of invading to put a stop to this.

Caught in the middle of the Turks and the Kurds are the Americans, who want to stop the PKK but don't want a new war starting in what had been a heretofore relatively quiet part of Iraq. The fact that Turkey's an ally of ours (a fellow member of NATO) won't matter to the Turks. If they want to march, they'll march.

There's also an internal political angle to be watched here too. The ruling party in Ankara could use the violence as a rallying point to gloss over the fact that many Turks see it as a threat to the secularist constitution and the separation of mosque and state.

Ought to be interesting to see how the Bushies manage to fuck this up, because you KNOW they'll stick their hands into that hornet's nest just as hard as they can. American dilpomacy ain't what it used to be.

Conversations

I've been attending a sort of management seminar over the past few days, and while on break I had occasion to start talking about the Iraq Hubbub with a coworker. From the outset he asked, "Do you support the war?"

"I don't," I assured him. Another coworker chimed in with "He'll vote for Hilary."

I hastened to assure both of them that I had no plans to vote for any of the current crop of weasels in either party, but thought that Ron Paul was the clearest thinker. I then took a few minutes to excoriate Giuliani.

When I paused to catch my breath the first coworker asked, "So you think it's all our fault?"

What a question! And how should I answer it? Should I take time out of the break to carefully detail to him the entire history of our involvement in the Middle East?

"We are a contributing factor," I replied, and advised him to study the concept of blowback as it applied to our supporting naughty people throughout the world.

When we returned to our seats he asked, "So, you don't believe that the Muslims are going to take over our country?"

"No, I don't." He then proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms that Muslims were overrunning the country and were doing it unopposed, because the Government kept looking the other way and granting them more and more rights.

(I refrained from telling him that most people in the US felt the same way about Catholics, blacks, Jews, Irish, etc. for about the last 170 years. Why disrupt his delusion pattern?)

He then threw back in my face the results of a poll I talked about yesterday about a sizeable percentage of US Muslim youth saying that suicide bombing was justified. I countered with the fact that the same question had not been asked to white Christians. He looked confused for a moment and mentioned Eric Rudolph and Tim McVeigh, saying that they weren't Christians. I pointed out that they were members of the ultra-right Christian Identity movement, which he quickly termed a "white supremacist" organization only.

I could see the instructor warming back up, and my coworker's body language becoming more defensive, so I stopped the conversation.

How do you think I handled it?



This is also posted over at My Two Cents - drop by sometime!

Joke of the Week:

Then again, maybe 'tain't a joke. Anyhow, from an old workin' buddy of mine:

An old southern country preacher had a teenage son and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it. One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects:
- a Bible,
- a silver dollar,
- a bottle of whisky and
- a Playboy magazine.
"I'll just hide behind the door," the old preacher said to himself, "and when he comes home from school this afternoon, I'll see which object he picks up. If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, and that would be okay, too. But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunkard, and, Lord, what a shame that would be. And worst of all, if he picks up that magazine he's gonna be a skirt-chasin' bum."
The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's footsteps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. The boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink while he admired this month's Centerfold.
"Lord have mercy," the old preacher disgustedly whispered,
"He's gonna be a Politician!"


Thanks, Neil.

Don't quit drinking today

News that makes you want to bury your head in the sand

Raw Story: US issues nuclear warning to Iran as armada enters Gulf

The Washington Note: Cheney Attempting to Constrain Bush's Choices on Iran Conflict: Staff Engaged in Insubordination Against President Bush

Raw Story: Bush: 'I'm credible because I read the intelligence'. Bush tells reporters that al Qaida wants to kill your children.

The New York Times: While Dems cave, American opposition to the war at an all time high. No one cares.

Max Blumenthal: The Diary of a Christian Terrorist
"Uhl's blog, featured on his Myspace page, offers a window into the political underpinnings of his bomb plot. In one post, Uhl implores Christians to die on the battlefield for "Uncle Sam." He justifies his call to arms by quoting several Biblical passages and reminding his readers that the "gift of God" is eternal life."

Unless you're an older, rich, white male...

You are under represented in congress.

Wolfowitz lost his job and lost his girl

Crime does not pay

It must be a conspiracy

Three more Arab translators were fired for being gay and that brings the number of fired gay Arab linguists to 58. WTF is the matter with our leaders? I am outraged.

A desperate bush makes up new reasons for war in Iraq

At the commencement speech for the US Coast Guard in New London yesterday, president bush linked Osama bin Laden to the war on Iraq. Apparently Osama bin Laden is setting up a cell in Iraq in order to strike at America. I guess that OBL didn't take the half assed war seriously.

"In the minds of al-Qaida leaders, 9/11 was just a down payment on violence yet to come."

Oh no. I'm scared now. He defended the troop build up:

"It is tempting to believe that the calm here at home after 9/11 means that the danger to our country has passed."

"Here in America, we are living in the eye of a storm," he said. "All around us, dangerous winds are swirling and these winds could reach our shores at any moment."

Yes indeed, and that is why we need our National Guard here at home because of the deadly tornado season and an expected nasty hurricane season.... so what does that have to do with the war on Iraq?

Call them 202-224-3121

Tell your congresscritters and senators that you're mad as hell. Tell them you want the troops to come home.
The final vote on the Iraqi Supplemental bill is today.

202-224-3121

Bush endorses price gouging at the pumps

The president will probably veto legislation to stop oil companies from price gouging.

It's a boy Mrs Walker, It's a boy

A son! A son! A son!

Evil incarnate himself is now a grandpa. But I digress.... Mary Cheney gave birth to an illegitimate child yesterday. Her life partner will have no legal relationship with the boy since they live in Virginia which does not recognize gay partners and forbids adoption by a same sex partner. I suppose that this will make a point.

You would think that this administration would go after Sunni's

since the guys who attacked us on 9/11 were Arab Sunni's. But no. We've noticed that there has been a shift away from going after Sunni's. And no, it doesn't make sense. Seymour Hersh explains it.

Jetlag recovery

Viagra only works to relieve jetlag when you're flying from west to east and in conjuction with light therapy. Ok. that's cleared up.

War creates jobs?

Yesterday I read that in Afghanistan, 600,000 of the one million opium addicts are under age 15. Today I read that Iraqi farmers are turning to growing poppies and there is little that the Iraqi government can do.

That ubiquitous Lawn Guyland accent

I brought it up in this post when I read that critics thought Hillary Clinton was using different accents on purpose when she was actually doing what a lot of people do unknowingly- code switching which is adapting one's accent to those around them.

Holy Dipthongs, Batman.
In today's Newsday, Taw-kin' Lawn Guy-land, the local accents are explained by dialect coaches. It pretty much sums up what I had always thought- that it's more ethnic than geographic. There is no one definitive Long Island accent because it's based on Italian, Irish, Jewish or Hispanic. Tony Danza doesn't sound like Rosie O'Donnell or Billy Crystal or Rosie Perez. It's all quite interesting here in the ol' meltin' pot.

Red Writes A Letter. Again.

Dear Senator Webb:

I write to tell you how extremely disappointed I am regarding the Democrats capitulation on the Iraq funding bill. I hope you will pass the following message along to Senator Reid and the remainder of the Senate leadership: we gave the Democrats a majority in Congress in order to effect change in the administration's disasterous policy in respect of the Iraq War. We expect results from our representatives in Congress and have seen precious few to date. Too many soldiers have died, too many soldiers have been mangled, too many soldiers have been psychically damaged. This war must end. We look to you and your colleagues to make this happen.

Very truly yours,
Red State Blues

While over at The Fat Lady Sings...

I found an MSNBC link. Here's what's on the site:

Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment? * 469285 responses

Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial.
88%

No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors."
4.2%

No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching.
5.7%

I don't know.
1.8%

(When you first click on, you'll be asked to vote, and the results will then appear.)

Christian Madrassa?

At Jerry Fallwell's funeral, there were protesters, which does not surprise me, since Fallwell's outrageous comments throughout the years against gays and lesbians, and "no good pagans" outside the "born-again" religious cult.
A freshman from Liberty University (read Christian Madrassa) was arrested with at least six explosive devices in his possession, with the intent to use it against the protesters. His own family tipped off the police. We don't know at this point whether he intended to use it as a suicide act, or other means.
Anyway, religious fundamentalism, regardless of faith, islamic, christian, jewish, or whatever, is the scourge of the Earth.

Another evangelist GOP'er brought up on charges of unspeakable acts with young women

Radical right wing "evangelist" and former SD state representative, Ted Klaudt may finally be brought to justice. Down With Tyranny writes:

"Like so many tightly wound repressed and mentally ill Republicans, Klaudt was preaching the moral superiority of the far right while he was abusing molesting children-- his own foster daughters and 2 state legislative pages! He "faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking."

"More absolutely disgusting descriptions of Klaudt's outrageous crimes against young women: He told them that they could earn money for college if he collected their eggs and donated them to a fertility clinic? An affidavit outlines the charges. God help him.

Ron Paul Not Republican Enough For Republicans

But his message resonates with Americans and the Republican powers that be just don't get it.

Said Ron Paul, "How can anybody say I'm not Republican? I'm the most conservative member of the Congress. I vote for the least amount of spending and the least amount of taxes, and they say I'm not Republican enough?"

I think Mr. Paul missed the GOP memo that explained the new Republican party is opposed to democracy and free thought.

Ron Paul said in an interview with CNN's John King regarding foreign policy, "Non-intervention is a real political victory. We cannot win as Republicans next year if we just continue to dig our heels in, send more men and women over there to die on a policy that has failed." (read the interview here.)

Fraudulent Voter Fraud

You know how you always had a sneaking suspicion that all this commentary about voter fraud by the DOJ was a bunch of huey? You were right. It's not like the newspapers were overflowing with stories about millions of citizens who voted in 2 places on election day. Sure, maybe there were a couple of people who voted in two places, but you'd hardly think that it was enough to turn an election around. You certainly can't imagine Democrats pulling anything like this off either, can you? wimps But all a battleground state needed to suppress votes from a particular group, like minorities for instance, was anecdotal evidence of someone voting in more than one place and then pushing through voter ID legislation which invariably leaves poor people and minorities who would vote for Democrats, home on election day. Then the DOJ scandal arose where prosecutors were told to prosecute voter fraud cases and they were fired when they couldn't find any to prosecute. Oh just read this good article at Slate about the American Center for Voting Rights which just up and disappeared off the face of the planet recently.

See also this story in McClatchy news, Efforts to stop `voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting Hans von Spakovsky who wrote under a pseudonym, falsely claiming that voter ID wouldn't restrict minority voting is now under investigation that he was a part of the voter suppression plan of the GOP.

Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots.

This story is unbelievable. The evildoers will stop at nothing.

I think it's letter writing time again.

It looks like the Democrats are planning to give the president an Iraqi funding bill with no withdrawal timetables.

Shame on those who wouldn't vote for the previous bill. But since they have no conscience and no regard for human lives other than their own and those like them, I couldn't have expected anything other result. Silly me

While Americans overwhelmingly want this illegal war to stop, this morning the Pentagon claimed that it's considering keeping troops in Iraq for decades.

What do people have to do to get these maniacs out of the government? They are bullies who stamp their feet until they get their way. I just read that the Smithsonian toned down it's exhibit on climate change for fear of angering congress and the bushistas. Screw congress. What good have they done?

A Weekend of Commencements

Newt Gingrich gave the commencement speech to Falwell's Liberty University. According to Think Progress:

Gingrich claimed Americans draw strength from Falwell’s “life model,” and said that Falwell, who infamously called the 9/11 attacks God’s punishment on the United States, “bore witness to the Truth” and “knew this truth in his bones.”

But perhaps Gingrich’s most controversial remarks came in an interview after his speech, in which Gingrich cited the opportunity “to convert all of America.”

Gingrich said after his speech that Falwell’s death would not slow the Christian right’s efforts.

“Anybody on the left who hopes that when people like Reverend Falwell disappear that the opportunity to convert all of America has gone with them fundamentally misunderstands why institutions like this were created,” Gingrich said.

Oh good heavens. It's so disturbing that young people go to an institution of higher learning and come out less learned than they probably were when they went in. I'm glad this made the news because Americans need to know what an agenda this nutcase who may run for president is thinking. Newty boy is living in a fantasy world which is about to explode in his face. Sure there are learning institutions whose goals are to dumb people down and create human robots, but the great human spirit is to rise up despite all obstacles. I'm not afraid of Newt. I would say that he is just a log in the eye of vocal minority. He will be seen for who he is what he stands for.

At my son's graduation from Hofstra University on Sunday, there was some booing heard from students in the "school of business" section when Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke and more when the president of the Museum of Natural History in New York City brought up such controversial subjects as climate change, taking care of our planet and peace. A little bit more liberal arts needs to be infused into the Hofstra undergraduate business school curriculum I would say. I thoroughly enjoyed the commencement speeches at Hofstra and I'm glad my son went there despite the abundance of college Republicans who refuse to "see". Both sides need to know what they are up against in the future. I went to nursing school and ended up graduating with an art major and then went on to work in investment banking. I attended Hofstra for my MBA and didn't become a fascist. I worked on Wall Street by day and played in a punk band by night. I attended a religious seminary for my masters in theology and became an atheist. I have my dad to thank for always exhorting me to question everything. I have my mom to thank for exhorting me to take Zoloft and stop thinking so much. Sorry mom, while your advice was never heeded, I learned a lot from it.

I hope my son turns out all right after having me as a mother. He will go on to a career in anthropology and archaeology after field school and then graduate school. Who knows what else he will do and in what part of the world. Chances are he will have many careers in his lifetime. He has great empathy and I am confident that he will be one of those young people who connects the dots between the past and the present and does something about it.

I often wonder since becoming an atheist, surviving menopause and knowing all I know, what makes me get out of bed in the morning still giving a shit about future generations and those living on the fringes of society. I admit that some days I just want to stay in bed and wait to die, but the human spirit usually wins out and I rise again.

You hear so many people saying that if it weren't for god, they would do all sorts of horrible things. I suppose then that there is a purpose for religion for some people if it causes them to do right. Unfortunately I see more people use religion as a justification to do wrong.

On the Sopranos last night, another psychiatrist told Dr Melfi that talk therapy with sociopaths is counterproductive because sociopaths hone their ability to con people with their therapists and become an even more destructive force in society. Tony Soprano who had just killed his nephew and almost killed a guy by pistol whipping him told his therapist that he thought of himself as a good guy. I thought of people like Newt Gingrich and Jerry Falwell.

Speaking of the Soprano's, my nephew married into the Soprano family on Saturday. His lovely bride, it turns out, was the "Meadow Soprano." Who knew? It was still a fabulous wedding.

Well, DUH ...

From the LA Times on May 20th comes additional evidence (as if we needed any more) that George W Bush is the best recruiter al Qaeda has ever had. I'll just toss out a few of the more glaring passages:

"In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity."

"Al Qaeda's efforts were aided, intelligence officials said, by Pakistan's withdrawal in September of tens of thousands of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border where Bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding."

"Everything was undermined by the so-called peace agreement in north Waziristan," said a senior U.S. intelligence official responsible for overseeing counter-terrorism operations. "Of all the things that work against us in the global war on terror, that's the most damaging development. The one thing Al Qaeda needs to plan an attack is a relatively safe place to operate."

"Some in the administration initially expressed concern over the Pakistani move, but Bush later praised it, following a White House meeting with Musharraf."

***

Worst. President. Ever.

Best. Terrorist Recruiter. Ever.

Any questions?


This is cross-posted over at my own blog, My Two Cents. Drop in sometime!

I Told You So...

Last year the conversation was pretty heated about Bush, that he might declare Martial Law before his tenure is over.
We were talking but deep inside we really didn't believe that is a possibility, considering the strength of our democracy.

Well,

Bush Anoints Himself as the Insurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency

I wonder if there are plans to create a catastrophic crises, to justify the above?!

October surprise?

Tell us what you think!

Michael Moore has a question:

From REUTERS:

"Director Michael Moore says the U.S. health care system is driven by greed in his new documentary "SiCKO", and asks of Americans in general, "Where is our soul?"

"He also said he could go to jail for taking a group of volunteers suffering ill health after helping in the September 11, 2001 rescue efforts on an unauthorized trip to Cuba, where they received exemplary treatment at virtually no cost.

"The controversial film maker is back in Cannes, where he won the film festival's highest honor in 2004 with his anti-Bush polemic "Fahrenheit 9/11".

"In "SiCKO" he turns his attention to health, asking why 50 million Americans, 9 million of them children, live without cover, while those that are insured are often driven to poverty by spiraling costs or wrongly refused treatment at all.

"But the movie, which has taken Cannes by storm, goes further by portraying a country where the government is more interested in personal profit and protecting big business than caring for its citizens, many of whom cannot afford health insurance.

"I'm trying to explore bigger ideas and bigger issues, and in this case the bigger issue in this film is who are we as a people?" Moore told reporters after a press screening.

"Why do we behave the way we behave? What has become of us? Where is our soul?"

Michael, I would venture the opinion that some of us were born without souls, and some of us have sold whatever souls we might have had. Unfortunately, this describes the few who have all the money, power, and control.

And at this point I'm reminded of a not-so-rhetorical question Bill Maher asked one time when he was being interviewed (by Larry King IIRC): "WHY are we so sick?" To this, I would answer: Because the PTB are shittering our food supply, they're shittering our water supply, and they're shittering the air we breathe.

Picture of the Week

To Bleed or Not To Bleed

The new pill set to be ok'ed by the FDA, Lybrel (liberal) from Wyeth, can let women suppress their monthly periods indefinitely. There are other pills on the market that let you menstruate less frequently or let you have shorter monthly periods. Where were those when I was young? I'm sure there are side effects, but life has side effects. Menstruating has side effects. Seven years of the Bush administration has side effects.

One of the drawbacks to indefinitely suppressing your period is that if you are among the 1% of women who can get pregnant while taking hormones, you won't have a way of knowing you are unless you've been pregnant before and know the other early symptoms (vomiting, nausea, bloating, cramping, crankiness, sleepiness, etc etc).

I have mixed feelings about this. I never took the pill except for a short time, to regulate my monthly joy of womanhood when it was out of whack, (and then I went off on a sex binge and screwed every man I could get my hands on) but a pill to eliminate it or at least shorten it would have been great in my younger years when I was downright ill every month. I could have worn white pants all summer to boot!

As usual, this is a personal decision between a woman and her doctor. I certainly wouldn't judge a fellow female who wished to suppress her monthly visitor from hell, (unless she was screwing around with her best friend's husband, and then I would have draw the line.)

I suppose that the very "religious" among us will view this as a license for year-round promiscuity- that women should embrace cramps, bloating, depression, crankiness, headaches, backaches, leakage, anemia and nausea because God created women that way and modern pharmaceuticals should not interfere with what God has wrought upon women due to the sins of Eve. But I am jumping the gun. I await word from the religious wrong.

Imagine the Babies

His whole article is great, but these 2 paragraphs stood out in Mark Morford's, "Oh right, We're Still at War":

Me, I like to imagine the babies. I like to imagine all the children born back in 2003 (or 2001, if you count the equally failed Afghan campaign), the Year of Brutal Idiocy, the Year It All Went Wrong, the Year America Jumped the Shark.

All these children born at the war's beginning are well over 4 years old now. They are walking, talking, speaking in complete sentences with more complexity and coherence than the president himself. And for their entire lives, America has been at war. They have never known a day where we have been at peace, where we haven't lived under this bitter cloud of rampant incompetence, violence, a deep sadness, a sense that something has gone very, very wrong with the American idea, and no one really has any clue how to fix it. How will they be affected? What sort of perception of a broken, lost America will they have drilled into their baffled little bones?

----------
Morford's latest column has some more quotes from Jerry Falwell that I had missed. Check these out:

"The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etcetera."

"The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the National Order of Witches."

"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men -- that's their problem."

"God doesn't listen to Jews."

"If he's going to be the counterfeit of Christ, [the Antichrist] has to be Jewish. The only thing we know is he must be male and Jewish."

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!"

"I am such a strong admirer and supporter of George W. Bush that if he suggested eliminating the income tax or doubling it, I would vote yes on first blush."

"The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews."

"You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes. ... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel." (from Falwell's pamphlet "Nuclear War and the Second Coming of Christ")

"You know when I see somebody burning the flag, I'm a Baptist preacher I'm not a Mennonite, I feel it's my obligation to whip him. In the name of the Lord, of course. I feel it's my obligation to whip him, and if I can't do it then I look up some of my athletes to help me."

What a vile, hateful little man he was.

Immigration: Just my little old opinion

There are a lot of opinions out there on both sides regarding the new immigration deal. Some complain that the new bill would give amnesty to illegal aliens in our country, however it also states that in order to get a new non-immigrant Z-type visa and eventually permanent residency or a green card, the illegal alien would pay $5,000 fine. I wouldn't call paying a fine, amnesty. Generally, if you break the law in this country, you pay a fine or go to jail or both. So this fits in with the program. It makes no fiscal sense to throw illegal immigrants into jail simply for just being here. The fine should satisfy both sides to some degree. As far as deporting millions of illegal immigrants, I doubt that our government could ever pull off anything like that and we could end up having a witch hunt which would be counterproductive. Not only that, I could see the economy collapsing if 12 million people were deported.

The deal is that the above so called "amnesty" would happen after the borders were secured with 18,000 new border guards and "scores of radar and camera towers" were installed on the US border with Mexico. If the jobs created by these new projects don't pay a living wage, you can guess who will be working at the border, can't you. If it's decided that the US is going to build a fence along the border, who do you think will do that job?

Historically, immigrants came here to reunite with their families and to escape oppression. That would be done away with under the new bill unless the persons wishing to move here display some talents and skills needed by the workplace in America. It would be a merit based system. This is a serious bone of contention that deserves some debate. Personally, I would be satisfied with some sort of compromise in this area because immigrants have historically learned new trades once they got here and excelled at them due to their eagerness to achieve the so-called "American Dream." I employ immigrants all the time and I am so impressed with their willingness to learn to communicate in English, give their children a better life and their dedicated work ethic. The passion that they bring with them is what makes our country so great.

The immigration issue isn't something to take lightly because it would redefine our country. You don't redefine a country without some debate. We used to welcome tired, weary, poor, huddled masses and now that we are well stocked with foreign as well as homegrown tired, weary and poor people, it might be a good time to rethink the number of huddled masses we receive.

I am not opposed to immigration at all, in fact I enjoy that so many of my neighbors and friends come from somewhere else in the world. However living in a terribly overpopulated part of the country, I would like to see future incoming immigrants move to less populated states (unless they have family here) and give those states a reason for having 2 Senators.

What do you think about this new immigration deal?

Movie Night?

There are times when I actually feel sorry for movie reviewers. Like many critics, some reviewers do nothing productive which makes them feel entitled to criticize the work done by creative people.

But I feel a debt to the staff over at Pajiba! (Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People) for the following two movie reviews:

This one;

And this one.

One strikes me as brain-squishingly bad, the other as hamster-splittingly nasty. You make the call as to which is which.

Friday Sex Post: The Bible

Hong Kong residents have called the decency of the bible into question due to its sexual and violent content and would like it to be classified as "indecent" which means it could only be sold if sealed in a wrapper to those over 18 years of age.

Indeed the bible is a sexy and violent book. It is no wonder that fundies are so very obsessed with sex and guns.

Rush and Big Dog

This is pretty funny. Rush Limbaugh ran into President Clinton at a restaurant in New York. They were friendly and pleasant towards each other. Clinton complemented Limbaugh on his appearance. Matt Drudge then twisted the story around and people intimated to Rush that he was falling in with the "enemy." And who knows how much Limbaugh twisted the story. You never get a straight story from anyone in the media or politics. I found the story just simply amusing.

Giving Long Island a Bad Name Again

I happened upon a local news channel because I wanted to see what was up with yet another nor'easter hitting our area, and lo and behold, look what the ocean regurgitated- there was Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuocco (buttafucka) strolling through Port Jefferson, Long Island, then going to a restaurant for dinner with the TV cameras rolling. OMG. Just shoot me in the face.

It was the 15 anniversary of when Amy shot Mary Jo in the face (how lovely). Amy did 7 years of hard time in prison, then she had plastic surgery so that she wouldn't be so readily recognized, then she wrote a weekly column in the Long Island Press and she also got married, but is in the process of a divorce. Joey, the pseudo-macho, dick-headed, Long Island guido-type divorced Mary Jo, remarried and is in the process of divorce, had moved to California and got in all sorts of trouble with the law (surprise, surprise) while he was there. I don't know what he is doing back on Long Island. I wish he hadn't returned.

Supposedly some producer thought it would be fun to have a reality show with Amy and Joey. I wish they would do it in California if they feel the overwhelming need to do it. To this date, I have not watched the Long Island Lolita movies that all came out 15 years ago and I have frankly had it up to here with those 2 being on the telly ad nauseum until Bill Clinton's sex life took over the news.

Amy and Joey epitomized the ickiest type of Long Islanders, even more so than some of the Baldwin brothers, Lindsay Lohan, Howard Stern, Alfonse D'Amato, Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Peter King, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Oh and that character, what's her name, who got raped by Jim Bakker and then moved to the playboy mansion and had plastic surgery- Jessica Hahn. Remember her? ick.

There actually are some cool people from here like me, co-blogger, Billydoom (via Europe,) commenter IMSpartacus, Brian Setzer, Steve Vai, Lou Reed, Andy Kaufman, Joe Satriani, Eddie Murphy, Meadow from the Sopranos, Harry Chapin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Walt Whitman, Twisted Sister (twistidsistuh), Teddy Roosevelt, Jackson Pollock, Mario Puzo, Nelson DeMille, LL Cool J, Flavor Flav, Mariah Carey, Ralph Macchio, Sarah Hughes, Chuck D, Francis Ford Coppola, Ben from Ben and Jerry's, Tony Danza, Alan King, Susan Lucci, Lorraine Bracco, Pat Benatar, Eddie Money, Rosie O'Donnell, Steve Buscemi, Billy Crystal, the girl from the Snapple commercials and the guy from 1-800-flowers (flowiz) and Billy Joel to name a few off the top of my head. Oh and the Amityville Horror House. Whew. Almost forgot our biggest claim to fame.

Looking Around For The Dumbest, Most Corrupt Sunuvabitch On The Planet

That's MY headline. The headline in the Financial Times is:
"Eyes turn to finding Wolfowitz successor"

"Speculation is mounting as to who the Bush administration will nominate to succeed Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank, even as pressure builds for the US give up its traditional right to select one of its own citizens as bank chief."

Article at Finacial Times.

Whatcha s'pose the odds are either way that they do/do not find somebody worse if it's left up the bushomaniacs? Whatever those odds are, I ain't bookin' it!

Extremely Important Tick Warning

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally ... but this one is real, and it's important. So please tell everyone you know about it.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

Another Rat Rears Up on His Diseased Hind Legs and Squeaks

According to The Carpetbagger, Richard Viguerie is pissed off at Rudy Giuliani:

* Richard Viguerie, the conservative guru who pioneered direct-mail fundraising, is going after Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign with considerable gusto. “Rudy Giuliani is wrong on all of the social issues, is wrong on the Second Amendment, and is pretty much a blank slate on all other issues of importance to conservatives,” Viguerie adds. “If the Republican Party nominates him, it is saying to the American people that it has lost all purpose except the raw political desire to hold power. It will be time to put the GOP out of its misery.”

Sounds like a winner. I'll get the stake and the mallet.
(And I'M a Republican!)




This is also posted over at my blog, My Two Cents.

Back To Dallas 1963

21st-century technology casts doubt on the Kennedy Bullet Analysis.

The Hippies Were Right!

Green homes? Organic food? Nature is good? Time to give the ol' tie-dyers some respect....

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

There is but one conclusion you can draw from the astonishing (albeit fitful, bittersweet) pro-environment sea change now happening in the culture and (reluctantly, nervously) in the halls of power in D.C., one thing we must all acknowledge in our wary, jaded, globally warmed universe: The hippies had it right all along. Oh yes they did.

You know it's true. All this hot enthusiasm for healing the planet and eating whole foods and avoiding chemicals and working with nature and developing the self? Came from the hippies. Alternative health? Hippies. Green cotton? Hippies. Reclaimed wood? Recycling? Humane treatment of animals? Medical pot? Alternative energy? Natural childbirth? Non-GMO seeds? It came from the granola types (who, of course, absorbed much of it from ancient cultures), from the alternative worldviews, from the underground and the sidelines and from far off the goddamn grid and it's about time the media, the politicians, the culture as a whole sent out a big, wet, hemp-covered apology.

But if you're really bitter and shortsighted, you could say the entire hippie movement overall was just incredibly overrated, gets far too much cultural credit for far too little actual impact, was pretty much a giant excuse to slack off and enjoy dirty lazy responsibility-free sex romps and do a ton of drugs and avoid Vietnam and not bathe for a month and name your child Sunflower or Shiva Moon or Chakra Lennon Sapphire Bumblebee. This is what's called the reactionary simpleton's view. It blithely ignores history, perspective, the evolution of culture as a whole. You know, just like America.

But, you know, whatever. The proofs are easy enough to trace. The core values and environmental groundwork laid by the '60s counterculture are still so intact and potent even the stiffest neocon Republican has to acknowledge their extant power.

....even the drug culture is getting some new respect. Staid old Time mag just ran a rather snide little story about the new studies being conducted by Harvard and the National Institute of Mental Health into the astonishing psychospiritual benefits of goodly entheogens such as LSD, psilocybin and MDMA. Unfortunately, the piece basically backhands Timothy Leary and the entire "excessive," "naive" drug culture of yore in favor of much more "sane" and "careful" scientific analysis happening now, as if the only valid methods for attaining knowledge and an understanding of spirit were through control groups and clinical, mysticism-free examination. Please.

Still, the fact that serious scientific research into entheogens is being conducted even in the face of the most anti-science, pro-pharmaceutical, ultra-conservative presidential regime in recent history is proof enough that all the hoary old hippie mantras about expanding the mind and touching God through drugs were onto something after all (yes, duh). Tim Leary is probably smiling wildly right now -- though that might be due to all the mushrooms he's been sharing with Kerouac and Einstein and Mary Magdalene. Mmm, heaven.

Of course, true hippie values mean you're not really supposed to care about or attach to any of this, you don't give a damn for the hollow ego stroke of being right all along, for slapping the culture upside the head and saying, See? Do you see? It was never about the long hair and the folk music and Woodstock and taking so much acid you see Jesus and Shiva and Buddha tongue kissing in a hammock on the Dog Star, nimrods.

It was, always and forever, about connectedness. It was about how we are all in this together. It was about resisting the status quo and fighting tyrannical corporate/political power and it was about opening your consciousness and seeing new possibilities of how we can all live with something resembling actual respect for the planet, for alternative cultures, for each other. You know, all that typical hippie crap no one believes in anymore. Right?

Impeachable. You bet.

The signature on my Email reads:
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
--------------

Comey's recent testimony reveals that he and Ashcroft were so concerned about the illegality of operating outside FISA by eavesdropping on citizens without a court order, that Ashcroft and top officials of the DOJ threatened to resign.

When the seriously ill and often confused Ashcroft was in the hospital at the time, the Bushistas wanted to send Andy Card and Alberto Gonzalez, who were considered "thugs" by DOJ officials and the FBI, to visit Ashcroft in the hospital and coerce him to sign a document allowing them to commit these felonies. Comey rushed to the hospital to be present during this coercion. In fact, FBI director Mueller told his agents that Comey must be present in Ashcroft's room with Card and Gonzalez. Later, Comey would not even meet with Andy Card in Card's office without a witness present. Andy Card insisted on no witnesses being present. Pretty interesting behavior from a "legal" government.

Then the Bush Administration told Comey to do whatever was necessary to make the program "legal." It is still unclear what changes were made. This is more criminal than Watergate and the Clinton BJ put together.

Read Glenn Greenwald's examination of this situation for the details.

Et Tu Democrats?

The House rejected measures to require that George Bush seek congressional approval before attacking Iran. There are some Democrats who are concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Why oh why would they want to leave the final decision on how to deal with it to this president?

Senator Clinton flip flopped several times yesterday concerning withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

I try to understand that these are politicians we are dealing with and doublespeak is their middle name no matter where they fall on the spectrum- but we are talking about life and death, war and peace, and quite frankly politics at this time is bullshit.

Breaking News

The Justice Department handed over "some" Karl Rove emails to the Congress Investigation Committee into the firing of US Attorneys. "Some", perhaps hand picked inoffensive and not incriminating emails. The ones probably talking about the weather.
The good news is the "drip, drip" has started. Remember Watergate?
I think, it's time for procedures for a Special Prosecutor to be initiated by the Congress.

I wonder, how long they can postpone the inevitable?!
When you live in lies, the truth will catch up with you and bite you in the ass!

Eventually.

Back to the Weirdness

This is further proof that The Madness is spreading:

Severed arm of beheaded mother placed in flower pot
05/16/2007
The Asahi Shimbun

AIZU-WAKAMATSU, Fukushima Prefecture--A 17-year-old boy suspected of decapitating his mother is also believed to have cut off her right arm, painted it white and placed it in a flower pot, police sources said Wednesday.

A saw likely used to mutilate the woman was found in the teen's apartment room where the killing took place early Tuesday, the sources said.

The third-year senior high school student also spent about two hours at an Internet cafe before reporting to a police station around 7 a.m. Tuesday carrying his mother's severed head in a school bag, they said.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and was sent to prosecutors Wednesday afternoon.

According to Fukushima prefectural police, the teen allegedly killed his 47-year-old mother around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday while she was sleeping in the apartment the boy shared with his younger brother.

The brothers lived away from their parents so that they could attend public schools in Aizu-Wakamatsu. The parents lived in a town outside the city and the mother, a child-care worker, often visited the sons' apartment.

An autopsy showed she died of blood loss after her jugular vein was cut. Her body was found lying on her stomach on a futon.

Knife slashes on the palms of her hands indicate she tried to defend herself during the attack.
The boy was also slightly injured on both hands.

Sources close to the investigation said the severed arm appeared to have been spray painted white.

The boy showed up at the Internet cafe in the city around 4:55 a.m. Tuesday, with his arm wrapped in a bandage. He was carrying a black shoulder bag made of cloth, which apparently contained his mother's head, the sources said.

He watched a music video on a DVD in a private room before calling a taxi and heading to the police station, where he admitted killing his mother.

According to the senior high school the boy was attending, he had repeatedly missed classes since the second half of his second-grade year.

Since April 16, he had been absent from school, citing headaches and other reasons, according to the school.

He started seeing a psychiatrist early this month, and his mother asked school officials to check on her son.

Investigative authorities said they are planning a psychiatric examination on the boy.(IHT/Asahi: May 16,2007)

***

I asked a mental health counselor about this, and his snap diagnosis was: "He's fucking nuts."



This post also appears on my blog, My Two Cents. Drop in sometime!

Quote of the Week:

(Amy Goodman interviewing Studs Terkel on his birthday):

"I asked Studs how he felt turning 95. "I feel like I always feel: rotten, physically, to tell you the truth," he said. "However, here I am, breathing, inhaling, exhaling. When Robert Browning wrote in his poem, 'Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be,' he was telling as much truth as George W. Bush and Karl Rove. He was lying like a rug."

Read Amy's entire article at Give 'Em Hell, Mr. Terkel.

A Time Out

We all need a little break, what with the wars and rumors of wars, malfeasance and misfeasance and so on, so I decided to share a few more of the 1,523 pictures I took of my vacation to Munich, Germany in 2006.
I have no idea the title or artist of this picture, but I thought it was cute. It's hanging in the Hunting and Fishing Museum (which is more elaborate than it looks, and parts of it are very interesting).

Lenin in Red, by Andy Warhol. The Lenbach House (Munich City Art Gallery) also has a companion work, Lenin in Black.

An indication that no place is safe from silly puns.

2006 was apparently the 500th anniversary of the Lowenbrau brewery, which started in Munich. A bunch of these large plastic lions are on display, some painted in the royal colors of Bavaria (blue and white), some done up whimsically.

A transvestite lion, out in front of a store that sells perfume. I had to get a picture just from the sheer weirdness of it.

Other pictures can be seen at my blog, My Two Cents - drop in sometime!

"Compassionate Conservatism" is Not Dead Yet

It appears that we have some "compassionate conservative" candidates, just like our current president. The anti-American right wing of government continues to serve the dark side.

Audience applauds as Guiliani and Tancredo endorse waterboarding torture: "Both former mayor Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) suggested they would support using the technique. Specifically asked about waterboarding, Giuliani said he would allow “every method [interrogators] could think of and I would support them in doing it.” Tancredo later added, “I’m looking for Jack Bauer,” referencing the television character on "24" who has used torture techniques such as suffocation and electrocution on prisoners."

ThinkProgress also reports that earlier this year, conservative pundits such as Laura Ingraham applauded 24's endorsement of torture saying such lovely things as:

"The average American out there loves the show 24. OK? They love Jack Bauer. They love 24. In my mind that’s close to a national referendum that it’s OK to use tough tactics against high-level Al Qaeda operatives as we’re going to get."

The US Military is not amused by the right wing using the show 24 as a foreign policy play book so

"The United States Military Academy at West Point yesterday confirmed that Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan recently travelled to California to meet producers of the show, broadcast on the Fox channel. He told them that promoting illegal behaviour in the series - apparently hugely popular among the US military - was having a damaging effect on young troops." The Independent

Obviously oblivious to the United States Constitution, Mitt Romney doubly endorses Gitmo: "I am glad [detainees] are at Guantanamo. I don’t want them on our soil. I want them on Guantanamo, where they don’t get the access to lawyers they get when they’re on our soil. I don’t want them in our prisons, I want them there. Some people have said we ought to close Guantanamo. My view is we ought to double Guantanamo."

Meanwhile, those who do actually know how the government is supposed to act (two federal appeals court judges) have questioned the corrupt Bush administration which "proposes to limit detainees' lawyers to the evidence presented to the U.S. military tribunal that made the determination. That position drew intense questioning from Judges Douglas Ginsburg and Judith W. Rogers." Both judges "appeared to support giving detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, access to all the evidence against them when challenging their designation as enemy combatants." WP

Well this is disturbing

With Fallwell barely dead and buried, Congress has invited another anti-American spewer of Orwellian logic and speech, Lush Bimbo, to speak to the summer interns at the 2007 Summer Intern Lecture Series.

According to Think Progress, "The letter states that the lecture series is specifically “for interns to hear prominent members of government speak about their personal experiences in public services.” Rush said he plans to “ponder this invitation” and sarcastically remarked, “Do you realize what a golden opportunity this would be for me to have access to these young skulls full of mush and to go up there and just give them our agenda here, folks, of things that we talk about each and every day?” (Read the full PDF letter HERE.)

The Pain at the Pump...

We're all experiencing pain and disdain, when we fill up our gas tanks.
It is obvious that the Oil Companies are manipulating gas prices. I read an article that all major corporations are maximizing their efforts to make as much profit as they can, before the "free for all magnates" administration's time will run out.
This is the best news for the progressive crowd, that the era of Oligarchy is coming to an end. Corporations know the best when times are changing.
So, what can we do about the high gas prices? You may not be aware that you're paying more for everything you buy, because corporations who deliver the goods to your supermarket include the increased fuel cost in the products you buy. The recent 1st class mail increase by 2 cents was brought on by increased cost of fuel.

There was an internet effort circulating through email to boycott gas companies one day and not buy fuel for your car. That has been tried before and it didn't work. It is no secret that we're dealing with an Oil Cartel and price fixing conspiracy.

Here is the solution: If we boycott, we should boycott one brand, likely the biggest, Exxon-Mobil. All we have to do is just pass by their stations and purchase from any other. In my neighborhood, there was an Exxon station where the price was the highest during all this madness. Every time I passed by, the station was deserted. That pissed off the owner of the station. He jumped ship and changed to Sunoco. Now that station is the cheapest gas in the neighborhood and the busiest.

If we all do this, Exxon will be forced to lower the price and the rest will follow.

Spread the word!

The Antichrist Is Back Where He Belongs

Jerry Falwell will soon be forgotten.

He never achieved the status that Satan had hoped he'd achieve while on earth in most of the 20th century, but Jerry Falwell did his damnedest to capture the minds of the ignorant and ignite intolerance. While he won't go down in history as the man who destroyed the concept of loving one another or peace on earth goodwill to men, he will be noted for this brief time in history as being one of the tools used by freedom hating, war loving, media manipulating, stupid white men. Unfortunately he leaves a college on earth that will go on to taint young minds based on a book that was meant to teach love and forgiveness but was used to foment intolerance, greed and hatred.

Let us now take a moment to remind ourselves one last time of the vile anti-American and anti-Christian spewage from this man and then let it go. If you are a person of faith, be sure to thank God for removing this pitiful excuse for a human being from this earth:

• • “I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed”
• • “AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”
• • “If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being”
• • “Textbooks are Soviet propaganda”
• • “The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews”
• • “It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening”
• • “We visit prisoners on death row, and some of them are saved, but we believe their sentences should be carried out because they have a debt to society”
• • “[homosexuals are] brute beasts...part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven.”
• • “Can you imagine the insolence of these protesters? ... They have the audacity to disparage and demean these courageous soldiers who are enduring great physical and emotional trauma because they believed in the effort to bring freedom to Iraq.”

Quotes courtesy of ThinkExist.com

A Friend's Post About A Friend

Taking some time here to discuss some serious shit.
I reproduce here a post from The Dark Wraith Forums:

"The Fat Lady Sings has been under attack by a spammer who wants to silence her. He's the usual sort: vile, threatening, obscene; in short, a sociopath—a pathetic excuse for a man who likes to prey on womenfolk because he, like all of his craven kind, thinks women are weak, stupid, and deserving of sexually charged hate speech. These criminals are cowards who think they can hide behind phony e-mail addresses and miserably weak IP anonymizers.

"They're nothing but belly-crawlers who can't grow up. The same kind of scum that terrorized blogger Melissa McEwan (aka "Shakespeare's Sister") at the behest of a heretik who poses as a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church and the guardian of the legacy of Jesus of Nazareth.

"At the end of their days, these monstrosities will burn in the Hell of eternal nothingness; but long before they stew in that infinite, ceaseless, tormenting pot of not-being, they will be caught by law enforcement authorities here on this mortal Earth, and they will be punished. The sicko menacing The Fat Lady Sings isn't far from that fate.

"Tonight, he's scared. He should be. He's going to be caught, and he can only imagine what that means."

FLS's home page is HERE. Seems her "Action Alert" post attracted some nasties. Check out the links, particularly the one to Shakesville. And remember: We're probably dealing with psychopaths. Some of the threats she's been dealing with can be found at her comments at this post over at The Big Brass Blog.

Broken News:

Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

At this point in time, PoLT is reminded of the age-worn phrase "Show some respect for the dead". I will respond to myself by saying, "Did the deceased ever show any respect for the living?"

Don't Let the Screen Door Hit You In the Ass On Your Way Out

Even though the Bushistas still support the comb licking (and nose picking) architect of the war on Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz, he refuses to step down. An investigation after his girlfriend got a tremendous pay raised revealed that he "broke bank rules and violated his own contract – setting off a struggle between US and European governments over Mr Wolfowitz's future."

The Guardian reports that he went on a tirade using four letter words that I cannot print here due to my delicate sensibilities.

The Guardian also reports that the investigation revealed that "Mr Wolfowitz's actions "had a dramatic negative effect on the reputation and credibility" of the bank." I would add that having Wolfowitz become the president of the World Bank in the first place destroyed any credibility they might have had and his actions just confirm what everyone else already knew.

Tuesday Depressing Sex Post

No Sex Leads To No Sex -German Love Study

You know those super people who are always involved in one project or another, are working long hours and yet volunteer for everything? They are compensating for their lack of sex. So those of us who don't work that hard and don't do much of anything extra-curricular are relaxed and sexually satisfied like the people shown here?

"Ragnar Beer of the University of Göttingen surveyed almost 32,000 men and women for his Theratalk Project, which has found that the less sex you have, the more work you seek. Indeed, the sexually deprived have to find outlets for their frustrations: they often take on more commitments and work.

Beer's team found that 36 percent of men and 35 percent of women who have sex only once a week take on extra work to compensate for their wanting sex life. It's even worse for the hapless couples who have altogether lost their eye for one another. Forty-five percent of men and 46 percent of women who no longer have sex with their partner seek out other activities to salve their wanting libidos.

And, to make matters worse for sexless workaholics, the extra work cuts into their would-be sex time. "Sexual frustration prevents you from being able to reduce your stress," Beer observes. In other words, no sex leads to even less sex."

Brilliant observation. Thank god for scientists or we wouldn't know what we already know.

I don't know who I should be more afraid of

It is reported by Max Blumenthal at Raw Story that our leader met with about a dozen "christian right" leaders to rally support for his wars and the threat of Iran. It's pretty sad when the leader of the free world has to rally fringe religious groups to support his policies. You'll get a pretty good taste of the "fine" intellect of the fundies who support "christian right" leaders when they can talk like this on their radio programs:

“I heard about this danger [from Iran] not only at the White House but from other pro-family leaders that I met during that week in Washington. Many people in a position to know are talking about the possibility of losing a city to nuclear or biological or chemical attack. And if we can lose one we can lose ten.

"If we can lose ten we can lose a hundred," he added, “especially if North Korea and Russia and China pile on.”

Dobson scares his listeners into pushing for more war. Interesting strategy.

“The world looked at Hitler and just didn't believe him and tried to appease him the way we're hearing in Washington today,” Dobson remarked. “You know, the President seems to me does understand this, as I told you from that meeting I had with him the other day, but even there it feels like somebody ought to be standing up and saying, ‘We are being threatened and we are going to meet this with force -- whatever's necessary.’”

Dobson continued, “Some of our listeners might not like that but I tell you, if we didn't stand up to Hitler, we'd be speaking German today.”

And if we don't stand up to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, we'll stop plucking our eyebrows.

"When you're in the military, that comes first. You don't want to not have gone and find out your wife has to wear a burka," speaking of maniacs with radio talk shows, Dr Laura Schlessinger commented to Army families at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, where she praised fathers who leave their families to fight for the nation.

"He could come back without arms, legs or eyeballs, and you're (whining)?" Schlessinger asked before taking the stage at the base theater to host her daily program on ethics, morals and values. "You're not dodging bullets, so I don't want to hear any whining -- that's my message to them."

Who's ethics, morals and values?

The Massacre At Jamestown's 400th Anniversary

Queen Lizzy sports a girlish grin after a Native American man tells her she looks good for 400.


Queen Lizzy sits for a demonstration of how native Americans defended themselves against her people.


Queen Lizzy and Dr Evil enjoy a presentation by an authentic African American.


George tells a local man that he can make a funnier face.


George demonstrates how they used to dance in the olden days.


George gives hair styling advice to an actor playing an English settler.


George tries to get a rise out of an actor playing a guard.


George tries to pronounce "archaeologist" phonetically. Laughter ensues.


George inquires about purchasing the soldier's hat and cape to wear during his next press conference.


The First La La exhorts her husband to put the gun down before he hurts somebody.


George told the conductor to move over because he was the "conductor guy"

hat tip to yahoo photos

The Moral High Ground

One of the greatest generals in history, a fellow named Napoleon Bonaparte, once said that "The moral is to the physical as three to one," meaning that the moral foundation of your army - its ethics, values and principles - is more important than its fighting prowess or the weight of arms it can bring to bear.

When we fought in the Second World War our generals understood this, having been educated in Bonaparte, Clausewitz and other military thinkers. Every effort was made to succor the civilian population as the armies rolled in (of course, due to the indiscriminate nature of aerial bombing at the time, civilians did die in droves).

Back about five days ago, General David Petraeus, the US commander of 'coalition' forces in the Iraq area, issued a statement in response to a survey of the Army and the Marines. That survey brought up some rather disquieting points:

1. Only about 47 percent of Army soldiers and 38 percent of Marines agreed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect.

2. More than a third of soldiers and Marines reported that torture should be allowed to save the life of a comrade.

3. Fewer than half of soldiers and Marines would report a team member for unethical behavior.

Concentrate on points #1 and #2 for a moment. Less than half of our soldiers believe that ordinary Iraqi civilians should be treated with any dignity or respect. I draw two conclusions from this - that we have not learned anything about handling an occupied civil population since Vietnam; and that the Bush Administration's attempts to demonize and dehumanize people from that area has worked entirely too well.

Point #2 is just plain stupid. Even Napoleon knew that torture doesn't work, and to his credit General Petraeus repeated that, saying "Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful or necessary."

(I guess no one told Jack Bauer.)

Point #3 points out the camaraderie in the ranks. You look out for the people who are looking out for you in battle. In many ways, they become closer than family, so you try to protect them just as they'll try to protect you.

Now, General Petraeus made his remarks in a letter to the troops dated Thursday May 10, 2007. Unfortunately, the horse has already left the barn on this one, General.

It left in 2004, three years ago when the Abu Ghraib scandal started to rear its ugly head.

It ran off even faster after Haditha.

Any moral high ground the United States had when entering this ill-advised and foolish adventure has been squandered, and once lost it takes a long time to get it back. Mere apologies will not be sufficient to atone for what we've done in Iraq (and in Afghanistan, where we've admitted accidentally bombing families rather than terrorists).

***

A couple interesting tidbits in the news last week struck me as odd, and I managed to connect the two. Those two points are: The fact that the GOP leadership is intimating that September of this year is the decision point in our troop escalation, where General Petraeus will give a status report to Congress; and the fact that the Department of Defense has advised another 30,000 soldiers that they may deploy "this fall."

Here's what I see coming.

Petraeus comes to Congress in September, and (assuming he's as forthright as they say) admits that the escalation was a dunderheaded idea that has cost us dearly in terms of American lives (42 dead by May 13 - that's 4 per day). Congress frowns and begins arranging a timetable, which Bush blows off and commands - since he is the Commander Guy(tm) - the Pentagon to send 30,000 more troops into Iraq.



This post is cross-linked to my blog, My Two Cents - drop in sometime!

Fear Based Education?

Imagine that your child went on a class trip and the teachers thought it would be I don't know what to stage a fake gunman attack on your sixth grader and classmates. The teachers apparently thought it would be a good "learning experience" for 11 and 12 year olds. In fact the kids cried and hid under desks thinking that they were going to die.

What exactly did the children learn?

Moms

Mother's Day? Okay, Here Goes:

You'll find this photo also with accompanying text at the site of Tales Of The Freeway Blogger. The post is entitled "The End of Days, Part One: Mother's Day", and begins: "Look carefully at the girl in this photograph. Consider her features… her distant, guarded expression and that weird, cold fire in her eyes. Is it a trick of the camera, the lighting, the moment? Look carefully, it’s important. Ask yourself what it might have been like to be her child, to see in those eyes all the love and light the world had to offer. Look into those eyes and try to find yourself a little warmth."

Quotes Of The Day:

"Every newborn baby comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of Man." -- Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet, Brahmo Samaj philosopher, visual artist, playwright, novelist, and composer (1861-1941)


"The founders of this nation declared their independence to create a more perfect nation, not a perfect nation. They knew it would always be a work in progress, depending on each following generation to continue the work. And as they were right in so many things, they were right in that. There is work to be done. And it doesn't have to be sweeping change that you accomplish. What are we, most of us who are active? We're the little rudders that, eventually get the big ship to turn. It doesn't take a lot to make a difference." --Thomas C. Wales (1952-2001)


"Every murdered Assistant United States Attorney goes with the message that the "gods" are growing increasingly desperate to maintain their stranglehold on humanity. Those "powers that be" may kill one of us here, three thousand of us there, or a million of us elsewhere, but humans are awakening to the evil machinations of these soul-less beings. And merely by the awakening and recognition process may we perhaps gain the ultimate advantage." -- Alfred Joe's Boy from Lone Tree

Mother's Day Strategy

I've noticed in the Army commercials lately that they are speaking to parents- telling parents to "listen to their kids." har har har hardy har har

Sure. I'd listen to my kid for about 5 seconds after the word "military" was brought up and then I'd lock him in his room for the duration. I am the mommy and I say that you will stay in your room until I say you can come out again.

According to the Pentagon, the biggest obstacle in recruiting children to fight their war in Iraq is dealing with parents like me. I am very happy to hear that news. I wish that there were even more parents like me. It's pretty hard to plan wars when you don't have enough willing participants. That's my point.

Ah but the Army has a new plan to trick encourage kids into giving up their lives for oil (which turned out to be missing in Iraq):

"The Reserve plans to adopt a National Guard program and use its young soldiers as recruiters in their home communities, boosting the number of recruiters reaching out to youth based on the belief that peers can be a deciding force in the decision to enlist."

More reasons to lock up your sons, if you ask me.

Friday Sex Post - Mother's Day Edition

Bwahahahahaha!

I'm addressing this post mainly to all the men out there. Yes, sir, I'm talking to YOU - and you too, so stop hiding. I'm talking to everyone with XY stamped on their cells or bearing a penis.

Okay, granted that Mother's Day is only two days away, but there's nothing that says you can't be spontaneous and surprise that Special Woman with a nice surprise. So, what's it going to be? Candy, diamonds or flowers; or maybe a nice candlelit romantic dinner?

They're all a bit cliched, aren't they?

Well, the fine folks at ErosBoutique.com have a wide assortment of items that can give the woman you love a night she might have fun recalling. Warning - this may not be work-safe in some areas.

One item is this lovely objet d'art, made of glass. Hint: immerse it in warm water before using (or in cool water to give her a bit of a thrill!).

And this is for two people to have some fun. And it's a bit cute and funny-looking, too!

So, guys, honor the woman in your life by changing the tempo a bit. Who knows? She might prefer it to flowers.

In Houston, Giuliani Defends Abortion Stance

NY Times
By MARC SANTORA and MARIA NEWMAN
HOUSTON, May 11 – Rudolph W. Giuliani offered a direct challenge to Republican Party orthodoxy on Friday, asserting that his support for abortion rights, gun control and gay rights should not disqualify him from winning the party’s presidential nomination and that Republicans need to be tolerant of dissenting views on those issues if they want to hold the White House.

In a forceful summation of the substantive and political case for his candidacy, delivered to a conservative audience at Houston Baptist College, Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, acknowledged that his views were out of line with many Republican primary voters.

But Mr. Giuliani argued that the presidential election should not turn on social issues, but on which party would better protect the nation from terrorism. Mr. Giuliani suggested that his own record as mayor of New York – leading the city after the attacks of Sept. 11 and overseeing a dramatic decline in violent crime during his eight years in Gracie Mansion – made him the most electable of the Republican candidates, no matter his stand on issues like abortion...

Ironically, his reasons as to why he is qualified to be president, in that last paragraph, explain why NY'ers have not thrown their support behind Rudy. NYers weren't impressed with his leadership. As far as his liberal social leanings go, he said that his pollers have not found that voters would choose a candidate based on a single issue such as abortion. So I guess we will see where this goes.

Help

I can't make sense of the cover story at Newsday today. What do you think? I feel kind of bad for thinking that this guy is a total nut case. This isn't the first story I know about men and women who have left their families to fight for George Bush. Is it rude for me to want to tell them that they have been brainwashed? Honestly, I could see that if we were under attack that people would go off to war to defend our country. I would go. But...

The 41-year-old doctor [Alan Flower] of osteopathic medicine will leave a well-established practice, his wife and two young sons, as well as a teaching career, and prepare to put himself in harm's way as an Air Force flight surgeon. His inspiration, the family practitioner said, was Sept. 11, 2001.
...
"I have what our commander in chief [President George W. Bush] talked about - 'uncompromised resolve.' I was determined," Flower said.

Good Heavens.

Bush Declares that the Administration, Not DHS Will Run Shadow Government When US Is Attacked

WaPo: President Bush issued a formal national security directive yesterday ordering agencies to prepare contingency plans for a surprise, "decapitating" attack on the federal government, and assigned responsibility for coordinating such plans to the White House.

The prospect of a nuclear bomb being detonated in Washington without warning, whether smuggled in by terrorists or a foreign government, has been cited by many security analysts as a rising concern since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

During the Cold War, it was assumed that there would be notice that missiles were incoming (Duck and Cover), but now there could be no warning. So...

"Emphasis will be placed upon geographic dispersion of leadership, staff, and infrastructure in order to increase survivability and maintain uninterrupted Government Functions."

I suppose it looks good on paper, but does anyone really think that the WH has the capability to organize anything properly? It seems like people do a better job of looking out for each other when they don't expect the federal government to intervene. It's not a bad idea to relocate certain agencies outside of DC though. They should note Rudy Giuliani who located his emergency command center in the WTC (even though it was bombed in 1993).

Some Good Catholics

Just when I thought that the kind of Catholics I grew up and went to school with were obsolete, I was very pleased to read that the same spirit we had in my Catholic College during the Vietnam war is still alive.

Anti-War Campus Catholics Rip Bush Speech
Protesters Call War Unjust

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush will deliver the commencement address at a small Catholic college in Pennsylvania.

What should have been a safe bet hasn't turned out that way.

Students and faculty at St. Vincent College have protested Bush's upcoming appearance because of his Iraq war policy.

In an open letter, St. Vincent faculty said Iraq is not a just war as defined by Catholic doctrine. The letter accuses the president of launching a "preemptive, unprovoked war" in Iraq and stifling debate at home through "fear-mongering and threats."

The speech was arranged by the school's president, who once headed the White House's office of faith-based initiatives.

Jim Towey said he knew the speech would generate controversy, but thinks it's a great opportunity for his students.

Prior to his White House tenure, Towey had worked with Mother Teresa for 12 years as legal counsel and volunteer in her missions in the United States and Mexico, the university said.
Saint Vincent is a coed Catholic liberal arts college in Latrobe, about 35 miles east of Pittsburgh. It was founded in 1846.

The university said this will be Bush's first commencement address at a Pennsylvania college and only the second at a Catholic institution.

...

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you mothers out there!

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamaition of 1870


Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears
Say firmly:

"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.

"We women of one country
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!
Blood does not wipe out dishonor
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have of ten forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war.

Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.

Why Religious Leaders in this Country Need to STFU

You hear a lot of religious leaders in the United States today questioning the candidates for President on a wide range of subjects, such as whether they ‘believe’ in evolution (a nonsensical question on its face – science doesn’t require belief) or not, or their stand on abortion, or whether they believe in God or not.

Not a single candidate has called them on their bullshit questions yet, citing the US Constitution.

You recall the Constitution, of course.

The supreme law of the land.

Which states that the People are sovereign, not the “unitary executive,” not the President, and not some nameless Deity, Designer or what have you.

The Constitution quite categorically states that no candidate for office will be required to undergo a religious test as part of his or her quest for that office.

Now, you might wonder why the writers of the Constitution did that. They still recalled the English Civil War between the Catholics and Protestants, and the French Religious Wars, and the Thirty Years’ War that set back the German states for about two hundred years. The framers realized that setting religious tests would be tantamount to establishing a state religion in the United States, something they absolutely didn’t want to do.

Why? Because it sets up bigotry.

I also want to send out a major STFU to the Baptist leaders in this country. You see, the Baptists were scared that the US was going to establish an official religion, and the Baptists had been persecuted (as a Dissenting sect) for many years in England and in Europe. They were so pants-wettingly afraid of the idea that they wrote to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson soothed their fears in a famous letter where he described a “wall of separation” between religion and the state (ironically, Baptist and other sects of Protestantism have been chipping away at that wall).

You may have heard the latest screed from His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, where he implied that the Mexican legislators who had voted for the legalization of abortion in Mexico had essentially excommunicated themselves. We saw much the same bullshit during the 2004 election, when Catholic bishops and priests implied to their congregations that they shouldn’t vote for any candidate that supports a woman’s rights of reproductive choice.

What His Holiness, Vicar of Christ on Earth and Successor to the Apostle Peter apparently failed to recall is that anti-Catholic sentiment in this country traces directly to the papacy and the pronouncements from the Vatican. Americans were suspicious of Catholics (some still are) because they felt that they were getting secret orders from a foreign potentate. Some old political parties, like the Know-Nothings, made anti-Catholicism part of their platform. In the 1920s, the KKK hated Catholics almost (but not quite) as much as they hated African-Americans and Jews.

In the 1960 presidential election, then-Senator John F. Kennedy had to go on TV and reassure Americans that, if elected, he would be his own man and act only in the best interests of the United States.

But the religious leaders, priests, preachers and other God-bothering blue-nosed wowsers in this country keep insisting on poking their noses and beliefs into the political process. That’s fine, but if you want to play the game, you’d better pay the entrance fee – and that means taxing the churches.

You think people (I use the term advisedly) like Falwell and Robertson would agree to that little tradeoff?


This post is cross-linked to my own blog, My Two Cents. Drop in sometime!

You're Not Crazy If You Are Still Questioning What Happened on 9/11

Well you already know that you're not crazy, but you're kind of sick and tired of being labeled so.

A good read for this Friday is from George Washington's Blog, Psychiatrists and Psychologists: Government's 9/11 Story is Crazy

Who is really suffering from delusions here? Those who believe the government's version of what happened or those who really want to know the truth? Wacky conspiracy theories aside, if you have read the 9/11 Commission Report and think it all makes sense, you may want to check out of your room in the Fairytale Hotel.


If George Bush's actions in the classroom on 9/11, after being told of the attack on the United States make perfect sense to you, see me after class for your reading list.

A thought for the day

Today's reading assignment is from David Michael Green, professor of political science at Hofstra University: Two Ideologies and A Funeral

Professor Green asserts that we are in the position now to contrast and compare progressive liberalism in America from the 1930's through the 1970's with regressive conservativism from the 1980's to the present. Clearly the regressive conservative movement has failed everyone except the top 2% income earners of the country, but you'd never know it because progressives have lost their conviction and their courage during the regressive years. I don't hear much from the so-called liberal politicians. With the corporate media on their side, regressive conservatives have destroyed the economy (unless you are very wealthy.) Regressives have forced the middle class to struggle economically, not to mention they are obsessed with the sex lives of Americans, have little or no regard for minorities and women, and will do everything in their power to make it increasingly harder for regular people to survive this savage raping and murdering of American democracy. Historical criticism of the conservative movement is very harsh. It's no wonder that their mantra is to never look back at history.

As a mom and a citizen, I am very happy that my son was able to study with Professor Green. I discovered his articles at Common Dreams a few years ago and encouraged my son to look him up and take several of his courses, which he did, and Prof. Green was one of his favorite teachers. Hofstra University is overloaded with young Repubicans but thank goddess that there is a regressive antidote.

good morning announcement

The halosocan comments appear to be working today, but hey, you never know.

And please welcome special guest blogger, Wanderer, coming soon.
Today? Tomorrow?



video hat tip: IMSpartacus

And now for something completely different

Boston Legal (my favorite show) on Tuesday night was extremely on topic. As usual James Spader, who was defending a man who was tortured at Gitmo, zapped the powers that be.

hat tip oddjob via Sully.

Read also, The Stain of Gitmo at the Center For American Progress

Just How Out of Touch are the Bushistas Anyway

The president said in January that he wants US teams of military and civilian experts to go to Iraq and help rebuild. I would imagine that many Iraqi experts have fled the country by now. According to WaPo in February, the US has been recruiting people from other countries like Pakistan with no experience, no understanding of the Iraqi culture and no diplomatic skills because US agency employees outright refuse to go there. The US plans to "privatize" reconstruction efforts eventually, but it will take a year to do so. Not only that, the WH budget didn't include any funding for the reconstruction. See also TPM Muckracker for more reasons why US civilians' positions in Iraq will have to be filled by the overstretched military.

Last week, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez sent an email to 39,000 employees seeking volunteers to move to Iraq. 40 people have responded so far and it has not been made clear if they were yes answers. duh.

--------

And in related news, have you read this? 11 Republicans Berate Bush Over Iraq In Private White House Meeting. They say they are prepared for "defeat."
I say that there is no way that anyone can tell what victory or defeat will look like anymore. There is a civil war going on in Iraq- someone will win or lose in that war. Which side are we on anyway?

They're starting to "get" the consequences of Climate Change

From National Security and the Threat of Climate Change by the military advisory board:

Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America’s national security.
The predicted effects of climate change over the coming decades include extreme weather events, drought, flooding, sea level rise, retreating glaciers, habitat shifts, and the increased spread of life-threatening diseases. These conditions have the potential to disrupt our way of life and to force changes in the way we keep ourselves safe and secure.

In addition they "warned that there will be wars over water, increased hunger, instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels, and global warming-induced refugees. "The chaos that results can be an incubator of civil strife, genocide and the growth of terrorism," the report predicted."

The LA Times links to this flood map. I noticed that you can zoom in on it to see if your house will still be around. It appears that I won't have to move in order to live in a beach community. Good-bye Jones Beach.

The president helps with the cleanup in Greensburg, Kansas

Nah. I'm just kidding. He just grabbed a chainsaw for the photo-op.
I wonder what he's saying? Hmmmm

Thank Goddess I Can Say I USED To Live in Wisconsin

"A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices."

Free enterprise my ass. Free country my ass.

Read all about it at Yahoo News.

In GOP news

This kind of makes you wonder where regular Americans really stand regardless of the rhetoric spewed forth by the cable tv news.

Despite his opinion on "personal liberty" and abortion, Rudy Giuliani is way ahead in the polls against John McCain who says that no true conservative supports abortion rights. But seriously, where is it written that the Republican Party have to be all conservative all the time? Didn't the Cons have their own party? And who said that if you aren't totally conservative then you can't be a Republican? Do these people not believe in gray areas? Isn't that where most Americans fall? Most 'conservatives' I know are fiscally conservative but believe in liberty and justice for all. I'm just saying...

Political Conservatives don't care about regular people and they are going to be knocking themselves out to attack Guiliani's pro-choice position. You have to see it to believe it. Perhaps Rudy's not the total fascist like the rest of the GOP candidates. Or perhaps he is deliberately separating himself from the rest of the candidates and will turn into a liberty hater like the rest of them when it is politically expedient.

last throes?

So it looks like Cheney wanted the press out.

Earlier Wednesday

BAGHDAD - Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that Iraq remains a dangerous place, a point underscored by a thunderous explosion that rattled windows in the U.S. Embassy where he spent most of the day.

"They do believe we are making progress but we have a long way to go," the vice president said.

Interestingly, reporters were moved to secure areas but the VP was not.

Update to this story in the WSJ:

Once safely ensconced in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, however, Cheney appeared to reserve his toughest language for his normal target – the press. Cheney held a lot of photo ops with key Iraqi leaders like Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, but was adamant about not taking questions. At one point, Cheney emphasized to the assembled journalists that “this is just a photo spray.” Later in the day, as reporters filed into an embassy conference room for another photo of Cheney they overheard him tell his staff “then we kick the press out.”

aha!

In other war news...

Updated 5:34 PM The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a strict new order telling "all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside." So much for the "safer" Green Zone.

Bush said that he would veto again the "Democrats new Iraqi bill" if it only funded troops through the summer months. "Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Senate committee that such short-term funding would be very disruptive and "have a huge impact" on contracts to repair and replace equipment."

And The Hill reports that "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill." Go Nancy.

BREAKING: PROPAGANDA NEWS
Raw Story reports that "Months before the US invaded Iraq, Pentagon planners were developing an elaborate propaganda campaign to ensure US government-"approved" information was broadcast to the Iraqi public, according to a previously classified White Paper released Tuesday by the independent National Security Archives."
You HAVE to read this. Anyway, despite all the dirt dragged up, the plan didn't seem to work, did it?

Holy Smokes

Literally.

If these were biblical times, I would have to declare that God is really really pissed. I don't normally write about weather. But man oh man...
Fires are raging across the country as I write this.

• The state of Florida is blanketed in smoke from north to south, east to west.
• Arson fires are threatening Los Angeles at this very moment.
• Wildfires are raging in Michigan
• Fires in Georgia have scorched over 100,000 acres so far and have spread into Florida.
• Fires in northeastern Minnesota have prompted evacuations.

And adding insult to injury, not very much, if any rain is expected in the fire prone areas from the season's first tropical storm, Andea which has formed off the southeast coast with winds in the 45mph range. There is beach erosion in the southeast, mostly in the Carolinas.

Out in Missouri Mule's neck of the woods, rivers are rising and flooding intensifies while levees break. Heavy rain may cause flooding in Texas and Oklahoma today.

More than 100 tornadoes have been spotted in the midwest. Tornadoes strike Oklahoma.

How's by you?

Electile Dysfunction?

The Congress is widening the investigations of the DOJU (Department Of Just Us as per Karl Rove) The new target is Bradley Schlozman ( sounds like the name of a sci-fi character) who last year was appointed as US Attorney in Missouri without Senate confirmation, as per the illegal provision snuck into the Patriot Act by the Conspiracy Government of the USA. Four days before the fall election Mr Schlozman brought 4 indictments of Voter Fraud case against democratic election workers in Missouri. Mr. Schlozman then was promoted as Head of the DOJ Criminal Civil Right Department.

To me this looks more and more, not only as illegal, rather a Coup d'Etat by this administration, to subvert Government for the goals of the Republican Party.

As per Greg Palast article Robert Kennedy Jr. calls for the prosecution of Karl Rove and DOJ co-conspirators.

Also, new resignations are surfacing and controversies about the appointed US Attorney William Mercer to Montana, who does not reside in Montana, rather in Washington DC. He only spent three days a month in Montana and according to AG Gonzales, that is perfectly legal, while they called David Iglesias, the fired US Attorney from New Mexico, an "absentee landlord" for serving his country 45 days a year as a Navy Reserve Officer.

Wow, it resembles more and more the Communist state, where Communist Party Commissars were dispatched to every Government Agency to enforce the Party Policy having the power to hire and fire even the head of the Agency.

Mark Ronson + Amy Winehouse + The Dap Kings + VALERIE =

The soon to be #1 hit song in the US of A!!!! (imho anyway):

V A L E R I E


It’s a song from a newly released Album called VERSION This is a cover album produced by Mark Ronson and features Amy Winehouse singing "Valerie".

Here’s Ronson’s site--

Put the headphones on tightly, GET READY... (you heard it here first at BLONDESENSE!!) GET SET.... and press 05 (twice) – “Valerie". I haven't had much time to devote to the rest of this album, but this song, MARK MY WORDS, is gonna make it big.

Can’t believe how drunk I am for Amy Winehouse. Just amazing how she effortlessly struts her entire soulful being through this deliciously intoxicating voice. MAN it’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a new artist……i. am. completely. addicted…..forgive me if you’re sick of my goings on about her lately.

Found her on the British music blogs a while back. She's #1 in the UK (you know -- lately, 90% of the blogs I visit feature British singers -- what a suprise...not!) and who do we get? we get Brittney….

All I can say is that you won't regret spending every last $9.99 on Amy’s "Back to Black" album. Maybe you took a listen when I mentioned her in another post? She’s just starting to gain some ground here and is now loaded up over at itunes. Haven’t heard her on the radio yet; I keep hounding the local dj though.

She did a knock out job singing “Rehab” on the Letterman show last month

W * E * L * C * O * M * E -- * A * M * Y

Me thinks the PERFECT STORM is a brewing here for your success!!

I’m sorry you’re such tabloid fodder in the mother country – whatever. (BTW – I’d probably need to get pretty liquored up also in order to sing “Beat It” with Charlotte Church )

Maybe they’ll leave you alone here – who cares.

I’m just sick of our tabloid princesses Brittney and Paris. Ya know, I wouldn’t mind all of their headlines if they had even a fraction of the talent Amy Winehouse has. Have you heard Paris’s new song yet? “Screwed” – OMFG (little does she know) And, I’ll take Amy Winehouse’s beehive over Brittney’s bald head any day!

W * E * L * C * O * M * E -- * A * M * Y


So here’s why I think that this song “Valerie” has it all ALL:

*Mark Ronson produced it --

has that phil spectorish sound thing going. Plus, Ronson's a MILLION TIMES CUTER and he appears to have his head screwed on properly. Yes, he’s a fortunate son with the private school CV – a nice start indeed; but he seems like a very nice young lad ! (he’s doing a good job taking care of Amy anyway–what a great team)


**Amy Winehouse sings it --

(and can she SANG!!!).

(check her out doing an acoustic of “Valerie” on her myspace) She just sits there -- opens her mouth – it’s effortless – i'm in awe)
I’m almost positive her “Back to Black” or “You know I’m no good” cuts will be in the next James Bond flick. The first time I heard those 2 songs, that’s all I could associate them with…..and guess what…..I just read in one of the links that she was approached months ago by the Bond folks. (Damn I’m good!)


***The Dap Kings back her up – FABULOUS group!


The Dap Kings(Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings) are the house band for Daptone Records. Oooo baby -- what brass!! I just luv luv LUV me a TIGHT horn section. Any song with a trumpet gets on my "favorites" list (must be from listening to all those Herb Alpert and the TJB records my dad always had playing). I especially like the way Ronson blends the horns against this huge dreamy surround sound of strings. And that perfect percussion! The drums just pick it up in all the right places and holds it together throughout -- great dance tune; and actually, I can almost feel myself marching to it (must be all those parades....I grew up in the drum line and marched waaay too many miles in fife and drum and marching bands -- my claim to fame as a musician -- Whoo hoo!! (Hey, those fife and drummers sure can par – tay)


And last but not least, that ALL IMPORTANT song title (and lyrics) --

****V A a LERIE ie ie!!

How many hundreds and hundreds of all time favorite #1 hits have a girl’s name in the song title?!?!?!?!

And Valarie is the cooooolest ! You watch – I predict record numbers of girls being named Valerie in the near future. (JerseyCynic, aka Barbara Ann – lol! - i hate that song!)

It’s just plain got is ALL.

Even the lyrics work a great picture. It’s a “belt it out in the car” kinda song -- The kids will love it for sure. Mine plays it over and over on the way to school. (When she gets out of the car, I crank “Addicted” and then the explicit version of “Me and Mr. Jones”; “what kind of fuckery are we" is the opening line – gotta love it!)

---------------------------
So folks, now you will be the source for all that anyone needs to know about Amy Winehouse, the next new singing sensation from Britain.


Oh shit, I forgot one more mention. How rude of me! The Zutons. The group who released the song Valerie last summer (weird video)

Maybe I might have liked it a little had I not heard Amy sing it first. I hope they at least make some money off of it? Not sure how that works.

oooooooh aaaaaaaaah

The brightest supernova ever seen by astronomers is shining 5 times as bright than any of the other hundreds of supernovae witnessed before.

From the Boston Herald: "This one is way above anything else," Smith told The Associated Press. "It’s really astonishing."
[Nathan Smith of the University of California at Berkeley] said the star, SN2006gy, "is a special kind of supernova that has never been seen before." He called the star "freakily massive" at 150 times the mass of the sun.

Observations from the Chandra X-ray telescope helped show that it didn’t become a black hole like other supernovae and skipped a stage of star death.

Unlike other exploding stars, which peak at brightness for a couple of weeks at most, this supernova, peaked for 70 days, according to NASA. And it has been shining at levels brighter than other supernovae for several months, Smith said.

And even at 240 million light years away, this star in a distant galaxy does suggest that a similar and relatively nearby star - one 44 quadrillion miles away - might blow in similar fashion any day now or 50,000 years from now, Smith said. It wouldn’t threaten Earth, but it would be so bright that people could read by it at night, said University of California at Berkeley astronomer David Pooley. However, it would only be visible to people in the Southern Hemisphere, he said.

I missed seeing this through my telescope which is all dusty and sitting in the living room by the back door. I'm a science geek even though I can barely grasp the magnitude of many scientific discoveries because of my hair pigment deficiency. So here's my blonde problem:

My house faces south. I have 3 huge maple trees on my front lawn which provide delightful shade and coolness in the summer. In the winter, I can star gaze through the trees. Now the trees are in bloom and there is a tiny window to the sky straight up and a little to the east. Those trees are staying.

In the backyard, I only have a small window to the sky straight up because of the trees on the property and have a good western view but where I live the western sky is light flooded by New York City and there's not much to see. There is a 125 ft tall, very full evergreen on the east northeast side of my property in the back yard. The pine cones look like turds so it's not really the most attractive tree and it only gives us morning shade which is not necessary, but I'm sure the neighbors on the other side enjoy the shade. But I don't really care about people who have non-stop barking dogs.

I want to have the 125ft tall evergreen chopped down and taken away so that I can permanently set up the telescope on a pier and have a wide view of the eastern and southeastern sky. I feel really really guilty about chopping the tree down because it's 50 years old but then again, it's messy, too acidic and my vegetables don't get enough light. I think it's important that I plant a bigger victory garden this year in light of all the food tainting going on.

At the moment there are no branches on the lower 30 feet of the tree, so it just looks like a pole in the landscape. The tree expert told me that my suggestion of cutting off most of the branches except for the very top would make it look like a cell phone tower and that my other suggestion of taking off all the branches on the south side of the tree would be an eyesore. and he said my other suggestion of chopping off the top 50 feet of the tree would look ridiculous. He's right. I still feel really guilty about taking it all down. Is my hobby worth it?

Kansas Governor Speaks Out

Topeka, Kansas - Gov. Kathleen Sebelius says the war in Iraq has exposed holes in domestic disaster response like the one currently under way in tornado-ravaged Kansas.

The governor said about half the state's National Guard trucks are in Iraq, equipment that would be helpful in removing debris. Sebelius, who asked the Pentagon in December to replenish lost resources, said the state also is missing a number of well-trained personnel.

"I don't think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace."
...
Sebelius said she would bring up those concerns with President Bush on Wednesday when he visits the hard-hit Kansas farming town of Greensburg, where a tornado hit Friday, claiming nine lives.

The White House naturally denies this.

In another news story I found, it appears that the National Guard is doing just fine in the response despite being a little low in equipment. It is written by Sgt. Sara Wood of the National Guard, USA.

Makes you wonder. Perhaps the real story is somewhere in between.

Queen Elizabeth and King George

Who were they wearing?
"The queen wore a white ball gown with a blue sash, and a diamond tiara that dazzled in the glare of photographers' flashes. First Lady Laura Bush wore a turquoise Oscar de la Renta gown.

"Laura Bush said her husband, who is most at home down on his Texas ranch in denim jeans and cowboy boots, had to be cajoled into wearing the formal gentlemen's attire by herself and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "

Who's gonna get you? First it was God. Now it's terrorists. Or both.

"God punished you!" That's what my mother always used to tell me when something bad happened to me. I attributed it to some old fashioned Czechoslovakian saying that meant, "What goes around, comes around" or "You get what you pay for." I know that there are some in the world who actually believe this to be true- that God really stops what he's doing and punishes you personally or even punishes your whole city to get back at you. Quite frankly, even if everyone was perfectly behaved on earth, I'd suspect that bad things would happen anyway. I think Mother Earth has it in for all of us.

Mark Morford in Al Qaeda Hates Your Commute!
Could terrorists have caused Bay Area freeway meltdown? How about your lousy haircut? Spilled coffee? Sure! brings up something I have written about over the years since 9/11 changed everything... the media spin that the terrorists are out to punish you. No matter what bad thing happens, the media are ready to spin it into something like "Did terrorists cause the tsunami?" or "If terrorists didn't cause the tsunami, could they pull it off in the future? And how so? Cue the experts." Morford calls it "Karl Rove Disease" where "Terrorism is still a required ingredient in any major story of cultural disruption or destruction."

"I often recall the slew of stories and informed opinion just after Sept. 11, detailing how the culture and the media and the Bush administration were now doing something the terrorists never really could: We legitimized terrorism. Made it bigger and scarier and more ominous and made it appear far more organized and (this is a big one) much more ubiquitous than it actually is. Does that not still hold true? For the most part, absolutely.

Look. Should we be actively aware of the ugly terrorist threat? Definitely. Is there a real danger, especially given how Dubya has single-handedly done more to increase the ranks of America-hating terrorists and fundamentalist radicals in the world than any other human in our short history? Without a doubt.

Does this mean that when you're sitting on the Bay Bridge listening to the astonishingly good new Grinderman CD as traffic crawls and your coffee grows cold and you pass by an accident scene, you should wonder if maybe al Qaeda had it in for that poor 1993 Honda Civic that smashed into that cute little blue Toyota Camry? Experts say, Sigh."

Just another example of the horseshit spewing from the mouths of politicians

How do politicians propose to help families in America?

They keep talking about family values, but the only topics are abortion and gay marriage (and sometimes illegal aliens.) Do they expect me to believe that if there were no abortions and if gay people would go back into the closet that family life in America would be peachy keen? If I recall, back when abortions were illegal and very rare, couples were forced to marry or give the child up for adoption. Was that so good for families? Was everyone happy?

Divorce isn't good for families either, but you don't hear so much about that since a lot of politicians are serial monogamists. The politicians are bending over backwards to appease the conservative "christians" who supposedly take the words of the bible literally. Their savior Jesus didn't talk about abortions and gay marriage. When it came to family values, Jesus was explicitly against divorce and remarriage. He preferred that people stay single rather than marry if it wasn't their cup of tea (I'm paraphrasing here.) It just seems to me that if a politician wants to talk like a Christian, he ought to read the Gospels before he or she opens his or her big fat mouth. Jesus' whole theme was that people were to look out for each other, not gather riches that they can't take with them and to help the poor and those on the fringes of society- people who are already born, thank you very much. Even if you don't believe in dying and going to heaven, Jesus' message is a good one and makes for a peaceful society.

Mitt Romney pandered to the "religious right" (WaPo) over the weekend at Pat Robertson's Regent University (I'm not sure whether or not it is an accredited school) and claimed

"There is no work more important to America's future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home," Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life. (WaPo)

Indeed what happens in our formative years is very important, but you don't hear a lot of politicians talking about helping families rise out of poverty (how sad is it when both parents work and they are still living beneath the poverty level) or see to it that all children get a quality education and breakfast in the morning. What happens in the four walls of the American home has a lot to do with what is happening outside the four walls of the American home. Corporate America isn't doing a heck of lot to help families and yet politicians put corporations before people.

No matter how religious you are, if you've been breaking your back working all week and you still can't put a decent meal on the table for your family, let alone turn the heat on, you are going to have strife in the family unit. An unintended pregnancy will just add to it. Junior goes to an underfunded school because you live in an area with a low tax base, so he probably won't get a decent paying job because he can't fill out an application properly or if he does get one, it's a dead end job so it makes more sense for him to deal drugs or steal because it pays better.

You don't hear politicians complaining that big corporations outsourced jobs to foreign countries and vow that they will regulate corporations so that Americans will be employed in jobs that pay a living wage with health benefits. What rips apart families in America is not abortion or gayness or illegal aliens. It's the uncertainty of a decent economic future.

Withholding a proper education to those on the fringes of society because of their tax base is absolutely anti-christian and anyone who thinks otherwise is a hypocrite to the nth degree. If this were truly a Christian country, we'd share at least some tax revenue with those people in areas who desperately need it, especially for those who work 40+ hour weeks, who serve us cholesterol filled breakfasts at the drive-up window or check us out in the store where we buy so much crap that we don't know where to put it in our houses while their kids don't have books in their schools or even get to eat breakfast. Not everyone on earth has the wherewithall to lift themselves up out of the fringes on their own. Leaving them there to fend for themselves not only doesn't do them any good, it sure as hell doesn't do the rest of us any good. It may make for cheap labor if you're an employer, but don't walk through your employee's neighborhood's after dark. How the hell dare we call this a Christian country?

Politicians pay lip service to the families of the military whose lives are torn apart, whose spouses come home from war and are half the persons they were before they joined. They talk about more wars and ignore the toll it takes on the very families they claim to serve. Those extra months of deployment are just the straw to break the camel's back in many relationships. They talk about cutting taxes, cutting taxes, cutting taxes.... and who exactly is going to pay for these wars? and their cushy political jobs? and roads to drive on to get to work?

Romney had the nerve to criticize single people for not getting married. Where do politicians get off commenting on such a thing? I want my president to uphold the constitution and shut the hell up especially when he's making stuff up like this:

"It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking," Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

And this:

"We're shocked by the evil of the Virginia Tech shooting," Romney said. "I opened my Bible shortly after I heard of the tragedy. Only a few verses, it seems, after the Fall, we read that Adam and Eve's oldest son killed his younger brother. From the beginning, there has been evil in the world."

He added: "Pornography and violence poison our music and movies and TV and video games. The Virginia Tech shooter, like the Columbine shooters before him, had drunk from this cesspool."

He just noticed that the bible is a cesspool of violence? Violence and evil have been in the world long before the advent of porn, video games, books, music and television. It was in the world long before bibles were printed and available to the general population. And he was "shocked?" (I watched Tombstone again over the weekend, so don't tell me that people need any communication technology in order to commit violent acts against each other.)

I didn't mean to go on in preaching mode this morning, but I think it's important, especially for all of us letter writers, that we take note of the political pandering to "christians" because of the separation of church and state. And secondly, because their so-called "christian" message is bogus at the very least.

LSU Student Charged with threatening Senator Clinton

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) -- A 19-year-old Louisiana State University student was being held Friday on $1 million bail, accused of planning an attack against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

State District Judge Mike Erwin set bail after Richard Ryan Wargo of Shreveport, Louisiana, was booked on charges of terrorizing, communicating false information of planned arson and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Clinton, a New York senator, is scheduled to be in Baton Rouge on Saturday to speak at the National Conference of Black Mayors. Police said it was unclear whether Wargo was planning to carry out the alleged attack at that time. Read the rest

Interestingly Barack Obama has been under security by the SS. Just goes to show you who the bad guys are in this country.

Proof Of Stupidity

President Bush vows to veto abortion rights bills. There are none on the table at this time, but still he has decided to be Mr Pro-Life even though he supports the death penalty and war.

"I will veto any legislation that weakens current federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage," he wrote.

Bush has already threatened to veto legislation, passed by the House and Senate in different forms this year, that would ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. He killed a similar stem cell bill last year in the first veto of his presidency.

Bush offered no plan to reduce the number of abortions that take place in this country. He does support abstinence only education which doesn't work. The answer is so simple, that even I got it long ago. Birth control.

Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, said that "if the president is serious about finding common ground on this divisive issue, he should support Sen. Reid's efforts to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in this country." Reid and others are sponsoring legislation that would improve family planning services, require insurance companies to pay for birth control and provide effective sex education for young people.

Conservatives Debate Darwin

In A Split Emerges as Conservatives Discuss Darwin in the NYTimes by Patricia Cohen, I was stunned that it is not about religion or science, but about political ideology. Ok. So I wasn't really stunned. Deciding whether or not conservatives should embrace evolution is all based on how it would serve their ideals, not whether it has any basis in fact or reality. But then again, that is the point of being conservative- not letting progress get in the way of outdated, old fashioned thinking.

For some conservatives, accepting Darwin undercuts religious faith and produces an amoral, materialistic worldview that easily embraces abortion, embryonic stem cell research and other practices they abhor. As an alternative to Darwin, many advocate intelligent design, which holds that life is so intricately organized that only an intelligent power could have created it.

"Intelligent Design" is an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

Yet it is that very embrace of intelligent design — not to mention creationism, which takes a literal view of the Bible’s Book of Genesis — that has led conservative opponents to speak out for fear their ideology will be branded as out of touch and anti-science.

It also shows that these people weren't paying attention in school.

Some of these thinkers have gone one step further, arguing that Darwin’s scientific theories about the evolution of species can be applied to today’s patterns of human behavior, and that natural selection can provide support for many bedrock conservative ideas, like traditional social roles for men and women, free-market capitalism and governmental checks and balances.

I resent that anyone arguing this should be called a "thinker." Now that is stretching it. There must be a way to spin Darwinism to suit their agenda:

Mr. Arnhart, in his 2005 book, “Darwinian Conservatism,” tackled the issue of conservatism’s compatibility with evolutionary theory head on, saying Darwinists and conservatives share a similar view of human beings: they are imperfect; they have organized in male-dominated hierarchies; they have a natural instinct for accumulation and power; and their moral thought has evolved over time.

I just knew they'd try to get "male-dominated hierarchies" in there somehow. He went on in an interview:

Policies that are in tune with human nature, for example, like a male military or traditional social and sex roles, he said, are more likely to succeed. He added that “moral sympathy for the suffering of fellow human beings” allows for aid to the poor, weak and ill.

Whose human nature is he talking about when he talks about traditional social and sex roles? Evolution has taken care of those "traditional" roles in many cultures. Human nature and evolution have helped most people to be more progressive and move away from outdated, old fashioned roles that made sense at a certain place and time in history but are no longer needed.

And here's a really dumb reason not to support evolution:

Skeptics of Darwinism like William F. Buckley, Mr. West and Mr. Gilder also object. The notion that “the whole universe contains no intelligence,” Mr. Gilder said at Thursday’s conference, is perpetuated by “Darwinian storm troopers.”

“Both Nazism and communism were inspired by Darwinism,” he continued. “Why conservatives should toady to these storm troopers is beyond me.”

Both sides agree that there should be a debate about Darwinism and here is a frightening reason:

Yet getting involved is more important than ever, after “the disaster” of “President Bush’s compassionate conservatism,” he said, because the only hope for Republicans is a “fusion of libertarianism and traditionalism, and Darwinian nature supports that conservative fusion.”

But here is some truth:

Mr. West agreed that “conservatives who are discomfited by the continuing debate over Darwin’s theory need to understand that it is not about to go away”; that it “fundamentally challenges the traditional Western understanding of human nature and the universe.”

“If conservatives want to address root causes rather than just symptoms,” he said, “they need to join the debate over Darwinism, not scorn it or ignore it.”

As for Mr. Derbyshire, he would not say whether he thought evolutionary theory was good or bad for conservatism; the only thing that mattered was whether it was true. And, he said, if that turns out to be “bad for conservatives, then so much the worse for conservatism.”

Thank you Mr. Derbyshire.

Don't Tread on My Guns

If you're on a terror watch list, God help you if you try to board an airplane. The NRA "is urging the Bush administration to withdraw its support of a bill that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying firearms." Read the story for the details.

God Save The Queen

HFS. Would you just look at those two?
What do you think they were saying to each other?


QE2 visited Virginia for the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement. She hadn't been there for 400 50 years and remarked on how much it had changed. She was pleased that Virginia is no longer a segregated state. She also stopped by Virginia Tech to pay tribute to the victims. Governor Kaine offered etiquette tips for the queen's visit. Kaine and Dick Cheney accompanied her to Jamestown.

""Half a century has done nothing to diminish the respect and affection this country holds for you. We receive you again today in that same spirit," Cheney told the queen.

The queen did not speak."

Stuff in the News

After all the nonsense from the administration about Nancy Pelosi daring to speak to the Syrians, because we don't talk to terrorist states, Condoliezza Rice held talks with a top Syrian official about closing the borders to Iraq. Finally.

The Bush administration has charged for years that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has done little to stop foreign Arab fighters from traveling through Syria to Iraq, where they join the Sunni Muslim insurgency in attacking U.S. troops and Shiite Muslims.

Bush just charges this and that, but you rarely hear about anyone actually trying to talk to anyone. So this is a change. More at Time Magazine.
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But seriously, Condi is not a diplomat. Not that the Iranian guy did much better.

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt — Iran's foreign minister (Manouchehr Mottaki)walked out of a dinner of diplomats where he was seated directly across from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ostensibly because a female violinist entertaining the gathering was dressed too revealingly.
...
Rice and Mottaki did eventually meet at lunch Friday but exchanged only pleasantries. According to Iraq's foreign minister, Iranian and American ambassadors met for more serious talks on the sidelines of the conference to stabilize Iraq _ the second such encounter since March 10.

"There was no direct meeting but they were in the same room and they were discussing the issues," said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

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Veterans Affairs officials got huge bonuses after screwing up the VA with flawed budgets, bogus accounting and hurting returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. It sounds like a corporation doesn't it?

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The bad guys in this country aren't Democrats. Case in point: The Secret Service has put Barack Obama under its protection not because of any “known specific or credible threat.”
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Senator Clinton proposed that Congress repeal the authority it gave to Bush to invade Iraq, “It is time to reverse the failed policies of President Bush and to end this war as soon as possible."
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Looking for bees? "A swarm of bees clustered outside the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center shut down the emergency room Monday, as officials waited for a beekeeper to come vacuum up the 7,000 insects."
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Fox's John Gibson, who was livid that Rosie O'Donnell made Time Magazine's "100 most influential people" list (neither Bush or Gibson were on the list), suggested that the band "Rage Against the Machine" got back together and were influenced by O'Donnell. LOL. If you know "Rage Against the Machine," you know that this is preposterous.

Raw Story: Citing incendiary 'Rage' lyrics that call for the president to be "hung, and tried, and shot" Gibson made the claim, "These radical lefties not only want the president impeached, they want him dead." Later in the report, Fox News ran a graphic banner posing the question: "Did radical-lefty Rosie influence 'Rage Against the Machine?'"

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And this in from the Australian News: Florida voters go back to paper ballots
Tremendous!

GOP Debates Last Night

Sheesh. Everyone wants to be Reagan.

My thoughts on the debate overall:
None of those guys spoke to regular people. There was nothing in it for the middle classes and definitely nothing for the working poor. They pandered to the religious right (people who consistently vote against their own interests because they are just plain dumb) when they weren't pandering to the very wealthy who wouldn't care if the government as we know it went away. There were plenty of "more war" cries and the "Iran is a threat" talking point.

I was most insulted when many of them considered themselves, "pro-life." That phrase needs to go away. They are "anti-abortion" politically. They are only "pro-life" when it pertains to the unborn or those in a vegetative state. I don't even believe for one second that they even care about religion, stem-cell research or abortion. I have no idea where any of them really stand. It was all politics. feh.

UPDATE: I enjoyed Rude Pundit's take on the debates in A Dead Dog Could Beat These Guys.

Robo-Romney, all tan and perfectly-coiffed (how much for his fuckin' hairdo?), was absolutely the kind of guy who, if you saw him walking up to your front door on a Saturday morning, you'd shut off the TV and pretend you're not home.

But his uber-creepy moment was, in answer to what he disliked about America (which is a stupid fuckin' question to begin with), he went on about how molto-splendiferous America is, full of "hardworking, innovative, risk-taking, God-loving, family-oriented American people." And then he said, "It's that optimism we thank Ronald Reagan for." Yep, before Reagan, America was just a cesspool of cynicism and hatred, pessimism and blind adherence to lazy, solitary worship of ancient deities that they sacrificed babies to. But the divorced guy who was an asshole to his kids, gutted poverty programs, and wrecked the American economy, he made us all feel better.

Farewell to a friend........

Our Peter of Lone Tree's best friend from his "working days" died during heart surgery on Sunday and his funeral will be this Friday.

His recent e-mail to the Blondes reads: "For the next few days I will be on a slightly different philosophical level than usual and will find little time for news and blogging."

As he begins his trek to the funeral, Peter writes he will be considering "Birth, Death, Life, Infinity".

PoLT, our thoughts and prayers are with you and his family today.

Here are a few songs to take with you also:

From that beautiful blonde, Mary Hopkins (and my first 45) Those Were the Days

I couldn't find her B side (Turn, Turn, Turn) online. I think you'll like this one though: Turn, Turn, Turn - The Byrds

and

Mr. Tamborine Man -- Crosby, McGuinn, Hillman & Dylan

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Why I Read "Signs-of-the-Times" Every Day:

It's because I come across article such as "Virulent New Strain of TB Raising Fears of Pandemic".

I found it in the "Health and Wellness" section. Okay; it's a Washington Post story. From Moscow, and as of this posting, I see no mention of it in GoogleNews. Or YahooNews.

Here's the lead paragraphs:
"A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS.
"Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication. Rather than being killed by the drugs, the microbe builds up resistance to them."

Here's the LINK for the "Signs" mainpage.

Please Lord, not the bees

Everything you didn't want to know about Colony Collapse Disorder

By Peter Dearman

This is an extremely well written article and very well researched.

It's quite long, but most informative and worth the read.


Here's the link

"I am the commander guy"

Thus spoke Curious George W., the Boy King, to Congress.

It would not have surprised me if had added, "and you are not the boss of me!"

Please, please, someone make this stop.

Speaking with 2 accents

Good article about speaking with accents at Slate today.
Drawl on Demand Does Hillary Clinton speak with 2 accents?

Some politicians are accused of linguistic pandering to potential voters. I don't think it's really all that conscious. Heaven knows that if I lived with Bill Clinton, I'd have a drawl in no time but would probably revert to LongIsland-ese when I visited home.

The article mentions "code shifting" a term used by linguists, when you change the way you speak in subtle ways depending on who you are speaking to. Some people speak differently at work from how they speak with their family and friends. Makes sense, especially if your peeps speak a lot of slang and you work in a bank on Park Avenue (like I did.)

I'm a natural born mimic. It's not always conscious. I do pay attention to speech patterns just for the joy of it. If I spend a lot of time with someone from Queens, NY, I pick up the accent for a while, especially when I am in their company. It's not my usual speech pattern to sound like a cross between Tony Danza and the Fran Drescher (depending on how phlegm-y I am at the moment), but it comes out without my even thinking about it when I am in the company of those who speak like that. No one in my family spoke in a heavy Queens or Long Island accent (which is a combination of Irish, Italian and Yiddish accents). But I had neighbors who did. A lot of NYers are first or second generation Americans, hence the weird accents. I mostly speak like a flamboyant NY gay man who works in theater. I have no idea where that came from although I think I picked it up from my "artsy" relatives and now we all sound like that, especially at Christmas under the influence of vodka. It's very dramatic. "You bastard!" "I'm fabulous and you?" People often ask me where the hell I am from. When I spend time in NH, I find myself sounding like them within minutes. "We ah going shawping in Pawtsmith and then to Dovah faw lobstah and chowdah (shopping in Portsmouth and Dover for lobster and chowder). I might do some of that deliberately just because it sounds cool. I sound like I am from Brooklyn when I hang with my clay buddies from Massachusetts (there's a subtle difference in dropping your "r's" which I haven't quite mastered yet) and Lordy, y'all should have heard me after a week in Texas- I had a Mexican accent.

My favorite accent of all time was when Val Kilmer played Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
"I'm your huckleberry."
"I'm dying, how are you?"
"I have not yet begun to defile myself."

On wimps and wussies

I enjoyed this thoughtful op-ed by Mark Dery in the LA Times (use bugmenot.com to get a user name and password) Wimps, wussies and W. It's about the prevalent American hyper-masculinity running rampant today and what it means. More so than being anti-gay, it is anti-feminine. It is fear of the feminine. And to avoid having anyone even suggest that a man is in touch with his feminine side, some American men must overcompensate with anxious masculinity- take for example W. and his war minions or radical preachers.

"But the hidden costs of our overcompensatory hypermachismo are far worse than a few politicians slimed by pundits. The horror in Iraq has been protracted past the point of lunacy by George W.'s bring-it-on braggadocio, He-Ra unilateralism and damn-the-facts refusal to acknowledge mistakes — all hallmarks of a pathological masculinity that confuses diplomacy with weakness and arrogant rigidity with strength. It is founded not on a self-assured sense of what it is but on a neurotic loathing of what it secretly fears it may be: wussy. And it will go to the grave insisting on battering-ram stiffness (stay the course! don't pull out!) as the truest mark of manhood."

Lots to contemplate in the article.

Question for divinity students:

GENESIS:
(2:19) Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Who made and named the fish?

Air Pollution Is Big Business

I could never understand why Rudy Giuliani was so popular in Texas. The self-proclaimed Brooklyn boy, who was raised on Long Island, not Brooklyn, (ahem) raised far more money in Texas than any other candidate. Now we know why: His law firm in Houston, Bracewell & Giuliani, according to the NY Times, "is perhaps the nation’s most aggressive lobbyist for coal-fired power plants, heavy emitters of air pollutants and carbon dioxide, a gas associated with global warming. Environmentalists say the firm played a significant role in persuading the Bush administration (Cheney) to roll back major provisions of the Clean Air Act," and "the law firm is one of the higher-profile defenders of the oil, gas and energy industries, to which it provides legal help and extensive lobbying services in Washington."

"“From clean air to mercury pollution to global warming policies,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, “Giuliani’s firm has been perhaps the most anti-environment voice in Washington, representing some of the biggest corporate polluters.”

Ah yes, remember the Clean Air Act under the bushistas? Cough cough. Oh and remember when the EPA didn't bother to warn NYers of the dangerous levels of asbestos in the air in NYC after 9/11? That was on Giuliani's watch. New Yorkers disliked him even more after that revelation.

So on Monday, the EPA was trying to keep pollution controls at a minimum via the bushista "Clean Air Act" and the US Supreme Court wouldn't even hear of it. yay. Justices reject EPA effort to cut mandated upgrades The EPA doesn't want coal fired plants to have to upgrade their pollution controls if they upgrade the plant. Why they call themselves the Environmental Protection Agency beats me.

This comes at a time when the country's air pollution is being examined by The American Lung Association which released their report yesterday. Scientific American has the story. While smogginess is down in our country, lethal particle pollution is up (thanks "Clean" Air Act), "Particle pollution is lethal, it can kill you," the association's Janice Nolen said in a telephone interview. Fine soot particles can get trapped deep in the lungs and can lead to heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and asthma attacks, Nolen said." More at www.lungusa.org. The Lung Association checked for 3 kinds of pollutants- ozone and 2 kinds of soot (short term soot and year round soot exposure).

The national level for ozone declined however 99 million Americans live in counties with failing grades for ozone.

136 million Americans live in counties with unhealthy levels of soot or ozone.

Los Angeles was ranked as the most polluted U.S. city for all three categories.
Houston, Dallas, New York, Washington and Philadelphia were among the worst cities for ozone pollution.

Washington and Philadelphia were also on the list of the cities with the most soot. Others were Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Baltimore.

Meanwhile, going green is becoming trendy. Can you imagine looking for the Gideon's Bible in your hotel room and finding a copy of `An Inconvenient Truth' instead?

Police State

Police shot rubber bullets at Immigration Rally in Los Angeles yesterday. Watch the CNN report at Think Progress. It's not clear what started the assault on ralliers, but CNN reported that the police action started suddenly.

What kind of message does this send to the children who were present at the rally?

Speaking of shootings at rallies, there is evidence that a firing order was given by the National Guard at Kent State in 1970, "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!" Alan Canfora who was shot in the wrist on that fateful day requested a government tape from the Yale Archives and wants the FBI to listen to it. Whining Clinton hating commenters at the CBS website complained that the liberals should forget about Kent State because the students had it coming (and as we all know, the Vietnam war turned out to be a rousing success) and concentrate on the tragedy at Waco, Texas instead, as if liberals condone what happened at Waco automatically because it happened under Clinton's watch (as if liberals are some sort of sheep who automatically step in line behind what someone in the Democratic party does. sheesh.)

Reagan Diaries

You can read excerpts from Ronald Reagan's diaries at Vanity Fair.
Which one is your favorite?

Here's a good one:

Fri. May 1, 1981 • Highlight was noon visit by Prince Charles. He's a most likeable person. The ushers brought him tea—horror of horrors they served it our way with a tea bag in the cup. It finally dawned on me that he was just holding the cup & then finally put it down on a table. I didn't know what to do. Mike [Deaver, deputy chief of staff] escorted him back to the W.H. and apologized. The Prince, "I didn't know what to do with it."

HFS

An Excerpt from the Daily Herald:

Convention ends with Satan and immigrants

Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan's influence on illegal immigrants.

The group was unable to take official action because not enough members stuck around long enough to vote, despite the pleadings of party officials. The convention was held at Canyon View Junior High School.

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan's minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants "hate American people" and "are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won't do."

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to "destroy Christian America" and replace it with "a godless new world order -- and that is not extremism, that is fact," Larsen said.

At the end of his speech, Larsen began to cry, saying illegal immigrants were trying to bring about the destruction of the U.S. "by self invasion."

Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as "Joe," said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because "they are not going to become Republicans and stop flying the flag upside down. ... If they want to be Americans, they should learn to speak English and fly their flag like we do."

Senator Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, spoke against the resolution, saying Larsen, whom he called a "true patriot and a close friend," was embarrassing the Republican Party.

"I agree with 95 percent of this resolution but it has some language that is divisive and not inspiring other people to its vision," he said. "This only gives fodder to the liberal media to give negative attention to the Republican Party." Read the rest

And yes, let the negative attention of the Republican Party begin.

Pet Food, Pig Feed and now Chicken feed- tainted

Tainted Chickens
The FDA says the risk is low for humans even though some tainted chickens have gotten into the food supply.
And just why is the US not growing it's own food supply? I'm writing letters today.

And did you know that the world's vitamin C comes from China too? I wonder what the hell they put in that.

And it's not like you can even trust the produce at the market. It's not warm enough for me to plant veggies yet.

It's like a Stephen King novel around here.

words on the anniversary of mission accomplished

FOUR YEARS LATER, THE MISSION CLEARLY HAS NOT BEEN “ACCOMPLISHED”
Prepared by the Office of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, 4/30/07
Facts Tell a Very Different Story

On May 1, 2003, President Bush spoke on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished.” Four years later, it is clear that the President’s speech was a political photo-op that ignored the reality on the ground:

• U.S. troops killed in Iraq since “Mission Accomplished”: 3,196 [DoD, 4/30/07]
• U.S. troops wounded in Iraq since “Mission Accomplished”: 24,370 [DoD, 4/30/07]
• Civilian casualties in Iraq: estimated 54,000 – 76,500 [Brookings Institution, 4/16/07]

A LOOK BACK AT PRESIDENT BUSH’S WORDS ON MAY 1, 2003:

“In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our
coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.”

• A report issued today by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction shows that rebuilding in Iraq has not made much progress. It states that “the U.S. project to rebuild Iraq remains far short of its targets, leaving the country plagued by power outages, inadequate oil production and shortages of clean water and health care.” [The Washington Post, 4/30/07]

“We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous.”

• A human rights report by the United Nations mission in Iraq declared that Iraq issuffering a “breakdown in law and order.” [The Washington Post, 4/26/07]

“We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already
know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated.”

• No weapons of mass destruction were found.

“We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools.”

• “Only 15 of 141 primary health-care centers have been completed -- and only eight of those are open to the public.” [The Washington Post, 4/30/07]

“And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people.”

• The Iraqi Parliament is deeply divided by sect, and “there has been little or no progress in achieving three key political benchmarks set by the Bush administration: new laws governing the sharing of Iraq's oil resources and allowing many former members of the banned Baath Party to return to their jobs, and amendments to Iraq's constitution.” [The Washington Post, 4/26/07]

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

And let's also take a look at the words from An Arab Woman Blues. An excerpt.

"Never, at least not to my knowledge, has a "liberation" produced so much human filth...
Never has a "liberation" managed to generate so many death mercenaries and contractors being paid up to 5'000 dollars a day with the sole aim of exterminating...and "pacifying".
Never has a country been so openly plundered and pillaged right in front of everyone's eyes and to the utter silence of its spectators...
Never have so many atrocities of an unspeakable kind, not even seen in the worst horror films go by under an aura of such great detached indifference...

When I mention that cadavers are deliberately left lying in the streets until they are bloated by death or chewed at by wild dogs, I am not believed...I am called extraordinary with extraordinary claims.
I am told, surely the civilized world will not allow that!?. I am then asked to prove it.
Like do you want me to send you a corpse by DHL or should I ask one of the mercenaries of Blackwater Inc. to carry one in his suitcase, courtesy of the Crusaders?

When I write to "friends" that some children are seen playing football with the skull of a dead man, something that has been confirmed by the Arab League Ambassador to Baghdad, I am told that I need psychiatric help...Surely no "liberation" will drive children to play ball with heads ?!

When I am told, that some members of a sectarian militias like the Badr Brigades or Mahdi Army of Iran presented a sunni woman with her baby boy roasted and on platter delivered in front of her doorsteps...I say to myself surely this "liberation" cannot give birth to so much cannibalism...and that maybe I do need psychiatric care after all.

When am told that an elderly woman waiting for her son in some street in Baghdad is presented with a plastic bag with her son in it in pieces...I feel I am watching a third rate horror show...and maybe I am having audible hallucinations.

But this is the reality of the Iraqi "liberation".
All these base, bestial, sadistic, psychopathic impulses have been unleashed and encouraged to flourish...

Iraq , the mirror of the West's "suppressed" bestiality? I leave you to ponder on this one.

But whatever you come up with, you must admit, there has never been a "liberation" like this one...ever."

Happy Loyalty Day, 2007

Until this morning, I had never heard of Loyalty Day. I always think of May 1st as May Day and spend the day thinking back to one of my most vivid and happiest childhood memories -- Dancing around the Maypole and often wonder why this tradition has faded away. Singing, dancing and celebrating springtime! What a great day! So, what happened? Why did this beautiful celebration disappear? I'm not sure, but I wonder if it had anything to do with the possibility (according to the book, The Two Babylons) that the origin of the maypole dance began in ancient Bablyon during sex worship and fertility rites. A carved upright representation of the human penis was danced around by young females and woven with ribbons to insure offspring.

Or, maybe because it was considered a holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures? After all, according to the powers that be, we are a christian nation -- not a pagan nation.

Upon further investigation, I learned that in the United States, May Day is officially observed as Loyalty Day.
It was made an official holiday by the U.S. Congress on July 18, 1958. Following the passage of this law, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1, 1959 the first official observance of Loyalty Day.

Where the HELL have I been??? I sure hope I am not the only one who has never heard of Loyalty Day. Please tell me that there are some readers out there who are as out of touch as I am.

Maybe I should substitute the Maypole ribbon with one of those support the troop "ribbons" and put it on my car to show my loyalty?

No I don't think so.

But can I be loyal to my country without supporting its war machine?

From dictionary.com:
Loyalty, allegiance, fidelity all imply a sense of duty or of devoted attachment to something or someone. Loyalty connotes sentiment and the feeling of devotion that one holds for one's country, creed, family, friends, etc. Allegiance applies particularly to a citizen's duty to his or her country, or, by extension, one's obligation to support a party, cause, leader, etc. Fidelity implies unwavering devotion and allegiance to a person, principle, etc.


If anyone is interested in reading about Loyalty day, I've linked to GWB's proclamations for this day throughout his role as commander in chief.

Loyalty Day, 2007 Proclamation by GWB:

We believe deeply in freedom and self-government, values embodied in our cherished documents and defended by our troops over the course of generations.

Preserving the ideals of our founding requires the service and sacrifice of every generation, and on Loyalty Day, we celebrate the gift of liberty and remember our own obligation to this great Nation.

2006:

The dedication and selflessness of America's soldiers and their families inspire us all. Some of our Nation's finest men and women have given their lives in freedom's cause. By their sacrifices they have given us a legacy of liberty and brought honor to the uniform, our flag, and our country.

2005:

For more than two centuries, our military has given us examples of courage and patriotism that make every American proud. Today, more than a million Americans are stationed around the world, taking great risks and making personal sacrifices to secure the blessings of liberty for our country and to spread peace and freedom. These brave men and women are unrelenting in battle and unwavering in loyalty. Their service exemplifies our Nation's ideals, and they have our gratitude and support.

2004:

As Americans, we work to preserve the freedom declared by our Founding Fathers, defended by generations, and granted to every man and woman on Earth by the Almighty. On Loyalty Day, we are reminded that we are citizens with obligations to our country, to each other, and to our great legacy of freedom and democracy.

We learn lessons of loyalty from the selfless dedication and unwavering allegiance of our men and women in uniform.

2003:

Today, America's men and women in uniform are protecting our Nation, defending the peace of the world, and advancing the cause of liberty. The world has seen again the fine character of our Nation through our military as they fought to protect the innocent and liberate the oppressed in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Their service and sacrifice are a testament to their love for America, and our soldiers' honor on and off the battlefield reaffirms our Nation's most deeply held beliefs: that every life counts, and that all humans have an unalienable right to live as free people.

These values must be imparted to each new generation. Our children need to know that our Nation is a force for good in the world, extending hope and freedom to others.

This Loyalty Day, as we express allegiance to our Nation and its founding ideals, we resolve to ensure that the blessings of liberty endure and extend for generations to come.

2002:

Americans affirmed this sense of loyalty for their homeland during and following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Brave rescuers died while saving others. Passengers on a hijacked airplane gave their lives to prevent the deaths of fellow Americans. Americans pledged to fight terrorism, both here and across the globe.

2001:

Two hundred and twenty-five years ago, America's founders faced a decisive crossroads. Thomas Jefferson later remembered "the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword." They chose the sword, and a Nation was born.

Today, we celebrate our loyalty to this country and to the principles for which America stands. Americans demonstrate their dedication by protecting our Nation and its people, promoting our commonly held ideals, and passing these values on to future generations.

Many Americans display their loyalty through careers in public service. Members of our Armed Forces ensure that our Nation remains strong and secure, as well as defend democracy around the world.

I'll conclude with Clinton's 2000 Proclamation for Loyalty Day

Loyalty Day, 2000

We find perhaps the strongest and most moving evidence of loyalty to America in the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. From the War of Independence to today's peacekeeping missions around the world, generations of Americans have shown their allegiance by defending our Nation against tyrants and terrorists, protecting our national interests wherever they are threatened, and promoting our values across the globe.




Crossposted at BigBrassBlog