Joan of Snark

Did 2 Giant Collisions Turn Uranus On Its Side?

2011-10-07T12:11:00.000-05:00

If you want to get all scientific about it and you really care about the answer, go here.

If you want a really good laugh, read the comment thread in response to this headline here!

I know, I know, I'm easily amused. But seriously, a headline that screams "Did Two Giant Collisions Turn Uranus On It's Side?"? Only a person completely DEVOID of an ounce of humor could not fine this hysterical!

It's Friday, you're welcome!

Just because it's hysterical!

2011-09-24T16:08:00.003-05:00

Expect a lot of this around here...

Time Flies...

2011-09-24T13:52:00.002-05:00

Wow, has it really been over four years? Doesn't seem that long. So much has changed, and so much hasn't, but I'm back. Let the snark commence...

Baby steps

2007-02-14T11:51:00.000-06:00

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for their kind words, thoughts, and prayers. There is no easy way to get through the death of a parent, but being part of “The Adams Family” certainly added to the entertainment value of the whole situation.

My dad was a big clown, being serious was not his forte’. He was a country boy through and through and I don’t think he ever met a man he didn’t like. Likewise, nobody who ever met him could resist falling in love with him. He lived in Kansas his entire life, and therefore most of his friendships were longstanding ones. His two best friends were boys he’d run around with since junior high school. I simply cannot fathom a friendship spanning some 60 years.

Like I said, he was a country boy, and as such, in his younger days was an avid hunter and fisherman. He also collected anything and everything that had to do with nature, such as rocks, bones, antlers, driftwood, barn wood, and actually any stick, twig, or log he thought was cool looking. He was always very proud to show these treasures to me because he knew I was just like him in this respect, and many of his treasures would come home with me. I can’t tell you how thrilled my husband was when he was moving me into his house and discovered boxes and boxes of rocks, antlers, and birds nests. I just couldn’t seem to get him to understand the value of the boxes of rocks (that took two people to carry) and it finally just came down to this; if you want me, the rocks come too.

Hello. I’m Moogirl, and I’m a redneck.

Anyway, after the funeral, the sister and I went to my uncle’s farm in Cherryvale, Ks (try finding THAT on a map, I dare you), which was the perfect place to be. It was my dads’ favorite place on the planet to be and it holds some of the best childhood memories I have. If anyone ever wanted to see why my dad was the way he was, they’d need look no further than the farm people. My uncle has four boys my age and older who also own farms nearby. I’m not sure who gets a bigger kick out of each other, them or us. We got to spend two days of laughter, old pictures, and even older stories.

There was still several inches of ice on the ground in Cherryvale, which only added to the excitement of cow feeding time. You just haven’t lived until you slipped on a frozen cow pie. I dare say that watching the cows try to ice skate to the troughs was the most entertainment I’ve had in a while.

I need to get out more.

For some unexplained reason, it was more important than life itself for me to get a picture of the cows all lined up at the trough...from behind. I just didn’t think I would be able to leave if I wasn’t able to get a picture of a long line of cow butts. I still can’t figure that one out, but it was just insanely important to me. So there I was, in 40 below temperatures (not really, but it was in the teens), with my $3,000 camera, trying to dodge ice, frozen cow patties, NON-frozen cow patties, and very non-trusting cows, trying to get the perfect shot of cow butts.

You just have no idea how uncooperative cows can be, and I wondered if Ansel Adams ever had problems like this. But I got the shots I wanted and it only cost me a pair of tennis shoes and a little dignity. (Blogger isn’t letting me post any pictures for some reason, or it would be wall-to-wall cow butts up in here. Perhaps this is a good thing.)

So now all that’s left is the icky part of returning to the real world. But I’m ok, just kind of wandering around the house not quite knowing what to do with myself. I will try to get back to the business of solving the world’s problems just as soon as the apathy wears off.

I have one piece of advice though. If your father is still living, and you have a good relationship, spend as much time as possible with him. If he is still living and you do not have a good relationship, please, please try to forgive, understand and make amends. If making amends is not possible, then at the very least, try to forgive, in your own heart, and let it go. When the time comes, you will be so grateful that you did.

2007-02-06T18:33:00.000-06:00

Please forgive my absence, but my father has past away. I will be out of town until Sunday night.

This really sucks…

Swing low...

2007-02-03T14:31:00.000-06:00

Dutch gym to introduce 'Naked Sunday'

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Self-conscious about what you wear while working out? A Dutch gym plans to introduce "Naked Sunday" for people who like to huff and puff in the buff.

Patrick de Man, owner of Fitworld gym in the town of Heteren, said he got the idea in part from two of his customers who are avid nudists.

He said the response had been overwhelming — positive and negative.

The 70,000-member Dutch Federation of Naturists was curious to see if Fitworld's plan would work, spokesman Bernd Huiser said.

"We recently conducted a large survey among our members, and most prefer to exercise with their clothes on," he said. "The most popular activities (for nudists) are things you do outdoors, like walking on the beach, or swimming in a lake, or maybe gardening."

De Man said the first question Fitworld customers were asking was whether it would be sanitary.

Nude exercisers would be required to put towels down on weight machines and to use disposable seat covers while riding bikes. All machines would be cleaned and disinfected afterward. "We clean them every day anyway," he said.

The first "Naked Sunday" is scheduled for March 4.

Ok, all together now: “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!”

Now that we’ve gotten that out of our system, I see so many problems with this idea, I just don’t know where to start.

1. First and foremost, there’s a reason most people go to the gym. They go to lose weight or to tone up. ‘Nuff said.

2. Bicycles? Men, if you’re going commando on a bicycle, um….ok I just can’t go there.

3. Treadmills: I was thinking about them when I came up with the title of this post.

In fact, I can’t think of many pieces of gym equipment that wouldn’t be a potential neuterer for men.

I’ve pondered this idea for far too long now, and I’m pretty sure it would look something like this:

Good to know

2007-02-02T12:17:00.000-06:00

Dr. Phil Predicts Early Spring

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - A new pair of hands pulled Dr. Phil from his stump this year, so it was only fitting that the talk show host offered a new prediction.

Dr. Phil did not see his shadow on Friday, which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter.

Since 1886, Dr. Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Obnoxious Talk Show Host Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999.

More than 15,000 revelers milled about in a misty snow waiting for the prediction, as fireworks exploded overhead and the "Pennsylvania Polka" and other music blared in the background.

"It's a lot of work, but it's exciting to know you're a part of one of the most phenomenal parts of American folklore," Hughes said.

Each Feb. 2, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of 6,100 people about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate what had essentially been a German superstition.

The Germans believed that if a bloviating, pompous, ass casts a shadow Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.

Cool, because after Wednesday's snow, this is what I look like when I go out to get the mail.

Ok not really. I try not to lick my nose in public.

But I’m still sick of it...

Read on...

Jon Stewart Tries to Relate to Cheney

2007-02-01T14:42:00.000-06:00

As only Jon can...

Wow, way to miss the whole point, dudes

2007-02-01T11:24:00.000-06:00

Church's 'Jesus loves Osama' sign criticised

The Australian prime minister has criticised a Sydney baptist church for erecting a sign declaring that "Jesus Loves Osama".

The slogan, a reference to Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda leader, has provoked a storm of controversy across the country despite its apparently Christian message of forgiveness.

Small print at the bottom of the sign urges churchgoers to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you", a quotation from Matthew 5:44.

But John Howard, the prime minister, said that the church should have chosen a less offensive way of spreading its message.

"I understand the Christian motivation of the Baptist church," he said.

"But I hope they will understand that a lot of Australians, including many Australian Christians, will think that the prayer priority of the church on this occasion could have been elsewhere."

Peter Jensen, the Anglican archbishop of Sydney, said that the sign - which has been put up outside several churches in the city - was confusing and potentially offensive.

"There is a truth in it," he said. "But, "what we've got to say is, 'Jesus doesn't approve of Osama.' It makes it sounds like, 'Oh, Osama's doing the right thing'."

A spokesman for the Central Baptist Church told the Australian Daily Telegraph that it was merely "sharing the gospel".

He said: "Osama is the head of terrorism. We are saying that Jesus Christ loves everyone in the world, even this man. ... All we are doing is sharing the gospel."

So the Prime Minister said, “…that the prayer priority of the church on this occasion could have been elsewhere.” Ok, he’s a politician, so he’s expected to say stupid things. I mean, who better to pray for than the planet’s most wanted criminal?

But the “Anglican archbishop of Sydney” (whatever that is, I’m assuming it’s Catholic) said, “…that the sign was confusing and potentially offensive” and that, “There is a truth in it, but what we've got to say is, 'Jesus doesn't approve of Osama.' It makes it sounds like, 'Oh, Osama's doing the right thing'."

ONLY IF YOU’RE AN IDIOT! I’m sorry, but shouldn’t he know better?

First of all, there isn’t “a truth in it”, it IS the truth. I love how certain “religious” people pick and choose the parts of the Bible they want to believe and abide by. How can he say “there is a truth in it”? We ARE supposed to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, and Jesus DOES love Osama, same as he loved Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Custer, Saddam, and George W. Bush. That is not to say Jesus ever approved of anything they did.

Unfortunately, nowhere in the Bible does it say we get to choose which of our enemies we’re suppose to pray for. I can’t believe someone who considers himself a religious leader would say something so asinine.

But then again, I’m not so sure a Catholic leader is someone we’d want to hold up as an authority on Jesus anyway. Still, he should know better.

Like it or not, believe it or not, it’s still the truth. And it is the Gospel. And good for the Baptists in Australia. The American Baptists could learn a little something from their example. But that would mean actually having the strength of your convictions...

Father recovering from being strangled with stethoscope...

2007-02-01T10:59:00.000-06:00

Big baby causes sensation in Cancun

CANCUN, Mexico - He is called "Super Tonio," and at a whopping birth weight of 14.5 pounds, the little fellow is causing a sensation in this Mexican resort city.

Cancun residents have crowded the nursery ward's window to see Antonio Vasconcelos, who was born early Monday by Caesarean section. The baby drinks 5 ounces of milk every three hours, and measures 22 inches in length.

Antonio's mother, Teresa Alejandra Cruz, 23, and father, Luis Vasconcelos, 38, said they were proud of the boy, and noted that Cruz had given birth to a baby girl seven years ago who weighed 11.46 pounds.

What the news fails to mention is that moments after this photo was taken, Jumbo ate his bedmate...

Read on

Does this net make me look fat?

2007-02-01T10:44:00.000-06:00

What all the best dressed deer are wearing this year

This is the staggering sight of a buck mule deer who has got his antlers in a twist.

The impressive creature took it all in his stride after getting caught up in a bright purple volleyball net.

He is so taken with the unusual headgear a Colorado Division Wildlife officer decided to leave it on until his antlers naturally shed in February.

In the meantime, wardens in Durango are keeping a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't get himself in a knot.

And all the other mule deer, used to laugh and call him names...

Since I'll be a captive audience...

2007-01-31T15:59:00.000-06:00

This is who I’ll be rooting for in the Stupor Bowl.

Colts star Manning sidesteps Pentagon plug

A US marine reporter tried unsuccessfully to get Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning to plug the federal government's Pentagon channel during Media Day at the Super Bowl.

Reina Barnett, wearing full Marine camouflage, was accompanied by a uniformed cameraman when she asked Manning on Tuesday to repeat "You are watching the Pentagon channel" which is be aired during Sunday's game for US troops watching in Iraq.

Instead Manning, who gave a colourful performance during Media Day with many one-liners that left reporters laughing, simply expressed support for the troops and thanked the soldiers for their sacrifice.

Others like Chicago Bears starting quarterback Rex Grossman and Colts guard Matt Ulrich weren't so apprehensive to plug the Pentagon.

Said Grossman, "Hi I'm Rex Grossman, Chicago Bears and you're watching the Pentagon Channel."

"I want to thank you guys for all you do keeping us free here," Ulrich said. "We will keep you in our hearts and prayers."

Oh get me a bucket. Rex Grossman couldn't find Iraq on a map. Good for Peyton for not allowing himself to be used as a tool of the White House propaganda machine.

Because I just can't type fast enough...

2007-01-31T14:43:00.000-06:00

Before I could even finish the post below, this story now has a life of it’s own thanks to Matt Drudge and Fox News. Drudge has now linked to the video below. After reading the entire interview and hearing Biden’s explanation, I no longer believe Biden was making a racist comment about Obama when he said:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Taken in context of the entire interview and the fact that he was being questioned about Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, I truly don’t believe Biden meant what Drudge and Fox news are making it out to be. Biden is not an idiot. This is just another case of “Obama is Muslim”, much ado about nothing. Expect this a lot in the next year and a half from Drudge and Fox. If they can keep us on the offense, then nobody is talking about the real issues at hand, particularly, how the Republicans have flocked up this entire country.

Biden Responds to Obama Comment

Beware the Sludge Drudge!

2007-01-31T13:50:00.000-06:00

Matt Drudge has a plan. His plan is to divide and conquer the Democratic Party.

Drudge is a right-wing Internet “reporter”. I use the term “reporter” loosely. He is a weasel with a hugely popular website, "The Drudge Report", a website chalked full of nothing more than headline links to legitimate news sites. Once in a great while he gets what he calls “an exclusive”, which may or may not be true. His track record for the truth is nothing to be proud of. But, as long as he sticks to linking to legitimate news sites, his site can be a rather interesting mish-mash of news from around the world.

But be forewarned, Matt Drudge will link up to any news story that mentions The Drudge Report simply because they’ve mentioned The Drudge Report. He does this so that everyone can see how important he is. I sent him an email a couple years ago asking if it was hard to type while tooting one’s own horn.

Needless to say, I never got a response.

Back to Drudge’s plan to divide and conquer the Democratic Party. Drudge knows that he can’t alienate half of his audience by only reporting favorable headlines for the Republicans. He also can’t come right out and bash the Dems. So his modus operandi is going to be to link to any and every story he can find that shines a less than favorable light on any and every Democratic candidate.

Any bit of gossip (whether true or not), any bit of backbiting or sniping, and you can bet it will be a headline on Drudge. His screaming headlines about Obama being a Muslim (which were proven to be untrue) have already been deleted from his archives. But that’s how he works. Print it, and if it turns out to be less than truthful, just delete it, regardless of the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have already seen it and believed it because it was on The Drudge Report. He's Fox News for the net.

As I said, Matt Drudge is a weasel. A Republican weasel, which is odd, since he’s gay. But, whatever floats your boat. I have never linked to The Drudge Report because he is such a weasel. Perhaps I’ll start, if for no other reason than to point out the obvious tactics he’s using against the Dems.

This is his screaming headline as of this moment, which reads:

SEN. BIDEN SHOCK INTERVIEW: 'I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'...

This is the link to the Biden story. For some reason, page 2 and page 3 of this interview are no longer showing up at the bottom of page one. But you can access them through the links above.

I am not making light of Biden’s obviously bigoted comment. We certainly need to know if our presidential candidates are closet racists. But the reason for my post was to point out The Drudge Report’s tactics for reporting only the negative, in glaring headlines. First Drudge is churning out lies about Obama’s religious beliefs, and then he’s showing him as the victim of a racist comment by a fellow candidate.

All of this is to cast a negative light on the entire Democratic Party. And as popular as The Drudge Report (as a gossip rag) is, I dare say this tactic might just work.

And as far as Biden’s comment goes, he may have just pulled a Macaca and sealed his own fate.

Help is on the way!

2007-01-30T11:41:00.000-06:00

Does your cat look like this?

Or this?

Or perhaps this?

Or, Heaven forbid, this???

Never fear, help is on the way!

Maybe I was just tired...

2007-01-29T12:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry to have been AWOL all weekend, we had a huge shoot Saturday, which kicked our collective arses. Because of that, last night I was too tired to do anything but lay here and surf the net for entertainment that didn’t require too many brain cells. I found it.

So I’m lying here, minding my own business (Clint’s already asleep), when I come across this Laughter is contagious video. It starts out innocently enough, but two minutes into it, I’m laughing so hard that I woke him up. Now I wasn’t making any noise, mind you, it was that silent laugh where your whole body shakes. I shook him awake.

Needless to say, Clint was not amused. So, I apologized for waking him and promised to keep it down to a dull roar. Not two minutes later, I came across this hamsters on meth video.

That was all she wrote. I had to get up and leave the room.

I wonder if he'll help with the dishes now...

2007-01-26T11:45:00.000-06:00

Woman, 65, saves husband from mountain lion

Wildlife officials on Thursday credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple hiked in a California state park.

Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking Wednesday in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, 60 miles south of the Oregon state line, when the lion pounced.

"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital.

Jim Hamm was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.

After the attack, game wardens closed the park and released hounds to track the lion. They later shot and killed two lions found near the trail where the attack happened.

The carcasses were flown to a state forensics lab to determine if either animal had mauled the man.

Nell Hamm said she grabbed a 4-inch-diameter log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.

"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,"' she said.

"So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."

When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.

This guy will never win another argument as long as he lives.

Read on...

Something is seriously wrong with these people!

2007-01-26T02:36:00.000-06:00

Sweet, sweet Elly is back in the news.

The Parents-of-the-Year winners had to drug Elly to get her to act like a human being on the flight they took the next day!

OMG who are these people? And do we have any drugs that will make them act right???

Buried in the news reports about the incident was the real answer to the whole conundrum: When the family boarded another plane the following day, little Elly was apparently smuggling a dose (or three) of Children’s Benadryl in her tummy. It’s the dirty little secret — one of them, anyway — for all sanity-seeking parents. If the kids are prone to episodes during high-stress times such as airline travel, dope ‘em.

Nope, no problem there. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with this parenting skill?

Me thinks Mummy could use a little Benadryl also...

Ghosts of Mississippi, imbeciles of Texas

2007-01-26T00:40:00.000-06:00

Two stories of racism. The first from 40 years ago, the second from today. No snark, just the ugly facts.

Reputed Klansman charged in 1964 deaths of black teens

On the morning of May2, 1964, Henry Dee and Charles Moore, both 19, were hitchhiking along U.S. 84 outside Meadville, Mississippi, when a Volkswagen pulled alongside them.

At the wheel was James Ford Seale, a 29-year-old truck driver. According to an FBI informant, this is what happened next:

Seale said he was a "Revenue agent hunting for bootleg whiskey stills," and told the two to get into the car. Seale pulled out a walkie-talkie and told the occupants of a trailing pickup truck, including his cousin, 31-year-old Charles Marcus Edwards, that he was bringing "two Negro boys" to talk with them.

Seale turned onto a forest road and, after traveling some distance, parked.

The Klansmen bound the two friends and began whipping them with beanpoles. Seale asked them over and over who was behind all the "Negro trouble" in Franklin County.

After the beating, the Klansmen loaded the unconscious pair into a car trunk, careful to line it with a tarp to catch the blood.

Driving to the Mississippi River, the white men dragged the barely breathing pair into a boat. Moore was lashed to a Jeep engine block, Dee to some old railroad tracks and wheels, the informant said.

Then the two friends went over the side, and the swirling, muddy water swallowed them alive.

That November, acting on information from a Klan insider, Mississippi state troopers arrested Seale and Edwards on murder charges.

(Seale on the left, Edwards, right)

In an interview with FBI agents, Edwards admitted that he and Seale had kidnapped and beaten the two black men. But Edwards said they were alive when he left them.

The agents leaned heavily on Seale.

"We know you did it, you know you did it," an agent said, "The Lord above knows you did it."

"Yes," Seale replied, according to an FBI report, "but I'm not going to admit it. You are going to have to prove it."

At the time, the FBI had its hands full with the so-called "Mississippi Burning" case, the murders of three civil rights workers.

The Dee-Moore prosecution was turned over to local authorities, who promptly threw out all charges.

Seale, now 70, was arrested Wednesday on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy and pleaded not guilty to those charges today, in front of a female, African American judge.

Charles Edwards, 72, has not been charged. People close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity said Edwards was cooperating with authorities.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Simply heartbreaking.

The Washington Post, gives a detailed background of this case, and The Clarion Ledger, Mississippi's leading newspaper, has much info, videos, and a photo gallery on it's front page (not sure how long they'll be on the front page though, you may have to look for the links).

That was 1964. Fast forward to 2007, when we are sooo much smarter.

“Martin Luther King” Party Causes Uproar on Texas Campus

Authorities at Tarleton State University in Stephenville. Tx, said they plan to investigate a Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes by featuring fried chicken, malt liquor and faux gang apparel.

Photographs posted on social networking Web site Facebook.com showed partygoers wearing Afro wigs and fake gold and silver teeth. One photo showed students "mocking how African-Americans do step shows," Elder said. In another picture, a student is dressed as Aunt Jemima and carries a gun.

Wanda Mercer, the school's vice president of student life, said an investigation was planned into the Jan. 15 party.

More than 400 students attended a university-sponsored forum Wednesday night that Elder described as "a shaky baby step" in bridging a divide between black and white students on the campus, which had about 400 black students out of 7,800 overall last semester.

Elder said he sensed a racial divide at the forum, with black students sitting on one side of the room and whites on the other.

"It was civil, but it also escalated into a shouting match," he said in a telephone interview afterward.

Some of the students shown in the photos apologized, Elder said.

University President Dennis P. McCabe said the photographs were reprehensible.

"I am personally insulted by these photographs and am disappointed that Tarleton students have demonstrated such insensitivity," he said.

It’s sad to say, as much as I’d like to rag on Texas, this could have happened on any college campus in America. Unfortunately, racism and ignorance is alive and well in America, and no state is immune.

I was going to post pictures of these poor, retarded, college kids, but frankly, I didn’t want to have to look at them every time I’m on my site. I would, however, suggest you look at them to see the future leaders of America .

And remember, this party took place to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.

Teach your children well...

Hagel challenges all 100 Senators on Iraq resolution

2007-01-25T21:26:00.000-06:00

Senate panel rejects Bush's troop surge in Iraq

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska is a ’08 presidential candidate and perhaps the only Republican candidate who owns a pair of kahones. Sen. Hagel had a moment of passionate fervor yesterday and called for accountability from all other Senators during the resolution debate. They were voting on the resolution opposing the president's new troop surge in Iraq. The resolution passed 12 to 9, with Sen. Hagel being the only Republican to vote in favor of opposing the surge.

I like this guy and am impressed with both his passion and courage. He basically challenged his fellow Senators to either oppose the president, or have the balls to face the public and tell them why they thought an escalation in Iraq was a good idea.

You have to love a politician who is willing to set his hair on fire over this issue. I don’t know who this guy is, but he sure could be fun to watch in the future.

Read on...

I’m entering an "Obamaholic Anonymous" program soon. I promise.

2007-01-25T14:08:00.000-06:00

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

"Hello, I'm Moorgirl, and I'm a Obamaholic..."

The playing field just got leveled…

2007-01-25T13:04:00.000-06:00

Hillary's Hollywood Friends Switch Sides

Is Hollywood abandoning Hillary?

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Hollywood's movers and shakers received an invitation that they may find hard to refuse.

They've been invited to come meet Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's new superstar.

Movie moguls Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg want their Hollywood peers to join them at a Feb. 20 fundraiser the three are throwing for Obama.

The fundraiser represents a major slap for Obama's main competitor, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has received financial support from all three moguls in the past. Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg, along with other employees of their entertainment company, Dreamworks SKG, have contributed $47,000 to Clinton since her 2000 New York Senate campaign.

Spielberg alone has contributed $11,000 to Clinton since that campaign, and his political consultant, Andy Spahn, emphasized that Spielberg and Geffen have not yet officially endorsed Obama. "Mr. Katzenberg is endorsing Sen. Obama's candidacy," he said. "Mr. Spielberg is co-hosting the event but has not made any endorsements as of yet."

Spahn added that Spielberg "expects to be helpful to a few candidates during this exploratory phase," and may host fundraisers for Clinton and John Edwards as well. "Spielberg likes John Edwards and has a relationship with him — those are the two who he also likes."

Since the invitation went out just this morning, it was not clear who had R.S.V.P.'d for the event. But it is likely that those celebrities who've expressed support for Obama's candidacy — including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Oprah Winfrey, Oliver Stone and superagent Ari Emanuel — will be at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 20.

My, my, what a difference a day makes. Seeing as how Hillary was favored to win because she can raise the most money, I’d say the playing field just got leveled.

Let’s face it, if Queen Oprah throws her considerable weight (and no, that’s not a fat joke) behind Obama, I would say that Hillary (and everyone else) can just go home. I have some serious opinions (not necessarily favorable) about Dame Oprah, but I won’t get into that now. It’s her minions (not millions) that will sew up this election for Obama.

I swear if Ms. Winfrey told her adoring lemmings to eat broken glass, 80% of the female population would be walking around with bloody lips. They hang on her every word as if she were a burning bush. If she throws her support behind Obama, Hillary can forget about the female vote.

Oprah has more ability to sway the general public than any single candidate. Right or wrong, good or bad, it’s a fact; as Oprah goes, so goes the country…

"Obama will not be swiftboated. Period."

2007-01-24T18:47:00.000-06:00

Obama distributed a memo to reporters this morning completely debunking the lying piles of crap at Fox News and Insight Magazine.

From the memo:

To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago. Furthermore, the Indonesian school Obama attended in Jakarta is a public school that is not and never has been a Madrassa.

These malicious, irresponsible charges are precisely the kind of politics the American people have grown tired of, and that Senator Obama is trying to change by focusing on bringing people together to solve our common problems.

Fox News and the rabid Right will be the best thing that could ever happen to Obama. Every time they try to smear him with false accusations, he shows what he’s made of by rising to the occasion with class and style.

Keep it up, Fox. You’ll put Obama in the White House yet.

Read on...

I hate other children's parents...

2007-01-24T16:07:00.000-06:00

Girl Kicked Off Plane After Tantrum

Flight attendants often deal with obnoxious passengers who won't listen to instructions by kicking them off the plane. But a Massachusetts couple think AirTran Airways went overboard by treating their crying 3-year-old daughter in much the same way.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza and daughter Elly were removed from the flight when the girl refused to take her seat before takeoff, airline officials said Tuesday. But her parents said they just needed a little more time to calm her down.

The Kuleszas planned to fly home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers after a four-day visit with the girl's paternal grandparents. She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

AirTran officials say they were only following Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seatbelt upon takeoff.

"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," Graham-Weaver said.

But Julie Kulesza said: "We weren't giving an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything." (Ok, my head just exploded)

"Elly was sitting in front of our seat crying," she said in a phone interview. "The attendant motioned to a seat and asked if we purchased it for her."

They had paid for the seat. Gerry Kulesza said another attendant then approached the family and told him: "You need to get her in control and in her seat."

The couple told the attendants they were trying. Julie Kulesza said she asked the attendants if Elly could sit on her lap, but they said no.

The family flew home the next day.

The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

But that's too little, too late for the Kuleszas. The father said they would never fly AirTran again.

OH SHUT UP, YOU WIMPY, WEAK, SOCIALLY MAL-ADJUSTED, DISCOURTEOUS, SELF-CENTERED, THOUGHTLESS, INCONSIDERATE, NEVER-SHOULD-HAVE-BEEN-ALLOWED-TO-REPRODUCE-IN-THE-FIRST-PLACE, TARDS!!!

Whew! I feel better.

Anybody who knows me knows that I am not a great lover of other people’s children. Not all children, just the ones who act like they were raised by wolves. And it’s not actually the children, it’s the parents. Ok, it IS actually the children, but it’s the parents’ fault.

If you can’t control your snot-nosed three-year-old after fifteen minutes, you just need to be sterilized.

The fact that this inbred couple draws the breath to be huffy about the whole situation makes me want to fly to Boston, find whatever trailer park they live in, knock on their front door, and smack the schnit out of both of them. I bet the other 112 passengers would erect a statue in my honor.

And then I have a little sum-sum special for Miss Elly…

"He'll be standing in front of a woman who's holding a hammer..."

2007-01-24T15:35:00.000-06:00

I absolutely looked forward to Bush’s State of the Union speech last night. Not because of anything the Tard-in-Chief was going to say, but because of the choreography that always goes on at one of these speeches.

To stand or not to stand; to clap or not to clap; and if you do clap, how long do you clap and how enthusiastically? Do you hang on his every word with enraptured attention, or do you stare off into space to show your contemptuous disapproval? Every movement is planned out well ahead of time.

I LOVE THIS RITUAL!

It’s like a class of 10-year-olds at recess. But it’s also a way to publicly display your opinion of the president’s policies. It’s the political hokey pokey, and the Washington Post breaks it down perfectly:

Cheney and Pelosi Do the Two-Party Two-Step

A tale of two pictures...

2007-01-24T14:40:00.000-06:00

"Hey Condi, didn't your mother ever tell you that if you didn't stop making that face it would freeze that way?"

The evil children over at C&L are having fun again...and so am I.

The trial of Scooter Libby, and why we should care

2007-01-24T13:41:00.000-06:00

We should care because this goes straight to the top. We should care because this will be the first time in history that a sitting Vice President will be called to testify. We should care because, depending on what evidence comes to light during this trial, Cheney could get a little bit of it on him. We should care because it’s fun to watch roaches scurry when a little light is shed.

We should care because this is better than any reality show on TV.

Ok, here’s a quick breakdown of the situation. I’ll not provide dates or links for every point, this is just a simple, brief summary.

Joseph Wilson was the US diplomat to the African Nations and Iraq, who wrote a scathing editorial in the New York Times back in 2003 entitled, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa”. In this editorial, Wilson documents his February 2002 trip investigating whether Iraq purchased or attempted to purchase yellowcake from Niger in the late 1990s and accuses the Bush administration of "exaggerating the Iraqi threat" in order to justify war.

Remember, yellowcake is used in nuclear weapons, and was one of the main reason we had to invade Iraq.

Wilson is married to Valerie Plame who, at the time, was a super-secret undercover agent for the CIA.

In order to get even with Wilson for blowing the lid off the HUGE lie told by the WH, someone in the WH leaked to the press the identy of super-secret undercover agent Plame, thereby costing her her job and putting her life in danger.

This trial is about who exactly leaked that information to the press and the coverup that followed. The leak came from Cheney’s office. President Bush promised "to fire whomever was responsible".

Seeeee, I told you you should care!

Scooter Libby is actually the one on trial for leaking Plame’s identy. Libby was Cheney’s top aide. Libby blames Karl Rove for the leak. Rove is Bush’s chief political adviser and part-time Porky Pig lookalike. And just so’s ya know, Rove and Cheney are the evil masterminds who are really running the WH, the war, and the country. Just so’s ya know.

Most likely, Cheney and Rove got together and told Scooter to leak Plame’s identity to the press and are now throwing him under the bus. That’s pretty much their M.O. and I would imagine Scooter learned of Plame through Rove and/or Cheney, and lied about learning it from the press to cover for them.

Patrick Fitzgerald is the Special Prosecutor for the trial, which started yesterday.

Theodore Wells is Scooter’s attorney.

So those are all the players. Now on to today’s news.

There are actually two different plots going on here. The first is the plot to leak Plames’ identity to the press. The second is the plot to cover up who did the leaking. But the bottom line is, Rove and Cheney are in this up to their necks. Crimes were commited, such as perjury and obstruction of justice, which is what Scooter is charged with for lying to investigators when they started investigating the leak.

Scooter said he learned about Wilson and his wife from reporters, not the vice president. He says he learned of her identity from NBC News reporter and host of the Sunday morning talk show "Meet The Press", Tim Russert. Russert says "Nu-uh" and will testify against Libby. For this reason, MSNBC will probably be covering the trial closer than anyone and will be a good source to follow.

Attorneys for Scooter Libby said yesterday that the Bush administration officials tried to blame him for the leak of Plame's identity to cover up for Karl Rove's own disclosures.

Libby has said, "They're trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb. I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected."

Stay tuned. It's going to be a bumpy trial...

MSNBC

Crooks and Liars will have periodic posts, live from the courtroom.

What could possibly go wrong?

2007-01-22T23:40:00.000-06:00

Website offers whistleblowers chance to go global

THE internet could become even more difficult for governments to regulate with a new website, Wikileaks, promising to provide a safe haven for whistleblowers to upload confidential documents.

Comparing themselves with the leaker of the Pentagon papers that damaged the Nixon administration and eroded US public confidence in the Vietnam War, Wikileaks' creators say they will uncover unethical behaviour by developing "an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis".

Wikipedia is the online encyclopedia built around content created by tens of thousands of contributors. It says its sophisticated cryptographic technology ensures users cannot be traced.

The Wikileaks spokeswoman said more that 1 million documents were awaiting publication.

Read on...

Smearing two birds with one lie…

2007-01-22T22:08:00.000-06:00

A couple days ago, a commenter brought to my attention this ridiculous rumor of Barack Obama being a closet Muslim. What the commenter had cut and pasted (I don’t know what the source was, doesn’t matter) smacked of rightwing lies, fear, and racism. And let’s face it; if it’s lies, fear, and racism, it must be Republican.

I won’t bother to comment on the rumor, it was as transparent as it was untruthful. But leave it to the wingnuts to make a bad situation worse.

Apparently the original source of the “story” was a Republican rag called Insight Magazine. Insight Magazine is now claiming that they received the information that Obama is a Muslim from an “unnamed source” in Hillary Clinton’s camp. While I am not a great fan of Hillary, I have never thought she was a stupid woman, nor one given to much fear. This is simply not her style.

Naturally, the lie surrounding Obama’s heritage was repeated over and over on Fox News. Only Fox didn’t stop there. They’ve also been “reporting” that the information came from Clinton’s camp.

Now, we all know that rabid Republicans and Fox News wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and gave them a blowjob, but this is bordering on the insane. Not to mention that it’s WAY too early for Fox to be pulling out the swift boats. This story is so transparent that I could tell who was behind it from a simple comment left by a reader. I didn’t even have to read the story.

Hillary Clinton may be a lot of things, but she’s not a Republican, and this has Republican written all over it. First and foremost, Democrats are not the ones who immediately jump to “terrorist” every time someone says “Muslim”. Republicans are. Republicans are the ones who fear all things Muslim and who try to instill that fear in anyone who will listen. Rational, reasonable people know that, while all the evildoers are Muslim, not all Muslims are evildoers. This is where they show what racist hacks they really are. The only reason Fox newscasters don’t wear pointy white hoods to do the news is because they can’t read the teleprompters through the eyeholes.

Last time I checked, Hillary was the frontrunner, she just threw her hat into the ring, and the election is two years away. There would be no reason for her to “leak” this rumor, especially at this stage of the game. This was the act of a desperate party. And Hillary is anything but desperate.

But the Republicans are. Can you smell the desperation? I told you when Obama announced his candidacy that he was the Reps. worst nightmare, a Democratic black man in the White House. But that’s nothing compared to the apoplexy the Reps. are having over this: the prospect that Bill Clinton could be back in the White House. And while the Republican Party is well known for being full of racists and sexists, they are, above all things, Bill Clinton haters.

Hang on, folks, it’s going to be a mean season. Luckily, after two terms of George Bush, the American people recognize the Republican's handiwork when they smell it.

Bottom line is, Insight Magazine, along with the Washington Times newspaper, are owned by none other than the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Yes, that Rev. Moon. The crazy, wackadoo cult leader. It is a well-known fact that the Rev. Moon is a huge contributor to the Republican Party.

Since serving his tax-evasion sentence in the early 1980s, however, Moon appears to have bought himself protection by spreading hundreds of millions of dollars around conservative causes and through generous speaking fee payments to Republican leaders, including former President George H.W. Bush.

Moon himself has boasted that he spent $1 billion on the right-wing Washington Times in its first decade alone. The newspaper, which started in 1982, continues to lose Moon an estimated $50 million a year but remains a valuable propaganda organ for the Republican Party.

How Moon has managed to cover the vast losses of his media empire and pay for lavish conservative conferences has been one of the most enduring mysteries of Washington, but curiously one of the least investigated, at least since the Reagan-Bush era.

Any questions?

Are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes?

2007-01-21T15:43:00.000-06:00

Because I do this for a living, photo retouching always fascinates me. I stand in the lines at the store and see the magazine covers of all the beautiful people, fully knowing that these people look like slugs when they wake up in the morning.

Ok, maybe not Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, but everyone else.

I tried for years to get it through the daughter’s head that these people don’t actually look like this in real life, that women don’t have perfect bodies, teeth, hair, and complexions. They are airbrushed, erased, and manipulated in some form or fashion. I curse the people in the advertising field and they are all going to Hell.

(Click to enlarge in a new window)

Roll your mouse over the samples of before and after shots on the links below. Check them out, and then feel good about yourself!

This guy is really good. Check out his bikini girl and his blonde.

Scroll down, and forget that Wonder Bra...

Scroll down, and forget all those sit-ups...

Scroll down, and know that nothing you see in print is real...

For the love of all things stretchy…NO!

2007-01-21T13:24:00.000-06:00

Leggings Are the New Must-Have.

For men!

No. NO! A thousand times NOOOOO! If I see any of you wearing these atrocities in public, I swear I will come up to you, point to your crotch, and laugh. I’ll do it. I’m not kidding. Because let’s face it, if you’re a man and you’d go out in public dressed like this, you deserve public humiliation heaped upon you in volumes.

The only man who should ever be seen in leggings is THIS guy!

I could just spit…

2007-01-20T15:42:00.000-06:00

Hillary Clinton Launching Presidential Run

She’s running. I won’t go through the whole story, just a few of the highlights that really jerk my chain.

She said:

"As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George W. Bush can do," Clinton's statement added. "But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism."

Um, Hill? We’ve been listening for your dissenting voice for a couple of years now with nary a peep from you. Now that it’s safe, now that everyone has jumped from The Good Ship Lollipop and been plucked out of the waters by the USS Reality, now when it’s safe for you to speak out, NOW you think Iraq is a bad idea. You’re a day late and a dollar short, lady.

Many political watchers consider Clinton the Democrat to beat — particularly given her prolific fundraising abilities. Associates of Clinton say she will be capable of raising tens of millions of dollars in the year to come.

Isn’t that a crying shame? She’s deemed the Democrat to beat because she can raise the most money. Remember, America, you don’t always get what you pay for. Sometimes a bargain brand just works better because it has to.

Clinton's support is particularly strong among Democratic women; 49 percent favor her for the nomination, compared with 29 percent of Democratic men.

Ok, ladies, I’m talking to you here. Just because Hillary Clinton has a uterus, that’s no reason to give her permission to run the country. Voting for a woman simply because she’s a woman makes you stupid and not worthy of owning a uterus or a vote. While I agree it would be wonderful to someday have a woman president, not this woman. She has proven herself to be just another professional politician. I also agree that while it would be a comic delight to have Bill back in the White House, it would only be fun for about five minutes. Forgive me for what I’m about to say, but come on ladies, stop voting with your twat! I’m sorry, there was just no better way to put it. And I apologize for using the words Hillary Clinton and uterus in the same sentence. (Expect freaks who Google “twat” to show up any minute and be very disappointed.)

This past week, Clinton made a highly publicized trip to Iraq, where she met with top U.S. commanders. During that trip, she told ABC News' Jonathan Karl the situation in Iraq is "heartbreaking."

Way to use ~~Iraq,~~ ~~the war,~~ the young Americans spilling their blood because you supported this war, as a photo-op for your upcoming campaign, wench. The only other time she’s been to Iraq was in 2005 when she visited Baghdad with Sen. “What this war needs is a bigger body count” McCain and three others. They never left the safety and comfort of the Green Zone. Has anybody checked her card? Are we sure she’s a Democrat?

"I don't know that the American people or the Congress at this point believe this mission can work," she told ABC News.

You don’t know? Pick up a newspaper, girl. She knows damn good and well that the tide has turned for this war. That’s why it is now safe for her to jump on the cool kid’s bandwagon.

After returning to the United States, Clinton proposed legislation to cap the number of American troops serving in Iraq and to begin a redeployment of troops out of Baghdad, and eventually out of Iraq. She also supports putting conditions on the money being spent in Iraq.

Obama proposed similar legislation the following day. He often points to the fact that he never supported the war in the first place. Clinton did vote to authorize the use of force in 2002.

I’ll admit it, I get a certain amount of joy from the fact that the flag-waving, uber-patriots of 2002 are finally getting their comeuppance. Having voted for this war in back in 2002 is political poison now, and it should be. And while they’re all singing a different tune, now that it’s a safe thing to do, they should have had the strength, decency, and common sense to do it back then.

Prior to Clinton's proposal for legislation, John Edwards leveled indirect criticism at Clinton for not taking bolder action to oppose the war. In a speech commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr., he said: "If you're in Congress and you know that this war is going in the wrong direction, and you know that we should not escalate this war in Iraq, it is no longer okay to study your options and keep your own private counsel."

Now THAT’S how you do it. If you voted for this war in 2002, then you suck it up, admit your mistake, and come out firing both barrels against it now. Not some wimpy, milquetoast, “I don’t know that the American people believe this can work” crap. For someone who’s been labeled a pit bull, she sure seems to be a fence-straddling, chihuahua to me.

In my book, she’s the very essence of what a politician is. And that’s not a good thing. So unless some phenomenal woman throws her hat into the ring, we will just have to wait four more years. Voting for an unethical woman for president just to get a woman into the White House is an unacceptable option. After all, we want the first female president to go down in history as a good thing, don’t we?

Come on, Hill, stay in your cushy Senate job. I really don't want to have to vote Independant this time around.

And I know this is a typical, catty, question and has nothing to do with anything, but why is she wearing a wedding cake?

I'm just sayin'...

2007-01-20T12:37:00.000-06:00

Wingnuts love the Nuge

2007-01-20T04:00:00.000-06:00

Maybe it’s just me, but I always thought the Republican Party’s adoration of ~~Fred Nugget~~ Ted Nugent, and his love of all things wingnutty, was like a match made in Hell. Does the Republican Party seem like the type of people who actually listen to long-haired, no shirt-wearing, screaming banshee, hard rockers? I’m thinking no.

But it has always been a love fest between these two life forms. That is, until this past Wednesday. Now, I’ve never like Ted, never liked his music, liked him even less when he decided that he was Daniel Boone reincarnated, and actually loathed him when he started thinking anyone gave a schnit about his political views.

Now it seems as if he’s weirded out his own beloved party. I present to you Exhibit A, or what I like to call; "How many ethnic groups can I insult with one outfit?"

Rocker's Inaugural Act Creates Stir

Hours after Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his second full term in office, Ted Nugent helped him celebrate at a black-tie gala, but not all attendees were pleased by the rocker's performance.

Using machine guns as props, Nugent, 58, appeared onstage as the final act of the inaugural ball wearing a cutoff T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag and shouting offensive remarks about non-English speakers, according to people who were in attendance.

Perry's spokesman, Robert Black, downplayed the Tuesday-night incident.

"Ted Nugent is a good friend of the governor's. He asked him if he would play at the inaugural. He didn't put any stipulation of what he would play," Black said.

Others said the appearance was inappropriate.

"I think it was a horrible choice," GOP strategist Royal Masset said. "I hope nobody approved it."

Nugent, a hunting and gun-rights advocate, couldn't be reached for comment Thursday because he was hunting, a spokeswoman said.

The guitarist — known as the "Motor City Madman" — lived in Michigan most of his life before moving to Crawford in 2003. He is famed for his 1977 hit "Cat Scratch Fever."

The man on the right is the governor of Texas. No, really.

These are your Republican values in action.

This gala event took place in Austin, Texas (sorry Cait), at the invitation of the Governor of Texas. The Governor’s office defended Ted’s offensive, racist, remarks and attire. This is the president’s home state. Bush and Ted have something else in common besides their love of crappy music. They’re neighbors in Crawford, Texas. Yes, Ted’s love of all things wingnutable prompted him to become a fulltime resident of Crawford.

I wonder if they have matching shirts…

Bush: “When the Iraqi Army stands up, we’ll stand down.”

2007-01-19T12:35:00.000-06:00

Maliki Stresses Urgency In Arming Iraqi Forces

The Iraqi government's need for American troops would "dramatically go down" in three to six months if the United States accelerated the process of equipping and arming Iraq's security forces, Prime Minister Maliki said Wednesday.

Maliki disputed President Bush's remarks broadcast Tuesday that the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein "looked like it was kind of a revenge killing" and took exception to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Senate testimony last week that Maliki's administration was on "borrowed time."

The prime minister said statements such as Rice's "give morale boosts for the terrorists and push them toward making an extra effort and making them believe they have defeated the American administration," Maliki said. "But I can tell you that they have not defeated the Iraqi government."

At a time when Bush has committed an additional 21,500 troops to the fight in Iraq, Maliki went further than he has before in establishing a time frame for drawing down the U.S. presence.

"If we succeed in implementing the agreement between us to speed up the equipping and providing weapons to our military forces, I think that within three to six months our need for the American troops will dramatically go down. That's on the condition that there are real strong efforts to support our military forces and equipping them and arming them," Maliki said.

In the interview Wednesday, Maliki said many American and Iraqi lives would have been spared if the Iraqi forces had been better equipped.

Maliki spoke slowly and seriously for most of the conversation, but occasionally broke into a smile, such as when he was asked whether Bush needs him more than he needs Bush. "This is an evil question," he said, laughing.

I am beginning to lose interest in this whole game these two asshats seem to be playing with each other. It is so blatantly obvious that we are not in this war to win it, but to prolong it. And apparently Maliki is fine with that, at least until we start insulting his strength as a leader.

In order to prolong this war, Bush has had to shift the blame onto the Iraqi government and Maliki. Maliki, like any leader when challenged, is now rising up, calling a spade a spade and in turn, trying to embarrass Bush.

Does that last line not just give you the shivers?

“When he was asked whether Bush needs him more than he needs Bush. "This is an evil question," he said, laughing.”

Two observations:

1. The Iraqi government thinks Bush is as useless a tool as America does.

2. All the players are aware that this “war” isn’t really a war at all. It is an evil exercise in which two countries are trying to further their own agenda of power. We use them, they use us, everybody’s happy. Aren’t you happy?

So, Maliki is going to taunt the leader who is trying to “save” him. We all know how Bush’s personality defects respond to belittlement. Can you see what’s happening here?

We blame them for the cluster that is this war because let’s face it, we can’t tell the truth about it. They, in return, tell the truth about it. We point the finger at them, they narc us out. My God, what a razor’s edge Bush is walking on.

Bottom line is, we won’t arm the Iraqi army because we don’t WANT them to stand up. We haven’t achieved our goals in the Middle East yet. And until we have, we can’t afford for it to appear that Iraq doesn’t need us. But time and ego is running out.

I predict that Iraq will grow weary of having it’s manliness impugned by the likes of a dolt like Bush. I predict that Maliki will stop playing the game, stand up, and tell Bush that his country no longer needs us or wishes our occupation of their country. I believe this will happen before Bush is ready to leave Iraq. This will totally screw with Bush’s program.

I have no idea what Bush will do about it. Chances are he’ll take the easy way out and never equip the Iraqi army so it can take care of itself. Or perhaps something a little more evil, like stirring up another little war with Iraq’s neighbors. My money is on the evil option.

So people, if you ever want to train someone to do something, just don’t give them the tools they need to become fully independent of you. You’ll never be out of a job…

Read on...

Is "Poop Head" one word or two?

2007-01-17T18:58:00.000-06:00

Ok, enough is enough. Today was Day 6 of being iced into the house. I feel bad complaining because many of our neighbors in surrounding towns have been without electricity for 6 days. But I’m going to complain anyway.

It started raining ice early Friday afternoon. It didn’t stop until Sunday night. Since then, the temperature has not been out of the 20’s, so needless to say, nothing has melted. There is at least 3-4 inches of pure ice on everything. It’s deeper in the drifts. This caused us to have to reschedule a big shoot last Saturday to this Saturday, and as of today, it has been canceled until further notice. That’s ok; we didn’t need that money!!! Screw the bills! It’s not like I can get to the mailbox to pay them anyway!

Clint spent at least two hours yesterday with a hammer and an ice pick, trying to chisel the truck out. It didn’t work. Luckily, since we work out of the house and because I saw this storm coming, we had plenty of food (for a week) and have had no reason to leave the house. This is a good thing, seeing as how venturing off the front porch is a death wish. It’s like walking on a wet ice cube.

Schools have been out all week because sand and salt crews cannot make it to the neighborhood streets. Even if Clint could get all the ice off the truck, there is a 4-5 inch ice drift in the driveway and behind all four tires. We could possibly get out, but getting back up the sloped driveway would certainly be entertaining for all the neighbors. We will be alerting the neighbors tomorrow though. The local news just announced that another storm in coming in Friday night through Sunday that will dump 4 to 8 inches of snow in top of the ice.

And there was much rejoicing...

And speaking of entertainment, watching the dog attempt to maneuver on the ice has been a source of great joy for me. It would be a lot funnier if Poop-Head, aka Charity, weren’t 15 years old, arthritic, and almost completely deaf. But like most dogs, she must find that PERFECT blade of grass, or in this case, that perfect patch of ice, on which to pee. This leads to much hilarity and glee on my part. Think Bambi on ice. I’m so evil.

Blame it on cabin fever...

Imagine there's no countries...

2007-01-17T12:01:00.000-06:00

Take five minutes and play along, won’t you?

Imagine your neighborhood. Do you live on a street lined with other houses? An apartment complex? A trailer park? Do you know many of your neighbors? Do you visit each other’s houses, or do you perhaps just know your neighbors by sight? Do you know their names or the names of their children?

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you know your neighbors like I do. Next door, on the east, there’s Jeremy and his wife Karen, their 2-year-old boy Jaxton, and their drooling bulldog Titus. On the west side there is a couple in their 30’s, a blended family with a new baby. I don’t know their names. Across the street is an older woman living with her daughter, a single mom, and her granddaughter who looks to be about five years old. I don’t’ know their names either. I could go on describing the occupants of most of the houses on my street. We don’t know them personally, but we wave, perhaps have a brief conversation in the summer when everyone is outside.

Now think about your neighbors. Are they married? Do they have elderly parents living with them? Just think about the occupants. You don’t need to know them personally for this exercise.

Now, depending on the size of your street, complex etc., randomly pick ten houses. Pick ten of the families that surround you. If you don’t have that many, then pick half of the homes closest to you. Think about the people who live there.

Now burn these houses down, with those people inside. Burn them to the ground, no one escapes. How many people just died? How many children burned alive? How many elderly? How many young couples embarking on a new life together?

Are you picturing it? The death, the pain, the heartache? How much carnage is there? Can you see the bodies from your house? Can you smell the burning flesh? Try to imagine the destruction of the home next door to yours, burned to ground. Try to wrap your mind around what it must have been like for your neighbors inside that home. Repeat this process for nine other homes.

Now think about the ripple effect that those deaths would cause. The parents of that young couple. The grandparents of those dead children. The brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. The friends…

How much grief and suffering would consume your newly destroyed neighborhood? How many lives would be forever changed and irrevocably destroyed by the lives lost in those ten houses? How many mothers would never recover from the loss of a daughter? How many fathers, the loss of a son? How many children would mourn their elderly parents? Lives snuffed out in an instant, recklessly, carelessly. Now repeat this process in a new neighborhood, with new sets of houses and new sets of families.

Pretend the country responsible for all this pain was Canada. Pretend Canada envisioned itself your savior, embarking on a quest to save you from yourselves. Pretend Canada invaded our country, burning down house after house, neighborhood after neighborhood. Pretend Canada, in all its arrogance, decided that the children in your neighborhood were a necessary sacrifice, a means to an end, if you will. And while Canada thinks it’s all very sad, they believe your neighborhood will be the better for it on down the road, sometime, if there is anybody left on down the road. Canada didn’t ask you, or your neighbors. And they still don’t. Canada knows what’s best for you, and if a few hundred thousand of your friends and family members have to die in the process of forcing upon you what Canada has decided is best, then so be it. Canada has decided that it’s worth it.

Now, pretend you live in Iraq.

By different estimations, there have been some 300,000 – 600,000 lives burned to the ground in Iraq, give or take a few thousand. Let’s use the conservative number of 300,000. Three hundred thousand is a hard number to wrap your mind around. It’s easier and far more personal if you limit your imagination to your own neighborhood. We hear it on the news every night but it’s not personal to us. They’re not really people, just numbers. Three hundred thousand human lives snuffed out since we invaded Iraq. Three hundred thousand people who would still be alive, going to their jobs, loving their families, just doing what people do, had we not invaded their country.

Yesterday, the United Nations put out a report that puts the Iraqi civilian death toll at 34,000…for the year of 2006. Thirty four thousand. For one year. How many people is 34,000? I don’t know. Would that be the equivalent of two Rolling Stones audiences? How about the Super Bowl audience? Americans just can’t grasp a number like that. So we don’t.

This will not only be George Bush’s legacy, it will be our legacy also. That's assuming we are around long enough, as a country, to have a legacy. Someone will be held accountable for all the moms, all the dads, and all the children. These were human souls. Their lives were not lost, they were taken.

There is nothing we could possibly achieve in Iraq that will make those deaths forgivable. We are war criminals, and no good that comes out of this atrocity will be worth all the innocent lives that have been sacrificed while we, as a country, continue to argue, bitch, and moan about who was right and who was wrong. We will be judged as a country. We will be punished as a country.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all...

UPDATE: You know all those Iraqi souls you can’t put a price on? Apparently I was wrong, you CAN put a price on them. It appears the going rate for a human life these days is about $2,500. That’s generally what the US government pays the families of civilians we “accidentally kill”, give or take a few dollars. Man, woman, child. $2,500. No wonder it’s so easy. Iraqi lives are barely worth the price of a flat screen TV.

From June, 2006: The U.S. military recently announced in a Defense Department report provided to Congress that it paid out $19 million in compensation to Iraqis last year – half of which paid out by Marines in al-Anbar province west of Baghdad.

The military claimed the amount was paid in 600 separate incidents, but it is common knowledge in Iraq that the usual payout for a non-combat civilian death is $2,500.

A payment of $19 million compensation at $2,500 a person would suggest such killings in thousands.

And from CNN, there is a new video report out today. Look for the video titled “US pays $2,500 for each dead by-stander” or “Condolence pay”.

So, those kids who play next door to you? Slap a $2,500 price tag on their heads. Hell, for that matter, slap one on your own kid’s head. And you wife’s. And your dad’s. And yours…

Yeah baby!

2007-01-16T12:47:00.000-06:00

Obama Takes 1st Step in Presidential Bid

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday he is taking the initial step in a presidential bid that could make him the nation's first black to occupy the White House.

Obama announced on his Web site that he was filing a presidential exploratory committee. He said he would announce more about his plans in his home state of Illinois on Feb. 10.

"I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago," Obama said in a video posting. "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I've spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need."

It’s like coming in from the sewer to a clean, warm, shower, isn’t it? As much as I like John Edwards, I believe and trust Obama more. The worst thing anyone can say about him is that he’s inexperienced. Well, what exactly has experience done for us lately?

As far as I’m concerned, his lack of experience is a selling point. I’m sick of professional politicians. When you’re a good man, ruled by a good heart, AND YOU HAVE A CONSCIENCE, then experience isn’t necessary. You’ll make the right decisions as you go along.

You don’t need experience to do the right thing. The thought of an Obama White House is like light at the end of a long, dank, human waste-filled tunnel. It’s like the hero showing up on the scene and rescuing you from a room full of rapists. If he is judged on his heart and his integrity, he should have no problem sweeping the elections.

If he is judged on the kind of man that he is, he'll be neither black nor white, he'll be golden…

Read on...

Works for me!

2007-01-16T04:19:00.000-06:00

Adultery could mean life, court finds

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.

"We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion."

Technically," he added, "any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I," the most serious sexual assault charge in Michigan's criminal code.

No one expects prosecutors to declare open season on cheating spouses. The ruling is especially awkward for Attorney General Mike Cox, whose office triggered it by successfully appealing a lower court's decision to drop CSC charges against a Charlevoix defendant. In November 2005, Cox confessed to an adulterous relationship.

Read on , it's quite an interesting little story.

And in related news:

51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse

For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.

In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000.

Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits.

I blame it on football. Read on...

They want to come home

2007-01-15T19:28:00.000-06:00

Service members join war protest

A growing number of active-duty military personnel are coming out against the war, despite a culture in the Armed Forces that frowns on public objections to presidential policy.

A recent poll of military personnel show their support of the war has dropped to 54 percent.

Active-duty military personnel are allowed to publicly object to the war, as long as they do not wear their uniforms when expressing their opinions.

"We served in combat and we've seen the futility of this war,'' said Sgt. Jabbar Magruder of Los Angeles, a member of the National Guard who served 11 months in Tikrit, a town northwest of Baghdad. "The soldiers want to resist. The soldiers want to come home now. We need the citizens to back us.''

Read on...

Bush's "60 Minutes", Part II

2007-01-15T11:37:00.000-06:00

Actually, I thought this was one of the best interviews of Bush that I’ve ever seen, his slaughter of the English language aside. He was relaxed, he was at Camp David, out in the country, he was in his comfy clothes. He seemed very at ease, and why shouldn’t he be? This was his 365th day spent at Camp David. One whole year spent at this retreat, out of the six years he’s been in office (page 3). And that’s not counting all the cumulative time he’s spent at his ranch in Tx. Presidentin’ is hard work. One only has to check out his vacation record to see how much harder presidentin’ is for George compared to any other president in history. But I digress.

Bush is trying to instill confidence and assuage fears. His interview did neither. I looked at his affectation, his eyes, his expressions, and his body language. I listened to every word he said, trying to get some idea of the world he lives in. I came to the conclusion that he actually believes the things he says. Oh he skirted some questions, gave non-answers to others, but all in all he seemed convinced that he is absolutely doing the right thing. He is also convinced that he owns all the power to do it. I shudder at the thought.

See, there is no dealing with someone like this. There is no room for other ideas, no room for other opinions, no room for the tiniest of possibilities that he might be wrong. Which means, of course, there is no room for an alternative plan. When one is convinced that his ideals are golden, there just isn’t any reason for alternatives. And this is what makes him so dangerous. Napoleon and Hitler spring to mind, as does the leader of Iran, Saddam Hussein, and Jim Jong Ill. How does Bush differ from these other leaders, who are generally thought of to be insane? The short answer: he doesn’t.

I’d rather Bush had come across as an insincere liar. At least then you’d KNOW that he knows what he’s doing is wrong, but for ulterior motives, he’s going to do it anyway. Evil and dishonest don’t worry me nearly as much as maniacal with delusions of grandeur.

You can’t reason with crazy. And when your president is one cow shy of a herd, where do you go? A thoughtful commenter said that all this war needs is more time. Are we talking months? Years? Decades? It is a delusion to think that time is all that is necessary to lessen the deep, DEEP hatred the factions in the Middle East have for each other. This has been going on for generations. Children are born into this hatred. They are raised on it and fed a steady diet of it every day of their lives. This hatred has become part of their religion….for generations. How absolutely arrogant and delusional of us to think that we can ride in on our white horse of democracy and change that. Especially since nobody asked us to.

Let’s face it, if the Middle East didn’t have all the oil, and if Saudi Arabia weren’t so heavily invested in the United States, we wouldn’t be there, forcing them to adopt our brand of democracy. WE need them to become a democratic society. We need a permanent foothold in the Middle East to protect OUR interests. This war isn’t for them, it’s for us. It is no coincidence that the president who has the most entanglements with big oil is the president who decides to wage war on the Middle East.

Bush is not a smart man. He is not well educated. He’s not a deep thinker. Bush is a pawn, a pawn who wants to be great, a pawn who has been convinced by those around him that this war is his ticket to greatness. I believe he is a deeply insecure man who is convinced that this war is his ticket to finally impressing those he holds in esteem. And his need for that acceptance far outweighs anything else, like rationale.

Bush needs to be relieved of his duties. He needs to be permanently at the Crawford ranch, clearing brush and working out his daddy issues. He is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. You can stop drinking, but if you don’t address and resolve the issues that made you an alcoholic in the first place, then you are just a mentally and emotionally damaged man who doesn’t drink.

I no longer care, necessarily, about Bush being brought up on charges, as we don’t usually punish people for being mentally ill. But neither should we allow them the position to control the free world, have their finger on the button, and continuously poke others who have a button of their own…

Someone should tell him, “We get it...”

2007-01-14T20:16:00.000-06:00

Bush schools America

Bush on "60 Minutes" with Scott Pelley

“Do you believe, as commander-in-chief, you have the authority to put the troops in there no matter what the Congress wants to do?” Pelley asks.

“I think I’ve got – in this situation, I do, yeah.” Bush says.

“Final question. How can you escalate the war when so many people in this country seem to be against it?” Pelley asks.

"I'm gonna have to keep explaining. That's why I'm doing this interview with you. And I gotta keep explaining that failure in Iraq will affect the security of the people here in the United States. And secondly, that we can succeed,” the president says.

“Scott, sometimes you're the commander-in-chief, sometimes you're the educator-in-chief, and a lot of times you're both when it comes to war. We are in an ideological struggle. And it's a really classic ideological struggle. And, Iraq is part of it. And it's very important for me to not only continue to explain why I believe we can be successful in Iraq but explain to people that what happens in the Middle East will affect the future of this country.”

God help us all, we're getting schooled by The Great and Powerful Oz.

And if you all weren't so stupid, we'd own the Middle East by now.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I find it highly insulting that Bush thinks because the country disagrees with him, we need to be educated. WE need to be educated. The entire country. The politicians. The media. The military commanders. The troops themselves. And a good 80% of the population. We all just need a good old-fashioned learnin’ from the Educator-in-Chief. Then we’d ALL understand that his ideas and plans are just the best ideas and plans EVER.

And why, you might ask? Because he’s just the most thoughtful, intelligent, educated, calculating, insightful, exceptional, imaginative, ingenious, knowledgeable, perspicacious, penetrating, enlightened president ever! Hasn’t he already proven that, America? Good grief, people, what do you want???

America, you better wise up! We have a genius running our country, so you needn’t bother questioning his moves and motives. He’ll tell us what we need to know, when we need to know it, and he’ll use little words so we can all understand. Until then, sit down, shut up and stop asking so many questions. George is at the helm of this ship, so just sit there and look pretty, America.

And you know what? I’m on board. I am so on board this Good Ship Lollipop. I’m going to stop watching the news. I’m going to stop reading the paper. I’m going to stop checking news sites on the net. Heck, I'm even going to stop forming opinions. I don’t even want to hear about the war anymore. I’m just going to rest in the knowledge that George W. Bush is at the helm, guiding our ship safely through the waters.

And I’m going to do all this right after I hear him pronounce the word “nuclear” correctly. NU-CLE-AR. Not NUC-U-LAR. Just as soon as I hear him pronounce that one tiny word the way God intended, I’ll not only be on board, I’ll get an S.S. Lollipop tattoo on my butt.

But until then I want him lashed to the mast where he can do the least damage! Educate me…*!#%*%#^%!

The G & P Oz doesn't need Congress' permission anymore either. When you are as brilliant a thinker as he is, you don't need no stinkin' permission...

2007-01-14T01:05:00.000-06:00

"Honey, have you seen the dog?

Because inquiring minds have nothing better to do...

2007-01-13T16:02:00.000-06:00

It's Science Saturday! There may be 3 inches of ice on the ground, but that doesn't mean we can't use this time to learn a little something. It just means I can’t make it to the mailbox, or the birdfeeders, or past the porch.

Since I'm being held captive in the house, I thought I’d take a trip to the Virtual Science Museum. So here are facts that you never knew you were missing, and answers to question you never knew you had.

FACT: Creative types have more sex partners. They said it, I didn't. I'm not opening my mouth...

FACT: The longer you live together, the more you start to look alike. Look at you partner, and be very afraid. Don’t have a partner? Think about this before you get one.

FACT: Antibacterial soap no better than regular soap. Either way, wash your hands!

Fact: America is named after an Italian. And yet we STILL celebrate Columbus Day.

QUESTION: Why Do Men Have Nipples? Gives them something to play with while we’re doing the dishes.

QUESTION: Why don’t penguin feet freeze? I swear, if I had penguins in my backyard right now, their feet would SO be frozen.

QUESTION: Why does hair turn gray? Oh, I don’t know. How about kids, jobs, bills, taxes, spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, bosses, politicians, wars, nukes, global warming, gas prices, Iraq, Iran, the U.S. of A., Syria, Darfur, Africa, the Congo, too much religion, not enough religion, no religion, slow drivers, long lines, people talking on their cell phones, people who won’t answer their cell phones, computers, ipods, Blackberries, email, IM’s, video games, and GEORGE BUSH!

QUESTION: Can hair suddenly turn white from fright? No, otherwise we’d all be albinos (see above).

QUESTION: What's the significance of 11/11? Sorry all you "numbers" people (you know who you are).

QUESTION: Why is yawning contagious? Maybe it isn’t. Maybe you’re just boring…

QUESTION: Why do we have an Adam's Apple? So men can tell when their date has that “little something extra”?

QUESTION: Why do your eyes close when you sneeze? The Sister used to tell me if I sneezed with my eyes open they’d pop out. Of course she also used to tell me if I petted our Pekinese too hard on the head, his eyes would pop out...

QUESTION: Why do golf balls have dimples? I don’t care.

QUESTION: What is the funny bone? If you have to ask, you don’t have one.

QUESTION: Why do all air traffic control towers have slanted windows? They have slanted windows?

QUESTION: What makes a Republican's brain different from a Democrat's? Republican have brains? Who knew...

And for the grand finale, I thought I’d state the obvious:

FACT: Democrats and Republicans both adept at ignoring facts.

Well that’s it for this trip to the Virtual Science Museum. I must run, the penguins are all stuck to the birdbath again…

The toes knows

2007-01-12T23:31:00.000-06:00

What do your toes say about you?

And do we even want to know?

The drumbeats grow ever louder

2007-01-12T23:28:00.000-06:00

Apparently we have much more in common with Iran than one would suspect. Seems Iranians are pretty fed up with their countries' leader also and there is talk of impeachment.

Ponder this; impeach Bush, impeach Iran’s leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and then make it a 3-fer and impeach everybody’s favorite redheaded stepchild, North Korea’s Kim Jong Ill.

And then the world would be full of puppies and unicorns. Ok, maybe not puppies and unicorns, but everyone would have a lot less nukes snortin’ up their shorts.

But alas, Iran will never impeach theirs; we will never impeach ours, and Kim? I look for him to be the thief who sneaks in our back door while we’re all busy putting out the fire in the barn.

Oh, and just for fun, try Paul Craig Roberts’ ideas on for size. He calls Bush’s speech “propagandistic lies” and then proceeds to scare the hell out of you by breaking it down and telling you what Bush really said. For instance:

"Bush can tell blatant propagandistic lies, because Congress and the American people don't know enough facts to realize the absurdity of Bush's assertions.

Why is Bush telling these lies? Here is the answer: Bush says, "We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

In those words, Bush states perfectly clearly that victory in Iraq requires US forces to attack Iran and Syria.

The "surge" is merely a tactic to buy time while war with Iran and Syria can be orchestrated. The neoconservative/Israeli cabal feared that the pressure that Congress, the public, and the American foreign policy establishment were putting on Bush to de-escalate in Iraq would terminate their plan to achieve hegemony in the Middle East.

Failure in Iraq would mean the end of the neoconservatives' influence. It would be impossible to start a new war with Iran after losing the war in Iraq.

It is extraordinary that anyone can listen to this blatant declaration of US aggression in the Middle East without demanding Bush's immediate impeachment.”

We will be striking Iran and/or Syria soon.

Notice the guy who is hugging the president of Iran in picture#1? That’s Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia and provider of weapons, tanks and support to Iran. Oh, look! Who is that hugging Kim Jong Ill in picture#2? Why, it’s President Putin again. I wonder what their meeting was about. Hmmm...

We go to war with Iran for supposedly providing weapons to insurgents in Iraq. Russia provides weapons to Iran. See how this could get very ugly very easily? I’ve not heard anyone mention Russia as a possible threat, so maybe I’m way off. I’m just following the players, who is in bed with whom, and what they might do if push comes to shove.

Sleep tight babies, it's time for me to lay off the war for a while so I can sleep tight too...

(Roberts link via Alex)

Let there be light...

2007-01-12T15:10:00.000-06:00

We will be having a major ice storm here for the next 36-48 hours. They’re warning that buildup on the wires can/will be causing lots of people to be without electric.

If I suddenly get very quiet, you’ll know that I am one of them and am amusing myself (and others) with shadow puppets.

Carry on without me.

PS. We are in the upper right-hand part of the state, just south of Tulsa. We’re the county just above and to the right of the “Y” in the word Oklahoma City, for those of you playing along.

Pick a lane...

2007-01-12T11:48:00.000-06:00

Sergeant in trouble for Playboy spread
(no pun intended)

An Air Force staff sergeant who posed nude for Playboy magazine has been relieved of her duties while the military investigates, officials said Thursday.

In February's issue, hitting newsstands this week, Michelle Manhart is photographed in uniform yelling and holding weapons under the headline "Tough Love." The following pages show her partially clothed, wearing her dog tags while working out, as well as completely nude.

"This staff sergeant's alleged action does not meet the high standards we expect of our airmen, nor does it comply with the Air Force's core values of integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do," Oscar Balladares, spokesman for Lackland Air Force Base, said in a statement.

Manhart told Playboy that she considers herself as standing up for her rights.

"Of what I did, nothing is wrong, so I didn't anticipate anything, of course," Manhart, 30, told The Associated Press. "I didn't do anything wrong, so I didn't think it would be a major issue."

Manhart, who is married with two children, joined the Air Force in 1994, spending time in Kuwait in 2002. She trains airmen at Lackland.

My thoughts:

1. Well duh, stoopy, what did you think would happen?

2. What, were there no pretty girls available for this month's issue (catty, I know, but tell me I'm wrong)

3. Women who do this sort of crap make me want to beat them with a stick.

You know, I got no problem with women who pose for Playboy. If you want to degrade yourself by showing the whole world your hoo-ha because you need attention, by all means be my guest. But don’t do it if you’ve chosen a profession that is historically thought of as a man’s job.

She is 30 years old so she’s old enough to know better, she didn’t have to do it for the money, so that leaves one excuse: SOMEBODY NEED ATTENTION!

While real women are fighting and dying in Iraq, Ms. Thang is spread eagle with her kitty hanging out saying, “Oooh look at me, I’m a soldier too.”

I would suspect that female soldiers have to be twice as good and work twice as hard to break sexual barriers and be taken seriously. She just succeeded in making all female soldier’s jobs much more difficult.

And if she didn’t see this coming, then she is too stupid to be a soldier and should stick to spreading her legs for money.

So pick a lane, Staff Sergeant Paris. You can be a good soldier, or you can be a good ho, but you can’t be both. When they told you to be all that you can be, this isn't what they had in mind…

I knew there was a reason I loved this guy...

2007-01-12T01:51:00.000-06:00

Keith Olbermann and I think alike, except his vocabulary is more impressive. I love a man with a big vocabulary. He may be more eloquent, but Keith mirrored what I said in the post below about Bush’s speech last night. Actually, the fact that he said almost the exact same thing in many instances makes me uncomfortable. It means I’m not off the mark with this uneasy feeling of dread. I think there are events of catastrophic proportions in our near future.

Keith: Only this President could extol the "thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group," and then take its most far-sighted recommendation — "engage Syria and Iran" - and transform it into "threaten Syria and Iran" — when Al-Qaeda would like nothing better than for us to threaten Syria, and when President Ahmmadinejad would like nothing better than to be threatened by us.

And to Iran and Syria — and, yes, also to the insurgents in Iraq — we must look like a country, run by the equivalent of the drunken pest, who gets battered to the floor of the saloon by one punch, then staggers to his feet, and shouts at the other guy's friends, "ok, which one of you is next?"

You can watch the video or read the transcript here.

Line upon line, precept upon precept.

2007-01-11T15:15:00.000-06:00

Looking like a deranged deer caught in the headlights at Indy 500, George Bush addressed the world last night. With all the confidence of a 14-year-old boy at his first school dance, Bush laid out the ~~2nd~~ ~~5th~~ ~~7th~~ final plan to win the war.

I’ll touch on some of the highlights. If they sound familiar, it’s because they are. Same song, second verse, only with a lot less feeling.

“Tonight in Iraq, the armed forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror and our safety here at home.”

These were the first words out of his mouth. In case you missed it, or are just so used to the little boy who cried wolf, this is where you’re supposed to feel fear at the possibility of another attack here in America. Unfortunately, we’re all too afraid of our own president to be much afraid of anything else at the moment.

“The new strategy I outline tonight will change America's course in Iraq and help us succeed in the fight against terror.”

I’m just wondering; if we had these great ideas, this secret-successful strategy, why didn't we implemented them before?

“When I addressed you just over a year ago, nearly 12 million Iraqis had cast their ballots for a unified and democratic nation. The elections of 2005 were a stunning achievement.”

Ah yes, the great Purple Finger Achievement of 2005. So how’s that workin’ out?

“We thought that these elections would bring the Iraqis together and, that as we trained Iraqi security forces, we could accomplish our mission with fewer American troops.

But in 2006, the opposite happened. The violence in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, overwhelmed the political gains the Iraqis had made. Al Qaida terrorists and Sunni insurgents recognized the mortal danger that Iraq's elections posed for their cause. And they responded with outrageous acts of murder aimed at innocent Iraqis.

They blew up one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam -- the Golden Mosque of Samarra -- in a calculated effort to provoke Iraq's Shia population to retaliate.

Their strategy worked. Radical Shia elements, some supported by Iran, formed death squads. And the result was a vicious cycle of sectarian violence that continues today.”

This tells me that:

A. Somebody didn’t do his homework on the enemy before starting this little war. You always do your homework. Again, this is the same school of thought that assumed that we would be welcomed as liberators and that the Iraqis would busy themselves sticking daisies in our guns. This is “Know Thy Enemy” 101.

B. Shift the blame. It’s not our fault (See A above), it’s those damned Sunnis.

C. Iran better batten down their hatches. Read between the lines. We’re coming after you.

“The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people, and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.”

And how do you fix your mistakes? By running (not walking) with abandon head-first into more of them. By not listening to a single voice who may be offering a solution. By throwing more gas on the already all-consuming fire. By stuffing your cannons full of even more, precious fodder.

“It is clear that we need to change our strategy in Iraq (but we won’t). So my national security team, military commanders and diplomats conducted a comprehensive review (which I have ignored). We consulted members of Congress from both parties, allies abroad, and distinguished outside experts (I’m ignoring them too).

We benefited from the thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group (we ignored every single recommendation), a bipartisan panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton. In our discussions, we all agreed that there is no magic formula for success in Iraq. And one message came through loud and clear: Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States.”

Get ready for it, I can see it, here it comes, MORE FEAR! Man I love the smell of predictability in the morning!

“The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits (See A). They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions (See B). Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons (See C). Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people (See D).”

A. Um, somebody really ought to tell Bush that it’s the hatred of America since the start of the war that has caused the growth of extremists.

B. Oil revenues...hmmmm. And who would be better fit to watch over oil revenues, hmmm?

C. I already told you, Iran, we’re coming after you. You’re next. Bush isn’t slipping this language into his speech accidentally. He’s trying to soften up America to the idea of attacking Iran, has been for a while now.

D. Just in case you missed the first subtle bit of fear-mongering up above.

“On September the 11th, 2001…”

Ok let me just stop right here. He’s been invoking 9-11 since 9-12, and it worked, for a while. But it doesn’t work anymore. The American people know Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. 9-11 doesn’t scare us anymore. And yet, he trots it out every time he has an audience. So just for fun, let’s visit the old 9-11 song and dance one more time, shall we? You know the words, feel free to sing along...

“On September the 11th, 2001, we saw what a refuge for extremists on the other side of the world could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of our people, America must succeed in Iraq.”

If we don’t fight ‘em over there, we’ll have to fight ‘em over here. We could sing this in three-part harmony. And just for fun, if when reading this speech you insert the phrase “civil war” every time Bush tries to pronounce “sectarian violence”, it makes the speech much more vivid and colorful (and truthful).

Bush then goes on to explain his new and improved plan and why it will work.

“Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not.

Here are the differences.

In earlier operations, Iraqi and American forces cleared many neighborhoods of terrorists and insurgents but, when our forces moved on to other targets, the killers returned. This time, we will have the force levels we need to hold the areas that have been cleared.”

So are we to assume that we’ll be putting in a Wal-Mart and setting up shop? Because that’s what it will take. The Axis of Evil has proven to be a much more patient foe than we. They’ll just wait us out. This in turn will give Bush the perfect excuse to become a permanent, occupying force in Iraq and thus control the land and it resources (oil). See how well this new plan works out for Bush, Cheney and all their cronies? Maybe he’s not so dumb after all…

“I have made it clear to the prime minister and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people. And it will lose the support of the Iraqi people.”

But open-ended is exactly what Bush has said for four years, that we’d stay until the job is done, as long as was necessary, as long as it takes. And I’m pretty sure that the leaders in Iraq have already figured out that they’ve lost the support of the American people. Perhaps, in one of their many conversations with Bush, they would be so kind as to alert him to this fact.

“This new strategy will not yield an immediate end to suicide bombings, assassinations or IED attacks. Our enemies in Iraq will make every effort to ensure that our television screens are filled with images of death and suffering (A).

Yet, over time, we can expect to see Iraqi troops chasing down murderers, fewer brazen acts of terror, and growing trust and cooperation from Baghdad's residents (B).”

A. In other words, expect more of the same. More of your kids dying. More of your husbands being maimed. Expect it. Because this is what my new plan is going to bring you.

B. Over time. Over time? How much time? How long can we expect the images of death and suffering to be filling our television screens? Dunno. But I suspect it’s at least for two more years or until impeachment, whichever happens first.

“We will help the Iraqis build a larger and better-equipped Army, and we will accelerate the training of Iraqi forces, which remains the essential U.S. security mission in Iraq.”

First thing on the agenda: to actually provide them with bullets, which they do not have now. Oh yeah, and guns. They’ll need guns to put the bullets in. They don’t have those either.

“We will give our commanders and civilians greater flexibility to spend funds for economic assistance.”

Oh good God. Because what this war needs is more spending.

“Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge.

This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria.
And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.”

And there it is. This is the real plan, folks. Any day now, at any time, the news wonks are going to break into your regular television program to announce that this war has now spilled over into Syria and Iran. Bush has been chomping at the bit to attack both, and with Israel also on the verge of attack, this is the perfect storm. I’m just wondering where Bush will get both the manpower and the funding. Knowing him, he’ll just take both (draft, anyone?).

And just in case there is any doubt:

“We will expand intelligence sharing, and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region.”

Because domination is our job, dammit! And will this “intelligence sharing” be the same intelligence that brought us WMDs and yellow cake? Wow, I bet our friends and allies are thrilled at that prospect.

“The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time. On one side are those who believe in freedom and moderation. On the other side are extremists who kill the innocent, and have declared their intention to destroy our way of life.”

Oh good grief, not the “Haters of Freedom” excuse again. The “Haters of Freedom” chant is as tired as the “Fight ‘em over there or we’ll fight ‘em over here” rally. They don’t hate freedom, Mr. Bush. They hate you.

“In the long run, the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide a hopeful alternative to the hateful ideology of the enemy, by advancing liberty across a troubled region. It is in the interests of the United States to stand with the brave men and women who are risking their lives to claim their freedom, and help them as they work to raise up just and hopeful societies across the Middle East.”

Sounds a lot like nation-building to me, and I thought we weren't nation builders, Mr. Bush…

"From Afghanistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian Territories, millions of ordinary people are sick of the violence and want a future of peace and opportunity for their children. And they are looking at Iraq.

They want to know: Will America withdraw and yield the future of that country to the extremists, or will we stand with the Iraqis who have made the choice for freedom?”

Ooooh, do ya feel the guilt? This is worse than my mother…

“Let me be clear: The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are without conscience, and they will make the year ahead bloody and violent. Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue. And we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties.

The question is whether our new strategy will bring us closer to success. I believe that it will.”

No, Mr. Bush, the question is, how do you sleep at night. How do you sleep knowing you’ve just signed the death warrants of perhaps thousands of more Americans because you can’t or won’t admit you were wrong? How do you lay your head on your pillow knowing you’ve just created a whole new round of widows and orphans with your new and improved, pie in the sky, plan for success? The terrorists and insurgents are not the only ones devoid of a conscience, nor will they be solely responsible for the bloody year ahead. We’ve seen the enemy, and the enemy is you…

“Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship.”

Will it look like a big honkin’ MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ceremony on the deck of a battleship? We like those.

“Our new approach comes after consultations with Congress about the different courses we could take in Iraq.

Many are concerned that the Iraqis are becoming too dependent on the United States and, therefore, our policy should focus on protecting Iraq's borders and hunting down Al Qaida. Their solution is to scale back America's efforts in Baghdad or announce the phased withdrawal of our combat forces.

We carefully considered these proposals. And we concluded that to step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government, tear that country apart, and result in mass killings on an unimaginable scale.

Such a scenario would result in our troops being forced to stay in Iraq even longer, and confront an enemy that is even more lethal. If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home.”

Hmmm, to withdraw troops would result in our troops being forced to stay even longer. If we send more troops, they get to come home sooner. Excuse me while I’ll go get an Advil. And just for the record, apparently the only one you listened to in Congress was McCain. Oh, and lapdog Lieberman, don’t forget him…

“Acting on the good advice of Senator Joe Lieberman and other key members of Congress...”

Hear that? That was the last nail being driven into the coffin of Lieberman’s ’08 presidential bid.

“...we will form a new, bipartisan working group that will help us come together across party lines to win the war on terror. This group will meet regularly with me and my Administration, and it will help strengthen our relationship with Congress.”

Much like throwing two pit bulls into a ring strengthens their relationship...

“We can begin by working together to increase the size of the active Army and Marine Corps, so that America has the armed forces we need for the 21st century. We also need to examine ways to mobilize talented American civilians to deploy overseas, where they can help build democratic institutions in communities and nations recovering from war and tyranny.”

OMG he’s going to draft us all...

“In these dangerous times, the United States is blessed to have extraordinary and selfless men and women willing to step forward and defend us. These young Americans understand that our cause in Iraq is noble and necessary, and that the advance of freedom is the calling of our time.”

No, no they don’t.

The next two statements Bush makes are about how much he mourns the sacrifice these young people and their families have made, something about an empty chair at Christmas. I cannot comment on these statements because it makes me type things that will bring the FBI to my front door toot-sweet. Like how I'm ready to fly my flag at half-staff again. Oops, look, I did it anyway.

“Fellow citizens: The year ahead will demand more patience, sacrifice and resolve. It can be tempting to think that America can put aside the burdens of freedom.

Yet times of testing reveal the character of a nation.

And, throughout our history, Americans have always defied the pessimists (read:Democrats) and seen our faith in freedom redeemed. Now America is engaged in a new struggle that will set the course for a new century. We can and we will prevail.

We go forward with trust that the author of liberty will guide us through these trying hours. Thank you and good night.”

The author of liberty? The author of liberty??? One can only assume that he’s talking about Thomas Jefferson...either that or Dick Cheney.

So that was his speech. He stumbled. He stammered. He had a continuous look of pensive panic on his face. He still didn’t pronounce the word nuclear correctly. And this was supposed to instill confidence in the American people.

Looks like Bush's plan fails again.

You can read the speech, without all the pithy commentary, here.

Moo-stery solved.

2007-01-10T13:41:00.000-06:00

Because inquiring minds want to know (ok, they don’t want to know, but they did ask in passing, which is almost the same as wanting to know) how I became Moogirl

You might think it’s because I hail from Oklahoma. Or perhaps because I love cows (which I do). And I guess the love of cows is indirectly the cause, but not the way you’d think.

When I met The Husband back on 2000, he’d had some long-standing illnesses that he’d been dealing with for years. I, on the other hand, was in more or less perfect health. By 2002, I too was extremely ill, and Clint was even worse than usual. We both have an aversion to mainstream doctors; Clint because he’d been through 6 or 7 operations to no avail, I because I just don’t trust them. But Clint’s family had a homeopathic doctor that they swore by.

In 2003, after sending Clint’s blood to Holland to be tested, it turned out he’d had Ecoli poisioning for an undetermined number of years, which had wrecked havoc on his body. And because Ecoli is sexually transmitted (bet you didn’t know that), I too had Ecoli poisoning for at least three years. I know this doesn’t sound too funny yet, but it gets better.

Ecoli poisoning attacks different parts of the body in different people. For me, it had settled in the bone marrow of my spine and the fluid surrounding my brain. This led to awesome backaches (which I still have).

As far as the brain fluid, that’s where things started to get funny. The Ecoli had rendered me completely dyslexic and I’d lost all short-term memory. When I say short-term, I mean really short-term, like walking into the kitchen and having no idea why I was there. Oh I know this happens to everybody, but every time you walk into a room? This got to be quite amusing for me. It was either be amused or get totally frustrated. I couldn’t remember conversations, movies I’d watched, when bills were due; I’d forget anything I didn’t make a monumental effort to remember. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Momento”, that was my life. Clint likes to say every day is a new day for me, blank slate, which is true.

I had a group of friends back then that I was in daily contact with on the net. One group was the people who helped me start It’s a Moo Point. The other group was, well, suffice it to say that it was a network of friends who like to, um, share movies back before it became so illegal. This second group of people were the ones who were really responsible for my moniker.

See, dealing with the second group of friends involved chatting in real time…with someone who was newly dyslexic, and totally forgetful. I would forget conversations. I would forget where people were from. I would forget people’s real names. So as not to appear rude, I had to explain myself a lot. They all knew I had Ecoli poisoning, but for the life of them, could not remember the name. Thus my ailment became Mad Cow Disease. THIS they could remember, and they went to town with it.

It became a regular greeting with them to moo at me when saying hello. This evolved into “ooming” at me so I could read it backwards. Over the weeks and months they just started referring to me as Moogirl. They were evil and completely snarky, but apparently having a conversation with me back then was highly entertaining for them. Thus, It’s a Moo Point and Moogirl were born. We still refer to it as Mad Cow Disease around here.

In case anyone is wondering, we treated the Ecoli with homeopathic drugs, but since we’d had it for years by then, it took several more years to inch our way back to semi-decent health. Clint still deals with issues on a regular basis, I just have residual problems.

I’m much better but still have a bit of the memory loss and dyslexia. Clint uses this to his full advantage by swearing that he tells me things that I know he didn’t. I think this is probably his favorite thing about me because it gets him out of all sorts of trouble. The dyslexia only rears it’s ugly head when I’m typing in real time, in which case, a course in reading Ebonics is necessary. The people who use the word confirmation thingy for their comments area have no idea how difficult this is for me and it can often take 2-4 tries for me to get it right. Anything that mixes numbers and letters, such as passwords, or account numbers are deadly. All I can say is thank God for Microsoft Word or I’d never be able to run this place. But this is also why HTML code makes me want to kill myself.

I still have to make a concerted effort to commit things to memory. Clint doesn’t get away with nearly as much as he used to, but if he sticks to his guns, I usually have to back down because chances are, I really am just having a moo-ment. So if I ever forget something you’ve said, or I ask you the same question 2 (or 3 or 4) times, don’t’ take it personally. Just moo at me and go on.

Or better yet, oom at me. That will tell me we’ve been down this road before…

PS. Our doctor told us that Ecoli is one of the most misdiagnosed diseases and that perhaps as much as 75% of Americans are walking around with some form of the disease. And remember, it can be sexually transmitted so wrap up, or you could end up with something much worse than a nasty case of pants-crickets!

Conscientious Rejector?

2007-01-08T12:58:00.000-06:00

First Lieutenant Ehren Watada still refuses Iraq deployment orders, calling the war illegal. A six-year prison term could result. Preliminary hearings are set for Thursday.

First Lt. Ehren Watada, a 28-year-old Hawaii native, is the first commissioned officer in the U.S. to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq. He announced last June his decision not to deploy on the grounds the war is illegal.

Lt. Watada was based at Fort Lewis, Washington, with the Army's 3rd (Stryker) Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He has remained on base, thus avoiding charges of desertion.

He does, however, face one count of "missing troop movement" and four counts of "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.

Kevin Sites interviews First Lt. Ehren Watada:

"Sure, I felt, well, in a general sense I felt that when we put our trust in the government, when we put our lives in their hands, that is a huge responsibility. And we also say that "when we put our lives in your hands, we ask that you not abuse that trust; that you not take us to war over flimsy or false reasons; that you take us to war when it is absolutely necessary." Because we have so much to lose, you know - the soldiers, our lives, our limbs, our minds and our families - that the government and the people owe that to us."

This is an excellent, moving, interview. Lt. Watada is both articulate and honest in his reason for standing up and saying “No, I won’t go.” I sometimes wonder if it doesn’t take more guts to take his stand than to sacrifice your life, and the lives of others, for fear of facing the consequences or being called a coward.

My prediction is that the government will make this whole trial go away as quickly and quietly as possible. The last thing they want (or need) is a bigger spotlight showing the illegalities and lies upon which this war was based, especially by one of their own. I see a quiet dishonorable discharge in Lt. Watada’s future, which I also hope he fights.

We’ll be watching…

Read Lt. Watada’s interview here.

(via C&L)

Blogger holdouts getting the shaft?

2007-01-08T12:31:00.000-06:00

"Announcement: there is a scheduled outage for old Blogger Tuesday, January 9th, from 7:45am-9:45am PST. You will not be able to post to old Blogger blogs or access any old Blogger blogs on Blog*Spot during this time."

I see this becoming business as usual until we all upgrade to Blogger Beta. Looks like it may be time to look for a new source.

Also, under the "Scheduled Outage" notice, was this:

New Blogger is currently experiencing issues with:

team blogs: non-admin team members are seeing errors when trying to post

mail2blogger: it's acting up and we're looking into why

blogger mobile: same issue as mail2blogger
Thanks for your patience - we'll have these fixed asap.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Some users are seeing forbidden (403) messages instead of their blogspot blogs. We are aware of this problem and are working on it.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Users on the new Blogger are seeing intermittent 500 Server Error pages. We are working to repair this.

Update, 12:01PM: We believe that this problem is taken care of, but we are continuing to monitor closely.

Friday, December 08, 2006

We are diagnosing and fixing problems with the new version of Blogger in beta right now. Users are seeing 502 server errors when posting to blogs on the beta, and the site’s overall performance is poor.

Update, 3PM: We have fixed the current problem, and are continuing to monitor things closely to prevent relapse. We apologize for the lapse in service.

And you people wonder why we won't upgrade?

Here's the church, here's the steeple, in 2008, where's all the people?

2007-01-08T02:20:00.000-06:00

US Senator Joseph Biden has announced he will seek the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

He said Sunday that after months of consideration he has not been dissuaded by tough competition from expected White House hopefuls and fellow US senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"I'm going to be Joe Biden and try to be the best Biden I can be," the 64-year-old senator said. "If I can, I got a shot. If I can't, I lose," he said.

Anyone remember Stewart Smalley from SNL?

Taking the bull by the horns?

2007-01-08T02:03:00.000-06:00

If you ever find yourself visiting New York City, and you've accidentally left behind your neon sign that flashes, “I don’t get out much”, or your t-shirt that reads, “I’m With Stupid” with an arrow pointing up, have no fear. There is a way to let savvy New Yorkers know you’re new in town.

You just head on over to Wall Street and get your picture taken with the Wall Street bull. You know, the huge iron bull that sits outside Wall Street headquarters. It’s a favorite stop for tourists who love to capture themselves beside a real New York icon. Like this
----------------->

At least that's what "normal" tourists do.

However...

For some people, no trip to NYC is complete without doing something rude to the bull, and capturing it on film, to the sheer delight of all native New Yorkers. It even has a name: raping the bull. It’s done so often that the bull’s...um...nether regions, are all shiny and gold.

I swear if I lived there, I’d just pull up a chair...

Need more proof that Americans just don't know how to act in public? More bovine molestation pics are here (bottom of page).

I will be AWOL til Saturday night…

2007-01-05T22:30:00.000-06:00

Here's some stuff for you to play with while I'm gone.

Blogs with a Face

How to catch a mouse without a mousetrap

Google’s secret and/or forgotten pages Part 1 & Part 2

Musipedia - A very cool site. Got a song you just can't remember? You can find and identify a tune even if the melody is all you know. You can play it on a piano keyboard (on their site), whistle or sing it to the computer, simply tap the rhythm on the computer keyboard.

I want you all to be whistling at your computers when I get home.

And my personal favorite... Toss George. Grab him with your mouse and sling him around a bit. Come on, you know you want to! It gets kind of hypnotic after a while, like watching a goober in a lava lamp.

But only after you do your homework.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent Bush a letter today, telling him to stop it. Unfortunately, this will probably be the one letter he won't read.

Military Tells Bush It Has Only 9,000 Troops Available For ‘Surge’.

"Instead of a surge, it is a bump", says a State Department official

I'd like to give him a bump...
via Alex (the link, not the bump)

Bush Breakdown Dead Ahead? Is a bear catholic? Actually, this is pretty interesting.

Want to toss him now?

Have fun kidlets, last one out, shut off the lights...

Mmmmmm...bacon.....

2007-01-05T13:21:00.000-06:00

Georgia Hunter Bags 'Hogzilla'

An urban legend comes to life, and meets its death in northeast Georgia.

A boar weighing 1,100 pounds was shot and killed in a Fayette County neighborhood.

People passing by the Coursey house are amazed by the boar hanging from a tree in the front yard. William Coursey, an avid hunter, shot the pig in a neighbor's yard.

Yeah, yeah, we all loves us some giant pig stories, but can it really be considered hunting when you shoot it in your neighbors yard?

I must urge you to jump on over to CNN. They have video.

They have video of giant pig-monster swinging from a tree.

They have video of giant redneck-monster.

They have video of giant redneck-monster’s REBEL FLAG swinging from a flagpole.

They have video of giant redneck-monster’s rebel flag flying at half-staff, out of respect for the dead president. Or the dead pig. Not sure which one, could go either way.

Never let it be said that giant redneck-monsters are not both respectful AND patriotic. I’m sure he voted for Bush. Twice…

And the final irony is, CNN sent a BLACK REPORTER to do this story. Never let it be said that the deciders over at CNN don’t have a sense of humor.

And just in case there is someone still holding out hope, the South will never, EVER, rise again.

(Sorry, Sister! I am SO going to get a phone call after this...)

Read on

Cheney kicked out of office!

2007-01-04T20:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, so he didn’t get out of THE office...

Rep. Rangel evicts Cheney from Capitol Hill office

Rep. Charles Rangel has evicted Vice President Dick Cheney from his office in the Capitol, and the Harlem heavyweight is moving into the prime digs today.

Gilded letters were freshly painted atop the office door yesterday proclaiming "Ways and Means Committee" - confirming that the office now belongs to Rangel, the House panel's new chairman.

Sources said Cheney's and his staff's belongings were removed over the holidays.

The new digs give Rangel some of the choicest and most politically central real estate in all of Washington - as well as a measure of sweet revenge.

Rangel moved at lightning speed to boot the man he once told The Post is a "son of a bitch."

Rangel was giddy at the prospect of giving Cheney the boot the day after Democrats delivered Republicans a crushing defeat on Election Day.

"Mr. Cheney enjoys an office on the second floor of the House of Representatives that historically has been designated for the Ways and Means Committee chairman," Rangel said after the election.

Republicans gave the historic room to Cheney after he captured the vice presidency, but got him to sign a letter saying the gift wasn't permanent.

"I'm trying to find some way to be gentle as I restore the dignity of that office," Rangel chuckled at the time. "You gotta go, you gotta go."

Read on...

Baaaad, naughty blogger...

2007-01-04T16:27:00.000-06:00

Leave it to gay sheep and PETA to cause me to post my first false story. Turns out that most of the “facts” in the piece by The Times weren’t true. I should have known, nobody could be so stupid as to think there are gay animals. But apparently PETA is stupid enough to create this dust-up just to further their agenda.

I'm surprised that a publication as well known as The Times could be so reckless and irresponsible

Thanks to Jim Newman for the heads-up and the links to the truth behind the gay sheep story.

From Empty Pockets at Daily Kos, who breaks it all down:

A wolf in gay sheep's clothing: Corruption at the London Times

This week the Sunday Times of London published a pack of lies so transparent, so thoroughly discredited, that its appearance can't be chalked up to mere journalistic sloppiness.

Rather, the timing of the piece, its willful disregard of the truth, and the behavior of the journalists themselves indicate a deliberate political hit job purposefully dressed up in the garb of one of the most internationally respected newspapers.

The Times repeats and amplifies lies made by PETA in August claiming that Dr. Charles Roselli is experimenting on gay sheep to try to cure homosexuality -- total nonsense, but PETA saw that by targeting Roselli's work they could exploit the gay rights community and promote their anti-research agenda.

At the time, I spoke out against PETA and talked with many bloggers who had been duped to set the record straight -- the story then died down, until it re-emerged, almost unchanged, in the Sunday Times last weekend. The question is, who's pulling the gay sheep fleece this time? And why?

Everybody is up in arms about the dishonesty of it all, but not one word on how ridiculous it was to be hoodwinked about a report involving homosexual animals in the first place.

Last time I'm going to say it(and then I am SO done with this story):

An animal cannot be homo (human) sexual. It can't even be gay. So stop it!

Read on

Please Mr. Postman President, look and see...

2007-01-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

Bush Gives Himself Authority to Search the Mail

"Signing Statement" Added to Mundane Bill Gives White House Unprecedented Power

President Bush has claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant.

While most of Congress was preparing for the holiday season, President George Bush quietly asserted his authority by giving the government the right to search your mail without a warrant.

While signing the mostly mundane Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act into law Dec. 20, Bush added a "signing statement" that awarded him a vague authority to open individuals' mail under emergency circumstances.

That signing statement contradicts existing laws and statements found within the text of the law he had just signed, experts said.

Experts said the new powers could be easily abused and used to vacuum up large amounts of mail.

"The [Bush] signing statement claims authority to open domestic mail without a warrant, and that would be new and quite alarming," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington.

"The danger is they're reading Americans' mail," she said.

The news of this unprecedented authority comes one year after Bush got his hand slapped for tapping Americans' phones.

The White House is saying that this authority is nothing new.

Most of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act deals with mundane reform measures. But it also explicitly reinforced protections of first-class mail from searches without a court's approval.

Yet in his statement Bush said he will "construe" an exception, "which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent ... with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."

Experts fear Bush could use this reaffirmed authority to read endless stacks of U.S. mail.

"You have to be concerned," a senior U.S. official told the Daily News. "It takes Executive Branch authority beyond anything we've ever known."

A "signing statement" is the loose authority for the President to add provisions to a bill when he signs it into law. The practice has come under particular criticism during Bush's two terms because he has used it more than 130 times and his statements have received more than 750 formal challenges. That is far less than half any other president who has served a full eight years.

One other recent controversial signing statement was added to the McCain Detainee Amendment. In the statement, Bush essentially gave himself the authority to determine what is considered torture.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds...

BUT A DIP-SHNIT FROM TX CAN!

via Consumer Affairs and NY Daily News

So much news, so little time...

2007-01-03T13:17:00.000-06:00

Here's a drive-by of what's going on in the world.

Bush warns Democratic Congress against 'stalemate'...

WARNING: Keep a bucket handy, you’ll need something to vomit in while reading this ~~trifling drivel~~ editorial from our ~~Commander~~ ~~Decider~~ Sacrificer-in-Chief.

From the dept. of GET OVER IT:

Congressman To Use Thomas Jefferson's Copy Of The Koran For Swearing-In

The Washington Post could benefit from a really good panty-unbunching this morning.

From the dept. of HOW CAN WE MISS HIM IF YOU WON'T LET HIM GO?:

White House Won't Condemn Saddam Taunts

In a fit of split-personalities (both of them inbred), the Bush administration sent conflicting signals Wednesday about the taunting and baiting that accompanied Saddam Hussein's execution, with the White House declining to join criticism of the procedure and the State Department and U.S. military raising questions about it.

Bush, too busy watching cartoons, hasn't seen Saddam video

Says it's because he's "focused on the way forward" (left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot...)

US on Saddam: We woulda hung'em proper-like!

From the dept of GRINS AND GIGGLES:

Rudy Giuliani loses playbook; game called at halftime...

...fact that he's a closet Dem (among other things) comes to light.

FYI, Rudy. We don't want you either!

And finally, from the dept. of THEN WHY DON'T YOU AND YOUR MAN-BOOBS GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DO SOMETHING!?!

Cooking, Cleaning And Washing Helps You Ward Off Breast Cancer

There, that should keep you all entertained while I'm busy warding off a little cancer...

I say Obama, you say O-trauma, I say Obama, you say Osama. Obama, O-trauma, Obama, Osama… let’s call the whole thing off!

2007-01-03T12:16:00.000-06:00

The Powers That Be are absolutely fraught with fright over Barak Obama, and as such, are doing their best to cripple him before he’s even announced he’s running.

NEWSFLASH: Sen. Obama now the scariest man in America!

CNN apologizes to Barack Obama

Wolf Blitzer apologized, saying it was a "bad typo".

Um, yeah. Hait itt winn thaat hapinz.

It's a cheap trick, expect to see a lot of it.

Here is Mr. Gracious-Pants’ response.

And from WaPo:

Senator Admitted Trying Cocaine in a Memoir Written 11 Years Ago

Wasn’t an issue 2 years ago when he ran for Senate, apparently it will be made into an issue now. It’s cheesy, but they’re desperate.

From C&L: Why, exactly, are these revelations “sure to receive new scrutiny”? Because bored political reporters say so.

The only thing they’re succeeding in doing is giving Obama more opportunities to be awesome. When you’re a good, decent, man, you’re teflon.

No matter what they throw at you, nothing sticks.

All links via Crooks & Liars

(In my best 12-year-old voice) Ne-ner Ne-ner Ne-nerrrrrr

2007-01-03T01:30:00.000-06:00

Democrats To Start Without GOP Input

As they prepare to ~~pick up their marbles and go home~~ take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in ~~reindeer games~~ deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

See what happens when you don’t play well with others? You get locked out of the treehouse until you learn the secret password.

It’s a shame you have to lie to get anything accomplished in Washington, but as long as they’re lying to the Republicans, I’m good with that.

After the Reps get over the shock and awe of being publicly dissed, you can bet things are going to get ugly in the House. Sure hope we’ve traded in our pantaloons for boxing gloves, although I believe shivs will come in handier.

Read on (Link via Alex)

Iraq Orders Investigation Into Hussein Execution

2007-01-02T23:55:00.000-06:00

For those of you playing along, here’s a short explanation of how Iraq flocked up a perfectly good hanging.

Some facts:

1. We’ve had custody of Saddam since his capture. We took him back and forth to his trial. He’s been held in an American military detention center.

2. We delivered him to his executioners by Black Hawk helicopter at around 3:30 am on Saturday, Dec 30th.

3. There was apparently much confusion over this sudden, early morning rush to execution.

4. Saddam was Sunni; most everyone in the execution cell was Shiite.

And here’s where the problems arise.

5. There is a provision in Iraq’s new Constitution that required the three-man presidency council to approve hangings, and a stipulation in a longstanding Iraqi law that no executions can be carried out during the Id al-Adha holiday, which began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday and Shiites on Sunday. In order to expedite the execution, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri Maliki, had to override these constitutional and religious precepts. This would be the NEW constitution that the NEW Iraq government, devised after the elections there.

6. Bush administration adopted a hands-off policy concerning the execution, saying the timing of the execution was Iraq’s to decide. We are now in a catch-22 situation; we don’t agree with the Iraqi governments’ destructive behavior, but won’t do anything about it because God forbid we should do anything to undermine the Iraqi leaders.

7. There is a provision in Iraq’s new Constitution that required the three-man presidency council to approve hangings, and a stipulation in a longstanding Iraqi law that no executions can be carried out during the Id Holiday.

8. We demanded assurances that due process had been followed before we would turn over physical custody of Saddam, which apparently sent PM Miliki and his cronies into a frenzy trying to figure out a way to get around their own Constitution.

9. We demanded a decree from President Talabani, signed jointly by his two vice presidents, upholding the death sentence, and a letter from the chief judge of the Iraqi High Tribunal, the court that tried Saddam, certifying the verdict. Only problem was, Mr. Talabani objected to the death penalty on principle.

10. Maliki had another major problem; a Saddam-era law prohibiting executions during the Id Holiday, which, as I said above, began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday and Shiites on Sunday.

11. There was a late night meeting with the PM, his officials and American officers. After much debate, Maliki threw down his trump card which was to say, ‘Who is going to execute him, anyway, you or us? This is our problem and we will handle the consequences. If there is any damage done, it is we who will be damaged, not you.’ In other words, who’s screwing this cat?

12. Mr. Maliki, at a few minutes before midnight on Friday, then signed a letter to the justice minister, “to carry out the hanging until death.”

13. The rush to execution by PM Miliki is now being described as “an Id gift to the Iraqi people.”

This is our version of the story and we’re sticking to it. Especially since the videos of the execution have hit the airwaves and feigned outrage has ensued.

I’M SORRY AMERICA, but you don’t get to feign outrage that Saddam was taunted and videotaped whilst being hanged. You just don’t. How dare our government officials and the American people fabricate umbrage over the treatment of Saddam during his execution. And how dare they assume they have the right to be offended. They started this war. They’ve sat idly by while 300,000 Iraqis and 3,000 American soldiers have died. They refuse to reign in this maniacal president while he makes plans to send more lambs to the slaughter.

But because America’s delicate sensibilities have been assaulted, our fearless leaders are falling all over themselves to see who can distance themselves from this debacle the fastest. Those who aren’t running away from the issue are putting on Oscar-winning performances of shock and awe that a murderous dictator would be treated in such a degrading fashion. SHUT UP!

This is what you all wanted, and now you just get to suck it up. You wet yourselves when the statue fell. You soiled your pants when we pulled him from his hole. Isn’t this is why our sons and daughters have died? Isn’t this why our country is in trillions of dollars of debt? You get no moral outrage now.

Besides, just think how much safer we are now with Saddam gone...

Read on

But will ewe love me tomorrow?

2007-01-02T03:33:00.000-06:00

Science told: hands off gay sheep

(insert you own jokes along the way)

Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.

The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.

It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening” procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay. She said: “How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?” She said gay men and lesbians would be “deeply offended” by the social implications of the tests.

All right, I just have to interrupt here. Now, while I’m sure being an ex-lesbian tennis star (ex tennis star, not ex lesbian) makes you an expert on tennis, and it probably makes you an expert on being a lesbian, I’m not so sure it makes you an expert on gay sheep and their constitutional rights.

I haven’t read the constitution in a while, but I don’t remember the part that gives farm animals the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But the researchers argue that the work is valid, shedding light on the “broad question” of what determines sexual orientation. They insist the work is not aimed at “curing” homosexuality.

Approximately one ram in 10 prefers to mount other rams rather than mate with ewes, reducing its value to a farmer. Initially, the publicly funded project aimed to improve the productivity of herds.

Maybe all the ewes were two-baaagers...

By varying the hormone levels, mainly by injecting hormones into the brain, they have had “considerable success” in altering the rams’ sexuality, with some previously gay animals becoming attracted to ewes.

As this article continues, it just sinks into the bowels of silliness. On page 2, they bring Hitler into the controversy, and some professor from Glasgow actually utters the sentence; “Imagine this technology in the hands of Iran.”

That’s where my head exploded and I started screaming “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GAY SHEEP!” Just stupid scientists.

There are all kinds of instances in the animal kingdom where male animals mount other males. Monkeys do it all the time in adolescence. They’re not actually trying to have sex with them; it’s more of a social, teenage thing.

In other species, it’s always going to be a dominance thing. It’s the alpha whatever’s way of saying, “See, I can make you my bitch, I can dominate you. Now respect me.”

Hey, it works in prison.

There’s just no such thing as a “gay” animal.

Poodles and Richard Simmons don’t count...

Read on

Silly Frenchmen....

2007-01-02T02:21:00.000-06:00

Hundreds of French protesters rebel against 2007

Hundreds of protesters in France have rung in the New Year by holding a light-hearted march against it.

Parodying the French readiness to say "non", the demonstrators in the western city of Nantes waved banners reading: "No to 2007" and "Now is better!"

The marchers called on governments and the UN to stop time's "mad race" and declare a moratorium on the future.

The protest was held in the rain and organisers joked that even the weather was against the New Year.

The tension mounted as the minutes ticked away towards midnight - but the arrival of 2007 did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm.

The protesters began to chant: "No to 2008!"

They vowed to stage a similar protest on 31 December 2007 on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris.

I love this story, but I think perhaps they could have started their movement a little earlier in the year, no?

I see why Monty Python makes so much fun of them. They really are silly...

Na-nu Na-nu!

2007-01-02T01:43:00.000-06:00

UFO sighted over O'Hare Airport

A group of airline employees insist they are in earnest, and they are upset that neither their bosses nor the government will take them seriously.

A flying saucerlike object hovered low over O'Hare International Airport for several minutes before bolting through thick clouds with such intense energy that it left an eerie hole in overcast skies, said some United Airlines employees who observed the phenomenon.

Officials at United professed no knowledge of the Nov. 7 event--which was reported to the airline by as many as a dozen of its own workers--when the Tribune started asking questions recently. But the Federal Aviation Administration said its air traffic control tower at O'Hare did receive a call from a United supervisor asking if controllers had spotted a mysterious elliptical-shaped craft sitting motionless over Concourse C of the United terminal.

I guess taking them to our leader was out of the question...

Read on, but don't get too excited about the video. It's not video of the UFO, just news wonks talking about it. Still pretty interesting though.

2007-01-01T04:37:00.000-06:00

Shiny! I needed new duds for a new year! I’ll be playing around changing stuff today so please excuse the mess.

I will NOT be changing to the new blogger!

Happy first day of the year!

2006-12-31T17:46:00.000-06:00

My New Years resolution is to try to be less disrespectful (stop laughing and play along). So with this last post of 2006, I've decided to go out on a high note.

Enjoy, and have a great New Years!

Hey Mr. Pugnacious-Pants ! Could you BE any more transparent?

2006-12-31T12:45:00.000-06:00

Cheney praises pardon of Nixon at funeral

Old colleagues, today's leaders and ordinary Americans remembered him as a man called to heal the country from the wounds of Watergate, the scandal that shattered Richard Nixon's presidency in 1974 and brought the even-keeled Ford to the Oval Office.

Ford's decision to pardon Nixon, so divisive at the time that it probably cost him the 1976 election, was dealt with squarely in his funeral services by his old chief of staff, Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It was this man, Gerald R. Ford, who led our republic safely though a crisis that could have turned to catastrophe," said Cheney, speaking in the Capitol Rotunda where Ford's body rested in a flag-draped casket. "Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without pardon."

Moron #1: Gee, ya think he’s trying to soften up the country to the idea of a presidential pardon?

Moron #2: Duh, I dunno, that thar statement’s pretty cryptic.

Ok, so I know a moron would never use the word “cryptic”.

And just out of curiosity, exactly what “catastrophe” was this country headed for had there not been a pardon? If by country, Mr. P-Pants means the Republican Party, well then ok. A presidential trial certainly would have been a total bummer...for them. But I think the rest of us who were not directly involved in felonious burglary really wanted justice to be served.

The simple fact that Ford couldn’t get elected DOG CATCHER after the pardon pretty much supports this opinion.

Trust me, this will not be the last time we hear the gooey phrase “There can be no healing without pardon”. It would bode well for the next president to keep Ford’s short-lived political career in mind...

PS. Bush didn't attend. Still ~~diddling~~ fiddling at the ranch. Isn’t that considered extremely rude? Especially since he’s on vacation, I mean it’s not like he’s doing anything else of any importance.

Read on here and here

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

2006-12-30T12:09:00.000-06:00

Even the weather hates him.

Bush Sheltered During Tornado Alert

President Bush and Laura were moved to an armored vehicle on their ranch Friday when a tornado warning was issued in central Texas, the White House said.

The vehicle was driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch at 1:30 p.m. CST, and the president, Mrs. Bush and their two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, sat inside until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. They were never moved into the shelter, he said. The shelter is a few hundred yards away from the president's house on the ranch.

"He was in the vehicle for about 10 minutes and then he went back to the house," Stanzel said, adding that other members of the staff at the ranch were sheltered as well.

The rush to the tornado shelter interrupted Bush's day at the ranch where he cleared some cedar and was kept abreast of plans to execute Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Bush also spent time contemplating the new plan for U.S. policy in Iraq that he plans to announce in the new year.

My, my, what a busy morning our president has had. He’s cleared a little brush, talked about Sa-ddam, and contemplated Iraq, all in the same day!

With such a productive morning, he's barely had time to fiddle at all...

Read on...

You knew it was inevitable...

2006-12-30T11:37:00.000-06:00

VIDEO of the Boogieman's execution.

Curiously, the video stops just before he drops. But you know, the planet won’t be satisfied until we see it for ourselves.

Don't let the door hit ya!

2006-12-29T20:03:00.000-06:00

Saddam is to be executed in an hour, 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central time. Won't he be surprised when he reaches his destination?

BUH-BYE CRAZY MAN!

Adieu, Mr. Ford, but lest we forget...

2006-12-29T13:10:00.000-06:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, he was a president, he deserves respect, blahblahblah. Regardless of how the news wonks would like to rewrite history, the bottom line is, Ford was ineffectual.

He pardoned the highest-ranking criminal in American history.

He spawned the evil twins, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

And being in office at the same time the Vietnam War ended doesn’t mean he should be credited with ending it. America had already begun withdrawing from Vietnam in 1973, the same year he became Vice President. Ford just happened to be in office when Saigon fell in 1974, which is what most people consider the end of the war to be. It actually ended the previous year.

He was appointed Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace; he was appointed President less than a year later when Nixon resigned in disgrace. Nobody ever voted for him.

I don’t believe Gerald Ford to be a bad man, just an unproductive one. His wife actually did more good for the country than he did. Granted, to be thrown into office at one of the most tumultuous time in American History could not have been easy. But the best thing I can say about Ford is, in his two short years as president, he didn’t make matters any worse.

Kinda makes for a short eulogy.

His interview with Bob Woodward in 2004/05 is very interesting. In it, he disagrees with the Iraq war, and the Bush White House. "Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people”, Ford said. “But I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security."

He also calls Dick Cheney “pugnacious”.

pug·na·cious:

1. Tough and callous.
2. Combative in nature; belligerent.
3. Ready and able to resort to force or violence.

And that’s all just dandy. Except for the fact that during his presidency, Cheney became Assistant to the President and then the youngest White House Chief of Staff in history, where it is possible that both he and Donald Rumsfeld began consolidating political power. An article in Rolling Stone said, "Having turned Ford into their instrument, Rumsfeld and Cheney staged a palace coup. They pushed Ford to fire Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, tell Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to look for another job and remove Henry Kissinger from his post as national security adviser. Rumsfeld was named secretary of defense, and Cheney became chief of staff to the president.”

(Yes, that's Rumsfeld and Cheney with Ford. Click to enlarge.)

Ford, of course, remembers these as his ideas. We will never know. But what is a fact is that Ford is personally responsible for spawning these two evil geniuses. That, coupled with the act of pardoning Nixon, is enough to keep me from getting too teary-eyed this week...

"The right picture can win or lose the damn war..."

2006-12-28T15:32:00.000-06:00

I just watched “Flags of Our Fathers”, the new Clint Eastwood movie, which is a true-life account of the impact, fallout, and controversy surrounding that famous photo of the raising of the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during WWII.

The movie was excellent, as is anything Clint Eastwood is involved in. The gist of the story is this, in the simplest of terms:

On the fifth day of the Battle of Iwo Jima, which raged on for 40 days, a small platoon of soldiers planted the flag atop a hard-won Mount Suribachi. Photographers Lou Lowery and Bob Campbell accompanied them but took no photos of the actual raising of the original flag. A visiting secretary of the Navy whimsically demanded the first flag as a personal war souvenir. Thus, a second platoon was sent of the mountain to trade the original flag with a new, much larger one.

Original flag raising (Lowery)
<------------- Flag exchange (Campbell) ------------>

The photographer with the second platoon was Joe Rosenthal, his staged photo is the infamous one at the top of the post. This historic photograph was posed, and by the time it was sent around the world, many of the men involved were already dead. Those who survived were shipped home for some useful flag waving and morale boosting and, as seems to be the case with heroes of war, treated ultimately appallingly.

The war back home wasn’t going too well. Support for the war was almost nil, as was the money needed to continue it (sound familiar?). When Rosenthal’s staged photo was sent back to the states, it graced every front page and magazine cover. Editors of US Camera Magazine said, "In that moment, Rosenthal's camera recorded the soul of a nation." Except that it had recorded a lie.

The powers that be saw this as a fantastic opportunity to use the three surviving soldiers in a propaganda tour to raise money for war bonds. None felt much like a hero, and all regarded the flag-raising incident, which had made them famous, as little more than a farce.

Back home, the three survivors were expected to reproduce the scene again and again in increasingly ludicrous ways, all in a drive to sell war bonds and prevent a US retreat from the Pacific region.

It would almost suggest that the packaging of a war is half the battle. And that is the point of this post. Propaganda and packaging, sometimes subtle, sometimes so obvious you think they have to be kidding.

Look familiar? I realize this photo wasn't staged, but it has certainly been used enough to stir up American emotions. Funny, the people who have used this photo are the same people who now have nothing but contempt for these men.

Barely one month into the war and George declares victory. That was 3 ½ years ago. But damn, didn't we feel superior!

How about these photos? Bush banned news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases, something about their military actions losing support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets. The woman who took these pictures, Tami Silcio, was fired shortly after they hit the mainstream media.

Anyone remember Jessica Lynch? She was the little American Darling of the war, who was captured, tortured, stabbed, and shot before she was heroically rescued. Only problem was, she wasn’t tortured, stabbed, shot, OR heroically rescued. You can refresh your memory of this poorly written piece of propaganda here.

And then there’s Pat Tillman, the Arizona State lineman, “who died heroically in a fierce battle in Iraq”. Tillman’s death came at a sensitive time for the Bush administration, just a week before the Army’s abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq became public and sparked a huge scandal. The Pentagon immediately announced that Tillman had died heroically in combat with the enemy, and President Bush hailed him as “an inspiration on and off the football field, as with all who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror.”

The Whitehouse waved Tillman’s corpse around like it was the American flag itself, right up until the time it was discovered that Tillman was killed by his own platoon in a fit of “misidentification”. Not until five weeks later, as Tillman’s battalion was returning home, did officials inform the public and the Tillman family that he had been killed by his fellow soldiers. His mother, Mary Tillman, is still trying to get the truth from the Pentagon concerning the circumstances of her son's death. And they are still stonewalling.

And then there’s Abu Ghraib itself, perhaps the biggest cause of the public’s change of heart towards the war. I needn’t bother posting pictures of the torturing of Iraqi prisoners; we’ve all seen them a million times. It was shortly after those photos became public that America began to lose its taste for this war.

Maybe there is a bit of truth to the saying. Perhaps the right picture can win or lose the damn war...

So question every photograph. Not only the content of the picture, but the reason behind the use of it. There is always an ulterior motive, which is to stir your emotions and sway your opinions.

And if you ever find yourself running low on political propaganda, you can always check out Bag News Notes. No one can disassemble a photograph quite like Dr. Shaw. His visual interpretation of political images is amazing.

A flamboyant goodbye…

2006-12-28T13:45:00.000-06:00

Not quite sure what I could add to this, except to say I’m loving the giant Apollo phallic symbol. It would appear he really did feel good!

Reality TV puts disabled women in beauty show

2006-12-27T11:11:00.000-06:00

It is a beauty contest complete with a swimsuit round. But all the contestants in the latest reality format to sweep ratings-hungry broadcasters have a disability.

Contestants must display a “handicap visible to the eye” in Miss Ability, a Dutch show that became the surprise hit of 2006 in the Netherlands.

Twelve women, including amputees and wheelchair-bound contestants, parade in nightgowns and bathing suits.

They star in short films demonstrating how they have overcome severe disabilities before submitting to a viewer vote.

The Netherlands was the breeding ground for Big Brother. Now the rights to remake Miss Ability have been snapped up in Britain, France, Germany and the US.

Absolutely Independent, the Dutch producers, insist that the show does not patronise disabled people. But the prospectus does not suggest sensitivity. It reads: “Ever whistled at a woman in a wheelchair? Checked out the boobs of a blind babe? If the answer’s ‘no’, this barrier-breaking show will put an end to that.”

DLT Entertainment, the company behind My Family, the hit BBC One comedy, is making the show in Britain. The producers are promising that contestants will be empowered. Heather Mills, the estranged wife of Sir Paul McCartney, is being approached to be the presenter.

British broadcasters will bid for the show in the new year. But there are fears that the trend for extreme reality shows could produce tasteless television. A recent Disney format invited patients needing brain or spinal tumour treatment and other life-threatening diseases to become guinea-pigs for pioneering surgery.

Outrageous! Simply outrageous! What is wrong with people??? Is America so starved for entertainment that contemptible producers of the atrocious just can’t devise new freak shows fast enough to fill the void? I don’t know who is more at fault, the people who produce this disgraceful drivel, the freaks who need attention so badly that they’re willing to sign away their self-respect for a few minutes in front of the camera, or the audience who just can’t seem to get enough. After all, if there were no audience, then the first two groups of offenders would be non-existent.

In order to shame us all, I was going to make a list of reality shows, at least the ones I could remember (which was only about six). I decided to do an Internet search because I knew there were many I'd forgotten. What I got was a list so long that I am now ashamed to even own a television. The list is far too vast to reproduce here.

This is the list.

Now I will admit, reluctantly, that I’ve watched the first and last season of American Idol. This happens when I tune in to see all the hilariously bad singers. Somehow I get sucked in. But even this show is repugnant. American Idol will never produce a Stevie Wonder, a Stevie Ray Vaughan, or a Steven Tyler. What this show DOES produce is a huge bank account for the producers. I read that more people voted in the finale of American Idol this year than voted for president in the last election. And these people are taking up space on our planet…

What Americans (and people of other countries) don’t seem to realize is, these call-in reality shows are simply a brilliant, moneymaking commercial that last for weeks. American Idol is one big commercial for Chevy, Ford, Pepsi, and whatever phone company is raking in the dough by taking your votes.

And while we’re on the subject of your votes, does it strike anybody as odd that Americans now think their opinions are so important that they will actually PAY to voice them? What an excellent racket! In essence, you are willing to give your hard-earned money so that someone else can become rich. You happily become poorer so that someone else can become richer, all so that your tiny voice may be heard.

A fool and his money really ARE soon parted…

I am truly sorry that women in wheelchairs are not getting catcalls and whistles, because those of us not in wheelchairs really LOVE that sort of attention. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve given my phone number and the invitation to father my children to some schmuck who yelled crude comments in my direction. We love having our self-worth measured by the size of our body parts. Truly we do. And now, thanks to reality TV, handicapped women will have the same opportunity.

Way to go, America!

John Edwards Kicks Off His Campaign Tour?

2006-12-27T10:30:00.001-06:00

John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator, will likely make a White House run and the announcement is expected to come in just two days.

Edwards is scheduled to travel to New Orleans to make the announcement. He will appear in the Katrina ravaged ninth ward where recovery efforts continue more than a year later.

Edwards has been rumored as a candidate since 2004 when he made his first White House attempt. He is considered one of the top democratic candidates along with New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The campaign kickoff tour will continue through the weekend and Edwards has rallies planned in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls…

2006-12-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

Bush bracing for new scrutiny

White House hiring lawyers in expectation of Democratic probes

President Bush is bracing for what could be an onslaught of investigations by the new Democratic-led Congress by hiring lawyers to fill key White House posts and preparing to play defense on countless document requests and possible subpoenas.

Bush is moving quickly to fill vacancies within his stable of lawyers, though White House officials say there are no plans to drastically expand the legal staff to deal with a flood of oversight.

Republicans close to Bush say any such moves would not come until the White House sees how aggressive Democrats are in trying to pry the lid off the inner workings of the administration.

"It's certainly not lost on them that there will be more investigative requests and more things for them to respond to, but I don't think that you're going to see any dramatic changes," said Reginald Brown, a former associate in Bush's White House counsel's office who is now in private practice.

Democrats' stated intention to conduct more rigorous oversight of the Bush administration "simply will mean that [White House officials] need a few more people to manage the paper flow," Brown said.

"Like any White House that has to deal with a Congress run by the other party, this White House has to bulk up its staff to deal with the inevitable flood of subpoenas. They're also going to have to coordinate with lots of friends and supporters," said Mark Corallo, a former top Republican aide to the House committee that issued more than 1,000 subpoenas to the Clinton camp.

You know what they say; the best offense is a good legal defense...

Read on...

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!

2006-12-24T01:16:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas eve/day, full of friends, family, food and fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

(Click here to play)

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"
(takes a minute to load, but the white reindeer's solo is well worth the wait!)

Created by Joshua Held, sung by The Drifters.

My baby girl...

2006-12-23T01:19:00.000-06:00

I still remember the day you discovered that blue cotton candy was to die for...

It was a crisp September Saturday, this was your first state fair, and cotton candy just the best discovery you’d made so far in your short life. It was decidedly better than the cricket you ate several months later. However, I dare say you had the same look of satisfaction on your face when you were finished.

Where did my little girl go...

You are still the best thing I ever did.

Happy Birthday Mel!
December 23, 1983, 1:14am

Cuz nothing says Christmas like a little roasted beagle butt!

2006-12-22T18:31:00.000-06:00

It's Christmas! Have some more flocking bat meat, or rat meat or pig soaked in blood!

Christmas Day is seen as a foreign, Western festival in many countries in Asia but that doesn't stop millions of people from cooking up banquets of local food unheard of in the West.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country which also has a substantial Christian community, Christmas feasts include delicacies such as pork soaked in blood and dog meat.

In the eastern island of Sulawesi, some Manado Christians swear by kawok, or garden rats, cooked with chilies and garlic, and paniki, or bats, cooked in coconut milk.

"Bat meat tastes almost the same as garden rat but it has more muscles," said Manadonese Stephen Lapian. "But if you cut the arm pit in a wrong way, it will be very stinky."

Mmmmm, decisions, decisions. Do I want dog butt or bat armpit? No wonder KFC is such a hit in Japan!

Read on if you've already eaten...

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with cheer, in hopes that Fox News would soon fill them with fear…

2006-12-22T17:28:00.000-06:00

Holiday to do list:

Buy presents, check.

Make Eggnog, check.

Release a report pointing out how easy it would be to kill a lot of holiday travelers just before Christmas, check.

You better watch out, you better not cry...

2006-12-22T05:37:00.000-06:00

The 10 most dangerous toys of all time

In the spirit of the holidays, Radar presents the 10 most dangerous toys of all time, those treasured playthings that drew blood, chewed digits, took out eyes, and, in one case, actually irradiated. To keep things interesting, we excluded BB guns, slingshots, throwing stars, and anything else actually intended to inflict harm. Check out the toy box from hell.

Yeah, yeah. While you were pinning the neighbor’s cat to the sundeck with yard darts, all the cool kids were recreating Nagasaki in the backyard. Sissy...

Read on...

Because I'm in a "yuley" place...

2006-12-21T20:38:00.000-06:00

From now until after Christmas, I deem this a Bush-free zone (insert your own joke here).

No screaming war mongers

No barking moon bats (well ok, one barking moon bat)

We will not be snarky (much)

We will not make fun

We will not point out his shortcomings

Or point and laugh

Or just point

From now until at least December 26th, short of Bush doing something totally stupid (er), I declare this a politics-free zone. It’s time for fun, and silliness and cheer. But just so I'm sure it's out of my system...

(click to enlarge)

"Me first! I'M the president!"

"He was just here..."

Elvis lives...

"Dammit! How can they expect me to salute and hold Barney at the same time?

I'm not ambi...um, ambi...I'm not both-handed!"

"I sure hope that's a girl turkey, heh, heh, heh..."

"I sure hope someone catches me! Heh, heh, heh!"

"I sure hope you're my tailor, heh, heh...um...."

And last but certainly not least...(I think this is my favorite)

President Rain Man...

Ok, I believe I'm good to go til after the holidays!

What price victory?

2006-12-21T00:12:00.000-06:00

Pentagon Wants $99.7B More for Wars

The Pentagon wants the White House to seek an additional $99.7 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information provided to The Associated Press.

The military's request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year's budget for those wars to about $170 billion.

Overall, the war in Iraq has cost about $350 billion. Combined with the conflict in Afghanistan and operations against terrorism elsewhere, the cost has topped $500 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The additional funds, if approved, would push this year's cost of the war in Iraq to about $50 billion over last year's record. In September, Congress approved an initial $70 billion for the current budget year, which began Oct. 1.

The budget request includes:

_$41.5 billion to cover the costs of ongoing military operations.

_$26.7 billion for replacing and repairing equipment damaged or destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

_$10 billion for body armor and other equipment to protect U.S. troops from attack.

_$2.5 billion to combat roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices.

_$2.7 billion for intelligence activities.

Whatever request emerges from the Bush administration will go to a new Congress controlled by Democrats highly critical of the Iraq war and Bush's handling of it.

"Democrats are committed to ensuring our troops have all that they need, but we're going to return oversight to spending on the war," said Jim Manley, spokesman for incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Our troops must have everything they need, but Halliburton shouldn't get everything it wants."

Halliburton Co. (HAL) is a Texas-based oil services conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush administration officials have come under fire since the beginning of the war in Iraq for awarding more than $10 billion to the company and its subsidiaries in 2003 and 2004, some of it in a no-bid contract. There have been allegations of fraud, poor work, overpricing and other abuse, which the company has denied.

Read on...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Money to Treat 9/11 Workers Will Run Out, Officials Say

The roughly $40 million that was set aside by the federal government to treat rescue workers, volunteers and firefighters who became ill after helping with the 9/11 cleanup and recovery will run out in months, physicians and federal officials said yesterday.

Members of Congress from New York and New Jersey secured $75 million a year ago to pay for health care expenses — including $40 million for treatments like drugs and medical procedures — for about 32,000 workers who reported ailments after working at ground zero.

Officials at the two major monitoring and treatment programs, one run by Mount Sinai Medical Center and the other by the Fire Department, said yesterday that at the current spending rate, the treatment money would run out by spring or summer. They told top federal health officials that unless more financing was provided, they would be forced to notify thousands of patients that their treatment could soon end.

If all the workers needing treatment were to receive it, according to a new estimate by federal officials, the cost could exceed $250 million a year — a figure that may well meet with resistance from lawmakers in Washington, who are facing intense budget pressures. Several Democratic legislators have said they will make 9/11 health a priority when their party takes control of Congress next month.

If all the workers needing treatment were to receive it, according to a new estimate by federal officials, the cost could exceed $250 million a year — a figure that may well meet with resistance from lawmakers in Washington, who are facing intense budget pressures. Several Democratic legislators have said they will make 9/11 health a priority when their party takes control of Congress next month.

$170B which will undoubtedly lead to more death and destruction, vs. $250M to save the lives of the men and women who came to the country's aid in time of crisis.

He is willing to spend billions on Iraqis, but can’t be bothered to take care of the Americans who came to the rescue after 911. He’s willing to spend billions on Iraqis while American rescue workers languish and die for lack of medical resources.

He’s putting the welfare of Iraqis above that of Americans. Face it, all you workers and first responders, he’s already gotten what he needed from you; a great little photo-op, support for his war, and your vote in 2004. You have nothing else he needs so feel free to flock off and die.

When Bush was sloganeering on that pile of ~~rubble~~ human corpses, bullhorn in hand, arm draped around a rescue worker, he promised justice. He said he wanted the rescuers to know that all of America was deeply grateful for their efforts.

Silly rescue workers. What you didn't realize was that justice and gratitude would come only in the form of war.

Read on...

Because Shooter lives to make me spew coffee...

2006-12-20T22:20:00.000-06:00

To insure that I NEVER have to get my own subscription to the New Your Times, Shooter keeps dropping these little gems into my mailbox.

Ah, Maureen Down, what can I say? She is without a doubt the Queen of Snark. I hope to be her when I grow up. Having said that, I give you...

Farewell, Dense Prince

James Baker ran after W. with a butterfly net for a while, but it is now clear that the inmates are still running the asylum.

The Defiant Ones came striding from the Pentagon yesterday, the troika of wayward warriors marching abreast in their dark suits and power ties. W., Rummy and Dick Cheney were so full of quick-draw confidence that they might have been sauntering down the main drag of Deadwood.

Far from being run out of town, the defense czar who rivals Robert McNamara for deadly incompetence has been on a victory lap in Baghdad, Mosul and Washington. Yesterday’s tribute had full military honors, a color guard, a 19-gun salute, an Old Guard performance with marching musicians — including piccolo players — in Revolutionary War costumes, John Philip Sousa music and the chuckleheaded neocons and ex-Rummy deputies who helped screw up the occupation, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, cheering in the audience.

It was surreal: the septuagenarian who arrogantly dismissed initial advice to send more troops to secure Iraq, being praised as “the finest secretary of defense this nation has ever had” by his pal, the vice president, even as a desperate White House drafted ways to reinvade Iraq by sending more troops in a grasping-at-straws effort to reverse the chaos caused by Rummy’s mistakes.

Just imagine the send-off a defense secretary would have gotten who hadn’t sabotaged the Army, Iraq, global security, our chance to get Osama, our moral credibility, the deficit and American military confidence.

Even Joyce Rumsfeld got a Distinguished Public Service Award ribbon placed around her neck. The grandiose ceremony featured everything but the gold-plated matching set of pistols Tommy Franks, another failed warrior, and his wife, Cathy, recently received from a weapons manufacturer. (His had four stars and diamonds; hers, rubies and their marriage date.)

W. never seems as alarmed about the devastation in Iraq as he should be. He told People magazine, “I must tell you, I’m sleeping a lot better than people would assume,” and he told Brit Hume that his presidency was “a joyful experience.”

He slacked off on his slacker effort to form a new Iraq plan. (Can’t these guys ever order pizzas and pull some all-nighters?) Mr. Bush was busy this week hosting Christmas parties for a press corps he disdains; convening a malaria conference at the National Geographic with Dr. Burke of “Grey’s Anatomy,” Isaiah Washington; and presiding over a hero’s departure for the defense secretary he actually dumped, not because of incompetence but for political expediency.

The Rummy hoopla was a way for W. to signal his decision to shred the Baker-Hamilton study, after reportedly denouncing it as a flaming cow pie. Condi Rice signaled the same, telling The Washington Post that she did not want to negotiate with Syria and Iran, as the Iraq Study Group had proposed, because “the compensation” might be too high.

The Democrats thought that when they had won the election, they won the debate on the war and they had W. cornered. But the president is leaning toward surging over the Democrats, voters, Baker and the Bush 41 crowd and some of his own commanders.

W. seems gratified by the idea that rather than having his ears boxed by his father’s best friend, he’s going to go down swinging, or double down, in the metaphor du jour, on his macho bet in Iraq. He’s reading about Harry Truman and casting himself as a feisty Truman, but he’s heading toward late L.B.J. The White House budget office is studying how much it will cost to finance The Surge, an infusion of 20,000 to 50,000 troops into Baghdad to make one last try at “victory.” The policy would devolve from “We stand down as they stand up” to “We stand up more and maybe someday they will, too.”

Some serving commanders are not in favor of The Surge because they fret that it will infantilize Iraqis even more about assuming responsibility for their own security. They also fear that the insurgents, who have nowhere to go, will outwait our troops.

But W. would rather take a risk in Iraq than risk being a wimp. So he continued to wrap himself in muscular delusions, asserting that on Rummy’s watch, “the United States military helped the Iraqi people establish a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a watershed event in the story of freedom.”

Dick Cheney offered this praise to his friend: “On the professional side, I would not be where I am today but for the confidence that Don first placed in me those many years ago.”

Alas, we wouldn’t be where we are today, either.

You know, I bet I’m not supposed to reprint the entire article here. I bet I’m suppose to put a link to the NYT so you can be told that in order to read this article, you’ll have to subscribe. I bet Maureen Dowd will now show up at my house and punch me in the mouth. If this happens, Shooter, I’m sending her straight to the compound!

If you don’t hear from me for a while, you’ll know that not only does Maureen have a forked tongue, she has a mean right hook!

And speaking of Google...

2006-12-20T01:48:00.000-06:00

I’m having a real problem with Google these days. As anyone using blogger.com knows, Google bought Blogger a few years ago. Now Google is forcing us bloggers to switch our sites over to the Blogger Beta version. This is not that big a deal, except for the fact that in order to do this, YOU MUST HAVE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT.

I was going to try to switch over shortly after they started sending polite suggestions that we do so, but could not get past the first step; setting up a Google account, which means giving Google all of my personal information, which I absolutely do not want to do.

So, in order to continue this site, I will be FORCED to give Google whatever information they request. I’m not sure what his will mean for people who want to comment. I don’t know if users who only have a profile (but no blog) will have to update to a Google account or not. Probably so. The Sister tried to do this last week. She wanted to leave a comment, but wanted a little avatar by her name. I told her in order to do this she’d have to create a profile with Blogger. No big deal. What I didn’t know was, that in order to even create just a profile, you now had to open a Google account. I DON’T LIKE THIS.

While I use and enjoy the Google search engine and Google Image Search (which I use all the time), using those two features is still pretty anonymous. Oh I know they’re keeping a log of all the searches, but the searchers themselves are anonymous, more or less. I resent and am struggling with purposely giving Google any more of my personal info than they already have.

I know a lot of you who swing by here are also blogger.com users. How do you all feel about it? Have any of you switched to the new Beta version yet? Are the new features they promise in the Beta version really anything to write home about? While I agree that Blogger needs an update, and it certainly could stand some major improvements, I don’t like getting all tangled up in Google World in order to be able to use it.

I am convinced that if I give Google even one more piece of information, it will become self-aware. And the next thing you know, we’ll all need The Terminator to come and save us.

And for leaving her puppies out in the cold...

2006-12-19T04:19:00.000-06:00

Online vote says Spears worst dog owner

"Britney was the overwhelming choice" for worst celebrity dog owner for 2006, Hilary O'Hagan, editor of The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog magazines, said in a statement.

I’m so sorry. I didn’t even link to it. The world doesn’t need another story about Ms. Spears.

I just wanted to do the bit about the puppies!

So I did, and now I’m done :>

He gets an opinion

2006-12-19T02:29:00.000-06:00

Philip Martin has been a Marine for 2 years. He is in the infantry (a "grunt"), and spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq.

He went on more than 180 combat patrols in and outside of the city of Fallujah, where he was hit with 2 IEDs (luckily never injured) and was involved in a number of firefights.

He is currently stationed in Twentynine Palms, CA, and due to return to Iraq for a second deployment in April 2007. He is 21-years-old.

A Young Marine Speaks Out
by Philip Martin, December 8, 2006

I'm sick and tired of this patriotic, nationalistic and fascist crap. I stood through a memorial service today for a young Marine that was killed in Iraq back in April. During this memorial a number of people spoke about the guy and about his sacrifice for the country. How do you justify 'sacrificing' your life for a war which is not only illegal, but is being prosecuted to the extent where the only thing keeping us there is one man's power, and his ego. A recent Marine Corps intelligence report that was leaked said that the war in the al-Anbar province is unwinnable. It said that there was nothing we could do to win the hearts and minds, or the military operations in that area. So I wonder, why are we still there? Democracy is not forced upon people at gunpoint. It's the result of forward thinking individuals who take the initiative and risks to give their fellow countrymen a better way of life.

When I joined I took an oath. In that oath I swore to protect the Constitution of the United States. I didn't swear to build democracies in countries on the other side of the world under the guise of "national security." I didn't join the military to be part of an Orwellian ("1984") war machine that is in an obligatory war against whoever the state deems the enemy to be so that the populace can be controlled and riled up in a pro-nationalistic frenzy to support any new and oppressive law that will be the key to destroying the enemy. Example given – the Patriot Act. So aptly named, and totally against all that the constitution stands for. President Bush used the reactionary nature of our society to bring our country together and to infuse into the national psyche a need to give up their little-used rights in the hope to make our nation a little safer. The same scare tactics he used to win elections. He drones on and on about how America and the world would be a less safe place if we weren't killing Iraqis, and that we'd have to fight the terrorists at home if we weren't abroad. In our modern day emotive society this strategy (or strategery?) works, or had worked, up until last month's elections.

My point in this; to show that America was never nationalistic. If anything they were Statalistic (giving their allegiance to the state of their residence). This is shown in the fact that the founders created states with fully capable and independent governments and not provinces that were just a division of the federal government. These men believed that America was a place where imperialistic values would be non-existent. Where the people trying to make their lives better by working hard, thinking, inventing and using the free market would tie up so much of normal life that imperialistic colonization and the fighting of wars thousands of miles away for interests that are not our own would be avoided. They believed this expansion of power could be left to the European nations, the England, France and Spain of their time. However this recent, and current influx of nationalistic feeling has created an environment where giving up your rights, going to a foreign country to fight a people who did not ask for us to be there, nor did their leader do anything to warrant us being there, and dying would be considered honorable and heroic. I don't believe it anymore. I don't believe it's right for any American to go along with it anymore. Yes I know that we in the military are bound by the UCMJ and somehow don't fall under the Constitution (the very thing we're suppose to be defending) but sooner or later there is a decision that every American soldier, marine, airmen and seamen makes to allow themselves to be sent to a war that is against every fiber this country was founded on. I know that when April rolls around I will be thinking long and hard on that decision. Even though we in the military are just doing as we're told we still have the moral and ethical obligation to choose to do as we're told, or to say, "No, that isn't right." I believe that if more troopers like me and the professional military, the officers and commanders, start standing up and saying that they won't let themselves or their troops go to this illegal war people will start standing up and realizing what the heck is going on over there.

The sad fact of the matter is that we are not fighting terrorists in Iraq. We are fighting the Iraqi people who feel like a conquered and occupied people. Personally I have a hard time believing that if I was an Iraqi that I wouldn't be doing everything in my power to kill and maim as many Americans as possible. I know that the vast majority of Americans would not be happy with the Canadian government, or any other foreign government, liberating us from the clutches of George W. Bush, even though a large number of us would like that, and forcing us to accept their system of government. Would not millions of Americans rise up and fight back? Would you not rise up to protect and defend your house and your neighborhood if someone invaded your country? But we send thousands of troops to a foreign country to do just that. How is it moral to fight a people who are just trying to defend their homes and families? I think next time I go to Iraq perhaps I should wear a bright red coat and carry a Brown Bess instead of my digitalized utilities and M16.

Notice I never once used the word homeland in any of this. I have a secondary point I want to bring up now. Never once was the term homeland ever used to describe the country of America until Mr. Bush began the department of homeland security after the 9/11 attacks. Taking a 20th century history class will teach us that the most notable countries in the last century that referred to their country in this way were Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Hitler used the term fatherland to drum up support, nationalistic support, for his growing war machine. He used the nationalism he created in the minds of the Germans to justify the sacrifice of their livelihood to build the war machine to get back their power from the oppressive restrictions the English and French had put on them at Versailles. This is the same feeling that has been virulently infecting the American psyche in the last hundred years. This is the same feeling that consoles a mother after her son is killed in an attempt to prosecute an aggressor's war 10,000 miles away. It's also known as Patriotism these days, but I say, "No more." No more nationalistic inanity, no more passing it off as patriotism. Patriotism is learning, and educating oneself to understand what their country really stands for.

I heard a lot during the memorial service about how the dead Marine did so much good for others and how his helping others was like a little microcosm of America helping because we have the power to do so. Well if we have the power to help people why aren't we helping in Darfur where hundreds of thousands of people have died in the last 10 years. Saddam was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 143 Shiites who conspired to assassinate him. (I know all you "patriotic" Americans would be calling for the heads of anyone who conspired to assassinate supreme leader Bush). And yet we spend upwards of 1 trillion dollars and nearing 3,000 lives to help these Iraqis when they don't even want us there. Not to mention we don't have the legal justification to be there. I guess we should wait around for the omnipotent W Bush to decide who we should use our superpowerdom to help next. It's about time to throw him and the rest of the fascists out. Moreover it's about time to start educating Americans about their past and history, and letting them know that imperialistic leaders are not what the founders of this great country wanted.

Plain english, from someone whose opinion should matter. He gets it. And he's only 21. Why doesn't Bush?

If you'd like to email Philip Martin, perhaps tell him why he should, at 21 years old, sacrifice his life for George W. Bush, you can do so here: grimmythedog@netscape.net

Kudos to Shooter for turning me onto the Lew Rockwell site and this letter.

You show us yours, we’ll show you ours

2006-12-18T04:55:00.000-06:00

The Taliban's Book of Rules

An extraordinary little document is making the rounds among the Taliban of Afghanistan.

The stapled pamphlet called simply “Layeha,” or “Rule Book,” is only nine pages long. But it speaks volumes about the Taliban: their strategy, their following, their potential virtues and their persistent vices, and the full text is well worth reading.

The rule book cautions against ransoming captives without approval, forbids selling equipment, discourages changing units without permission.

There are 30 rules in all. My particular favorite is number 19:

19. Mujahideen are not allowed to take young boys without beards to the battlefield or to their homes.

Apparently, hairy children are fair game...

Read on...

Not being satisfied with having taken over the planet, Google sets it’s sights on a galaxy far, far away…

2006-12-18T04:21:00.000-06:00

NASA Schedules Briefing to Discuss Google Agreement

WHAT: Media briefing announcing details of Space Act Agreement with Google, Inc.

WHEN: 11:00 a.m. PST, Monday, Dec. 18, 2006.

UPDATE: NASA and Google to Bring Space Exploration Down to Earth

As the first in a series of joint collaborations, Google and Ames will focus on making the most useful of NASA's information available on the Internet. Real-time weather visualization and forecasting, high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, real-time tracking of the International Space Station and the space shuttle will be explored in the future.

"This agreement between NASA and Google will soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin at Headquarters in Washington. "This innovative combination of information technology and space science will make NASA's space exploration work accessible to everyone," added Griffin.

Read on...

Between Iraq and a hard place...

2006-12-17T23:44:00.000-06:00

Bush leaning toward sending 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq
The American public clearly supports a timetable for withdrawal, starting right away. That has the advantage of at least getting our troops out of harm's way, but it would almost inevitably leave behind a country in chaos.

And yet the solution that President Bush seems to be gravitating towards -- sending more troops -- may be the worst of all worlds. It's the last gasp of a strategy that's been tried before and failed, at great human cost.
************************************************************

Military Budget About Half a Trillion and the Army is Broke
*According to Maj. Gen Stephen Speakes, the Army was sent to war in Iraq $56 billion short of essential equipment.

*Army officials told the White House that it needs at least an additional $24 billion, not in the 2007 budget, just to pay its current bills.

*Cash shortfalls have forced the Army to lay off janitorial staff, close base swimming pools, and even stop mowing lawns on Army bases.

*But cuts have also hit soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army officials had to cut $3 billion for replacement of weapons in heavy use in Iraq, such as armored Humvees, two-way radios, remote control surveillance aircraft and trucks.

*National Guard units now lack 40% of their critical readiness gear because it's been sent to Iraq, and the Army lacks the funds to replace it.
************************************************************

Powell deeply skeptical about increasing troop levels
"There really are no additional troops. A troop increase cannot be sustained. The thousands of additional U.S. soldiers sent into Baghdad since the summer had been unable to stabilize the city and more probably could not tip the balance, Powell. The deployment of further troops would, moreover, impose long-term costs on a badly stretched military.
************************************************************

From The Military Times:Army Chief Calls for Troop Increase
The Army's top general warned Thursday that his force "will break" without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves.

There are competing schools of thought inside the military and the administration on whether a short-term increase in U.S. troop strength in Iraq - possibly in the range of 20,000 - would be enough to quell the sectarian warfare in Baghdad.

Some generals believe it would be too little, too late, in a war that already has claimed more than 2,900 U.S. lives.
***********************************************************

From The Military Times: Reserves, National Guard Feel Strain
Many Guard units are struggling with chronic equipment shortages and funding problems that threaten their ability to respond to disaster and other emergencies in their home states. Thousands of reservists are serving in patchwork units cobbled together in piecemeal fashion from other units, often with little or no sense of cohesion.

"I think you're seeing the leading edge indicators of strain and fraying the edges," said Arnold L. Punaro, a retired Marine Corps general

Repeated missions have taken a toll, prompting the nation's governors to complain to Punaro's commission about equipment shortages, inadequate training and insufficient federal funding. Units returning from combat were forced to leave much of their equipment with active-duty forces or replacements, leaving them ill equipped to confront disasters at home.
**********************************************************

From The Military Times: The Coming Crisis in Naval Aviation
Five years of combat have taken an awful toll on the equipment of U.S. naval forces. Marine Corps vehicles and battle tanks are being ground to dust, new types of weapons and small craft are needed, and equipment for the Navy Seabees must be replaced quickly.

The cost of re-equipping, or “resetting,” the Marine Corps is about $12 billion, some of which is being provided in the annual supplemental appropriations for the war in Iraq.

The Navy will require at least $7 billion.

But that is only part of the story. Looming behind the immediate needs of the naval forces is a coming crisis in aircraft procurement.

Left untended, the aging fleet combined with the continued stress of current operations, inevitably will mean diminished performance despite the services’ innovative efforts to keep the aircraft flying. Additional limits on weight, range and maneuver are a virtual certainty, and that could jeopardize readiness and ultimately affect the services’ ability to conduct future operations.
************************************************************

And finally: U.S. standing sinks in Mideast
Attitudes about the United States have deteriorated sharply in the Middle East in the past two years, a survey of five countries in the region shows.

Survey respondents tend to distinguish between U.S. policy and the American people, but that distinction appears to have eroded in the past four years.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute: "Our policy [In Iraq] drags everything. The negatives have become very pronounced."

Sleep tight, babies. The Decider has everything under control...

(top two links via Alex)

Too bad birth control isn’t retroactive...

2006-12-17T22:43:00.000-06:00

Being a celebrity is the 'best thing in the world' say children

Children under 10 think being a celebrity is the "very best thing in the world" but do not think quite as much of God, a survey has revealed.

The poll of just under 1,500 youngsters ranked "God" as their tenth favourite thing in the world, with celebrity, "good looks" and being rich at one, two and three respectively.

Here is a sample of some of the survey's results: What do you think is the very best thing in the world?

1. Being a Celebrity 2. Good Looks 3. Being Rich 4. Being Healthy 5. Pop Music 6. Families 7. Friends 8. Nice Food 9. Watching Films 10. Heaven/God

If you’d like to see what else these little rocket scientists of tomorrow had to say, go here. Oh and by the way...THANKS PARIS!

It’s an honor just to be nominated…

2006-12-16T22:12:00.000-06:00

You were named Time magazine "Person of the Year" on Saturday for the explosive growth and influence of user-generated Internet content such as blogs, video-file sharing site YouTube and social network MySpace.

It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. But it's really a revolution.

And we are so ready for it. We're ready to balance our diet of predigested news with raw feeds from Baghdad and Boston and Beijing. You can learn more about how Americans live just by looking at the backgrounds of YouTube videos than you could from 1,000 hours of network television.

And we didn't just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.

Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.

Cool...

via Times, via Yahoo

New Counterinsurgency Manual Hits Net

2006-12-16T20:58:00.000-06:00

Why is the DoD Making it Available to Insurgents,Terrorists?

Your IraqSlogger editors are stunned that the Pentagon has released to the entire world and posted on the Web the U.S. military’s new 282-page counterinsurgency war-fighting manual.

This is the first post-9/11 “war on terror” U.S. military counterinsurgency manual – the long-awaited doctrine meant in part to help turn the tide for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The counterinsurgency field manual's cover reads in part, "Distribution Restriction: Approved for Public Release; Distribution is unlimited."

Why?

Now you and everyone, including Al Qaeda terrorists and insurgents, can read the entire 282-page manual.

It's posted on multiple military Web sites.

While the manual doesn’t contain classified secrets, it contains an astounding amount of seemingly sensitive military doctrine, with subject headings including:

-- INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE OPERATIONS

-- HUMAN INTELLIGENCE AND OPERATIONAL REPORTING

-- COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERRECONNAISSANCE

-- INTELLIGENCE COLLABORATION

-- INTELLIGENCE CELLS AND WORKING GROUPS

-- PROTECTING SOURCES

-- EXECUTING COUNTERINSURGENCY OPERATIONS

-- TARGETING

Should such sensitive and detailed information be dished up to the U.S.’s enemies, especially via Pentagon Web sites?

In the manual's foreword, Lt. Generals David Petreaus and James Amos write in part, "With our Soldiers and Marines fighting insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is essential that we give them a manual that provides principles and guidelines for counterinsurgency operations."

How would a U.S. soldier or Marine now in Iraq or Afghanistan feel knowing the hot-off-the-presses counterinsurgency manual is available to the “bad guys” at the same time it is available to the “good guys”?

Granted, the Pentagon posts a lot on the Web, but it seems fair to ask whether this entire 282-page document (surely, there are additional classified components) should be made available to all.

Will the manual be of value to Al Qaeda terrorists, Iraqi insurgents, and the Taliban?

Would the U.S. think it had scored an intelligence coup if it got its hands on the insurgents' 282-page field manual?

How would the American people feel if asked in a poll whether the U.S. military's counterinsurgency manual should be shared with the insurgents?

One can imagine that if the entire manual had been leaked to and was published by a newspaper rather than by the Pentagon itself, U.S. officials would condemn the media for putting U.S. military forces at risk and multiple investigations would be underway to nail the leaker.

Your IraqSlogger team will keep an eye out on terrorist and insurgent Web sites to see whether they provide links to Pentagon Web sites providing the counterinsurgency manual -- or whether they go so far as to translate the manual into Arabic and other languages.

Stay tuned.

Stay tuned indeed...

IRAQSlogger

"American public, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!"

2006-12-16T15:55:00.000-06:00

(You will have to go to C&L to watch the video, I'm having player issues at the moment)

The other day on Hannity and Colmes, Tom DeLay blamed the American public for the failure in Iraq citing our lack of "will" that's prohibiting the military from doing it's job. Colbert picked up on this last night and took it a few steps further.

Colbert: "Well said, Congressman. American people: you are losing this war! Now, I don't like to say that. I wish there was someone else to blame…The President, the Vice President, Congress, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Bremer, George Tenet, Colin Powell, Tommy Franks, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol… if only they had made one mistake! Some way we could pin this thing on them."

Nobody does it better than Colbert

via Crooks & Liars

As the New York Times goes, so goes the country

2006-12-16T14:21:00.000-06:00

Incoming editorial page editor of the NYT says "its becoming more likely" that the paper will call for the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, in an interview today with C-SPAN. Andrew Rosenthal assumes the post Jan 1.

Lamb: Do you think you'll eventually call for us to get out of Iraq?

Andrew Rosenthal - Wow, should I answer that question?

Lamb - Absolutely.

Rosenthal - I think its becoming more likely. I mean I don' t know what George Bush is going to say. We've been going through this very odd spectacle this week of all these meetings and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. We actually wrote about it this week. I mean, are we really supposed to believe he just started thinking about it this week? What are these meetings about? Are we supposed to believe the Army just started thinking about it this week? I mean its crazy. It has to be true that he's just going through this for some crazy public relations stunt.

It depends on what he says - if he comes up with a plan that could lead in some reasonable period of time to an orderly withdraw than that's one thing. If he sticks to these fictions about achieving victory and all the other things that he keep talking about then we may have to change. It really does depend, I mean, we're going to withdraw our troops from Iraq and we're going to do that without initiating a fully functioning government that serves as a beacon of hope for the Middle east. I mean its interesting and very instructive to go back and look at last year's strategy for success in Iraq strategy included: defeating terrorists, establishing full democracy in Iraq, an independent army, and an Iraq that is part of the international economic system, I don't know what that means. Are they supposed to join the IMF or the WTO I don' t know what the heck that means. And this kind of burgeoning democracy throughout the Middle East well none of that 's going to happen, I think that's pretty clear - at least not in George Bush's timeframe.

Video

One down, one to go!

2006-12-16T13:27:00.000-06:00

Officials: Edwards to Enter 2008 Race

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards intends to enter the 2008 race for the White House, two Democratic officials said Saturday.

Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for six years, plans to make the campaign announcement late this month from the New Orleans neighborhood hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina last year and slow to recover from the storm.

Edwards is in a strong position as the leading candidate in Iowa. He was a top fundraiser in the race for the nomination in 2004 before he became Democratic Sen. John Kerry's running mate.

Since the Democrats' loss to President Bush, Edwards has worked to build support for a repeat presidential bid. He has a retooled agenda that is more openly progressive and has spent time building relationships with labor leaders and traveling overseas to build his foreign policy credentials beyond his one term in the Senate.

A poll of Iowa Democrats that was published Thursday in the Des Moines Register showed Edwards with 36 percent support, more than Clinton's 16 percent and Obama's 13 percent combined.

Edwards' campaign plans include an aggressive fundraising effort to prove that he belongs in the top tier of contenders. Because he currently does not hold federal office, Edwards does not have a war chest like some of his rivals. In fact, he has several hundred thousands of dollars of debt from his 2004 presidential campaign.

Here’s my prediction. It will be an Edwards/Obama ticket in ’08. Even though Obama might be more popular, he’s seen as having too little experience.

Also, you have to ask yourself, is America ready to vote for a black president? The Husband doesn’t think so, he thinks the redneck vote will go elsewhere, thus splitting the Democratic vote and opening the door for the Republican candidate. I don’t know, I guess it depends on how many rednecks are registered voters. And when I say redneck, I’m not just talking about the south (sorry, Sister!). I’m talking about bigots and racists, and they are everywhere. But enter Edwards, oozing enough southern charm that even David Duke would fall in love with him.

This is the beauty of an Edwards/Obama ticket. Edwards has the experience to get elected. And as VP, Obama can gain the experience he needs and then run for president in 2016. Wow, 2016 sounds like something out of The Jetsons, doesn’t it?

I’m sorry, but Ms. Hillary will have to sit this one out. If America isn’t ready for a black president, they’re sure not ready for a woman. A black man, a white woman, or a Republican. This really is a redneck’s nightmare, isn’t it?

Read on...

But since you asked, Part 2

2006-12-15T13:38:00.000-06:00

Starting a new thread, the responses are getting too long for the comments area.

In answer to RTO Trainer's comments...

Apparently I was completely wrong in my perception that the military is all about rules and following orders. Apparently you all are running around doing whatever you want. My bad for thinking there was a chain of command.

And my only understanding of you personally is being told to drop dead. That alone gives me a pretty good idea of who you are. Do I understand you? Nope. But you’re no great mystery.

And Frank Rich’s point of view made me want to stand up and cheer. Finally someone had the balls to say, not only does The Emperor have no clothes, he’s batshit crazy. I’m sorry, my dear man, but your fearless leader is losing his marbles.

And since you have a clear understanding of your mission, perhaps you could enlighten the rest of us. What exactly is your mission and how will staying longer, doing the same things that aren’t working now, accomplish this mission.

How many homeless vets do you know? How many vets with untreated PTSD, who have lost everything, whose lives are in shambles, do you know? Yes, I realize that many vets went on to be senators, but many, many didn’t. Many were never given the chance to recover because their government (and the American people) forsook them.

And I’ll trot out the armor issue until it’s no longer an issue. And if it a non-issue, then why, when questioned about it, did Rumsfeld say, “You don’t always get to go to war with the army you’d like. Sometimes you have to go with the army you have.” Just gives you a warm fuzzy, doesn’t it?

As far as the financial end goes, you are speaking only for yourself. And I don’t believe I presented it as a universal problem. None of the problems are universal. But the government has a long history of turning it’s back on the very men and women fighting it’s wars. A long history. Hell the government is still fighting the Gulf War vets over whether or not Gulf War Syndrome is real. They don’t want to pay the bills of the vets who came home sick. Same with Agent Orange and the Vietnam Vets. Maybe YOU don’t know of any vets who have GWS, so therefore it’s not true. Just like the vets of Vietnam. If you don’t know any, then it can’t be true.

You said, “The mission can only fail if we go home”. Ok little George, explain to me how we’ll win by staying. The Taliban is stronger now than it was when this war started. Iraq civilians are dying by the thousands. We are breeding young terrorists that we’ll be fighting 10 – 20 years from now. It is quite evident to the rest of us that the Iraqi “troops” are never going to be able to step up and police themselves. If they haven’t been trainable in four years, then something is wrong.

What does “winning” look like? The president can’t tell us. Perhaps you can.

And just so you know, you can call me Tokyo Rose, Jane Fonda, or a Dixie Chick. You people did all the damage to me in 2003 that can be done. You know, back when 79% of the people were in favor of this war. Back when 79% of the people believed George W. Bush to be an honest, righteous man. Family members and loved ones called me a traitor and suggested I might want to find another country to reside in. Calling me Tokyo Rose now barely makes me blink.

And I am truly very sorry that the soldiers don’t understand that wanting this war to end IS being supportive. I just don’t get it. The message is not that they’ve died in vain. The fault does not lie with them. Their country called them and they went. It was not their fault that this call was based on lies and unfounded fear by dishonest and greedy men. They should be welcomed as heroes.

I guess what we’re fighting here is the mentality of soldiers. Again, I’m not one so I can only suppose. You’re given a mission. You’re trained to win at all costs. Anything short of winning makes all the death, destruction, sacrifice, and horror in vain. In your mind, that’s a loss, not a win. So you’ll stay, and stay, and stay. To win. Because if you don’t, it’s all been a waste. So you stay. And stay.

But what if, just what if, you were given a mission that can’t be won? What if the mission you were given wasn’t the true mission at all? What if you were given this mission for less than honorable purposes? What if your leaders lied? Do you stay? And if so, why? So that the ones who’ve died didn’t die in vain? Don’t you see how insane that is?

And come on, RTO, you seem to be an intelligent man. You know darn good and well that the poll didn’t say 53% of Americans said the soldiers who’ve died don’t matter. You lose all credibility when you say that. That poll was worded to do exactly what it did; incite soldiers and Republicans. It simply asked the question; should we send more soldiers to die so as to honor the ones who have already died. That’s exactly what it asked. It’s a stupid question. It’s a stupid concept and I’m surprised you fell for it. But since you did, perhaps you could explain why it has your panties in a wad. So 53% of the people DON’T think it would honor the dead to send more troops to die. Exactly how WOULD that honor them?

And yes I realize that over 70% of the American people were behind this war. Believe me, I know this all too well. I was a woman without a country for several years. But that was because THEY BELIEVED THE PRESIDENT. The believed Saddam was the boogieman. They believed he knocked over the Trade Centers. They believed he had WMDs. They believed we’d be welcomed as liberators. They believed the Iraqis would stick daisies in our rifles. They believed this mission would take only weeks/months (Rumsfeld’s exact words). They believed all the bullshit that was shoveled out by this wonderful, Christian administration. They believed. That, and they were still very angry for 911. Someone had to be punished. Didn’t matter if it was the person who was actually responsible. After all, it didn’t matter to the administration.

Trusting the president was that 70%’s only crime. And now, some four years later, they know the truth. And they’re pissed. And rightfully so. And they want the liars’ heads on a platter. And they want to undo the terrible travesty that these lies caused. But they can’t undo it. So they want the next best thing.

They want an end to this war. That’s not madness. Madness would be to stay the course. As if the truth didn’t matter. As if throwing more lives on the fire would somehow justify the lives already lost.

THAT, my dear man, is madness.

PS. Yes, I’ve heard of you. I live less than ten minutes from the National Guard in Broken Arrow.

UPDATE: For those of you playing along, there is a second conversation going on over here.